On Unity: My Letter to Howard Dean

Coss-posted from EENR Blog
http://eenrblog.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1872
On Unity: My Letter to Howard Dean
by: Karita Hummer
Fri Jun 27, 2008 at 13:25:55 PM EDT
Gov. Howard Dean is coming to San Francisco, apparently hoping to find and encourage unity for the Democratic Party. This is an admirable goal, I believe, but in my opinion, unity has to be inclusive to really work.

Here is my letter to Howard Dean.

Dear Gov. Dean,

United, as Democrats, we could not only win, but even more importantly, govern together, admirably. However, in Party unity, there must be true inclusion, of ideas and positions and leaders, the strains of which I hope would be accepted as strong, viable, identifiable and vibrant themselves, each capable of adding and contributing much to the whole. We need not only a Unity ticket, but a Unity Cabinet and a Party Unity Council of some sort. A united Party leadership should include and make room for wise, experienced, knowledgeable and capable Party Elders and contributors and thinkers like: John Edwards, Gov. Brian Schweitzer, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, T erddy Kennedy, Governor Howard Dean, Al Gore, Mike Dukakis, George McGovern, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, Dennis Kucinich, Bill Richardson, Mike Gravel, Donna Shalala, David Bonior, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Russ Feingold and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.. Such a list of recognized leaders with their own following is at once respectful and potentially a harmonizing force for the country.

Also, there should be room for true grassroots inclusion, with a real vehicle for democratic participation at the grassroots level. John Edwards had marvelous ideas in his Initiative for Democracy, that he had in his platform during his run for the presidency this past year. The Party should make room for our grassroots, populist, input, because we can be the heart and soul of the Party.

Such inclusiveness, in unity, is what I most ardently hope for for the Democratic Party.

Unity, based on inclusion, not simply on supporting a particular ticket, has the best potential for success.

Karita Hummer
Edwards Democrat, strong, identifiable and vibrant, in Unity
Close Window

The five R's of Recovery and Rehabilitation or take time to smell the roses!

Take time to smell the roses is an old favorite line of mine, one to whidch ai should have b33n qdhering more. HERE'S WHY, BSSED ON A LETTER WRITTEN TO MY CLSSMATES ON THE OCCASION OF OUR FIFTIETH HIGH School reunion:

“Let go (of stress and compulsion) and keep balance in life”, was advised by a neuropsychologist at the Los Gatos Community Hospital Rehabilitation Center after my recent stroke. Even though I can’t be with you directly at our singularly important fiftieth year reunion, due to a stroke I suffered June 7th, I am able to write you at least, and for this capacity, I do rejoice. I am very deeply saddened, though, and pretty blue, that I can not be with you in person on the occasion or our Reunion Dinner, taking place as it is at the historic P. & L. E. Station Square, a historic spot for me and my family. My father traveled from this very station on the P. & L. E. Railroad line to his sales region surrounding Cleveland, Ohio. What a great man Joseph Miraglia, my father, was. The station is also the placer my parents and I saw my determined brother, Peter, off to the Marines, headed for Paris Island in South Carolina, via Cleveland where he was enlisting in the Marines, after just turning 17 years of age in 1959. When his train actually pulled off to Cleveland on that occasion, my parents and I dissolved into tears. Such ties of the heart!

Also, Station Square is at the bottom of the Hill (Coal Hill, we called it, where my husband,Paul, and I proudly purchased our first home, on Sycamore St. in Mt. Washington over looking the Monongahela River and steel works below. How we loved that view.)

Please be assured, how much I would have loved to have seen all of you again and to have been with you.

On June 7th, I had a fateful drive home following a celebration of a colleague’s graduation from law school (made especially important to me because the colleague was someone I had mentored since her arrival from Kosovo as a refugee at the end of the 90’s). During the drive home on a major highway in California, Rte.17, I experienced blurred, double-vision, light headedness and dizziness and exhaustion. Surely my now deceased parents must have been hovering nearby as my guardian angels, as I had no accident on that busy highway. I recall only a few apparently unnerved fellow drivers of the highway having honked in worry, concern or perhaps irritation. During the stroke, then, I managed to pull off the highway (to take city streets home), pulled over in a neighborhood and parked the car. There I dozed, woke and tried to pull out of my parking space and crazily began hitting other parked cars. After hitting three parked cars, police were called. Paramedics determined the symptoms looked like a stroke and took me to O”Connor (Catholic) Hospital, a certified stroke center, where their specialty stroke team diagnosed the stroke during the crucial three hour window for treatment, and they administered TPA, for which I signed off on myself.

My husband described the rejoicing of the emergency room staff when my limp left leg shot up after a command for such after the medicine took effect.

In the emergency room, I asked my doctor would I be able to go to Pittsburgh on the 27th. He said yes, I would be able to.

But the rest is history. Though I did, indeed, make a remarkable recovery, residual symptoms of left side weakness and some poor coordination persisted and I was ultimately denied the green light to proceed with plans to Pittsburgh for our occasion.

All I am left to do now is wish may best to all of you and share the lessons of the experience with you.

Let me start by sharing one insight I got today when I repeated a line my own Mother had used many times during her own various health conditions: “I am the captain of my own ship.”

The speech therapist today wisely suggested: “Yes, indeed you are the captain of your ship, but if you get a hole in the ship, you have to know it.”

The neuropsychologist here agreed with the metaphor, but said: “It’s not so much that there is a hole in the ship, but to be executing all the necessary commands to execute the ship of self, one has to be mindful of all-- the state of the ship, its current state and condition and signals and all the surround
mindfulness of self, body and environment

Good advice for sure. And I share it with all of you.

She and I are creating a therapy for stroke survivors and other survivors of life.

Relax, Rest, Restore, Rejoice, and Respect everything about self (including body)—an “R” offered by one of the physical therapists here.

For me, I will always respect spirit and meaning and you, all, will always be a big part of my spirit and have much meaning for me.

God bless each and everyone of you and thank you for your contribution to my life’s pilgrimage.

Sincerely,

Karita Miraglia Hummer
June 28, 2008

"Addressing 'the Appalachian Problem' with Policy Hotlist" by BruceMcF wins Karita Hummer's Golden Pen Award

Winner of Karita Hummer's Golden Pen Award



Addressing 'the Appalachian Problem' with Policy Hotlist
by BruceMcF [Subscribe]

Cross-posted from Daily Kos, Mon May 26, 2008 at 12:18:04 PM PDT

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/26/125859/122/712/523053

As the Long, Flat, Bataan-Death-March to the Nomination winds down, it is perhaps natural for those deeply immersed in the day to day of the campaign to get caught up in identity-politics that it has descended into.

However, Senator Obama has an Appalachia problem, and the most promising way to overcome his Appalachia problem is not with identity politics, but with policy politics.

So, in this diary, three policy planks to stress when running in Western North Carolina, Western Ol' Virginia, West Virginia, Northeastern Kentucky and ... oh, yes ... western Pennsylvania and southeastern Ohio.

Do not ever entirely forget Southeastern Ohio ... its one reason why Ohio and Kentucky have swung together every since I've been alive (that is, ever since 1960).

* BruceMcF's diary :: ::
*

What is the Appalachia Problem more specifically?

The Appalachia problem is not about winning or losing the General Election as such. From where he stands now, Senator Obama is on track to winning the General Election, without requiring either the Shenandoah or Upper Ohio River Valleys at all.

And after all, historically, while the Republicans have never, ever, won the White House without carrying Ohio, the Democrats have done that. Since the Democratic party started running a single Presidential candidate in 1828, Ohio voted against a winning Democratic candidate:

* for the Whig in 1836 against Martin van Buren;

* for the Whig in 1844 against James Polk;
* for the Republican in 1856 against James Buchanan;
* for the Republican in 1884 against Grover Cleveland;
* for the Republican in 1892 against Grover Cleveland;
* for the Republican in 1944 against FDR; and
* for the Republican in 1960 against JFK.

... or, IOW, as a Republican-leaning large swing state, losing Ohio has always meant losing the election for the Republican, but not always for the Democrat.

However, for a Democratic President, not winning Ohio has often meant a narrow win rather than a big win.

And that's what the "Appalachia Problem" is ... the challenge of wracking up a large enough win that Beltway Insiders see standing up to the Preisdent early on as a politically risky thing to do.

And y'all know what particular Beltway Insiders I am referring to here ... those so-called "Blue Dogs", heavily rumored to be Democrats, though evidence to that effect is sometimes a bit hard to scratch up.

Change the media refrain on "white, blue collar voters", meaning in reality with reference to primary results to date, white, not-college-educated residents of Appalachia and its surrounding foothills, and all of a sudden someone facing a House re-election in 2010 that wants to make things hard on President Obama has to think about the risk of a "I stand behind the President 100%" primary challenger, just as foot draggers in 1932 had to worry about the risk of being primaried by a New Dealer in 1934.

So that's what this is about ... gaining a governing majority. And, looking at today's electoral map, Senator Obama only has to whittle down Senator McCane's margin in Appalachia, and he'll have what will look like, in the immediate aftermath of the general election, a governing majority.


The Forgotten Policy Dimension

Ever since Senators Obama and Clinton adopted moderately watered down versions of Senator Edwards policy platform, there has only been modest policy differences to be able to point to. Hence the descent into the poisonous politics of group identity ... and, as Senator Webb points out, when the Democratic Party looks to be pursuing the politics of identity, the "economic Democrats" of the Shenandoah and Upper Ohio River Valleys quite rightly conclude that they are going to be left with the crumbs that fall from the table, at the very best.

Now, maybe there is some brilliant political messaging strategy that can turn this on its head. But if there is, that'll be a diary for some brilliant political messaging person.

And maybe there is some brilliant field organizing and tactical ground game that can turn this on its head. But if there is, that'll be a diary for some brilliant political field person.

Now, while I certainly am no brilliant policy person, an advantage of addressing the Appalachian Problem with policy is that it does not require brilliance. Stick to the basics, look for common regional and community interests that are in the greater national interest, and promote them.

The thing is, on the policy front, Senator Obama has a wide open field to run in (as Senator Clinton would have had, were she on track to be the nominee). The Republican Party has been running for decades to gain power to put policies in place that, on their own account, would never attract a majority. So running against the Republican policies, by advancing real solutions to real problems, is not rocket science.


Policy One: Bio-coal

I got three ... well, I got four, but I've already written the fourth one up so many times that I'm having trouble getting a fresh take on it, so I'll just be writing up three ...

... feel free to add more in the comments.

First, bio-coal. There was a time that rural Appalachia relied heavily on sustainable permaculture. You could raise about a much pork on an acre of Sweet Chestnut as you could on an acre of corn ... and the acre did not have to be flat, and the pigs did the harvesting for you. But then came the blight, and that knocked the legs out from under that agricultural system.

But for bio-coal, there is no need to rely on any one variety of tree, so there is no need to open ourselves up to the dangers of monoculture. In particular, while most wood-coppice system have relied on a single variety for the source of the coppice and another for the long-harvest-cycle standards, its perfectly possible to have a mix of tree species in a coppice stand, keeping the rotation cycle at the frequency required by the slower growing species in the stand.

Turning coppiced wood into bio-coal is a far more labor intensive enterprise than mining coal, and the labor is located in the local area of the stand of coppice. A dollar's worth of bio-coal will bring far more employment into an Appalachian county than a dollar's worth of mineral coal ever did.

And Senator Obama has enough leeway in his existing Energy Policy that he can just announce a focus on bio-coal without requiring any big new policy roll-out. That is, he can say, "John McCain is offering the country four more years of sound-bite, sound-good, do-little Energy Policy. Last year, I set forth a real Energy Policy with real Energy Solutions. Let me give you an example of a real Energy Solution that is going to be offering new jobs in Green Energy Industries right here in {Eastern-KY / WV / Southeastern-OH / Western-PA / Western-VA / Western-NC} ... bio-coal. A dollar's worth of bio-coal, raised sustainably by harvesting wood down to its rootstock and then allowing it to regrow, will create far more employment than a dollar's worth of mineral coal ever did."

"This is something we could have been doing for the last eight years ... but the Bush administration was more interested in social division at home and an incompetent invasion of the wrong enemy at the wrong time abroad. And if you elect John McCain, that is exactly what he will deliver ... four more years of social division and misguided foreign policy, and four more years of empty talk about Energy Independence while the big oil and coal companies rake in record profits."


Policy Two: Modular Pumped Hydro

Opportunities for sustainable bio-coal production is not the only big opportunities for Green Collar jobs in Appalachia. Some of our biggest potential sources of sustainable Green Electricity are things like wind and concentrated thermal solar and supplementing big hydro dams with run-of-the-river hydro. And these are volatile energy sources.

Indeed, that is one of the strategic benefits of bio-coal ... it is a readily stored, readily transported, non-volatile energy source. However, until we have developed and rolled out a system of Direct Carbon Fuel Cell power plants, we will be using thermal plants to convert bio-coal to electricity ... and any thermal plant has an extended start-up cycle that it has to go through.

The most energy efficient existing technology for quick-start energy storage on the day-to-week-to-month time scale is pumped hydro ... basically running a hydro generator as a motor to pump water uphill, to store energy, then reversing the cycle and allowing the water to drive the generator to retrieve the energy.

Traditional hydro, of course, has any number of potential environmental problems. Further, each traditional hydro plant is tailored to its particular site, reducing opportunities for scale economies.

And that is where modular pumped storage hydro comes in. Modular pumped storage hydro pumps the water back and forth between holding tanks ... IOW, one holding tank down in the hollow, and one up near the ridge. That means that it can use a standardized set-up, with everything except the holding tanks and pipe between them produced assembly-line fashion.

What you need as a resource for modular pumped storage hydro is ... well, an elevation. A 100m (330ft) elevation is considered a minimum, but the steeper, the more energy is stored for the same investment in material ... an 800 foot elevation is good.

Now, look at a map. One part of the US that will definitely be importing renewable sustainable electricity from inland is the Northeast Corridor, between Washington DC and Boston.

The lowest line losses will come from putting the energy storage between the net sustainable energy exporting states and the net sustainable energy importing states ... and the best efficiency comes from placing the energy storage in areas with plenty of steep hills to work with.

Notice that there does not have to be any special favors to Appalachia to establish this industry in Appalachia. Appalachia has the two basic resources required:

* Location Plus Elevation

All that Appalachia needs to get this industry started is An Administration that is serious about Doing Something about Green Collar Jobs, instead of just Talking about it.


Policy Three: Rural Broadband

Since the 1930's ... heck, since the 1830's ... the Democratic Party has been serious about supporting free enterprise in rural areas. Rural electrification opened the way for new businesses to establish in rural areas that were previously restricted to urban areas. Regulation requiring rural telephone service is another big example.

Today, the best way that a business has to break through barriers of distance from suppliers and customers is to rely on the internet. However, increasingly, this means relying on broadband access to the internet. And far too many rural areas are blocked from broadband access.

With modern developments in wireless networks, it is possible to roll out a nationwide wireless broadband system, which will support the development of new businesses ... big and small ... in rural areas across the country.

This is, of course, just adopting one of Edwards key rural development planks, and packaging it up for the Battle for Appalachia.

And, of course, it could be portrayed as a "welfare" or "rural support" program ... but Senator Obama will get a lot more benefit from it in the Shenandoah and Upper Ohio River Valleys if he follows Edward's lead and portrays it as a pro-rural-business, pro-jobs policy.


Building a New Coalition for a New Age

These are, of course, only three policies ... I've got more of my own, and of course there's a lot of nuggets still to be mined from Edwards's policy platform.

More important than these three specific policies is the approach of using policy that can be clearly (and, given a financial advantage over McCain, repeatedly) portrayed as in the national interest, and in the interest of the working people of the Shenandoah and Upper Ohio River Valleys.

And ... and this is a key element of the strategy ... policies where the people that Senator Obama is appealing to in the Battle for Appalachia can see for themselves where they fit in a new governing coalition. Not, "I'll look out for ways to swing jobs your way because I identify with you" ... but the far firmer promise of, "My policies are going to swing jobs your way because they are going to create industries that will want to set up shop in your region".

Anyway, that's a sketch of the idea, I thought I'd share it.

Midnight Oil - Blue Sky Mine
But if I work all day at the blue sky mine
(there’ll be food on the table tonight)
Still I walk up and down on the blue sky mine
(there’ll be pay in your pocket tonight)

And some have sailed from a distant shore
And the company takes what the company wants
And nothing’s as precious, as a hole in the ground

Who’s gonna save me?
I pray that sense and reason brings us in
Who’s gonna save me?
We’ve got nothing to fear

Why working down ticket, at every level, is important to taking back our Country.

Richard Hobbs for Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors

A Candidate who thinks globally and acts locally!

A Candidate for now and the future. For innovation in meeting the common good! A prototype candidate for down ticket, for a very strong Democratic Party in to the future.


by: Karita Hummer
Sat May 17, 2008 at 03:08:52 AM EDT

Cross-posted from:

http://www.eenrblog.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1428

I am working on behalf of Richard Hobbs, candidate for Santa Clara County Supervisor, because he represents the kind of leadership in local government that will help us build the kind of infrastructure we need in the Democratic Party to really turn our country around.

I just came from a successful art fundraiser for Richard Hobbs here in San Jose in which artists donated art work that was auctioned off so that proceeds could go in to the campaign of Richard Hobbs. Richard Hobbs is a local candidate that is very reminiscent of John Edwards himself. An attorney, a populist whose passion is economic justice and opportunity, a human rights advocate, concerned with the quality of life here in our own valley and everywhere, an environmental steward, and someone utterly committed to transparency in government so that the common good and interest is always protected, he is truly a community activist that thinks globally and acts locally, and will be the kind of leader we not only need now, but will be valuable for us for a long time to come as a leader with a great future.

At the Art fundraiser event tonight for Richard, I met a person from the local school board. When I told her how active I had been in the Edwards campaign, and how I now saw my effort on behalf of Richard Hobbs as actually a seemless effort, she quite agreed. She pointed out that the Republicans had known how to do this building at the local level for years and had set about building such infrastructure at every level of government and governance from the 70's on.
Karita Hummer :: Why working down ticket, at every level, is important to taking back our Country.
I invite you to take a look at Richard Hobbs web-site and see if you don't agree that he is really a prototype of the kind of leader we need to be developing now, so we can really hope for a future that addresses the common good throughout the land. See if you don't agree that he is exactly the kind of new blood we need among leaders in government to restore our principles, values and dignity and justice for all people. Visit:

http://www.hobbsforsupervisor....

One other tip for local fundraising for local campaigns. The Art fundraiser combines politics and art very well. Artists donate quality work as a contribution to the candidate and donors have the benefit of supporting their candidate and getting a lovely painting to grace their home as well, a talking point for friends and family. Further, with an art piece in one's home, that was a donation to such a worthy candidate, it remains a tangible reflection of how you chose to support a candidate whose values are in such synchrony with your own. The painting becomes a tangible reminder of what civic engagement means to you.

For more information on Richard Hobbs, go to:

http://www.hobbsforsupervisor....

Karita Hummer
Edwards Democrat

Could Edwards be dreaming of a Unity Ticket and a Unity Cabinet?

Cross-posted from EENR Blog

http://www.eenrblog.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1401

Thu May 15, 2008 at 00:57:24 AM EDT
[edit diary]
When someone suggested that John Edwards should be the Vice Presidential candidate - after his endorsement of Obama today, I gave the following response:

You are right on the mark, ..... That would be a good ticket, but I think Edwards is not that interested in that position. Why?, because I think he thinks Hillary should have it - for Unity sake - and that he should be in the Cabinet as Poverty Czar or Secretary of State. It IS time to think Unity - big way!!! Obama and Hillary have divided the Party and it needs to come together as a whole. We Edwards supporters have been a lot smarter and a lot more focused on the issues, as has John Edwards, himself. We get the big picture and we know most importantly the Democrats need to win in the Fall, with the best, most progressive candidate possible.

And if Hillary is not interested, then maybe Edwards can be persuaded to take the VP position, for the sake of the Party and the Country. Please don't think that I think Hillary in any way is the better choice for VP. I do not, and I do not think Obama is the better choice for President, over John Edwards, that is. But like John Edwards, I am now thinking about who can and how we can win. I think John Edwards is in a strong position to call some shots now and have some influence, the way he sees it. I like the position he is in. Good for him and good for us!! He gets it and we get it!!

Karita Hummer
Edwards Democrat

An Edwards Democrat is a Democrat with Backbone

Bitterness, you say? How about a Unity Ticket and Cabinet to solve America's biggest problems.

John Edwards knew the way to One America. Would either of the remaining candidates please consult him?


by Karita Hummer

Cross-posted from: EENR Blog

http://www.eenrblog.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=922

Sun Apr 13, 2008 at 16:59:17 PM EDT
[edit diary]
The more I think of the conversation about Obama "bitterness" statements, about economically deprived Americans from small towns that have been forgotten, the more "bitter" I feel about my fellow Democrats, and the remaining Candidates included.

And, yes, Barack Obama, I did grow up in Pennsylvania, Western Pennsylvania, on the edge of Appalachia. I worked for Bobby Kennedy in 1968, indeed, helped draft him, and I worked for John Edwards, exactly for the same reason. Because they cared and realized about the economic problems of Western Pennsylvania, the Rust Belt, and Rural and Urban American small towns all over America, West, East, North, and South (as in New Orleans), and they didn't need to go on a campaign trail to discover it. No, they went on the campaign trail to solve it and to reach out to the people, with utter respect and empathy.
Karita Hummer :: Bitterness, you say? How about a Unity Ticket and Cabinet to solve America's biggest problems.
Like John Edwards, I have been dismayed that Democrats have not had the backbone to solve poverty and economic woes in America, because largely both parties are too beholden to mega-corporations. Think of it, Richardson, now an erstwhile supporter of Barack Obama, chided Edwards for fomenting class warfare! Class warfare, you say, Richardson!! No, John Edwards truly empathized with the economically disadvantaged of our country, and came up with the programs to solve their problems. He knew the Democratic Party, the Party, folks, needs as much transformation as does the Country, and he was ready to deliver it. Now, Obama is making some discoveries about the conditions of economically disadvantaged Americans. Better late than never, I say, but give some credit, where credit is due, and maybe we can all join in the solution.

How about a Unity Ticket, calling it a Unity Cabinet Ticket, that includes all the candidates who worked so hard in this last campaign, two candidates at the top and identified cabinet candidates, as well. A real ticket that would include Obama, Clinton, Edwards, Biden, Dodd, Kucinich, Gravel, and yes, Richardson, too. And even Gore and Kerry, two winners of the two past elections, called as "lost". A place for everyone in the administration. Each has something to contribute, and each brings an important perspective. Give credit where credit is due, and maybe, just maybe, we can win and start solving the problems in America.

Let me see, it has been since 1968, that I have been waiting. That's too long and I am getting too old for this Western Pennsylvania born American!

Karita Hummer
Edwards Democrat

I call an Edwards Democrat, a Democrat with backbone.

Down ticket all the way down, building the Progressive Movement (and the Democratic Party) from the ground up!!

Cross-posted from two sites:
EENR Blog and Hobbs Community

http://www.eenrblog.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=751

http://hobbscommunity.ning.com/

Down ticket, way down, building the Progressive Movement (and Democratic Party) from ground up! (+)
by: Karita Hummer
Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 13:49:58 PM EDT
[edit diary]
Down ticket all the way down, building the Progressive Movement (and the Democratic Party) from the ground up!!

Today, is a quite lovely day in San Jose, CA, and I am preparing a fundraiser for one of the best down ticket candidates one could find, for Santa Clara County Supervisor, Richard Hobbs..

Now, Santa Clara County is known world-wide for the Silicon Chip and all that has gone with it. (Sadly, forgotten are the old orchards that made it the Garden of Heart's Delight some years ago.) What is not known maybe as widely is that we have lots of poverty here, too, many, many in the working poor (right alongside and in the shadow of the Silicon Valley giants) as well as discrimination, high rates of incarceration, pollution, and too much civic disengagement as well, because of how busy people are here running around in this valley industry, where the working poor hold two jobs (to the detriment of their children) and the working affluent work 60 - 70 hours + (to the detriment of their children.)

Now, here comes Richard Hobbs, running because of his strong advocacy for the working poor, for human rights and justice in all matters, the celebration and protection of diversity, for clean campaign money and transparency, for cleaning up our environment and for being a voice for peace in the world, from a County pulpit. In other words, Richard is for the common good. (Sound familiar, Edwards Democrats?)

It is imperative to get Richard Hobbs elected as County Supervisor in Santa Clara County, and all the other Richard Hobbs running for local offices, and on up the ticket. That is the way to build our progressive movement and to take our government back for the common good. Therefore, I encourage all Edwards Democrats, to look around at what (true) progressives might be running for City Council or County Supervisor or even County Party Councils and give them a boost by helping their campaigns. Thus, will we begin to take back our Party, and our Country. Think globally, act locally, and eventually, I believe we will prevail.
Karita Hummer :: Down ticket, way down, building the Progressive Movement (and Democratic Party) from ground up!

http://api.ning.com/files/JjPnuAgyZvXTohC*Glt-47WU7MnGgiG4HotVSmAgXFhprqkV99bk8aZg-9tLqQ9IdyBT913huZvCY*L5j9ayS9yFTRgJMbik/hobbs_logo.jpg?width=595&height=217&xn_auth=no&type=jpeg

Here is a recent Press Release from Richard Hobbs campaign:

Cesar Chavez Post-Holiday Alert:

Dolores Huerta, United Farmworkers Co-Founder
Endorses Richard Hobbs for County Supervisor

Community Leaders Follow Suit; Hobbs Leads in Finances

(April 1, 2008 -- San Jose, CA) - Richard Hobbs, a San Jose/Evergreen Community College Board Trustee running for the Board of Supervisors of Santa Clara County, announced today that legendary UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta has endorsed his candidacy.

Hobbs has met several times with the recipient of the United States Presidential Eleanor D. Roosevelt Human Rights Award and has championed the rights of farm workers, the working poor, women, minorities, immigrants and all residents of Santa Clara County for several decades.

He is the Director of the Office of Human Relations of Santa Clara County, replacing the late Jim McEntee who also supported farm workers and marginalized communities.

Hobbs Scores Community Support
Just as Mr. Hobbs is not new to community advocacy, grassroots community leaders are lining up to support him. These include community advocates in the spirit of Dolores Huerta like Jaime Alvarado, Sal Alvarez, Barry del Buono, Chava Bustamante, Martha Campos, Hon. Laura Casas-Frier, Tak Chang, Rosylin Dean, Marta Donayre, Akemi Flynn, Hon. Paul Fong, Hon. Jorge Gonzalez, Hon. Autumn Gutierrez, Amanda Hawes, Sam Ho, Raj Jayadev, Lisa Jensen, Dennis King, Richard Konda, Father Bill Leininger, Terry MCaffrey, Randy Okamura, Rosa Perez, Jim Potterton, Ted Smith, Emy Thurber, Terrry Trumbull, and Andrea Villasenor-Perry.

States Ted Smith, Founder of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition: "I've known Richard for more than 25 years and he is one of the most passionate, honest, and dedicated advocates for justice that I know. It is rare that someone of his integrity and guts agrees to run for office. We need to support him so that we don't miss this rare opportunity to elect a community activist who will make a terrific Supervisor."

Hobbs Leads in Fundraising
According to the latest finance reports filed last week, Hobbs leads District Two challengers in available funds by a nearly two to one margin. Hobbs is respected for his decades of community involvement, honest leadership and cultural sensitivity. Election Day in June 3, 2008.