CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS HELPS FREE MAURICE CARTER

Scott Elliott, Democratic candidate for United States Congress in Michigan’s 6th District, will meet Maurice Carter for the second time on Saturday morning, July 24. The first time was at a Parole Board hearing last month which resulted in a medical commutation for Carter by Governor Granholm.

"Maurice and I are old friends. We’ve had hundreds of telephone conversations until, for some unknown reason, my phone was blocked from receiving calls from him over a year ago. We’ve kept in touch since, through letters and friends," says Elliott.

Almost 5 years ago Elliott organized and has since chaired the Citizens’ Committee for the Release of Maurice Carter. Local clergy, teachers and business people joined in the effort to seek a new trial for Carter whom they believe was wrongly convicted 28 years ago and sentenced to life in prison for the 1973 wounding of an off-duty police officer in downtown Benton Harbor.
Carter has been represented by law professors and students from the University of Wisconsin Innocence Project in Madison as well as Northwestern University's Center for Wrongful Convictions and Medill School of Journalism. "Hurricane" Carter (no relation) who was also wrongly convicted and spent 20 years behind bars before winning his freedom, will join Elliott and other supporters to greet Carter when he is freed.

"Inequality in the justice system is just one of the things that prompted me to run for Congress", says Elliott. "I'm also heavily involved in urban and economic renewal in downtown Benton Harbor. This town is a classic example of what happens when manufacturers believe that low wages and minimal or no workers’ benefits are the key to profitability, when the emphasis should be on higher productivity. It’s time that Southwest Michigan had a representative who is concerned about jobs and the rights of working families instead of the’haves and have-mores’ ", says Elliott.

The Scott Elliott for Congress Campaign may be reached at:
269-926-9391
Nmoong7 (at) aol.com