Fighting Dems SPOTLIGHT ON NEW YORK: Live blogging now!

[trillian]

You can live blog with Bob and Ken here:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/3/5/14454/86267

Fighting Dems SPOTLIGHT ON NEW YORK: Bob Johnson (NY-23) and Ken Howland (NY-25)
by Veterans for a Secure America
Sun Mar 05, 2006 at 12:04:53 PM PDT

Eric Massa (NY-29) now has two other new Fighting Dem vet challengers to stand beside him in New York. Since they are both in the medical field, we have spotlighted them separately to focus on this aspect of their candidacy. Eric will then post separately (3-5 EST, Sunday, March 5th - Eric is a WesPAC endorsed candidate: SecuringAmerica.com. The Fighting Dems are now 76 strong as the primaries loom before us (see the Muster Roll on Fighting-Dems.com for updates.
And so Bob and Ken are here to live blog on kos today. If you have any questions or comments, please make them, especially (but not exclusively) if they are about vet care or health care in general. If you are from either of the districts ask how you can help their campaigns. And if you have any loose change, of course donate to help them stand up to this administration and its misguided, misdirected, miscalculating and mistaken policies and practices.

Some people seem to think that the FDs are single-issue candidates: Iraq. However, there are FDs in many fields of endeavor and in many cases their concerns if anything are more on progressive issues than solely on Iraq though they hold national security high on their agendas. The expertise of Bob and Ken is an example of how this meme distorts the candidacy of the Band of Brothers. And neither are they single-issue with respect to health care, they have well-defined positions on many issues that are of concern across the nation.

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Bob Johnson (D) for U.S. Congress (NY-23)

Rank/Branch: Lt Col, USAR
Service summary: Served on active duty in the U.S. Army Reserve Medical Corps from 1989 to 1991; Volunteered for military service and served on active duty in the U.S. Army Reserve Medical Corps from 1989 to 1991.
Website: JohnsonforCongress.org
Contact: [e-mail]
bio: issues:: donate
Background: Born in New York in 1950, Dr. Johnson settled in Sackets Harbor and serves Northern New York as its first and only board-certified thoracic surgeon at Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown.
Education: A.B. from Rutgers College, an M.A. from Princeton University, and an M.D. from Vanderbilt University.
Family: Dr. Johnson has been married to his wife, Mary, for 25 years, with whom he has raised two children, Adam and Claire.

CAMPAIGN
Opponent(s): 7th term incumbent Republican John M. McHugh; no primary Dem challenger.
District Profile: McHugh received 71% in '04 against Dr. Bob, the `or nominee. Dr. Bob will not be intimidated. Dr. Johnson says this, "This is the sleeper race. Until five weeks ago, no one even contemplated running against Mr. McHugh. Now we have the Syracuse Post Standard threatening to endorse the challenger."

Priorities:
Health Care Reform. I have been a doctor for 25 years and I can tell you first-hand that the situation is only getting worse. We have the best medical care in the world but the worst healthcare delivery system of all the western industrialized countries. It's not just that health care access is unfair and inequitable but the cost to our nation's economy and, in particular to small businesses, is crippling. We as a nation can no longer afford the status quo.
The Environment. I believe that we must zealously guard our air and water quality. Polluting industrial waste put into the air in places far away from the North Country has profound effects on us when it travels here. It is no coincidence that the North Country all along the Seaway has one of the highest rates in the nation of pulmonary fibrosis, a devastating lung disease associated with environmental toxins. Sulfur dioxides, nitrogen oxides and mercury coming from elsewhere not only harm the environment of the Adirondacks but are also known human toxins. Our current leadership in Washington is not only failing to address environmental problems affecting the North Country; it is doing all it can to make matters worse. The misnamed "Clear Skies Initiative" will give us anything but clear skies, but instead is designed to gut the Clean Air Act. Clear is not Clean. That's not just wrong, it's an abomination.
National Security. I've been hoodwinked. Not only have I been hoodwinked by the inability of the Bush administration to balance a checkbook, bt I've been hoodwinked into sacrificing our nation's young men and women and our national treasury into a war that was not in our national interest. Furthermore, we are rebuilding a country out of our national treasury that is sitting on the second largest oil reserve in the world and with no expectation of being reimbursed. I don't know about you, but I consider myself a pretty smart guy, and I don't like being hoodwinked. The war in Iraq was not about the war on terror. No link was ever convincingly made between Iraq and Osama bin Laden. The war in Iraq is now recast as the war on terror. What is happening in Iraq is an insurgency and a guerrilla war. We lost our way on the war on terror. We diverted resources and sacrificed lives on an adventure that was not in our national interest. We need to refocus on the war on terror.
Oil, National Security & Energy Policy. Our pathologic dependence upon foreign oil is an acute national security problem. In addition to the serious environmental implications of our excessive hydrocarbon fuel usage it is a pressing national security concern that must be addressed immediately. Our nation is hostage to our dependence on Mideast oil. The only short term solution is increasing the fuel efficiency of new automobiles. Detroit has fought he Corporate Average Fuel Economy or CAFE standards for passenger cars and light trucks for years. Increasing the mandatory minimum mileage to 60 mph is not only feasible but is routinely accomplished in Europe and Japan. Increasing the gas mileage of our cars will immediately cut our oil consumption in half and give us breathing room to develop new energy technology. Concomitantly with conservation, new techniques must be developed to encourage the use of present technologies of wind, solar, biomass and ethanol energy and the serious development of new technologies of hydrogen and nuclear fusion.
Family Values. How can a doctor be a Democrat? For starters, forty seven million Americans not having access to health care. While that is acceptable to the Republican party it is not acceptable to me. I have for 25 years seen the ravages caused by the lack of health insurance. Men, women and children do not get the care they need and when they do they crawl, hat in hand, to an emergency room, when it is often too late for effective treatment. In a word it's sickening -- and the Republican party's recent "me first, me only," Darwinian approach to America is not why I took up the calling of medicine. It is not the way I lead my life. The Republican leadership in the Congress and the White House should be utterly ashamed of itself for leaving one-seventh of all Americans without medical care. All they could manage to do was pass the Medicare "Reform" act and call it progress. It was not progress. It will bankrupt Medicare and the country to the insatiable greed of the Pharmaceutical industry. I want no part of that agenda.

STATEMENT (clips from Dr. Johnson's speech on accepting the nomination):
I'm Bob Johnson and I'm running for Congress. I am not running to collect a salary and put in time for a pension. I am running because I have a vision for America and like my practice of medicine I view this as a calling rather than a job.
It is unacceptable that 43 million Americans - 1/7th of our population - do not have health insurance and do not have effective access to health care. That is an abomination in the world's wealthiest country. What ever happened to our sense of compassion and, moreover, our national instinct for what is right? I believe the health care crisis is the single greatest issue confronting our country and yes our district. Heath care is no longer a calling, it is an industry and that industry is a monkey on the back of our economy. Fix the health care crisis and you will fix the economic doldrums. It is possible to have affordable, quality and (most importantly) accessible, universal health care for every American.
But I am not a one-issue candidate. It is unacceptable that our air and water quality is, as we speak, being threatened by an administration that is adept at using euphemism as a disguise for reality. The Bush administration's substitute of the "Clear Skies Act" for the present Clean Air Act will save industry of 3.5 billion dollars and cost us 61.5 billion dollars in additional health care expense and an additional 7000 premature deaths a year from air contamination. It is unacceptable that we are now warned not to eat Great Lakes fish more than once a week for fear of mercury poisoning because of pollutants from the Midwest that are spewed out of their industrial centers. Let me tell you now: Clear is not CLEAN.
I find it unacceptable to mortgage our children's future with the largest debt in our nation's history for expedient political goals. It is immoral and unjust to burden our children and our children's children with our debt from our excessive spending and our inability to balance our national check book. It is time to balance that check book. You want lower taxes, fine, then spend less. You want more services, fine, then pay more taxes - but we can't have it both ways. We can't continue to run the country into the ground with uncontrolled borrowing. The Democratic party IS the party of fiscal responsibility. I no longer trust the Republicans with my checkbook.
I find it unacceptable that we are now a nation that starts wars rather then finishes them. I find it unacceptable that our foreign policy is now based on reckless adventurism predicated on, as we have seen in the past few days, duplicitous information. I used to be charitable and call it misinformation, but now we find out that information was hidden and changed. That is unacceptable. I find it unacceptable that our President and his advisors can not critically collect and analyze information. It is unacceptable that this administration will broach no criticism and dissent within its ranks. The administration is more and more composed of ideological toadies who set the policy first and fit the facts to their ideology rather than analyzing the facts critically and crafting the policy to the facts. It borders on the dangerous. The rest of the world told us that there were no weapons of mass destruction. Our president said there were. Our intelligence said there were. THERE WERE NO WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION. Do not for one minute confuse my disagreement with national policy and my support of our troops. The military is doing its job valiantly. I served in the military on active duty and I know the ravages of war and I know the sacrifices that have to be made when a war is in our national interest. This war is not in our national interest. My disagreement over national policy and my support of the men and women who serve in the military are both compatible and mutually exclusive.
I have criss-crossed this district and everywhere I go, people share with me their longing for real health care reform. They share with me their anguish over our foreign policy. They share with me their disgust over our debt. They share with me their concern about the air they breath and the water they drink. And yes, they share with me the fear of losing their jobs and not having a job. I now challenge Mr. McHugh to four debates before the election: one in each of the geographic sectors of our district: the south, east, west and central portions of the district: Hamilton in Madison County, Watertown, Plattsburgh and Potsdam. We desperately need the exchange of ideas and we need to freely debate the issues that face this district and this country. That is way I am running. I have no intention of having an easy cushy time in Congress. I am not going as a functionary to occupy a safe seat. I am asking you to send me to congress to fulfill a calling to make this a better country and healthier and more prosperous district. With your help, your support, your trust and your confidence we can make this a great place to live.
Thank you.

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Ken Howland (D) for U.S. Congress (NY-25)

Rank/Branch: USA
Service: Vietnam Era Veteran, serving in the U.S. Army Medical Corps doing Medical Laboratory and Blood Bank work, but during a March on Washington, he served briefly with the Military Police.
Website: KenHowlandforCongress.com
Contact: [e-mail]
bio :: issues :: donate
Background: May 23, 1938 in Rochester N.Y. Ken grew up on a farm south of Rochester and learned the work ethic and about suffering at an early age; his mother passed away from cancer and the family moved to Irondequoit. Four years later, he graduated from East High School in Rochester, New York. Ken has lived and worked throughout the 25th Congressional District; first, in Irondequoit, then in Camillus, Marcellus and Dewitt and finally in Conquest, Cayuga County in the center of the district. Ken's quest for education and understanding has taken him to Michigan, California, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Moscow, Athens, El Salvador, Chile and Miami. Ken is of Yankee, Dutch and German immigrant heritage.
Education:
Bachelor of Science in Biology, Michigan State University 1961,
Master of Arts in Government and Politics,
University of Maryland 1970,
Education Certification, S.U.N.Y. Cortland 1971.
Family: wife Annette; 3 children.
Career Experience: General Dynamics-Anti-Anti Radar Production 1957& 58; Strong Memorial Hospital - Cancer Research 1960 & 61; San Francisco Medical Center - Population Stress Research 1962; U.S. Army Medical Laboratory, Kimbrough Army Hospital, Fort Meade, Maryland 1963-5; District of Columbia Health Department-Rheumatic Fever Project - 1965; Bureau of Government Research - University of Maryland - Water Pollution Control & Tax Base Analysis - 1966; West Genesee High School 1967-97; Onondaga Community College - Adjunct Government Instructor - 1970-1; Independent advocate for International Teacher Training - Athens Greece and Moscow Russia - 1997; Substitute Teaching
Manlius Pebble Hill & Bishop Ludden High School - 1999 & 2000; University of Miami - Audited Classes on Latin America - 2001-2; Independent Study - Middle East Policy; Florida International University and Nova University - Adjunct Lecturer on Foreign Affairs - 2004-5.

CAMPAIGN
Opponent(s): 9th term incumbent Republican James T. Walsh; 2 other Democrats are running for the nomination: Paloma Capanna and Dan Maffei.
District Profile: Walsh received 90% of the vote in '04, but DC Political Report gives it three stars so that the solid Republican front might have some cracks in it. Here is a comment from the Irregular Times: "As for James Walsh, he is reacting to all three Democratic candidates with the kind of callous arrogance that residents of District 25 have become accustomed to from his office. Congressman Walsh merely insults the three candidates by calling them "Little League" in comparison to his power....A warning to you, Congressman Walsh: In a Democracy, the government is not only supposed to represent the interests of the powerful. Come November, it will be the little people who turn out to vote."
Platform:
Campaign Finance Reform. A political campaign shouldn't be about selling the candidate through slick advertising campaigns. A political campaign should be about an exchange of ideas, debate, discussion and dialogue then let the best person win and all work together for improvement of an area we all love so much and are fortunate enough to live in.
Defence and National Security - Bring the Troops Home. When I see our troops put in the position of knocking down doors in the middle of the night and I see the terrified and humiliated men, women and children; I have to wonder; have we come full circle? This is what "Mission Accomplished" has come to; how tragic, how counterproductive! We will not win the hearts and minds of the people of Iraq, the Middle East or the world this way. Now, we must allow the Iraqi's their Independence. A degree of stability can only be established by the Iraqi's themselves. Foreign armies are rarely welcomed and then only briefly as liberators; not as occupiers
*Medical Coverage Reform. We have some of the best care in the world; I've seen this. Doctor's and nurses and health care providers work hard, often long hours. I have been a part of this at Kimbrough Army Hospital, Fort Meade, Maryland. Medical insurance is increasingly expensive and often beyond the reach of many families and individuals. Something is radically wrong when private bureaucracy controls the purse strings and profits become more important than the patient.
Secure Social Security. Our seniors deserve Social Security after a lifetime of work or toil; the current retirees have made payments into the system and the money went to support their parents. Now, it is their turn to collect. Some adjustments do need to be made
because of the Post-war baby-boom. We have not only more people but more people living longer. Consequently, some adjustments do have to be made. But moderate sensible adjustments rather than radical destruction of a system that has worked so well for so long.

Other key issues are: Education to Meet Global Competition, Tax Reform, Work for All and Fair Wages, and Investigating War Profiteering

STATEMENT: The 25th Congressional District and the nation need candidates with military, medical and extensive educational experience. Ken Howland is such a candidate. His unique experience qualifies him as the most experienced in areas where broad experience is necessary and is so lacking.
First, never before has education, particularly science and international education been so necessary and important. Ken has extensive experience in both areas. From beginnings as a genetics lecturer to high school biology students to recently becoming an adjunct lecturer on the Origin of the War in Iraq, Ken has learned to be innovative and creative.
Second, when the United States is in a war, candidates with experience in the military have something special to offer. While in the U.S. Army Medical Corps; usually, Ken did Medical Laboratory and Blood Bank work but during a March on Washington, he served briefly with the Military Police, a very different perspective. Such exposure to hands on experience will be invaluable in the event of future crises.
Third, we now have several thousand hospitalized veterans; Ken is the only candidate with medical and hospital experience. These traumatized and permanently disabled veterans will be with us for a long time; the initial indications of the potential effects of exposure to the use of Depleted Uranium in our warheads is ominous. Ken's major goal will be to assure that every Veteran has the best possible care and support in a timely manner.
Fourth, cancer afflicts so many today, and has been one of our most serious health challenges. We must continue the research into causes and treatment. Ken's early work experience has included cancer research.
Finally, and most importantly, Ken knows we must maintain the best defense and until we secure our borders we are not doing so. One of the fundamental rules taught in basic training is to secure the perimeter. Defense is the first responsibility of government; but, we must wage peace as well and devote more resources to that end.