IS CONGRESS READY FOR A PROGRESSIVE MUSLIM REP... FROM MINNESOTA? MEET KEITH ELLISON

Last year my old comrade Isaac Peterson, one of the most distinguished activist journalists in the Twin Cities area, wrote about some of his experiences for DWT. Since there is no one covering Minnesota politics who's as good as Isaac, I asked him to give us a heads-up on the fireworks race in the solidly blue 5th congressional district, the Minneapolis district of retiring Democrat Martin Sabo, a district that gave Gore 63% in 2000 and then, after 4 years of Bush, gave Kerry 71%. Let's have Isaac tell the rest of the story:

Minnesota has a reputation for two things: cold weather and progressive politics.

I personally don't think the weather is that cold. And the "progressive" label comes from being the place that spawned some real decent folks like Hubert Humphrey and Paul Wellstone. It backed Walter Mondale in '84 when most of the rest of the country went Reagan. And it was one of the states that went heaviest for Kerry in 2004-- not like Kerry is a progressive.

(Minnesota was also the state that put Jesse Ventura in the governor's mansion in 1998, but I'm going to continue pretending that didn't happen.)

Well, Minnesota ain't all that progressive. There has been a right wing infestation the few election cycles, that put Norm Coleman in the US Senate, made a neocon the governor and made the GOP majority in the Minnesota House of Representatives. There is a Democratic majority in the state Senate, but just barely. The Bush administration has been real hot on finishing making Minnesota red-- Bush and Cheney seem to be in this state more than Jesse Ventura was while he was pretending to be governor.

The weather isn't the only thing about Minnesota that's cold.

Minnesota has a chance to live up to its progressive reputation in September and November.

Keith Ellison, a former Minnesota state representative, is running for the US House of Representatives, trying to replace outgoing Martin Sabo, a Democrat.

Keith has a lot going for him, like winning the Democratic endorsement this past spring, and a long record of championing progressive causes: the environment, universal affordable health coverage, social and economic justice, and opposition to the Iraq war to name some. He is not shy or apologetic about having those views.

But he has two things going against him:

1. He's black (reminder: Minnesota is not that progressive)
2. He's Muslim

If Keith wins in November, he will be not only the first Muslim elected to national office in Minnesota, he will be one of the first-- if not the first-- anywhere in this country.

He's the front runner, with several unendorsed Democrats challenging him, all unimpressive. The media here is focusing on all the Ellison negatives and giving his challengers a free ride (and some of them have lots of baggage). I'm already running long with this commentary so I won't go into details or give specific examples.

Anyway, following is an interview I did with Keith a couple of months ago where he talks pretty candidly about what he is about. It originally appeared in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.

Keith Ellison Unplugged--
Minneapolis’ Northside state rep riffs on his run for Congress

If State Representative Keith Ellison’s current bid to replace outgoing Martin Sabo in the U.S. House of Representatives is successful, it would make him the first African American to represent Minnesota in
Congress, as well as the first Muslim from any state.

Ellison, a North Minneapolis attorney and member of Minnesota’s House of Representatives, emerged as the front-runner in a crowded field of candidates to cinch the DFL endorsement in May. Ellison still must win the DFL primary in September, where he will face challengers Ember Reichgott Junge, Paul Ostrow and Mike Erlandson.

In the Minnesota legislature, Ellison established for himself a reputation as a formidable orator and a passionate advocate for the causes he championed. It has been suggested by some that Ellison has the potential to go to Washington and become “the next Paul Wellstone.”

Although Ellison has assembled a strong campaign team and appears to want to run an issue-oriented campaign, he does have his critics and detractors and has been forced to deal with what he considers to be petty side issues.

Ellison shared with us his reasons for running for Congress, his record as a State Representative, his views on the Bush administration, and other topics. The words beneath the following subheadings are entirely Ellison’s.

Why he’s running

The reason I'm running for office is because I want to make peace and justice the guiding principles of our country, because I think that if we have peace we can divert all the resources being devoted into this war into things that human beings actually need.

If we have peace, we can have better relations with other countries around the world. If we operate
on the basis of peace, we can credibly promote peace in other parts of the world.

I'm very concerned about how the Bush administration seems to see war as the guiding principle of our nation and always look to military action as the first option.

The second reason I'm running is that I believe that we should have universal health coverage in our country. Everybody should be able to go to the doctor-- at this point we have 46 million Americans who see the emergency room as their healthcare plan.

This is ridiculous in the wealthiest country in the world. If other industrialized countries like Canada and the European Union can cover everybody, we ought to be able to cover everybody, too.

Third, I think we have to move very deliberately and quickly towards a renewable future. We need to invest heavily in clean energy and renewable fuels. We need to invest heavily in hybrid vehicles and in
mass transit so that we can move people and not cars.

Fourth, I think that we need to really look at the expansion of executive authority. The Bush administration, based on the fear associated with 9/11, has essentially manipulated the country to the point where he controls us through fear and has thereby expanded his authority.

I think the executive branch at this point is almost an imperial presidency. He says that he can torture people if he wants to; he says that he can spy on people if he wants to; and he has now forced through a law that says that they can look at our library records and the books we purchase from bookstores...

The very basis of privacy is threatened in our country.

Another reason I'm running is I want to stand against the "wedges." The Bush administration told us last year that the problem with our country is the gay and lesbian community, and that barring them from the institution is the number-one issue. This year they're telling us the immigrants are the problem, and then most recently they're telling us that gay marriage is the problem all over again.

So they keep on manipulating the population through these wedge issues, and I think it's important for people to stand up against those wedge issues as I have done and will continue to do.

That's why I'm running, and that's what my agenda's all about.

His Minnesota House record

As you know, the Democrats have been in the minority in the House. And despite the challenge of being a member of the minority, I've still been able to pass bills to protect our children from lead poisoning, from being exposed to mercury. I've been able to pass bills on election integrity
to protect the vote, to be a co-author on bills to expand transit like the Northstar commuter rail.

I've introduced more bills than any [other] Democrat, and I'm only behind about three Republicans who are all committee chairs.

I've always been an independent voice for the environment, for children, for our seniors, for transit, for the right to vote, to make sure that we have good reentry services for people who leave prison and try to stay straight; all these are things I've been working on and been consistent about.

Sabo's legacy

Martin Sabo was a great legislator, and I hope to be able to be as effective as he was in Congress. I hope to be able to bring people together the way he did, to fight for basic economic justice issues like Social Security as he did, and maintain that legacy.

I just want to say that this election presents us all with a choice: an "ownership society"-- in other words, an "on your own society"-- or a society in which we're all in this together [and] we have shared responsibility and shared benefits.

I choose the shared society, the society where we all believe that everybody counts and everybody matters. I'm running on that platform, and quite frankly, people who try to distract us from that platform are simply enemies of that platform.

Guiding principles

Over the last four years, my religion has not come up as an issue. Now it seems to be all certain people want to talk about when, in fact, I've been consistent in making sure that my faith shows
through my behavior and in how I try to treat other people well.

I've never worn it on my sleeve or made it an issue for other people. Now it seems to be something people want to talk about on a regular basis, but it simply doesn't matter.

I also want to say that I am a curious person. I have looked into the issues-- I haven't just taken people's word for it. I've gone to lectures and I've spoken out on issues that I care about, but always
with the idea that civil and human rights are the most important things in our country.

The idea that everybody has a voice, that people should be treated fairly and equally, that's been a guiding principle of my life. I've always, always stood by that.

Keith Ellison's campaign may be contacted through keithellison.org or by calling 612-522-4416.


UPDATE: AS EXPECTED, THE NEO-NAZI RIGHT GOES AFTER ELLISON

Today's New York Sun found a target. Teaming up with obsessed far right bloggers, they conjured up a Democratic they want to bash: Keith Ellison. Big shock!


DAY BEFORE ELECTION DAY UPDATE

The day before Tuesday's election The Washington Post published an article roughing up Ellison and raising right wing talking points about him. They highlight some cockamamie charges-- false-- that he was "an associate" of Louis Farrakhan and subtly make him sound un-American. "He prays toward Mecca five times a day and says he has not eaten pork or had a drink of alcohol since he converted to Islam as a 19-year-old student at Wayne State University in Detroit. When speaking at mosques or to members of Minneapolis's large Somali immigrant population, he opens with 'Salaam aleikum,' Arabic for Peace be with you.'"