Hello there friends. My name's Curtis Abbey and I've just been named campaign manager for Jeff Reed, a write-in candidate for US Congress in Missouri's 9th district. Jeff is a friend of mine from Facebook who I've gotten to know well especially in the last year. He is a blue collar Democrat who knocked on doors in mid Missouri for Barack Obama. Since then he's taken up the founding and leadership of his local coffee party chapter. He's held meetings with local citizens who want to have a rational discussion and work to move this country forward. He's now the first ever Coffee Party candidate for Congress.
Jeff sells windows and doors by day and is organizing and running for Congress by night. We know this is a three year endeavor but we've got to start somewhere.
We've hit the ground running, with local events, knocking on doors, advertising on Facebook and fundraising there as well. Jeff has just secured his FEC number and we're going to have an Act Blue account shortly. We're working on Youtube videos this weekend and have a virtual Q+A scheduled for Monday with the 20,000 members of the Beer Party on Facebook.
We don't have any astroturf corporate front groups or radio and TV empires backing us. We need your help. Now, with no further ado please meet Jeff Reed. Here is a powerful post he made about who he is and why he's running.
I grew up in 1990's. Raised in most of that decade by a single mother. She worked two jobs to make ends meet, but we made it. We owned our own home. She saved for her retirement, she provided the both of us with health care coverage, she provided shelter, a refridgerator full of food and new clothes every school year. And when our priorities were taken care of, we might have enough left over to take a small family vacation to Bull Shoales to go camping for a weekend or a St. Louis Cardinals game for my birthday. The moral of this story is, during the 1990's, we were an American Success story. A single mother could own her own home, provide the neccesities, save for the future, and have some money left over to enjoy life with their children. It seems almost as if it was one hundred years ago, because these American Success stories are becoming far and few, with the rising cost of health care, energy, education, instability in the market, amongst others. The middle class and working class in this country and our district are being destroyed. I am very troubled by that. And I refused to sit aside while hardworking Missourians are asked to carry the water for the Big Banks, Big Health, and Big Energy. Blaine Luetkemeyer and the Republican Party not only expect you to carry the water, eventually, they are going to expect you to go and fetch more. That well has run dry, Blaine.
Day to day, I punch the clock for a locally owned, family owned business. A company that has endured for 40+ years. Thick and thin, we have been here in Moberly. This economic downturn hit us, as it has just about everyone in this country. Tough decisions were made along the way, decisions I am sure no one wanted to make, but had to be made to ensure future success for our company and its people. I have seen first hand the benefits of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. I have to believe, the only reason I still may have a job 9s due to the passing of this bill. Take a look around my hometown Moberly. There are projects going on everywhere. I have not seen my community this busy fixing roadways, paving new sidewalks, providing bike lanes, and bringing new industry to our community, in years. Behind those new roadways and standing on those bike lanes are jobs. Jobs that may have normally not been there for these individuals. I supported the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as a way to get Americans back to work, a way to be able to provide for their families. Congressman Luetkemeyer voted against the stimulus and has had very harsh words for it, including saying it "failed" numerous times, despite celebrating his district receiving stimulus funding for jobs, numerous times.
We can pick it apart and say what it did do and what it didn't do, but I have seen firsthand the success of this bill not only at my own day-to-day job, but in my community as well. I didn't expect the stimulus to be the savior that puts every American to work, but I did believe it would be legislation that kept our country from slipping into a total economic Depression. Blaine Luetkemeyer has been using the tired GOP catchphrase "Where Are The Jobs". Recently, a sugar company, announced it would be coming to Moberly, bringing 600 new jobs with it. Not a mention of this from Blaine Luetkemeyer, and it is happening in his own district. When President Obama came to Macon to talk to folks at the POET bio-refining plant, about the possibility of adding jobs there in the very near future, Blaine Luetkemeyer's office, when asked if the Congressman was going to attend, issued a statement that said "Congressman Luetkemeyer has already been there". The jobs are coming to Mid-Missouri, and Congressman Luetkemeyer is no where to be seen. Congressman Luetkemeyer, your constituents of this district demand leadership on the job front, and you Sir, have failed.
At the end of this year, the unpaid for Bush Tax Cuts, that added a trillion dollars to our nations deficit, are set to expire. Blaine Luetkemeyer has supported the extension of the unpaid for Bush Tax Cuts, implying that not extending these tax cuts for the wealthy, would be damaging to our economy. How exactly could it be any more damaging to our economy? We passed large tax cuts for the nations wealthy in 2001, and our nations middle class and working poor have had to carry the brunt of that. We can't talk about fiscal responsibility while continuing to add to our nation's deficit through unpaid tax cuts for the wealthy. Taxes will be set to go up for 2% of the nation, back to the Clinton tax rates of the 1990's, and as I outline above, our nation was in a healthier spot not only in our Government, but also our working families and individuals. The tax cuts for the wealthy represent about 1.8% of Missourians, a number far less than that in our district here. Tax cuts for the wealthy do not represent our district, so why is Blaine Luetkemeyer pushing for them so hard?
I know what it is like to go to work and worry about your job from day to day. I know what it is like to go to work to find out your health care coverage is doubling in cost or possibly being cut out right. I know what it is like to see your energy costs sky rocket, the fuel that gets you back and forth, jump in cost overnight. I know what it is like to be a hardworking Missourian, looking for leadership. I am the American Middle Class. And we are the backbone of this great country of ours. We build things with our hands and dream of new things to build in our minds. I was raised with these values and I will be buried with these values. I can not sit here and watch as the middle class and working poor of our country and this district is being destroyed by national GOP talking points and buzzwords. I am offering my service as a Write In Candidate for Missouri's 9th Congressional District. You do have a choice.
I am Main Street. And I want to Punch The Clock for you.
Thank You
None of this would have been possible if it weren't for the people here at the Daily Kos. You've helped us at the Progressive Electorate raise $36,000 in this cycle for Democrats. That has exceeded our goal so far by $6196 and tripled what we raised last cycle!
We need your help again, please share this post and check out Jeff Reed for Congress on Facebook. It would be amazing if some of you could go on there and share your wisdom and give some encouragement.
Update: Check out our campaign graphics and some photos
UPDATE: You can safely and securely donate as little as $1 to Jeff Reed. Every little bit helps buy radio and newspaper ads.
Check out our Q+A session with Jeff Reed and the Beer Party
Join us Jeff Reed for Congress on Facebook