Saintless

My friend, and fellow Christopher Stout supporter, Jason Wessel wrote a note on Facebook about why he’s supporting Stout, over Sam Granato. With Jason’s permission, I’m reposting it here.

In my opinion Christopher Stout is the better candidate in the race for United States Senate and I will be supporting him at the Democratic convention on Saturday for a number of reasons.

First, I have been aware of Sam Granato’s campaign for quite a while but I was not following it closely since I was sitting this year out of politics. My impression was that he is just another sacrificial lamb we Dems are lining up for slaughter. I have put my time in on those campaigns and I do understand the need for them. However, I caught an interview with Granato on KCPW a few months ago and as a Democrat, I was severely disappointed. He seemed to have no central message and I was shocked that he seemed to be bragging about only recently becoming a Democrat and that he donated money to the G.W. Bush campaign. From a strategic point of view that seemed like a pretty dumb thing to be talking about before he has secured the democratic nomination. From the point of view of someone who has spent my entire adult life trying to get good Democratic candidates elected in Utah I was disappointed that we could not find a better, more deserving candidate to run for one of the highest positions in the state and frankly, I think someone needs to put a few more years in to being a Democrat before we make them a leader of our party.

Then a close friend of mine became involved in the Christopher Stout campaign when he first announced his candidacy to underwhelming fanfare. Since I am in middle of a term of service with AmeriCorps I cannot work on a campaign for pay but I can offer advice. I was asked to sit down with Christopher Stout and spend a few hours discussing the details of putting a campaign together. I had no problem with this since I am a firm believer that having multiple candidates competing for the party nomination at convention leads to us having a stronger and better prepared candidate going into the general election. I went into the meeting with Christopher Stout with the intention of discussing the nuts and bolts of setting up a campaign. Things like establishing an advisory committee to establish policy/platform issues, appoint someone to handle financial disclosures, begin forming a staff, set up a calender with all the important dates and filing deadlines, etc. Just the basics.

What I discovered when I met Christopher was a pleasant surprise. He was a rookie candidate with no clue as to how a political campaign is organized but he was prepared on the issues like no other candidate I have ever met. He did not need to go through the usual process of policy/platform prep. He had his five core issues already set. I tried to dissuade him from making the treatment of veterans a core platform issue because it just is not a high priority issue to most Utahns. Christopher would not budge. To me, this demonstrated a candidate who entered this race based on strong personal convictions and he was not going to modify his position to accommodate a campaign strategy. I admired that.Furthermore, his knowledge of the issues extends beyond his core issues. He will discuss, in detail, any issue someone brings up which leads to my next point.

What I like the most about Christopher is that there is substance behind his words. It may be that he has not learned how to talk like a politician yet with platitudes and vague rhetoric without detail. It may be that he is a goal oriented man. On every issue he clearly defines what he sees as the problem, what his position on the issue is AND a step by step solution to the problem. I have never seen a candidate delineate not just what but also why and how while addressing issues and I find it refreshing.

Finally, I have seen both Christopher Stout and Sam Granato speak at a number of events and the differences between them are quite stark. Granato has been campaigning for nearly a year and he does not have a platform beyond vague, feel-good rhetoric. When asked specific questions about issues he falls back on broad generalized statements. For example, he is for health care reform (what does that mean?). In contrast, time and again I have seen Christopher Stout directly answers the question, provide a bit of personal insight into the issue then propose step by step what he will actually do to address the issue. A rare trait in a politician.

In conclusion, I think Christopher Stout is a superior candidate to represent Utah and the Democratic party in the United States Senate. He has demonstrated a firm grasp of the issues and has set forth a plan for how to address those issues. I ask anyone who is interested or plans on attending the convention that before you cast a delegate vote in this race to compare the websites of both Stout and Granato and to listen to both candidates speak at the convention. I believe you will find Chris Stout to be every bit as impressive as I do and you will agree that he is the better candidate.

Tags: Christopher Stout, Utah Senate

District 25 Debate from B S on Vimeo.

Anthony Kaye, Joel Briscoe, John Netto and Dixon Hindley participated in a debate during the Salt Lake County Democratic Convention. They are running for Utah House District 25, Christine Johnson’s seat. The vote will take place this weekend at the State Democratic Convention. This video really provides some good information about each of the candidates, and I think it’s important that any delegates voting in this race to watch.

Thanks to Bendan Smith for putting this together!

Tags: Anthony Kaye, Dixon Hindley, Joel Briscoe, John Netto, Utah House District 25

Many people have asked me why I’m supporting Christopher Stout as the Democratic nominee for Senate. I’d like to begin to try to answer that question tonight, at least on some level. Now, my main goal for this blog is to only write about why I am supporting Chris Stout, and not why I’m against anyone else, or why he’s better. Just why Stout is great, and that’s it. Let’s see how I do, shall we?

The first time I met Chris Stout in person was at the Drinking Liberally Candidate’s Night a few weeks ago, when all candidates were given a chance to come out and talk to us. It was quite the packed crowd! I had already been considering, if not really leaning toward, supporting Stout. I had heard good things about him, but I took that night to verify, and put him to the test.

Now, let me say this – I’ve been a little behind on all things political, because of family issues. So, while I’d heard of Stout before then, I hadn’t done any research until just before I met him. And I’ve been immediately deleting almost any political email as I received it on my phone, without reading it, because I just was too overwhelmed with so much noise from so many directions, and had no ability to process it all.

Anyway, back to Stout.

So, the first thing I did when meeting Stout was to let him know that I needed some good reasons to volunteer for his campaign, if indeed I was going to do so. I had been asked by a mutual friend to help at convention. So, he sat down and talked to me for quite a while. I asked him some hard questions, like why didn’t he get into the race sooner? Why did he think he was a better candidate than …well… the other candidate? What issues were the most important to him? Why could he win in the general election? Why the hell would he even bother running?

He answered each of the questions I asked to my satisfaction. I can’t answer these for him, but I can tell you that I think Chris is running because he wants to make a difference, and he feels that he has unique skills and understanding that will enable him to do it. And I agree with him.

I helped him out at the Salt Lake County Convention, where I had the chance to listen to him speak to different caucuses. That, along with hearing him talk to people at the booth later, gave me an even better understanding of what motivated him. I liked that he has real plans and knowledge about the issues. I liked that he was passionate and sincere. But, more than anything, I liked that the things he said had substance. In fact, it’s a little difficult to really understand that until you spend 5 minutes talking to him without distractions, and have a chance to get into a real conversation with him.

Luckily for me, on Sunday, I was out with friends, and we ran into him. Chris sat at the table with us, and absolutely blew me away. My friends and I had been discussing politics, and the previous day’s Convention. They both had doubts about Stout, and they weren’t issues that I could really speak for Stout on. I’m not much of an apologist in the first place, at least not unless I can research an issue ahead of time. So, we moved on and were discussing other political topics, when Chris walked up.

So, I brought up one of the issues we had been talking about earlier, which was the idea of bringing manufacturing back to the US. One of my friends was very skeptical, and after the subject was thoroughly debated (and at least 2 of my 3 friends were very informed on the subject!) it turns out that Stout’s ideas aren’t quite as far out there as my friend had thought.

We continued on to discuss Chinese trade relations, and then the effect of the stock market and the recent real estate crash on our economy. Chris’ points with all of these things were very well thought-out, and made sense for long term recovery, and economic stability. I won’t speak for my friends, but they all agreed that their impression of Stout was greatly improved by this conversation, and said that Stout had a very good grasp on both the problem, and the solution. I’ll add that I think Stout will also be able to present ideas that make sense to everyone. Much like my reason for supporting Pete Ashdown in 2006 (because I felt that he had unique expertise in technical matters that the Senate really needed), I really feel like Christopher Stout has unique experience and ideas when it comes to the financial matters that are facing us now. And sound bites just won’t do justice to the information.

I’m not going to give you a list of Stout’s ideas and positions, because I think he’s done a great job of that on his blog and his campaign site, and because I think you should find your own tough question on an issue important to you, and ask him yourself. Especially if you’re a delegate who will be voting on the Senate nomination on May 8.

Now, I think I accomplished my goal of explaining why I think Christopher Stout is great, although I don’t expect to have convinced all of my readers – in fact, my goal with this has not been to sway anyone, other than maybe to get readers to take a look at Stout. Expect more posts soon!

Tags: Christopher Stout, US Senate

I believe that those who so firmly oppose health care reform are driven by prejudice. Prejudiced against the idea that, by helping their fellow man, they could save some money on their own costs. These people are not willing to entertain, even for a moment, that they might benefit from reform that includes a public option. The idea of free market principles, when it comes to health care, has failed. They refuse to admit that they could be wrong, that perhaps their ideology isn’t perfect for this case.

These people cannot stand the idea that they might spend $50 to help save some stranger’s life, and in doing so, save $100 on their own health care.

While there are a lot of ideals that founded our country, one of them was the ideal that by banding together, we could make things better for ourselves.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

And there are some out there who are so afraid of this, that they make up lies about “death panels” or say that illegal immigrants would be covered. They know these things are blatant lies, yet they spread them, and inspire fear in their constituents or viewers, in order to not face the fact that they don’t have a leg to stand on.

Any Senator or Representative worthy of their office should at least consider the idea that health reform has to happen, because the people of our country need it to. They might fight against parts that they don’t agree with, but they damn sure should be fighting for the things they do agree with. But, yet, we have people like Jason Chaffetz, who sends out this message, minutes after Obama addressed the Joint Sessions of Congress this evening:

That’s right. My representative just sent out a message saying “I have made two big decisions tonight. We are killing the health care bill and we we are killing the mouse in the office.” This, after his Town Hall, which I swear I will blog very soon, where he said that he wasn’t an obstructionist, and he wanted health care reform to happen the right way. This, after Obama invited every one of them, including Chaffetz, to talk to him about their ideas. Chaffetz has never had any intention of considering health care reform.

None.

Those who are against health care reform, while simultaneously refusing to add ideas to the conversation, make me sick. We need health care reform. This conversation is supposed to be about what that reform means. And, as Rep. barney Frank told Rachel Maddow this evening:

The weakness of their argument is a testimony to the strength of ours.

Tags: Health Care Reform, Representative Jason Chaffetz

A few days ago, Clarity Sanderson and I started the “Draft Peter Corroon for Governor in 2010” group on Facebook. The group has already grown to over 300 people!

We are asking supporters to invite 4 more friends to the group, and to write an endorsement of Mayor Corroon. When we have 1,000 members, we will present these endorsements to Mayor Corroon, and ask how he feels about running.

We have a hint already, though. Clarity posted this button to the group:

Mayor Corroon made a comment on the image, saying it was very patriotic looking. So, hopefully, we can take that as a sign that he’s at least open to the idea!

Here is the endorsement that I posted to the group:

I feel that Mayor Peter Corroon should run for Utah Governor in 2010 because he’s made intelligent decisions for the county as Mayor, and that his dependable and trustworthy temperament would make him a very popular Governor across the entire state of Utah.

Tags: Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon

Before I get into this endorsement, I would like to say that I have the utmost respect for current Utah State Democratic Party Chair Wayne Holland. I loved working with him over the past couple of years, and I believe he is a great person, and has done some good things for the Utah State Democratic Party.

However, I feel compelled to endorse JM (Jeff) Bell for Utah State Democratic Party Chair. One of the biggest reasons is that I believe Bell has a fundamental understanding of technology and how to harness it. The current party leadership has missed the mark on this issue, and we absolutely cannot let that continue.

I’ve seen recent improvements in the area of technology with the UT Democrats, however, I think it’s too little, too late.

Vote for Jeff Bell for Utah State Democratic Party Chair

I also believe the the current party leadership has a fundamental belief that most races in this state can only be won by either a conservative, or someone who compromises on basic Democratic Party ideals to become more like a conservative. I understand that there’s no “perfect Democrat”, nor should anyone running under the Democratic banner be forced, or even try, to be a complete liberal on every issue. However, we need better candidates who don’t compromise with the conservatives to try to win against them. It’s just silly to think that people in this state will vote for that type of candidate.

We need energized Democratic candidates who stick to their own values, and who have support from the State Democratic Party.

During the last election, I also felt that the State Party was more interested in supporting a “higher visibility” candidate for Governor, who was obviously going to lose, than they were in supporting other candidates who had a true shot at winning, but for a lower office. Or maybe it was because they weren’t able to harness the huge amounts of grassroots volunteer energy, because they hadn’t seen such a thing in recent history.

I think I could even sum it up this way: Buttars won the last election. I don’t think that would have happened if Jeff was Chair. Not that I blame the current Chair for this in any sort of direct way. However, I think Jeff Bell will take the Utah State Democratic Party in the direction we need, not just to elect more Democrats, but to elect the right Democrats, and send the right message about our party to the people of Utah. I also believe that Bell will be far more in touch with the average Utahn, and get them involved.

As Bell himself says:

It is time for the Party to educate Utah voters about who we are, what we stand for, and deliver the message that Democrats are more than a watered down alternative to the empty, harmful policies of the Utah GOP – We are the best choice for Utah voters.

As your Party Chair I will work to bring that message to the people of Utah, and in doing so will help us return to a position of strength where, defining ourselves once more as Democrats, we can bring real, progressive leadership to the great state of Utah

Read the rest of his Letter to Utah Democrats, and see if you don’t agree with me.

And on a personal note, Jeff Bell was already a well known Utah blogger and all around political guru when I came on the scene a few years ago. I think we’ve probably disagreed on a few things, but overall, Jeff and his blog have been a huge inspiration for my own blog. In addition, while I was Chair of the Utah for Obama group, Jeff was an amazing mentor, even though I was a political nobody. I had jumped into the middle of this political arena that I knew little about, but felt determined to get Utah to vote for Obama, and become aware of him. I didn’t know any of the elected officials, party officials, or really anyone else when I started. Jeff has always answered my silly questions without making (too much) fun of me for them. He’s good natured, well informed, and believes that we all need to be involved. The Utah State Democratic Party isn’t about one or two people making decisions for the rest of us. Jeff understands that, and I think with him as Chair of the Party that the entire process will be far more open, far more effective, and far more Democratic.

So, please vote for Jeff Bell this June 20 at the Utah State Democratic Convention. Stop by and talk with him at his booth if you’re attending the Salt Lake County Democratic Convention this Saturday, April 18.

Tags: JM Bell, Utah State Democratic Party

I’ve known Curtis Haring for a couple of years, now. Not only is a really good guy, he’s really impressed me with his dedication to the Democratic Party, and making it better. He’s been knowledgeable on every subject I’ve discussed with him, and he’s put a lot of effort into understanding the how’s and why’s of Utah politics. During the recent Legislative Session, anytime a bill came up that I needed to know more about, I almost always found a wonderful overview of it on his blog. He covered hundreds of bills, with very details analysis. I can’t begin tell you how impressed I was with that, because I know how much effort had to have gone into it. He’s also been on the Board of the Young Democrats of Utah for 5 years. This position of responsibility isn’t new to him, and he’s going to rock once he’s elected!

That being said, Curtis is running for the 2nd Vice Chair of the Salt Lake County Democrats. I will be voting for him this Saturday at the Salt Lake County Democratic Convention, and I hope you will, as well. Take a look around his blog, Blue in Red Zion, and I know you’ll be impressed. I believe his past experience is perfect, and that he has the perfect organizational skills that the SL County Democratic Party needs!

If you need a little more reason to vote for Curtis Haring, check out Bob Aagard’s endorsement, or JM Bell’s.

Tags: Curtis Haring, endorsement, Salt Lake County Democrats

I adore Rachel Maddow, and this is an example of why. But, then I have no intention of participating in public teabagging, either.

To all the teabaggers, I have a few things to say to you.

First, you keep talking about taxes. Except your taxes just got cut. Unless you’re rich, and make over $250K a year, President Obama just gave you a tax cut. I’m guessing there won’t be many people at these “parties” that didn’t get a tax break.

Second, I hate to try to redirect your failed anger, but I think your problem is the spending, rather than the taxes. But, see, your party (or at least the party of most of the teabaggers) is the one behind the problem we’re facing right now. The GOP, with Bush at the helm, drove our country into the ground. When Bush got into office, the Democratic Party (with Clinton at the helm) had managed to give our country a surplus. Bush took that surplus away, and put us back into deficit spending. Obama walked into a huge mess, and he has no choice but to fix it. And now, it seems convenient for Republicans to blame Obama and the Democrats.

But blaming Obama and the Democrats is wrong. Obama is doing what is necessary to fix this mess. It’s not pleasant, but it has to be done. And I don’t think any of you are considering the big picture. You’re in this narrow little alley that says the other party must be wrong, and that’s as much consideration as you’re willing to give it.

And finally: All of you are coming of like a bunch of two year olds throwing a tantrum. If you can quit the partisan whining, maybe we can go back to having a real conversation.

Just a little update: Teablogging.net. ’nuff said.

Tags: Rachel Maddow, teabagging

I’m all for open debate, and making Representatives answer for their votes. But, this video shows that Rep. Jason Chaffetz is participating in pre-planned attacks, designed only to badger the Democrats, with no clear purpose or ability to make progress. It’s simple kindergarten bullying. From Politico:

Cantor’s floor staff has created a photo album to help identify the 42 most vulnerable Democrats. The aides send daily e-mails to the members of the attack team and alert lawmakers when these targeted members are speaking on the floor. They even draft quick scripts to help focus the questioning.

This is beyond childish. And it’s embarrassing, since apparently, Chaffetz made an idiot out of himself when it was his turn up, and it didn’t quite turn out the way he wanted. Go, Utah!

As Politico says, about this video:

Of course, these attacks don’t always work out. Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly, a veteran of party politics, quickly turned a Chaffetz challenge against his attacker. The Utah freshman also appeared flustered when Kilroy left the floor recently as he launched another line of questioning about her AIG vote.

Perhaps this is an alternative explanation for Jason Chaffetz blocking me on Twitter. Hearing from me was sometimes a little taste of his own medicine. Oh, and what was that advice Chaffetz had for the President again?

(h/t Glen Warchol)

Tags: Representative Jason Chaffetz

Surfing through my RSS feeds, I come upon a post from Senator Greg Bell that starts with this:

A college student wrote to ask me for her class assignment what the most pressing issue facing our society. I decided not to speak to moral issues but said the following:

My first thought was “Wow! He’s not going to go with some religious pronouncement that gays are ruining marriage, or that letting children see alcholic drinks poured in restaurants is going to make them grab the nearest bottle and drive over grandma.” Then, I wondered what the subject would be. Being a Utah Republican, it wasn’t likely that he was too worried that bad environmental policies are going to leave our children without a planet upon which to reside. Nor was it likely that he’s too worried that Utah’s one-party rule is bad for our state. Highly doubtful that it had anything to do with Human Rights, or the lack thereof, of any sort. So, what could Sen. Bell think was the most pressing issue for our society?

Although he never mentions Democrats or Obama directly, he infers that the whole economic mess we’re in is their fault. Yep, those Obama Democrats are the “most pressing issue facing society”. Here’s how he starts out:

The most pressing governmental policy issue is the expansion of the federal government into areas I believe are unconstitutional. And whether or not these actions are unconstitutional, the funding for the federal government’s programs and bail-out packages is unsustainable. The government has shouldered staggering debt to finance programs and the bail-outs. The massive expenditure of funds in the bail-out/stimulus packages will, by almost everyone’s admission, cause serious inflation. Moreover, taxes will have to be increased, jobs and company expansions will be curtailed with higher taxes, and more and more people will become dependent on the federal government for income, health care and food.

Apparently, it’s ok for the State of Utah to tread on unconstitutional ground, though. I mean, they just passed a bill with the purpose of funding the legal battles that come from attempting to ban abortions. Um, which is unconstitutional. That’s about the point I started feeling pressure in my head. Then I got to the point where he used the word “unsustainable”. Because I can think of a ton of ways that government practices are unsustainable, and most of them are related to the environment, of Bush’s (and the GOP’s) last 8 years, which got us into this mess to begin with. So, he’s seriously telling this college  kid that GW’s trash heap that Obama’s attempting to clean up is somehow all Obama’s fault. That’s about where my head exploded.

He then takes the opportunity to give himself and the rest of the Utah Senate a nice pat on the back by saying how neighboring states are failing, but Utah is doing the right thing, and businesses like us.

Wait, what was the original question, again? Oh, yeah. “What is the most pressing issue facing our society?” His answer: ‘Those darn Democrats. But Utah politicians are the good guys’. Way to stay on topic, Senator.

Anyone have a better answer?

Tags: economy, Utah Senator Greg Bell