Progressive Democrats Sonoma County

‘Circling the wagons’

In their eagerness to defend Congressman Jared Huffman (Marin Voice, April 28), Marin County Democratic Party chair Paul Cohen and his Sonoma County counterpart Stephen Gale didn’t seem to grasp that my book they quoted from, “The Power of Babble,” was a satire — critiquing rather than advocating.

If Cohen and Gale were around in the 18th century, they might have accused Jonathan Swift of advising rich landowners to fatten up poor children and eat them.

Such silly distortion is predictable when party officials are circling the wagons against open debate among fellow Democrats.

Several thousand of Huffman’s constituents wrote letters or signed petitions urging him to commit to voting against cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits. Huffman first indignantly declared that he wouldn’t make any “pledge” — but later put out a news release that announced his pledge to vote against any cuts in Social Security benefits.

That’s a good step. Now he should make a similar commitment on Medicaid and Medicare benefits.

Norman Solomon, Inverness

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Published in the Marin Readers’ Forum for May 5: MarinIJ.com

To: Representative Huffman
From: Constituents of CD-2

Fairness and Prosperity, Not Austerity
April 17, 2013

Representative Huffman,

Many of our members are voters in your District, and supporters of Progressive Democrats of America. We’re writing to urge your support for legislation to promote economic growth and lower the deficit through fair budget policies and job creation, as well as to protect voting rights and end the War in Afghanistan.

Specifically, we call upon you to:

Sign the Grayson/Takano Letter: a “dear colleague” letter pledging to vote against any legislation or measure which would cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits. Your recent press release, pledging to vote against ‘chained CPI’ cuts to Social Security benefits, though delayed, was appreciated. We call upon you to make a similar commitment to vote against any legislation or measure which would cut Medicare or Medicaid benefits.

To: Representative Mike Thompson
From: Constituents of CD-5

Fairness and Prosperity, Not Austerity
April 17, 2013

Representative Thompson,

We are voters in your Congressional District, and supporters of Progressive Democrats of America. We’re writing to urge your support for legislation to promote economic growth and lower the deficit through fair budget policies and job creation, as well as to protect voting rights and end the War in Afghanistan.

Specifically, we call upon you to:

Sign the Grayson/Takano Letter: a “dear colleague” letter pledging to vote against any legislation or measure which would cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits.

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Letters published March 23-March 30. A shout out to the authors of these recent Letters to the Editor!

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What we need

EDITOR: We need a representative in Congress who will reject cuts to Social Security and Medicare. We need a representative who will instead vote to end funding for America’s devastating, chaos-creating wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and, now, Syria. Unfortunately, we don’t yet have such a representative.

PHIL BALDWIN

Ukiah

Press Democrat. Saturday, March 23, 2013
Link to original

Why isn’t Rep. Jared Huffman promising to defend Social Security and Medicare?

by Alice Chan
Bohemian.com – Open Mic
March 27, 2013

Last week, a Press Democrat editorial praised Rep. Jared Huffman for refusing to join colleagues who have promised to “vote against any and every cut to Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security benefits—including raising the retirement age or cutting the cost of living adjustments that our constituents earned and need.”

What’s going on here? On Feb. 28, I joined a group of a dozen constituents meeting with Huffman’s district director, urging the congressmember to sign a letter initiated by Representatives Alan Grayson and Mark Takano. That letter includes a promise to vote against any cuts to benefits in those three vital programs.

Why did we request that our congressmember sign this letter? Republicans and some Democrats in Washington are pushing for cuts to Social Security benefits in cost of living adjustments, as well as raising the Medicare eligibility age. Those changes would directly affect the most vulnerable among us—the elderly and others with low and moderate income, who rely on these earned benefits to provide the basic necessities of life.

What was Huffman’s response? On his Facebook page a few days later, he stated: “I won’t be bullied from the left or the right into signing Norquistian vote pledges to outside groups.”

— Petition Statement —
Rep. Huffman: Please commit to protecting these vital programs from benefit cuts. Sign the Grayson-Takano letter now.
— CLICK HERE to sign the petition.

March 12, 2013

An e-mail sent out by Coalition for Grassroots Progress, today …

Thousands of constituents have put their names on petitions urging new Congressman Jared Huffman to sign a letter making a crucial commitment: “We will vote against any and every cut to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security benefits — including raising the retirement age or cutting the cost of living adjustments that our constituents earned and need.”

But Huffman is saying he has no intention of signing that congressional letter — or making that firm commitment.

Read the Rest Here

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Sonoma County Democratic Party Crab Feed
February 22, 2013

Lynn Hamilton, Recipient of the Roberta Hollowell Award “In Recognition of her Dedicated Service to Issues of Importance for All Women and Democratic Party Values.”

Prepared remarks. Award presented by former Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey.

Thank you Lynn Woolsey. I have always admired you and held you up as an example of an elected official who stuck to your values the entire time you served as our Congresswoman. I urge all of the elected officials who were endorsed by the Democratic Central Committee to follow Lynn’s example and stick to your values and the values set forth in the Democratic Party Platform even though you might be tempted to betray your principles for personal gain, power or advancement.

February 23, 2013

Dear fellow Democrats,

When we had a Republican governor sure to veto legislation for single-payer healthcare, the legislature passed a single-payer bill. Twice.

During the past two years, since we’ve had a Democrat in the governor’s office, the legislature hasn’t moved single-payer legislation.

And this year, activists have struggled to find a single Democrat in the legislature willing to even introduce a single-payer bill.

There is every indication that Governor Brown doesn’t want such a bill on his desk — and the Democratic leadership in the legislature is obliging.

The behavior of our Democratic governor and current legislators stands in stark contrast to the California Democratic Party platform, which trumpets its support for single payer:

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Balance for Our Families and Our Economy
February 20, 2013

Dear Representative Huffman,

We are writing in support of legislation to promote economic growth, protect voting rights, end the war, and lower the deficit.

The Balancing Act (H.R. 505) proposed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus would provide relief to American families, and reduce the long-term Federal deficit in a fair and balanced way by balancing budget cuts and revenues—closing loopholes and making sure the Pentagon and the nation’s biggest corporations do their part—and by putting $800 in the pockets of every family this year. It would create more than 1 million jobs by investing in infrastructure, and by keeping 280,000 teachers in our classrooms.

Join us in San Francisco to rally and march in solidarity with the huge Forward on Climate demonstration in Washington DC. Both events February 17.

Full info and RSVP here

by Norman Solomon
January 23, 2013. CommonDreams.org

With President Obama’s second term underway and huge decisions looming on Capitol Hill, consider this statement from Howard Zinn: “When a social movement adopts the compromises of legislators, it has forgotten its role, which is to push and challenge the politicians, not to fall in meekly behind them.”“When a social movement adopts the compromises of legislators, it has forgotten its role, which is to push and challenge the politicians, not to fall in meekly behind them.”

With so much at stake, we can’t afford to forget our role. For starters, it must include public clarity.

Read the article here

Healthcare NOT Warfare! Members of Progressive Democrats Sonoma County out on the sidewalk with the Nurses, January 17, 2013.
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CLICK HERE to view more pictures from the event.

January 13, 2012

All of the candidates who ran on the Progressive Slate, www.ProgressiveSlate.org , in our local California Democratic Party AD Delegate Elections, were elected! These newly elected CDP AD Delegates will represent us on the Democratic Party State Central Committee:

AD 2
Joe Louis Wildman (E-Board)
Lasara Allen
Phil Baldwin
Caroline Banuelos
Shane Brinton
Susan Brinton
Kathryn Donahue
Phil Harlan
Kenny Jowers
Maggi Koren
Mel Kreb

AD 10
Mayme Hubert (E-Board)
Nick Carlin
Ruth Carter
Alice Chan
Jason Davies
Maureen De Nieva
Elizabeth Escalante
Paul Fenn
Blake Hooper
Ken Jones
Dan Mullen
Donna Norton

This article originally appeared in the November 26, 2012 edition of The Nation magazine.

by NORMAN SOLOMON

Millions of Americans are eager, even desperate, for a political movement that truly challenges the power of Wall Street and the Pentagon. But accommodation has been habit-forming for many left-leaning organizations, which are increasingly taking their cues from the party establishment: deferring to top Democrats in Washington, staying away from robust progressive populism, and making excuses for the Democratic embrace of corporate power and perpetual war.

It’s true that many left-of-center groups are becoming more sophisticated in their use of digital platforms for messaging, fundraising and other work. But it’s also true that President Obama’s transactional approach has had demoralizing effects on his base. Even the best resources—mobilized by unions, environmental groups, feminist organizations and the like—can do only so much when many voters and former volunteers are inclined to stay home. A month before the 2010 election, Obama strategist David Axelrod noted that “almost the entire Republican margin is based on the enthusiasm gap.” A similar gap made retaking the House a long shot this year.

A key paradox for progressives of our national political life goes something like this: everybody complains about Congress, but nobody does anything about it.

Of course, it is far from true that nobody is doing anything about Congress. Lots of people are doing something about it. But if you hold the complaints of progressives about Congress in one hand, and the level of progressive activity to change who is in Congress and what they do when they get there in the other, there is a big mismatch. The level of complaint should provoke a much higher level of activity to do something about it.

Read the Full Story Here

Dear Friends,

The United Farm Workers are now in their 8th day of their 187-mile journey from Madera to Sacramento. This march is intended to put pressure on Governor Brown to pass new legislation to protect farm workers. Since Governor Brown vetoed the Farm Worker Protection Act just two months ago, THREE farm workers have died in the fields. Sadly, this kind of information rarely makes the news cycle.

We have a wonderful opportunity to show solidarity with our farm worker brothers and sisters in Sacramento as they complete their historic march. There will be a UFW bus caravan leaving from Santa Rosa this Sunday, September 4, and arriving at Southside Park in Sacramento where we will greet the marchers. We will all take the final steps to the Capitol together and join a huge rally in support of Farm Worker Protection. After the rally, the buses return to Santa Rosa. Here are the details:

By Donna Smith, National Co-chair, Healthcare Not Warfare

In more than 60 locations from Maine to California, the 170,000 registered nurse members of National Nurses United will be hosting events aimed at healing the damage done on Main Streets all over America by Wall Street’s special interests.

Read the Full Story & Find Locations Here