How Neutral Is The DCCC When It Comes To Primaries? Meet Progressive Candidate Brianne Murphy

Wednesday the DCCC, which always claims to stay neutral in primaries, released their first challenger endorsements for the 2012 cycle. I noticed they endorsed all the grotesque conservatives backed a few weeks ago by the Blue Dogs like Brendan Mullen (IN), Leonard Bembry (FL), Clark Hall (AR), and Rob Wallace (OK). They even endorsed a defeated former Member (and Blue Dog), Nick Lampson, who had a record in Congress of supporting the GOP on nearly every important bill that came before the House. Brendan Mullen has a more progressive primary opponent, Andrew Straw. Leonard Bembry has at least two, Jay Liles and Alvin Peters. Gary Latanich is running against reactionary Rick Crawford in Arkansas and the Democratic primary race in Oklahoma may have as many as 5 people competing. And, of course, in New York's 25th district there's a lively primary between Brianne Murphy and ex-congressman Dan Maffei. And Maffei was one of the Democrats added to the DCCC's Red to Blue list Wednesday. So much for neutrality and letting the Democrats of Onondaga, Monroe, Wayne and Cayuga counties pick their own candidate for Congress.

I sat down with Brianne and asked her about the DCCC endorsement. Of course I wanted to know if she had had any interaction with the DCCC.

"I met with the DCCC several months ago as I was starting the exploration process. They represented to me and to the local party at that time they would be focusing resources in NY-25 to eliminate Rep. Buerkle and indicated that they would support whoever became the nominee. When I asked about their neutrality, I was told that Chairman Israel and Dan have a long personal friendship. You would have to ask them about their rules and operations.
 
"Dan is clearly running his race from the Beltway; I prefer to run from the district I intend on representing."

More important, I wanted to know why she thought she's better suited to represent the families of NY-25 than Maffei is.

"I think the voters in the 25th CD made it pretty clear why they think anyone would be better suited than he is, when they didn’t elect him the in 2006 and then again didn’t in 2010 when 85% of incumbents were re-elected in the House.
 
"The bottom line is Washington is log jammed by divisive politics and people are hurting. We need someone in Washington that understands the struggle that Central New York families are facing and puts them before towing the party line.
 
"I have been an advocate my entire life. As an attorney, I fight hard for working men and women experiencing discrimination, unfair and unsafe working environments and 9/11 first responders in their efforts to unionize. The most important job that a Representative has is to fight for their constituents. My passion as an advocate and for the struggle of Central New Yorkers, as well as my ability to connect with voters makes me better suited to represent them. I attend community and neighborhood meetings, I speak with Central New Yorkers every day who tell me they are tired of politics as usual."

I expect that the DCCC endorsement is going to make it more difficult for Brianne to raise campaign funds for the primary. (Contributions can be made here through ActBlue.) I asked her for her read on how the DCCC endorsement is going to play out in the district?  
 
"I think you are right and while it certainly gives Mr. Maffei a further fundraising advantage with high-dollar consistent DCCC donors, with this being his fourth attempt to win this seat, there is widespread 'Maffei-fatigue' in the district. Obviously it takes significant resources to compete in a general election; but in 2010 Dan ran the most expensive race in the history of NY-25th and lost. Democrats in Central New York realize that it was not a lack of resources that cost him the election and are excited about having an alternative candidate. 

"And to be clear, Howie, once I win this seat, I do not intend on losing it. I am going to Washington and I am going continue to fight for the things we believe in as Central New Yorkers."
 
To learn more about Brianne's camapign check out this YNN video and story.

In Memoriam: Martin Luther King

I was up just before 4 today. The first tweet I saw was from John Boehner pointing to a pro forma statement he issued to commemorate Martin Luther King Day, for him another excuse for the House not being in session or working towards the ideals Martin Luther King is revered for. "Today," wrote Boehner's ghostwriter, "we unite in prayer and service to honor the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr, and reaffirm our commitment to the American Dream he sought to perfect. For all his great works and honors, Rev. King said he wished to be remembered simply as someone who 'tried to give his life serving others.' Service was Rev. King’s mission, and his message: he urged us to honor and serve one another, and to let the search for common ground lead us closer to liberty and justice for all. Anyone can serve, he said, 'you only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.' This lesson of humility endures, as does our profound respect for Rev. King's life and legacy. On behalf of the whole House, I encourage all Americans to pause and pay tribute to this true servant leader."

Personally, I was more impressed by this tweet from Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN):


And no one put it better than progressive congressional candidate Brianne Murphy, running for the Democratic nomination to take on teabagger Ann Marie Buerkle in a Syracuse-based upstate New York district. Unlike Boehner, she understands what the battle for equality is all about and how tragically unfulfilled Dr. King's dream still is, thanks in great part to craven right-wing politicians like Boehner.

Over the last 44 years since the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., incredible strides have been made toward attaining his vision of an equal and just society. Perhaps the most apparent evidence of racial equality is the election of the first African-American president. While undoubtedly Barack Obama’s election serves as real progress that could only be dreamed of during King’s lifetime, we must not rely on one such accomplishment at the expense of continued progress toward equality. Although we have eradicated many of the race-based barriers to opportunity, barriers to access based on socioeconomic status-- which disproportionately impact minority families-- still exist. With all that remains to be done, the success of the few cannot justify ignoring the struggle of the many.

King envisioned "a land where men will not take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few." Sadly, this has become a dream deferred. Reaching certain milestones in racial equality has let our leaders off the hook and shifted the national dialogue away from the importance of equality of opportunity and outcome to debating the very relevance of equality. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney last week said that a national dialogue around income equality is based on a politics of "envy," crying “class warfare” in defense of Wall Street, at the expense of Main Street. Those comments underscore the erosion of "equality" as a national priority.

"Harder for Americans to rise from lower rungs," published Jan. 4 in the New York Times, reported that not only have income inequities become more pronounced over the last four decades within the United States, achieving the American dream of upward mobility has become increasing difficult and unlikely. Roughly 62 percent of Americans raised in the top-fifth of incomes stay in the top two-fifths, and 65 percent born in the bottom fifth remain in the bottom two-fifths.

In order to address the issue of poverty, we must put equality back on the national agenda. We need leaders at every level who understand that for a family choosing between heat and groceries, it is neither envy that motivates, nor a pervasive lack of work ethic that stymies. We need leaders and legislators who understand that the primary consequence of poverty is not simply the hardship imposed by a lack of material possessions; rather, it is the cyclical nature of poverty and its pervasive influence on one’s future of having grown up without equality of opportunity. They must understand the socioeconomic barriers of access to achieving the American dream, and commit to eradicating them.

This past autumn we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Syracuse University football star Ernie Davis becoming the first African-American to win the coveted Heisman Trophy. Davis’ achievement set into motion a series of events that would fundamentally change higher education in America, providing access to many who would not have had such an opportunity. As a graduate of Fowler High School and someone who cares deeply about equality of opportunity, I believe King’s message means as much today as it did 44 years ago.

Today, I will honor King’s legacy by serving my community alongside Helen Hudson, the first African-American woman to serve as councilor-at-large on the Syracuse Common Council. As Central New Yorkers, I urge each of us to take a moment to remember our deep tradition and leadership in the area of civil rights. Let us hear and answer the call serve our communities; let us work to revitalize the American dream.

As we recommit ourselves to achieving King’s dream of racial, social and economic equality for all Americans, I am optimistic that we will make unimaginable progress toward achieving that goal over the next four decades. In the words of King, “I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up."

Electing dedicated progressive fighters like Murphy will go a long way towards making King's dream a reality. Mushy centrists like Dan Maddei, her primary opponent, are no answer to racists and elitists like Buerkle. And the answers won't come from the top-- not anytime soon, at least. As Sahil Kapur wrote this morning at TPM:

One crystallizing theme of President Barack Obama's re-election campaign is his pledge to stem the tide of income inequality. But although hardly any would disagree that he'd be better on the issue than the Republican candidates, experts say it'll take quite a bit more action than he's suggested to really reverse the trend. Some of them even caution that part of the phenomenon is beyond the realm of public policy.

To scale back the problem, Obama wants to raise taxes on high earners to Clinton-era levels, uphold the estate tax, implement health care reform to bolster low-income uninsured people, and implement Wall Street reform so as to limit excessive risk-taking in the financial sector.

But it's far from clear whether these policies, even if fully implemented, will bring about a reversal of the three-decade trend. For instance, even though low- and middle-income Americans improved their standing during the Clinton administration, the gap between the rich and poor continued to grow.

Better than Romney? Of course. Good enough? Nope, not by a longshot.

Romney's press release, like Boehner's was an exercise in hypocrisy:

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is an occasion to reflect on the legacy of an outstanding American. Dr. King not only believed in the fundamental truth that we are all made in God's image, he fought for that truth in a campaign that brought our country closer to fulfilling its historic promise of liberty and justice for all. The United States has made enormous strides toward racial equality in the decades since Dr. King's death, but we must never rest until all people are judged, in his immortal words, not "by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

Why do I call it hypocrisy? Romney spent part of today-- Martin Luther King Day-- campaigning with anti-immigrant radical Kris Kobach, the racist Kansas Secretary of State who wrote the Arizona anti-Latino legislation.

TEN OTHER THINGS MARTIN LUTHER KING SAID

Karl Rove And Newt Gingrich Are Attacking Everyone Who Wants A Level Playing Field

Elizabeth Warren's video speaks for itself-- elegantly and effectively. Syracuse congressional candidate Brianne Murphy is less well-known and doesn't have the resources yet for web ads like the one above. Instead, she wrote a letter to the editor of the Syracuse Post-Standard. Elizabeth responded to the vicious attack directed at her personally by Karl Rove and his secretive, Wall Street-financed super-PAC. Brianne, who has to face a conservative Democrat and then a brain dead teabagger, is addressing Newt Gingrich's desire to end child labor laws. What follows is the unedited version of Give poor students a book, not a broom!

Newt Gingrich is in the news this week for saying: “really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works. So they literally have no habit of showing up on Monday. They have no habit of staying all day. They have no habit of ‘I do this and you give me cash’ unless it’s illegal.”

While Gingrich’s sound-bite may rally Tea Party champions to sound their drums of personal responsibility, it highlights just how dangerously out of touch our Washington career candidates are with the real struggles of many Americans today.

Not only is this sentiment inaccurate, offensive and classist; Gingrich’s proposed solution (to repeal child-labor laws and train really poor children to be janitors) suggests that offering poor children positions in manual labor, rather than education is his answer to addressing the widening gap between the wealthiest and poorest Americans.

When I attended Fowler High School in the 1990s; the Post Standard ran an article titled: Two Schools, One Question What Makes Westhill and Fowler Differ? (Post Standard, March 16, 1997, Paul Riede) analyzing the link in Syracuse between poverty and performance. In his research for the article, Mr. Riede interviewed 17 students in the Class of2000, nine at Fowler and eight at Westhill. According to Riede, “in separate group interviews, members of the Class of 2000 at Fowler and Westhill high schools described radically different life experiences, but similar aspirations.” While all expected to go to college, and most were hopeful that with hard work they'd be able to land professional careers; their different realities were stark. In 1997 at Westhill High School, only 2 percent of students were from low-income families, and 94 percent were white; compared with 55 percent low-income and over 50 percent minority at Fowler.

In 1996, 71 percent of Westhill's graduates received Regents diplomas, one of the highest rates in the state; compared with 7 percent at Fowler, one of the lowest in the state. And contrary to Mr. Gingrich's "facts": four of the Fowler students held down jobs after school; while none of the Westhill students interviewed did.

While correlation between poverty and low achievement is nothing new, in order to address the widening gap between the wealthiest and poorest Americans and revitalize the American Dream policy makers need to understand the cyclical nature of poverty, the challenges facing our poorest students and acknowledge the struggles of our working poor.

At a time when more Americans are unemployed and underemployed; free school lunch lines are increasing and the number of Americans hurting are soaring; the elitist premise of Mr. Gingrich’s sentiment hits home for me on a very personal level. Central New Yorkers on either side of the aisle may disagree on how to address the issue of reducing poverty, improving the economy and creating jobs; nonetheless many of us see the struggle facing the working poor: parents faced with a choice between working late for overtime or helping their children with homework; juggling debt, choosing between groceries and heat; and barely making it paycheck to paycheck. Our working poor, and most vulnerable members of society, our poorest children, cannot remain invisible to the Washington elite.

Education, not manual labor, is the only way to break the cycle of poverty. Investing in education, offering students assistance and supporting programs like “Say Yes to Education” will create a more educated work force and level the playing field, just a little bit, for poor kids like me that want to do better than their parents. As a child of limited means, I was able to work my way through the George Washington University and Brooklyn Law School, with the help of federal programs and hard work. As a server at Morton’s Steakhouse in Georgetown, every day was a choice between working and studying; and my need to pay rent often outweighed the importance of grades. Many nights I waited on my more affluent classmates. During college, I spent a year living on a friend’s couch and I graduated in three and a half years to save money. It was not easy, but it was worth it.

So to Mr. Gingrich, I would say-- poor kids work harder; their very survival often depends on it.

Our children are not simply a source of cheap labor and method of cost-cutting for corporations; they are the future of this country. Instead of a broom give them a book.

Brianne Murphy

Dan Maffei Wants To Take On Teabagger Ann Marie Buerkle Again... But First He Has To Persuade Democrats He Deserves Their Nomination

Yesterday we mentioned that, by overwhelming numbers, the Democrats who lost last November were either Blue Dogs (more than half of them lost their seats) or their conservative allies. There were, however a tiny handful of progressives who also got swept up in the carnage, half a dozen Democrats who did NOT deserve to lose their seats but whose districts are so red that the Tea Party rage and the right-wing momentum impacted them as well. We've mentioned that Alan Grayson (D-FL) and Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) are both running for Congress again next year. Yesterday, Dan Maffei, one of the more conservative Democrats to have lost in 2010, made it official-- he's challenging deranged teabagger Ann Marie Buerkle to a rematch.

Their contest for New York's 25th CD, centered in Syracuse, was the closest election of the year and Buerkle squeezed by with a 648 vote margin-- 104,602- 103,954. Maffei lost because of a swing towards the crazy teabagger in the traditionally Republican suburbs of Rochester. In 2008 Maffei had won the Monroe County section of the district 26,883 (58%) to 19,179 (41%) but last year the Monroe precincts gave Buerkle the lift she needed-- 20,790 (55%) to 17,106 (45%). She picked up over a thousand Republican voters in the county at the same time that Maffei lost over 9,000! The biggest county on the district, by far, is Onondaga (Syracuse) and Maffei still won that one handily-- 76,046 (54%) to 65,632 (46%) but, even there in the most Democratic part of the district, it was a disappointing turn out. In fact in 2008, Maffei had taken 112,856 (56%) and his GOP opponent had only gotten 81,312 (40%). So while Maffei's falloff from 2008 was almost 37,000 votes, Buerkle's falloff from the presidential year to the midterm was only just over 15,000 votes. The two smaller, more rural and Republican, counties voted against Maffei both times but in 2008 he managed to get 47% in Wayne and 42% in Cayuga. Last year Wayne only gave him 37% of its vote and Cayuga 35%.

Clearly, Maffei needs to win back the suburban Rochester swing voters in Monroe County and turn out the disillusioned Democratic base in Onondaga. His dull and uninspiring , centrist message isn't going to get many progressives excited. He'll be counting on Obama's presence at the top of the ticket for Onondaga and he'll be counting on Buerkle's political psychosis for the swing suburbanites. She's been one of the most insane of the radical teabaggers among the House freshmen. Although she represents a swing district equally divided between Democrats and Republicans her voting record is to the right of most right-wing Confederate lunatics from the deepest red districts in the bowels of the South. Her ProgressivePunch score is a dismal 1.64, not just the worst of any New York congressmember, but tied (with two Mississippi KKK freaks, Gregg Harper and Steven Palazzo) for the 14th worst in the entire Congress. Buerkle's voting record is to the right of Darrell Issa's, Mike Pence's, Patrick McHenry's, Eric Cantor's, Paul Ryan's Taliban Dan Webster's, Allen West's, Steve King's, Virginia Foxx's, Louie Gohmert's, Mean Jean Schmidt's... getting the picture? From a political perspective, she's stark raving mad. As Maffei pointed out, "Buerkle has had eight months to show some sort of willingness to compromise and get things done for the district or the country, and she remains as radical as ever."

Buerkle was among 66 Republicans who voted earlier this month against a compromise to raise the debt limit and cut more than $2.1 trillion in federal spending over 10 years.

"It seems like it has been a long time since we were working on how to get things done-- not to shut things down and put the United States literally on the brink of default," Maffei said. "It’s an opportunity I have to represent the people of Central New York again. We cannot continue to allow someone as radical and extreme as Buerkle to do so. I represent a much more moderate point of view."

Buerkle, reached Tuesday afternoon on a trip to Israel, declined to comment about a rematch with Maffei.

Ironically, the congressmembers touring Israel are reassuring Israel that they, unlike the hard-pressed working families of central New York, will feel NONE of the impact of the financial hardtimes disrupting the U.S. and the rest of the world. American aid will see to that.

This is the letter Maffei sent supporters Tuesday morning making his announcement:

Since January a shock wave of Tea Party driven partisanship and inflexibility has rolled across Congress. When I lost my election last November by 648 votes, I hoped that such a close result would convince our new Congresswoman to put aside her radical ideology, and set about finding ways to bring people together and create new opportunities for Central New Yorkers. Instead, she has marched in lockstep with her Tea Party friends, and voted time and again with the special interests who spent so many hundreds of thousands of dollars on the attack ads that helped her win. 

Rep. Buerkle’s actions, now that she is in power, have clearly shown her dangerous priorities. She has already voted to end Medicare as we know it while protecting tax breaks for oil companies and billionaires. She has made her right-wing social agenda her priority while ignoring the real needs in this District for infrastructure funding and public education. And she was part of the extreme group that refused any compromise, and nearly plunged the nation into economic catastrophe.

Over the past 9 months I have done a great deal of listening to friends, neighbors and former constituents across Central New York about what they feel about the direction of the country, and whether I should be a candidate in 2012. The overwhelming refrain has been that it’s time for Congress to stop wasting time, and start working together to solve the very real problems that we face.

Sometimes, people are so frustrated that they are tempted to throw up their hands in disgust and walk away. I understand this feeling. But I know that there is a bright future in front of us as long as we don’t give up on Central New York, America, or ourselves. Working together, we can do better! That is why I am running for Congress in 2012. Our campaign will offer the people of Central New York a better future than the divisive politics of Ann Marie Buerkle.

People have had enough, and they want and deserve a representative who will offer solutions to modernize our infrastructure, to protect seniors and our middle class, and to get our deficit under control while jump-starting our economy. I have always worked hard to find solutions, and have been successful at doing so both inside and outside of government. The people that know me best know how passionate I am for the future of my home and birthplace, Central New York, and that passion gives me great energy. But I can't change things without your help. I am running for Congress and I ask for your active support.

If Maffei gets the Democratic nomination it will be another example of a conservative Democrat-- he's a member of Rahm Emanuel's sell-out New Democratic Coalition-- duking it out against a reactionary Republican. There's no real upside for normal working families. Is he better than Buerkle? Sure. She's an F. He's a C or a D. Oh boy! When he was defeated he went to work against the interests of working families at the right-wing think tank, Third Way, working on repatriating corporate profits at lower tax rates, one of the most regressive proposals floating around Washington circles. And, as the National Journal points out he's a dedicated "moderate."

In the House, he emphasized his moderate stripes and nonideological pragmatism. He joined the New Democrat Coalition, a group of moderate Democrats. He got seats on the Financial Services and Judiciary committees.

He says he keeps a photograph of hard-charging Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff and former Illinois lawmaker, in his office closet as a reminder of the need to raise money.

The other Democrat hoping for the nomination is Brianne Murphy, a 30 year old Syracuse labor attorney. Tom Buckel, who is considerably more progressive than Maffei, was thinking of running for the seat but decided to run for the state Supreme Court instead. Tom told me that Brianne has a compelling personal story. He was right. She's an amazing, passionate candidate who is so lively, intellectually curious and animated that she makes Maffei seem like Mr. Potatohead. I spoke with her last night and my first impression was that she would make an incredible candidate against Buerkle. She told me that people across central New York are looking for "an advocate for their interests in Washington; and a fresh voice that isn’t beholden to any special interests."

"Growing up in Syracuse, raised by a single mother who supported our family with a good, union job and with some help from the government, and now as an employment attorney, I know firsthand the challenges that working families in Central New York are facing.

"I know how important it is that we support working- and middle-class families with strong public policies that create good jobs. I know the values my mother instilled in me-- promoting the common good, supporting our children, and advancing equality-- and won’t be afraid to fight for them in Washington. I believe we must win back the economic debate by fighting for policies that will create the good jobs of the future. I plan to do that in Congress."

New Yorkers will be lucky if she's part of their delegation to Congress-- and everyone else in the country looking for social justice and a muscular approach to old fashioned economic fairness will be as well. She's worth checking out-- especially if you live in the Syracuse area. In 2008 Blue America endorsed Dan Maffei and helped him raise money after he assured us of his progressive agenda. What a disappointment he turned out to be! We didn't re-endorse him in 2010. This year we'll be looking closely at endorsing his primary opponent. For now, if you want to help Brianne's campaign, you can do it here.