Please Help Blue America Replace Blue Dog Tim Holden With Matt Cartwright, A Proven Advocate For Working Families

Even before I got to know Matt Cartwright I heard rumblings of dirty tricks coming out of sleazy defeated Blue Dog Chris Carney, who has been working to help his fellow reactionary Democrat Tim Holden hold onto a seat he has little to do with. Holden is listed as "an incumbent," but the majority of the people-- and the vast majority of the Democrats-- in the new 17th CD were never represented by him and have little in common with his conservative politics.

Tim Holden backed the Democrats 31.96% of the time on crucial roll calls in 2011. There were Republicans who voted less frequently with Boehner and Cantor than Holden! He's adamantly anti-populist when it comes to economic issues, and he's a virulent homophobe, and not a single Republican is worse than him on issues involving freedom of speech and the press. As for women's health, he wasn't just a voter for Bart Stupak's devastating anti-Choice bill; he was the senior co-sponsor on the Democratic side. His voting record on women's choice is abysmal, worse than over 20 Republicans'. He's completely the wrong congressman for a blue district like the new 17th.

So who's this guy Matt Cartwright who's running against him? I wrote a bit about him last week; let me get into the weeds today. Matt told me he's running for Congress because he believes that "the government needs to work for the middle class, not just the most powerful." For the past 24 years, as an attorney with Munley, Munley & Cartwright, Matt spent his time fighting for the middle class and for working families against major corporations, insurance
companies, big banks and corporate greed.

He's a member of the board of governors of the American Association for Justice, and in addition to his experience as an attorney, Matt's a member of the “Brain Trust” for The Small Business Advocate for nearly a decade. In that role, he's worked to protect middle class interests and working families by addressing issues such as: unfair provisions in business contracts, predatory lending practices and auditing malpractice. He understands how corporate America has taken advantage of our working families and the middle class-- the other side of the inauthentic Mitt Romney "private business" story.

While Matt has served the community outside of government, he’s no stranger to the political process. In 1992, he was an elected delegate for candidate Bill Clinton at the Democratic National Convention, representing Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District, where I used to live.

Earlier, he graduated magna cum laude from Hamilton College, where he earned a B.A. in history (1983) and he's a Law Review graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Law School, where he earned a J.D. in 1986.

A family man with a wife and two sons, Matt isn't a career politician and is very much aware of how out of touch government has become from the lives of working families and the American middle class. In Congress, he's determined to continue his work protecting the country’s most vulnerable citizens and making government work for his Pennsylvania neighbors.

Meanwhile, redistricting has totally changed the 17th District, which now includes parts of Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe and Northampton Counties and all of Schuylkill County. About 86% of likely Democratic voters have never been represented by Holden. In addition, almost 60% of the voting population resides in the Luzerne-Lackawanna area, where Cartwright has lived and worked for 24 years. For the last seven years he has appeared five nights a week on the early evening news on WBRE-TV and WYOU-TV, answering viewers’ legal questions. He is widely known in the Luzerne-Lackawanna area.

You may recall that Holden was challenged in the 2010 primary in the “old” 17th CD by Sheila Dow-Ford, who Blue America endorsed. Her biggest problem was that the corporate-friendly Blue Dog outraised her by a staggering 15-to-1 margin. Still, working with a few scattered radio ads as her only medium, she was able to capture 34.7% of the primary vote. Democrats had already been souring on Holden and his reactionary politics.

The new 17th District is a much more Democratic seat, with a D+4 PVI. In fact, in 2008, in the voting districts that make up the new district, President Obama defeated John McCain 65% to 35%. Whoever wins this primary-- the right-wing Blue Dog corporatist or the progressive champion-- will be in Congress in 2013.

Matt Cartwright’s positions on important current issues are a much better match for the new 17th than Tim Holden’s.

* On health care, Cartwright would have supported President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, and in fact was dissatisfied that it did not go far enough to expand health care coverage for more Americans. Holden stated that the bill went too far, and he actually voted against it.

* On the economy, Matt believes that the government has a vital role to play in helping to smooth out the rough edges of the free-market economy. For example, he believes it is essential that the federal government retain the flexibility to be able to stimulate the economy in times of recession, and that measures like a balanced-budget amendment would hamstring such efforts and hurt those who suffer most in downturns. In November 2011, Tim Holden joined just 24 other Democrats to vote for a balanced-budget amendment.

* Matt believes the way to keep the national debt in check is to enact responsible revenue legislation. He would vote to repeal the Bush tax breaks and to return to the tax rates of the Clinton administration. He believes that confidence that the federal government is behaving responsibly breeds economic activity, and that the responsible tax policies of the 1990s were in large part responsible for the economic confidence and prosperity that prevailed at that time.

* Matt believes that the federal government needs to invest in American infrastructure and needs to do so in a way that takes the long view and the global view. He believes that investing in one-off earmarked pork projects is the wrong approach. Instead, his view is that this country needs to make a comprehensive, cohesive plan for improving and upgrading our infrastructure in a way that will enable our businesses to compete with global competitors and will stop the flow of American jobs overseas. That means not only investing in repairing existing roads and bridges, but also examining ideas for more highway capacity in congested areas. It means not only repairing existing rail infrastructure but also investing in high-speed rail systems

* It also means not only investing in education but also exploring ways to enable teachers to help our students compete on the world job market. Matt believes we cannot be penny-wise and pound-foolish. He believes that if we do not shore up our nation’s economic and education infrastructure, we will lose more and more jobs to international competition.

* On the environment, Matt believes it is a mistake to think that a strong economy and a protected environment are mutually exclusive.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the famous environmentalist, has made the point that there is an inadequacy in the way harm to the environment is accounted for. If there is damage done to the environment in the production of a product, unless the environmental cost is included in the income statement, we have not made an accurate accounting of what that product cost to make. Those who complain that environmental regulations are overburdening their enterprises are simply expressing their dissatisfaction that they are not being allowed to engage in inaccurate environmental accounting.

The problem is that other countries are lax in their adoption and enforcement of environmental standards. If it costs an American manufacturer 5% more to produce a product because of U.S. EPA requirements, the answer to that problem is not for America to abandon its environmental protection standards. The answer lies in addressing the issue with our trade partners. Matt Cartwright believes that where a foreign manufacturer produces a product for 5% less money than an American manufacturer, and the reason is the lack of environmental safeguards at the foreign plant, that is no different from foreign manufacturers illegally “dumping” cheap goods in this country. An effective trade policy-- fair trade, not free trade-– is the answer to the problem.

Matt Cartwright believes that global warming is a serious threat to the well-being and national security of the United States. In 2007, in a case called Massachusetts v. EPA, the United States Supreme Court decided that the Clean Air Act applies to greenhouse gases. Since then, a number of Republican Representatives in Congress-– and Blue Dogs like Tim Holden-– have been trying to pass legislation delaying and frustrating the application of the Clean Air Act mandates to greenhouse gas emissions. Principal among the beneficiaries of these attempts is the coal-fired electricity generation business, as well as the coal mine operators that supply them. Matt Cartwright believes this industry should comply with the Clean Air Act. He also believes that cap and trade is a proven, effective tool for helping American industry comply with U.S. environmental laws.

He believes that the Halliburton Loophole-– which Holden voted for-– should be repealed.

* Matt believes strongly in protecting the civil rights of American citizens, including their right to privacy, their right to engage in collective bargaining, their right to vote in elections without new and burdensome requirements, and their right to be free of hate crimes.

Tim Holden, as I mentioned, has voted against the Democrats and the president as a default position. Some examples:

* As the economy continued to struggle, Holden was one of only 24 Democrats who voted against the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, legislation that helps distressed families keep their homes.

* Holden voted against the Health Care Reconciliation Act, claiming that the bill "went too far," making him one of the 32 Democrats who voted against affordable health care and medicine to seniors, young adults, those with pre-existing conditions and women seeking preventive healthcare services.

* Holden voted against the TARP Reform and Accountability Act, which would have made sure that TARP funds were used to benefit the economy and the middle class instead of bonuses for Wall Street executives. Only 9 other Democrats joined the GOP on that one (while 18 Republicans crossed in the other direction).

Blue America has added Matt Cartwright to our page dedicated to replacing Blue Dogs. In 2010 we helped rid the Congress of Bobby Bright. This year we'd like to help get rid of Tim Holden and Heath Shuler and replace them with dedicated progressives. Please give us a hand if you can.