6th District Representative Peter Roskam has been been demonstrating all the gravitas of a preteen girl of late in his contest with Rep. Darrell Issa and other Republicans to win the most Facebook friends and Twitter followers. While the nation faces numerous crises, we find Roskam Tweeting about episodes of Lost in an effort to become the House’s top Twit. We suspect that there might be better uses for his time and for our tax dollars.
More important though than Peter Roskam’s little popularity contest is the way Roskam is using both new social media and cooperative traditional media outlets to market lies about recent and pending legislative measures such as health reform and financial regulation. Roskam has turned the relationship between a Representative and his constituents upside down. Rather than listening to his constituents and bring their concerns back to Washington, Roskam is instead using media to market to his constituents a predetermined set of Republican objectives aimed at preserving the the GOP program of corporate deregulation that has been so disastrous to our country. And Peter Roskam has shown no reluctance to use lies and scare tactics – his endless repetitions of the lies about the fictional bailout provision in proposed financial reform bill is just one example.
It is time we had a serious leader and legislator as our Representative in Washington and not just a shill for big Wall Street banks and multi-national corporations. Someone willing to confront systematic economic injustice and the evolving global environmental catastrophe. We have such a person in candidate Ben Lowe from Wheaton. We encourage everyone to get to know Ben.
In the meantime, maybe we could make this GOP social media obsession work for constituents. How about every time Peter Roskam meets with a bank lobbyist or defense contractor he earns a Foursquare badge and we get a Twitter alert? Could revolutionize transparency in government.
We received a breathless fund-raising email from Peter Roskam last Monday. Apparently his huge stash of corporate cash is not sufficient for him to buy enough attack ads this fall to crush his unfunded grass roots Democratic opponent and he needs to beg his constituents for their hard-earned dollars so that he can return to Washington and vote against any bill that might actually help them. Here is the way Roskam’s message began:
The Democrats are out of control. Never in my life did I anticipate serving in a Congress that is poised to take over 1/6 of our nation’s economy through the procedural slight-of-hand known as reconciliation. With the Democrats’ passage of the Senate bill in the House of Representatives, the stakes for our country have gotten even higher. But the fight to defend our healthcare system from a government takeover is far from over – in fact, it has just begun.
Because that is what this election year will be – a fight against a Democrat political machine powered by liberal “back room” politics and I believe Americans like you and I have seen enough. We’re tired of watching the Administration cut deals with members of Congress to secure votes on a health care bill that the vast majority of Americans know to be irresponsible, misguided, and even harmful. Here in the Illinois 6th district, we know dirty Chicago politics when we see it, and it’s time to put an end to this madness.
Just a tad over-dramatic, no? We think Roskam should at least get some sort of literary award for fitting so many slurs into two short paragraphs. Roskam is, of course, ridiculous. There is no government takeover of healthcare, only an insurance regulation bill that will float a lot of new business to the insurance companies. Reconciliation is a parliamentary technique that Roskam’s own Republican party has used repeatedly when they held the majority. And Roskam’s Democratic opponent this fall can only wish that he had the support of a “democratic political machine” – he is, so far anyway, pretty much dependent on a small band of volunteers from the district who are fed up with Roskam’s obstruction and bullshit. If you want to see a political machine, look instead to the Republicans who control Du Page County Government and the big corporations like Exelon and Bank of America who fund Roskam’s campaigns in expectation of influence over his votes on environmental legislation and banking regulation.
Anyway, we got a smile when we received a fundraising email in response from Roskam’s opponent, Ben Lowe of Wheaton. Bent sent this out on April 1st and his message displays a great deal of plucky humor approopriate to the day:
Hi, I thought I should introduce myself.
My name is Ben Lowe.
I’m the out-of-control, liberal, left-wing, big-government, backroom deal-cutting, game-playing, dirty Chicago politician, engaged in a hostile, irresponsible, misguided, harmful, insane government takeover of health care, that your Congressman, Peter Roskam, warned you about in his recent fund-raising letter.
My naive mother is crushed to learn what I have become since I left the gentle protections of her tender bosom, for the corrupting influence of Wheaton College, the twisted machinations of suburban Wheaton, and the left-wing radicalism of a Midwestern evangelical church. My pastor-father cannot figure out where he went wrong! It must be the extreme liberalizing result of Wheaton College’s student life policies, with its exuberant embrace of swing dancing. Or perhaps the consequence of a nature-goddess worshiping environmental-studies college major and profession. Or maybe the effect of a socialist-inspired radical experiment in communal living among the drug-addled, prostitution-riddled projects of blighted Wheaton and Glen Ellyn.
Fortunately for you, Congressman Roskam is not alarmist, but reasonable, commonsensical, and conservative.
Albeit hard-up for funds. After all, he currently has only $547,000 or so left in his campaign war-chest after spending as much on an uncontested primary, and that may not be enough when stacked up against my whopping $2,000 campaign account balance. It certainly is not enough to finance limitless television and radio ads, and a steady stream of life-enhancing robocalls. Donate big, donate often, for the free government postage granted to Washington politicians, the free publicity generated by news media interviews, and the other perks of incumbency are not enough to overcome the threat that I pose to our town, our district, and our American way of life.
This is going to be a tough race. True, Obama won this district with 56% of the vote. And though his national approval rating has fallen to 46%, one can never be too careful in defense of our country from liberal political schemes and harmful government borrowing and spending (which are immeasurably more insidious than the private-sector plagues of deregulation-induced, recession-causing, finance-industry implosions of our economy, or the oil-and-power-company pollution of our environment, the health-industry abuse of the uninsured poor, or the lawyer-enriching tort-cases with enormous verdicts against medical professionals).
Health care reform, in particular, has progressed at break-neck pace in the century since that radically-liberal, communist-inspired, former-Republican Teddy Roosevelt first proposed it in 1912, along with his other nefarious strategies, such as occupational safety, child-labor laws, minimum wage, and Sundays off.
We’ve got to slow this speeding snail before it breaks the sound barrier!
Now is the time for incremental reform!
I urge you to reduce government spending today by contributing to Congressman Roskam’s campaign fund!
Or join us instead, and help bring reason and common sense back to congress. We cannot win without your support.
Yours,
Ben Lowe
Advocate for informed political debate
Democrat for Congress, 6th District Illinois
Ben is a fine person. We’ve met him. We’ve read his book. We are certain he would make an excellent Representative for the 6th District. If you are tired of the Republican obstruction and corporate money that is crippling our nation’s ability to cope the very serious problems it faces, please consider giving your time and/or money to help Ben’s campaign.
Just finished watching the video of President Obama’s Q&A session at the GOP House Issues conference today. The President was brilliant. He called the GOP to account for for their campaign of misinformation about healthcare reform and the economic stimulus, but did it with respect and a sincere invitation to Republicans to work with him in the nation’s best interest. The President was articulate and knew his facts, including detailed knowledge of Republican counter proposals. He was warm and human in demeanor and gentle but firm in his criticisms, using self-deprecating humor effectively to put the room at ease. I have never seen a more brilliant performance by a President. Never.
You can hear Congressman Roskam pose his question at about 67:15.
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.
That’s right. Peter Roskam is pretty much as bad as it gets.
You have one vote in the House of Representatives and Peter Roskam is using it to advance the interests of big banks, and insurance companies, and oil companies – rather than to help you.
Roskam has consistently voted against a fair minimum wage for workers and against equal pay for equal work – at the same time advocating unlimited compensation for corporate executives. He has repeatedly opposed efforts to expand the Children’s Health Insurance Program and uses taxpayer dollars to send out campaign materials advocating against Democratic efforts to make affordable healthcare available to all Americans. He has used his vote to prevent workers from organizing for better pay and working conditions and has opposed reasonable workplace safety regulations.
As the country has struggled to recover from the economic collapse resulting from the disastrous policies of the Bush Administration, Peter Roskam has refused to extend unemployment benefits to displaced workers and has voted against continuation of government food relief programs. Worse still, he uses his office to work for still more of the corporate deregulation that brought us to this low point to begin with.
Roskam stood silent while the Bush administration carried out torture and endless illegal detention in your name and wasted billions on pointless military adventures and payouuts to corrupt defense contractors.
And as global climate change and its devastating ecological consequences threaten our children’s future, Roskam is siding with the big polluters and the U.S. Chamber to prevent any meaningful response.
But now you have another chance to make that all change. His name is Ben Lowe and he is a generous young man, a progressive Democrat, who has put his life on hold in order to run against Roskam next fall when no one else would. Ben is an exceptionally bright and capable person, unbeholden to corporate interests, who proposes to use that one vote in Congress to do things that will help all of us. You can read about some of his ideas here.
But because Ben is an outsider, he has an exceptionally difficult task ahead of him in securing the kind of support from the national party that can help him win against a generously-funded Peter Roskam in November. To secure that support, it is absolutely critical that those of us in the district who want change do everything we can to show our support for Ben as our candidate. And that means donating whatever we can afford, however large or small an amount that may be, to Ben’s campaign. I have done so, and will continue to do so as I am able. I hope you will also send Ben something today.You can make donations online at Ben’s Campaign website:
Roskam joined with the also soon-to-be retired Congressman and notable flip-flopper Mark Kirk (who was for closing Guantanamo before he was against it), Congresswoman Judy Biggert, and Congressman Don Manzullo to protest the administration’s proposal to bring prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention center to a largely unused facility in Thomson, Illinois.
Roskam asserts that that to bring these prisoners to Illinois would put the public at risk and “dissuade businesses from coming to the state”.
“The Obama administration’s utter inability to create jobs here does not somehow make sending some of the world’s worst terrorists to our backyard a good idea,”
And if we are to believe Mark Kirk (who actually voted for the Guantanamo closure before he fell in love with Sarah Palin), Osama Bin Laden himself is likely to take up residence in Skokie and Chicago’s most prominent landmarks immediately destroyed.
All of this is, of course, a big load of hooey. The transfer could produce 2,000-3,000 job in a state that badly needs jobs. And the state has for some time already housed terrorists in federal facilities without any of the problems that the “Frightening Four” predict.
