What the Green Party needs is a Community Organizer

Reuben Navarette's OpEd in today's San Francisco Chronicle considers that there is a greater connection between Barack Obama's campaign for president and Caesar Chavez than most realize... including Navarette himself, it appears. For some it seems only to have translated Si, se puede! into Yes we can.

Today, I received a post election analysis of the Malik Rahim campaign for Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District. It was put sent by Robert Caldwell, Rahim's campaign manager and it underscores with hard numbers, precinct by precinct, the fact that there is nothing more effective than face to face community organizing, a particular style of involvement in issues and enlisting of everyone into taking responsibility for changing the status quo, confident that together, Yes, we can.

If there is a political model for Greens it is this. We do not accept corporate donations. We have almost no money. All we have are a comparatively few people and the best set of values of any US political party. When Bill Moyers told students that "The only answer to organized money is organize people" I felt he was talking to us.

Can Democrats vote their conscience

Today is the day we find out whether Democrats can vote their conscience, or if typical urban Democratic machine politics still trumps everything else. In Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District, indicted Congressman William Jefferson is running against a list of opponents who all talk about the history of corruption that has been the hallmark of Jefferson's reign. The fact that Jefferson has yet to come to trial is due to the constant stalling tactics used by his defense team, the latest over whether Brett Pfeffer, a one-time aide of Jefferson's and confessed participant in the bribery scandal, would be barred from testifying against he former boss on Constitutional Reasons.

I fully expect Jefferson to be re-elected even though Green Malik Rahim is clearly the one candidate who brings a history of community involvement, a progressive agenda and, most importantly, honesty to the voters of the 2nd District. If we wake up tomorrow and find that Jefferson has won, then the battle for clean government switches to California where we must pressure Speaker Pelosi to do the right thing and refuse to seat Jefferson, taking away all of his power to influence anything and thus his ability to continue his money hungry ways.

Black Agenda Report supports Rahim

Maybe I should wait for Alex Walker to comment on this, but having gotten a news alert on the subject, I decided that this can not wait. In an editorial published yesterday in the Black Agenda Report, Managing Editor Bruce Dixon calls on people from all over to support Malik Rahim.

There are many things to be thankful for this season. One of them is that fact that there appears to be a crack developing in the automatic assumption that all who consider themselves to be black, or African America... the choice of phrase is theirs, not mine.... will vote Democratic. That assumption, putting identity politics at the top of election criteria, has led to the continued re-election of some very bad people. William Jefferson goes to the top of this list.


In the opening paragraph, Dixon lays out the basic question for us, will online support deliver the :

The December 6 New Orleans congressional election isn't just a local choice between a privatizing "minority" Republican, a notoriously corrupt Democrat and a caring, competent community organizer running on the Green Party ticket. In these times when anyone, anywhere can contribute to the efforts of real progressives with the click of a mouse, or volunteer to reach undecided voters, the days leading to this election are a test of whether there exists even the shadow of a national movement mature enough to hold any black Democrats the least bit accountable to the needs of his constituents

As is often the case, the Republican and the Democrat represent more of the same. But this time there's another choice. Emphasis is mine.

From that challenging introduction, Dixon goes on to develop the stark contrast between Jefferson and Rahim, focusing on their very different reactions to the plight of New Orleans following hurricane Katrina.

I noted one Green's name in the comments after this editorial, so I know that the word is getting out. There is not much time to do more... December 6 is not far off. Contributions will always be accepted and there is a real need for people to participate in phone banking, which you can do from the comfort of your home. It will do more to make you feel good than a second helping Thanksgiving dessert.

Fraud is the family business

I was highly motivated to get further into politics by Pete McCloskey and the Revolt of the Elders committee that he set up. The purpose was to clean up the Republican Party, especially to purge those members of the House of Representatives who had betrayed its purpose and trashed what honor it still had.

That same motivation led me to pay more attention to a Louisiana Congressman known as Cold Cash Jefferson who this month faces both a re-elect and a trial on corruption charges. Then, today, in the Times-Picayune, I read that fraud seems to be the family business. Details when you click Read more!.


I was really trying to confirm the trial date for Congressman Jefferson when I stumbled on this item about the trial of two others from his family.

The federal fraud trial of Mose and Betty Jefferson, two of U.S. Rep. William Jefferson's elder siblings, has been postponed until Feb. 9.

The trial had been set for Dec. 1, but the Jeffersons' original lawyer, Ike Spears, was disqualified from the case at the government's request. Mose Jefferson has since retained Arthur "Buddy" Lemann, while Betty Jefferson -- who is also the city's 4th District assessor -- is represented by Eddie Castaing.

Mose and Betty Jefferson , along with Betty Jefferson's daughter, Angela Coleman, are charged with bilking a group of charities they controlled of more than $600,000.

It is more than interesting to see an assessor on trial for fraud. It makes me wonder just how many tax dollars are being collected from those with the money to make a contribution. Such a contrast. Malik Rahim pours all he has into Common Ground Collective and the Jeffersons take a $600,000 from a charity.

This kind of corruption has to be stopped, now. This election. Tall everyone you know to contibute to the Campaign of Malik Rahim. You can read about the good he has done, in comparison to the Jeffersons, at this link and you can contribute here.

Malik Rahim Update

According to the Times-Picayune, early voting begins today in Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District. Now, more than ever, this campaign needs our help. If you have not yet done so, click Malik's name at the top of the right side menu's and contribute. Sending William Jefferson back to Congress would be a travesty of justice and bring even more shame on this institution. It will add his name to the list those who have soiled what should be the People's House of Representatives.

• Dan Rostenkowski - "In 1996, he pleaded guilty to reduced charges of mail fraud. He was fined and was sentenced to 17 months in prison, of which he served 15. Rostenkowski was pardoned in Dec. 2000 by US President Bill Clinton." Source: Wikipedia.
• Randy "Duke" Cunningham - "Cunningham resigned from the House on November 28, 2005 after pleading guilty to accepting at least $2.4 million in bribes and under reporting his income for 2004. He pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud, and tax evasion." Source: Wikipedia

What is Pat LaMarche doing now?

I assume that you all remember Pat. She was the Veep candidate who tan with David Cobb in 2004. For some that put her on their enemy list just behind Buch, Cheney and Cobb himself.

Well, not being one to just talk about things, she is down in New Orleans helping out with Malik Rahim's campaign. The following was posted as being the contents of a note from Pat.

please tell everyone we love them and we have a campaign that actually could win.

please tell them that i was at the common ground collective today and met a woman returning to her home in the ninth ward tomorrow for the first time in three years.  tell them that she was so happy and it was malik and common ground that made it possible.  then tell them that after malik got her some lunch because her life is so hectic today... that she told me about her brother dying ... drowning as he helped her save their children's lives.

please tell everyone that this is a man they can help new orleans send to congress and we are doing the best we can... but we need the international leverage... money.

help!!!!!  anyone thinking of coming here to hellp..... donate the amount you would have paid for  your plane ticket.  he has such a great organization here... it only needs fuel for the engine and unfortuantely that's money.

we can do this.

Thank you for the update, Pat... and for the story. We need to make sure that everyone understand the stark contrast that exists between Rahim and Jefferson. While one was rebuilding New Orleans, the other was stocking up his freezer.

Malik Rahim has respect on the street, not in the media

I have written several times about Malik Rahim. Mostly, I am trying to make sure that he has the wide coverage of his campaign against Dollar Bill Jefferson in the 2nd Congressional District of Louisiana. I have encouraged people to respond with contributions. Some have. But Malik needs more to fund radio / television spots between now and December 6, when the real election takes place. Remember, this election was pushed back because Hurricane Gustave interrupted a primary runoff earlier.

Click Read more! for a report on the campaign was posted to the national committee affairs list today... and always I have a few additional comments.

By John Atkeison

Tuesday Last week the people of the USA elected a community organizer from Chicago, a Black man, to be our President. At the other end of the Mississippi River another community organizer named Malik Rahim will go before the voters in New Orleans in a Congressional election that was pushed to December 6 because of Hurricane Gustav.

If tonight’s meeting at the candidates home was any measure, it could be an unusual moment in the colorful history of Louisiana politics. (You can follow the campaign at voteMalik.com.) Of the 16 people who crowded into the room, most of them were native Black New Orleanians from the West Bank and the 9th Ward. Other areas of the city were well represented, but the core were from Malik’s neighborhood base. Participants included working people and academics, church members and family members.

Everyone was enthusiastic about Malik, and there was lively discussion about a range of tactical issues. The meeting was well run and began and ended almost exactly on time, something that is not always guaranteed in a Green campaign.

The December 6th election is at the end of a tough road that leads through people’s birthday parties, barbecues and seafood boils. When the people of Orleans and Jefferson parishes go to the polls on that day, they can choose an incumbent Democrat under indictment for corrupt paractices known as – I swear- Dollar Bill Jefferson or they can go for a little-known Republican or Libertarian. Or they can vote for Malik Rahim, a well-known Green community organizer. Malik is best known for his organizing immediately after the disasters followng Hurricane Katrina, the floods, and Hurricane Rita in 2005. He established the first health clinic, and began the rebuilding of the communities right away. Through his Common Ground Collective, he has touched the lives of tens of thousands of New Orleanians. (You can read more at voteMalik.com.)

But people need to know that this election has been postponed due to Hurricane Gustav, and that Malik is running. You can help! If you live in Louisiana’s Second Congressional District you can volunteer to help get the word out to your friends and their friends. If you live anywhere along the Gulf Coast, you have a stake in the election and should consider sending a contribution or coming to help inform your neighbors here. And if you live in the United States of America, you can send contributions or volunteer for the phone bank, donating those extra cell phone minutes to the cause.

Time is short and the opportunity is great. Let us hear from you.

John Atkeison
New Orleans, Louisiana

Then, it really get me riled when an AP reporter named Zinie Chen Sampson puts out a story, as she did this week, concerning Jefferson and the campaign and ignores Rahim completely. According to a copy posted to Green Change, Sampson wrote:

Meanwhile, Jefferson, 61, Louisiana’s first black congressman since Reconstruction, faces a Dec. 6 election against little-known Republican, Anh “Joseph” Cao in his New Orleans-based district. The district’s election was pushed back because of Hurricane Gustav.

That is not media bias. It is just a lazy reporter who did not do their job and no one calls them on it.

At least, I wrote to AP and chided them for their sloppy coverage along with giving some kudos to Erica Werner, who is an excellent reporter for AP. If you want to chime in, you can do so by writing their contact address.

For general questions and comments;or to contact a specific employee: info@ap.org

I mean, if Rahim can get on 20/20, AP should acknowledge that he exists.

Check out anything you can find about Malik. If there is any single contest that needs our care and contribution this year, it is this one.

One more chance to change America

I am sure that most of you have absorbed Obama's speech from last night, if not its full implication. I want to talk about just this excerpt copied from here.

I believe that these words from our president elect tell us exactly what we must now do and, like Boone Pickens on energy, I have a plan. Click Read more! for the future of our party.



Obama said:

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.

And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.

Yes we can."

Today, I posted the following at Green Change, but since most of you don't read that, I will repeat it here.

I know that most progressives loathe Dr. Frank Luntz. He was, after all, the architect of the message that was behind Newt Gingrich and the Contract with America. Most do no know that he was also the man who wrote Harold Ford Jr.’s stirring keynote speech at the 2000 Democratic Convention, crafting a message that was far different from the one written by Gore’s staff. There are several points that Luntz makes about political discourse in America that we had better pay attention to… and I will just mention 3.

Candidates need to be genuine. Luntz feels that Kerry lost the election in 2004 the moment he stepped on the stage, saluted and said “John Kerry reporting for Duty.” That almost universally generated negative reactions and forever marked Kerry as being not real.

Candidates need to have a narrative to what they are doing. We understand stories. This is the opposite of being policy wonkish, which I tend to be.

Candidates must use that narrative to express their aspirations for their community, their state, their country depending on what level of office they aspire to. Obama did this very well, maybe never as well as he did last night with story of the older woman, the daughter of slaves, who had seen so much, done so much. And then using that narrative to point to where our future might be.

If we can not find the candidates who can do that, then we will never have success.

Now here is a simple biographical narrative. Malik Rahim bringing NOLA together on Common Ground. Malik Rahim, keeping the lights on, the clinic open when government could not. Malik Rahim rebuilding New Orleans’s 9th Ward after the Destruction of Katrina. And we need Malik Rahim to help rebuild this country after the destruction of Bush / Cheney.

If we are going to stop the hemorrhaging we need to turn total attention to getting Rahim elected,, as Obama would say “in this year, in this election, at this time, Change can come to the Green Party.”

The election in Louisiana’s 2nd District is December 6… we have one month to change this party, to change this country. What will you do to help?

It isn't over until it is over

Last night, this country chose a new president. It made major changes in the makeup of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, where 433 of 435 seats were up for grabs. The other two were in the 2nd and 4th Congressional Districts in Louisiana. Earlier planned runoff elections were cancelled due to Hurricans Gustav and Ike made enough of a mess that the runoffs were moved to Nov. 4 and the general election for these seats to Dec. 6.

Green Malik Rahim will be running on December 6. Click Read more! and I will tell you why this is now the most important election in the country.


In the Democratic Party runoff last night, the incumbent, William Jefferson defeated local media personality Helena Moreno.

• William J. Jefferson

  92,086

  56.76%

  
  

• Helena Moreno

  70,159

  43.24%

  
  

Here are some facts you need to knew. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CRES) named William Jefferson as one of the 10 most corrupt politicians in Washington. This is what they have to say about him.

On June 4, 2007, Rep. Jefferson was indicted on 16 criminal counts, including two counts of conspiracy to solicit bribes, two counts of solicitation of bribes by a public official, six counts of honest services fraud by wire, one count of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, three counts of money laundering, one count of obstruction of justice and one count of racketeering. The indictment stems from multiple instances in which Rep. Jefferson agreed to perform official acts for 11 different companies in return for bribes payable to him and his family members. The indictment was the culmination of a criminal investigation that began in approximately March 2005.

Folks, Jefferson's trial begins on December 2, just four days before the election. You might wonder how someone can face this and still win? Well, last night, Sen. Ted Stevens won re-election to the Senate from Alaska after being convicted on corruption charges this month.

While Jefferson has been rebuilding his family fortunes, Malik Rahim has been rebuilding NOLA. When government could not keep the lights on during Hurricane Katrina, Rahim and his Common Ground non-profit did. When government could not keep it's promises to rebuild New Orleans, Rahim has gotten over 2,000 home rebuilt or refurbished.

I know we all have some degree of election fatigue right now, but this is one election that we have to win. Rahim needs all the help he can get and then some. That is why I now have his campaign highlighted in the right side menu of the home page. Just go there, click his name and make a contribution.

Pete McCloskey has been quoted as saying that "Politicians are like diapers. They need to be changed frequently... and for the same reason." We now have a chance to change one very dirty diaper.

Politically Incorrect.

Last night, my wife wanted to watch 20/20 on ABC because she enjoys the fact that John Stossel is somewhat of a contrarian, not afraid to take shots at anyone including himself. What we got last night was a broadside of Libertarian views on the ineffectiveness of government and the suggestion that the problems we face are more often caused by over-regulation than under-regulation of the free choice of our population. The term that he used was "self-ordering". Then, I got a surprise when he started to talk about New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina.


Stossel interviewed a number of people with great attention being paid to Mayor Nagin and the bureaucracy that keeps people from doing simple things... form after form, arcane regulations to be followed to the letter. He contrasted that with the volunteer operations that have done much more than all of the expensive public works. His major examples came from Habitat for Humanity, and Malik Rahim. In fact, Rahim got a lot more camera time than Brad Pitt (Make it Right Campaign) and that says a lot. It is unfortunate that the segment did not mentions Rahim's current candidacy.

I don't agree with Stossel's purely Libertarian view that over-regulation by government is what caused the mess. Actually, in his view, Fannie Mae and Fredie Mac should never have existed in the first place. It makes just as much sense to blame the Harvard MBA programs for teaching all of those financial whiz kids that risk is only a mathematical calculation. The problems were not that government over-regulated, but that they did not regulate the right things. The basic idea that you could commodify financial obligations (mortgages) left no room for the type of failure that happened as real estate prices dropped.

The more scary proposition for me is that banks have hugely more debt obligation in terms of credit cards. When people are using credit card debt to last from pay check to pay check, and their costs are continuing to rise, we have another bubble ready to burst and that is one which will make the real estate fiasco look like a parlor game.

Katrina and the Inner-City Challenge for Greens

Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans, Louisiana two years ago. And (for about fifteen minutes) Democrats, Republicans, and the So-Called Liberal Media actually had a serious discussion about class and race in America. In the coming days we shall read and hear a lot of self-serving partisan poppycock from liberal Democrats that everything that happened in New Orleans was the fault of Bush Republicans. In point of fact, the New Orleans inner-city Democratic Party Machine was up to its neck in cronyism and incompetence long before it was up to its neck in floodwaters.

The next great challenge for the Green Party of the United States is cracking the monopoly of the Democratic Party Machines within communities of color in the inner-city. Greens will never be able to really challenge the Democrats until we do this and we'll never effectively apply our 10 key values until we can start applying them where it is needed the most.

In a recent interview in Yes Magazine, Green activist, Malik Rahim brilliantly articulated a vision for inner-city New Orleans that goes way beyond the usual Democratic and Republican nostrums:

I think that we can show, not only people in New Orleans, Louisiana, or in America, but globally what happens when people of conscience come together, in spite of their government. If we can rebuild New Orleans in such a way that we break the dependency upon fossil fuels, if we look at alternative energy in our reconstruction and look at new methods, if we could move away from a levee system and start developing a storm protection system that no longer challenges nature, but works with nature. If we break the shackles of racism, and become a truly progressive city. If we could develop the schools and the education system, if we can work to develop health care for everyone. If we could do these things, we’d know that the sacrifice by all the thousands of volunteers from Common Ground and others wasn’t in vain, and I believe that the rest of the world can look at us as a model.

New Orleans as a model? What a revolutionary notion.

Read More and challenges by Cynthia McKinney and Donna Warren at Green Commons:

Katrina and the Inner-City Challenge: Cynthia McKinney, Malik Rahim, Donna Warren

Another New Orleans Democratic Hack in Disgrace

Oliver Thomas, New Orleans Democratic Hack, Opposed by Green Malik Rahim, Resigns in Disgrace

Oliver M. Thomas, New Orleans City Council President, pleaded guilty to a federal

bribery charge on Monday. Thomas admitted to taking $19,000 in bribes and kickbacks in 2002 from local businessman, Stanford Barré,
an intimate of former New Orleans Mayor Marc H. Morial.

New Orleans, still reeling from the horror of Hurricane Katrina, has been rocked by an incredible series of

corruption scandals involving: Congressman William J. Jefferson; the former president of the school board; a top aide to former Mayor Morial; indictments of 30 school system employees; and 16 City Hall corruption convictions.

Nobody in the mainstream media remembers this, of course, but in 2001, Green Party candidate,Malik Rahim,ran against Oliver Thomas and others for New Orleans City Council.

In words that would prove prophetic Rahim declared:

"When I look at the economic and social conditions that exist in New Orleans, and I see the failed policies of our elected officials, the dismal conditions of housing, the low wages our people work for and the carcinogenic levels of toxicity in our air and water,I see that the wealth, opportunity and resources in our community are controlled by the rich at the expense of the many,"

The awful truth is that the catastrophic failure of the system in New Orleans is indeed a bipartisan failure. Read More ...

Now is the Time

I have not posted for quite a while, so I have a buildup of frustration and will post several things this AM. It only took a magazine cover to wake me from my slumber.

You should all pick up a copy of Time Magazine this week. I call your attention to the cover where photo of the new storm floodwall in New Orleans carries this caption.

Two years after Katrina, this floodwall is all that stands between New Orleans and the next hurricane. It's pathetic. How a perfect storm of big money politics, shoddy engineering and environmental ignorance is setting up the city for another catastrophe.

The author, Michael Grunwald, pulls no punches and blows away a number of myths, not the least of which was that Katrina was a horrendous Cat 5 storm at New Orleans.

The most important thing to remember about the drowning of New Orleans is that it wasn't a natural disaster. It was a man-made disaster, created by lousy engineering, misplaced priorities and pork-barrel politics. Katrina was not the Category 5 killer the Big Easy had always feared; it was a Category 3 storm that missed New Orleans, where it was at worst a weak 2.

You can read the entire story here.

When I think of the amount of effort that people like Susan King put into the recovery effort I just get sick. When I contrast the on the ground leadership of Malik Rahim to the mess described by Grunwald, I feel like crying. Such a missed opportunity and such empty promises where Bush's promise to rebuild was just another declaration of the end to major combat. It is worse than pathetic, the word Time used on their cover. It is criminal.

This is particularly important for us in this state and at this time. We are dealing with many of the same issues: failing levees that need major repair if not replacement, big money politics at every turn, politicians who care more for their own image or career than the welfare of the people that they represent. There is not a single plan for the future of the Sacramento / San Joaquin Delta that meets the smell test. Sure, Núñez, Perata and Schwarzenegger promise to get things done. But they won't. Follow the money. When it comes time to do something, the money will be less than needed. It will get used on some legislator's pet project. There will be no accountability.

When the Green Party of California convenes it's general assembly in Riverside, perhaps there should be a moment of silence during which we can all think about the money that could have helped repair the levees in New Orleans but went instead to build a highway off-ramp to a riverboat casino. Then think about what we can be doing to make sure that it does not happen again, here, in this state, on our watch.

This is one issue that I will not let drop and I ask all of you to do the same.