Election Season 2010

The mid-term season is upon us once again, and like a lot of labor activists out there, I find myself trying to make up my mind whether or not to get actively involved this fall. I have often found myself in this position in the past. It's not very often that a candidate comes along on whose behalf I actually want to go out and canvass. I can actually count them on one hand:

Ann Richards

Barack Obama(candidate Obama was a hell of a lot more liberal than the centrist President Obama)

Andrew Duck

That's pretty much it. Not a long list. What this means is that because of the lack of any viable leftist political party in the United States, I am almost always forced to choose between holding my nose and voting for the Democratic candidate, or voting 3rd party or write-in.

The 1st question I have to ask myself this time around is, "What have the Democrats done to inspire me to hit the pavement for them?" I have to say, not a damn thing. They sold us out on the Health Care Bill, which did not include single-payer or a public option. They have all but abandoned the Employee Free Choice Act, and they attacked labor unions who backed a pro-labor candidate against an establishment Democrat who has screwed us in the past.

I've heard pleas from big labor leadership that we have to get out and support Democrats because the Republicans are worse, and that staying home will be cutting off our nose to spite our face. I don't buy that argument because in the end, a Republican who doesn't support EFCA and Public Option Health Care and a Democrat who doesn't support EFCA and the Public Option produce the exact same result.

I will support Andrew Duck this fall in the MD 6th District because of his strong support of labor, but the DNC will have one less activist this fall. They can have Blanche Lincoln.

Andrew Duck For Congress 2010

As my wife and I have been preparing to move to Brunswick, Maryland, one of our first priorities was to research who our elected officials would be, and how they have voted.

We were disappointed to find out that Roscoe(a la Boss Hogg) Bartlett(R) opposes just about everything that we believe in. I'm not talking about extremely partisan issues here. I'm talking about opposing common sense solutions that most Americans support. Things like unemployment benefits in the worst economic down

turn since the Great Depression. Issues like making sure that a big insurance company can't deny coverage to a child fighting cancer. And worst of all, siding with BP, while the lives of working folks, who are no different than the folks in Maryland's 6th District, have their livelihoods destroyed.

The good folks in Maryland's 6th District deserve a champion who will fight for our interests and not the interests of corrupt CEOs. Luckily, we have that champion as one of our neighbors here in the Maryland 6th Congressional District.

Andrew Duck is a man who will go to Washington and fight for the hard-working folks in the 6th District. While many people may have heard of his 20 years of exemplary service in the US Army, including tours in both Bosnia and Iraq, many folks have not yet heard about his excellent economic credentials. Andrew has studied economics at the graduate level, and has worked as a financial consultant. He has also held Series 7 and 63 licenses from NASD. The incumbent, Roscoe Jenkins, supported George Bush's economic policies that led to this financial crisis. We need a Congressman like Andrew Duck who has the financial expertise to right our economic ship.

Andrew is also solid on labor issues. he fully supports the right of working men and women to have a voice in their workplace. He is someone that we can count on to back the working men and women of Maryland's 6th and not the corporations who are trying to put profits above people.

If you live in, or around the 6th District, or if you live somewhere else and just want to send someone with integrity to Washington for a change, please consider volunteering your time or making a donation of any amount to Andrew Duck's campaign. I look forward to mobilizing my sisters and brothers in the labor movement between now and election day.

Find out more about Andrew and where he stands on the issues here:

http://www.duckforcongress.org/