Reward Candidates Whose E-mails Aren't Meaningless Spam-- Meet Mark Gamba Of Oregon

Remember that series I started a couple of months ago to demonstrate how candidates can write worthwhile e-mails rather than the hackish garbage turned out by the media consultants spawned by the DCCC? We've got another one today, this by the progressive mayor of Milwaukie, Oregon, Mark Gamba, who is competing for a congressional seat with reactionary Blue Dog Kurt Schrader. It does what every e-mail to voters should do; it lets the reader know what kind of a representative the writer will be. Mark doesn't say he will work with Pelosi and Hoyer to protect the status quo. Instead he says "Together with other representatives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, I will hold corporate demagogues’ feet to the fire and demand accountability where inequity has previously reigned." Isn't that the kind of elected officials we want in office-- need in office?

Currently, Schrader has raised $736,454 (with $2,836,780 of corporate cash in his war chest) to $77,201 raised by Gamba. Obviously Mark needs some help. I hope after you read the e-mail he just sent to his list you'll consider chipping in for his campaign-- which you can do by clicking on the 2020 Primary A Blue Dog thermometer on the right. One candidate in this race is actively campaigning for Medicare for All, for affordable house and for implementing the Green New Deal-- and the other candidate is leading the fight against both. In terms of the progressive agenda, Kurt Schrader is no better than an actual  Republican. That's a heavy statement, but, it is very precise and exactly correct. Kurt Schrader votes with the Democratic establishment on many of their bills-- after helping water them down-- but when it comes to anything remotely progressive, Schrader can always be counted on to be on the warpath to kill, kill, kill.

This is Gamba's e-mail:

I want to take a moment to address a question  on many peoples'  minds these days.

What can we do to address the fact that the rich are getting richer and the middle class and poor are  struggling to keep up with the costs of living?

Many children in today’s America will be poorer than their parents.

We need to identify the systems allowing this to happen. Then we need to dismantle them.

There is absolutely no reason why income equality should be on the rise when we can see the catastrophic effects of it in recent history.

We need only look to the 20th century to see the relationship between economic discontent and the rise of political extremism. The Nazi party offered a way out of deepening poverty and economic instability that financially overburdened people were willing to follow.

America’s true polarization is not Republican vs. Democrat. It is a segregation of wealth and resources from the majority of Americans.

We all want to have our basic needs met. We all need to have stable work and good health.

In 1890 the United States of America passed The Sherman Act, the first of a series of anti-trust laws designed to prevent companies from forming industry monopolies and suffocating competitors. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis believed that large corporations struck at the very soul of American democracy, limiting the opportunities of the average American to thrive.

The rise of mega-corporations and multinational conglomerates today are directly responsible for the widening gap in income between rich and poor.

For example, Boeing’s late CEO, Dennis Muilenburg was given a severance package of at least $26 million but potentially up to $60 million DESPITE failing to heed several safety warnings on the Boeing 737 MAX  which cost hundreds of people their lives.

I promise you, a barista at Starbucks isn’t going to be offered millions after negligent manslaughter. They’ll go bankrupt trying to pay for legal fees.

We need to break up the big companies like Amazon and Facebook. We need to interrupt corporate escapism and hold executives responsible for the impact of their sacrosanct “bottom line”. Corporations are set up to protect people like Muilenburg whose criminal choices destroy families, communities, and the planet. This is wrong.

I will work to pass legislation that takes on the business behemoths and stops them in their tracks. Together with other representatives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, I will hold corporate demagogues’ feet to the fire and demand accountability where inequity has previously reigned.

Income inequality is a systemic failing, not a personal one. To tackle it requires courage, persistence, and a national community standing shoulder to shoulder. I am proud to stand on the front lines with you and for you as we turn the tables and create economic freedom for ALL.

In solidarity,

Mark Gamba