Blue America blogs

Blue America Welcomes Tammy Baldwin

Howie Klein — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:00:04 +0000

Every time I see Wisconsin Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin on TV, I forget she's a politician. She doesn't come across as one. She comes across as a friend or a neighbor who you turn to for good advice, someone who respects all points of view and doesn't have a mean bone in her body. Is she too nice to be in the polarized Senate? Her House colleagues think she's just right. And I suspect China doesn't either. Last week she even introduced a bill with Wisconsin Republican freshman Reid Ribble to shield American manufacturers from unfair trade practices in low wage Asian countries. "American manufacturers deserve our full support in combating China's relentless pattern of international trade law violations," Baldwin said. "The simple fact is China cheats."

And Wisconsin senior Senator Herb Kohl, who is retiring and has endorsed Tammy as his replacement, telling voters in his state that Tammy has strong convictions, a strong personality and "a tremendous drive to achieve things... she's going to be a model senator, a standard of what we look for... the highest and best kind of public servant."

Tammy is best known in Congress as one of the most dedicated and persistent fighters for economic justice. This month she got a great deal of press coverage when she introduced the Buffett Rule in the House. But on a day to day basis, she was working behind the scenes pushing legislative solutions for real people with real problems, usually efforts that didn't get noticed by the public. One of her colleagues on the House Energy & Commerce Committee told me that during the debate over health care reform she would never let up on a provision to allow young adults to stay on their parents' health insurance policies until they turn 26. I asked her what made her come up with that and what kind of push back she got from the Republicans on the committee?

Health care has always been a very personal issue for me. I was raised by my grandparents-- my mother was too young to raise me when I was born-- and they were there to take care of me. As a young child, I came down with a serious illness. Something like spinal meningitis. Though I made a full recovery, I had to spend three months in the hospital and many more after that in recovery care. But my grandparents, who had always relied on their family health insurance-- a good plan for the time-- came to soon learn that granddaughters are not considered dependents. Wife, yes. Daughter, yes. But no coverage for me, they were forced to pay out of pocket. And then to top it off, I was a child with a pre-existing condition.

So, I’m proud to have worked to ensure that more young people have access to insurance and affordable care. This includes the amendment I offered in committee to expand coverage for young adults, and also the work we did to eliminate pre-existing conditions for children, and soon adults. It also means that I’m a target. Let me tell you: the health insurance giants aren’t too fond of you when you take stances like these.

And the three corporate lobbyists masquerading as Republican candidates, Neumann, Thompson and Fitzgerald, have an entirely different vision than Tammy's. It's dark and it's based on Ayn Rand's Law of the Jungle politics. Only the strong survive. When I asked Tammy if her progressive vision is something that will work outside of Madison, in places like Waukesha and Ozaukee counties, she didn't miss a beat.

I’ve fought for Wisconsin values and the middle class, and these just aren’t issues in Madison. I’ve had constituents in Beloit who’ve suffered as manufacturing jobs were shipped overseas to places like China.

I traveled much of the state over the summer during our state senate recalls and as I went from Ozaukee county to Eau Claire and all across Wisconsin people told me about the same struggles they were facing: making ends meet, finding work, and taking care of their children. So, this fight-- this campaign-- is about their struggle. I’m fighting so that they can have a little extra at the end of each month to save for their daughter’s college fund. And to make it easier for that the single dad in Appleton to find meaningful work so he can quit that second job and stay home with his son a few more hours each day. That’s something that resonates and people can relate to whether I’m in Dane County or Waukesha County.

If Tammy wins in November, she will be the first woman ever elected to the United States Senate from Wisconsin. And she'll be the first openly LGBT senator ever... from anywhere. Blue America has only found three candidates this cycle we're enthusiastic enough about to endorse for the Senate: Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin. What a team! Please consider contributing what you can at the Blue America ActBlue Senate page. And please join us for a live discussion with Tammy at 1pm today (CST) in the comments section below.

Blue America Welcomes Rob Zerban

Howie Klein — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:00:13 +0000

There is no congressional race anywhere in the country more important than Rob Zerban's challenge to Wall Street's favorite politician, Paul Ryan. They look at Ryan and they see the perfect sieve for their entire one-percent anti-democratic agenda. And they see a future senator and president. With virtually no help from the DCCC-- which at least isn't protecting Ryan the way they have in past elections-- Rob is taking on the Republican superman who just reported the single largest House war chest in the country-- over $4 million. Rob has something else: the tumult of Wisconsin politics and the realization among workers and ordinary families there that this is for real; we are fighting for our lives and our children's lives. Please join us below in the comments section to meet Rob for yourself and ask him whatever you'd like to know about his campaign.

We've been following Ryan's ride in Congress for longer than most, and, of course, what we all wanted to know from Rob was why this year would be different from all the past years, when Ryan trounced his opponents.

I often get asked, “how are you going to beat Paul Ryan?” Ryan has incumbency, money, I am told a boyishly pretty face, and of course, he is a party boss. Previous challengers have not performed well. People ask, “what will be different.”

A big shift has taken place in the way people feel about Paul Ryan. Social Security and Medicare are “the third rail” of politics meaning you get shocked if you touch them. This happened to Ryan. While Ryan has gotten 60% support in the past, he is now polling easily in the 40s after our message is heard. Independents prefer me by a 3 to 1 margin. Ryan will move even lower because national Democrats, including President Obama, have taken a strong stand to protect retirement security and our social safety net. The more Democrats focus their fire on Ryan, the more people in the district become aware of his radical agenda. It also doesn’t help that Ryan has presided over one of the most unpopular Congresses in history with 91% disapproval.

The reason Ryan has been able to win is because he hasn’t had a strong Democratic challenger. The First District of Wisconsin was, and is, a seat Democrats can win. This district was previously represented by Democrats including Les Aspin, Clinton’s Defense Secretary, and Peter Barca who is a leading legislator now in state government. The district also supported Obama in 2008 with 52% of the vote. Ryan had opponents before that raised less than $20,000. There is nothing wrong with good people running for office, but against someone like Ryan, it takes a much larger effort than anyone can do on their own. It will take progressives across this country to come together to defeat Ryan. I believe we could have won this election in 2008 against Ryan if we had tried. I am here to make sure we don’t waste that opportunity again.

Another reason we can win is that we are running a strong campaign. Our campaign has focused on drawing these contrasts and being accessible to the people. We have had great success so far. Already in my campaign in 2011, we have outraised all previous challengers to Paul Ryan combined. We have over 7,000 supporters across the country and have earned great endorsements including that of the AFL- CIO, SEIU, and Senator Russ Feingold. I am focused on drawing clear contrasts, explaining my values, and showing voters how my plans will make their lives better.

The votes are here in Wisconsin, and I think with the recalls and our efforts to take out Ryan, we will have the energy to turn out the votes. My challenge is funding our grassroots volunteers and making sure that I take every opportunity to show contrast my ideas with Paul Ryan’s.

I don’t need unlimited money to beat Ryan. I need enough money to run my campaign. There is a big difference and I think we are on track to getting there. So far, we have raised over $500,000 from over 7,000 people. This is an incredible grassroots effort but we have a ways to go so we must grow.

I will beat Ryan because I understand what voters are looking for- experience and the right priorities. My focus is on drawing clear contrasts along both those lines. I grew up with a humble background and worked to build two companies and employ 45 people. Paul Ryan was born with many privileges and has spent a career in politics. I think people are looking for Representatives with real world experience in this economy, particularly business experience, and I have that and Ryan does not.

My focus is not just on personal qualities, but on values and priorities. Paul Ryan’s ideas are to benefit the ultrawealthy at everyone else’s expense. Ryan wants and to slash our social safety net, including seniors programs, the environment, women’s health, education, infrastructure, and economic recovery efforts-- all to give more tax breaks to the rich! My focus is on rebuilding the middle class by making critical investments into worker retraining, education, green energy, and research. I will pay for this by eliminating tax loopholes and the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and by cutting war spending. I am on the side of 99% of Americans, and Paul Ryan is only a 1% warrior. He is a man with a lot of money and no friends.

Blue America officially endorsed Rob and added him to our Blue America page. And not just because Ryan is so execrable. Rob is a self-taught progressive with his head screwed on right, who wants to do the right thing for working families and who has the right instincts to be a fine congressman. Help us shock the GOP, Wall Street, K Street and the DCCC on election day.

Blue America Welcomes Cecil Bothwell (D-NC)

Howie Klein — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:15:31 +0000

Today we're kicking off a new day for our Blue America chats. Same time as always-- 11am (PT) but on Tuesdays from now on. And what better way than to start with a populist icon whose grassroots congressional just paid off with gigantic dividends a few days ago. Cecil Bothwell will be joining us below in the comments section at 2pm (ET). Last week, his classic grassroots organizing and door-to-door activist campaign astounded the political establishment with polling results that showed him likely to knock off entrenched conservative incumbent, Blue Dog Heath Shuler in the upcoming May 8th primary. Shuler saw the same results and beat a hasty retreat to, suddenly, "spend more time with my family." He actually said that. The 11th CD will never be the same.

Cecil is the Asheville City Council Member who "everyone" said was "too radical" to be elected. But when the at-large primary came around he wasn't just elected-- he got more votes than anyone else in the race. He seemed buoyed when we talked with him after Shuler-- who just months ago tried to rally reactionary Democrats against Nancy Pelosi in a race for House Democratic leader-- hoisted the white flag. "We were confident that we were going to win the primary, based on informal polling across the District. We learned from recipients that someone hired a firm in Raleigh to poll voters here, so my bet is that he was seeing the same results. Now it appears that he has tapped another Blue Dog, his Legislative Director Hayden Rogers, to step into the race. So game on!" Rogers isn't well known in the district but he is on K Street and Inside-the-Beltway. The DCCC would love to talk him into running. Cecil feels confident he could beat him just as he always predicted he would beat his boss.

Cecil is a decidedly progressive Democrat-- a movement progressive-- who has staked out populist positions in favor of federal job creation, single-payer health care and protection of the social safety net, as well as strong support for education. A participant in October's Rebuild the American Dream conference, he endorses "Jobs, Not Cuts!" as a battle cry for middle- and working-class citizens who have been hammered by the Bush recession. Coming from a career in sustainable building and environmental journalism, with more than 20 years spent in a photovoltaic-powered home, he knows the coming green economy from the inside out, and he was one of the thousands of activists who surrounded the White House in November to protest the KeystoneXL pipeline. Although North Carolina is a right-to-work state, he is a member of the National Writer's Union (AFL-CIO) and is unafraid to tell his constituents that unions are essential to introduce democracy into the work place. He is a strong advocate for fair trade instead of our current badly concocted free trade rules, and believes we need to get tough with China over its currency manipulation. Because he believes that black markets always create systemic problems in society he demands immigration reform that facilitates work-permits and a clear path to citizenship, and opposes the catastrophic failure known as the "war on drugs." He has endorsed the Move to Amend and believes that we need to adopt public financing for all elections ASAP.

"We can do better," he tells voters. "And you deserve better. I aim to represent the real people of this District, and I won't take a penny from corporations or corporate PACs." Blue America could hardly hope for a better candidate to back, anywhere. Please consider contributing to a people-to-people campaign that is already paying dividends for progressives in North Carolina. You can do that here at the Blue America ActBlue page.

ARCHIVE: Blue America welcomes the original Netroots candidate, Darcy Burner

digby — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:44:00 +0000

Help us fix what's wrong with our country by helping Darcy fix Congress.

Back in 2006, when Blue America was just a young PAC, one congressional candidate seemed to emerge from out of our own ranks, so conversant with the way the new technology had merged with progressive politics that she was, in many ways, the first Netroots candidate. It was Darcy Burner of Washington state, a brilliant former Microsoft executive who famously declared that she knew she had to step into the arena when she realized that she needed to leave a better world for her young son.

We endorsed her enthusiastically in both of her heartbreakingly close losses in 2006 and 2008 and followed her subsequent work in Washington DC with the Progressive Caucus Foundation with interest.While there she learned the inside workings of the congress, built relationships and alliances with other progressives and deepened her policy knowledge to truly impressive heights. Yet throughout it all, Darcy has closely maintained her connections to the Netroots and commitment to the Progressive Movement we've been trying to build from the beginning. She was one of those rare people with the integrity and backbone to be in Washington without being of Washington

Still, we couldn't be more thrilled that she is back home in the Pacific Northwest and ready to give it another go --- we are proud to endorse her for the congressional seat in the new WA-01 district.

We need people like Darcy in the congress more than ever because, as she says:

We can’t fix what’s broken with our country if we don’t fix Congress. Our Congress is full of crooks who trade on insider knowledge, of people who have sold their souls to the very people who have broken our country. Even the good ones, the members who want the right things, too often give up too easily on important fights, or can’t figure out how to fix the deep structural problems that undermine us.

We need people there who are tenacious and who won’t give up when things get hard.

Indeed we do. And Darcy is nothing if not tenacious.

It's not going to be a cakewalk. She's facing a primary with several dismal Dems, one of whom may very well get tacit backing from the Party. (Darcy wasn't afraid to speak her mind when she was in Washington. They know she will not be compliant.) And once she gets through that gauntlet, she will be facing a probable GOP opponent who will be very well financed.(Aren't they all?)

She's got great name recognition, even though this is a new district, and is she very popular in the populated Democratic part of it. We understand that the progressives are rallying around her in the more Republican rural area. So she's got an excellent chance.

But she's going to need our help. Big business isn't going to support a real progressive. Super-PAC gambling billionaires aren't going to support a real progressive. The Party is terrified of Big Business and Super PAC billionaires so it isn't going to support a real progressive. That's going to be our job.

Please read the archived comments back at the original post when we welcomed Darcy back for her first chat of the election season. She took questions for an hour, and they are amazing.

And please donate what you can to her campaign here. If you want to begin the real hard work of hope and change, this is the place to start.

Blue America Welcomes Back Alan Grayson

Howie Klein — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Today, January 21, is the two-year anniversary of the absolute worst and most dangerous Supreme Court decision of our lifetimes, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. We decided it would be the perfect time to reiterate Blue America's enthusiastic support and endorsement of Orlando Democrat Alan Grayson and to invite him here to Crooks and Liars for a question-and-answer session.

Why Alan? He was one of the first victims of an unrestricted opening of the spigots of corporate money in a congressional race. According to a Politico article late in the campaign in 2010, almost 20% of all of the independent expenditures in House races in the entire country were deployed against Alan. His district was flooded with an unrelenting radio and television smear campaign by the corporations who didn't appreciate his hard work on behalf of consumers and workers. The average person in Orlando saw 70 negative ads against Grayson-- $2 million of which was paid for by the Koch Brothers, $2 million by the health insurance industry and another million from the NRCC. The cash that flowed into the district from the Chamber of Commerce and Rove's band of cutthroats was a direct response to Alan's reform efforts on the House Financial Services Committee and because he was the most effective national Democratic spokesperson in Congress. The DCCC, of course, offered him no help whatsoever in defending his seat.

Two years ago there were only two Members of Congress at the Supreme Court when the narrow 5-4 decision striking down the provisions of the McCain–Feingold Act that prohibited all corporations' and unions' unrestricted election spending on advertising was read out: Alan and Mitch McConnell. I can imagine McConnell squealing with delight. Grayson had quite a different reaction. He warned later that evening on Countdown that "if we do nothing, you can kiss this country goodbye." (See video above.) I don't think he actually meant the physical country itself-- just democracy, so loathed by the plutocratic elites, and all the benefits democracy brings with it.

Alan had gotten over 100,000 people to sign a petition to the Justices at SaveDemocracy.net, and he personally delivered the signatures to the Supreme Court. This was a new experience for the Supreme Court.

"Seeing it coming," he told me when discussing the ruling, "and assuming the worst, I had introduced four anti-Citizens United bills the week before, and introduced four more afterward. We called this our Save Democracy Platform. The core of three of these bills made it into the DISCLOSE Act." These were the bills Alan introduced:

The Business Should Mind Its Own Business Act (H.R. 4431): Implements a 500% excise tax on corporate contributions to political committees, and on corporate expenditures on political advocacy campaigns.

The Public Company Responsibility Act (H.R. 4435): Prevents companies making political contributions and expenditures from trading their stock on national exchanges.

The End Political Kickbacks Act (H.R. 4434): Prevents for-profit corporations that receive government money from making political contributions, and limits the amount that employees of those companies can contribute.

The Corporate Propaganda Sunshine Act (H.R. 4432): Requires publicly traded companies to disclose in SEC filings money used for the purpose of influencing public opinion, rather than for promoting their products and services.

The Ending Corporate Collusion Act (H.R. 4433): Applies antitrust law to industry PACs.

The End the Hijacking of Shareholder Funds Act (H.R. 4487): This bill requires the approval of a majority of a public company's shareholders for any expenditure by that company to influence public opinion on matters not related to the company's products or services.

Blue America was urging Alan to run again even as the votes were being counted in 2010. And we are determined that this year he's going to be back in Congress-- and this time in a solid Democratic district (the new 27th based in Orlando). Please help us raise him the money he needs to beat back the Kochs and the Roves and the corporate special interests.

He recorded this for us last night:

The best congressional rematch of 2012

digby — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 06:29:29 +0000

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How about electing a frugal yankee with the right priorities to congress?

In the people's corner Ann McLane Kuster

On election night 2010, when progressives around the country were pummeled and defeated, one race kept us all up late, hoping against hope that we'd have a memorable victory among the defeats. As it turned out New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district candidate Ann McLane Kuster lost to Charlie Bass that night by only a few votes, but showed that even in a GOP tsunami she had what it took to compete as a progressive. So naturally she's challenging Bass to a rematch in 2012.

This time there's no doubt about what she's up against. Bass has turned out to be a very typical Republican by voting to end Medicare and then whining about semantics when Democratic groups called him on it. He's collecting money from all the usual suspects, notably energy and insurance companies who have business in front of the energy and commerce committee, along with practically every other lobbyist from tobacco to Walmart. It didn't take him long to put his hand out and start collecting the big bucks from the corporations and the 1 percent.

By contrast Annie has had over 11,000 individual donations, 90% of which are under a hundred dollars. (You can join the crowd, by donating to her campaign here.)

She's running a grassroots campaign with an army of progressives on the ground and around the country who are anxious to see a "frugal yankee" put these priorities to work for the people:

I believe we need to cut wasteful government spending -- like the billions in subsidies for oil companies, the corporate tax breaks for moving jobs overseas, and the billions more spent on redundant weapons systems that our military leaders have identified as wasteful and unneeded. But instead of these cuts, the US House of Representatives is cutting what we need most: education, public safety, and the clean energy research that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil. It makes no sense. America can do better than this -- so, it's time for all of us to do something about it.

America can do better --- with the help of dedicated, energetic progressives in the House, fighting for the people instead of catering to the special interests.

We are very excited to once again endorse Ann McLane Kuster for the congressional seat in New Hampshire's second district and are pleased that she has accepted our invitation to join us for the first Blue America chat of the 2012 campaign this Saturday at 2pm est and 11am pst at Crooks and Liars. Please join Annie and us for a freewheeling conversation about her campaign, the state of politics and her plans to help us all create a better country for the 99%.

And if you would like to help her with this grassroots endeavor, you can contribute to her campaign here.

We're all in this together,

Digby, for Howie, John and the Blue America team

Let's Have A Great Blue America 2012

howieklein — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 00:14:43 +0000

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Credit: Adam Fox

I bet you're getting inundated with letters from candidates begging you to meet their phony, basically meaningless deadlines. Blue America is going to ramp up soon with new progressive candidates-- some who we already know, like Darcy Burner (WA), and new ones we've met over the last few months like Franke Wilmer (MT) and Patsy Keever (NC). Meanwhile, we're not going to hustle you for contributions to meet these "deadlines."

We've had a good 2011 but, as you know, 2012 is an election year and in November we'll be electing not just a president but also the entire House and a third of the Senate. As always, we'll leave the presidential race alone and concentrate on Congress, mostly the House-- although we have endorsed outstanding progressives Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin.

Right now we want to send our best wishes for 2012 and say thanks for the help in 2011. If you can handle it today, two of our best House candidates, Ken Aden, who's running in northwest Arkansas, and Joe Miklosi, who's running in suburban Denver, can really use some contributions. As you can see we haven't really been able to make any kind of difference for these two yet. It would be great if we could bring their totals up over $1,000 each.

UPDATE FROM HOWIE:
This letter was sent out yesterday afternoon to our donor email list. We had 20 people who responded to the letter before midnight and and we want to thank them very much. Now--

We're very close to some goals I set for the end of the year for our candidates:

Blue America has met several of it's end of year goals already (Chris Donovan, Nick Ruiz, Ilya Sheyman) and we're tantalizing close to most of the others. We're $199 away from what we hoped to raise for John Waltz, $193 away from Norman Solomon's, $109 for Alan Grayson, only $39 away from Joe Miklosi's, $61 from Mary Jo Kilroy's, only $18 for Eric Griego, $220 for Ken Aden & a slightly more daunting $490 for Ed Potosnak. Can you help with anyone? Here's the link: http://is.gd/dbWDHu

Again, thanks to everyone who contributed and to those who make the phone calls, use Twitter and Facebook to get the word out about these fantastic Progressives and help get more of them elected to Congress.

We are all in this together,
Howie, for Digby, John, and the Blue America team

Today We're Thankful For... Alan Grayson

Howie Klein — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 18:40:49 +0000

We're going to do something a little different today here at DownWithTyranny. In honor of Thanksgiving we're going to dedicate the entire day to explaining why we're thankful to one candidate for Congress, Alan Grayson. Last week, Blue America sponsored an intimate, free-ranging chat with Alan and we've cut it up into bite-sized pieces. All during the day we'll be posting short clips from that chat. Hopefully, at least one will encourage and animate you to contribute to Alan's campaign on our Blue America ActBlue page. Last time Allen ran Blue America raised over $100,000 for him, and the average contribution was around $43. There were lots of $5 and $10 contributions as well. They all add up. Right-wing front groups-- many funded by the Koch brothers-- poured more cash into attack ads against Allen than any other Member of Congress. They hate him; and he doesn't run from their hatred.

I'd like to start with a short clip where Alan neatly defines his politics and explains in 3 words why he's running for Congress and what his governing philosophy is. I found this very powerful when he said it. What do you think?

Blue America Welcomes Joe Miklosi (D-CO)-- Blue Collar Fighting Spirit

Howie Klein — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 16:00:43 +0000

And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.- Jesus Christ from Matthew 19;24

Watch that video above of Colorado state Rep Joe Miklosi announcing his candidacy for the congressional seat passed from Tom Tancredo to an even further right crackpot, Mike Coffman. When he ends it with "God bless you," he means it. The first time I spoke with him, we spent more time talking about Jesus' message than I've talked about with every other candidate Blue America has ever endorsed-- not because we endorse people who don't embrace Jesus' message... just because it isn't a topic progressives usually talk about publicly. But Joe isn't "usual." As his campaign motto says, "not your ordinary Joe." Before I tell you what his favorite Bible verse is (the one above is one of mine), let me tell you how I met Joe.

Gloria Totten heads up Progressive Majority, an organization that does on the state legislature level what Blue America does on the congressional level. She told me about Joe months ago when he was considering running. "Joe is an outstanding progressive who has stood firm on the progressive issues we care most about," she told me. "He is a proven leader who is committed to building our movement for the future-- as Progressive Majority's Colorado state director, Joe helped 60 progressives win state and local office. We were proud to support Joe in his bid for the State House and I'm thrilled to back his campaign for the U.S. Congress. Trust me, Washington, DC needs more public servants like Joe-- smart, energetic, committed and passionate for the people."

For the people... and more. This is one of Joe's favorite Bible verses. It comes from the prophet Micah who Christ quoted when asked what does the Lord require of you? You probably don't hear many on the "religious" right espousing this one:

To love justice, to seek mercy, and to walk humbly with the Lord.

Joe is perfectly comfortable talking about messages from Jesus like that-- even if conservatives (see my favorite Bible verse up top) have tried to coopt Jesus for their ideology of selfishness and bigotry, greed and hatred. "This theme," Joe told me this week, "has motivated me to pursue public policy that is more fair and just for every person. It clarifies, for example, my stance to repeal the unjust ‘Don’t Ask, Don't Tell’ law because all people should be able to serve in the United States military regardless of how they were born. The aspiration toward these goals helped to inspire my sponsorship of the DREAM Act. The DREAM Act beneficiaries are good kids, who play by the rules, earn good grades point averages and want to contribute to our society. By creating educational and workforce development opportunities for students we can energize and empower individuals and families and grow our economy for all Americans."

Who would Jesus kill? Joe doesn't seem to find Jesus wanting to kill anyone. "I oppose the death penalty because we can do better as a society," he said. "We have killed innocent people as DNA testing has verified. We disproportionately kill people from communities of color, as the U.S. Supreme Court recently confirmed. A person rightfully convicted of murder or heinous act should spend the rest of their life in prison."

Prison is pretty horrible. But our business elites have behaved (badly) knowing full well that the chances that they-- regardless of what they do-- aren't likely to spend much time there. So what about Wall Street? What about OccupyWallStreet. I asked Joe what he thinks about the whole movement. His response:

"In regard to Wall Street and economic reform, I respect those that take peaceful action to advocate for an economy that rewards hard work, encourages innovation and investment in education, retools Americans, and produces livable wages.

"We can not allow Wall Street elitists to break the rules, change the rules, and keep moving the goalpost, away from hard working families. Because of Wall Street greed and arrogance in 2008, millions of families were robbed of the dreams they worked and saved for, our nation was hobbled, and the Wall Street crowd sauntered into Washington to rewrite the rules again-- to give themselves a bailout. That’s not thrift, it’s theft.

"It is amazing to see so many inspired people-- from and for various points of view-- advocating for change and a fair financial system."

We're going to have Joe over in the comments section (below) today at noon (Mountain Time, 11am here in L.A.) to talk about his campaign and why he's running for Congress. I hope you'll join us. And I hope I've presented Joe attractively enough so that you'd like to help him beat that crackpot Coffman. You can do that here on the Blue America page.

Blue America Welcomes Back Brad Miller (D-NC)

Howie Klein — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0000

We had been planning to spend our Blue America session today talking with an old friend, Alan Grayson, but Alan suggested we move his date back and talk with another old friend, North Carolina Congressman Brad Miller. Blue America isn't looking for incumbents to endorse this cycle--unless they're really good... and really in trouble. Brad has been really good for a very long time and the Art Pope-funded North Carolina state legislature just cut his district to shreds, pushing him into a tough primary. He needs help. When Grayson suggested we have him here today he told us that "Brad Miller is exactly what people hope that their representatives will be: thoughtful, independent, selfless, smart, and completely committed to their wellbeing. There are very few Members of Congress who are willing to tell a well-connected lobbyist to get lost; Brad is one of them." But we knew that from last time we had Brad over for a chat.

Brad serves on the House Financial Services Committee-- the reason he and Grayson were pals-- and once disquieted many of his colleagues by writing

“The interests of the financial industry and those of working- and middle-class families appear irreconcilable. That doesn't leave much room for consensus. Congress may just need to pick a side: the financial industry or working- and middle-class families. Why not put it to a vote?”

That's not a vote conservatives-- of either party-- are eager to ever see happen. This week Brad introduced the Freedom And Mobility Banking Act of 2011 in response to the new policy of big banks punishing consumers with higher debit card fees. It aims to give real choices by modernizing and streamlining the opening and closing of personal checking and savings accounts. Brad:

"As megabanks flirt with menus of new fees, an increasing number of Americans will want to switch banks. That is the way things work in a competitive, free market as unrepentant banks are still trying to rake in vulgar profits from their customers... Because of financial reforms, banks are unable to rely on the cash flow of practices like double-cycle credit card billing, compulsory overdraft programs, or unregulated debit swipe fees. Bank executives are coming up with some innovative ways to protect their offensively large salaries.”

Even if you didn't get a small-print notice in the mail, you probably read that HSBC informed its customers that it is eliminating their free checking accounts which will now carry a monthly maintenance fee of $15. Wells Fargo, one of the four largest consumer banks in the country, also eliminated free checking and, most recently, Bank of America, one of the largest recipients of U.S. taxpayer bailouts, announced it would charge customers a new $5 monthly fee for using their debit cards-- even if it’s for a single $2 purchase.

While other members of the Financial Services Committee were currying favor with banksters and their lobbyists during the writing of reform legislation, Brad was the leader of the small progressive contingent fighting-- against these well-heeled interests-- to protect consumers. Just listen to his floor speech above. He has always seen his service on consumer protection as an opportunity "to comfort the afflicted. And my work on science and technology oversight gives me the chance to afflict the comfortable." A frank interview on the mortgage crisis in the NY Times business section didn't exactly endear him to the Big Money interests on Wall Street or K Street. "These mortgages were not designed to increase homeownership; they were designed to trap people in debt and strip the equity in their home as home prices appreciated. For the financial industry, that increasing wealth from middle-class homeowners was an attractive target; if they could trap families in a cycle of borrowing every three years or so, then a lot of increased wealth in their homes would end up in the financial sector rather than with those families."

"Mr. Miller recognizes," opined Gretchen Morgenson, "that his is an uphill climb because the big banks have many friends in high places across Washington. 'Americans have come away from this persuaded that everything has been done to help the banks and not to help them,' he said. 'And in a democracy, that's a real problem'."

Outspoken and straight-shooting, Brad didn't run and hide when the Republicans started shrieking "Class War!" He came right back at 'em:

The right dismisses concerns about income inequality as “class warfare.” Yet it has played the middle class’s economic anxieties for political advantage by stoking resentment of the poor. The right is happy now to have a high-stakes struggle over whether to cut Social Security benefits of the top three-fifths to spare the benefits of the bottom two-fifths-- with no one questioning that benefits must be cut.

But that’s the wrong fight. The correct fight would put 99 percent of Americans on the same side of the barricades.”

And when Grayson told us Miller was one of the only Members of Congress who tells fat cat lobbyists to get lost, it's something his own constituents are well aware of and have admired him for. “I’m frustrated with how hard it is to get things through. I’m frustrated with how much influence, how much power, some of the industries that should be completely discredited still have. I had hoped for more of a hundred days kind of public support; that given where the economy was, given how much how had gone wrong, that there would be a strong force behind some pretty fundamental reform. Certainly, getting consumer protection through is a knife fight." That was in 2009. Please join us below in the comments section at 2pm (ET) to talk with Brad about what's happened since-- and where things are headed next.

And, again, if you'd like to help keep a deserving incumbent in Congress-- and there aren't many-- you can do so here.