Wretched ConservaDem Marty Chavez... Still Shilling For His Corporate Benefactors-- This Time Against Net Neutrality

DWT has been covering vile right-wing New Mexico Democrat Marty Chavez for a decade. When he ran for mayor of Albuquerque in 2005 he opposed raising the minimum wage and ran as an anti-taxing, anti-spending and anti-liberal faux-Dem. The DCCC has always been interested in getting him into Congress; he's their kind of guy. As mayor he managed to piss off unions, environmentalists and social progressives cobbling together a coalition of conservatives across party lines. He's remembered for having endorsed several Republicans in local races and for his endorsement of Republican Pete Domenici in a Senate reelection bid. Since then, he's lost every Democratic primary for every office he's tried running for. He's a lobbyist now-- working against, predictably, Net Neutrality. Andrea Quijada, Executive Director of the Media Literacy Project, published a piece last Friday in the Albuquerque Journal about Chavez's efforts-- and motivations. "It is clear," she wrote, "that New Mexicans believe and support strong net neutrality protections. This was evident this past June when nearly 300 people took part in a meeting in Albuquerque with Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, and urged him to protect the open Internet by treating Internet service providers as common carriers.

But what New Mexicans didn’t know until recently was that Martin Chavez, the former mayor of Albuquerque, isn’t one of those net neutrality supporters.

In fact, Chavez is leading an effort in Washington calling on the FCC to kill net neutrality on behalf of a Latino front group-- The Hispanic Technology and Telecommunications Partnership-- made up of many of our nation’s most recognizable Latino civil rights groups, including the League of United Latin American Citizens.

Net neutrality is the principle that requires Internet service providers to treat all web traffic equally. This prevents providers like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon from blocking or discriminating against Web sites or Web traffic.

Net neutrality is the reason why the Internet has developed into the critical communications system that allows everyone a chance to speak for themselves without being censored by corporate gatekeepers. Essentially, the Internet has no borders and New Mexico wants to keep it that way.

Chavez has appeared on panels in Washington before powerful corporate and political leaders claiming to be speaking on behalf of the Latino community when he denounces any effort to treat Internet service providers as common carriers, reciting industry talking points.

But this shouldn’t be surprising since Chavez works as a consultant for the Ibarra Strategy Group in Washington, a government relations firm that counts Verizon as one of its clients.

National Hispanic Media Coalition President Alex Nogales has questioned whether it was appropriate for Chavez to simultaneously represent the interest of his clients while claiming to also represent the interest of the Latino community.

The answer is simple: It is totally inappropriate.

Chavez wants us to believe that Internet service providers, if left unchecked, will somehow serve the needs of the Latino community. But New Mexicans know better.

We know that Internet service providers will do just about anything to increase their profit margins, which includes refusing to build out their broadband networks to poor and rural communities. It is why New Mexico ranks dead last, by most accounts, in terms of broadband availability and adoption.

If Internet service providers are unwilling to connect thousands of households to a vital communications service because it does not maximize their profit margins, what do you think they would do if the FCC allows them to increase their bottom lines by discriminating online? (Hint: Protecting our Internet freedom would not be on their priority lists.)

This is why it is critical for New Mexicans to speak up and call on the FCC to treat Internet service providers as common carriers in order to protect net neutrality and our online digital rights.

Because people like Martin Chavez do not speak for us.

Nope... but perfect for the DCCC and the clueless sclerotic Beltway Democrats which has brought congressional Democrats to such low standing with their failed strategic vision.

In Albuquerque There Is Just One Progressive Democrat We Can Count On To Fight For The 99%

In the race for Congress in New Mexico’s open blue First CD, only one candidate stands out as a true progressive fighter for the 99%: Eric Griego. That's why he was one of the first candidates anywhere endorsed by Blue America this cycle.

If we call ourselves progressives, we believe in the common good and lifting up all boats. That is why Eric Griego fought to increase the minimum wage in Albuquerque. In contrast, his corrupt ConservaDem opponent, Marty Chavez, sided with the Republican city councilors to oppose it. Griego is well known in New Mexico politics for having taken on conservatives in the legislature who wanted to balance the budget on the backs of working families by cutting Medicaid and the retirement savings of public workers.

If we call ourselves progressives, we believe that the best way to restore our economy is by generating aggregate demand-- by putting Americans back to work, not cutting jobs and services helping families. Conservatives argue that cutting the deficit they created with two wars, tax cuts for the rich, and the Great Recession caused by their deregulation of Wall Street should take higher priority than creating jobs. That kind of Austerity thinking is what lost Sarkozy his reelection bid in France over the weekend and what has failed conservative politicians being voted out of office all over Europe.

Eric Griego is calling for massive public works projects to rebuild and modernize our country's transportation and coast-to-coast broadband infrastructure, and to lead the world in the clean energy economy. In contrast, his self-styled “progressive” opponent Michelle Lujan Grisham parroted Republican talking points by telling the Albuquerque Journal that job creation should be “maybe tied, or right underneath” the deficit and the budget.

Progressives believe in speaking truth to power. Eric Griego made national headlines last October working with several other progressive Democratic candidates for Congress to deliver over 35,000 petitions to the Speaker of the House, demanding that Boehner and the Republicans “stand with the 99%” and pass President Obama’s jobs plan. He also organized local seniors to deliver over 5,000 petitions to his Republican opponent, Janice Arnold-Jones, to get her on the record as supporting the Ryan budget plan to end Medicare and cut Social Security. Griego proudly joined other progressive legislators around the country to call on Democrats to drop their membership in ALEC. In contrast, Marty Chavez had attacked progressive U.S. Senator Tom Udall as “far to the left” and as “endangering national security."

If we call ourselves progressives, we believe in collective responsibility; that the cost of public education, healthcare, transportation, and national security that benefit all of us should be borne fairly by all. That's why Griego had sponsored legislation to close corporate tax loopholes and to increase taxes on the rich. And he not only wants to end the Bush tax cut for millionaires, but also pass the “Buffett Rule” and restore the Clinton era tax rates to restore fairness, and institute a quarter-to-half-cent tax on Wall Street speculation. While many Democrats talk about fairness and justice for the middle class, there is only one Democrat in this race for Congress who has spelled it out with such force of conviction.

If we call ourselves progressives, we believe that the elderly who have worked a lifetime and paid into Social Security and Medicare should be able to retire with dignity through these guaranteed programs. That is why Eric Griego says he will never let the Tea Party Republicans cut Social Security and Medicare, and opposes raising the retirement age or privatizing those programs. He's still the only candidate in the race who has publicly said on the record supporting removing the income cap on Social Security tax to keep the program solvent for generations. Marty Chavez, on the other hand, told the Albuquerque Journal that cuts to Social Security and Medicare “should be reviewed by Congress” and the Washington Post reported that “he’s open to entitlement cuts.”

Progressives believe in getting the right things done for the 99%. When Michelle Lujan Grisham claimed in the Albuquerque Journal on April 12th that she “has a knack for finding creative ways to get things done,” she should explain if that meant she would find creative ways to give up progressive principles to the Blue Dogs and the Republicans in the name of getting something--anything-- done. Progressives are sick of poll-driven Democrats who say they want to get things done-- but don’t (or won’t) fight to get the right things done. We’ve seen plenty of Democrats get things done-- without the public option or even a whimper for Medicare for All, without strong labor and environmental standards in trade deals, without real teeth to enforce Wall Street regulations. It’s time we send more real movement progressives like Eric Griego to Congress who will fight to get the right things done.

If we call ourselves progressives, we believe in science and that protecting the environment and creating jobs are not mutually exclusive. Eric Griego is one of only three current state legislators with a lifetime 100% rating from Conservation Voters New Mexico, and is endorsed by CVNM, League of Conservation Voters, and the Sierra Club. In the State Senate, Griego sponsored and passed a green jobs training legislation and dedicated state investments in clean renewable industries. He also led a fierce effort to successfully defeat rollbacks of state-only carbon cap and participation in the Western Climate Initiative. On the Albuquerque City Council, Griego spearheaded the city’s Water Conservation Task Force and led the passage of the Renewable Incentive Program, which attracted green jobs to the city.

Griego has the boldest pro-environment platform in the race. He has made it a top priority to fight for legislation to put a down-payment of at least $150 billion towards building a clean energy economy. He is modeling his proposal after the 2009 House-passed American Clean Energy and Security Act, but stronger. And while many Democrats prefer to talk in abstract about the need to move forward beyond fossil fuels to invest in clean renewable energy, Griego has been unafraid to go on the record to offer concrete positions. He would fight for a moratorium on building new coal power plants and phase out existing ones. When most Democrats were nervously looking to see which way the political wind would blow on extracting oil from tar sands, Griego opposed the Keystone XL pipeline early-- in September 2011.

Chavez also touts his green credentials and his support for investing in clean renewable energy. But according to the Albuquerque Journal, Chavez said that he would “work as an advocate" in Congress for the state’s natural gas industry while pushing to repeal tax incentives for Big Oil companies. He did not address the fact that three of the five of the five targeted Big Oil companies-- ConocoPhillips, BP and Exxon-- are New Mexico’s three largest natural gas producers by volume.” Instead of voicing his commitment to be an advocate for the state’s solar, wind, geothermal or biomass industries, it is revealing that Chavez chose to advocate for fossil fuels instead. The Albuquerque Journal also wrote on January 13, 2008 that Chavez’s claims of reducing carbon pollution as mayor was “full of hot air” and criticized him for “greenwashing” his record.

Michelle Lujan Grisham lacks a record on protecting the environment and clean energy. More worrisome is her apparent lack of interest or knowledge on the issue. She doesn't even bother to address it at all on her website’s issues page.

Progressives need an explanation from the Blue Dogs’ favorite candidate. Chavez is obviously not a progressive. Michelle Lujan Grisham should explain her credibility as a self-styled progressive when she had served in the same cabinet with Republicans Heather Wilson (who is now running against Democrat Martin Heinrich for the U.S. Senate in New Mexico) and Darren White (who ran against Heinrich for Congress in 2008) to implement libertarian Republican Governor Gary Johnson’s slash-and-privatize agenda. She must also explain why she was able to earn the endorsements of the state’s leading corporate Blue Dogs, such as John Arthur Smith, Tim Jennings, and Mary Kay Papen. These right-wing “Democrats” are in a coalition with the Republicans and ALEC to cut public education, cut Medicaid, and cut public pensions while extending tax cuts for the rich and tax loopholes for big corporations. You don't find these kinds of political hacks endorsing Griego. Chavez and Grisham split them all between themselves.

Progressives believe in government of the people, by the people, and for the people-- and that corporations are not people. Eric Griego fought to pass public financing of elections to get corporate money out of politics in Albuquerque elections, and supports public financing for all elections. Griego was also in the vanguard of a national progressive effort to make New Mexico’s legislature only the second in the nation to call on Congress to amend the U.S. Constitution to overturn Citizens United. After trying desperately but failing to win the support of labor unions (such as AFSCME, AFT, CWA, NEA, the Teamsters and UFCW), environmental groups (such as the Sierra Club and LCV), and progressives (such as Blue America, Daily Kos, DFA, MoveOn, PCCC and PDA), Chavez has taken to attacking the Democratic base as “corrupt third party” groups for supporting the progressive Griego.

Progressives believe that public servants should be held to high ethical standards. That's why Eric Griego fought to create the inspector general’s office in the city of Albuquerque to investigate rampant fraud and abuse in City Hall under Chavez when he was mayor. He also sponsored bills to close the revolving door between lobbyists and politicians in the state legislature and to create an independent ethics commission to keep the politicians honest. Unfortunately, his efforts were rebuffed by conservative Blue Dog Democrats-- the same ones supporting Grisham in the current race-- who did not want to give up their access to corporate cash.

Chavez has a long and sordid history of using his office to enrich himself and his friends at taxpayers’ expense. As he was ending his last term as mayor, he gave himself thirty-seven thousand dollars in worker’s comp and put his political appointees in lower-level positions at higher salaries. He was even officially reprimanded by the city’s ethics board for creating an illegal political committee, the ABQPAC, and taking tens of thousands of dollars from city employees and contractors to pay for his family’s personal travel and unpaid loans he had made to his 1993 mayoral campaign.

Michelle Lujan Grisham also has glaring ethical flaws. She claims to have “aggressively addressed poor quality care in nursing homes” as the Director of Aging. In fact, she “censored, squelched and threatened” her agency’s independent watchdog. When her agency’s ombudsman brought concerns about a nursing home operating without a license, Lujan Grisham complained saying “don’t create a paper trail to show they are not doing their job” and that she “could lose her job over his behavior.” Lujan Grisham also restricted the watchdog’s access to state officials to retaliate for exposing her conflict of interest, because she “received a substantial portion of her household income from the long-term care industry,” including income from one of the state’s largest nursing home operators. She even eased enforcement of nursing home regulations because her Republican boss, Governor Gary Johnson, received $55,000 in campaign contributions from Sun Healthcare, the largest nursing home operator in the state.

If we call ourselves progressives, we believe that we need to increase our number in the Congressional Progressive Caucus to fight for the 99% and get the best deal possible in any legislative negotiation. Eric Griego is the one Democrat in this race for Congress whose record and passion we can count on to fight for the 99%. And he has proudly committed himself to join the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and has the support of both of the co-chairs of the caucus Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN).

On June 5th, we can send a real movement progressive to Congress. Please consider contributing what you can to Eric's race, here on the Blue America page.

Among Banner Races For Congress, There's A Major One In Albuquerque

I never got very excited over the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania pitting über-reactionary Blue Dog Jason Altmire against corrupt anti-Choice, anti-gay ConservaDem Mark Critz. Critz won and he'll now face right-wing Republican freak Keith Rothfus. So another conservative vs conservative battle for the poor voters in the new 12th CD outside Pittsburgh. A case could be made that we need to support Critz because his 36.56% progressive voting score this year will be better than Rothfus' 0.00% score. An equally persuasive case can be made that that's a price to high and we're better off with Critz' corruption and his constant push towards the right inside the Democratic caucus and in the committees and subcommittees where laws get written. Critz is one of the "Democrats" Boehner and Cantor have come to depend on when they want to label one of their psychotic extremist bills "bipartisan." Mark Critz is almost always there for them. There are dozens of races like that-- pitting hideously reactionary Republicans against worthless Democrats. Blue America ignores those races.

The races Blue America gets excited about are the ones that pit progressives against conservatives-- both in the primaries and in November. I don't care about furthering the career aspirations of corrupt Democrats like Steny Hoyer, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Steve Israel and Joseph Crowley and capturing the House for them isn't what we work on. We work on electing progressives. Tomorrow, for example, we'll be endorsing Wayne Powell, the progressive running against Eric Cantor. The DCCC has no interest in that race-- a race with similar dynamics to Rob Zerban's race against Paul Ryan, another one the DCCC likes to make believe is being fought in every district in America except Wisconsin's first CD.

And there are certain races this year that are shaping up to be the banner contests pitting progressives against conservatives. In the Senate, of course, we have Elizabeth Warren facing off against Wall Street shill Scott Brown. There will be a similar dynamic once Wisconsin Republicans decide which extremist monstrosity to run against Tammy Baldwin. And in November Alan Grayson's race in Orlando will probably be one of the most important anywhere, as will David Gill's in Illinois, Carol Shea-Porter's and Ann Kuster's in the two New Hampshire congressional districts, and Lee Rogers' efforts to dislodge Buck McKeon in the Santa Clarita/Antelope Valley area of L.A. County. If Patsy Keever wins her primary against some conservative party hack tomorrow, her November contest against Patrick McHenry will be huge.

But in terms of the big primaries after tomorrow's where progressives face off against conservatives, Blue America is counting on Norman Solomon (who faces off against a bevy of garden variety Democratic hacks), Franke Wilmer in Montana, Darcy Burner in Washington state, Trevor Thomas in Michigan (who's up against a virulently anti-Choice conservative, Steve Pestka, who could never beat anti-Choice Republican Justin Amash), Chris Donovan in Connecticut and, last but far from least, one of Blue America's first endorsements this cycle, state Senator Eric Griego in Albuquerque.

Eric's up against a thoroughly corrupt insider, Marty Chavez, who is tends to go in whichever direction the cash in being waved, although his record indicates he's more comfortable with conservative positions than with progressive positions. But this isn't just a race between Eric and Chavez. If it was, Eric would be packing for his new career in Congress now. EMIILY's List, which has been playing an insidious role in helping elect conservative Democrats in the last few years, has a candidate they're backing who has no chance to win but who can throw the election to Chavez, Michelle Lujan Grisham. EMILY's List is spending a boatload of money on her, money that can only result in helping nominate the conservative Chavez, who brags that he's "open" to cutting Social Security and Medicare. Is that what EMILY's List donors want their money going to? Eric Griego has a 100% record on women's issues and he's been an effective leader on this issues. Grisham is not trustworthy. When she was head of the health system in New Mexico, a federal investigation found that people died from neglect on her watch. She is both irresponsible and has this huge scandal hovering above her for Republicans to use... and EMILY's List is embracing this? What is wrong with them? It's like ever since they got behind anti-Semite Nikki Tinker they have been unable to regain their political balance or act strategically. Why don't they go spend their money helping progressive women like Darcy Burner, Franke Wilmer, Patsy Keever or Aryanna Strader?

Meanwhile in the last few weeks, Chavez, now desperate, has resorted to full-time negative campaigning, exactly the same kind of sleazy campaigning that corrupt Blue Dog Tim Holden tried against Matt Cartwright in Pennsylvania last month-- and both have DCCC paw prints all over it. They've spent the past few days spamming news outlets with six different negative press releases, made robo-calls, and set up a fake blog-- all targeting only Eric. Because neither Chavez nor Grisham can compete with Eric's clear momentum, they're resorting to desperate attacks on his progressive supporters, like the Sierra Club, the American Federation of Teachers, MoveOn... the Democratic base.

The New Mexico primary is June 5th... still plenty of time to help elect a movement progressive in a banner race.

Will DCCC Recruitment Of Conservative Candidates Turn Off Enough Democrats To Win The 2012 Elections For The GOP? Probably

Locking in a Republican majority in the House

Last year it drove me crazy that the reactionary Blue Dog Caucus was able to jump start an election campaign for a turgid conservative Democrat, Lori Edwards, for Adam Putnam's open Florida seat east of Tampa (Polk and Hillsborough counties). Two years previous, with Obama fighting McCain to a virtual tie, progressive Democrat Doug Tudor gave entrenched incumbent Putnam his strongest challenge ever-- garnering 137,465 (to Putnam's 185,698). With Putnam moving on to state office, Tudor felt he had a real shot to defeat the zombie replacement the GOP was putting in to replace Putnam, Dennis Ross. But the Blue Dogs stepped for anti-healthcare conservative Edwards, pumped up for fundraising with corrupt Beltway lobbyists for the primary and got the DCCC to back her against the legitimate grassroots Democrat, Tudor. Of the 137,465 FL-12 voters who had come out for Tudor in 2008, only 87,769 bothered voting for Edwards in 2010. And now the district is represented by a {{Dennis Ross}} who has a 2.65 ProgressivePunch score (that's 2.65 out of 100). He's been a lockstep voter for a domestic fascist agenda pushed by Boehner, Cantor and Ryan. Thanks, DCCC.

Of course, Lori Edwards wasn't the only Blue Dog Democrat voters decided to reject last year. They rejected the entire Blue Dog worldview, defeating over half the members, including all the leaders, and frightening many of the others into retiring this year-- like arch-conservative corporate shills Dan Boren (OK) and Mike Ross (AR). Heath Shuler (NC) is negotiating a job as a gym teacher in Tennessee, and if he can squeeze enough money out of them, we'll be rid of him too. Democratic voters didn't come out to vote, not for Lori Edwards, not for the Blue Dogs and, because of the spillover effect, not for real Democrats around the country as well. But the DCCC hasn't learned their lesson. Led by "ex"-Blue Dog Steve Israel, they'll follow the Blue Dogs into another disaster for next year. Yesterday Gallup reported that once again base-catering Republicans have inspired their base while base-hating Democrats have turned their base off. Democratic and left-leaning independent voters will be doing in 2012 just what they did in 2010-- staying home and sending a message to the Steve Israels and Debbie Wasserman Schultzes that they won't vote rather than vote for conservatives wearing blue T-shirts.

The difference between Democrats' enthusiasm and Republicans' enthusiasm can be summarized by plotting the difference in the two groups' net enthusiasm scores-- that is, the percentage of each group saying they are more enthusiastic minus the percentage less enthusiastic.

Democrats' net enthusiasm (+1) now trails Republicans' net enthusiasm (+28) by 27 percentage points. By contrast, Democrats held the advantage on net enthusiasm throughout 2008-- on several occasions, by better than 40-point margins. Democrats occasionally trailed Republicans in net enthusiasm in 2004, but never by as much as is seen today. The current balance of enthusiasm among Republicans and Democrats is similar to what Gallup found in the first few months of 2000.

...Gallup's initial-- and early-- reading on Republicans' and Democrats' enthusiasm for 2012 indicates the emotional climate surrounding that election could be quite different from the climate in 2008, when Democrat Barack Obama won, partly owing to supermajority support from several groups. Democrats' current enthusiasm about voting is not only lower than it was in 2008, but lower than in 2004, when Republican George W. Bush won re-election.

And yet the DCCC continues recruiting conservative shills who turn off the base and make people wonder what the difference is between the two parties. As we've been warning all year, instead of embracing Albuquerque's most progressive and popular state senator, Eric Griego, for the open Democratic seat in NM-1, the DCCC seem hellbent on losing it by recruiting hated corporate shill Marty Chavez to run against him in a primary. Of course the DCCC claims to be staying out of the primary. But they're lying. They keep helping Chavez and secretly undermining Griego, who has been endorsed by dozens of unions, civic groups and progressive organizations, Blue America included.

Tomorrow Blue America is formally endorsing Ohio progressive Mary Jo Kilroy, and she'll be joining us for a live chat at Crooks and Liars (2pm ET). But even before we jumped into the race, Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chairs Raúl Grijalva and Keith Ellison endorsed her. That was great news and very encouraging. In the past it was almost only the Blue Dogs jumping into early primary fights and pushing their conservative shithead candidates (like Lori Edwards). Just as exciting, yesterday Grijalva sent out an e-mail to his own supporters urging them to back Griego in Albuquerque.

As John Boehner and Tea Party Republicans wage class war against working families, Progressives in Congress are fighting back. But we need help. We need more bold progressives fighting by our side.

That's why I endorse State Senator Eric Griego for New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District open seat.

Eric Griego believes that "the last thing we need to send to Washington is a Democrat who's a kinder, gentler version of the Republicans." I agree. Democrats must fight for a government that works for all people, not just those with deep pockets and fancy titles.

Eric fought to get corporate money out of politics as an Albuquerque City Councilor, where he passed one of the strongest local campaign finance reforms in the nation. As State Senator, he took on the Big Oil companies and put middle-class workers first by passing a green jobs bill into law.

Eric is supported by leading progressive groups and major labor unions-- and he is the only candidate in the race to have a lifetime 100% rating from Conservation Voters New Mexico.

I need Eric Griego fighting by my side in Congress. To make that happen, he needs your help.

You can rally to Griego's cause here at the Blue America ActBlue page. Hopefully the Progressive Caucus will start regularly endorsing progressives in tough primary battles with conservatives and support progressives fighting Republicans as well. I noticed that in the new Democratic-leaning district in Riverside County, a district Obama would have won with something like a 20% margin, the progressive Democratic candidate, Mark Takano, is up against a conservative Republican, John Tavaglione, beloved by developers, business interests, fat-cat Republicans and... both corrupt Republican zombie Ken Calvert, who used to represent the area, and the conservative Democratic mayor of Riverside, Ron Loveridge. That's another race where Grijalva could do some good.

Michigan As Microcosm For Democratic Party Doom... Or Renaissance?

Yesterday we looked at Ken Quinnell's crowd sourced study of which state legislatures were the worst in the country. The big 3 were, Wisconsin, Florida and, at #1 worst, Arizona. I was surprised Michigan only came in at the 10th worst. After all, Rick Snyder and his zombie legislators are attacking the foundations of democracy itself and seem to be on the path to full on fascism. Of course, Michigan has a long and sordid history of flirting with fascism. So Snyder's actions this year aren't considered beyond the pale in many Michigan circles.

Michigan became the first state to pass a Financial Martial Law bill, giving unelected emergency managers extensive powers to run local governments without oversight from local officials, effectively eliminating democracy in areas of the state that hit hard financial times.

The law granted sweeping new authority to appointed managers, including powers to cancel or renegotiate union contracts, sell off assets and privatize public services. In Detroit, the school district’s emergency manager, Robert Bobb, announced shortly after the passage of the bill that 8 schools would be closing and 45 others bid out to private charter operators; in April, he issued layoff notices to every teacher and staff member in the district. In Benton Harbor, manager Joseph Harris issued an executive order effectively stripping all city boards and commissions from taking any action whatsoever.

Word is if you are an orphan, Michigan isn't the place to be, since the state is cutting money to help orphaned children get clothes. The Michigan legislature also doesn't seem to like LGBT people much, as it tried to punish universities that give benefits to same-sex domestic partners.

Non-Michiganders were exposed to what the GOP was up to in that state for the first time this spring with this report from Rachel Maddow:





So perfect for a Democratic takeover, right? Um... maybe... if enough voters decide they can get excited about choosing between the lesser of two evils. Last week Eric Baerren did a study of Michigander's attitudes towards the state's Democratic Party. Pretty bad! His conclusion: "Michigan Democrats hate the Michigan Democratic Party" and that "50 percent of Democratic voters in Detroit think that the Michigan Democratic Party is out of date and too focused on the past."

When asked who is the best Democratic leader in Michigan, most Democratic voters in the latest Denno Research poll, conducted on behalf of Michigan Liberal and First Shift with Tony Trupiano, said U.S. Sen. Carl Levin. Levin got 34.5 percent of votes. Coming in second? "I have no idea," or "None of the above," with 31 percent, edging out Debbie Stabenow 26.3 percent. Mark Brewer, the state party chairman, came in second to last with barely above percent.

Know who does well with Michigan Democrats, probably better than anyone else? Barack Obama. We've heard a lot about the possibility that Obama could lose his base support next year. They like his economic policies (well, except in the U.P.), they like his war policy, they think he's struck the right tone, they think they're better off since he was inaugurated. Right now, according to this poll, Obama will have his base support, especially since it's pretty clear that Democratic voters really, really don't like what Republicans are doing right now.

The people that need to worry about losing their base support is, in fact, the Michigan Democratic Party (my guess is that they've already done it). In every relevant question, the MDP polled poorly. Michigan Democrats and independent voters who vote for Democrats blame poor messaging and leadership for much of last year's wipeout, and in a poll of the best Democratic leader, Mark Brewer beat out only Gretchen Whitmer (which was itself surprising).

Taken as a whole, I think what this poll is, is a giant no-confidence vote in the Michigan Democratic Party among Democrats and progressives. To that bloc of voters, the MDP is wallowing in the past, rudderless, out of date, and too reliant on organized labor.

As angry as Michigan voters are at Snyder and his right-wing legislators, "they place a surprising level of blame for their party's failures last year on lackluster candidates and message... Nearly 50 percent [of respondents] said it was a combination of lousy candidates, bad messaging and a lack of leadership at the top."

How indicative is the Democratic Party mess in Michigan of a national malaise across the country? My gut tells me, very. It's why so many millions of Democrats and left-leaning independents stayed away from the polls entirely in 2010 and let the teabaggers take over the House. No one was enthusiastic about seeing malevolent slimebags like Boehner and Cantor take over but voters were repulsed by the empty promises from Obama and the reactionary politics of the Blue Dogs and other corrupt ConservaDems. So they let them go down to a well-earned defeat. More than half the Blue Dogs were driven from Congress. But did the DCCC learn a thing? Absolutely not. They immediately named an "ex" Blue Dog, conservative hack Steve Israel, to head the committee and started recruiting the exact kind of candidates the voters had just defeated-- in many cases, the very same people, like conservative shills Ann Kirkpatrick in Arizona and, reportedly, Chris Carney in Pennsylvania. And some of the DCCC's "new" faces dredged up by Israel are even more disgusting.

Republican mobster David Rivera (FL-25) is probably the most vulnerable Republican incumbent anywhere. Florida Republicans are so embarrassed by his behavior and his blatant corruption that they're considering adding Democratic-leaning Key West to his district to help get rid of him (and make Ileana Ros Lehtinen safer). So what does the DCCC come up with to fight Rivera? It's as though Israel said, find me the worst garbage in the state and bring him to me. Voila-- Luis Garcia, a former member of the Democrats For Jeb Bush steering committee, who recently threatened to switch parties and join the Republicans.

Similarly, in Albuquerque, the DCCC recruited an anti-union, anti-environment corporate shill, Marty Chavez, to run for the open congressional seat, despite the fact that the state's leading progressive legislator, Eric Griego, was already a declared candidate.

And the DSCC is busy trying to get reactionary Blue Dogs Joe Donnelly (IN) and Jim Matheson (UT), who consistently vote with Boehner and Cantor on key issues, to run for Senate seats. Is there any wonder that ordinary working voters are disgusted with the Democratic Establishment in DC? And that's not even to mention Obama offering to make the Republicans' dreams come true with more devastating tax breaks for the rich coupled with catastrophic cutbacks to Social Security and Medicare. Yes, a "D" is better than an "F"... but how much better? Enough to get you to bother to go vote?

Right-Wing Democrat Marty Chavez Takes The Re-Invention Route... As Albuquerque Democrats Laugh

I was very excited to take a job as general manager of Sire Records, mostly because of my love for bands like the Ramones, Depeche Mode, Smiths, Ministry and Talking Heads. These were the bands that were reintroducing a new honesty and candor back into pop music after a cruel decade of pretentious, overblown corporate rock. But when I took over at Reprise, the label's biggest artist, by far, was Madonna, who I didn't understand at all. My boss, the label's founder, Seymour Stein, took her right off my hands. "I'll handle Madonna and the Cult. You handle everyone else. No, you handle everyone else and the Cult," he told me on my first day on the job. The was fine with me and I soon realized that "handling" Madonna didn't take up much time, basically because she handled herself-- including her much-hyped penchant for reinvention. I came to admire her and the way she reinvented herself, like a slickly handled brand. It's on thing for a pop star; it's something entirely different for a politician.

Early in May we expressed our concern that the DCCC would back one of New Mexico's least trustworthy right-wing Democrats, Marty Chavez, in a race for Martin Heinrich's open House seat in Albuquerque. Chavez was mayor of Albuquerque and his name recognition is as high as it could possibly be. But many Democrats who recognize his name, don't recognize it with fondness. So he's trying a Madonna-like reinvention. I doubt it will work as easily on New Mexico voters as it worked on the incompetent lunkheads at the DCCC. I doubt it and I fear it-- fear it because America doesn't need another right-wing hack in Congress making believe he's a Democrat. And in this case, the man Chavez is running against, state Senator Eric Griego, is one of the most promising progressive leaders running for Congress anywhere in America. Yesterday I got this statement from Eric's campaign:

"I stand with seniors, the disabled, and the working and middle class families of New Mexico in calling on President Obama and Congress to keep their hands off Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as they negotiate a solution to the federal debt default crisis. While I support President Obama in his effort avert the catastrophic collapse of our recovering economy, any deal with Republicans that cuts Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid for New Mexico seniors and working families while failing to ensure that our nation's wealthiest are paying their fair share is entirely unacceptable."

That's where Eric Griego is coming from-- and he has a record to back it up. It's why Blue America endorsed him and it's why we feel good asking donors to contribute to his campaign. It's who he really is. Don't be surprised to see a similar kind of statement from Chavez as he tap-dances around his reinvention process-- even though it is decidedly not who he is. Who he is, as political observers in Albuquerque are well aware, is a triangulating, self-serving hack who fought against increasing minimum wage and fought against environmental protections and, in fact, fought against reformers and Democrats throughout his disgraceful career.

The first time I really became aware of what a destructive tool Chavez is, wasn't even that long ago. New Mexico's progressive congressman, Tom Udall, then a Blue America fave, was running for the open Senate seat being abandoned by Pete Domenici. Chavez wanted the Senate seat as well and went on an insane, well-financed and distorted jihad against Udall. He was confident, he bragged, that he could defeat Udall in a primary.

“Philosophically, he’s so far to the left,” Chavez said. “I’d rather not have him in the race, but that’s a challenge I’d not shy away from.”

But he did shy away from the challenge. Polling showed him consistently losing to any Republican in the general-- and to Udall in the primary. So he quit the race... and then told the Albuquerque Journal running for a mere House seat-- the one he's running for now-- was beneath him.

Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez on Tuesday tossed a bucket of ice water on any speculation that he might be considering a run for the 1st Congressional District seat.

Chavez, in a telephone interview, blasted the U.S. House of Representatives and said that jumping into the race for the open, Albuquerque-based seat is "not an option."

The House is "not a place where I want to be," said Chavez, who late last week unexpectedly abandoned his short-lived bid for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.

He said Tuesday that while the Senate remains a place where "individuals of substance gather," the House-- whose members face re-election every two years, compared with six-year terms for senators-- is "not a place for ladies and gentlemen any longer. ... They play a type of politics (that) I think is destructive."

Odd he would shy away from destructive politics. That, after all, is his hallmark. His short-lived race against Tom Udall didn't endear him to New Mexico Democrats.

Continuing his recent mean-spirited barrage against his high-polling Dem primary opponent for U.S. Senate, Albuquerque Mayor Marty Chavez is now accusing Rep. Tom Udall (NM-03) of "endangering our national security."

...It's one thing to criticize your primary opponent's positions, but I think this kind of over-the-top rhetoric coming directly from Chavez can only serve to turn more Dem voters against him. Chavez already has a reputation for publicly and privately trashing fellow Dems on the Albuquerque City Council, supporting Repubs and their causes and vowing to vote for Repub Sen. Pete Domenici if he ran for reelection.

Do Chavez and his campaign team really believe that using inflammatory language like this to attack one of the most highly respected and popular Dems in the state will help him in his quest for Dem primary voters? Astonishing. Not only is it wrong, it's bad politics.

Now Chavez, a pro-growth, Chamber of Commerce type hack, is trying to reinvent himself as what he calls a "green mayor." It's a joke and completely manufactured by him and demonstrably false--he's actually terrible on the environment, and spent most of his tenure as Mayor defending himself against lawsuits from environmental organizations and fighting all of the City Council's pro-environment initiatives. Union members know how awful he is and he's not going to hoodwink them, so he's trying to persuade voters of his "progressive" cred using environmentalism.

Eric Griego makes no bones about joining the Congressional progressive Caucus and working on an agenda focused on American families, rather than on multinational corporations. Everything in Chavez's record points to another slimy pro-corporate Blue Dog if he gets into Congress, which is probably what makes Steve Israel so excited about him. This guy's got to be stopped. Please do what you can to help Eric Griego win the primary.

Will The DCCC Try To Dig Up ConservaDem Marty Chavez To Run For Heinrich's Seat?

Over the years Blue America has interacted with scores of Democratic congressional candidates. After our jarring experience with dishonest Chris Carney (PA), a stealth Blue Dog and bigot, we never ask anyone to make any pledges. A politician who makes a pledge when he needs campaign help is a politician who can break a campaign pledge when he's neatly tucked in with lobbyists and powerful Inside-the-Beltway corporate shill like Steny Hoyer and Steve Israel. Instead, our first priority is to look for committed movement progressives like Donna Edwards, Raúl Grijalva, Ilya Sheyman, Norman Solomon and Nick Ruiz. These are people who don't have to be persuaded to vote well on core progressive issues; these are people who are leading the way-- the tip of the spear on issues most Democrats would rather avoid or even join with the Republicans on. So, it was with great pleasure that we came across the first-- and so far only-- Democrat running for the open New Mexico House seat based in Albuquerque, state Senator Eric Griego.

A week ago today Eric announced he was officially in the race. He's been a big fave of the local DFA chapter, which points to his video (above) as establishing "him as a family man who's heavily involved in his community, as well as a hard-nosed progressive fighter for families, children and workers who's ready, willing and able to take on the right wing attacks on education, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. As he says in the video, 'The last thing we need to send to Washington is a Democrat who's a kinder, gentler version of the Republicans, frankly. Unfortunately, in Washington right now, there's an assault on the basic idea that we are a community.' His campaign is associated with the words passion, principles and purpose."

In the next few weeks we'll invite Eric over to Crooks and Liars for a Blue America chat-- he's already endorsed on the DownWithTyranny Act Blue page-- but in the meantime we're trying to hold our enthusiasm in check while we do all our due diligence. We're hearing rumors from friends in New Mexico that the DCCC is already sniffing around for "their kind of candidate," someone closer to corrupt donors than to working families. And our fear is that they're encouraging New Mexico's most corrupt Democratic politician, former Albuquerque Mayor Marty Chavez. We first ran across him in 2007 when he tried defeating Tom Udall for the Senate seat vacated by Pete Domenici. At the time Alex Flores did a guest post warning about Chavez. Chavez is as well known for being a conservative who throws his weight behind Republicans as he is for being on the take. Flores dubbed him "DINO Marty."

In New Mexico, DINO Marty has come out in full attack mode against progressive Congressman Tom Udall (even during our Draft when Udall wasn't in the race) using national security and other right-wing frames to gain media attention.

If it seems like DINO Marty and the NRCC are reading from the same playbook, you're right. From the national security narrative to outright racism, DINO Marty thinks that his politics of hate will resonate with New Mexicans who already favor Udall by 62%-32%.

In a campaign email on Monday, November 26, DINO Marty beefed-up his GOP credentials and accused Udall of "Endangering our national security" by voting to cut funding for National Laboratories in New Mexico in a huge budget bill.

In the 2005 Mayor's race Chavez opposed raising the minimum wage; he's the Republicans' favorite kind of Democrat-- which explains the interest from the DCCC. He's also a career political hack and perennial candidate, running for any office he thinks he can win. He first ran for governor in 1997 and lost to Libertarian Gary Johnson and his loss-- in which Johnson successful portrayed him as a "tax and spend liberal"-- has haunted him ever since. He always goes out of his way to show he doesn't believe in the role of government to better the lives of people-- so he's anti-taxing, anti-spending and anti-liberal. As mayor of Albuquerque the second time around-- after he had lost to Johnson-- he managed to piss off unions, environmentalists and social progressives as he cobbled together a coalition of conservatives across party lines. He's remembered for having endorsed several Republicans in local races and for his endorsement of Pete Domenici in a Senate reelection bid.

Sometimes I wonder if the DCCC doesn't go into a district, find the absolute worst possible candidate and then do all they can to destroy the opposition. I've seen in dozens of times, especially when Emanuel was head of the committee. It should be interesting to see what they do about NM-1.

NEW MEXICO SENATE UPDATE

-by Alex Flores

Howie last invited me to write here about our Draft Udall effort in New Mexico on October 29. Since then, we've claimed success – on November 16, Tom Udall filed papers to run for the United States Senate. This cycle, we have the best chance to take this seat back from Republicans since Senator Pete Domenici first took the seat 35 years ago in the same election as when Richard M. Nixon defeated George McGovern.

Our mission continues, however. While Udall is favored in polls by wide margins over his primary opponent Mayor Martin Chavez, the Netroots need to stay heavily involved in this race. We have an opportunity here to show the Democratic party the kind of progressives we want in office.

I'm going to tell you now, after reading below, you're going to want to open your wallets for Tom Udall and make sure that DINO Marty takes a permanent vacation from politics.

This Primary race is a perfect example of why we work in politics: this race illustrates why we read, write, and work on behalf of progressives to change the Democratic agenda and elect more and better Democrats (and in this case, more and better Udalls!)

We're used to the national security narrative from Republicans – they call Dems weak on the military, weak in foreign policy, and weak on fighting terror.

On November 9, the NRCC posted a video attacking Tom Udall's cousin, Colorado Democratic Senate Candidate Mark Udall using the same frame. Here's a line straight from the video:

…putting American lives at risk. Why doesn't Mark Udall want US intelligence to have the tools they need to keep America safe. Call Mark Udall, ask him why America's safety isn't his first priority.

But we're not used to the same narrative from Democrats running in a primary.

In New Mexico, DINO Marty has come out in full attack mode against progressive Congressman Tom Udall (even during our Draft when Udall wasn't in the race) using national security and other right-wing frames to gain media attention.

If it seems like DINO Marty and the NRCC are reading from the same playbook, you're right. From the national security narrative to outright racism, DINO Marty thinks that his politics of hate will resonate with New Mexicans who already favor Udall by 62%-32%.

In a campaign email on Monday, November 26, DINO Marty beefed-up his GOP credentials and accused Udall of "Endangering our national security" by voting to cut funding for National Laboratories in New Mexico in a huge budget bill.

Here is Tom Udall's case, from a speech made on November 15:

Because nuclear weapons work is the core mission of the Lab, it stands to suffer in the upcoming fiscal years – unless it chooses a path of increasing diversification, growing new areas of research and work for the Lab…. I advocate for a path forward that supports areas of work including: alternative energy and energy independence, science research such as climate change modeling, intelligence research and analysis, nonproliferation efforts, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) projects, and nuclear counter terrorism.

Barbwire, a New Mexico blogger, has more details at her site including an on-point assessment that:

It's one thing to criticize your primary opponent's positions, but I think this kind of over-the-top rhetoric coming directly from Chavez can only serve to turn more Dem voters against him. Chavez already has a reputation for publicly and privately trashing fellow Dems on the Albuquerque City Council, supporting Repubs and their causes and vowing to vote for Repub Sen. Pete Domenici if he ran for reelection.

Do Chavez and his campaign team really believe that using inflammatory language like this to attack one of the most highly respected and popular Dems in the state will help him in his quest for Dem primary voters? Astonishing. Not only is it wrong, it's bad politics.

LP, another New Mexico blogger who runs NMFBIHOP, is thinking the same thing that you and I are: DINO Marty's language

…sounds like something straight out of the Karl Rove playbook.  Heather Wilson and Steve Pearce are probably filing that away for further use.

Barbwire and LP are right on. But it's not just a quest, DINO Marty is on a Quixotic mission. He has poll after poll after poll, New Mexicans prefer Udall by WIDE margins.

Mid-article break: If you're already convinced that DINO Marty needs an early retirement, please donate to the "Netroots for Udall" ActBlue page. Take ownership of this race and let's send a true progressive to the United States Senate!

And even though DINO Marty wants this race to stay in New Mexico, he has no problem giving racist soundbites to the New York Times:

[Chavez] said that Senators Schumer and Reid thought of Mr. Udall, the son of Stewart Udall, secretary of the interior under President John F. Kennedy, as their "fair-haired boy."

[Quick aside: Isn't it also odd that DINO Marty is so quick to badmouth the Majority Leader and the DSCC Chairman? If he won the nomination, would he flip-flop his way back into their grace for national support and party infrastructure?]

Is DINO Marty relying in part on being "Hispanic" to carry him to victory? Well, in the same NYT article, the author points out that DINO Marty

…is expected to emphasize his Hispanic heritage.

Thankfully, many Latinos are not fooled by racial politics. New Mexico pollster Brian Sanderoff said that race

could be an advantage in a state where, since 1994, a Hispanic candidate facing a white candidate in a statewide Democratic primary had won 9 times out of 10.

But I'm not sure that's true. In one of the most revealing polls of the race yet, Latin@s split down the middle. Sorry Chavez, being Brown doesn't mean that all of us Brown folk will blindly vote for you.

The choice here is clear. We're talking about supporting popular Tom Udall (a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus) over DINO Marty to carry New Mexico for Democrats and progressives in the state and across the country. Let's show both of them that the Netroots have voice and the infrastructure to make a difference in this race. Please donate to the "Netroots for Udall" page on ActBlue.