Pelosi: Three Women For Change
"Letter to Editor"08/31/2006
Dear Editor,
Today I’m honored to announce the winners of the DCCC’s “Candidate for Change” contest. The online DCCC community has come together to choose three proud Democratic candidates running winning campaigns in historically Republican districts, each with an amazing story to tell.
Tens of thousands of activists across the country voted in our “Candidate for Change” contest, and there were three candidates that came out as the clear winners.
The winners are three great women out of a wave of Democratic women on the ballot this November: community leader Mary Jo Kilroy, Iraq War hero Tammy Duckworth, and national child advocate Patty Wetterling. These are the next generation of leaders in Congress who can bring fresh ideas, new energy and a new direction to America.
Give a direct secure contribution to these courageous women today!
Mary Jo Kilroy—Republican Seat, Ohio’s 15th Congressional District
DCCC Chairman Rahm Emanuel was in Ohio campaigning with Mary Jo Kilroy on Tuesday, and they couldn’t resist telling the press the great news that all of you had chosen Mary Jo Kilroy as one of your “Candidates for Change.” For Democrats to win control of the House in 2006, we must win seats like Ohio’s fifteenth district. The Ohio Republican Party has begun to collapse in a swamp of corruption and criminality, from the convicted Governor to Congressman Bob Ney’s ties with crooked lobbyist Jack Abramoff. We all knew that Ohio would be a central battleground in the fight for control of Congress—but few thought Deborah Pryce, the fourth most powerful Republican in the House, would be in danger of losing her seat.
But now Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy is giving Pryce the race of her life. Mary Jo is known for her strong leadership on critical issues for working families. In her community she’s shown what government looks like when it is in touch with the people it’s supposed to serve. She’s fought for affordable healthcare and housing, made sure contractors pay decent wages and give healthcare to their employees, and instituted strict penalties for those who bring weapons into schools.
Mary Jo Kilroy is neck-and-neck with Pryce in the polls. Pryce is even worse than the typical rubber stamp for President Bush and his misguided agenda, having spearheaded the Republican push to privatize Social Security. She has voted for all of the most unconscionable Republican handouts to the wealthy and has blindly supported the Republicans’ “Stay the Course” policy in Iraq.
We need to make sure Mary Jo has enough resources to continue her campaign as a proud progressive and to fight back against Republican attacks mounting right this minute.
Give a direct secure contribution to Mary Jo Kilroy today!
Tammy Duckworth—Open Seat, Illinois’ 6th Congressional District
An Iraq war veteran, who lost her legs when her Black Hawk helicopter was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade, Major Tammy Duckworth launched her candidacy with the encouragement of family and friends just days after being released from Walter Reed Army Medical Center. A graduate of the University of Hawaii and George Washington University, Duckworth was working on her doctorate in political science and public health when she was deployed to Iraq in 2004. Prior to her service in Iraq, Duckworth served as Staff Supervisor for the Rotary Club Int., establishing community service projects in the developing world.
Tammy probably said it best herself: “As a Soldier, I fought for my country. And I’m running for Congress to fight for my country, too, because I think we need to change course. The Bush Administration has led this country in the wrong direction. My opponent is a well-connected Republican legislator and career politician who would rubber stamp the Bush Administration policies if elected and defend the status quo in Washington. I believe we can do better.”
She went on: “We need to face up to our tough challenges when it comes to reducing our dependence on foreign oil, creating jobs, providing a quality education for our kids and making affordable healthcare accessible to all. And when it comes to making decisions about sending our young people to war, we need strong voices in Congress who understand the consequences of those decisions. I’m ready to go to Washington to provide new leadership and face up to the tough choices that confront us.”
Tammy’s inspiring optimism could not be in sharper contrast with her Republican opponent, Peter Roskam. A former aide to Tom DeLay, he has surely been trained in the art of pay-for-play politics, and has been a leader for the extreme right in the fight to squelch stem cell research. One way or another, the representative holding this seat will have a big impact on the next Congress, it’s just a matter of which voice it will be.
Give a direct secure contribution to Tammy Duckworth today!
Patty Wetterling—Open Seat, Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District
The people of Minnesota got to know Patty Wetterling as a candidate in 2004, when she ran a tough campaign against entrenched Republican Mark Kennedy. Now Kennedy has moved on to a struggling campaign for Senate, and Wetterling has stepped in as a progressive leader who is taking on one of the most extreme right-wing candidates the Republicans have to offer, Michele Bachmann.
Like Tammy Duckworth, Patty Wetterling’s life is one where tragedy does not lead to despair, but to hope and to leadership. In 1989, her son Jacob was abducted and was never found. This horrific experience led Patty Wetterling to dedicate her life to working on behalf of missing and exploited children. She worked as a private citizen to rally support and get laws passed protecting children—from the local to the federal level, from Megan’s Law to the Amber Alert system in Minnesota. She launched a foundation to honor her son and protect countless other children from the same fate. For all of this, the Minneapolis Star Tribune named her one of the “100 Most Influential Minnesotans of the Century.” Now she’s ready to fight for families, from protecting children to affordable healthcare, on the national stage in Congress.
Bachmann, on the other hand, postures as a “family values” Republican, even though her record on protecting children and families is nothing short of shocking. As a Republican state legislator, she voted against extending the statue of limitations on civil cases involving sexual predators, against making it easier to investigate child abuse cases, and has opposed everything from subsidizing low-income healthcare for children to adequate funding for school lunches and special education. Bachmann is an ally of Karl Rove and has a record riddled with callous positions and statements—like the suggestion of eliminating the minimum wage as an answer to unemployment. It’s clear that Bachmann’s extreme views do not belong in Congress.
Give a direct secure contribution to Patty Wetterling today!
Today I’m asking you to give these candidates the resources to win, and I have no doubt they will win with your help. But they will need the resources to fight off the attacks from Republicans and their special interests backers.
You’ve helped them already by voting for them as our “Candidates for Change,” now please give them the support they need to win in November.
Sincerely,
Nancy Pelosi
House Democratic Leader