I may get some hits for this diary, but it is heartfelt and sincere, and since it shares a heartfelt and sincere position with Jon Soltz of VoteVets.org, I feel good about it. I want to urge my fellow progressives to pull all stops out for Diane Benson, running for Congress in Alaska. Of all the candidates I have ever met, she is quite possibly the best. But precisely because she is from a working class, Native American background and has not been a part of the political game, she is the longshot, grassroots candidate. But from the point of view of the working class, our soldiers, and veterans, she is one of the best candidates to come around in a very, very long time. If Diane Benson is the next Representative from Alaska, America will have a great deal to be proud of.
Much of my coverage of Alaskan politics has been a somewhat amazed catalog of the deep, deep corruption in Alaska's Republican Party. The VECO scandal which brought down several Republican State Reps and threatens the entire Republican Party of Alaska, Representative Don Young, with a list of probably corruption about as long as I have seen, and Senator Ted Stevens, who I have declared possibly the most corrupt politician alive.
And Republican corruption has given Democrats a real chance at sweeping Alaska this year, with both Ted Stevens and Don Young lagging in the polls and Obama and McCain close to even (depending on the poll looked at). Nationwide Republican corruption led to voters rejecting the Republican Party in favor of what they hoped would be change from the Democratic Party. Yep...the idea of change didn't start with Obama, it started with the voters in 2006.
But there is more to Alaska politics than the downfall of its Republican Party. There is also a fight over what kind of Democrat can best represent voters and the change they have been demanding for 2 years now.
In the race to trounce corrupt Republican Don Young, two democrats are facing off. I believe both of them are way better than Don Young, but I have to admit, one of them really speaks to the change that voters want while the other is locked in the old school politics that really turns people off.
Diane Benson comes from a working class, Native American background. She worked her way up from poverty in a true "Amerrican Dream" story of hard work and determination paying off. She was a single mother who worked her way through college as a truck driver. She volunteered to help senior citizens even when she was homeless herself. She has worked as a fisherman. Her son volunteered to serve in the US military, and was injured severely in the line of duty. Diane Benson has led in the fight to give returning soldiers the benefits and care they deserve. Her entire career has been one of service to Alaska and to America. I cannot think of a better person to send to Congress than this model of the American Dream.
Ethan Berkowitz is a perfectly adequate Democrat. I think adequate is the right word. He is a career politician. And yes, I have known some very great career politicians...but they seldom represent change. Most of the time they represent a version of the status quo. Berkowitz does not come from a working class background. He knows politics, not the struggle most Americans face on a daily basis.
Ethan Berkowitz represents change in comparison to the insanely corrupt Alaska Republican Party...no question about that. But he does not represent change from the dull politics we have been experiencing for 8 years now. I really have to question just how much of a change Ethan represents.
Ethan Berkowitz has played the political game the way it had to be played, and that brings along baggage. The VECO scandal is taking down Republican after Republican in Alaska. So far not one Democrat has been indicted or even seriously investigated in the VECO scandal. It is, like the Abramoff scandal, an almost exclusively Republican scandal. But...I find it worrisome that Berkowitz was also approached by VECO when he ran for the Alaska State House. He also received donations from Bill Weimar, the corrupt privatized prison mogul who had to plea bargain with the Feds. Berkowitz also received money from lawyers connected with Exxon/Mobil. And he receives money from tobacco company lobbyists. In other words, Ethan Berkowitz is receiving some of the same money from the same sources as the corrupt Republicans. This does not make him corrupt, necessarily. But is this the change voters are looking for?
One thing I like about Diane Benson is she is completely open about who donates to her campaign. It is a level of transparency that is rare in politics.
I have seen Diane Benson unite avid Hillary Clinton supporters and avid Barack Obama supporters. I have met her personally and heard her endorsed by a whole series of excellent people. But the endorsement that affected me the most was that of Captain Jon Soltz, Veteran of Kosovo and the Iraq War and founder of VoteVets.org. Jon Soltz gave a soldier's view of Diane Benson and his passion for her candidacy impressed me immensely.
Captain Jon Soltz introduced Diane Benson. Soltz has an amazing story of his own, volunteering for military service as part of his dedication to both America and Israel, serving honorably and bravely, only to discover when he returned home that the very government that sent him to war treated him like dirt. His discovery of the lies that got us into Iraq and his realization that Bush ran away from the fight with al-Qaeda, the enemy that attacked us, and his witnessing the closing of VA hospitals by Bush inspired Soltz to found Vote Vets.org Jon Soltz summed up George Bush this way: "This guy [George Bush] is the worst commander-in-chief in the history of our armed forces."
Soltz's introduction of Diane Benson was about the most heartfelt and passionate endorsement I have heard. This is because Diane Benson is running for office precisely on the same issues that politicized Soltz: the blundered Iraq War, the failure to secure America, the neglect of our soldiers, the neglect of our veterans. There was a bond between the two that went beyond what any of us who have not experienced first hand the pain of this war can quite understand.
Among the things that really stuck in my mind was the Republican neglect of our troops. Diane described having to buy her son military socks so he'd have some to wear. What, America can't afford to properly clothe our troops? Is THIS what Republicans mean by "supporting the troops." We know the Republican dominated government failed to provide adequate body armor and forced soldiers to pay their own way to visit home on leave (until people like Al Franken and Air America Radio embarassed them into changing their policy by raising frequent flyer miles to give to our troops). But they didn't even give our troops adequate socks??? And Jon Soltz reminded us about Bush closing VA hospitals, the series of events that led to Soltz becoming politicized and forming VoteVets.org. Diane has been dedicating herself to helping our troops, greeting them when they get home, visiting them in the hospital, helping them adapt back to life in the states...before they all too often get sent back. The lies surrounding the war, the failure of our leadership, the neglect of our soldiers, the neglect of our veterans...THESE are the reasons Diane Benson is running.
It's about the WAR, stupid. We are mired in a war that was based on lies, which has been full of blunders, STILL lacks an exit strategy and in which victory is not even defined. Diane Benson knows first hand the cost this war has had on our soldiers, our Veterans, and their families. Her son, Sgt Latseen Benson, served in Iraq. He volunteered after the 9/11 attacks, something that struck a chord with us New Yorkers because he chose to serve because of the attacks on our city. He was scheduled to come home when he was stop-lossed (yet another abuse our troops have to suffer at the hands of a callous, negligent government...also called the "backdoor draft"). Thirteen days after he should have come home, he was severely injured, filled with shrapnel and losing both his legs and part of a hand.
At the center of all the blunders in the Iraq war, at the center of all the neglect of our soldiers and veterans, is George W. Bush and his allies, John McCain and Don Young. And again, Diane Benson and her family saw first hand the callousness, the utter lack of any sense of empathy shown by George Bush. When her son was recovering from severe injuries while serving in Iraq, he was fitted with prosthetic legs to replace those that got blown off. While learning to use them, and while still recovering from his other injuries, he remained mostly in a wheelchair. George Bush came to visit the hospital where he was recovering. In an elaborate photo op where the wounded soldiers were practicly mere props, her son was lined up with the others, standing on prothetic limbs he wasn't yet used to. Bush came down the line, shaking hands with these soldiers he had sent to war with no logic, no reason, no plan...no body armor...Shaking hands with Sgt Latseen Benson, George Bush asked, "So how are those legs working out for you?"
Face to face with a brave soldier who had lost his legs serving in Bush's Big Blunder in Iraq, George Bush asks, "So how are those legs working out for you?"
The fury Benson and her son felt at that insult from the Chickenhawk in Chief was quite obvious as Diane told the story.
THIS is why Diane Benson is running: because the Republicans who are sending our troops ill equipped into a war with no purpose or goal don't even care about those troops. They are pawns in a game about oil and props for photo ops and their injuries boil down to: So how are those prosthetic limbs that replace the legs you were born with and got blown off working for you?
Ending the war and holding our politicians accountable for the blunders are focal points of Diane's campaign. But her campaign is about even more than that. It is about values and service. She comes from a Native American tradition of strong family and community values, and the record of service Diane and her son have puts us all to shame. Latseen gave all he could serving in Iraq. Diane has served her community all her life, volunteering with senior citizens at Ketchikan Hospital at the age of 12, and although often homeless, worked a variety of social service oriented jobs with the underprivileged and the elderly until she took a position with the Fairbanks Native Association. She has worked to stop child abuse, was a proud member of Local 959 - Teamster Union, serves on Anchorage Chamber of Commerce's Military Appreciation Committee, on the Healing Racism Steering Committee, was a two term President of the Alaska Native Sisterhood, Camp 87- Anchorage, and is an active member of the National Organization of Women.
I think simply put, Diane Benson is the ideal woman to send to Congress from any state...Alaska just happens to be lucky enough to have her running.
Ethan Berkowitz, an adequate Democrat and career politicians who receives the support of VECO, Exxon lawyers and tobacco lobbyists vs. Diane Benson, a model of the American Dream supported by soldiers and veterans and, more importantly, herself has given support to soldiers and veterans returning from war.
To me the choices is obvious. But the choice isn't mine. Alaskans will make their choice on August 26th. They will choose the Democrat who they feel best represents them, and I am confident that in November Alaskans will reject Republican corruption across the board and elect Democrats to the House, Senate AND White House. But I believe America and Congress will be made better if Diane Benson represents Alaska in Congress. It would be an American Dream story to beat all American Dream stories. Let me leave you with a video from Diane Benson: