Democracy for New Mexico

Lupe Valdez: Democrat, Hispanic, Female, Openly Gay and Sheriff of Dallas County

We were incredibly impressed with Sheriff Lupe Valdez, who was a speaker at several events held during DemocracyFest, the DFA-related event hosted by Democracy for Texas that we attended in Austin last month.

She's interviewed in the summer issue of Equality, the magazine of the Human Rights Campaign. This link has excerpts, but the entire interview is well worth a read. You can get a copy by joining HRC.

Lupe is a Democrat and the first Hispanic to serve as Sheriff in Dallas County. Also the first woman. And undoubtedly the first lesbian. How did Sheriff Valdez win in DALLAS County, TX of all places? By going directly to the people, looking them in the eyes and convincing them she was for THEM instead of the special interests of monied contributors. That she had integrity. That she would change the scandal-ridden, business as usual, good ol' boy network that was in control of the post for several decades. She reached out to people who hadn't been approached for their votes in decades. She brought thousands of people back into the process and reaped the benefits of their votes. How refreshing. And successful.

Here's a profile of Sheriff Valdez from the Washington Post. My favorite quote:

"What have we come to when we can't say 'elected official' in the same sentence as 'interest of the people' or 'honesty' or 'trust'?" Valdez asked.

Roberts' Disturbing Record

People for the American Way has issued a Preliminary Report on the Record of John Roberts, Jr., Bush's new Supreme Court nominee. Meanwhile, Salon offers the John Roberts Dossier and The American Prospect has Meet John Roberts, which includes a nugget on Roberts' wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, who "served for a time as an executive of the cleverly named group Feminists for Life," an anti-choice group that targets college-age women.

In the I Don't Know if This is Really True Category: the Swift Report reveals that Judge Roberts is the brother of movie star Julia Roberts. A Santa Fe connection!

Bum's Rush

Is anyone surprised that Bush has suddenly decided to rush into releasing a pick for the Supreme Court? On prime time TV to boot? No, I didn't think so.

With the horrors of Rove and Iraq dominating the headlines and airwaves and BushCo stonewalling nonstop in a Nixonian panic attack, suddenly it behooves Bush to toss another bone to the media lickety-split. Of course he and Rove want the media and public to take their eyes off the crimes and get caught up in Supreme Court nominee politics and ignore the rest.

While it's critical to focus on how we can get the best out of Bush on his Court pick, it's also important to keep the Rove story going. Here's one suggestion on how to do that.

By the way, Bush's pick just came over the wires. It's federal appeals court judge John G. Roberts Jr. (see photo below), described in the article as having

... taken positions in cases involving free speech and religious liberty that endanger those rights. Abortion rights groups allege that Roberts is hostile to women's reproductive freedom and cite a brief he co-wrote in 1990 that suggested the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 high court decision that legalized abortion.

Apparently, we're in for a fight.

Scandal

RoveGate: A story that's finally reached SCANDAL level, on a TV screen near you!

UPDATE: According to an AP article:

Senate Democrats moved forcefully into the controversy surrounding White House aide Karl Rove on Thursday, calling for legislation to deny security clearances to officials who disclose the identity of an undercover agent."

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., sought to attach the proposal to a spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security, and aides said he hoped for a vote by day's end.

Also:

Reid and three other Senate Democratic leaders - Charles Schumer of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan - sent a letter to Andrew Card, the White House chief of staff, asking him to release results of an initial internal investigation into the leak.

Score One for the People

It isn't often that we get good news these days, but when I read that Bernard Ebbers, former CEO of WorldCom and world-class crook, had been sentenced to 25 years in prison, it was a welcome bit of news.

Excerpt from a CNN article:

Ebbers gets 25 years
Former WorldCom chief, 63 years-old, could spend the rest of his life in prison. 

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Ex-WorldCom chief executive Bernard Ebbers was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison for his role in orchestrating the biggest corporate fraud in the nation's history.

Legal experts said the sentence is the largest ever against a top executive convicted of committing corporate crimes.

Ebbers was convicted in March for his part in the $11 billion accounting fraud at WorldCom that was the biggest in a wave of corporate scandals at Enron, Adelphia and other companies.

WorldCom, now known as MCI, filed the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history in 2002. The company's collapse cost shareholders and employees billions of dollars in losses.

Of course this development would have been even more powerful IF the U.S. Congress had decided that irresponsible and fraudulent corporate bankruptcies needed to be stopped at least as much as personal bankruptcies caused by divorce, illness or just plain bad luck in the job market. As it stands, the bankruptcy bill they passed this year hones in only on individuals, leaving corporate bankruptcies free and clear from additional regulation.

Still, it's always heartening to see arrogant crooks like this guy get their comeuppance, at least in some small way. I imagine Ebbers will be placed in the most comfortable federal pen that can be found, but at least there'll be no more telecom cowboy pleasures for this guy. Score one for the people. Now, when will justice visit Enron's Ken Lay?

Here's the Wikipedia profile on Ebbers.

The Supreme Court: Guide for Activists

Moving Ideas has a useful Guide for Activists with many actions you can take regarding the coming fight against right-wing ideologue appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court.

While you're there, check out their area on what's wrong with CAFTA.

London Blasts

Horrible news out of London today, but at least there's reassuring news from our favorite Democrat abroad in England, Kathy F.

Conyers to Rove: Explain Plame Role or Resign

Raw Story has a copy of letter being circulated to other House Democrats for signature today by Rep. John Conyers:

Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, calls on Bush adviser Karl Rove to explain his role in the outing of a CIA agent or resign his office.

"We write in order to urge that you require your Deputy White House Chief of Staff, Karl Rove, to either come forward immediately to explain his role in the Valerie Plame matter or to resign from your Administration," the veteran Democrat writes. "High-ranking members of your Administration who are involved in any effort to smear a private citizen or to disseminate information regarding a CIA operative should be expected to meet a far higher standard of ethical behavior and forthrightness."

Tick, tick, tick. So what do you think the odds are that Karl Rove goes to jail?

Bingaman Now Supports CAFTA After Securing Labor and Farm Commitments

FYI: The Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) just passed the Senate Finance Committee on a voice vote. Senator Bingaman's office issued this release to explain why he now supports the agreement. CAFTA is expected to pass the Senate, but faces stronger opposition in the House.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, June 29, 2005

BINGAMAN NEGOTIATES STRONG LABOR RIGHTS COMMITMENTS IN CAFTA AGREEMENT

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today announced his support for a trade agreement with Central American countries, but only after securing commitments from the Bush administration related to worker protections and subsistence farmers who will be affected by the agreement.

Bingaman believes the agreement now will be an advantage to New Mexico, as it is geographically and economically positioned to benefit from an increase in two-way trade

However, two weeks ago, Bingaman voted against the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) because it did not do enough to protect the rights of workers in Central American countries and because it did not provide enough assistance to subsistence farmers in the poorest of the countries covered by the agreement. 

For the past two weeks, Bingaman negotiated with Ambassador Rob Portman, the U.S. trade representative, to secure commitments from the Bush administration.  First, at Bingaman’s urging the administration agreed to set aside $40 million in each of the next four years for labor and environmental “capacity building.”  Capacity building refers to assistance given to countries designed to strengthen processes and institutions to implement commitments made in trade agreements, in this case monitoring and enforcing CAFTA country commitments to core labor standards, such as child labor, the right to organize, and the right to bargain collectively. 

Bingaman also got a commitment that $3 million would be set aside annually for legitimate, independent third party institution, the International Labor Organization, to monitor and report every six months on progress and problems with worker rights.

Second, Bingaman secured a commitment of $30 million per year for four years to help subsistence farmers in Guatemala, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic, to transition to commercially-viable crops and mitigate the possibility of increased illegal immigration to the United States. 

“Even without improved labor protections and assistance to help subsistence farmers in CAFTA countries to transition to new crops, this bill had enough support in the Senate to pass without my vote.  I worked very hard with the Bush administration to address those serious concerns, and as a result we now have an unprecedented commitment to monitor worker protections and to provide assistance to farmers that should prevent an influx of illegal immigration to our country,” Bingaman said.

American Taliban

Click for Quotes from the American Taliban. Kinda puts Howard Deans' tame statements in context, doesn't it? How these people are tolerated and even courted by Republicans is beyond me. I guess political expediency rules.

(Thanks to John McAndrew for the heads up on this one.)