Memorial Day With Mitchell Howie-- A Vision For A Future Filled With Hard-Headed Hope For Alabama And For America

I got into the race to represent the Fifth Congressional District of Alabama when I looked around and saw it was apparent that the current occupant (the party switcher Parker Griffith) lacks a sense of service. Back in the mid-1960s, when our Congress passed then-controversial pieces of landmark legislation such as the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act, that institution was composed of 70% Veterans. Today, that number is at a historic all time low of 20%. Certainly, simply being a Vet doesn’t qualify you to serve in Congress. However, with all of the partisan bickering today over simple, common sense ideas like health care reform, financial reform, and clean energy one could hardly argue that a renewed sense of service is not needed on Capitol Hill.

One of the most important things I ever did during my service as a Captain in the United States Air Force JAG Corps was drafting wills on midnight mobility lines at Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina. It was an important job, making sure service members had their families taken care of in case they didn’t come home from the war they were about to get on a plane to fly into. One night, on my way home from one of these mobility lines, I stopped for gas. As I watched the dials click over on the pump, it occurred to me that our petroleum purchases here in America essentially fund the enemies those brave men and women I had helped were going to fight. That thought has weighed heavy on my heart ever since.

That’s why part of my platform in this race is to create a Green TVA here in North Alabama. The Tennessee Valley Authority has brought jobs and electricity to homes all across the Tennessee Valley for decades, and I want to do the same with clean energy. A Green TVA just makes sense. We can create American jobs by manufacturing products like wind turbines and solar panels in the auto manufacturing plants who’s doors have closed over the passed several years. North Alabama’s deep water ports can ship these products to consumers and vendors all over the country, who currently must send American money to China in order to meet their clean energy needs. Research universities within this district can provide the know-how to develop newer, better clean energy technology so we can stop relying on foreign oil, and secure our nation with clean, American power.

Some have said this is a far fetched idea, but I remind them that the same was said about walking on the moon before a team of rocket scientists started their research at the Marshall Space Flight Center and Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, which still stands in Alabama’s Fifth Congressional District.

This Memorial Day, I hope all Americans will remember the service of those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for American freedom, but also think about how many more of our brave men and women will have to lay down their lives to fund the oil addiction that weakens our country. We need clean, American power that brings jobs, a sustainable climate, and security that can’t be influenced by the same powers that fund international terrorism. That’s why my name will appear on tomorrow's Democratic Primary ballot in North Alabama, and one of the many reasons I’m going to bring service back to Washington.


UPDATE: Tomorrow Is Election Day In Alabama

Mitchell is running against two conservative corporate shills whose vicious, negative campaigns have made a mockery out of Democratic Party ideals. In all likelihood Mitchell will be forced into a primary with a sleazy lobbyist, Steve Raby, who has given thousands of dollars to Republicans in Alabama and across the country. If people thought it would be impossible to find a worse candidate than Parker Griffith, they never imagined Steve Raby running. Please take a look at the candidates' videos at the Madison County Democratic Party Reunion Thursday. If you can vote, or have friends or family in north Alabama, please consider Mitchell Howie, the candidate who could make a real difference and offer a clear alternative to Parker Griffith or whatever gunk the Republicans dig up to run in their primary tomorrow.

AL-05: Beating Parker Griffith

A friend of mine is a constituent of the dubious party switcher, Parker Griffith, elected as a Democrat, currently a Republican for North Alabama's 5th CD. For the past few months he's been volunteering his time working with his friend Mitchell Howie, the candidate we've been covering in the Democratic primary.

Mitchell is heading into the last 10 days of the primary campaign-- election is June 1st-- and he needs netroots help, but he wants to tell you a little about the candidate and the campaign from his own perspective. His guest post:

Mitchell, is an authentic progressive, something most have resigned themselves to giving up hope for in this state. He got involved in politics by volunteering time with North Alabama Health Care for All, a local single payer advocacy group. Back when Parker was a Democrat he held a town hall in a local church where he 1) launched personal attacks against Speaker Pelosi; 2) swore he would not be switching parties; and 3) told lies about what was contained in the health care bill. Mitchell was in attendance and couldn’t take it. He stood up and debated Parker on the bill in front of everyone, telling the spineless congressmen what the facts were. Mitchell was approached about running against Parker in the Democratic primary, which he declined. That changed in December when Parker Griffith decided to become a Republican. Mitchell was the only candidate in this race to come out in support of healthcare reform before the votes in Congress.

Mitchell is from here in Huntsville. After attending law school at the University of Texas, he served as a staffer to a Democratic legislator in Texas (Sylvester Turner), ultimately rising to Chief of Staff. After several years in the legislature, Mitchell joined the United States Air Force and served as a JAG Corps attorney on active duty. After coming off of active duty, he returned to Huntsville to open a private law practice. The Howie name is well known in Huntsville. Mitchell’s grandfather was a physician who ran one of the few desegregated waiting rooms in the region, and spent personal money on bailing African-Americans out of jail after sit-ins, in spite of the death threats the familly received as a result.

The State of the Campaign

Mitchell’s primary opponents are the antitheses of everything we stand for as a progressive movement. Steve Raby is
a former employee of the Federal Reserve who spent 9 years in Washington as Chief of Staff to conservative-Democratic Alabama Senator Howell Heflin. Since leaving Washington, Raby has run a lobbying and consulting firm here in North Alabama and has been the consummate gatekeeper. Raby is a self-described conservative, recently stating in an interview, "Can you be a conservative and be a Democrat? Well, Iam. Heck, I own more guns than anyone in this race." Raby has dubious connections as well, having tens of thousands of dollars in contributions to Republican candidates and other electeds who now sit in federal prison. Recently, one of our other opponents, Taze Shepard ran an ad pointing out Raby’s connections:



[UPDATE: Raby hit back today with a vicious anti-Taz ad]

Tazewell Shepard is not much better, maybe even worse, than Steve Raby. Taze served for a short time in the early 90s on the State Board of Education, but otherwise has no experience in public service. What he does have is pedigree and a penchant for legacy politics. Taze’s grandfather is the late Alabama Senator John Sparkman, and that
statement essentially sums up Taze’s platform. Taze never makes an appearance without noting that he learned his values from his grandfather, and that those are the values which we wants to bring to Washington. Only problem is that John Sparkman was a segregationist Democrat and signatory to the Southern Manifesto.

There is another candidate in the race, but he is not a serious one (although he is quite intelligent and has some good ideas). If you really want to know about him, you can watch him here.

Mitchell’s fundraising has been good for a race in this district, but he doesn’t have the family connections or the Washington rolodex of his opponents. The campaign has budgeted and spent wisely, and the energy on the ground shows it. In the only poll that has been conducted of the race, paid for by the Shepard campaign, it was found that virtually all of Mitchell’s supporters describe their support as “strong,” compared with about half for the other two candidates. You’ll notice that poll shows Mitchell lagging, but I’d point out that our base lies in young and minority constituencies (Mitchell goes to two services each Sunday at minority churches, a different two each week) which are notoriously difficult to poll. Everywhere I go with Mitchell, he speaks to new voters who commit to voting and volunteering, and it is not uncommon for us to give out more yard signs at an event than there are voters present, with them taking more for their friends.

At this point, Mitchell’s biggest hurdle is name ID. Luckily, North Alabama is a relatively inexpensive media market, and that’s where you can help him. Democratic support for our opponents are being torn apart by the ad mentioned above, with many questioning Raby’s ties and many others questioning Taze’s tactics. I spoke some a staffer from Raby’s campaign today and they will be hitting Taze with a negative ad starting Monday. The campaign believes this provides a unique opportunity to expand the buy for Mitchell’s ad which we’ve already been running for a few weeks
which many here will recognize as paying homage to one of Mitchell’s political heroes, Paul Wellstone. Mitchell and his campaign leadership believe this buy combined with the other candidates attacking each other will help the campaign surge to at least a run-off, if not outright victory (the above poll shows that as of two weeks ago, 58% of voters
were undecided).



Mitchell needs anyone who is willing to highlight his campaign and help with a media blitz over the next 10 days. Frankly, the campaign needs money. Just a little bit of money can help us get the message out there and give us a real chance at getting a true progressive elected in this district.

On local news, we can run ads for $150-400 each in the morning, $100 at noon, and $750-$1,000 each on the evening broadcast.

We can purchase digital billboard for $100 per day each board.

We can get radio ad space for $30 per ad.

For $3,000- $5,000 we can fully flood both local cable providers guaranteeing everyone in the district gets several views of the ad.

Winning A Congressional Seat In Alabama

Thursday night, before flying back to try to shore up his crumbling political fortunes in North Alabama, ex-Blue Dog-turned Republican Parker Griffith was too frightened to vote with the GOP on the extension of unemployment benefits. The party line-- whispered in fear this time, not screeched like their usual obstructionism-- was that "we" can't afford an extension of benefits and it'll lead to more pressure to tax rich people. Griffith slinked across the aisle to vote with the Democrats-- although he passed one of his conservative Blue Dog ex-colleagues, Jim Cooper of Tennessee, going in the other direction.

Griffith's not likely to win many Democratic votes with these kinds of shenanigans and his new party just hates him. A straw poll of college Republicans at UA Huntsville last week showed him a very distant third after Les Phillip and teabagger Mo Brooks. Of the 250 votes cast 46% went to Phillip, 45% to Brooks and poor Griffith only scrounged up a measly 9%. Griffith has been forced to return loads of donations, while burning through almost all his cash on hand to try to persuade Republicans he's one of them. He's in big trouble.

This is a district that hasn't had a Republican congressman in a century and a half-- until Griffith jumped the fence and overturned the voters' decision. There are four Democrats competing for their party's nomination, from right to left Tazewell Shepard, a conservative legacy grandson who seems to think he just "owns" the nomination; a sleazy lobbyist named Steve Raby who may or may not stay in the race, Mitchell Howie and David Maker.

Shepard, an admitted conservative, who didn't even make any pretence about calling himself a "moderate" until someone clued him in a few weeks ago, is probably to the right of Parker Griffith. He seems to have thought he could just walk into the nomination because of his family connections. John Sparkman was his grandpa and he's a child of privilege who has had everything handed to him on a silver platter. He seems to believe that his pedigree is a legitimate substitute for doing the work it takes to go out and raise the money to run for Congress. As for the "strong legacy connections," it looks from his first FEC folings that they've chosen not to support him for whatever reason...He had no choice but to loan his campaign $100,000. In short, it just takes a glance at his filing to see that $129,325 of $139,422 he "raised"-- 92.7%, all but $10,097-- is from someone who is related to him-- mostly himself-- or lives in the household of someone who is related to him. He is the essence of what we don't need in Washington, an entitled dynastic politician who doesn't want to work for the people but rather is content to perate in business as usual circles-- not exactly a prediction of someone likely to be a fount of creative ways to approach new problems facing northern Alabama or America.
 
Raby, who many sources are telling me isn't even going to actually run, took in the most money ($187,410) among Democrats. That's no surprise. He's a master of political bottom-feeding: a lobbyist. Anytime anyone mentions that he makes his substantial living as a lobbyist-- and that he's given piles of money to Republicans (including $3,900 to Jeff Sessions, $2,000 Jo Bonner, $6,300 to Dick Shelby, $1,250 to Bob Aderholt, and $500 to extremist kook and former Rep. Terry Everett)-- he starts moaning about "name calling." He, on the other hand, would rather term his lobbying and his work as a political operative as preparation for a job in Congress-- which I guess it is... if Congress is all about self-serving, special interests, and insiders. He says he's the only Democrat who won't need on the job training. What he would need-- if the people of AL-05 are going to be served-- is re-training. When you look at Raby's website you walk away wondering what he stands for-- other than a grab for political power-- and why he's running (if he is). What are the issues that motivate him? When he says he has been working behind the scenes, what does he mean? Who is he working for?

Mitchell Howie, the populist in this race, is depending on the grassroots for financial support. He didn't do badly-- just over $56,000, al in small grassroots contribution-- and I like the feisty way he put it in his press release:

While some candidates play the old Washington game of stacking up piles of special interest money, and others turn to their own personal checking accounts to make multi-million dollar loans to their own campaign war chests, I have been carrying my message to the voters of the fifth district. I will fight for policies that will encourage quality jobs, work to improve our education system and foster strength in our nation's defense, and so many folks have responded generously.
 
In these difficult times, I am grateful for their support. I recognize the sacrifice that their contributions may represent and I commit both to those who support my campaign and those who do not, that when I am elected, this seat in Congress will once again belong to the people of North Alabama. 

A Case For Mitchell Howie In North Alabama

Mitchell's the tall guy

Over the weekend Alabama Democrats got some bad news as word leaked out that Josh Segall decided to withdraw his challenge to reactionary Mike Rogers in the 3rd Congressional District. Steve Segrest is the likely Democratic candidate now, and it really is a stretch to imagine him starting now and beating Rogers.

Further north and west, however, in the 5th CD, Democrats have a much better chance to elect not just a Democrat, but-- and in Alabama this is saying a lot-- a real Democrat. The current Alabama Democratic members of Congress, Bobby Bright (2nd CD), one of the worst of the Blue Dogs, and Artur Davis (7th CD), an ambitious would-be governor who thinks his path to fame and fortune is accelerated aisle-crossing, leave a lot to be desired. But Alabama's 5th CD, across the northern half-dozen counties along the Tennessee border (plus a sliver of Morgan Co.), offers Democrats a great chance for actual change.

The 5th CD is a traditional Democratic district. They haven't elected a Republican in a century and a half, but they're represented by one now. Conservative oddball Parker Griffith-- whose only qualification was that he's a multimillionaire (all the DCCC ever asks for)-- snuck into office last cycle as a Democrat, immediately became the most Republican-voting Blue Dog, declared he wouldn't vote for Nancy Pelosi to be Speaker in 2012 and soon after officially joined the GOP. 

Now no one can quite tell who hates him more, Democrats in AL-05 or Republicans in AL-05. He has plenty of primary challengers from inside his new party, and Democrats are lining up to oppose him too. Problem with the Democrats is that most of them are just as bad as he is. One, Taze Shepard, is making it clear that he's even more conservative than Griffith! He's the grandson of Klansman and former Senator John Sparkman. Steve Raby is also a conservative Democrat, but a lobbyist who has funneled thousands of dollars to Republicans all over America. David Maker, a local misfit, is also running.

And that leaves one shot for Democrats to elect an actual Democrat in the tradition of FDR, Truman, JFK, Bill Cinton and Obama: Mitchell Howie. I asked him to do a guest post on his Green TVA proposal, since it is so integral to his campaign and so constructive and appealing to people across partisan lines. He sent me this earlier today:

In the first few decades of the 20th century, North Alabama was like a lot of other communities in our region. We have always had great communities and strong families, but a century ago most of those families made do with very little, and faced hardships in the course of their daily lives that few today can comprehend. Along with our nation, our region was in transition.
 
When President Roosevelt and a Democratic Congress created the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 1933, a model was created for targeted government investment and innovation. An example was set for how the power of the federal government can be leveraged for great results when action is motivated by a commitment to service.

I am running for Congress from Alabama's Fifth Congressional district because I believe the time has come to return to Congress that commitment to service. Once in Congress, I plan to put forth a jobs proposal to recapture that original spirit of the TVA, by creating what I'll call a Green TVA (GTVA). Where the TVA's primary and lasting mission is to bring electrical power, the GTVA will work to enable Northern Alabama to serve as a center of research and development into the clean energy technologies of the future.
 
Few areas of our country are as well positioned to leverage local engineering and technical expertise as Northern Alabama. Paired with Marshall Space Flight Center and the TVA's existing research facility in Muscle Shoals, the GTVA will ensure that our region will continue to chart America's future in innovation. That innovation will draw manufacturing firms from across the globe to Northern Alabama, where they will find our unmatched blue-collar workforce. We already have the infrastructure to ship newly manufactured goods across the globe, where they are in high demand.

It's well known that the TVA's expanded scope of work included projects that directly created jobs, but what some might not recall is that the jobs created by the TVA went well beyond those who went on the Authority's government payroll. The positive business climate created by the TVA brought private investment and jobs far beyond those directly hired to work on energy or economic development initiatives.

In this same way, the GTVA can serve as a business magnet for North Alabama, attracting private investment and partnered research in the areas that will help draw the map for our country's path to energy independence. For every dollar-- public or private-- spent on research, there is an economic impact returned to the community multiple times over. An infrastructure like the GTVA, bringing serious government investments to bear in addressing the most pressing technical challenges of our time, right here in North Alabama, is exactly what our community needs.

Like the TVA, the GTVA will play an important role in community development as well. Researching and commercializing ways to generate more energy will be most effective only if paired with concrete steps to create a culture of conservation. So the GTVA will dramatically expand projects such as the Campbell Creek Energy Efficient Homes Project, looking into improvements in weatherization technologies. That research will then be employed by crews to make the homes of qualified seniors more efficient, to minimize the bite being taken out of fixed incomes by ever-rising energy costs. The GTVA will also research new technologies, and make government buildings-- including schools and state and local government buildings-- more energy-efficient, so that fewer tax dollars fly out of poorly insulated windows. Initiatives will be undertaken with clear goals, and followed up on with regular reports posted on the GTVA's website -- ensuring that the tax dollars invested are going where they're supposed to go.  

Though our region remains strong, our state suffers from one of the ten worst unemployment rates in the country. I believe that Alabamians look to our portion of the state, and our strong foundation, to create growth that can resonate. Like the TVA before it, the GTVA represents a chance to seize this opportunity to employ government investment and a targeted commitment to service, to lift our great state out of the Great Recession. Lastly, I consider this jobs initiative as a way to strengthen our national security because fostering energy independence will help disentangle America from countries that willingly sell us oil but hate our way of life.

Please join us in making this vision a reality by visiting HowieForCongress.

I Am So In Awe Of Nancy Pelosi!

Today has been so exciting! One after the other, Nancy Pelosi and her team delivered all these lobbyist-oriented ConservaDems to the side of the people. And at this point the healthcare reform bill is as good as it's going to get, and it is clearly "the side of the people." It's got to pass, and no one is opposing it but dopes, hucksters, the GOP and their cutouts and shills. When Obama delivered Kucinich, that was the end of the game of opposing it from the left. Today Nancy had every Democratic interest group working at full throttle. Anyone who votes no is basically saying they're ready to join Parker Griffith in his own particular hell.

A couple days ago it started with Blue Dog Betsy Markey (D-CO), but her legend includes a bit about how there were tears in her eyes when the DCCC "forced" her-- a lifelong proponent of healthcare reform (if not of courage or character)-- to vote "no" last time. Poor thing was so distraught about being forced to vote against the bill that she ran out and joined the Blue Dog caucus. But now she's back on the side of the Democrats. Good.

But today... OMG! I can't believe what I saw. Weak, conservative, frightened John Boccieri (D-OH) flipped from "no" to "yes." Brad Ellsworth (Blue Dog-IN) announced he's in, and so did Allen Boyd (Blue Dog-FL) and Harry Mitchell (Blue Dog-AZ), and they were quickly followed by two of the House's worst lobbyist-driven corporate whores, Scott Murphy (Blue Dog-NY) and Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL).

After days of fence-sitting, U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas of New Smyrna Beach said Friday that she would support a sweeping Democratic plan for healthcare reform that has divided the country even as it aims to bring health insurance to 95 percent of Americans.

Kosmas, one of 39 Democrats to oppose a similar bill in November, said in an exclusive interview with the Orlando Sentinel that she decided to change her mind because the latest version addressed some of her previous concerns about its effect on small businesses and the federal deficit.

“I’m going to vote for healthcare reform,” she said. “I know this is not a perfect bill. But in the scheme of things, it provides the best options and the best opportunities for my constituents.”

She just spent her entire first term in Congress playing footsie with lobbyists, but I guess when Nancy decides it's time to reel 'em back in for the sake of America, they get reeled back in. (I noticed that several labor unions have asked Kosmas to return their campaign contributions and that she has a plausible primary opponent, Paul Partyka.)

Meanwhile, Scott Murphy's upstate NY district went for Obama, albeit narrowly, and re-elected Kirsten Gillibrand in 2008 with 62% of the vote. But he's behaved as if he was in some Deep South district that voted overwhelmingly for McCain and for Republican congressional candidates. According to the Times Union Murphy decided to vote for the bill because it would shift the balance of power from insurance companies to patients and does a better job of reining in medical costs.

Murphy said the final health care package is “much more fiscally conservative” than the broader House-passed bill he opposed last November and would do a better job of reducing the explosive growth in medical costs that “our families and small businesses are facing,” while still expanding insurance coverage to roughly 32 million people.

“This bill is fundamentally different than the bill we voted on last November,” Murphy said, adding that while the measure “is not perfect,” he feels “much better” about it.

Murphy’s decision ends days of intense speculation about how he would handle the issue-- the signature piece of President Obama’s domestic agenda. Widely viewed as a potential swing vote, Murphy has been a top target for intense lobbying in the nation’s capital-- including a half-hour White House meeting with Obama-- as well as a fierce PR campaign in his mostly rural, upstate congressional district.

Ultimately, after a day studying the Democrats’ 2,000-page-plus final health care bill, Murphy said he decided that it was “going to make the system better than what we have now.”

And speakin' about Alabama, ex-Blue Dog Democrat-turned-Republican Parker Griffith will be voting against healthcare for his constituents tomorrow despite the shocking findings from the House Energy and Commerce Committee on AL-05. Although there are two conservative shills running for the Democratic nod-- each a Griffith doppelganger-- there is actually one real Democrat in that race, Mitchell Howie. I spoke with him last nigh,t and he told me that although he would be more comfortable if there was a public option in the bill, or if Alan Grayson' Medicare-for-all formulation was part of the package, he would vote for it, despite reservations that it "might end up being a give-away to the big insurance corporate interests that got our healthcare system into this ditch to begin with." He had a lot of reasons he thought this bill would be a good thing for his neighbors in northern Alabama:

In 2010, seniors whose drug costs put them into Medicare Part D's donut hole, will get a $250 rebate to help offset those costs. Next year, seniors in the donut hole will only pay for half of their prescription drug costs, and over the next ten years the hole will shrink. In a decade, all prescription drugs covered by Medicare Part D will be paid for 75% by the program, and the donut hole will be closed.

I appreciate the fact that Alabamians will no longer be able to be denied coverage by their insurance companies, because of pre-existing conditions, and they'll be able to seek preventative care without worrying about exorbitant copays. Pulling this all off while reducing the deficit sounds like a pretty good deal.

Griffith, a multimillionaire who has dedicated his short time in Congress to trying to do away with the estate tax, has no interest in serving the people in his district who most need a hand from government.

Billy Kennedy, the Blue America-endorsed candidate in North Carolina, is also facing a Republican proponent of Greed and Selfishness, Virginia Foxx, who can't open her mouth without lying about the bill. Billy, a strong advocate for working families, wasn't letting her get away with it.

Virginia Foxx is betraying her constituents as she prepares to vote 'no' on the health care reform bill. It will be devastating for Northwestern North Carolina's working families if reform is not passed... I attended the Congresswoman's lone public forum on health care this week. I wanted to ask her why it was OK for taxpayers to subsidize a career politician's insurance with our tax dollars while she prepares to vote no on giving the rest of us more affordable access... This health care bill has a lot of compromises on all sides. It's not perfect, but doing nothing is unacceptable.

And doing nothing is exactly what skunk-at-the-picnic John Barrow is proposing to do. This reactionary Blue Dog announced he would stick with his GOP allies, like Virginia Foxx and Parker Griffith, and vote against the healthcare bill, despite representing a Democratic-leaning district that gave Obama a 54% majority in 2008. This wasn't unexpected. Barrow, despite the fact that Obama saved his ass in 2008, has been opposed to most of the Democratic agenda, and in fact voted against healthcare in committee votes and on the floor every single time it's come up. Does this pipsqueak of a clown actually think he can run for the U.S. Senate? Not even in Georgia, baby.

Last year Obama rescued Barrow from a progressive and energetic Savannah state senator, Regina Thomas. Obama's ad reassured core Democratic voters that Barrow was on the right team. It would be difficult to imagine Obama doing any such thing for Barrow in 2010. And Regina Thomas is running again. May I strongly recommend that you consider sending the Democratic Party a message that we don't want any more John Barrows shoved down our throats? If we want conservatives ruining our nation, they already have their own party they can vote for. Barrow deserves to be defeated, and Regina Thomas is an excellent replacement with a proven progressive track record.

You know how its supposed to be dangerous to stick up for working families in "red" districts? NC-05 has been a red district but it doesn't look any different from anywhere else where people are waking up to being oppressed by Big Insurance and the corporate pawns from either side of the aisle-- whether Virginia Foxx or John Barrow.

Mitchell Howie Makes The Move-- A Progressive Challenger For Congress

My district's Representative is 76 and ailing... and retiring. McCain only got 12% of the vote around here-- although that must have come from some other part of the district. Republicans don't bother to run serious campaigns here; the Democratic primary is virtually the election. In 2008 Diane Watson took 88% of the vote. In 2006 and 2004 the GOP hadn't bothered trying. Last night she endorsed 100%-- maybe 300% Karen Bass to follow her. Bass was Speaker of the state Assembly. I'm sure she'll make a decent enough congresswoman; all my friends who know her tell me she's very sharp and very progressive.

Now, in Northern Alabama the electoral dynamic is very, very different. Congress' worst Blue Dog, Parker Griffith, after spending the year voting with the GOP more often than not, finally jumped the fence and came out as a Republican three days before Christmas-- a real lump of coal for northern Alabama... and Democrats nationwide. Progressives, on the other hand, were hardly fazed. We were very much aware that Griffith voted against health care reform and clean energy. He voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Act, which was named for a woman from his state. He even went so far as to promise a vote against Nancy Pelosi for Speaker and implied she should be committed. On the 22nd of December, Griffith made his love for Republican ideology official and cast his lot with the GOP.

In the competition to ensure that Parker Griffith is no longer employed, North Alabama has now been presented with three Democratic candidates who will face one another in a June 1st primary. Taze Shephard was elected to the Alabama Board of Education in the early 90’s, but his biggest claim to fame is being the grandson of segregationist Alabama Senator John Sparkman. When I called his office after he announced, it was as cold as a Republican's and they told me they'd get back to me; they haven't. Conservatives never do. Also in the race is longtime political consultant and former lobbyist Steve Raby. Aside from Raby’s establishment credentials (he has gone so far as to acknowledge that he is the “establishment candidate"), he’s got a rather peculiar donor history, which I worked with the folks at Left in Alabama to spotlight.

[H]e's given lot's of money to Repubs. Opensecrets shows that since 1996 Stephen Raby has contributed $33,950 to Republican causes and $73,950 to Democratic causes. He has contributed to both the State Democratic Executive Committee of Alabama and the Republican Party of Alabama. In the 2008 cycle he contributed to both Mike Rogers, R ($2,000) and Josh Segall, D ($500 $1,000*) in the AL-03 contest. He not only contributed to all the Republican Senators and Representatives from Alabama, but to the likes of Duncan Hunter, Curt Weldon, Lisa Murkowski and Kit Bond. Raby's last Republican contribution was $2,300 to Richard Shelby in 2008.

Judging from the first two candidates in the field, we can see how Alabama’s Fifth District got stuck with a turncoat like Parker Griffith. Luckily, there is a better option.

Wednesday, Huntsville Attorney Mitchell Howie filed qualifying papers to get on the ballot. Here is a video of him addressing the Madison County Democratic Executive Committee last week:



Howie’s grandfather was a doctor in Huntsville during the civil rights struggle and had one of the first integrated waiting rooms in the area, where black and white children, who were treated regardless of whether or not their parents could afford the care, played together openly. Howie’s grandparents also often posted bail for civil rights protesters arrested in sit-ins, resulting in death threats for the family at the time.

After law school in Houston, a stint on a Democratic legislator's staff in the Texas State House, and five years of active duty service in the United States Air Force, Mitchell Howie returned to Huntsville to start his own law practice. One idea he has proposed in his campaign is the establishment of a Green TVA. Stating that the Tennessee Valley Authority revolutionized North Alabama in the New Deal era, Howie believes that similar efforts should be undertaken to develop clean energy technology in North Alabama. Doing so, he hopes, will bring jobs to the district and create innovative technologies that will benefit the country as a whole. For a Southern Democrat and economic populist, Howie takes some fairly progressive positions such as being pro-choice (he says he personally is against abortion, but doesn’t think that government should have a say in decisions between a patient and her doctor), in favor of health care reform, and staunchly supporting a repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell."

If you would like to support Mitchell Howie, donations can be made at ActBlue, or you can email info@howieforcongress.com