Standing Up For Jeff Merkley (D-OR)... Because He's Always There For Working Families

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Yesterday we helped out with a Jeff Merkely money bomb. 2,528 contributors from all over the country helped raise $73,168.30 for Jeff's campaign. The Koch brothers' candidate, Monica Wehby, has already raised $2,049,732 but that isn't what worried progressives up in Oregon. What does is the limitless funds that anti-democracy plutocrats like the Kochs, the Adelsons and like-minded reactionaries can pour into the race. In 2008, when Jeff first beat Republican incumbent Gordon Smith, Smith raised $13,297,429 to Merkley's $6,512,231 but Merkley beat him anyway. Back then the Kochs weren't spending the tens of millions of dollars they are today. Even then, though, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce threw $1,504,478 in against Jeff while Freedom's Watch spent $3,826,268 smearing Jeff; the NRA spent over $100,000 as did several other right-wing anti-family groups. Meanwhile, the NRSC spent $5,173,717 and the RNC put in another $480,200. Outside groups spent over $5 million on negative TV ads against Jeff alone. And this year, with the Koch brothers hung-ho to elect Wehby, there is every expectation that this will double or triple! So, if you didn't get a chance yesterday… there's still time today.

This was Digby's Blue America letter to our members yesterday:

There are a lot of Democratic politicians asking for money these days, some of them worthy and many of them not so much.  We appreciate all the support you've already shown this cycle for our Blue America slate and we hope you'll continue to do so. But we wanted to give a special shout-out to one of the nation's most exceptional Senators: Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon. We knew he was a great candidate back in 2008 and we went all out for him. And he has more than lived up to the commitment and passion he showed in that campaign. He has become one of the Democratic Party's most stalwart progressive leaders.

Not only has he stood tall on all the important social issues, from health care to LGBT rights to the war on women, he's taken strong stands against Wall Street and the Big Banks and fought hard to preserve the signature Democratic achievements of Social Security and Medicare. You can't say that about all of our Democratic Senators unfortunately. He's been a leader on the environment and worked hard for legislation to fight climate change. And Senator Merkley is one of a very few independent-minded progressives who have taken the gutsy position of publicly siding with civil liberties advocates Mark Udall and fellow Oregonian Ron Wyden in their criticism of the Obama administration's surveillance policies. Down the line he has delivered on the progressive agenda.

Needless to say, a record like that has caught the attention of the plutocrat wrecking crew known as the Koch brothers and they are going after him hard: A three month, $3.6 million dollars television campaign hard. (Source: Jeff Mapes, The Oregonian August 6, 2014)



They are backing an odd duck named Monica Wehby a fairly typical tool of the GOP money machine. (She even made the fatuous claim that she wouldn't have voted for the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms --- because they would have lulled the nation into a false sense of security!) Oregon may be blue but it's got plenty of red and pretty soon it's going to be flooded with green. Suffice to say that Merkley needs all the progressive support we can muster. He only won by 6,000 votes the last time and this is a mid-term where turn out is going to be key.



His campaign is running a money bomb today and Blue America has promised to help out. If you can give something to support a real progressive who thinks independently and stands up for our principles even when it's hard, today is the day to do it.



The bottom line is this: we cannot afford to lose Jeff Merkley. He stands at the center of the progressive Senate coalition we've been trying to build for the last decade-- with Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin. It's one thing for the Koch Brothers to take out moderate Republicans and replace them with Tea Partiers. We cannot let them defeat progressive icons like Senator Merkley.



Unlike so many others, Jeff Merkley has had our back for the past six years. Now we need to have his.



Thank you for all you do to make this world a better place.

Among the coalition partners pitching in to help Jeff defend himself from the Koch onslaught:

• Tammy Baldwin (D-WI): "Jeff is the middle class candidate. He has a proven track record of fighting to hold Wall Street accountable for its role in the Great Recession, he’s a champion for reforming the filibuster to ease the gridlock in Washington, and he’s a staunch supporter of women’s access to medical care. His opponent has a proven track record of siding with the Koch agenda. That’s why Koch-allied groups are going all-in to attack Jeff and boost his opponent."

• Ron Wyden (D-OR): "Oregon is our home-- not the Koch Brothers'. Yet the Koch Brothers’ out-of-state SuperPac has brought their attack machine into our home-- into Oregon. And they have one goal in mind: Defeat Jeff Merkley. The good news is Oregonians stand by our friends and by our principles."

• Sherrod Brown (D-OH): "The Koch brothers are spending $3.6 million against my friend Senator Jeff Merkley in Oregon. One of their front groups, Freedom Partners, is hoping that a few Koch millions will tip the race in favor of their preferred candidate. This is what Karl Rove was talking about when he said “Oregon might be next.” This is how Jeff’s opponent is going to try to win this race - by attracting money from people like Karl Rove and the Koch brothers and attacking Jeff, because he stands for everything they don’t."

• Jon Tester (D-MT): "When you want to see which races are competitive and which aren’t, follow the Koch money. There’s a ton of it, and wherever it goes, you know there’s a hardworking public servant getting attacked. That’s exactly what’s happening to my friend Senator Jeff Merkley in Oregon. Jeff knows how to roll up his sleeves and get work done for the middle class. Thanks to that, special interests are spending $3.6 million to bring him down this year."

• Pete DeFazio (D-OR): "It takes guts to stand up to Wall Street in today’s Congress. In the world of no-limits, big money SuperPACs, millionaires and billionaires have a louder voice than ever in our democracy. And they’ll attack anyone who threatens their profits. Jeff Merkley has been an unflinching champion of Oregon’s progressive values in the U.S. Senate. He led the charge to pass historic Wall Street reform, and went after predatory lenders. But starting this week, the corporate special interests are punching back-- big time. The Koch Brothers and their billionaire friends have already bought up over $3.6 million worth of TV ad time in Oregon, attacking Jeff and deceiving voters about his record."

• Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY): "From introducing legislation to promote STEM education to raising awareness for sexual assault reform in our military and universities – we’ve shown that when Democrats stand hand-in-hand against gridlock, we have an agenda to move this country forward. One key ally to this progress in the Senate is Jeff Merkley, who is in a tough fight now for reelection. If Jeff’s seat in Oregon turns red, the GOP’s path to a Senate majority is wide open."

• Tom Harkin (D-IA): "As the son of a millworker, Jeff knows that we have to help families find their way in a changing economy. As the first in his family to go to college, Jeff knows how critical affordable college education is. And as a leader who got his start building houses with Habitat for Humanity, Jeff's been on the front lines of creating economic opportunity for struggling families."

• Brad Avakian (D-OR): "It’s no surprise the Koch Brothers and their friends on Wall Street are coming after Jeff Merkley right now. He’s been a thorn in their side since his first day in the U.S. Senate. Jeff Merkley has always been a fearless fighter for working families and Oregon values. As Speaker of the House in Oregon’s Legislature, he shut down predatory payday lending in our state, and helped pass the historic Oregon Equality Act. In the U.S. Senate, he led the fight to reform Wall Street and stop the Monsanto Protection Act in its tracks."

• Shenna Bellows (D-ME): "Jeff Merkley is one of the strongest progressive voices in Washington, and he's an inspiration to me in my campaign. His economic and civil liberties work has made him a hero to millions of Americans who believe we need to get back on the right track, and his push for filibuster reform has made him a leader among his peers in the Senate. Oregon voters did all of us a big favor when they turned a Republican-held seat into a center of power for working class people, and I'm working hard to make sure that's what Maine voters do in November."

And Jeff is reminding voters that the Kochs are attacking him because of his values and his ability to defend them effectively. "The values we fight for," he wrote, "remain the same:

• Corporations aren’t people-- and it’s time to rein in the flood of special interest cash in our democracy.

• Banking should be boring. Casino capitalism is bad for America.

• Climate change is real, and we have to act to protect the planet for our kids.

• Equal pay and access to contraception aren’t women’s issues. They’re everyone’s issues.

• The middle class deserves a better shot at the American dream. That means fairer wages, access to a good education, and the opportunity to retire with dignity.

"I’m not giving up on a single one of our progressive values, no matter how big of a target it makes me. The way I see it, if the Koch Brothers see us as the enemy then we must be doing something right.

"When we fight back, we’ll do it with a grassroots, door-to-door, one-vote-at-a-time campaign. Your support is critical to make that happen."

Like I said, it still isn't too late to contribute to Jeff's campaign. You can do it right here.