Leadership: Speaker John Boehner, Alas, Will Never Be A Speaker Pat Murphy

It takes more to earn a Blue America endorsement than just the likelihood of voting right. We like to get to know the candidates and try too get behind the rhetoric. We look at past behavior of course but we also try to figure out two intangibles: character and leadership. We don't just look for someone to vote on the key issues that motivate progressives; we look for people with the inclination and ability to lead on those issues, which helps explain why we have been so enthusiastic about Senator Elizabeth Warren, Congressman Alan Grayson and Pennsylvania state Senator Daylin Leach. And it's why itbwas so easy for us to make the decision to back Pat Murphy in the crowded Democratic primary for the open Iowa seat Brice Braley is giving up. We've tried explaining it before-- here and here-- but Pat's guest post on ENDA speaks to our enthusiasm for him better than anything we've come up with. Please read it carefully-- and between the lines if you will-- and consider helping his grassroots campaign here.

Fighting to End Discrimination: Demand Action on ENDA
-by Pat Murphy

It may surprise many that in 2013, in some places in America, you can still be fired from your job simply because of who you are or who you love. But it’s true. And because of dysfunction and backwards thinking in Washington, that injustice may continue.

On Monday, the U.S. Senate overcame a procedural hurdle and set up a crucial vote to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) later this week-- 17 years after it was first introduced. In an era when the two parties agree on nothing, to have both Democrats and Republicans voting yes on ENDA in the Senate should send a message that we all agree it’s time for this injustice to end. But incredibly, Speaker Boehner and the House Republicans vowed to continue the fight against what’s right.

Five years ago, we passed a very similar law in Iowa, and it is time the rest of the country caught up. Believe me, I know the process can be messy, but I offer this look back on how we passed the civil rights expansion in 2007 as proof that our shared faith in the right to equality is a powerful thing, and the fight is worth it.

Back in 1992-- full four years before the first Senate ENDA vote-- I first voted for a bill that would have expanded our civil rights code to include protections for LGBT Iowans in employment, housing and accommodations. Unfortunately we came up 6 votes short, but I vowed that the setback would be overcome and worked continuously to ensure it.

When I became Speaker of the House in 2007, I was determined to make this simple act of fairness a key part of our agenda. Since that first vote nearly 15 years earlier, I went from becoming a dad to a grandfather and I couldn’t stand the thought of my grandkids growing up in a state that allowed discrimination in the workplace, or anywhere else.

My decision to make this legislation a priority wasn’t popular, even with some in my party. But it was the right thing to do.

With 51 votes needed to pass the bill and 53 Democratic votes in our caucus, the vote seems simple, right? But as any Speaker of any House can attest, corralling a majority of Members for any piece of controversial legislation is not easy and our caucus was never accused of being “lock step” for anything.

We believed that only 43 members of the Democratic caucus would vote for the civil rights bill, so I went to work. I personally met with each of the ten Democrats who were undecided or leaning against, and within a few days, we were up to 50 votes.

Three House Republicans said publicly they would vote for the bill but the Republican leader asked them to “take a walk”– literally walk out of the Capitol at the time of the vote to eliminate their yes vote-- or not vote. This tactic would ensure the Civil Rights bill would have to pass with at least 51 Democratic votes before any Republicans piled on.

With that move, we were still a vote short and the three remaining Democrats made it clear they were immovable. With math clearly not in our favor, the outlook was grim. As evidence by the recent shutdown in Washington that brought our economy to a grinding halt, if it’s determined the votes aren’t there for something, no matter how important, it’s hard to get things done.

It would have been easy to tell our allies we didn’t have the votes, but it wouldn’t have been right. So instead of giving up, we got creative.

I made the decision to use a “Call of the House.” When invoked, if a legislator isn’t present in the chamber, the Iowa State Highway Patrol actually goes out, picks you up, and returns you to the Capitol. Then the House locks the door for the debate and vote. In twenty-four years, I’ve only seen it used three times.

We were deciding the civil rights for our fellow Iowans-- and I think it’s fair that nobody could “take a walk” on that.

On that April day in 2007 I drove up to the Capitol not knowing if I had the votes to pass this bill. I knew that forcing the Republicans’ hands might back-fire, they might all vote no, but I decided it was better to lose by one, than not try at all.

We instituted the “Call of the House”-- over Republican protestations-- and once all legislators were accounted for, the doors were locked, and we voted.

While we cajoled and pushed and pulled and implored as many fellow Iowans-- regardless of party-- to do the right thing, I was still uncertain that it would work. I put our votes at somewhere between 50 and 53.

But as they called off names, and each person was forced to answer to their fellow citizens, what’s good and right about Iowa came through. That day, 59 Iowans joined together to end discrimination in Iowa-- 50 Democrats and 9 Republicans.

A bill that had first been introduced 20 years earlier - that I had voted for fifteen years ago-- was finally going to become the law of the land for 3 million people. Men and women could go to work knowing their government-- and their neighbors-- had their backs. Couples wouldn’t have to worry about being kicked out of an apartment because of their “lifestyle.”

I’m not ashamed to admit my voice started to crack, and the tears traced down my face, as I declared the final tally.

I waved off the press, went to my office and immediately called my wife Teri. We had won a big one, and I knew it meant as much to Teri as it did to me.

Republicans called me a wimp for crying, I proudly answered then, as I would today, “No, I am a Democrat. I care about people. And I wear my heart on my sleeve.”

I’m still proud of what we did that day and proud of all 59 votes. I know had we not taken extreme measures, it may not have happened. Both Democratic and Republican legislators stood on the right side of history, but the story isn’t over. It’s time for Congress to act, and to protect the equality of millions of Americans.

Pass ENDA now.