Yet another instance of our own Rep. Ben Ray Lujan and his Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee tilting the scales. This time, it is so brazen you will think I am making it up.
Retake Needs You to Help Us Launch the Statewide Rapid Response Network. We launched this Donate button yesterday and will continue to subtly suggest a contribution for a week or so. We had a nice response yesterday considering that Friday is the day that we get the lowest proportion of ‘opens,’ of any day of the week. But to launch our statewide network we will need your support. So check it out and please contribute if you can. If you don’t like to use online donation vehicles, please email us a check at: Retake Our Democracy, P.O. Box, 32464, Santa Fe 87594. And thanks so much!
If you haven’t taken the Speak Up New Mexico! Legislative Priorities survey, please do so today to tell your legislators what bills you want to see become law. Click the blue button at left to take the survey. And if you want to get involved with our Roundhouse Advocacy Team, we meet on Thursday from 4:30-6:30pm at New Energy Economy, 343 E. Alameda. To RSVP, just write to me at paul@RetakeOurDemocracy.org. If you want to read about our 2018-2019 Election and Legislative Strategy, click here.
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Tilting Scales Again–Rep. Ben Ray Lujan Needs to Hear from Us, But…
From the Intercept, “The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee took the extraordinary step of publicly attacking a prominent Democratic candidate in a contested Texas primary. The party committee’s move was made all the more jarring given the background of the candidate, Laura Moser, who in 2017 became a hero of the Trump resistance movement as the creator of Daily Action, a text-messaging tool that channeled progressive anger into a single piece of activism per day.”
The Intercept quotes DCCC Communications Director, Meredith Kelly: “Voters in Houston have organized for over a year to hold Rep. [John] Culberson accountable and win this Clinton district. Unfortunately, Laura Moser’s outright disgust for life in Texas disqualifies her as a general election candidate, and would rob voters of their opportunity to flip Texas’ 7th in November.”
The statement does not exactly reflect playing an impartial role in the primary. The basis of the assertion that Moser is disgusted with life in Texas is that four years ago, she made a comment that she would not ever want to live in Paris, Texas. While not a great comment to make for someone ultimately running for office in Texas. However, I recall Hillary Clinton’s comments about Trump supporters as “deplorables” and black teens as being “super predators,” and somehow the Party overlooked these comments.
The DCCC did not stop there, but prepared a memo on Moser in which it implied corruption and self-dealing. “In 2017, Moser paid over $50,000 in campaign money to her husband’s D.C. consulting firm. More than 1 of every 6 dollars spent by her campaign went straight into her husband’s D.C. company’s bank account,” What the memo failed to mention is that Moser is married to Arun Chaudhary, a partner at Revolution Messaging, a consulting firm that is most well-known for its work on the 2016 presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders. Furthermore, most all of those funds were simply used to purchase television and newspaper ads. And what is most disingenuous about this is that what Moser is doing is working with an established campaign consultant. You may recall that in a blog I published earlier this month, I wrote about how the DCCC insists on most all candidates it is ‘endorsing’ to use campaign consultants from their stable. So it is OK to work with the DCCC consultants, but not a consultant of your choice.
Moser is the kind of candidate the Party should be looking for. She has a huge base of support both in Texas and nationally and has a deserved reputation for resisting the Trump administration. And undermining her campaign so explicitly is entirely likely to further drive away young, idealist progressives who could and should be the future foundation of the Party. It is very disappointing that the DCCC is working so hard against candidates when they are supposed to remain impartial. If this were but one example of this kind of tilting of the scales, that would be one thing, but as my post earlier this month reveals there are literally two dozen other races in which the DCCC has a none-to-sublte finger on the scale. Click here to review my prior blog which really illustrates Representative Lujan and the DCCC very clear bias toward centrist, corporate candidates.
Click here to review the full Intercept article. And to write to Representative Lujan, Click here to get to his online form to send him a message. You will need to input your zip code to get access to the form used to direct email to the Congressman.
Two Important Actions for TODAY
KSFR 101.1 FM (and via livestream), 11am TODAY. I was lucky enough to interview Peter D on Thursday and it airs today at 11. If you can’t listen in, don’t despair, I will share the podcast as soon as it is available. It is one of the best interviews I’ve done.
Santa Fe University of Art & Design Planning, Phase I: Community InputSanta Fe is at a crossroads: Do we take this opportunity and run with it and create hundreds of affordable housing units or do we create another Disneyland for tourists. Santa Fe is a tourist destination for a reason: Canyon Road, the Plaza, Museum Hill, the Sangres, Meow Wolf and a bevy of posh restaurants. if tourists can’t find things to do in Santa Fe, they aren’t trying. It is time to take care of our own. Our choice, our opportunity. The first phase of SFUAD planning is an online survey to obtain community input. Let’s make our priorities abundantly clear. Click here to take the survey. Retake will keep you posted on future SFUAD planning and will also share research on other urban approaches to development without displacement and gentrification.
In solidarity,
Paul & Roxanne
Categories: Election, Political Reform & National Politics, Uncategorized
Hi, do you know that the link to contact Lujan is correct? It is his congressional office. I called there once about DCCC and was told that the office could not entertain anything with the DCCC. I would have to contact DCCC, where of course, you cannot get anything specifically to Lujan. Just wondering if you know that they will take this feedback or just delete it. Thanks.