Article to be release to alternative media shortly. Will already posted this list on a seperate thread here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=839051&mesg_id=839051But here is the full article. You get it first.
A Progressive Priority: TAKE BACK THE HOUSE
By: Kevin Spidel, National Deputy Director, Progressive Democrats of America
The "Downing Street Minutes," the "Ohio Report," and the censure movement within the House have raised very little public scrutiny outside the progressive movement. Rep. Conyers and his fellow progressive House members tried hard to raise these facts in the public eye via the media, town halls, and working with groups like Progressive Democrats of America.
However, no truly legitimate hearing was ever called in Congress to address the need for accountability behind some of the issues raised on these topics.
Why? The GOP majority controls every aspect of what is done by the 435 members of the House of Representatives. They control it all, right down to counting how many pencils Conyers' Judiciary staff gets. The progressive community must rise up in 2006 and make sure that Rep. John Conyers gets his seat as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. The American people deserve to put accountability for an illegal, immoral war, voting integrity, and the mismanagement of a nation via the GOP on the docket. Anything short of that is a regressive step in this movement.
A Democratic majority in the House is the next step needed for our movement. In order to be effective and to help put an end to the needless killing, the hijacking of our Democracy, and the reign of Bush & Company, we must regain the House. Anything short of that is grandstanding on the issues, without any real movement building or solution-oriented focus.
Many outside the electoral process and involved in the social justice movements will challenge this statement. However, I ask to what end will their plan provide immediate change to the political climate? We do not have the luxury of time on our hands as death in the name of freedom takes place in Iraq. It is that serious.
I have just returned from a heated Democratic primary race in Illinois.
Christine Cegelis was outspent nearly 4 to 1 and narrowly was defeated by just over 2 votes per precinct. This race represented a challenge by progressive values to the machine. The primary fight is where the progressive movement's focus must remain.
Now that a winner of the primary has emerged from the primary fight, the most progressive next step is to assure that that Congressional District turns Democratic. Cegelis, in an April 3rd article in the Chicago Sun-Times highlighted the importance of this aspect, "I think the majority of the voters who voted for me want a Democratic majority in the House. A Democratic majority is important right now. The country is going in the wrong direction."
Supporting a Democrat in the general election over a Republican is not condoning the mess that is machine politics; it isn't that simple anymore. Supporting a Democrat in the general election is a pragmatic step toward a swift end to the corruption and misrepresentation of the Republican majority. As that primary came to end and the focus became a need to pick up a Democratic seat, the progressive movement inside the Democratic Party does not end in regards to challenging the centrist wing of the party. As folks in the Illinois 6th begin to shift focus from working toward a progressive candidate toward picking up a Democratic seat, they can rest assured knowing the fight goes on challenging the Democrats on progressive issues.
In California, in what must be a shock to the California Democratic Party, PDLA President Marcy Winograd BLOCKED six-term incumbent Congresswoman Jane Harman from receiving the California Democratic Party’s endorsement at this weekend’s delegate caucus in Harbor City.
Dressed in a pin-striped suit and wearing a dove button, Winograd told the crowd, " If you have ever protested the war, if you have ever sent an email urging a Democrat in Congress to take a stronger stand in the face of the Bush administration’s reckless agenda, if you have ever felt frustrated with the lack of leadership within the Democratic Party, now is the time to send a message. Your vote to bring the troops home and end this senseless war will reverberate across the nation."
In the primary battles, the progressive challenge to the party continues.
However, win or lose, we can not forget that, come the general election, the most important step we as a progressive community can take is to elect a House majority in 2006 for the Democratic Party.
Let me outline why this is the most effective strategy we can take as a community. In a briefing by the Congressional Progressive Caucus to various progressive groups, of which PDA was a part of, the overview below of how Progressive Caucus Members would be empowered if Democrats regained control of the House in November/2006 elections was discussed:
- At least 9 Congressional Progressive Caucus Members would become Committee Chairmen or Chairwomen
- An additional 35 Congressional Progressive Caucus Members would become Subcommittee Chairmen or Chairwomen.
The following Progressive Caucus Members would become Committee Chairs:
- Congressman George Miller, Chairman of Education and Workforce Committee
- Congressman Barney Frank, Chairman of Financial Services
- Congressman Henry Waxman, Chairman of Government Reform
- Congressman Bennie Thompson, Chairman of Homeland Security Committee
- Congressman Tom Lantos, Chairman of International Relations Committee
- Congressman John Conyers, Chairman of Judiciary Committee
- Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, Chairwoman of Rules Committee
- Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, Chairwoman of Small Business Committee
- Congressman Charles Rangel, Chairman of Ways and Means Committee
The following Progressive Caucus Members would become Subcommittee Chairs:
- Appropriations Subcommittees -- Congresswomen Rosa DeLauro and Marcy Kaptur and Congressmen John Olver, Jose Serrano, and Ed Pastor
- Armed Services Subcommittee, Congressman Neil Abercrombie
- Education and Workforce Subcommittees, Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey and Congressman Dennis Kucinich
- Energy and Commerce Subcommittees, Congressman Ed Markey and Congresswomen Jan Schakowsky and Hilda Solis
- Financial Services Subcommittee, Congresswoman Maxine Waters and Congressman Luis Gutierrez
- Government Reform Subcommittees, Congresswoman Diane Watson and Congressmen Dennis Kucinich, Elijah Cummings, Danny Davis of Illinois, and William "Lacy" Clay
- International Relations Subcommittee, Congressman Donald Payne
- Judiciary Subcommittees, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee and Congressmen Jerry Nadler and Melvin Watt
- Interior Subcommittees, Congressmen Raul Grijalva and Tom Udall and Congresswoman Donna Christensen
- Rules Subcommittees, Congressman Jim McGovern
- Small Business Subcommittees, Congresswomen Madeleine Bordallo
- Transportation and Infrastructure, DeFazio, Filner, Holmes-Norton, and C. Brown
- Ways and Means Subcommittees, Congressmen Pete Stark, Jim McDermott, and John Lewis of Georgia
Read those names and positions closely. Imagine our work on the ground with that leadership in Congress. Imagine issues of the Downing Street Minutes, of the Ohio Irregularities in the Elections, of the Censure of the President, of Impeachment with these members managing the committees.
Folks, it is that serious.
Back in Illinois 6th Congressional District I had the privilege of working with a union representative by the name of Jon Baker. Jon compared post-Cegelis campaign work to his prior experience as an auto mechanic. Replying to some Cegelis volunteers who were reluctant to get involved in the Duckworth campaign, Jon said that whenever he, as a mechanic, had to fix something he had to get dirty. If the volunteers wanted to have an impact on the Democratic Party in the 6th CD, so too would they have to "get dirty" and involve themselves in party politics. Jon noted that this should not be done at the expense of our progressive principles, and that the long-range goal should be to strengthen progressives' political agenda and presence in the District.
In 2006, the progressive community must work to elect a Democratic majority in the House, while continuing to put pressure on the Democrats during the primary contests, the state parties, and the Democratic National Committee on the issues of war, universal healthcare, poverty, fair trade, human rights, and social justice. PDA is working to elect truly progressive candidates such as Tony Trupiano in Michigan’s 11th District who was one of the first candidates in 2006 to campaign for impeachment of the President, as well as Francine Busby in California’s 50th whose election is less then a week away. The ground can be gained for progressives. PDA was founded to do just that....Join PDA and the growing movement to take back our Party!
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