Blue America Welcomes Connie Saltonstall

I woke up early in the morning a few days ago and saw that finally someone in Michigan's vast first congressional district had decided to step up and stop letting anti-Choice fanatic Bart Stupak get a free ride to re-election. On seeing a brief news item about Connie Saltonstall running for Congress, I was on the phone with her in half an hour, ascertained she was of a distinctly progressive bent, and had her on the Blue America Sending Democrats A Message ActBlue page within an hour. Since then close to 200 people have contributed over $5,000 to her campaign. These were primarily people who didn't know much about Connie, but knew all they would ever need to know about Bart Stupak.

Within a day or two Digby was winging her way east to sit down, face-to-face, with Connie and... well, see what she was made of. A couple days later, Digby, John and I sat down and decided that Connie merits a full scale Blue America endorsement. We added her to our candidates page and she's already gotten another 160 donations and, again, over $5,000. Today at 3pm (est/noon on the West Coast) Connie will be doing her first ever live blog session. It's being hosted by Digby at Crooks and Liars. NOW, one of the biggest and most important women's advocacy groups in the nation, just endorsed her this morning. They said, in part:

The National Organization for Women Political Action Committee is proud to announce our endorsement of Connie Saltonstall for Congress, representing Michigan's 1st District. Saltonstall is taking on reproductive rights foe and health care reform obstructer Rep. Bart Stupak in the state's Democratic primary this August.

What a relief that a courageous feminist candidate stepped up to the plate to challenge the co-author of the anti-choice Stupak-Pitts Amendment. Thanks to Connie Saltonstall, Stupak's bullying attempts to use health care reform as an opportunity to restrict women's access to abortion will be contested at the polls. Saltonstall stated: "I believe that [Stupak] has a right to his personal, religious views, but to deprive his constituents of needed health care reform because of those views is reprehensible."

Saltonstall is a strong supporter of the full range of feminist issues, including reproductive justice, affirmative action, pay equity, constitutional equality and equal marriage rights. More specifically, she is in favor of repealing the Hyde Amendment, fully funding the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, rescinding the Defense Of Marriage Act, expanding the Family and Medical Leave Act to add paid leave, and undoing the Bush-era damage done to Title IX.

There have been plenty of naysayers-- "she can't win" (which reminded me of how the battle started when we decided to back Donna Edwards against Al Wynn) and "he's entitled to his religious beliefs," being two of the most persistent comments-- but the folks who have been donating this week see an opportunity to hold a faithless politician who has gone way too far accountable.

Stupak has worked closely with conservatives to build a coalition to hold healthcare reform hostage, insisting that the bill will force Americans to pay for abortions, an out and out lie straight from John Boehner's messaging shop. Sadly, the bill will actually restrict women's ability to purchase insurance coverage for abortions, even with their own money. This was the result of a wrenching compromise by the pro-choice members of Congress who reluctantly acquiesced to the unreasonable demands of the minority so that millions of uninsured Americans might have access to health care. But that wasn't good enough for Mr. Stupak, who continues to lie about the provisions of the bill and is committed to vote with the Republicans who are determined to make healthcare reform President Obama's "Waterloo." Stupak refuses to take yes for an answer.

Well, as Digby pointed out to Blue America donors, Bart Stupak isn't good enough for a frustrated constituent named Connie Saltonstall, who waited patiently for months for someone to step up as Stupak waged his quixotic crusade against reproductive rights on the backs of the uninsured. When no one did, she finally decided that she had no choice but to challenge him herself. She says,

"Our Congressman has let us down. Bart Stupak has threatened to block healthcare reform unless the Amendment that bears his name is included in the final bill. I believe that he has a right to his personal, religious views, but to deprive his constituents of needed healthcare reform because of those views is reprehensible."

Saltonstall is an experienced and qualified politician having served in various capacities in Michigan politics for decades. More importantly, she is a person of deep commitment to progressive politics who not only believes that it's not too much to ask that the Democratic party protects a woman's constitutional right to privacy and provide health care for everyone at the same time, but that the progressive agenda can best deliver to her friends and neighbors what they need to get through these tough economic times, preserve their liberty and keep America a strong, tolerant, future-oriented nation.

Blue America is proud to endorse Connie Saltonstall for Congress. We hope that you'll join us for a live chat at CrooksandLiars.com at 3PM, meet Connie for yourself and gage how much you want to participate in this campaign. The future of the health care reform bill, the Democratic Party and the country are at stake and regardless of the outcome when the vote is finally taken, Bart Stupak has proven that he is willing to go to any length to impose his personal religious views on the whole country. If you feel, as we do, that this is not in keeping with the fundamental values of the Democratic Party, then a donation to Connie Saltonstall's campaign is the best way to ensure that he no longer has the opportunity to do it.




UPDATE: And By The Way The Healthcare Reform Bill Would Benefit The Residents of MI-01 Tremendously

The Commerce and Energy Commttee has come out with a review of the impact of the bill on Stupak's constituents, people who are now encouraging Connie to run. Highlights of what the bill will achieve there:

* Improve coverage for 364,000 residents with health insurance.

* Give tax credits and other assistance to up to 197,000 families and 17,900 small businesses to help
them afford coverage.

* Improve Medicare for 141,000 beneficiaries, including closing the donut hole.

* Extend coverage to 44,000 uninsured residents.

* Guarantee that 10,000 residents with pre-existing conditions can obtain coverage.

* Protect 1,100 families from bankruptcy due to unaffordable health care costs.

* Allow 50,000 young adults to obtain coverage on their parents’ insurance plans.

* Provide millions of dollars in new funding for 41 community health centers.

* Reduce the cost of uncompensated care for hospitals and other health care providers by $102
million annually.

But Stupak is still insisting on joining the GOP obstructionists in opposition.