To: NEMP
MEETING NOTES (5/22/08)
*THE PROGRESSIVE MAJORITY: Gia Vitali, organizer for The Progressive Majority provided a report on her organization. They are a national group promoting and assisting local and state candidates with progressive ideals. Locally for example, they helped John Nephew win his seat on the Maplewood City Council to tip the balance in Maplewood government toward progressive thought and away from autocratic, right-wing dominance. Gia explained how they worked with John Nephew, a non-politician, to shape his campaign.
Progressive Majority is focused not just on the next election, but on building a progressive political movement that will elect an enduring majority for years to come. They now operate in six states, but they hope to add new candidates until the power shifts in the top 24 battleground states. They have to date recruited and elected more than 200 candidates, winning in 56% of the elections where they have been active.
We failed to ask Gia if they have considered joining Kate Christopher in her effort to unseat Matt Dean (ultra-right) in District 52-B, which includes Mahtomedi. Matt Dean now represents some of our NEMP members and perhaps they could follow up with Gia. Her phone number is 612-332-9553. Their web-site is
www.progressivemajority.org.
*ANTI-WAR PROTESTORS: Rick Gilman made an appeal for help in housing anti-war protesters who are in town for the Republican convention.
*LOBBYISTS, MONEY, &, TRANSPARENCY: Stan Hilliard provided a video of Bill Moyer's interview with investigative reporter, David Heath. We examined the influence of money on politicians through large campaign donations and lobbying. David Heath tracked and linked relationships between political contributions and earmarks that benefited the contributors. Much of this money comes from defense industries and other big corporate interests. Here are a few of the many examples: 1) A night vision device was considered unusable junk by the military but purchased anyway with money earmarked by a Representative after receiving donation from the manufacturer. 2) A large boat, of no use to the Navy, was purchased anyway with money earmarked by a representative after receiving donation from the manufacturer. The boat is now used by the local sheriff's office. 3) A type of polyester T-shirt was banned by the military for use in Iraq because IED's can cause them to melt into a soldier's skin. But these t-shirts were re-ordered anyway with money earmarked by a Representative after receiving donations from the manufacturer.
The reporters only tracked earmarks involving a few representatives from their own state of Washington. Projecting these abuses to all 435 congress- persons suggests a system of massive money-influence and abuse of power. It was obvious the both Democrats and Republicans are engaged in this process. Senator Patty Murray of Washington was featured in the some of this video.
Hidden from public view, specific abuses involved extensive work to identify because the earmarks do not appear in the federal budget. An investigative team had to do massive data analysis correlating unsigned earmarks from conference reports to the congress-person through statements on their websites, and relate that to campaign contributions. It was obvious that a transparent process would have these reports linked together into one database and available to the public via the internet, rather than hiding them in arcane records.
It is clear that the military-industrial-congressional complex is alive and well, beyond our worst dreams. In an interesting observation, Rick Gilman reminded us that Eisenhower's speech writers deleted the word congressional from his initially written draft. 'Why We Fight' is a documentary all should view.
It was also noted that public financing of election campaigns would help eliminate much of the above.
*LOBBYING IN MINNESOTA: Bob Schmitz presented data and observations regarding the pervasive and perverse influence of lobbyist at out state capitol, gained as an advocate for Green Party issues during the last two sessions. Some numbers speak for themselves:
- Over 60 million was spent in the 2007 session by registered lobbying groups, up from the 53 million of 2006. - This amount equals about $300,000 per legislator. - There are 7 registered lobbyists in our legislative halls per each legislator. - 50 former legislators are now lobbyists, including Roger Moe who represents 3-M. Some were lobbyists before entering the legislature, such as Senator Kathy Saltzman of Woodbury. The system is seamless. - Minnesota is the #1 state in per capita spending by lobbyists.
A modest reform attempt which would have prohibited lobbying for one year after leaving the legislature could not pass last year. The house bill sponsored by Karla Bigham of Cottage Grove was not allowed to reach the floor by Gene Pelowski of Winona, who chairs the Government Operations Committee. He was dismissive and arrogant to the Greens when they attempted to discuss this bill with him. Senator Marty's bill did reach the Senate floor and failed on a tie vote of 33-33. We should note that Senator Wiger and Rep Slawik supported these bills. 90% of our citizens would support this limitation on seamless lobbying, but our esteemed legislators did not. Why? Why does the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce spend 1.6 million per year to lobby our legislature? Why did 'Minnesotans Against Fraud and Higher Insurance Costs' spend 1 million late in the 2006-2007 session to fight a bill which required insurance companies to pay legitimate claims by their policy holders? This lobby was formed late in the session by a coalition of insurance companies?
When our Green group of three met in the Transportation Dept Cafeteria in the a.m. to plan the day, it was revealing to observe large gatherings of vested interests going over strategy with their hired guns.
To learn more go the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board's website, cfboard.state.mn.us. Other sources include the Center for Public Integrity at
www.public integrity.org/hiredguns. Professor David Schultz (651-523-2858) of Hamline University has also researched the issue.
*Constitution: Paul Cocoanto briefly discussed the Declaration of Independence and the preamble as they relate to the views of so-called luminaries, Pastor John Hagge &, James Dobson et al.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Next Meeting: 6/19/08 10AM Ramsey Co Library Southlawn W. of Mplwd Mall
Agenda: Janet O'Connell on asbestosis, mesothelium and the taconite industry. Should we allow taconite tailings in our road beds? The role of Elwin Tinklenberg's public relations firm as a lobbyists for mining interests and road builders. Tinklenberg (DFL endorsed) is running against Bachmann in the 6th District. Should we apply the lesser of two evils approach at election time? Recent legislation on this subject: Good, Bad or OK?
Should we sponsor a public showing of "WHY WE FIGHT" in the library community room?
Facilitator: Paul Cocoanto