Chris Donovan Is Doing In Connecticut What We Need Congress To Do In Washington

As Congress (more on them below) remains stuck in neutral on a jobs bill to fix the one issue that is-- or at least should be-- on top of the priority list for Democrats, and anyone who cares what's happening to the 99% of Americans who aren't wealthy Wall Street fat cats, there's some more good news coming out of Connecticut.

Blue America-endorsed candidate for the open 5th CD seat-- Connecticut Speaker of the House, Chris Donovan-- has led the fight in the Connecticut General Assembly to pass two jobs measures to help the struggling Connecticut economy. The first, which passed almost unanimously, targets smart spending at programs designed to create jobs immediately: bridge repairs, green energy retrofits for home heating, workforce development, tax credits to encourage hiring of the unemployed, small business loans and angel investor seed money to help jump-start entrepreneurship, and a streamlining of the permit and regulation process to help speed projects like brownfield clean-up and development. (The one "NO" vote was a right-wing kook who's running for Congress against Democrat Joe Courtney and he wanted to make a point that he'll always vote with the 1% against the 99%. Every other Republican voted "YES.")

The second bill, which passed with largely Democratic support, will create roughly 7,500 jobs-- many of them immediate-start construction jobs-- with modest spending over 10 years to enable a research company to open at the site of the UCONN Health Center. The lab is part of the Connecticut Democrats' push for Bioscience Connecticut, an emerging research triangle anchored by Yale in New Haven, UCONN in Storrs, and the UCONN Health Center in greater Hartford that will be the base for the state emerging as a leader in the growth bioscience industry.

This story is a good insight on why we need CAN DO progressive fighters and leaders like Chris in Congress. Congress can't seem to pass an overwhelmingly popular jobs bill, but Chris is able to get two jobs bills through his legislature, despite not being able to print money and having to live within the confines of a hard budget, with Republican support. Chris:

“Connecticut families want jobs and a strong economy. We targeted small businesses and the unemployed. Because we worked together, people will go back to work. This bill gives them more than hope. It gives them a program that invests in their future. It fosters an environment that will create jobs, help small businesses grow, spur innovation, educate and train our workforce, and make Connecticut competitive again.”

His Republican opponents on the other hand, are anxious to get to Congress so they can join Boehner and Cantor in saying no to commonsense job bills that would help the 99% of us that aren't their insider corporate donors. Andrew Roraback, card-carrying member of the 1% fresh from saying that $800,000 will buy you "a pretty nice house" where he comes from and for voting against money to build a playground for disabled kids, voted against the laboratory project, despite it being in the congressional district he is running to represent. Not to be outdone, millionaire nursing home and golf course magnate Lisa Wilson-Foley sent out a press release attacking the jobs-creating project in her own district using phrases like "big-boy pants" and saying that politicians who disagree with her "belong in diapers." Yes, really. I wonder if she's met David Vitter.

Yesterday we talked to Members of Congress and to Democratic candidates who were angry about the sell-outs of the SuperCommittee who say they are willing to bargain away Medicare benefits. Chris was one of them. He told me that "Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are part of what makes this country great. In times of economic turmoil like what we are facing today we should be thinking of expanding these programs, not cutting them." We need Chris in Congress-- to fight for jobs, to fight for the rights and the dignity of the 99%, and to fight against boneheaded plans to give up on 80 years of support for overwhelmingly successful, and popular, New Deal programs like Social Security (and Medicare and Medicaid). We need good, progressive Democrats with the right values and the experience to fight for us, and to win. Please join us in supporting Chris today. In fact, anyone who does contribute to Chris' campaign at our ActBlue page today will get a chance to win a totally rare old Van Halen poster signed by each member of the band (complements of DWT). Even a one dollar contribution makes you eligible for the little thank you gift. You know Chris has a band too, right?