Note: I'm not a resident of North Carolina but I wrote about this candidate in the interest of increasing our majority in Congress.
"The US Congress is in distress. The U.S. Constitution is in danger of becoming irrelevant. Our representatives in Washington have failed us all. North Carolina needs to send a voice of strength, experience and reason to Washington DC."
Marshall Adame is the voice North Carolina needs in Congress. It is time to pass the torch. Let’s elect Mr. Adame to Congress.
"Greater freedoms will manifest greater strength"
The above quotes -- and subsequent text comes from the Marshall Adame for U.S. Congress N.C. District 3 website. A Democrat, Adame served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 22 years as an Aviation Logistician and retired in 1991. He is a Vietnam War, Desert Storm and Iraq War veteran but his outstanding, two-decade-plus, armed service career doesn’t begin to cover his stellar résumé.
After retiring from the U.S. Marine Corps, Marshall Adame continued his calling to public service. He became an aviation management/logistics consultant in 1992, and then went back to the Middle-East, working for the Kuwait Recovery team later that year. Back in the U.S. he worked as an aviation logistics support representative in several areas throughout the U.S. until 1998; when his employer, Kaman Aerospace, sent him back to the Middle-East, this time to manage the U.S. Government Aviation Program in Egypt until 2002.
After a short stint stateside, Adame was off again, heading this time to Iraq to serve as the U.S. Coalition Airport Director for the Basra International Airport where he worked until given a VP position at the Aviation Development Department of the The Sandi Group International where he lived and worked in the notorious "Red Zone" of Baghdad.
In 2005, Adame received a U.S. State Department Diplomatic appointment in Iraq and worked as a U.S. Logistics Advisor to the Iraqi Minister of the Interior. In his capacity as an advisor, Adame was promoted to the State Dept. Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) where he served on the staff of the National Coordination Team (NCT) in Baghdad, overseeing PRT development throughout the country.
But, Adame’s service didn’t end there. He returned to the U.S. in August 2006 and became a Senior Analyst for a Defense Dept. contractor. Through the Gerson Lehrman Group, a consultant firm, Adame advised corporations such as J.P. Morgan, The Quadrangle Group of New York, Citigroup, Golden Tree Asset Management, Anchorage Capital Group of New York, Silver Point Capital LLC, and others.
Two of his sons have also served in the U.S. Army in Iraq—one was seriously wounded in an IED attack and is still undergoing reconstructive surgeries; the other is currently on his second 15-month tour, stationed in Tikrit. Now back in North Carolina, Adame has even opened his home to a family of Iraqi refugees.
So, what does a man with a diverse résumé like that, a military background, and an inherent calling to public service do next? Well, if you’re Marshall Adame you run for a seat in the U.S. Congress.
Needless to say, a Democrat, even with the sort of military past that is appreciated in these parts, running in North Carolina’s District 3 against a popular seven-term Republican (Walter B. Jones) is indeed a daunting quest these days. District 3 runs along the Tar-Heel State’s low-lying eastern coast; home to Camp Lejeune Marine Corps. Base, Air Station Cherry Point and Seymour Johnson Air Force base.
District 3 is also home to Blackwater Worldwide’s 7,000 acre corporate headquarters and training facility, and Adame soon found out that his Republican opponent wouldn’t be his only [and not necessarily his toughest] obstacle to winning the election. He’s managed to ruffle the feathers of Blackwater Worldwide’s Executive Vice President Bill Mathews.
The following is from an article @ the Mother Jones website:
It all began in mid-January when Adame participated in a live question-and-answer forum on a North Carolina progressive blog called BlueNC. "People were writing in, and I was answering the questions," he says. "It just so happened that the first one was about Blackwater."
He didn't mince words:
"There is no place in the American force structure or in American culture for mercenaries," he wrote on the blog. "They are guns for hire; No more, no less... Private Armies represent the very things we despise as a people; servants to the highest bidder with true allegiance to no-one."
Numerous Democratic candidates, including presidential contenders Barack Obama and North Carolina's own John Edwards, have assailed Blackwater, an easy target this election cycle. But Adame claims to speak from personal experience. As a State Department official in Iraq, he was protected by Blackwater, which, he says, used excessive force on at least two occasions while he was in their care.
"I saw them shoot people," he says. "I saw them crash into cars while I was their passenger.... There was absolutely no reason, no provocation whatsoever."
Once, while en route to the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, Adame says he heard gunfire coming from the turret gunner in his own vehicle. He looked out the window of the Humvee and "saw people ducking and falling.... The vehicle in front of us rammed into a car that was trying to get out of the way, and they just spun that guy around. He was out cold in that car, maybe even dead. I don't know, but we just kept on going."
Adame's comments about the company have enraged Blackwater employees, including executive vice president Bill Mathews. In an internal corporate email, Mathews encouraged his colleagues to barrage Adame with mail ("he was too cowardly to put a phone number on the web," Mathews noted in the message). "[H]e wants this company and all of us to cease to exist," Mathews wrote in the email, which was obtained by the Raleigh News & Observer and posted to the newspaper's web site:
"Do you like your jobs? Are you sick and tired of the slanderous bullshit going on in DC? If so, would you all mind joining me in reminding Mr. Adame that he is running for office in our backyard.... Let's run this goof out of Dodge...!"
Of course, that was only the beginning of Mathews’ wrath. Apparently, the executive’s words matter in N. Carolina.
Since the email, Adame has been on the receiving end of "some pretty rough stuff," he says.
"I received all kinds of hate mail from Blackwater people. They use a lot of vulgarity. They tell me how Blackwater is defending America's rights, and that we're free because Blackwater is fighting for us. Give me a break! That is so erroneous and misleading. It's just totally dishonest, but those people really believe it. Blackwater is a large organization and they have a great way of propagandizing their product."
As would be expected, Mathews and Blackwater in general are unabashedly unrepentant for the retaliatory email campaign against Adame.
Blackwater Worldwide spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said in a statement:
"Mr. Mathews regrets that he wrote an inappropriate email in haste," says Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell in a statement. "He does not regret for one moment his desire to defend the brave people who risk their lives every day working for Blackwater. Adame used inaccuracies to unfairly criticize the company and one thing that should be taken away from Mr. Matthew's email is that our people are incredibly proud of and passionate about the work we do in support of the U.S. government."
Yeah right; that doesn’t change the fact that at its most fundamental reason for being, a corporate mercenary profit from war. Ultimately, their livlihoods depend on the death and suffering of people. A mercenary's loyalty isn’t to their country -- but rather to their corporate CEO and shareholders.
Adame is planning to hold a campaign event in February near Blackwater’s Moyock, North Carolina headquarters. (it's on his website) He’s quick to point out that he’s not received any threats to his life from Blackwater’s employees -- and despite the rancor and a few obscene phone calls – he has engaged in a few constructive conversations with some of the employees.
"These people don't want to lose their jobs, and I understand that," he says.
Apparently, Adame’s words bear out. Much like the rest of the country, domestic priorities like healthcare and jobs have filtered to the top of District 3’s "concerns" list; topping even military contracting.
He says he won’t back down though where Blackwater and other mercenary firms are concerned. He added that the Blackwater episode has re-energized and refocused his attention on the company.
"I feel very strongly about how extensively organized Blackwater has become," he explains. "And I will do everything I can as a congressman to look into that, to find out whether or not the things they're doing are even legal."
It's an open question though; what this particular campaign promise might do to Adame's chances. The odds are against him beating Walter Jones in November but Adame’s not about to back down from a fight.
He never has.
Here we go, folks! (especially N. Carolinians) An insurgent Democrat with a compassionate spirit, in a red state with bona fides up the ying yang and a fightin’ "can do" spirit that won’t quit. It’s true we don’t know much of how he stands on other important progressive issues, but I think we need to pay attention to the intrepid Mr. Adame, and when the time comes, support him.
Let’s start talkin’ him up in the blogosphere. Let’s find out what makes him tick. So far, [from his website]he seems like a great candidate; just the kind we’re looking for; a Democrat able to speak with authority on military and security matters from the viewpoint of a father with children in harm’s way, and somebody who’s deeply concerned with the course that this proverbial ship of state has embarked upon.
I’d be real interested to hear comments from Carolinians. Perhaps local activists could conduct local interviews and give Adame a chance to expound more on his political views.
Here’s some relevant links:
For me, this first link in particular says it all: (He’s a stone-progressive)
• What I believe.
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Marshall Adame seems like the real deal to me. (frankly, he had me @ "I believe in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the resilience of liberty and freedom in America.")
Peace