Ilhan, Pelosi, and the Ghost of MLK-- Guest Post From The Progressive Primarying Nancy Pelosi, Shahid Buttar

-by Shahid Buttar

Over the course of the last several months, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has been lionized by centrist voices promoting her as the face of our so-called “resistance" to President Trump’s corruption and incompetence. A closer look at the facts reveals a different picture: rather than resist President Trump, the leadership of the Democratic Party is enabling, emboldening, and ultimately supporting our criminal administration.

The Republican Party is actively complicit in supporting an unapologetic kleptocrat in the White House. We should not be surprised. To paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., however, it is the complicity of our friends-- Democrats-- that should concern us most. It is also the arena offering the greatest opportunity for progress.

The most visible example of Democratic complicity with the White House (if not impeachment, or the Pay-go rules) may be the DNC’s approach to foreign policy. A visionary member of the freshman class, Representative Ilhan Omar from Minnesota, has breathed new life into the forgotten legacies of presidents Eisenhower & Kennedy, who-- like her-- questioned the legitimacy of covert and other U.S. foreign policy programs that have undermined human rights around the world for decades, while evading domestic accountability to this day.

She forced war criminal Elliot Abrams to wither in his seat, confronting questions which no member of Congress has demonstrated the gumption to ask, about sustained human rights abuses for which most participants have never yet been held accountable.

For her vision and courage, Ihan Omar has been vilified, targeted by the president in an ad hominem attack that under the current climate-- which he has stoked-- places her life at risk. This is demagoguery in its purest form, a clear and brutal test for our democracy in the face of an aspiring autocracy that threatens it but has yet to consolidate itself.

When the president singles out a member of Congress for speaking their mind and incites violence towards her, it’s time for the opposition leadership to show solidarity with whomever the White House is targeting. Yet the Speaker of the House fails to name Rep. Ilhan Omar, and declines to defend her against our petulant and petty president.

I feel a tremendous affinity for Ilhan Omar. We’re both Muslims born in foreign countries who came to the U.S. seeking freedom and opportunity before running for Congress in 2018. I’m still working to replace in the incumbent in CA-12, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, but having emerged as her leading challenger from the left in the last election, I’m eager to finish the job in 2020 and join Rep. Omar in the House.

Asking questions about national security abuses is something I’ve been doing a long time, which is why I’m so proud of Rep. Omar and eager to support her voice, as supporters of our campaign did by setting up a joint fundraising portal.

After having been invited twice to brief members of Congress and their staff on proposed surveillance reforms in 2010 and 2011, I was arrested in a U.S. Senate hearing chamber for an act of journalism in 2015. I asked an Obama intelligence official about the double standard and unequal justice apparent in his evasion of any charge for perjury despite lying to the Senate about constitutional violations, while Eric Garner was killed in the streets of New York with neither charge nor trial.



Like Ilhan Omar, I’m eager to pose a few questions that it seems no one has been willing to ask.

It is a soul-consuming dedication to defend democracy that drives me into this race.

We should have learned from President Obama‘s election in 2008 that the American people favor peace and justice rather than militarism. But the Democratic Party leadership seems to prefer losing elections rather than resign its fealty to the military industrial complex that fuels it.

Pelosi has served in the House for 30 years. She has a storied legacy of which she can be proud. But make no mistake: her’s is not the voice of the future.

I stand with Ilhan because, like legions of Democrats from coast-to-coast, we heed Dr. King’s clarion call to resist racism, militarism-- not just a criminal president-- and the rule by corporate capital that has created our crises from climate justice to never-ending wars for profit.

Ilhan Omar and I may both be more recent Americans than Nancy Pelosi. But our defense of America in the face of our president’s demagoguery, contrasted with her equivocating ambivalence, makes clear that our patriotism runs deeper.

And while our aspiring tyrant in Washington race baits us, and demonizes us, we know their threats are merely signs of desperation. We-- and our supporters-- know that it is we who better represent what it means to be American.

Pelosi For Life?

With no progressive likely to challenge Pelosi for House Democratic leader after the midterms-- what a tragedy!-- the Democrats are going to wind up with the most corrupt member of their caucus, Wall Street’s very own Joe Crowley, as leader/Speaker. This is just so contemptible that I almost want to join the annoying anonymous commenter who dominates the DWT comments sector and who refers to Democrats as “Democraps.” Even the members who are respect most-- like Ted Lieu, Ro Khanna, Pramila Jayapal, Mark Pocan seem resigned (at best) to go along with what they see as inevitable. Will a huge class of freshmen save us? Not when the DCCC is engineering the election of so many Blue Dogs and New Dems from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. Many members are telling themselves they have to get rid of Pelosi-- no matter what the alternative is. They're wrong. She should go. Crowley is MUCH MUCH MUCH worse, and with none of her many saving graces.

Meanwhile, back in CA-12 (San Francisco), Pelosi appears unassailable. There are 3 Democrats, an independent and 2 Republicans competing against Pelosi in the open primary. The district, whose PVI is D+37, isn’t going to elect a Republican. Could Stephen Jaffe, Ryan Khojasteh or Shahid Buttar give Pelosi a run for her money? So far this cycle (as of the FEC reporting deadline at least) Pelosi had spent $2,294,990 and had another $1,749,316 cash on hand to Jaffe’s $2,096, Khojasteh’s $9,409 and Buttar’s… well he hadn’t raised anything by December 31. But now he is raising. Early last August, we asked Stephen Jaffe to explain why he thought San Francisco voters were ready to jettison Pelosi. Today, we basically asked Buttar the same question. His guest post:


Shahid for Change: An Advocate for Your Rights
-by Shahid Buttar

San Francisco is America's most progressive city. We need a representative in Washington who will fight for the rights of all Americans-- and against the corporate elite and executive power. We need someone who will fight for single-payer health care, cutting military spending to pay for expanded social services, and shutting down the war on drugs and the prison-industrial-slavery complex.  We need to challenge the corrupt corporate establishment that puts profits before people.

Fifteen years ago, in my first year out of law school, I was speaking at a panel on art and activism, and met a young mayor from upstate New York who asked for legal help so that his constituents in same-sex relationships could get married. We didn't win, but that case made some of the first steps toward marriage equality for all.

Since then, I’ve continued to organize, write, litigate, and fight tirelessly for the rights of all of us. I’ve worked inside and outside the system to challenge CIA torture, NSA surveillance, wars of aggression, and attacks on immigrants. I’ve taken direct action with the movement for black lives, and published a guide to social justice events at Burning Man. At the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), I created and cultivated a national grassroots network among local communities advocating for digital rights.

Now, I hope to take the fight to Congress, as a representative in Washington who embodies San Francisco’s values unapologetically.

I respect Nancy Pelosi as a trailblazing woman who has broken through the glass ceiling and risen to the highest ranks of Congress. And on many issues, we agree. Like her, I am a stalwart defender of the right to access reproductive planning services. I also support worker rights measures like the Raise the Wage Act, and share her concerns about the environment.

But there are also many important issues where we disagree. Here are a few ways in which our campaign offers San Francisco voters an alternative to corporate control over federal policy:

• I support the historic “Medicare for All” proposal championed in the House by Keith Ellison to provide healthcare to all Americans. Healthcare is a human right, and leveraging government purchasing power could drive down costs, prevent a key driver of homelessness, and enhance the competitiveness of American businesses.

• Reducing military spending by closing U.S. military bases in foreign countries and ending funding for the failed and fraudulent F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program could free up over $1 trillion. Those funds could secure-- and expand-- vital social services like student debt relief, early childhood education, medical and psychological services for veterans, and funding for affordable housing to address the urban housing crisis around the country.

• The federal prohibition of cannabis fuels the racist war on drugs and a prison-industrial-slavery complex. Congress should legalize cannabis, follow San Francisco’s lead in applying legalization retroactively and expunging past convictions, and seeking opportunities through the cannabis industry to support the communities most impacted by the war on drugs.

• Privacy is a fundamental right, and is critical to freedom of expression, on which democracy relies. So I will sponsor legislation to require law enforcement and intelligence agencies (such as NSA, FBI, and DEA) to secure a judicial warrant before searching or collecting information from or about Americans. I’ll also champion longstanding proposals to prohibit agencies from undermining encryption standards or intercepting devices, and seek the kind of in-depth investigation that the agencies haven’t faced in 40 years.

By contrast, the incumbent supports increasing the military budget, favors corporate health care delivery, and has not supported federal legislation to legalize cannabis.

After being in the House for 30 years-- and in leadership for the last 16-- SF’s longstanding representative has become a pillar of the Washington establishment.  Over the last few months, she’s voted to give expanded domestic surveillance powers to the Trump administration, engineered a backroom deal to throw immigrants under the bus, voted for Internet censorship, and endorsed an incumbent Democrat in Illinois who opposed reproductive choice and LGBTQ+ rights, instead of a far more progressive challenger. It’s time for a change.

We've all gotten so accustomed to business as usual in DC that the idea of diverting funds from fraudulent corporate weapons contracts to pay for single-payer healthcare might seem like a flight of legislative fancy. But I’ve helped make the seemingly impossible real before, more than once.

We can do better together. Learn more about our campaign to gain real representation for America's most progressive city at www.ShahidForChange.us.

Nancy Pelosi, Like Paul Ryan, Needs A Serious Reelection Challenge-- Meet Stephen Jaffe

Nancy Pelosi used to be my own member of Congress. She was a lot more progressive-- even forcefully so, back then-- than my current member of Congress, her New Dem ally and former Blue Dog Adam Schiff. I used to vote for her regularly. Except for the first time he ran, I never voted for Adam. I never thought the day would come when I would urge my friends in San Francisco to vote against Pelosi. But this anti-Choice, pro-Blue Dog stand of hers and her puppet Ben Ray Lujan's was the last straw for me. And she happens to have an excellent primary opponent this time in Stephen Jaffe. He's running on Medicare-for-All, fair taxation, a cost-of-living adjusted $15 living wage, strengthening Roe v Wade, reforming immigration policy, guaranteeing LGBTQIA rights, public financing of political campaigns, the abolition of private prisons, guaranteeing net neutrality, and a pretty comprehensive Berniecrat type of program. In fact, when Veterans for Bernie endorsed him last week, the organization's statement read, "Americans are sick of status quo politicians like Nancy Pelosi, who decades ago moved to Washington, D.C. only to lose complete touch with reality. No one is more fed up than military veterans who have faced the brunt of nearly 20 years of nonstop war. To his great credit, Stephen Jaffe has put forth the most comprehensive Veterans platform seen to date, one that Pelosi has had years to implement but failed to even try. No longer will we be taken for granted by lazy career politicians!  For his strong support of military veterans and citizens alike, Stephen Jaffe has earned the endorsement of our national membership to become the next Congressman of California's Twelfth District."

Stephen is an attorney and lifelong Democrat. He recently joined the Democratic Socialists of America. A 47-year resident of San Francisco, Stephen practices employment law for employees only, fighting for the rights of San Franciscans of virtually every class protected by law: race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, disability, gender, sexual orientation and/or self-identification, marital status, whistleblowers, and victims of unlawful retaliation.

I asked Stephen to introduce himself today by explaining the dynamics of this tricky primary, which, ironically, sounded to me not that different, in some ways, from the race to end Paul Ryan's time in Congress.

Why Nancy Pelosi's Time In Congress Has Passed
-by Stephen Jaffe

Nancy Pelosi has been in Congress 30 years. After her first election, she has never faced serious opposition from within her own party. The closest anyone has ever challenged her was in 2016 when a third-party candidate received just under 20% of the vote. Ms. Pelosi got the other 80%.

Although Ms. Pelosi holds the office of Member of Congress for the 12th District of California, she has long been a national political figure as Speaker of the House and Minority Leader. In the recent past, she has become out of touch and disconnected from her constituents-- the people who elected her fifteen times-- fourteen times with no serious opposition-- the people of San Francisco. Here are examples of our differences on three critical issues:

• San Francisco voters overwhelmingly support a single payer healthcare (“Medicare for all); Ms. Pelosi not only opposes it-- she affirmatively blocks it. She refuses to cosponsor HR 676-- the Conyers bill for federal single payer healthcare presently pending in the House. As California’s Democratic leader, she also refused to endorse California state Senate bill SB 562, for single payer healthcare. Ms. Pelosi’s lack of support of single payer healthcare is understandable. She gets millions of dollars in political donations from corporate interests who have strong stakes preventing single payer health care from ever becoming law, such as health insurance companies, medical providers and Big Pharma.

• I advocate the abolition of superdelegates in the Democratic Party presidential nomination process. Ms. Pelosi-- who is a herself superdelegate-- opposes this reform. Superdelegates are undemocratic with a big “D” and little “d.” Democratic voter who vote in presidential primary elections do so with the reasonable expectation that their votes will matter. However, the DNC and Democratic establishment recently argued in court that they have a legal right to rig the primaries and select presidential candidates in back room deals. The leaked DNC emails prove the DNC indeed rigged the presidential nomination in favor of Hillary Clinton. The Party must be cleansed of its corruption and returned to its historic mission of helping working people, the poor, the disabled and the most unfortunate among us.

• I oppose anything which harms the environment. I oppose the natural gas extraction process known as “fracking” which devastates the environment and can cause earthquakes. But Ms. Pelosi does not oppose a ban on fracking. I favor the strong support and the full funding of the EPA, the reduction and elimination of fossil fuels, coal and other “dirty” energy, and the development of all forms of alternative energy, including solar power, wind turbines and harnessing the tides.

The people of San Francisco deserve a representative who is one of their own-- a progressive Democrat who shares their values, ideals and dreams-- not by a one percenter who has lost touch with them and cannot relate to their lives.