First Blue America Endorsement Of 2010: Marcy Winograd (CA-36)

Blue America is very proud to be endorsing Marcy Winograd for Congress today. She's our first challenger for the election cycle-- and our first endorsement in 2010. We didn't play eeny meeny miny mo to decide she would be our first candidate. For us she's a model candidate-- the kind of leader we're looking for to represent working families and progressive ideals in a Congress where neither gets taken seriously when push comes to shove. Let me quote from the opening lines of a flier her Jobs Not War campaign sent out to voters in CA-36 yesterday:

I live my life as a progressive. As an educator, I work to strengthen public education. As a human rights advocate, I promote peace and protection of innocent civilians caught in the middle of war and occupation.

We endorsed Marcy in her first run against virulent warmonger and Blue Dog Jane Harman, the second richest member of Congress (after Darrell Issa) in 2006. We've had a lot of time to get to know her. And the better we've gotten to know her, the more we like her, not just as a person-- which is surprising meaningful-- but as a potential leader of the Donna Edwards sort. Like Donna, Marcy is more than just a political job seeker with a package of consultant-tested positions. Like Donna, she's been a movement progressive, a community activist, and a grassroots leader-- a co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of PDA and a tireless worker for the ideals progressives aspire to.

Marcy's race is about more than just replacing a notorious Blue Dog with a progressive voter. Sure, Harman was the Bush Regime's favorite House member-- and even publicly bragged that she is "the best Republican in the Democratic Party"-- but what enthuses us so much about Marcy has nothing to do with Harman. It's all about Marcy. From the occupation of Afghanistan to comprehensive universal healthcare she has been on the frontlines formulating progressive approaches and strategies. John and Digby and I are relieved that when Marcy is in Congress, none of us are going to have to call her up and twist her arm-- or even hold her hand-- about voting the right way. It's more likely she'll be calling us and telling us who the nervous nellies are who need... bolstering.

John, one of Blue America's principals and a resident of Mar Vista in CA-36, was being urged to jump into the race and take on Harman. Hearing Marcy talk about a Green New Deal helped him make up his mind to concentrate on finishing the new book he and Dave Neiwert are writing, Over the Cliff-- How the Election of Barack Obama Drove the Right Crazy and leave the electoral campaign to Marcy while he bolsters C&L and works the book angle. As John reminded me after he had dinner with her, she's down with the nitty gritty, "a campaign to re-invest in America, converting an economy currently based on making war overseas into one that makes better schools, roads, bridges, railways, and new Green Industries at home." He was impressed with her answers to questions about a member of Congress can help create the jobs that are so desperately needed in Southern California. Marcy:

We must fight for a Green New Deal, modeled after the New Deal of the Great Depression. There is $200-billion left over from TARP that we can use not to bail out corrupt banks-- but for common good: the creation of a sustainable economy.

While some banks may be reticent to accept the TARP funds, the aerospace industry is not. Its association has explicitly asked for 6-billion in TARP to create new jobs. We can immediately contract with regional aerospace companies, not to build more bombs, but to create jobs in the New Green Economy. We need their engineering know-how and skilled workforce to build rapid transit and develop solar and wind resources that will make us strong and energy independent. Jane Harman has spent too many years lobbying for weapons contracts, failing to expand the reach of aerospace beyond a permanent war economy.

...Congress would be wise to model a new job stimulus package after a proven program: the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the 1935 Roosevelt Depression brainchild that employed an estimated 10-million Americans building 850 airports, 110,000 libraries, schools, and hospitals, 500 water treatment plants, 78,000 bridges, and 8,000 parks. The WPA also employed writers and artists, many of whom painted murals in post offices, like the San Pedro post office on Beacon Street, where inside the Art Deco building of marble and chrome we find a WPA mural depicting the history of the harbor.

Obama’s first recovery plan, the American Reinvestment & Recovery Act, funded “shovel-ready” jobs: storm drain clean up; energy retrofits; highway repairs.

President Obama’s second recovery plan must invest in future industries with large pay-offs in terms of career-path learning and earning opportunities in the Green economy. Put laid-off Boeing missile defense workers back on the job building electric buses for the future. Put college professors back to work in Green Energy Departments at universities across the country. Put steelworkers back to work strengthening our bridges in earthquake-prone California. Put everyone with a hard hat back to work building solar panel parts now outsourced to China.

How are we going to pay for this Green New Deal? Cut the fat in the bloated military budget, a sacred cow that is larger than all the world’s military budgets combined, and reemploy the workforce in the Green economy. Bring our troops home from the trillion-dollar wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and honor our veterans with land and lessons in organic farming. Levy a 25-cent tax on every stock transaction on Wall Street and offer stock brokers opportunities to create real wealth developing credit unions that never heard of a sub-prime loan.

Close the corporate loopholes that hide billions in bank vaults in the Caribbean and use the cash to hire artists and musicians to inspire our young. Repeal the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and employ doctors and nurses to work in the inner city. End the war on drugs with its obscene prison costs and recruit counselors to open mental health clinics.

When President Roosevelt enacted the New Deal one out of every four Americans was out of work. Today, in California, though the official unemployment rate hovers at 12%, the real unemployment rate, the one that includes the underemployed and those who have given up looking for a job, is pushing 20%.

Please join me and John and Marcy over at CrooksAndLiars, today at 10AM (PT) for a free-ranging discussion of the issues facing CA-36-- and America-- as we head into the midterm election cycle. There's a great deal at stake. We also urge you to join us in donating to Marcy Winograd's campaign fund.