Donkey Tails
 By Maury Goodman
  August 2007
 For the "Warrenville Today" Newspaper


Presidential Debate Hosted by AFL-CIO in Chicago

Last week I had an opportunity to attend the AFL-CIO sponsored debate in Soldier Field in Chicago with 7 of the Democratic Candidates for President.  It was a lively discussion and each candidate expounded their views on a number of issues, many of which affected the working men and women of our country’s labor movement.  Maybe you liked one set of answers more than another, but the clear winner of the evening was the AFL-CIO.  They had a chance to showcase the work that they are doing to improve the lives of the working men and women of the United States of America.

 

Local Contacts for some of the Presidential Campaigns Some of the Democratic Presidential candidates have established contact people in DuPage County.  For Hillary Clinton, the contact is Alex Eaton - alexeaton5@yahoo.com.  For Barrack Obama it is Gayl Ferraro – chairman@dupagedemocrats.org.  For John Edwards it is Laura Fletcher – dupage4edwards@comcast.net.  For Bill Richardson it is Bob Wagner and Maury Goodman – yorkdems@aol.com & maurygoodman@dupagedemocrats.org.

 

Union Elections – enough with the bumper stickers

Some local union is having or had an election, and some thoughtless person has put up bumper stickers over signs throughout DuPage County.  They appear on Stop signs, speed-limit signs, construction signs, control boxes, etc.  It is annoying and dangerous.  I have yet to see one on a bumper.  Although this is probably due to a small number of people or maybe even one person, it gives the labor movement bad publicity.

 

Congressional District 14 – Linda Chapa LaVia out

Most of Warrenville is in CD14, represented by Dennis Hastert.  It is widely expected that he will not run for reelection in 2008, but that is not for certain.  Aurora State Representative Linda Chapa LaVia had established an exploratory committee to run for congress, but now she says that she will not.  That leaves three possible Democratic Candidates – Iraq Veteran and 2006 candidate John Laesch, Physicist and Businessman William Foster, and attorney Jotham Stein.

 

Unity 08 – not a good thing.

I write this column from a Democratic Point of View.  Many of my friends and some readers of this column are Republicans.  As a general rule, I would say that Republicans care about the country and have different opinions about how to solve many of the issues that our country faces.  But I now fear that next year’s election is going to be messed up by a third force, currently going by the name Unity 08.   This group believes that the only problem the country faces is partisan bickering.  They are going to run someone for President, and at the moment they are attracting support even though they haven’t identified any ideology.  Rather than build a movement from the ground up, and establish a track record in a single state or locality, they will put up a candidate for President.  Two things are working in their favor.  The primary season has been moved up, so there is a lot of time for them to appeal to people after the democratic process winnows the field. And this is exactly the sort of thing that the national media loves.  All they could really offer, however, is to replace partisan bickering with non-partisan bickering.  And someone could really do well, in a situation like this, only if they appeal to a cult of personality.  That does our country no good.   The only choices that third parties have offered us in recent years are Ross Perot, Ralph Nader, Jesse Ventura and Kinky Friedman, nothing that could solve one additional problem.

 

The DuPage Democratic Club

The DuPage Democratic Club operates independently of the Democratic Party of DuPage County.  It was previously known as the Lombard Democratic Club.  It meets monthly on the second Thursday ten months per year at 8:00 pm, Lombard Commons, 734 E. St. Charles Road, Lombard IL.  There is always a dynamic speaker.   For information about meetings, call 630-516-1126.

 

There is also a newspaper from the DuPage Democratic Club called the DuPage Democrat.  It has been published for decades, and I highly recommend that every concerned Democrat become a subscriber.  At $10.00 a year, it is a real bargain.  Contact James Walsh, 26 E. Grove Street, Lombard Ill. 60148, 630-620-5330.  The Front Page of many issues of the DuPage Democrat, which usually features the speaker at the DuPage Democratic Club, can be found at http://www.dupagedemocrats.org/dupdem.html

 

Upcoming Events

Many events of interest to Warrenville and DuPage County Democrats can be found at http://www.dupagedemocrats.org/dupagenews.html  Send information about events that aren’t listed to webmaster@dupagedemocrats.org

 

Feedback

It is welcomed and appreciated maurygoodman@dupagedemocrats.org