Eric Griego's NM-01 Campaign Gets Support From Blue America; Live Blog Saturday

Blue America PAC, organized in 2006 by national progressive bloggers Digby of Hullabaloo, John of Crooks and Liars and Howie of Down With Tyranny!, has announced it has endorsed Eric Griego for Congress in the NM-01 Democratic primary race. Here at the Democracy for New Mexico blog, we couldn't be more pleased.

As most of our readers know, Eric Griego has been an outspoken and passionate advocate for working people, the environment, unions, ethics reform, public funding for campaigns, green energy, smart growth planning, and civil rights and social justice for all since he served on the Albuquerque City Council from 2001-2005 and ran for mayor in 2005, coming in second in a four-way race to unseat incumbent Mayor Marty Chavez. And he's been a strong champion for those same progressive Democratic values since he was elected to serve as a State Senator in 2008. Now we need his voice in Congress, serving New Mexico's First Congressional District -- and the folks at Blue America are lending a helping hand.

Tomorrow, Saturday, May 14, at Noon MDT, Blue America will be holding a live blog session with Eric at Crooks and Liars. We hope our readers will participate and chip in some bucks for Eric's campaign, as well. In an email to supporters, Blue America explained:

Tomorrow our newest candidate for Congress, New Mexico state Senator Eric Griego, is joining us for a live blog session at 11am (PT) at Crooks and Liars. Eric, who is also Executive Director of New Mexico Voices for Children, a non-profit research, policy and advocacy organization that fights for the state’s vulnerable children and working families, announced his campaign a couple of weeks ago with a statement that should resonate with everyone who has ever been interested in anything Blue America has ever done:

“We need a Democratic Congressional candidate who will unapologetically stand up for Democratic values. The current Republican leadership in Congress wants to dismantle the protections that it has taken generations to build, like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. We need a strong courageous advocate for working families and who has a record of taking on those who put the interests of the richest two percent of Americans and the largest corporate interests ahead of our children, our environment and our local businesses.”

That pretty much sums up just who Eric Griego is. The Albuquerque chapter of DFA first described him to us as "a hard-nosed progressive fighter for families, children and workers who's ready, willing and able to take on the right wing attacks on education, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid." That's the picture his record in public service paints. The first thing I ever heard him say was "The last thing we need to send to Washington is a Democrat who's a kinder, gentler version of the Republicans."

Will you help us send Eric Griego to Congress with a contribution now?

Eric led efforts at the state level to do what our kind of Democrats are trying to do at the national level-- "Before cutting core spending on kids, seniors and working families," he told me passionately, "we should ask big oil and other corporate tax evaders to pay their fair share. We should also repeal the Bush tax cuts for those earning more than $250,000 a year. For the Republicans to defend subsidies for big oil is indefensible given their outrageous profits. To say taxes on the richest CEOs and multinational corporations are 'off the table' is outrageous when at the same time the Republican leadership is willing to ration Medicare, Medicaid and limit Social Security."

The GOP has an off-the-rails religious fanatic running for the seat and the DCCC seems determined to recruit a corporate-oriented shill. Blue America is very proud to endorse Eric and we hope you'll join us in getting his campaign started.

In 2005 Eric was behind the successful Albuquerque initiative to provide voluntary public financing for local elections. "We are now one of the few cities in the nation with public financing of local elections... In my first year in the Senate, I passed a green jobs bill that provides state-funded training for solar, wind and other renewable energy workers. That year [2008] and in 2011, I sponsored comprehensive ethics and campaign finance reform legislation including public financing for all state elections, contribution limits, and a state ethics commission. The ethics and campaign finance bills never got heard due to opposition from Senate leadership."

Eric's a fighter. Help us put him to work fighting in Washington.

Thanks for doing what you can,
Digby, John, Howie and the Blue America team
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