Darcy Burner fundraiser attended by Thomas Goldstein and Lauren Berkowitz
at the home of Maureen Judge on Mercer Island, Washington, July 9, 2008.
photo Jesse Wendel / Group News Blog.
All Politics is Local
A local fundraiser for Darcy Burner went well Wednesday evening.
People dropped in and out all evening, walking, driving, even biking.
The couple you see above -- Thomas is the Executive Director of Washington Bus, an awesomely cool program which goes all over Washington State registering young people to vote. Yes, it has a bus. Lauren is simply cool. -- showed up at Darcy's fundraiser on road bikes. ROAD BIKES.
Thomas was riding Shimano Dura-Ace group (around since 1973) on his road bike, which is nowhere near as cool as my Campagnolo Record group (Campy's been around since 1933). Campy -- When you care enough to send the very best.
Not doing another Coming of Age ride with my kids this year due to the demands of the political season. Still am managing to get out and tool around here and there on my Titanium-Carbon LeMond. I'd say probably 10-15 of the people who showed up for Darcy's fundraiser came on bicycles.
Perhaps 75 people came over the three and a half hours. State and local, as well as a few national bloggers. There were some elected folks and people who both had run for office and (I think) were running for office. I had a nice chat with about social networks, generational changes, poverty and class, with futurist and blogger Rob Salkowitz, the author of Generation Blend: Managing Across the Technology Age Gap.
A good time was had by all.
Darcy and family are doing well. She wasn't there, by the way. Wasn't intended to be. This was to raise funds for her, and it did that well. So far, with General Clark's request from earlier this week, we're at roughly $129K on a goal of $150K, $150,000 being Burner's entire fundraising goal for July.
I heard tonight one other mega-appeal should hit someone's network in the next day or so, and hopefully that will take her over the top. Then anything else raised will be a head-start on August.
Darcy IS planning to attend at least a day or so of Netroots. Last I heard that's still on. All this is complicated by the insane federal campaign laws which don't let people even buy her a meal or a drink, all the normal stuff one would do for someone whose home burned down. So we do what we can which is donate money to Darcy's campaign as an act of humanity -- to buy Darcy time off to put her life in order.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
At the Fundraiser
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Darcy Burner's Home Burns Down
Five Year Old Henry Saves Family
Tuesday July 1 at roughly 7 AM, Darcy Burner's home burned down.
The fire started in the room of 5-year-old Henry Burner, in his lamp. Henry rushed out of his room and told his Mom, who got everyone (but the family cat) out safely.
The fire spread quickly. It burned the home to the ground. Darcy, her husband Mike, and little Henry are all fine.
Seattle TimesSkyKING raw video.
Her 5-year-old son, Henry, came into her and her husband's bedroom around 7 a.m. screaming there was a fire in his room, Burner said.
"I scooped him up and got him out of the house," she said. Everyone, including the family's golden retriever Bruce Wayne, made it out uninjured, but their cat did not survive.
Burner said she hadn't yet considered whether the fire would impact her campaign.
"I am today focused on my family and just really grateful that my family is OK," she said. "Tomorrow I'll wake up and figure out what comes next."
News Chopper 7 raw video (No audio).
I spoke last night with Sandeep Kaushik, Burner's spokesman. He was with her most of the day. She, her husband, and little Henry are all doing well. Darcy is taking a few days off from the campaign to spend time with her family, and then will return.
Darcy Burner for CongressIn the meantime...
I am also deeply grateful for the expressions of support from friends, supporters and others who have called to express their condolences and offer their generous and heartfelt assistance. I am so moved by all of the offers of a place to stay, or clothes to wear, or all of the other offers of help that have poured in throughout the day. While we are fine for now, your kind expressions of support and concern have helped to sustain me through what has been a long and difficult day.
For those who would like to do something to express their support, let me suggest making a contribution to your local humane society or animal shelter in memory of Charlotte, or to the Washington State Council of Firefighters Benevolent Fund.
Thank you all for being there for us in my family's time of need. It means so much to us.
Today was going to be day two of GNB's first ever fundraiser. We're going to push that back till tomorrow, and here's why.
Darcy's one of us. She's a geek. Look at the shirt she was wearing when she rushed out of her home when it was on fire...
That's XML for Stop the War. It's what she was wearing around the house at 7 AM.
David Goldstein and Kos both have wonderful posts up, the bottom line of which is this: Darcy needs a few days off. Due to the demands of modern campaigning, the only way she can take time off to be with her family is if we raise funds for her.
I invite each of you to donate to Darcy. Because of federal campaign laws, we can't send Henry new toys or Darcy new clothes. But we can give her time with her family by letting her stay home a few extra days.
Please give generously to Darcy's campaign today. And don't worry. Our scheduled GNB fundraiser will return tomorrow.
Thank you to everyone.
Darcy Burner outside her home which has just burned down.
July 1, 2008. photo Ellen M. Banner/The Seattle Times.
Update: 2:45 PM.
GNB doesn't endorse candidates.
I like Darcy personally, but part of the job of politician's is to be likable.
What we're doing here is the humane thing, the modern equivalent of sending over some blankets, clothes, and plates of food -- which we legally can not do with a federal candidate for office. Well, maybe the plates of food, but that's about it. *sighs*
Anyway, I already chipped in $100 bucks, not because I'm endorsing anyone but because I think it's the right thing to do for someone who's just lost their home and damn near everything they own. Not out of GNB funds -- out of my personal account.
I encourage people to give generously. I know her. She truly is one of our own.
Update: 4:00 PM.
And the dog is saved too...
Markos at DailyKos has set the goal of raising $150,000 to take the burden off Darcy throughout all of July.
As of 3 PM we're at $50K and climbing.
Y'all are THE BEST. There's more...
Monday, March 17, 2008
Iraq: A Responsible Plan
A New Contract With America
The Democratic Party candidates (Netroots Caucus) for the U.S. Congress have put together the best plan I've yet seen -- including from any Presidential Candidate -- to end the war in Iraq.
I have not forgotten a family friend died in Iraq last year.
Just over a year a ago, the current Congress was sworn in with our hopes, on a promise to end the war in Iraq.
They have done nothing.
They have enabled the criminal Bush/Cheney administration while more troops and Iraqis have died.
Enough.
Endorsed by:
Darcy Burner candidate for U.S. House, Washington
Donna Edwards candidate for U.S. House, Maryland
Eric Massa candidate for U.S. House, New York
Chellie Pingree candidate for U.S. House, Maine
Tom Perriello candidate for U.S. House, Virginia
Jared Polis candidate for U.S. House, Colorado
George Fearing candidate for U.S. House, Washington
Larry Byrnes candidate for U.S. House, Florida
Steve Harrison candidate for U.S. House, New York
Sam Bennett candidate for U.S. House, Pennsylvania
And by
Major General Paul Eaton (U.S. Army ret.)former Security Transition Commanding General, Iraq
Dr. Lawrence Korbformer Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Reagan Administration
Brigadier General John Johns (U.S. Army ret.)specialist in counterinsurgency and nation-building
Capt. Larry Seaquist (U.S. Navy ret.)former commander of the U.S.S. Iowa and former Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy Planning
Our plan will:
- End U.S. Military Action in Iraq
- Use U.S. diplomatic power
- Address humanitarian concerns
- Restore our Constitution
- Restore our military
- Restore independence to the media
- Create a new, U.S.-centered energy policy
Read the plan.
Watch the videos.
This is the real deal. There's more...
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Toxic Holidays
Fisher Price flip track crane: not safe for playDavid Goldstein brings us this dispatch from the holiday shopping trenches, where GNB's favorite Congressional hopeful from Seattle, Darcy Burner, has been making a point that should give every parent pause:
Darcy Burner held a series of local events over the weekend where families could bring toys and other children’s products for free lead testing. Well, the results are in, and of the 479 items tested, 56 tested positive for lead, 47 above the 40 parts per million maximum recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Nine additional items tested positive for cadmium, another toxic element.Surprised? Well you shouldn’t be. Ten percent of items tested positive for excessive lead levels, pretty much exactly what Burner and Essco Safety Check expected heading into the tests. And chances are, about ten percent of the toys and household items your children handle every day would test positive as well. Lax standards, loosened regulation, nearly nonexistent testing and a mad rush toward globalization have put all our children at unnecessary risk.
In a press release announcing the disturbing results (and apparently ignored by our local media,) Burner lays the blame squarely where it belongs:
“This administration needs to get its priorities straight. Recent news reports have revealed that the Consumer Products Safety Commission currently has only one staffer in the entire country tasked with testing toys, while the current director and her predecessor have traveled on nearly 30 junkets paid for by toy companies and other consumer products manufacturers,” Burner said. “This is truly a scandal. Children are being put at risk while our leading regulators are hobnobbing in resort locales with industry lobbyists and so far nothing is being done about it.”
So, how dangerous are these toys? Many of the items tested contained lead far above safe levels:
A red plastic roof piece from a Lincoln Logs set tested at 1488 parts per million for lead (or 37 times the AAP standard). A small plastic Fisher Price Sesame Street Bert figure tested at 5346 ppm (or 133 times the standard). A Tinkerbell pink rolling backpack tested at 533 ppm for lead, while a Cinderella princess backpack tested at 474 ppm. A Winnie the Pooh placemat contained 985 ppm.
The highest lead level was found was in a Fisher Price Flip Track crane from a plastic train set that was owned by Burner’s own 5 year-old son, which tested at 10,600 ppm, or 265 times the AAP standard.
Cooler-style lunchboxes and soft coolers tended to have high levels of lead or cadmium, as did all of the children’s character placemats tested, including Dora, Spiderman and Winnie the Pooh. Chinese manufacturers tend to add lead and cadmium to vinyl (PVC) to increase durability, and while the CPSC argues such products are safe because the vinyl tends not to deteriorate during normal use, any parent who sees the wear and tear their own child puts on their lunchbox knows otherwise.
So what can you do about it? I suppose you could write to the CPSC and ask them to adopt tougher standards. Or you could help enact real change, and elect better Democrats like Darcy Burner to Congress.
You can send Darcy holiday greetings and money love here. We need people in Washington who won't look the other way when there turns out to be poison in the globaloney.
And, in the meantime, we've got six shopping days left to find something other than plastic toys to give the kids we love for Christmas. My niece is getting books (I've topped off her Berke Breathed and Dr. Seuss collections), stuffed animals, and a pair of hand-knit slippers. If you've got other suggestions for creating a joyful plastic-free non-toxic Christmas for the under-10 set, share 'em with the rest of us in the comments.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Every Damn Thing You Need To Know About Republicans
Darcy for Congress: Part 4
Earlier this week I was listening to Aaron Sorkin and Tommie Schlamme give the commentary on the Pilot episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
In speaking of casting Steven Weber to play the network executive, they said the one thing you can never act is smart. You have to be smart already. From the moment they saw Steven audition, the part was his. He was so smart, so powerful, so obviously right for the part, no one else had a shot.
All week long I've been coming back to how with Republicans, acting smart, acting patriotic, acting moral, acting as if they give a damn for people -- being seen to appear as if this or that were true, that is what truly matters to Republicans... Appearances.
Real intelligence, authentic patriotism, genuine morality, and above all, truly taking care of people such that at the end of the day or the week, at the end of the month or the year, people are left saying reflexively, "Yeah. I've been taken care of. These people really took care of me."... it's not them. They can't even fake it. Like an actor can't act smart.
Republicans not only aren't interested in the genuine article, they're actively opposed.
Why?
Because the genuine article shows the Republicans up as no different than either the thieves, or the two who passed by the man who lay dying by the side of the road in the parable so long ago:
The BibleRemember as you read the Parable of the Good Samaritan it is also about race and class, not just helping those in need. The guy who helped was of a race and class which was despised and hated and lower working class to poor. None the less, he helped anyway, even though he could have had the crap beaten out of him just for daring to help anyone. From our perspective, the risk he took is as if a disabled black vet in his thirties at 59th St and Columbus Circle just outside the entrance to the subway -- that's the south-west corner of Central Park, for those of you who don't know the city -- dared after dark to help a rich white twenty-something lying half-naked on the ground just inside the park boundary. The odds of New York's finest accusing him of making the assault (or worse), rather than doing what he could to help her...THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO
ST LUKE
CHAPTER 10Jesus calls, empowers, and instructs the seventy—They preach and heal—Those who receive his disciples receive Christ—The Father is revealed by the Son—Jesus gives the parable of the good Samaritan.25 ¶ And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit aeternal life?27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy aheart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt alive.30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and awounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.33 But a certain aSamaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had bcompassion on him,34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took acare of him.35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the ahost, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
Now ask yourself if Dave Reichert -- absent a camera trained on him -- would stop and take care of someone at risk to his own reputation. Question answers itself.
Darcy Burner is the real deal.
She is thoughtful, careful, considerate, and takes care of people.
All you have to do is watch the video and compare how she answers the question, with how Dave Reichert is rude and arrogant.
Beyond the issue of Congressman Reichert's believing it's fine for a pharmacist to not sell birth control pills -- not emergency contraception; birth control -- to a woman, simply because the pharmacist opposes birth control, just watch how rude Dave Reichert is. From interrupting, to forgetting the question (demonstrating he either isn't listening or that he's trying to dominate), and then instead of explaining himself and his answer to the people who elected him, he just says "No."
Reichert's answer belongs to someone who simply doesn't think, isn't smart, whose morality is all about looking good to a particular base group so that they'll vote for him, un-grounded in any genuine religious or moral conviction of his own. He is a man who clearly doesn't give a damn who he leaves dying by the side of the road, just so long as he gets his.
In short, he is a George Bush Republican.
I was privileged to interview Darcy a few months ago:
Darcy Burner*smiles*
There are five basic principles that form the basis for every political decision I'll make:
1. Government should treat everyone fairly.
2. Hard work should be rewarded.
3. Government should stay out of people's private lives.
4. We should keep our promises.
5. We should take care of our children, and leave them a better world than the one we found.
That's not the only way to slice it, of course, but it's one way, and that's how I slice it.
At some basic level, though, I think it comes down to what my father told me over and over again when I was growing up: "You're no better than them, and they're no better than you." The founding principle of our democracy is the idea that all persons are created equal*. And the fight at the moment comes down to whether that's actually true.
The other side believes, deep down, that a wealthy CEO is a *better person* than the woman who cleans my office at night.
I do not.
* I know, I know, women still don't have a guarantee of equality under our Constitution, and it was initially only white male landowners. But while we have lagged in execution, that principle has been our guide, and we make progress when we move closer to that ideal.
This is what I'm talking about.
We have to elect better, smarter Democrats.
She's one.
Please join with me this Holiday season by spreading a little cheer Darcy's way. She's really that good.
Thank you.
Previous Darcy posts:
How to Reach Darcy:
- Darcy Burner for Congress
- Help elect Darcy Burner to Congress by contributing. (Please add $0.13.)
- Feel free to send me an email letting me know.
And if you missed it in our last Darcy post (Part 3), make sure you watch her campaign video with music by the Squirrel Nut Zippers & Rickie Lee Jones.
Note: Edited at noon to fix my not paying attention to the bible verse when I modernized who was who. Thanks to the readers who pointed this out. There's more...
Monday, October 8, 2007
Have You Had Enough?
Darcy for Congress: Part 3
Music by the Squirrel Nut Zippers & Rickie Lee Jones.
Previous Darcy posts:
- Darcy Burner for Congress
- Help elect Darcy Burner to Congress by contributing. (Please add $0.13.)
- Feel free to send me an email letting me know.
The WA-08 is a vulnerable seat. Dave Reichert is a liar to his district, a bad person who takes credit for the accomplishments of others, a key enabler of George Bush, and a chicken-hawk supporter of the Iraq war.
Darcy is a good candidate and will be a strong, smart leader in Congress.
Please take a moment and make a contribution.
Thanks. There's more...
Monday, September 3, 2007
All Politics Is Local
Darcy for Congress: Part 2
Labor Day. The traditional start of election season.
No doubt there will be a number of "traditional" starts of election season between now and November a year from now. The New Hampshire primary. Iowa. Super Tuesday and the conventions. But Labor Day (or more accurately, the day after Labor Day) is when people return from their summer vacation and settle down to fall campaigning.
The Group News Blog doesn't endorse candidates. Which isn't to say I don't have people I like, Sara has people she likes, Lower Manhattanite and Hubris Sonic have candidates they're for also. As individuals. Not as a publication, not as the editorial "we."
I'm for Darcy Burner for Congress in the Washington Eighth District as I said earlier. She's smart, talented, and gets things done. Darcy listens carefully, then acts on what she hears. Not only is this rare in anyone, it's almost non-existent in a member of Congress. Not to mention she'll be the member of Congress from Microsoft. Smart, talented, competent, and she listens. Damn.
Darcy has the support of near everyone in the liberal blogosphere. This Call to Action video is a week plus out of date, but just watch:
FiredoglakeThe blogosphere fund-raising last week raised $100K for Darcy. This is real political power.
The most astounding thing about Blue America endorsing Darcy Burner is that we’re just getting around to it now. Darcy is the quintessential Blue America candidate and we missed her last year. Let’s make up for it this year and go the extra mile in helping her get elected in 2008!
She nearly made it last year when she first challenged rubber stamp Republican Dave Reichert in an upscale suburban Seattle district, WA-08, and drew 122,021 votes to his 129,362– an incredible accomplishment.
There were three big differences between last year and the current election cycle and all three work in Darcy’s favor. First of all, last year was her first run and the voters didn’t know who she was, although nearly 49% of them voted for her by the end of the campaign. Her name recognition now is super high.
Second, in 2006 voters weren’t sure how they felt about Iraq; they are now — and guess who’s got a 100% perfect Cheney voting record. If you said “Dave Reichert,” give yourself a pat on the back. Since being elected to Congress Reichert participated in 17 roll calls about Iraq, the latest being Thursday’s vote to stay the course. He could have just as well given Cheney his proxy and gone to play golf. 17 roll calls in a distinctly anti-war district and 17 votes for endless war.
And the third difference between the last cycle year has to do with the voting patterns of the district. Far more people come out to vote during a presidential year and Bush only took 47% of the vote in 2000 and 48% in 2004. It’s by far the most prosperous district in Washington and it leans in a decidedly progressive and Democratic direction. A presidential year will help Darcy beat Reichert.
Although Darcy and Reichert spent approximately the same amount of money in 2006 — $3 million — Rove funneled another $3 or 4 million into the race. In his infamous powerpoint presentation to the GSA in March, Rove emphasized that bolstering Reichert against Darcy must be a top priority for all loyal Bushies. Last year the Republicans made 585,000 calls into the district, the most of anywhere in the country and the aim was to suppress Democratic turnout and to encourage Republicans.
In the last few days of the campaign Rove operatives were calling every household in the district telling voters that Darcy was about to be indicted as a felon, that Darcy was suppressing minority voters and that Darcy was an investor in Big Oil. It was all smear and lies; typical Rovian tactics.
Darcy sounds sweet, hip and disarming. But her mind is razor sharp and she’s one of those Big Picture Democrats the country is crying out for. She’s had backing from Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, both of Washington’s senators, Emily’s list, labor unions and the DCCC and this year she will get her message out much more effectively than before when the institutional players had no idea who she was at first.
When Alex Alben ran in 2004 for the same district (WA-08), I was his Director of Internet Strategy. We came in second in the primary to Dave Ross, a local radio personality whom the state Dem party chair went out and persuaded to run at the last moment. Grrr. Name recognition won out, but Ross had no organization to speak of and got trounced in the general election. Here's the thing. Alben's campaign didn't inspire personal loyalty. Oh, I liked Alex personally well enough. And most of the people I worked with. But his key advisors kept changing the game plan and they screwed with my pay. I'm still owed close to a grand I'll never see and that's on top of working many more hours than my contract called for.
Darcy's staff is personally loyal. When I want to carefully assess someone, be they a politician, a doctor, a pilot, I talk to the people they surround themselves with -- campaign staff, consultants and volunteers, nurses, therapists and the office manager, flight engineers, flight attendants, mechanics and ground crew. Want to know who a person really is? Talk to the people who work with them in "subordinate" positions.
Darcy Burner is the real deal. Her staff are cooly professional, trustworthy and loyal. Her volunteers are enthusastic yet realistic about what she's up against. She inspires support both inside Washington, in the blogosphere, and at the top levels of the Democratic party.
Darcy faces a massively incompetent very well funded asshole who makes shit up and ill serves everyone except the very rich and even they are in question. About the only person truly served by Sophomore Congressman Dave Reichert is...George Bush.
Dave Reichert's claim to fame is a serial killer caught while he was sheriff. What he doesn't mention is how he's taking credit for other people's work. Reichert's one promise to the 8th district was to get all the radios in Washington to work together. For a former sheriff that's a promise which makes sense. After almost four years in office, all the radios don't work together. Why? Because Reichert gave it up to the White House in order to fund tax cuts for the rich. The House and the Senate were ready to pass the bill. But the White House wanted more tax cuts, so Reichert broke the only promise he actually ever made his district and rolled over for Rove and the political operation. I don't actually know if it got him a photo op. Don't care.
Reichert's voted for the Iraq war every vote. Time to stop him.
Help elect Darcy Burner to Congress by contributing. Please add 13 cents to your total (to let them know it comes from GNB.) Feel free to send me an email letting me know.
Thank you. There's more...
Thursday, August 30, 2007
For Your Consideration, Puget Sound Version
Darcy for Congress: Part 1
Darcy Burner is running in Washington's 8th Congressional District. Please vote for her (if you live there) or consider making a contribution.
Running out the door right now so I don't have time to tell you in detail the fifty different reasons why Darcy is worth your time and money. For more, go read Dave's Darcy and the Sheriff.
Darcy's opponent is the idiot former Sheriff Reichert whom President Bush flew into town last week and partied with after the death of Officer Germaine Casey in New Mexico. Don't let the assholes win.
Elect Darcy Burner to Congress.
