Green Party's Senate candidate's health a campaign challenge

Published in the Asbury Park Press 11/01/03

By JAMES W. PRADO ROBERTS
STAFF WRITER

For Earl Gray, who is running with the Green Party for state Senate in the 12th District legislative race, campaigning is no easy task.

At 74, Gray has developed the wit, level-headedness and intellect to run a thoughtful, self-funded $500 campaign.

His features are sharp, and his salt-and-peppered hair is close-cropped, except for the shock of white that flows from his widow's peak.

It's his health that makes campaigning a challenge.

Gray suffers from pulmonary fibrosis, a lung condition that leaves him seriously short of breath after walking just 15 feet or so.

When he is home, he breaths from a tube connected to an oxygen generator in his living room; when he goes outside, he brings small oxygen canisters with him. And also totes tools and spare batteries, just in case the contraption fails. He doesn't know what caused his illness.

He cannot campaign door-to-door in any sustained way.

"It takes an exertion of will, and there are times I say to myself, 'Why the hell am I doing this?' But I believe in the message," Gray said. "And if I can set an example for older people getting out there and participating in the civic process, that in itself has to be something that is worth doing."

But being chronically ill has its advantages.

"I'm telling you one thing -- the ladies smile at you more," said Gray, who is divorced and said he is "a lonely bachelor."

His house in Red Bank can best be described as a latter-day bachelor pad.

Instead of beer bottles littering the side yard by his driveway, a half-dozen or so of his portable oxygen canisters in lay in a pile.

Ten years ago, Gray said, he would have been at least physically able to fix the water damage to his living room ceiling or replace missing interior molding himself, he said.

But his pulmonary fibrosis keeps him from such activities. And the fact that his annual income is $14,000 a year - mostly from Social Security - doesn't leave much left for building supplies.

He drives a 14-year-old Ford Ranger pickup truck with speckled rust, peeling paint, a second engine and bumper stickers including one that reads, "NAFTA Can Be Hazardous To Your Health!"

Although Gray has a doctorate in history from Rutgers University and retired as a technical writer from a computer company in 1992, he has since worked as a school bus driver and as a manager of a nonprofit boarding house for the homeless in Red Bank.

And since he doesn't work now, he has a lot of time to pursue his political interests.

Since 1997 when he joined the New Jersey Green Party at its founding meeting, he has been a constant advocate for changing New Jersey government.

He wants, for instance, instant run-off balloting, so that voters aren't forced to choose from one of two major party candidates they may not agree with. He wants to make companies chartered in New Jersey pay their workers a "living wage."

Gray wants to make polluters pay for cleaning up toxic waste sites, and he wants equal marriage and family rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender couples.

In 2000, he ran in the 6th Congressional District race against incumbent Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. He received 4,252 votes, or about 2 percent of the tally.

His interest right now is explaining to people that major international forces like the effect of transnational corporations and the war in Iraq have had a negative impact on people who live in the 12th District.

If Gray pulls votes from Ellen Karcher, his Democratic opponent in the race, and the race goes to GOP state Sen. John O. Bennett III, he doesn't care. Gray and the 39 other Green Party candidates running in the state Legislative races oppose Democrats and Republicans, he said.

"It's a matter of a pox on both of their houses. That's democracy -- We are out to replace both of them," Gray said. "We are out to address fundamental flaws in the system."

And if Gray didn't run on his beliefs now, he said he might not get the chance to do it again.

"I'm very glad I've been doing what I've been doing. I probably won't do it again, because two or four years from now I probably won't be able to get that message out because of my health," Gray said. "My condition is chronic and this may or may not be my last shot."

James W. Prado Roberts: (732) 643-4223; or jwr@app.com