[Peace-discuss] Fw: Firing Blanche Lincoln
E.Wayne Johnson
ewj at pigs.ag
Sat May 15 15:39:04 CDT 2010
Tea Partiers among the Democrats too?
----- Original Message -----
From: Jenifer Cartwright
To: Peace-discuss
Sent: Sunday, May 16, 2010 12:38 AM
Subject: [Peace-discuss] Fw: Firing Blanche Lincoln
Again, ColorOfChange is a great organization, worthy of our $upport. Help if you can -- they fight successfully for justice and equality and against corporate greed, racial bias in the media, etc.
--Jenifer
--- On Fri, 5/14/10, James Rucker, ColorOfChange.org PAC <no-reply at colorofchange.org> wrote:
From: James Rucker, ColorOfChange.org PAC <no-reply at colorofchange.org>
Subject: Firing Blanche Lincoln
To: "Jenifer Cartwright" <jencart13 at yahoo.com>
Date: Friday, May 14, 2010, 1:26 PM
A key Senate race is brewing in Arkansas.
Take a stand against corporate influence, and for greater accountability
Support Bill Halter today
Dear Jenifer,
On Tuesday, there's an election in Arkansas that's about a lot more than Arkansas. It's about making an example of a senator who claims to represent everyday people but who has consistently defended the interests of wealthy corporations instead. But we need your help.
Senator Blanche Lincoln received an "F" grade from the Arkansas NAACP.1 She was instrumental in removing the public option from the health care bill,2 and she opposed President Obama's plans to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure3 and to increase funding for college scholarships.4
If we can defeat Senator Lincoln in Arkansas, it will send a powerful message to other Democrats across the country who put the interests of corporations over those of everyday people: if they stand in the way of progress, they can be replaced.
The election is likely to be very close. Lincoln's opponent in the primary, Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter, is facing millions of dollars in racially charged attack ads from big business groups that want to keep Lincoln in office. We're trying to help Halter counter those ads with small contributions from our members.
Can you give $5 or more today to help?
MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "act.colorofchange.org" claiming to be https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/haltercoc
Blanche Lincoln is part of a small but powerful group of corporate-backed Democratic senators that make it almost impossible for Congress to act on the changes people vote for. At election time, these conservative Democrats claim to represent the interests of poor, working-class and middle-class people. But when they're in office, they work with corporate lobbyists and use their position within the Democratic party to delay, obstruct, and water down legislation that would help ordinary people but which threatens the profits of big business.
How do they get away with it? They have all the funding they need from their corporate allies, of course. But on top of that, the national Democratic party supports these politicians because of the conventional political wisdom that says Democrats have to be "moderate" (willing to support a corporate agenda, in other words) to win in states that are considered conservative.
This political dynamic is a big part of what makes it possible for corporations to buy allies in both parties. And that's why big business groups are spending millions to keep Senator Lincoln in office. If they allow her to be defeated, they'll lose a lot more than one ally in the Senate. If Bill Halter's campaign, which is funded largely by small donations from ordinary people, can defeat the millions of corporate dollars behind Senator Lincoln, it will show politicians across the country that there's a price to pay for defending the bottom line of corporations over the needs of people.
Lincoln ignores Black organizations and leaders
In addition to consistently siding with big business over the interests of everyday people, Senator Lincoln has refused to listen to Black leaders in Arkansas.
Part of Lincoln's job as senator involves making recommendations for federal judges that the White House will appoint in Arkansas. There's a serious problem with lack of minority representation among federal judges, and last year the Arkansas NAACP asked Senator Lincoln to submit the names of three African-American judges for consideration by the White House. But Lincoln (and her colleague Senator Mark Pryor) ignored the NAACP's request -- they submitted nine candidates to the White House, but none of them were African-American.
Big business defends Lincoln with racial stereotypes and fear
A group called "Americans for Job Security" recently spent almost a million dollars running an ad against Bill Halter accusing him of exporting American jobs to Bangalore, India.5 Halter once served on the board of a company that opened an office in Bangalore, but that didn't result in any of the company's jobs being moved away from the U.S.6 The ad features actors with heavy Indian accents, dressed in Indian clothing, "thanking" Bill Halter for moving jobs to Bangalore. It's clearly designed to play on race-based fear and anger, taking advantage of anxiety about the economy at the same time.
Senator Lincoln denounced the ad, but then she sent out a mailer attacking Halter using essentially the same argument, and similar imagery.7 "Americans for Job Security" is refusing to say where they got the money to run the ad.8 Bill Halter has called on the Federal Election Commission to investigate the group, but the FEC probably won't have time to take action before the election.
What's at stake
Grassroots activists all over the country are organizing to defeat Senator Lincoln. Whether we succeed will say a lot about how possible it is for ordinary people to hold politicians accountable, and how easy it is for wealthy special interests to buy influence and control the agenda of our government.
During Barack Obama's campaign for President, millions of people, including many ColorOfChange members, donated their time or money to a political campaign for the first time ever. That amazing outpouring of activism has already led to countless changes. But many of us have also been frustrated by how slowly we're seeing the big changes we campaigned and voted for.
The truth is that if we really want to change this country, we need as many people as we can to stay involved -- with our dollars and our energy -- in holding politicians from both parties accountable when they act against the interests of Black folks and working people of every race.
Good opportunities to do that don't come along very often. Right now, we have a great one. Can you help Bill Halter's campaign close in on Blanche Lincoln with a donation of $5, $10 or more? And please encourage your friends and family to do the same. It's easy to make an online donation to Bill Halter using ActBlue:
MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "act.colorofchange.org" claiming to be https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/haltercoc
Thanks and Peace,
-- James, Gabriel, William, Dani, Milton and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org PAC team
May 14, 2010
References
1. "NAACP flunks delegation," Arkansas Times, 4-21-2010
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/229?akid=1450.394109.T9I_la&t=7
2. "Lincoln: 'I'll filibuster a public option'," Talking Points Memo, 11-21-2009
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/230?akid=1450.394109.T9I_la&t=9
3. "Study follows the money on cramdown vote," Truthout, 6-10-2009
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/231?akid=1450.394109.T9I_la&t=11
4. "Lincoln's opposition to student loan reform highlights senator's ties to banking interests," Facing South, 3-25-2010
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/232?akid=1450.394109.T9I_la&t=13
5. "Color of Change denounces business group's 'Bangalore' ad," Washington Post blog, 5-3-2010
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/233?akid=1450.394109.T9I_la&t=15
6. "Advocacy Group Defends Ad in Arkansas," New York Times blog, 5-3-2010
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/234?akid=1450.394109.T9I_la&t=17
7. "Lincoln Mailer Uses India Imagery Similar To Controversial Ad," Huffington Post, 5-5-10
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/235?akid=1450.394109.T9I_la&t=19
8. "Halter demands FEC probe of shadowy outside group running attack ads," Washington Post blog, 5-7-2010
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/236?akid=1450.394109.T9I_la&t=21
---------
Paid for by ColorOfChange.org PAC: http://colorofchange.org/pac. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
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