Kerith Strano Taylor Wants To Work For Us-- And There's No Doubt She Would Do A Better Job Than Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA)

As you probably know, Alan Grayson, a congressman who never sells out or bargains away the legitimate rights of working families, has been the most successful Member of Congress in terms of bringing both parties together in moving sensible, bipartisan legislation. Friday I spoke with a progressive candidate in a pretty red Pennsylvania district, Kerith Strano Taylor and her approach to working across party lines reminded me of the way Grayson does it. She won the Democratic primary for PA-05, a district currently represented by a garden variety, lockstep backbencher with no influence or impact, Glenn Thompson. He does what he's told and never strays from the party line and he hasn't accomplished a thing since being first elected in 2008, other than to keep his head down and hope no one notices him.

Kerith Taylor would make a very different kind of congressmember-- an impressive one. She's running in a tough, rural district that covers 24% of the state-- and she's covering all of it on her motorcycle the way no other Democrat ever has. She has some inspiring qualities and I believe she has more of a shot than most of the conservative candidates Steve Israel has dug up around the country. Republicans take PA-05 for granted because the PVI is R+8 but last cycle Senator Bob Casey won the 2 biggest counties in the district, Center and Erie and President Obama also won Erie and fought Romney to a 49-49% tie in Center.

Take a minute to read Kerith's guest blog post, where she examines the failures of Congress and discusses her perspective on one of the basic problems-- the failure to negotiate, compromise, and put away party and political interests. In recent years, EMILY's List has trivialized the whole idea of why we really need more women in Congress and what qualities women can bring to the table. Washington insiders, including the DCCC and the careerists who run EMILY's List, can learn from Kerith, and Congress would be better with her in it. She has been endorsed by the National Organization for Women (NOW) and by the Women's Campaign Fund (WCF).



Congress Is Broken-- A Woman's Touch Could Be Just The Thing
-by Kerith Strano Taylor

The requirements to be a member of the United States Congress are few. One must be 25 years old, have resided in the United States for at least 7 years, and be a resident of the district where elected. That is it. With such minimal standards, perhaps we should not be surprised by the massive dysfunction we see in Washington, D.C.

Imagine what could happen if those who served in Congress were adept at the very thing we need them to do: negotiate, compromise, and promote the best interests of their districts and their nation. But, we don’t require this, and instead get a body of legislators that is incapable of negotiation, demonizes the art of compromise, and puts their self interests over our interests.

Negotiation is critical to solving the challenges that we face as a nation, and yet our elected representatives can’t do it. Climate change is threatening our safety and security, yet Congress won’t touch the issue with a 10 foot poll. Our minimum wage has remained stagnant since 2009, yet our Representatives can’t be bothered to talk about poverty and income. They cannot even muster the will to have a discussion about crisis on our Southern border. I could give example after example, but suffice to say that reason and negotiation has been tossed aside in favor of affect and soundbites, and compromise has been thrown out the window.

Simply put: Congress is broken.

Of course, negotiation is hard work. Many attorneys-- people who, like our Representatives, are hired to solve problems-- view negotiation with trepidation. This is especially true in family law and custody cases. Emotions rarely run higher than when parents are fighting to keep their children. The rejection and pain of a separation rarely stand aside when meetings begin to determine where children will live and who will parent them on a daily basis. Often, the parents forget or ignore the fact that their children did not choose the fate that has befallen them, and instead of discussion, we get argument-- and heated argument at that.

I am well aware of these circumstances, both professionally and personally. I have practiced custody law since 2001 when my husband and I opened our law firm in my hometown of Brookville, Pennsylvania. In 2008, divorce came knocking on my door. I was hurt and angry, but I knew exactly what I did not want my divorce to look like. I was not going to allow my children to become collateral damage to the choices their parents were making. I was not going to absolve myself of all connection to their father. Together, we brought our children into this world, and together, we had the responsibility to raise them. Instead of acting out in anger, spite, and malice, I chose to negotiate, to compromise, and to put my children’s interests ahead of my immediate self-interests.

That approach worked. Almost 7 years later, my ex-husband and I are still a parenting team, and we still work together in our law firm. In fact, his support and willingness to help with work and family afforded me the space to run for Congress. But imagine what would have happened if I hadn’t negotiated, compromised, and prioritized our mutual interests.

I know personally the benefits of negotiation and compromise, and I bring this to knowledge to my law practice every day. Custody cases go through three stages-- a conciliation conference, a mediation, and finally a hearing before the judge. In each stage, the court system’s desired outcome is settlement. In 2013, the office providing legal services to low-income families closed due to a lack of State funding. Our court system became flooded with pro se custody litigants. Unrepresented parents came to the Courthouse and were expected to sit together in a room and negotiate their custody agreement. Needless to say, these expectations were not met. Most parents stood in the hallway and screamed at each other, continuing the fight that prompted the separation in the first place. The custody conference was not working, and as a result, our mediation program was backlogged by three months.

This system was broken.

My Judge believed I could fix it.

I said, “Yes.”

Specifically, I was asked to conduct custody conciliation conferences, to work with both parents and help them reach a compromise that would allow both to be part of their children’s lives. This was as close to pro bono work as an attorney can get, paying a small hourly wage and foreclosing the possibility of all litigants ever becoming paying clients.

I began running conciliation conferences in July 2013. I quickly realized that every parent was walking into the room ready to tell me all of the reasons they could not and would not agree to anything. They had been wronged. They no longer recognized the person across the table from them. They almost all said, “We are NOT going to agree!” Allowing parents to begin negotiations with a “No” would stymie the process. So instead, I begin with something to which all can agree. I ask them a simple question: “Do you love your children more than you hate your ex?” Some parents are ready to hear the question; most initially respond with vitriol. But, they invariably answer, often in unison, “Yes. Yes, I love my children more than I hate my ex.” This strategy of has enabled me to help families reach a sustainable custody settlement in over 85% of my cases.

The custody system was broken. I helped fix it by cultivating negotiation and compromise among angry, hurt, and fearful parents, and empowering them to put the interests of their children over their own.

In 2006, Supreme Court Justice Max Baer convened a three tiered system of Roundtables to identify challenges, propose solutions, and fix problems in our foster care system. As Guardian ad Litem, I was asked to serve on our County Roundtable. I soon was invited to sit on the regional Leadership Roundtable, and shortly thereafter, on the newly created State Children’s Roundtable. The first meeting of the State Roundtable was spent extolling the virtues of our system. No one was ready to suffer the political blows of acknowledging that we had over 22,000 children in foster care with little hope of finding a forever family.

But soon, every person sitting around the Statewide Children’s Roundtable agreed to one central premise, “We care more about the fate of the children in our foster care system than about the surrounding politics.” Once we found this common ground, we were able to talk about the problems, and just a few years later, after numerous rounds of discussion and negotiation over action plans, we have reduced the number of foster children by over 6,000 by taking greater advantage of kinship care and using deliberative conferences like Family Group Decision Making, which empowers families to be a part of the solution to the challenges they face.

Our dependency system was broken. I am helping to fix it by cultivating negotiation and compromise amidst potential political firestorms.

Since putting my name on the ballot for Congress, the people I have met unanimously agree on one thing: they love their Country more than they hate… anything. They talk with me about their disgust with a Congress that can’t or won’t agree with this basic principle.

I doubt that any sitting member of Congress would actually say “No” to the question, “Do you love your country more than you despise the other party?” But, actions speak louder than words. That said, I might be wrong; the members of the 113th Congress sure seem pretty eager to say “No.” No to discussion. No to negotiation. No to compromise.

Our representatives have abdicated their responsibility to govern. Our Congress is broken. I want to help fix it. Together, we can get this Congress back to work.

I am running for U.S. Congress in Pennsylvania’s 5th District to be a part of the solution, not the problem. I am an advocate for children and families, public education, and healthy communities. I am a believer in the power of democracy and its ability to serve the needs of all Americans. And, I am a negotiator, a person who believes in compromise, and someone who will put the needs of the 5th District and the nation first.