BOSTON, August 4- Jill Stein, Green-Rainbow Party candidate for governor, held a press conference outside the State House this morning to announce that her supporters had gathered enough signatures to qualify her for the November ballot. Stein and her running mate, Rick Purcell, needed 10,000 certified signatures to qualify. At the press conference, Stein projected that she would have approximately 12,000 certified signatures in total. This includes over 9,000 certified signatures already returned to the campaign from town halls, and several thousand more that were submitted in the past 48 hours, in advance of the 5 p.m. deadline yesterday. The following is an excerpt from her remarks:
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"I'm here in front of the State House to announce that the governor’s race is now officially a four-way race, and no longer just among members of the Beacon Hill boys club," Stein said. "We will bring an important new voice into the race, because without our voice in the mix, only one point of view – the Beacon Hill point of view – is being covered. The three Beacon Hill candidates all:

* support gambling casinos, while over 1/3rd of Massachusetts voters
oppose casinos;
* support insurance company-friendly health reforms, and controlling
health care costs by shifting them on to the backs on working and
middle income families;
* support the expansion of corporate entitlement programs, and the
slashing of critical programs in public safety, local aid,
schools, the environment and the safety net.
* favor high stakes testing and creeping privatization of public
schools.

"The three Beacon Hill insiders are giving us variations on a theme drawn from a very narrow part of the political spectrum - a part of the spectrum that favors the insiders, the big money interests, and entrenched power. The people of our Commonwealth have deep and sincere disagreements with many parts of this approach. They deserve to have a voice in the debate that can speak for them."

"And finally, I am especially proud that our campaign is the only one offering a new vision for jobs. Unlike the other campaigns, we’re talking not about 15,000 low wage, dead end, insecure casino jobs in just three communities. We’re talking about 50,000 green jobs in every community – in renewable energy, energy efficiency, healthy local food production, clean manufacturing, and sustainable transportation. These are jobs that not only put people back to work, but they also keep the money in state, enriching our communities. And they make us healthier by cleaning the air, improving nutrition, and reclaiming an active lifestyle. This economic transformation will help prevent chronic diseases that are the major driver in the staggering health care bill eating up half of our state budget. Voters deserve the chance to vote for this type of future for themselves and their children. And with their help, we’re going to get Beacon Hill back to work for everyday people, building the healthy, just, secure green future we urgently need."