The holiday season is always a pretty expensive time for me what with gift-buying and travel and this year is no exception. But when I received an end-of-the-year appeal today from Ben Lowe’s campaign today, I cracked open the piggy bank and sent him an extra donation in order to help him meet his fundraising goals.
In the 6th District, we are presently represented by one of the most extremely conservative members of Congress, Peter Roskam. Roskam does not share the values of the majority of the district he is supposed to represent. In fact, Peter Roskam uses the privileges of his office and our own tax dollars to actively campaign against policies like universal health care that will benefit the citizens for whom he is supposed to be a voice.
2010 could be the year that we bring Peter Roskam’s mis-representation to an end. We have a fine progressive Democratic alternative in Ben Lowe. The harsh reality, however, is that Roskam is well-funded by the corporate interests he represents and has a history of running agressive campaigns. In order for Ben to get his message out, he will need funding from all of us who want better representation for the 6th District. That’s why I’m doing as much as I can to help the Ben’s campaign. I hope you will be generous in your support as well.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
For the last few months, Peter Roskam, together with Mark Kirk and other Republicans in Congress, has been engaged in a smear campaign against the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Roskam’s baseless attacks, focused on SEIU/ACORN participation in the upcoming census, are part of a long-time Republican strategy to seek political advantage by disenfranchising poor and minority voters and attempting to underrepresent them in census counts. The GOP has engaged in such tactics because its legislative program, which has worked against the interests of low-income and minority voters, has left the party unable to attract voters from these groups by legitimate means. By engaging in this behavior, Roskam has not only unfairly disparaged two fine organizations but has abused and debased the office that has been entrusted to him. He owes an apology to all concerned, including all voters in the 6th Congressional District.
On Tuesday this week, the non-partisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) released a report, requested by Representative John Conyers of Michigan, that found no evidence that ACORN had broken any laws over the past 5 years, that no voters improperly registered by ACORN had attempted to cast ballots in an election, and that ACORN had used funds received from the federal government for housing programs in accordance with funding guidelines.
A previous investigation, by former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, also found no evidence of illegal activity by employees depicted in widely-publicized highly-edited videos produced by a conservative film maker as part of an effort to discredit ACORN. CRS found that, in fact, the film maker may have violated state laws.
Using a news conference and media appearances, Peter Roskam, has attempted to perpetuate the myth of a criminal conspiracy on the behalf of ACORN without offering any real evidence and has tried to spread that taint to SEIU with no basis whatsover. Here you can hear him at work on WLS-AM’s vile Don Wade & Roma Show:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Roskam’s conduct is reprehensible and unbecoming a member of Congress.
Peter Roskam has lately been complaining loudly to anyone who will listen about the high unemployment rate in Illinois. Roskam is trying to discredit the President and Democrats in Congress because unemployment exceeded the 8% peak projected earlier in President Obama’s term. Roskam pays lip service to the need for job growth:
“November’s continued job losses only further confirms that our economy is in serious peril, and we need to set aside partisanship and employ pro-growth policies that will create jobs.”
But when it comes time to actually vote on a jobs creation measure, partisanship wins out and Roskam votes against it.
According to Speaker Pelosi, the bill would redirect $75 billion in TARP funds to pay for highways, transit and other infrastructure; to hire or retain teachers, police and firefighters; and to subsidize loans to small businesses.
The bill also extends unemployment benefits, COBRA subsidies, and Medicaid payments for people hard hit by the recession.
While Roskam loves to talk about unemployment in order to smear the President, and in order to work against legislation that his corporate sponsors oppose such as health care reform, financial regulation, and climate change legislation, Roskam demonstrates no empathy for those who have suffered job losses due to the Bush recession. You will recall that Roskam voted against unemployment benefits extension once before, back in September.
I was pleased to have had the opportunity this past Thursday to meet face-to-face with 6th District Congressional Candidate, Democrat Ben Lowe of Wheaton. I sat down with Ben, and with consultant Kevin Spidel of Patriot Strategies, who, as you may remember, managed the 2006 primary race here in IL-06 for Christine Cegelis, another fine progressive candidate. In the picture above, Ben is signing my copy of his book, Green Revolution.
I have to say that I am very impressed with Ben. He is a warm, intelligent and articulate person with very progressive ideals coupled with a healthy dose of political realism. I think he has the potential to speak to the concerns of a wide variety of 6th district contituencies and bring them together to defeat Roskam, who caters to big corporations and offers nothing to help a district experiencing exceptionally hard times. Ben’s discussion of issues like healthcare and immigration reform and global climate change in terms like “justice” and “human rights” is music to my ears. I can’t wait to see Ben elected. (I kind of wanted to bring him home with me but Kevin intervened).
In the time before the primary, Ben says he will be heavily focused on getting out to meet folks in the district and listenening to their concerns. He is anxious to meet with groups, large and small, and encouraging anyone who is interested to host a coffee for friends and neighbors to get together with Ben.
Ben reports that he is also heavily focused at present on fundraising, a necessary evil when running against an opponent like Roskam who is well-funded by big corporations and extremist interest groups. Ben says that fund raising efforts are starting out well but he has a long way to go. Please consider making whatever donation you can afford through Ben’s website.
I am hoping that the more distinguished bloggers covering the 6th district who follow Roskam will getto know Ben and help to get the word out about his candidacy. Come on Progress Illinois, Prairie State Blue, Bridget in the Sixth, Wurfwhile, Heartland Progressive – this is a great progressive candidate. He deserves your support – or at least your consideration. Peter Roskam is the worst. Lets not allow him to coast to another re-election.
The St. Petersburg Times’ Pulitzer Prize-winning website, PolitiFact, this past Friday named Sarah Palin “death panel” allegation as the “Lie of the Year“. Palin’s lie was selected by the site’s editors after a poll of 5,000 readers demonstrated overwhelming support for the choice.
PolitiFact here recounts the lie which earned the site’s coveted “Pants on Fire” designation back when it was originally promulgated:
The former governor of Alaska had been out of the headlines since she announced her resignation on July 3; the Facebook message instantly brought her back to the political stage.
“As more Americans delve into the disturbing details of the nationalized health care plan that the current administration is rushing through Congress, our collective jaw is dropping, and we’re saying not just no, but hell no!” Palin wrote.
“The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel’ so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society,’ whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.”
The claim that House legislation contained anything resembling a “death panel” is demonstrably false. It did cause much needless anxiety, particularly among senior citizens, including my own parents, and seriously compromised the quality of the national discussion on healthcare reform.
Palin never renounced her lie. Instead she defended it, as in an interview with the National Review in November:
“To me, while reading that section of the bill, it became so evident that there would be a panel of bureaucrats who would decide on levels of health care, decide on those who are worthy or not worthy of receiving some government-controlled coverage,” she said. “Since health care would have to be rationed if it were promised to everyone, it would therefore lead to harm for many individuals not able to receive the government care. That leads, of course, to death.”
“The term I used to describe the panel making these decisions should not be taken literally,” said Palin. The phrase is “a lot like when President Reagan used to refer to the Soviet Union as the ‘evil empire.’ He got his point across. He got people thinking and researching what he was talking about. It was quite effective. Same thing with the ‘death panels.’ I would characterize them like that again, in a heartbeat.”
Whenever the ex-governor of Alaska distinguishes herself in this way, it warms our heart to step back and listen to noted Palinite and 6th District Congressman Peter Roskam’s reflection on Sarah Palin’s “centeredness”:
As the administration announced this week its intention to acquire the Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois in order to house prisoners to be transferred from the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Peter Roskam continued his efforts to sow fear about the planned transfer. Roskam issued a brief statement on Tuesday:
“The decision to move some of the world’s worst terrorists to Illinois is an ill-advised move that ultimately will be regretted. The proponents have failed to prove how this move will make America safer. Let’s be clear: the Administration is not closing Guantanamo, they are simply moving Guantanamo to Illinois. Illinois deserves a better Christmas present than hardened terrorists. ”
He later held a press conference with the rest of the Illinois Republican delegation to object to the proposed transfer.
Roskam’s arguments against the move have been unsubstantial. He does not define how the housing of these inmates in a supermax facility will pose a threat. His stance appears to be political posturing rather than a serious concern about a security threat. It is sad that he would block the move for political gain at the expense of the people of Thomson, who favor the move and desperately need the jobs the prison will provide.
Senator Dick Durbin and Governor Quinn offered a saner perspective on Thomson yesterday:
There is reason to be disconcerted about the transfer of Guantanamo inmates to Thomson, though not for reason of a security threat as Roskam would have us believe.
No, the problem is that the Guantanamo closure, while perhaps a symbolic measure of some importance, leaves unresolved the issues associated with the use of military tribunals and of indefinite detention of prisoners without criminal charges or trial. The President and Congress must still act to correct the abuses that they inherited from the Bush Administration. They cannot simply sweep them under the carpet. That is what we should really be afraid of. The American Civil Liberties Union had the following reaction to the news about Thomson:
“Alarmingly, all indications are that the administration plans to continue its predecessor’s policy of indefinite detention without charge or trial for some detainees, with only a change of location. Such a policy is completely at odds with our democratic commitment to due process and human rights whether it’s occurring in Cuba or in Illinois. In fact, while the Obama administration inherited the Guantánamo debacle, this current move is its own affirmative adoption of those policies. It is unimaginable that the Obama administration is using the same justification as the Bush administration used to undercut centuries of legal jurisprudence and the principle of innocent until proven guilty and the right to confront one’s accusers.
“It is also greatly disturbing that the administration will continue the use of military commissions, which are no more acceptable in Illinois or any other U.S. state than in Guantánamo. Despite some improvements, the commissions still fall far short of the legal standards necessary to comply with constitutional and international standards, allowing, for example, the use of coerced and hearsay evidence that would not be allowed in federal court. The proceedings will achieve neither reliable justice nor a restoration of America’s credibility around the world.”
“The administration must also make very clear what category of detainee will be transferred to Thomson in the future and what kind of prison conditions will apply. Detainees not charged with a crime should not be subject to punitive conditions meant for sentenced prisoners who have been found guilty in a court of law, and all conditions must comply with the Geneva Conventions. “The administration will no doubt be looking to Congress for legislative buy-in for this facility, and as both branches work together, we strongly urge lawmakers to legislate responsibly and not set any policies or precedents for indefinite detention on U.S. soil, or create any violation of the Geneva Conventions.
“The Obama administration’s announcement today contradicts everything the president has said about the need for America to return to leading with its values. American values do not contemplate disregarding our Constitution and skirting the criminal justice system. After detaining hundreds of individuals without the basic due process rights that define our justice system for almost eight years, it is time to charge suspects where evidence exists and repatriate and transfer the rest to countries where they won’t be tortured.”
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=a462bca0-5cba-44c5-9e16-93bf3020ce7b)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=afb7a0b5-ef66-4409-bbb6-9a7ea785dfe0)
