Eric Cantor is not only a big business conservative with an awful environmental track record, he is also a huge target in the culture of corruption in the Republican Party due to his ties to Jack Abramoff. In fact, he was such good buddies with Abramoff, that Abramoff allegedly named a sandwich after him at his Washington DC delicatessen.
We have a good candidate to run against him this time. His name is Dr. Martin Dudziak (pictured left). Unfortunately, Dr. Dudziak was not able to get all of his signatures in what has traditionally been a conservative district. The Democrats in the 7th let us down by not helping Martin get those signatures, and now they want to let us down again by not giving him the support to take on Eric Cantor. We need your help to ensure the Democrats give Martin a chance, rather than letting Abramoff's best buddy go uncontested (details on how to do that are below).
One man did get the signatures required to get the Democratic nomination in the 7th. His name is
Brad Blanton. Blanton ran as an independent in 2004 and received fewer than 25% of the vote. I met Blanton in Arlington in April, a clinical psychologist who runs workshops on "Radical Honesty" which teach people to be honest with themselves and others. While his concepts are interesting and he has no doubt has helped a lot of people, he is not the right candidate to move the voters in the 7th District. I normally try to support candidates with alternative viewpoints, but even he freaks me out a little bit.
In a letter sent to the 7th District Committee Members and County Chairs, Blanton asked to be considered for the nomination using his radical form of "radical honesty":
"There has been some controversy concerning my candidacy for U.S. Congress and I would like to deal with it directly and honestly. As I understand it there is some concern among party members about whether I am a viable candidate because I could be an embarrassment to the party. People are concerned because I have run workshop groups involving nudity, used profanity in my books, have a comedy routine about establishing a new religion, "Futilitarianism," and have been arrested a number of times. The fear is that I might turn off people in this district who have conservative views."
He went on to describe his workshops as retraining people against lying to others and themselves. Most controversial is the standard part of the workshop where he explained that participants will "take off our clothes, stand up in front of the camera and the other naked people and talk about what we like and what we dislike or are ashamed of about our bodies. This is also videotaped. Then we tell the story of our sexual history. We each stay standing up there in front of God and everybody until everyone in the group agrees the person who is standing is not avoiding anything anymore. Then the person sits down and it is the next person's turn. The next day in the group each person watches the video of themselves talking about their body and their sexual history so we can deal with their reaction to seeing themselves naked on TV. (Afterwards, these tapes are erased.)"
Because of Blanton's quirky and unorthodox methods, it is likely the Democratic committee will choose to go with no candidate at all. However, if they reject Brad Blanton, they can select Dr. Martin Dudziak. After speaking with Martin and people who know him, I have noticed that he is a candidate that has guts and strength without being divisive. As you can read from his website, Dudziak has the potential to be a serious challenger.
It is essential that we give the people of the 7th District a chance to have a real alternative to Cantor. Cantor is closely tied with Abramoff and this year, more than any year, he has vulnerability. Martin Dudziak needs support NOW!!!
Even if you don't live in the 7th District or EVEN IF YOU DON'T LIVE IN VIRGINIA, we need your help as a committed Democrat!
We cannot let the Republicans think that the Democrats have decided to run and hide in the 7th District. We must take a stand, we must show them that we will challenge them every step of the way. We will not give them free reign of the 7th District. We must not concede.
Please take the time to contact the following individuals in the 7th district.
This extremely important decision will be made on May 13th in Henrico County. Please contact the committee members listed below to let them know that no candidate should is simply not an option. Let them know that we should not run away from Eric "Abramoff" Cantor.
The 7th Congressional District Committee
Mrs. Marjorie Clark* - CD 7 Richmond -
mmclarkdem@yahoo.com
Ms. Katherine Cook - CD 7 Orange -
k_cook@verizon.net
Ms. Robin Crane - CD 7 Richmond -
patriot451@aol.com
Celia Dabney - CD 7 Richmond -
celiafromva@webtv.net
Ms. Abbi Easter* - CD 7 Richmond -
ageaster@comcast.net
Howard Fabry - CD 7 Midlothian -
hfabry@comcast.net
Mr. Thomas Francis - CD 7 Richmond -
thomasHFrancis@aol.com
Mr. Samuel Glasker - CD 7 Culpeper -
samueljglasker@adelphia.net
Mr. Henry Gorfein - CD 7 Washington -
hgorfein@earthlink.net
Honorable Franklin Hall - CD 7 Richmond -
delegatehall@aol.com
Ms. Patricia Hudson - CD 7 Richmond -
patjhudson@juno.com
Dr. Manikoth Kurup - CD 7 Mineral -
rajakaja@hotmail.com
Mr. Jim Leaman* - CD 7 Richmond -
jleaman@va-aflcio.org
Mr. Daniel Leblanc* - CD 7 Richmond -
dleblanc@va-aflcio.org
Ms. Suzanne Long - CD 7 Leon -
longfarm@erols.com
Mr. Michael Mastropaolo - CD 7 Ruther Glen -
PPOLO@Bealenet.com
Ms. Gene Miles - CD 7 Richmond -
mgmdemva@earthlink.net
Ms. Mauritta Minor - CD 7 Bumpass -
meminor@adelphia.net
Mr. Timothy Mitchell - CD 7 Richmond -
timmitchell@nsntech.com
Mr. James Nachman - CD 7 Richmond -
Nachmanlaw@msn.com
Mr. Howard Ostergren - CD 7 Mechanicsville -
hfoster@infionline.net
Ms. Lourdes Pogue - CD 7 Richmond -
imp@gms.us
Ms. Sue Schorling - CD 7 Beaverdam -
Sue@cbrowco.com
Ms. Carol Strickler - CD 7 Shenandoah -
carollee@zbzoom.net
Mr. David Tobey - CD 7 Shenandoah -
dhtobey@hotmail.com
*Denotes members of the central committee who are also members of the
steering committee.
All an e-mail would entail was that you have read up on Martin Dudziak and you don't want the Democrats to run and hide from Eric Cantor. Please visit: www.votemartin.org for more information on Martin Dudziak. And contact nicholeherbig@gmail.com if you have questions or if you want the individual's phone numbers. We appreciate your help!