Is

Ursula Rozum

really the "second most dangerous woman in Central New York," as she herself suggests?

Rozum, 28, is the Green Party candidate for the seat in Congress now held by Republican Ann Marie Buerkle, whom Rozum suggests should be viewed as the most dangerous woman in Central New York. Supporters of Democrat Dan Maffei fear that Rozum's presence in a close race will hand it to Buerkle.

"I know a lot of people will blame me," says Rozum, "but that is just scapegoating." Maffei, she notes, "is totally capable of losing this election on his own. And given his money and name recognition, he is capable of winning it" regardless of how she performs.

Rozum is not running to be a spoiler. She entered the race because she has significant policy differences with Buerkle, and because she thinks Maffei and the Democrats "are incapable of taking on the right wing of the Republican Party." Maffei "talks in sound bites," she observes, and he avoids serious policy prescriptions.

Republicans and Buerkle deny climate change, advocate energy independence, and think drilling solves the energy problem. Democrats warn of climate change, also advocate energy independence, and embrace renewables. But "Democrats have no plan for actually getting us from here to there," she says. As a result, she is running.

The real "danger" in her candidacy is not in tipping the outcome, but in using the platform she will have in upcoming televised debates to demonstrate how limited, stale and unimaginative our political dialogue has become. If the debate moderators give her the chance, she may make Buerkle and Maffei sweat bullets, which will be healthy for voters to see.

Her policies will not appeal to all. But if voters hear alternatives, the two lumbering parties will have to deal with these alternatives and face a more intelligent electorate.

Rozum doesn't believe Republican trickle-down economics has ever proven successful for the middle and lower classes.

She favors the decriminalization of drugs because she has seen first-hand what the American war on drugs has meant for unlucky civilians in Colombia and El Salvador. She has read "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander and agrees with the author's thesis that drug laws have been used to incarcerate minority men.

She opposes hunting down American enemies with drones because she knows they also kill many innocent civilians. "It's painful to think your country is responsible for the suffering of people abroad," she says. "Maybe it's a Catholic thing." Rozum graduated from Bishop Ludden. Her parents came to the U.S. in 1982 to escape Communist intimidation in Poland.

She is not happy with Obamacare and supports a single-payer health care system.

She favors electoral reform that would lead to proportional representation based on the popularity of a party and its policies. This would move the U.S. toward a parliamentary system. For example, if the Greens were to get 7 percent of the votes for Green Congressional candidates in New York, the Greens would get 7 percent of the seats in the New York Congressional delegation. This would help break the stranglehold the two sclerotic parties now have on our political system and encourage the formation of more political parties.

She notes that we create jobs with defense spending, yet when we invest in high speed rail or renewable energy technologies that also create jobs, there is an outcry, as if such spending is any different in its economic impact.

Her candidacy has received precious little media attention, although she is remarkably upbeat nonetheless. She has been interviewed by Jim Reith on WCNY-TV. WSYR-TV and WSTM-TV occasionally mention her in their news coverage, but broadcasters won't expose her to voters for free except during debates. They prefer to sell their time.

Rozum has raised a few thousand dollars to start a television ad campaign. By contrast, Buerkle, Maffei and their backers have booked hundreds of thousands of dollars of ads on WSYR, WTVH and WSTM as they wage their toxic war of negative advertising.

Rozum is looking forward to the televised debates. Two are scheduled for WCNY on Oct. 24 and WSYR on Nov. 2. A third, on YNN, could occur with or without Maffei, who is balking at the format. Rozum is "nervous." She is taking time off from work at the Syracuse Peace Council to prepare. She intends to be aggressive and positive. "People hate the negativity of this campaign," she says. "A lot of important issues are not being discussed."

And if Maffei loses? "I know there may be a backlash against me. I'm willing to risk that. People should vote their consciences. A lot of voters in this district agree with my positions."

David M. Rubin, former dean of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, is an occasional columnist with The Post-Standard. Email him at dmrubin@syr.edu.