Joe Lieberman (left) endorsing Josh Gottheimer (right) on behalf of No Labels in 2016
Arati Kreibich is running for Congress in NJ-05!
If a chance at progressive change was blocked during the early Obama years, if an important bill was watered down or killed, chances are Joe Lieberman was to blame. He openly supported the Iraq war, killed the public option, fought against a progressive healthcare agenda at every turn, supported the indefinite detention of migrants, supported the use of torture, fought against progressive prescription drug bills, and even campaigned against President Obama in 2008. Since retiring from the Senate and beginning his predictable career as a lobbyist, he’s taken to defending Trump in the media and spearheaded the push for Betsy Devos’s nomination in the Senate.
I first visited DailyKos during the primary challenge against Senator Lieberman in 2006. What impressed me about this community was not only its passion for the progressive movement, but also its ability to target progressive activism where it was needed the most. DailyKos saw the Lieberman obstruction coming a mile away, and did everything they could to stop it. They knew that electing a democratic senate and democratic house wasn’t enough. We needed more democrats yes, but also better democrats willing to support the democratic agenda. And they nearly succeeded when Ned Lamont defeated Lieberman in the 2006 primary.
Unfortunately, Joe Lieberman and his “No Labels” organization never stopped trying to counteract the progressive movement by running conservatives as democrats and organizing against democratic leadership from the right. They’re currently exploring a "unity ticket" consisting of one republican and one democrat for president and vice-president. They recruited Joe Manchin and Susan Collins to lead their movement in the Senate. And in the House of Representatives, they recruited Josh Gottheimer to create a third way/no labels backed "problem solver's caucus".
The Problem Solver’s Caucus is a dream come true for Joe Lieberman and No labels. The caucus consists of several republicans and democrats, though they refuse to publish an official list of members. Gottheimer and Lieberman claim the caucus exists to find bipartisan compromise and bridge the gap between the two parties. In practice, however, their goal is to peel off as many democrats as possible from advancing the democratic agenda in the House. The caucus did absolutely nothing from 2017-2018 to temper the extremism of the republican controlled chamber, and frequently joined with them on immigration votes and corporate votes. But even before Pelosi took the gavel, they have done everything they could to obstruct the democratic house.
Let’s look at a few examples. You might remember how a few conservative democrats refused to support Nancy Pelosi for speaker in 2018. Seth Moulton received lots of coverage for his opposition, but ultimately achieved nothing but consternation from progressives before backing down. Josh Gottheimer and the problem solver’s caucus achieved what Moulton could not. By withholding their votes for Pelosi and even refusing to support her against a republican nominee for speaker, they were able to achieve substantive rule changes that weakened the democratic leadership before they even started the job. Because of Josh Gottheimer, now 20 conservative democrats can overrule Pelosi and force her to allow votes on conservative amendments. Could 20 republicans overrule Republican leadership when they controlled the chamber? No, in fact they refused to put anything up for a vote unless a majority of republicans supported it. Did the “bipartisan” problem solver’s caucus force rule changes when republicans were in power? Did they force votes on DACA, or ending the Muslim ban, or renewing TPS? Of course not.
And since we’re on the topic of Joe Lieberman, let’s not forget warmongering. Just this month, Gottheimer was one of 7 democrats to vote against an amendment that would prohibit Trump from starting a war with Iran. He has frequently criticized the Obama backed Iran deal, and led efforts in the house to kill the resolution condemning the Saudi-backed war in Yemen. This hearkens back to Gottheimer’s roots, he previously served as VP for a PR firm tied to the Saudi government.
The most egregious example of Gottheimer’s use of his power came during the border bill votes just last month. Trump diverted funds from more humane immigration enforcement actions and towards the creation of inhumane camps to imprison asylum applicants, camps not fit for cattle let alone human beings. He has intentionally inflicted suffering on families and children in an effort to deter future applicants. Families have been abused, their health neglected, their children effectively tortured by ICE and CBP. The republican controlled senate passed a bill to effectively write a blank check to ICE and CBP, with the mere hope that they’d use that money to improve conditions at these camps. Democrats in the House wanted to use their leverage to mandate specific conditions for these children and their families, mandates enforceable by law. Pelosi was on board, after all who in their right mind would trust Trump to do the right thing if not forced to do so? Pelosi scheduled a vote on an amendment to the senate bill to create those legal mandates. If passed, the house bill would go to a conference committee where the house and senate would try to work out the differences between the two bills.
Enter Josh Gottheimer. Gottheimer whipped up opposition to the house bill, and told Pelosi he had the numbers to kill the amendment forcing Trump to treat children and families humanely. He left Pelosi with a choice—either pass McConnell’s blank check and hope Trump does the right thing, or pass nothing and watch the torture of children continue.
The progressive movement and those with any shred of empathy simply couldn’t believe it. If a democratic controlled house can’t even stand up against child abuse, what kind of democrats did we send to Washington? Rep. Pocan asked, since when did Problem Solvers become “the Child Abuse Caucus?” “Wouldn't they want to at least fight against contractors who run deplorable facilities? Kids are the only ones who could lose today[.]” Rep. Omar tweeted that the vote on the senate bill, “is a vote to keep kids in cages and terrorize immigrant communities.” “How can we trust Donald Trump won't turn around and use this to fund his deportation plan or worse?”
So who was right? Could Trump actually be trusted, did ICE and CBP use that money to improve conditions for children in detention centers? Of course not. Instead they immediately opened up three more detention centers to incarcerate countless new children and families. Every child who continues to be tortured, every family that continues to be separated, is now the product not only of Trump’s evil immigration system, but also of Josh Gottheimer’s “bipartisan” efforts in the house of representatives.
Enough is enough. We can’t spend 2019 and 2020 debating which presidential candidate has the most progressive platform, only to reelect “no labels” congressional democrats who will kill that platform no matter who we nominate. If we wanted a public option, we needed to not only elect Barack Obama, but also Ned Lamont. If we want Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, or a humane immigration system, we not only need to elect a democrat to the white house, we need to elect Arati Kreibich to Congress.
Arati announced her primary challenge to Josh Gottheimer this morning.
Arati Kreibich is a neuroscientist, an immigrant, a councilwoman from Glen Rock, NJ, and founder of local grassroots group Glen Rock After the March. “What we have is a representative in Congress who is not representing us, who is not representing the people… [H]e is representing corporate donations[.] I think he’s in the pocket of corporations, quite frankly,” Kreibich said. “And I think when he does push for policies, they’re policies that are either actively against our particular self-interest or they’re really small, incremental changes.”
Arati supports medicare for all, a green new deal, a $15 minimum wage, comprehensive immigration reform including a path to citizenship, and intends to join the progressive caucus if invited to do so. “[H]ealth care is a right, it’s not a privilege[.]” “And, frankly, small, incremental changes are not cutting it.”
A primary challenge is almost unheard of in the machine state of New Jersey. In Jersey, we tend not to pick our nominees on ballots in fair and equal elections. Instead candidates are chosen in back rooms by party bosses and power brokers. Anyone challenging their chosen candidate can kiss any further machine support goodbye. It’s a culture of fear and intimidation, and it silences opposition 99% of the time. As a sitting member of the Glen Rock council, Arati is risking everything to challenge our corrupt member of congress and the machine system that supports him.
She only announced her candidacy today, yet every single local party boss quickly endorsed Josh Gottheimer. With their support, Gottheimer’s name will receive a preferential place on the primary ballot known as the “party line.” When voters look at their primary ballots, Gottheimer’s name will be listed next to every other machine endorsed candidate up and down the ballot. Arati’s name will be buried, off to the side. The machine will use their corporate funded, paid GOTV apparatus to help Gottheimer every way they can. And Gottheimer will dip into his corporate funded warchest. He calls himself the “human fundraising machine” and we’re not talking about small donations. He has almost $6 million in the bank and less than 3% of his money comes from small donors. The rest comes from big money donors and corporate PACs, many aligned with Joe Lieberman and No Labels, some aligned with the Saudi government.
Arati is refusing to accept corporate PAC money, and will instead rely on small donors and the grassroots. That’s where we come in. The fight for progressive change is always a multi-front battle, and we cannot ignore this front. We cannot reelect the Joe Lieberman of the House and expect the House to support the next president’s agenda. Please donate what you can, and sign up to volunteer. Together we’re going to elect more and better democrats in 2020, and send Arati Kreibich to Congress!
