Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chairs Join Progressive Mass In Endorsing Carl Sciortino

We've been talking about Carl Sciortino's race for the Massachusetts House seat that Ed Markey gave up when he won the open Senate seat. Blue America is raising money for him directly here and raising money for a billboard campaign here. As you probably know, Alan Grayson endorsed Carl last month. Yesterday, the co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN), did the same. They cited his leadership and consistency on progressive issues as a Massachusetts state legislator as reasons why they got involved in the race.

"Carl Sciortino is the real thing," Grijalva and Ellison said in a joint statement. “He is the consistent progressive in the race, having led the fight for the issues we progressives care about for almost 10 years in the state legislature-- a higher minimum wage, closing corporate tax-loopholes, protecting a woman’s right to choose, the list goes on and on. Carl Sciortino’s ability to take on these tough fights, and win them, will be an incredible asset to the Progressive Caucus in Congress."

Sciortino responded that these two guys "are courageously fighting for progressive policies in Washington and I am thrilled to have their endorsement. I am the only one in this race who has a consistent progressive record on privacy rights, workers rights, immigration rights and protecting the environment. This election for me isn’t about climbing the political ladder, it’s about strengthening the national progressive movement."

Sound like your kind of candidate? The primary-- which in this deep blue district is tantamount to winning the seat-- is a month from Tuesday: October 15. There are 6 garden variety Democrats running as well as Carl, some tragically flawed (count on EMILY's List to always find some conservative corporate shill to run against a progressive) and others, just looking for a cool job in DC. If you'd like to help make sure Massachusetts gets another leader who thinks and performs like Elizabeth Warren, please consider helping Carl at this link. Leaders like Grayson, Grijalva, Ellison and Warren need partner like Sciortino, not mealy-mouthed order takers like most of the other candidates. Just yesterday Senator Warren, fresh from her inspiring keynote address to the AFL-CIO, spoke at George Washington Law School’s Center for Law, Economics, and Finance in a speech on the five year anniversary of the financial crisis about one of the key platform's in Carl's campaign: ending "Too Big to Fail" and the effectiveness of regulatory agencies’ oversight.

"There are many who say, 'Sure, Too Big to Fail isn’t over yet, but Congress should wait to act further because the agencies still have to issue a bunch of Dodd-Frank’s required rules,'" said Senator Warren. "True, there are rules left to be written, but that’s because the agencies have missed more than 60 percent of Dodd-Frank’s rulemaking deadlines. I don’t understand the logic. Since when does Congress set deadlines, watch regulators miss most of them, and then take that failure as a reason not to act? I thought that if the regulators failed, it was time for Congress to step in. That’s what oversight means. And that’s certainly a principle that would have served our country well prior to the crisis... We should not accept a financial system that allows the biggest banks to emerge from a crisis in record-setting shape while ordinary Americans continue to struggle. And we should not accept a regulatory system that is so besieged by lobbyists for the big banks that it takes years to deliver rules and then the rules that are delivered are often watered-down and ineffective. I am confident David can beat Goliath on Too Big to Fail. We just have to pick up the slingshot again."

She can't do it on her own... we need dedicated, effective progressives in Congress-- like Carl Sciortino. That's why Grayson endorsed him. That's why Grijalva and Ellison endorsed him. That's why People for the American Way endorsed him. And, of course, that's why Blue America endorsed him.


UPDATE: Single Payer Anyone?

Today MassCare, an organization whose mission is to establish a single payer health care system in Massachusetts, enthusiastically endorsed Carl Sciortino for Congress. In a statement from their executive director, they cited Sciortino’s leadership on single payer issues over his career in the State House.

“We are proud to announce our support of this great candidate, Carl Sciortino,” said MassCare’s Executive Director Ture Richard Turnbull. “Our organization has been grateful to have Carl as a strong advocate for single payer health care in Massachusetts. Carl has taken a leadership role in the efforts for passage of legislation to institute a single payer system in Massachusetts. If single payer is your issue, Carl Sciortino is the clear choice in this race.”

Carl: “Single payer health care is the most cost-effective way to deliver health care to all Americans. I fully support MassCare’s mission to institute single payer health care in Massachusetts, and I have been proud work with them. I am the only one in this race who has been a consistent supporter of single payer health care, and I’m running for Congress to be a consistent progressive voice in Washington.”