One of the most progressive voices in Congress is fighting a primary challenge from a very regressive "DINO" who is being very well funded by Republican donors.
You may not hear much about Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey on the DailyKos, which I think is a shame. She's Co-Chair (with Barbara Lee) of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
You may remember Lynn Woolsey as being the person who gave Cindy Sheehan a ticket to the last State of the Union address. Or you may remember her as the congresswoman who introduced the first House resolution calling for a plan to withdraw our troops from Iraq.
Rep Woolsey has spoken on the floor of the House in opposition to the Iraq war over 150 times.
The largest local paper in her district just endorsed her primary opponent, and she needs our help.
More below the fold...
In the wake of the
Santa Rosa Press Democrats' endorsement of Joe Nation, I've gotten some questions about why we at
Sonoma County Democracy for America endorsed Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey instead of Assemblyman Joe Nation. Having followed both these candidates, there was no other choice to make.
The Press Democrat's endorsement of Nation attacks Woolsey by saying that her support has "more to do with ideology than effectiveness".
If by "ideology" they mean that she reflects the values and concerns of the voters of Northern California, they're right. Which is probably why she recieved 72.7% of the vote in her last election. But effectiveness is something that a virulently partisan Republican-held House is not willing to permit any real Democrat.
Joe Nation could do no better. Unless he's willing to sell out everything his Sonoma/Marin constituents stand for... and that kind of effectiveness we can do without.
Lynn Woolsey has shown true leadership in her opposition to the war on Iraq from the start - when it was extremely unpopular to do so. Joe Nation has come to be critical of the war, now that it's safe... but he wouldn't even sign a letter of opposition to the war sent by his fellow Assembly members to President Bush.
Rep Woolsey has spoken on the floor of the House in opposition to the Iraq war over 150 times.
One of the chief issues for most Americans is health care... and Joe Nation has been an opponent of comprehensive health care in California, in a particularly underhanded way. Let me quote from a Peter Byrne article from the "North Bay Bohemian":
Nation is virulently opposed to assemblywoman Sheila Kuhl's single-payer universal healthcare bill pending in the legislature. Twice in two years, he has proposed legislation designed to kill Kuhl's path-breaking bill--while feather-bedding the future of large insurance companies. Last year, his AB 1670, which failed in committee, would have ordered every person in California to buy a commercial health insurance policy with a deductible of up to $5,000. Since cheaper policies have higher deductibles, the poorest people stood to be out of pocket most in a health catastrophe. And those without coverage would have their tax refund seized.
A major sponsor of Nation's mandatory insurance law was his employer, the California Healthcare Institute, which "strongly opposes" single-payer, universal healthcare. After Nation's bill was shot down, he resurrected it, with changes, as AB 1952. Now people who do not obtain health insurance (at prices set by the insurance cartel) will be fined twice the cost of the average premium. Opponents argued before the legislature that "the bill repeals the Patient's Bill of Rights, potentially excludes . . . immunizations and prenatal care . . . [as well as] care for those who are disabled or suffer with chronic illnesses." Workers will be obligated to pay their employers up to 50 percent of the cost of insuring themselves and their families.
The full article isn't long... and it's well worth reading.
The California Healthcare Institute is funded by Pfizer, Bristol-Meyers Sqibb, Hoffman-La Roche. In other words, Joe Nation is in the pocket of Big Pharma.
Lynn Woolsey understands the seriousness of the energy crisis we're facing and proposes an Apollo-project scale initiative to foster energy independence. Joe Nation has proposed raising the state gas tax up to 25 cents per gallon. While this might encourage conservation, we've already got high gas prices... and this tax would fall especially hard on the poor, who are already burdened with an unfair share under current tax laws.
Lynn Woolsey is the senior Democrat on the House subcommittee on Education Reform: if the Democrats recapture the House this year (as we hope they will) she'll chair it... which will put her in a key position to reform No Child Left Behind, which has been twisted by the Bush Administration through underfunding and a stringent enforcement policy that punishes school districts.
Lynn Woolsey has long been an active voice in Congress promoting the interests of children and advocating better education policies. Joe Nation is nowhere to be found on these important issues, except to criticize No Child Left Behind (which is easy to do)... but he has no plan to fix or replace it. Nor would he be in a position to.
The Byrne article I refer to above concludes:
It appears that by running for the Democrats, Nation has entered the wrong primary.
I couldn't have said it better myself. It is dangerous for Democrats to be complacent in Sonoma and Marin. We could lose one of the strongest progressive voices in Congress in this primary. Joe Nation has tremendous support from Republican donors who are gunning for Rep. Woolsey.
Lynn Woolsey not only deserves Northern California votes, but she deserves wide netroots support. You can help her out at the Woolsey for Congress website by making a contribution, or volunteering to help.
I'm not in the employ of Rep. Woolsey's campaign... although I've suggested to her campaign that she might want to come to DailyKos to talk to us here.