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| When Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S military officer in Iraq, comes to Capitol Hill next week to brief Congress, he will be addressing lawmakers who have more than just a political stake in the five-year war.
Along with their colleagues in the House and Senate, the politicians who will get a status report from the general and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq have as much as $196 million of their own money invested in companies doing business with the Department of Defense, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics has calculated. From aircraft and weapons manufacturers to producers of medical supplies and soft drinks, the investment portfolios of more than a quarter of Congress—and of countless constituents—include holdings in companies paid billions of dollars each month to support America's military in Iraq and elsewhere.

Includes investments in companies with DOD contracts of $5 million or more, according to 2006 data on FedSpending.org. Members of Congress must report their personal finances annually. Holdings shown here were as of December 31, 2006.

According to the most recent reports of their personal finances, 151 current members of Congress had between $78.7 million and $195.5 million invested in companies that received defense contracts of at least $5 million in 2006. In all, these companies received more than $275.6 billion from the government in 2006, or $755 million per day, according to FedSpending.org, a website of the budget watchdog group OMB Watch.

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In the coming elections, it is important to remember that war and peace are as much “women’s issues,” as are health, the environment, and the achievement of educational and occupational equality. Because we believe that all of these concerns are not only fundamental but closely intertwined, this Tuesday we will be casting our vote for Senator Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, we have watched with shock and sorrow as our country has become mired in war. The resulting tragedy for our own soldiers, their immediate families and for the people of Iraq has been incalculable.

Less obvious, but no less grave has been the impact on our domestic institutions and economy. With a defense budget of half a trillion dollars and expenditures now averaging $12 billion a month for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, resources that might have been used for health care, housing, education, repair of infrastructure, relief of poverty and community development have been drained away.

We urgently need a Presidential candidate, who understands that “preemptive” attacks on other countries and the reliance on military force have diminished rather than strengthened our national security. And we urgently need a Presidential candidate whose first priority is to address domestic needs. We do not believe that Senator Hillary Clinton is that candidate.

We base our judgment on her seven-year record as the Senator from New York. As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, she has carefully identified herself as a supporter of a strong, enlarged and proactive military. In 2002, she voted to authorize the “use of force” against Iraq, while voting against an amendment that would have mandated further diplomacy. In subsequent years, she expressed enthusiastic support for the war effort, objected to fixed timelines for the withdrawal of U.S troops and until last summer voted for the “unconditional funding” of the war.

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As a result of the Department of Justice lawsuit regarding New York State's lever machine replacement, New York State's county level election commissioners have until February 8, 2008 to choose whether to use either a paper ballot based ballot marker and scanner system, or a direct recording electronic (DRE) voting system for each county.

After reaching a compromise with the federal court to provide ballot marking devices for disabled voters in each polling places in 2008, the New York State Board of Elections has recklessly redefined ballot marking devices to include DRE voting machines. Let's be clear - the untested DRE devices which commissioners are now empowered to purchase are not Ballot Marking Devices, they are DRE touch screen voting machines. Because this choice will commit over half of the funding available for new voting machines, if a county selects a DRE in February your county will vote on touch screen voting machines.

Concerned New Yorkers can help by notifying the county commissioners of the importance of choosing a paper ballot based system, and putting the media spotlight on the issue. It is urgent that you contact your local election commissioners in writing before the end of the month, and include newspapers and county legislators in that correspondence. Contact information for all of New York State's county level election commissioners can be found at the New York State Board of Elections web site: Click to access County Board of Elections contact information. Please act now! The decision whether you will vote on electronic touch screen voting machines or voter marked paper ballots will be made in the next few weeks