Jim Harper: The Pandemic Is NOT The Time To Let Up On Gun Safety

18 term Democratic Jim Visclosky is retiring from his northwest Indiana congressional seat-- a deep blue (D+8) seat where whomever wins the primary is the next member of Congress. Districts like this shouldn't be sending GOP-lite candidates to Congress; they should be sending bold progressives. The bold progressive in contention is Jim Harper-- and his top opponent is Tom McDermott, an arch conservative and crooked ex-mayor of Hammond. In McDermott's first interview after announcing, he attacked the House Democrats for impeaching Trump, something that might be expected from a right-of-center corporatist who only became a Democrat after being blocked from ballot access by the local Republican Party. His "change of heart" did not include supporting the broader Democratic Party. And as anyone who's followed McDermott's sleazy career would guess, his first quarter campaign finance report was riddled with donations from corporate PACs and city contractors.

Jim Harper-- the candidate endorsed by Blue America-- has a sterling platform built on planks like the Green New Deal, Medicare-for-All, campaign finance reform and criminal justice reform.

Jim hasn't let the pandemic get in the way of gun violence safety either. Quite the contrary in fact. "At a time when public health experts and political leaders are pleading with Americans to stay home and save lives," he told us, "a growing number of states have allowed gun stores to stay open for business as usual. Even though 42 states have issued 'stay at home' orders, at least 30 states-- including my state, Indiana-- have allowed gun stores to remain open. Of course, these actions will undoubtedly result in the increased spread of the coronavirus and, therefore, the loss of life. But the decision to provide a special exception to gun stores also comes at a time when gun violence poses a particularly significant threat to American families and children."

Jim's point is that the pandemic is making gun safety even more urgent. "In February," he said, "gun background checks spiked by 36%, indicating a significant increase in the number of gun purchases. At the same time, an increasing number of children and families are staying at home. Before this crisis, an estimated 4.6 million young Americans lived in a home with an unsecured firearm. Moreover, American kids are 20 times more likely to be killed in accidental shootings than kids in other countries. Now is not the time to label gun stores as 'essential' or to exempt those stores from public health requirements. That’s why I call on Indiana’s governor to remove the exception for gun stores from the 'stay at home' order." Indiana's governor, an NRA shill, isn't listening. Jim:

It’s also why we need to talk about and advocate for other gun safety measures during this time. Of course, I have consistently supported common-sense measures like an assault weapons ban and high-capacity magazine restrictions. But other gun safety measures often fly under the radar. In February, I sat down with close friends who lost their young son when he was able to access an unsecured gun at a babysitter’s house. I met these friends-- Kandice and Ron Cole-- through our involvement with Mom’s Demand Action. After Kandice and Ron lost their son, they learned how hard it was to hold individuals responsible for unsecured firearms. I have joined Kandice and Ron to advocate for safe storage laws, which make it illegal for adults to store a firearm where a child can access it. As more kids are staying home from school, safe-storage measures take on added urgency.

As more adults also stay at home, we need additional measures to protect victims of domestic abuse. Universal background checks-- which Republicans and the NRA continue to senselessly oppose-- are a good start. But we also need to close exceptions in currently law like the “boyfriend loophole,” which allows abusive partners to retain their firearm as long as they are not married to the victim of abuse. Here, too, the NRA stands in the way. In Congress, I look forward to standing up to the NRA and closing this loophole.

In the middle of the coronavirus crisis, our focus has understandably shifted from other public health crises. However, Americans continue to suffer from gun violence, and the current crisis only exacerbates the risk faced by children and family members. It’s time to recognize that gun stores are not essential and to enact common-sense gun reforms in Washington, D.C., and state capitals. In Congress, look forward to leading these efforts.

As I mentioned above, Jim Harper was endorsed by Blue America and by clicking on the thermometer above is you can help his campaign compete effectively against the corporate-backed conservative he's competing with for a seat in a nice blue district that only gave Trump 41.5% of its vote in 2016.

Blue America Endorsement In Indiana-- Jim Harper For Congress

Indiana’s 1st congressional district is a rare deep-blue territory in Mike Pence’s home state. Incumbent Democratic Congressman Pete Visclosky-- retiring after 18 terms-- won the district by 31 points in 2018. The primary on May 5 will decide whether the next representative from this district is a conservative, a lobbyist, an anti-impeachment former Republican, or a truly bold progressive.

Jim Harper is easily the most progressive of the candidates who are competitive in a race with 14 Democrats running. The first candidate to announce was Tom McDermott, the mayor of Hammond. In his first interview after announcing, he attacked the House Democrats for impeaching Trump. He has drawn attention for receiving a large fine for illegally moving campaign funds and only becoming a Democrat after being blocked from ballot access by the local Republican Party without supporting the broader Democratic Party. His first quarter campaign finance report was riddled with donations from corporate PACs and city contractors.

State Rep. Mara Candelaria-Reardon owns a lobbying firm, MCR Partners, that has represented her husband’s company, Maya Energy, whose projects include building a dump next to a school in Gary, which predominantly serves black children. She has also used her work as a legislator to support her consulting firm. A quick look through her campaign contributors shows a schmorgesborg of pharmaceutical, oil, and tobacco companies along with their lobbyists. In her first federal campaign finance report, she listed donations from Republicans and a shady, conservative PAC.

Jim Harper’s platform shows that he is a true progressive is focused on the most important issues facing our country today: healthcare, climate crisis, attacks on unions, supporting public education, and stopping the chaos and corruption in Washington. Jim is the only viable candidate to support Medicare for All, and he has been vocal in his support for a Green New Deal.

Jim is not new to fighting for vulnerable people. Shortly after finishing law school at the top of his class at Georgetown University he helped found the Veterans Legal Advocacy group fighting on behalf of veterans for millions of dollars in compensation for service-related injuries. He also moved to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to work in one of the most underfunded and understaffed public defender’s offices in the country.

In 2018, Jim ran a long-shot bid for Secretary of State as a Democrat in deep-red Indiana. He dramatically outperformed expectations given to a generic Democrat and won large majorities in each of the three counties in the 1st Congressional District-- Lake, Porter and LaPorte. The Secretary of State’s office was important to Jim because he believes strongly in the right to vote and made the case for issues like vote by mail, longer polling times, and gerrymandering reform. His fight for voting rights didn’t stop with the election; Jim is currently pro bono co-counsel on a lawsuit against the state of Indiana to mandate a paper-trail verifying vote total on election day. Blue America is endorsing Jim today and he was kind enough to pen a guest post-- and make the video below-- for us. Please consider contributing to his campaign by clicking on the Blue America 2020 thermometer above. Remember, this is a solid blue district and whomever wins the primary will be in Congress. We can help make sure that person is a for-real progressive who backs Medicare-for-All, the Green New Deal, criminal justice reform and a more equitable economy, rather than another corrupt Republican-lite careerist.

Bringing Bold Criminal Justice Reform to Indiana and D.C.
-by Jim Harper

After decades of a “tough on crime” mentality, the tide is finally beginning to turn against a prison-industrial complex that has torn apart millions of families, disproportionately impacted communities of colors, and cost taxpayers billions to the benefit of private prison companies. Criminal justice reforms have made significant strides, but much work remains to be done – particularly in Congress. To me, the issue is personal.

I have devoted much of my legal career to making our criminal justice system fairer. After graduating from law school and completing a federal judicial clerkship, I passed up a job at a big law firm and went to work at the New Orleans public defender’s office. It was not an easy job. In tatters immediately after Hurricane Katrina, the public defender’s office is notoriously underfunded and understaffed. I was also working within a jurisdiction that had the highest incarceration rate in the country (in a country with the highest incarceration rate in the world). And, of course, the system was discriminatory. In a city that is 60% black, more than 90% of my clients were black.

I am proud to fight for my clients-- both in Louisiana and now that I have returned home to Indiana-- to get a fair shake in an unfair system. The story of one client will always stick with me. In 2012, I was honored to represent a young man who was arrested for looting, a crime that carried a mandatory minimum of imprisonment. My client professed his innocence, but more than anything he wanted to get out of jail. If the prosecutors had offered him a plea deal that included probation, I have little doubt that he would have taken it. But they insisted on incarceration and, unable to afford bond, my client sat in jail. It didn’t take long, however, for it to become clear that he was innocent. The prosecution’s main witness disputed telling police that my client was involved. And the description from other witnesses matched the identity of my client’s uncle, who was also in the area. Initially, neither the judge nor the prosecutor were swayed. My young client continued to sit in jail. In the end, it took more than six months before prosecutors finally dropped the case and allowed my innocent client’s release.

Cases like this are all too common. Every year, hundreds of Americans are exonerated (and, with exoneration efforts focusing on the most serious crimes, the number of wrongfully convicted is certainly much higher). Thousands more are arrested on baseless charges. And countless others-- like another client, who was sentenced to twenty years for a couple of joints worth of marijuana-- are sent to prison for unjust sentences. Despite having just 5% of the world’s population, the United States has 20% of the world’s prison population. That’s why, in Congress, I will fight for comprehensive criminal justice reform. To start, I will work to legalize marijuana, abolish the death penalty, and end private prisons. I will also sponsor and support legislation that reduces or eliminates mandatory minimums. And I will support dramatic increases in investment in reentry programs, so that former offenders are given the tools they need to succeed when they rejoin their communities.

I became a lawyer to fight for those who had no one else to fight for them, and I want to go to Congress to fight for everyone in my community, particularly those who have no other advocate. Unlike my opponents-- who have taken support from corporate PACs and shady Republican groups-- our campaign rejects corporate PAC and dark-money donations. In addition to our grassroots fundraising efforts, we are investing heavily in our field operation, already canvassing heavily despite the winter weather in Northwest Indiana. But in order to fight for bold criminal justice reform-- as well as other progressive policies like Medicare for All and a Green New Deal-- we need your help. I hope you will join our campaign and help us make sure that this blue district is represented by a progressive Democrat.

Four Great Congressional Candidates-- No Deadlines

Blue America is trying something new today. Usually when we write to our members, we're asking everyone to consider one candidate, most often one we just endorsed. Thing is, we've been vetting a large number of congressional candidates for the last few months and this past week we endorsed 4 of them, Robin Wilt in the Rochester, New York area, Nabilah Islam in the suburbs north of Atlanta, Tomas Ramos in the Bronx and Jim Harper in northwest Indiana. Each of the 4 is the most progressive candidate running in their race. Robin, Tomas and Jim are in safe blue districts. Nabilah is running in a swing district from which the Republican incumbent is retiring.

Let's start with Nabilah. "My mother worked for years at a warehouse picking up boxes and putting them on trucks," she told me. "Her low wages forced her to work longer hours. Those long hours eventually took a toll on her body, a toll so grave that she ended up herniating two discs in her back, a toll that nearly took her out of the workforce. Much worse than that, her employer and insurer at the time, decided they did not want to pay for one of her surgeries after it was already performed, leaving my family in a financial situation so dire that we were forced to sue the insurance company in order for the procedure to be paid for. Had that lawsuit not been successful, who knows where my family and I would be today."

No person, no family, should be put in a situation like that. America is the wealthiest country in the world and health care is a basic human right. We need to do more than fix the broken ACA that’s been gutted by Donald Trump and the GOP and we must do more than expand Medicaid. Individuals should never fall between the coverage gap and income should not preclude you from quality care. We need a universal healthcare system that affords every single American basic, comprehensive, quality coverage. Regardless of age, gender, or whether you have a pre-existing condition or not. Only sick people profit off of sick people. Healthcare, or the lack thereof, is such a deeply personal issue to me. When I am elected to be the next congresswoman from Georgia's 7th district, I vow to work tirelessly, to make sure every single person in this district, across Georgia and across the country has healthcare through a Medicare for all single payer system.

Tomas Ramos, the progressive running in the Bronx district right next to AOC's, also spoke with us about his mother. "I grew up seeing my mother struggle to pay for me to get a quality education so I know that education is out of reach if you cannot pay for it. That is why I am running-- to alleviate student debt for millions of Americans and to bring trade schools back to our communities. I saw my father deported and the toll that took on my family. That is why I am running. To reform our horrific immigration policies that have torn our families apart. I’m running to end the school to prison pipeline, fully fund our public education and fight for medicare for all."





Robin Wilt was a DNC Bernie delegate and was elected to the Brighton town council. She told us that she's "running to bring sweeping progressive change to not only the people of Rochester and Monroe County, but to the entire country. One of my biggest concerns that I plan to address in Congress is health care in America."

Health care is a human right. I have been active in the fight for universal, single-payer healthcare since observing how the Army’s single-payer system made it possible for my brother to recover and thrive after being severely injured in Iraq. For over a decade, I worked hard with other single-payer activists to encourage Louise Slaughter to co-sponsor Medicare for All. When my opponent took over Louise’s seat, our district lost a co-sponsor of Medicare for All. We must take this seat back and get our district back on track with its progressive values. When I am elected to Congress, I will immediately sign on as a co-sponsor of H.R. 1384, Expanded and Improved Medicare For All. Besides making every American eligible for Medicare, H.R. 1384 would expand Medicare to cover dental and vision services, mental health, and substance abuse treatment, and long term care.

Indiana's first district is more like an extension of Chicago than a part of Penceland. The district has been the domain of centrist Democrat Pete Viscolsky, who's retiring. Obama won the district with over 60% both times he ran and even Hillary beat Trump 54.1% to 41.5%. Over a dozen Democrats are running but Jim Harper, who ran a credible race for Secretary of State in 2018-- and won decisively in all three counties that make up IN-01, Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties-- is the most progressive as well as the most electable.


He told us that "as a public defender, I am committed to criminal justice reform. I have seen how the war on drugs has ravaged communities and disproportionately impacted communities of color. During my time in the New Orleans public defender’s office, for instance, one client was sentenced to twenty years in prison simply for possessing a small amount of marijuana. Instead of continuing to support his family, my client was forced to spend years in prison for activity that is legal in many states. In Congress, I will fight to legalize marijuana, abolish the death penalty, and end private prisons. But these reforms are just the beginning. Despite attempts to reform our sentencing laws, the United States still has the highest incarceration rate in the world. This is both immoral and counterproductive. I will work to reform our sentencing laws to decrease our record-high incarceration rate in the world and prioritize treatment and alternatives to incarceration. I will also support increased funding for public defender systems to ensure that the right to counsel applies to everyone."





So four really excellent candidates this week. Is there one of them who you really connect with and want to help get elected to Congress? Give at the link just below. Alternatively, you can also split your contribution-- evenly or otherwise-- between all four candidates at the Blue America 2020 congressional ActBlue page. We need more members of Congress like these four, not more Blue Dogs and New Dems. Here's an example of why that's so, so important for all of us, no matter what state or district we live in: