Marcy, welcome to Firedoglake. I think I speak for this whole community when I say that we admire you for your courageousness and fortitude in taking on an extraordinarily wealthy and entrenched incumbent. Before we get into the specifics of CA-36, I want to ask you about something more general that I’m sure you’ve already put a lot of thought into. What’s the most overriding problem facing our country today?

Welcome back Marcy,
may the votes be with you.

The #1 issue is the economy, the rising unemployment rate (now 11 percent
in California), the sub-prime meltdown forcing the middle class into foreclosure
and onto the street, and the threatened collapse of our cities, now desperate for
property tax revenue to repair ranging infrastructure, like bridges, sewage treatment
plants, ports, and water delivery systems. With the US government set to spend 3 trillion
dollars on the wars on Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, we are left to fight over the remains that must address job creation, single-payer health care, and supportive housing. That’s why I support the Workers Emergency Recovery Campaign (wercampaign.org and pdamerica.org), which both call for a new Works Progress Administration (WPA) or a new New Deal to employ millions in Green jobs, in the alternative energy industry, in retooling our not-labor-intensive weapons plants into workplaces for a new America. We need to reaffirm our support for the public sector and stop bailing out the CEOs and the corporations with their tax havens in the Caymans. With a year until the June 2010 election, we have time to organize a people’s campaign that will say NO to the banks that
brought us the meltdown and YES to the working people who voted for hope and change
last November.

Howie, thank you for inviting me to participate today. It’s great to be among friends. Below are my thoughts:

The #1 issue is the economy, the rising unemployment rate (now 11 percent
in California), the sub-prime meltdown forcing the middle class into foreclosure
and onto the street, and the threatened collapse of our cities, now desperate for
property tax revenue to repair ranging infrastructure, like bridges, sewage treatment
plants, ports, and water delivery systems. With the US government set to spend 3 trillion
dollars on the wars on Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, we are left to fight over the remains that must address job creation, single-payer health care, and supportive housing. That’s why I support the Workers Emergency Recovery Campaign (wercampaign.org and pdamerica.org), which both call for a new Works Progress Administration (WPA) or a new New Deal to employ millions in Green jobs, in the alternative energy industry, in retooling our not-labor-intensive weapons plants into workplaces for a new America. We need to reaffirm our support for the public sector and stop bailing out the CEOs and the corporations with their tax havens in the Caymans. With a year until the June 2010 election, we have time to organize a people’s campaign that will say NO to the banks that
brought us the meltdown and YES to the working people who voted for hope and change
last November.

That sounds like exactly what all Democrats running for Congress should be saying! I hope it has a lot of traction in CA-36! Right now, as you said, Harman got caught with her fingers in the cookie jar. I know you were the founder of Jews For Peace and I know that the northern part of your district has a great many Jewish Democrats. I imagine it’s going to be difficult to not offend people’s sensitivities about Israel when discussing Harman’s split loyalties. How far can you go in pointing out that she’s not always serving the best interests of the United States when she’s pushing extreme right wing Likud ideas that aren’t even accepted by a majority of Israelis?

Hi Elliot,

Thanks for your support. What issues are most important to you?
I’m listening.

Funny– we’ve been having these weekly sessions with candidates for around 3 years and I don’t recall ever hearing that before!

Welcome back to FDL Marcy.

What is the jobless situation in your district?

And the foreclosure market? (obviously related issues)

How are you going to tie these issues to Harman’s votes?

Howie,

You ask the tough questions. Ha. Not easy, eh? Look, I am Jewish, a founder of LA Jews for Peace, and I believe in equal rights. Period. Not everyone is ready to hear this, but peace is possible if we recognize each other’s narrative, the ties that bind both Palestinians and Israelis to the land — and then move on, to understand and recognize that this is not the way, that the only path to peace is the path that recognizes the humanity on both sides. I believe we need to support peaceful coexistence, not military escalation. Most Israelis and Palestinians want peace.

Excellent questions, Dakine01, and ones I have been researching. In fact, I am still in the process, having written to a foreclosure attorney who has a column in The Daily Breeze for stats, having also contacted friends in the mortgage industry. I know that business is down 20% at the Port of Los Angeles, which means workers’s jobs are on the line and the city is facing a tremendous challenge in requiring truckers to “green” their trucks. People in San Pedro area, in Wilmington, in Harbor City, are fighting asthma all the while.

Good luck ! I hope you do well , Harman is a run of the mill political hack and needs to go !!

I will tie these economic issues to Harman’s votes when I point out that she supported the bail out with no strings attached — and when I talk about her votes for war funding, her support of the bankruptcy bill (We know most Americans face bankruptcy due to medical bills), and her refusal to sign on to Conyers HR676, the single-payer bill that had 91 co-sponsors last I checked.

Welcome back, Marcy; what heartening news to hear that you’re running again. Your loss and Ned’s win were the 2006 primary season’s low and high for me.

I’m curious to hear your thoughts on short- and long-term strategy for getting to single-payer health care. I’ve been pretty adamant about agitating for single payer even though it’s a long shot currently, and I’ve been rather critical here of the Howard Dean contingent pushing for a public plan, because I think they’re conceding too much too soon. Do you think single-payer activists should hold their ground or fall in line with the Dean/Moveon public plan groups?

Also, how significant do you consider the California Democratic Party’s recent resolution in favor of single payer?

Thank you for wishing me luck, Billy. I appreciate your support and
cheering.

Yes, Harman needs to go – and we can afford to back
a progressive primary challenge because this is a safe
Democratic seat, in that the district was redrawn years
ago to include more liberal enclaves.

Fabulous news! I am delighted to hear that you are running again and eagerly look forward to seeing you as a member of the 112th Congress!

Marcy, Harman’s support for FISA and the recent revelation that wiretaps exposed her perfidy and possibly a deal she made with the Bush Regime to cheerlead their anti-constitutional approaches to civil liberties has HUGE traction here at Firedoglake and throughout the blogosphere. But it isn’t an easy narrative. Is it one that will work for you in CA-36? Do you get the impression that voters there understand her shortcomings and her incredible corruption?

Marcy,

Great to see you jump into this race.

The Middleclass scorecard on Harman shows that she voted the wrong way on the Bankruptcy act and Class action “fairness” act in 2005.

She seems to have moved from her corporatist roots since the challenge in 2006, but she’ll never be a progressive.

It’s critically important that we challenge some of these reps in safe districts who don’t represent the views of their constituents.

Ralph,

Thank you for cutting to the chase. We both know that a program that includes a public health care plan and a private health care plan will fail, as it has done in several states. We know that private insurance companies will reject anyone with a pimple and throw millions of Americans, those with serious illnesses, onto the public program. For that reason, it is fruitless to support a program destined to fail, one that may allow critics of single-payer to legitimize their argument about public health care. In terms of strategy, we have to continue to lobby for single-payer advocates to have a place at the table. How tragic that such advocates were thrown out at the recent hearings. To demand a place at the table, we must work both inside and outside the Democratic Party, much as Progressive Democrats of America (pdamerica.org) advocates. I do think it is significant that the CDP affirmed a resolution for single-payer, as this res was hard-fought and a long time in coming. I know because I have been there, at the state conventions, at the E-board meetings, at the platform and res committee meetings. In addition to demanding a seat at the table, we need to support organizations like PDA and Physicians for a National Health Program and reach out to America’s mayors, who urged congress to pass HR676.

Howie,

From preliminary polling, I sense that voters recognize Harman as corrupt and part of the Old Boys network. Do they know every beat of this scandal? Maybe not — not yet. Ha. The key, however, is to tie her corruption and need to fend off the FBI and the NSA with her inability to address the pressing economic needs of the district. She’s too busy defending herself and rewriting history to know what’s really happening at home.

There are a lot of FDL members in Southern California. Do you have a campaign infrastructure ready for volunteers or should we wait a little? I’m guessing you’re nature (and the fact that you’re in one of the 2 most expensive media markets in America) is dictating a grassroots campaign.

Aeolus,

I couldn’t agree with you more, and that’s why I ran against Harman in 2006. Her allegiance lies with the big banks and moneyed interests and not with her constituents. I just read Harman is worth about $500,000,000, a staggering figure that discourages necessary challenges. At the end of the day, however, we can prove that people are more powerful than net worth statements when we organize on the ground, at the precinct level, reaching out to previously disengaged voters. Oh, yes, and it helps to build a war chest, strike that — peace chest, at the same time at Winograd4congress.com

Marcy – have you been watching the LA County response to H1N1 (new strain of flu virus)? As of yesterday they were reporting 14 confirmed and 15 suspected cases. The CDCs recently provided the testing kits to every state; so those numbers likely don’t reflect reality. I’m interested because our Public Health system is funded (and defunded) by Congressional appropriation.

Howie,

Thanks for asking. If people are interested, they can contact me at Winograd4congress@gmail.com and the campaign can put them to work immediately. We need bloggers and researchers right away. On Monday, when we kick off at 4 PM at the Venice Pier and invite everyone over to the Terrace Cafe afterwards, we will ask for the names of volunteers to begin tabling at farmers’ markets in the district. Torrance, where there are 10,000 high frequency voters, has a terrific farmers’ market and we need to be a presence there as soon as possible.

Hi Sherry,

Again this question brings us back to the fact that our health care system is broken, falling apart, leaving people literally dumped on Skid Row. If the flu gets worse, we know that our emergency rooms will struggle even more. Fortunately, this flu, at this stage, appears to be less virulent than other strains. Overall, we need to clamor for single-payer to ensure that people who are ill, who experience the first signs of this flu, can get help before they make others sick. With almost 90-million Americans uninsured or under-insured, people would rather get sick than pay what they can’t afford.

Most members of Congress are very run of the mill– at best– but for people who appreciate the work being done by members like Donna Edwards, Alan Grayson, Sheldon Whitehouse, Jeff Merkley, Bernie Sanders and Gary Peters, please consider taking Marcy up on her request for volunteers. And notice she mentioned “researchers.” That’s different from people walking precincts in Torrance. Researchers can live in Minnesota, Florida, Alaska or anywhere.

Thank you, Nonplussed. A victory in the 36th CD will
reverberate across the Beltway.

Thanks Howie, thanks Marcy. I’ll try to do something in CA-36 a little later in the Democratic primary process.

West coast version of Donna Edwards is very high praise.

That’s right, Howie. I need people to research and
write drafts of progressive policy statements. I want
Winograd4Congress.com to be the go-to web site for
visionary thinking on greening all of our ports, on
creating the right public/private economic hybrid, and
on converting war factories into life-affirming job sites.

Marcy, I’d be honored to be one of your researchers.

Ma’am,

Thank you for coming.

As the widow of a Vietnam vet who survived torture, and suffered from his injuries or over thirty years, my question is:
If you are elected,
what will you DO to help make sure that three things happen:

1) There is a full accounting of all those held in US custody since January 21, 2001, all those renditioned, and all those disappeared, including the children. (All American adults need to know what happened to these human beings, where are they? are they still alive?)

2) There is an independent, open, and thorough investigation is done of what has been done to all those detained, renditioned and disappeared. (All American adults need to know what has happened in their names.)

3) There is an independent, open and fair process to hold those responsible for torture under the Bush administration, no matter which party they are from, accountable.

Standing for justice and accountability,
For Dan,
Heather

Thank you, Boo. I admire Donna Edwards
a great deal, not just for her persistence
but also for her courage in getting arrested
outside the Sudan embassy during a protest
against genocide in Darfur. Edwards, a long-time
community activist (Take that, Palin!) and attorney,
trounced a 15-year incumbent in the 2008 Democratic
primary. We can do that, too!

i’m jewish and lived in israel many years and hold dual citizenship and i say what the israeli government has been doing is a disgrace. i’m not the only american jew saying this and i’m not the only israeli saying this.

I wish you the best, Marcy. It’s way overdue for Jane Harmon be be kicked to the curb where she rightly belongs! I’ll support you 100% – get your website launched…

Heather,

I am with you and have been with you, in spirit, before I knew you. A few years ago, while serving on the California Democratic Party Executive Board, I led the successful fight for a censure resolution against Dianne Feinstein, who at the time refused to recognize that waterboarding was torture. (Interestingly enough, Feinstein recently pushed back when Obama, after having approved the release of the CIA torture memos, said he would not prosecute those responsible.)

What will I do? I will welcome an opportunity to work with you and Afterdowningstreet.org to introduce and/or co-sponsor legislation to hold the war criminals accountable; I will speak out to demand that the Executive leave the prosecution to the AG’s office (press for an independent criminal investigation) and I will appear at mock tribunals in which those who led us to war for no good reason and have used torture and extraordinary rendition are tried. I commend the Spanish prosecutor who is pursuing a case against Bush’s torture team — and I would invite him to Washington and/or visit him in Spain to lend credence to his pursuit of justice.

Without this level of justice and accountability, anything goes –including our democracy, and we run the risk of repeating crimes against humanity.

I am also a strong believer in the International Criminal Court and will support efforts to require the US government become a signatory.

I stand with you, Heather.

what would you like us to do to help john amato stop contemplating running in the 36th this time so as to avoid an expensive primary?

Greenwarrior, we’re talking about a primary. John and Marcy will both be advocates of a progressive vision for America and both will be pounding Harman. In the end I feel sure that Harman will face one very powerful grassroots candidate in a district that has been awakened and made aware of a lot of issues mainstream media doesn’t cover.

Mstar,

Thank you for your support. I expect my web site (Winograd4Congress.com now a splash page with donation links) to be launched within two weeks. On the site, I will include other position statements, not yet made here, concerning support for the Employee Free Choice Act, gay marriage, reproductive rights, universal pre-school, the Apollo energy program, and fair trade.

(((((((((((((((((((((((Ms. Winograd)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Thank you very much. I am grateful for your answer and your support.

With appreciation,
For Dan,
Heather

Heather, I’ve heard you ask similar questions in the past and we’ve had some good answers as well. But never one that good. Is this a candidate we’ve been waiting for or what!!!

Greenwarrior,

Thank you for asking an important question. John is terrific, having advanced a progressive vision and built a following. In the best of all possible worlds, we would work as a team and pool our resources and energy to defeat Jane Harman. Having run in 2006, I have a base in the 36th district and we are already up and running, planning, as I mentioned, the Venice Pier kick off on Monday at 4 pm. I would love it if John would come and support my candidacy.

(((((((((((((Heather)))))))))))))))))

Heather thanks for your dedication and for all of your good work.

With appreciation,

Marcy

Maybe I missed it but what do you mean by saying NO to Banks. What do you support or propose should be done.

Letting them fail, or controlling/helping in their process to minimize damage like Chrysler (without the prolonged propping up)then let them pay for their mistakes a la the capitalist system?

if the progressive vote is split between marcy and john doesn’t that give harman a much higher chance of winning the primary than if only one of them is challenging her?

edit: this was meant for howie at 37.

Read my answer @37 carefully. I truly believe that the efforts and John and Marcy will complement each other and that by election day, Harman will face the stronger candidate head on. I could be wrong; that’s my guess.

We, the American taxpayers, need to have a controlling interest in any company in which we invest billions to bail out. I say NO to the banks as private corporations that engage in predatory lending and then holler for help. If nationalization, even partial, is on the table, then it’s a new conversation. If you stimulate the economy through government-driven, though not totally publicly-funded, job creation (a la WPA), then people will have money to pay interest on their loans, even buy new homes. Banks will benefit and so will the people. If Bank of America needs 34-billion, I’d like to know how much it has stashed away in off-shore tax havens and how much it paid its CEO’s during the subprime scandal years.

all right. looks like you believe one of them will drop out rather than leaving it a 3-way race. personally, i believe that’s still a lot of wasted effort and money. and marcy already has the name recognition from 2006. mvho.

Marcy I know you actively campaigned for Obama and put a great deal of effort into helping him– not just in CA-36 with in other states as well. But your progressive vision seems to go quite a bit beyond his own. If you were in Congress how would you handle issues where you and Obama don’t agree– like same sex marriage equality, single-payer health care, Afghanistan or Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, for example?

I don’t know what Howie is trying to say in 37, but the idea of John and Marcy both running in the primary is suicidal for progressives — there can be only one — certainly one could support the other.

In California a primary is first past the post and Harman wins a three way contest hands down.

The district is fortunate to have two strong, articulate progressives willing to step up, campaign and create the room for a lot of citizen engagement. And I understand the concern. Two progressives *on the ballot* would create an opportunity for Jane. One I fully expect her to exploit. Fortunately, these are early days.

Howie,

Thank you for raising this question. My sense is that Obama needs cover, particularly if he is going to advance bold programs or solutions. To get that cover, he needs people in and out of Congress to articulate what he can’t say — not yet. In other words, it’s all about organizing and we need an energized Progressive Caucus in Congress, one that works in tandem with state party Progressive Caucuses. As a congress member, I want to work very closely with the grassroots, to never lose sight of the importance in having a relationship. As silos, as disconnected parts, we are weak, but as a reciprocal dynamic we can amplify the message.

Triozyg,

I agree with you — splitting the vote is a recipe for re-electing
the self-described “best Republican in the Democratic Party.”

There is nothing I would like to see more than to have Harman defeated in 2010.

I volunteered on election day in 2006 for Marcy’s campaign. I was given a list for two precincts in Torrance and covered the precincts on election day. I have to say no one that I talked to had heard about the race — even though the list I was given said that some of the people had been called and were supporters.

Given that you carried only 55 out of 402 precincts (52 of those precincts were in Los Angeles, i.e. Venice), I want to know what you plan to do to reach out beyond your base in Venice and actually win areas like Torrance (where you carried 1 out of 91 precincts), Redondo Beach (you got 1 out of 49), Marina Del Rey (1 out 7), El Segundo (0 of 12), Hermosa Beach (0 of 17), Manhattan Beach (0 of 31).

You did not come close in 2006 (21,498 Harman to 13,952 Winograd) and I think you need a much better ground game. Position papers and so on are nice, but if you plan to come close in 2010 you need to find an approach the appeals to the majority of the district, not just people like me that are already with you.

I want Jane Harman out and I would like to see a known progressive such as yourself in (I know of Amato’s website, but on policy I don’t know as much about him). But from my take on 2006 you (or who ever runs against Harman) needs to reach out to other parts of the district if you are going to have a chance. I think John would have a steeper learning curve, but whoever the candidate is they need to win over the majority of the district – and they need to take a hard look at the district. And what did and didn’t work in 2006. Let’s not make this another Darcy Bruner — let’s make this a win!

I want to thank you all for affording me an
opportunity to share my platform. I appreciate
the dialogue and look forward to responding to
questions raised in the future. I plan to return
to this forum in the next few days to see if any newcomers have posted
questions that need to be addressed. Please, also,
feel free to email me your thoughts at Winograd4Congress@gmail.com
and/or donate at Winograd4congress.com

I am listening.

Thanks again.

In peace,

Marcy

Marcy, thanks for spending the time with us– and thanks for the AWESOME answers to our questions. There should be a Marcy Winograd is every congressional district in America and then we’d have a real democracy. I’ll be looking forward to having you back on as the campaign kicks into high gear and I’ll be looking forward to your comments on all the issues before Congress between now and then. Have a great announcement ceremony on Monday!

I received 18,000 votes or 37.5 percent of the total. I only campaigned for three months and won 59% of Venice, where Harman lives. We have an opportunity to build on our past organization and I am working closely with the Pres of Progressive Democrats of Wilmington (area) to engage more people, many of them already supportive, in getting out the vote. San Pedro, the harbor, are key areas, working class neighborhoods, that can put us over the top. My lead organizer in the harbor turned around a local supervisor’s race by opening an office in that area and taking Mark Ridley Thomas to victory. Let’s keep Donna Edwards in mind, for she was not to be deterred and prevailed against a powerful long-time incumbent. Harman is particularly vulnerable, in light of recent revelations about shilling for Gonzales and pressuring the New York Times to hold back on a story that could have spared us an additional four years of Bush and his criminal war. Onward to victory! Marcy

Glad to hear it all (I was a grunt on the ground on election day in 2006 and it seemed disorganized — 3 months explains it) — Edwards is the right model over Bruner — sorry I got the numbers wrong.

Once again, I missed a good chat. Good luck, Ms. Winograd. We certainly need better people in Congress.

The associations and opinions detailed in these blog posts about Winograd would make it impossible for this paper member of the democratic socialists of america (which works with PDA, Tim Carpenter, their lead staffer started his activism in one of the 2 predecessor orgs. of DSA, the DSOC of Michael Harrington) to write a check to support her run vs. Harman.
http://adamholland.blogspot.co…..d-911.html http://wilderside.wordpress.co…..alifornia/ Mckinney recently appeared on a Far Right, anti-semitic conspiranoid radio talk show, http://adamholland.blogspot.co…..n-far.html http://adamholland.blogspot.co…..inney.html http://www.philipweiss.org/mon…..eople.html
Close to the

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