Cumberland County Progressives

N.C. Dems face health care blowback

2010-08-30T06:59:00.000-07:00

By ALEX ISENSTADT | 8/3/10

A party convention resolution targeting three North Carolina House Democrats suggests there may be lingering resentment toward the lawmakers for their opposition to health care reform.

At the North Carolina Democratic Party convention in Fayetteville over the weekend, attendees voted down a harshly worded resolution condemning Reps. Mike McIntyre, Heath Shuler and Larry Kissell for their stances. A watered-down version urging the congressmen not to support a repeal of the health care legislation, however, did pass. It was a gentle admonishment after a more forceful protest in a May primary that saw Shuler and Kissell emerge with less than 65 percent of the vote in their respective contests, against underfunded and relatively obscure opponents who seized on the lawmakers' votes against the bill.

“I think the fact that the resolution was struck down shows the anger is subsiding and people are focused on winning in November. Overall, there is a focus on electing all three of them in November,” said North Carolina Democratic Party Executive Director Andrew Whalen. “There was a degree of a protest vote in the primary, but now these folks are coming back.”

Despite the resolution singling out the three lawmakers, party officials said this weekend’s convention was the latest sign that the party was putting the resentment from the health care vote behind them. In June, the labor-backed North Carolina Families First decided against backing a third-party challenger to run against Kissell in the general election.

“Regardless of our feeling on issues, [Rep. Kissell] does support the Democratic Congress broadly,” said 8th District Democratic Party Chairwoman June Mabry, who attended the convention and who said the freshman congressman was warmly received. “I think there are still people who have some concerns, as we all do, and they’re not always going to agree with him.”

Of the three Democrats, Kissell was the only one present at the confab, where he attended a dinner. The freshman legislator, who won 63 percent of the vote against primary challenger Nancy Shakir, faces a stiff GOP challenge from former sportscaster Harold Johnson.

Mabry said the party was focusing on Kissell’s November face-off with Johnson — a race that is expected to garner wide attention from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee.

“We’re looking toward the general election, and we’re backing our congressman,” she said. “There are no bad feelings. Sometimes we just need to get beyond our independent issues and look at our greater good.”

Behind all the talk of emerging party unity, however, lies a hard reality: All three Democrats face tough battles this fall. Kissell, who defeated five-term GOP Rep. Robin Hays in the Republican-leaning 8th District, has already secured the support of the DCCC, which says it plans to support the Democrat with campaign ads.

McIntyre is running against Republican Ilario Pantano, whose Iraq war service has attracted widespread media coverage. Pantano outraised McIntyre during the second fundraising quarter, and the seven-term Democrat, who has never won reelection with less than 69 percent of the vote, has begun airing TV ads reminding voters of his accomplishments in office.

Shuler, who won the primary with just 60 percent of the vote against little-known challenger Aixa Wilson, is facing Republican Jeff Miller, the founder of a veterans nonprofit. A Survey USA poll out this week shows Shuler leading Miller just 45 percent to 44 percent — perilous territory for a second-term incumbent.

Whelan said McIntyre could not attend the convention because he had several previously scheduled events, while Shuler was busy in his 11th District, which was several hours from the convention site.

More 2010 POLITICO

Anti-Racism Forum

2009-09-04T03:54:00.000-07:00

Anti-Racism & Economics Forum

2009-09-04T03:50:00.000-07:00

Let's use money wisely

2009-09-04T03:07:00.000-07:00

Let's use money wisely

By Roderick LewisFayetteville

Our country is releasing huge sums of money - taxpayer money - over a relatively short span of time and that money is designated to promote the "common good." Never before in the history of the United States have these amounts of money been released for the citizenry. Historically, communities of color and low-income white communities have not benefited equitably from large government initiatives.

We know that $6.8 million has been allotted to Fayetteville in stimulus money. It has been designated primarily for block grants, police and justice projects, and various food and shelter programs.

The big question is, where is the additional nearly $70 million designated for us? There are 56 potential stimulus projects that are being tracked by the city. What are those projects and where, specifically, is the stimulus money going?

In order for equity to happen for those with the least in our community, we need to ensure that the following actions take place:

Practice community cooperation, community collaboration and democratic decision-making to the highest degree possible.

Involve local residents in the neighborhoods in the visioning and engineering of homes and neighborhoods with energy and green initiatives.

Train residents in doing the jobs required to build up their homes and neighborhoods, to the highest degree possible.

Pay living wages and benefits for jobs that are created through the stimulus initiative.
We call on every City Council member, the mayor and the county commissioners to bring transparency and openness to the federal stimulus initiative so that all the citizens may be able to have input and gain in this process.

Town hall and health

Although we were unable to gain entry, the Cumberland County Progressives had representatives at the recent town hall meeting on health-care reform in Lillington. We were there because we recognize that America's health care system is unhealthy and has reached the stage where it needs emergency care. Like all emergency care, the cost is greater than if we'd developed a sensible maintenance plan.

Many of the people who came to the meeting were excluded also, and a sizable contingent of anti-reform folks carried signs, for example stating "Hands off my Health Care." Well-dressed and apparently middle-class, they were nearly all older Caucasians.

These are people who in the past lined up for government-distributed Hong Kong flu shots; who were given government-distributed vaccinations at government-run well-baby clinics; received government-distributed polio vaccine sugar lumps and polio shots.

I wondered, watching them, if they were willing to turn in their government-run Social Security which has survived the stock market and the Bernie Madoffs of the world, or their government-run Medicare, or if they are retired or disabled veterans, are they willing to give up the government-run Veterans Administration military benefits? As a wealthy, much-to-the-right physician friend explained to me, "People who have, have little empathy for those who don't have."

Have many of us become so self-centered and hypocritical that we would deny those with less an opportunity to have health coverage? Europe nearly destroyed itself in two devastating wars and its countries finally learned that they needed to change and to provide for their citizens. We should understand that when the least of us is healthier, our whole society is healthier. As Americans, we should be smarter.

Roderick Lewis is chairman of the Cumberland County Progressives.

Cumberland County Progressives Anti-Racism/Economic Forum

2008-11-11T15:46:00.000-08:00

Hello Forum Participants.

Thank you for attending the Cumberland County Progressives Anti-Racism/Economic Forum on 10/25/08 at FSU.

We apologize that we were unable to show the Democracy Now interview on the Greensboro Massacre as promised. Unfortunately the way the FSU classrooms are set up, the sound goes out after 45 minutes and required a technical skill and access that none of us had. If you have the capability, you can access the show on your computer. Here's the info for it. You can go to Democracy Now for past shows. The program aired Nov. 18, 2004.

Again, our apologies .
Nancy Shakir & Stacey Milbern, Co-Chairs

http://ccprogressives.wordpress.com/files/2008/11/nancyslides.ppt

http://ccprogressives.wordpress.com/files/2008/11/individual-or-personal-racism.ppt

Cumberland County Progressives
November 18, 2004

Remembering the 1979 Greensboro Massacre: 25 Years Later Survivors Form Country's First Truth and Reconciliation Commission
This month marks the 25th Anniversary of the Greensboro Massacre, when forty Ku Klux Klansmen and American Nazis opened fire on an anti-Klan demonstration in Greensboro, North Carolina. Five people were killed. No one was convicted. We speak with two of the survivors. [includes rush transcript]
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USA

2008-06-25T11:08:00.000-07:00

What happened to the American dream?