Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Grassroots Response as Norman Moves Toward Run for Congress

Enthusiastic support has continued to surge across the North Bay since Norman Solomon's announcement in late January that he will run for the seat currently held by Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey if she decides not to seek re-election. Many see the potential for a grassroots campaign to counter the power of corporate money in politics.

Solomon has gained wide recognition for his expertise and advocacy on such issues as ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, foreign policy, human rights, healthcare, workers’ rights and sustainability.

“Norman Solomon is already out demonstrating expertise on national issues. Solomon and Woolsey are 100 percent in agreement on those policies,” Marin IJ political columnist Dick Spotswood wrote recently.

Solomon said that he would extend the Woolsey legacy -- strongly opposing war in Afghanistan while championing progressive policies for good green jobs, economic fairness, clean energy, civil liberties, gender equality, healthcare, education and balanced spending priorities.

“Congresswoman Woolsey has set a high standard, representing the values of her North Bay constituents,” Solomon said. “True leadership means standing up for the well-being of the vast majority of Americans, even when -- especially when -- the powerful push back.”

Weeks ago, at a caucus of registered Democratic voters from Marin and southern Sonoma counties, Solomon won his third consecutive two-year term on the California Democratic Party’s Central Committee. In 2008, Solomon was elected as an Obama delegate from the North Bay congressional district to the Democratic National Convention. In both cases, he was the top vote-getter.

Solomon is a frequent speaker at civic and political gatherings in the North Bay. He has delivered the keynote address at notable local events, including the Marin ACLU annual dinner, the North Bay Labor Council COPE annual dinner and Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey’s 2010 “Honoring Local Doves” event in her Petaluma backyard.

Over the past two years, as a co-chair of the Commission on a Green New Deal for the North Bay, he conducted extensive research and participated in numerous public forums, hearings and deliberations throughout Marin and Sonoma counties on a range of social and environmental issues.

“I’m not your typical politician -- in fact, I’m not a politician at all,” said Solomon, 59. “I’ve been doing community-based organizing for social change for decades. I take inspiration from progressive leaders who went from the grassroots to Congress without climbing the politician career ladder -- George McGovern and Paul Wellstone, for instance.” Neither of those leaders had held elective office before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate respectively.

Solomon said that his campaign would be “well funded, drawing support from a very large number of modest contributions.”

A few months ago, in a cover story about President Obama, The New York Times Magazine called Solomon “a leading progressive activist.” The Los Angeles Times has called him “a formidable thinker.” His numerous awards include the George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language; the Ruben Salazar Journalism Award; and the Alex Forman Peace Award from the Marin County Democratic Party.

The author of a dozen books on foreign policy, domestic issues, media and political discourse -- including “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death” -- Solomon is currently co-chair of the Foreign Policy Committee of the California Democratic Party’s Progressive Caucus. He co-authored a key state party resolution that was adopted in November 2009, titled “End the U.S. Occupation and Air War in Afghanistan,” which remains the official position of the California Democratic Party.

“The past decade of unending war has been terribly destructive,” he said, “and perpetual war remains on the horizon -- while the billions of dollars being squandered on warfare each week are desperately needed for a vast array of purposes here at home.”

Solomon is national co-chair of the Healthcare Not Warfare campaign, launched by Progressive Democrats of America. Along with the other co-chairs -- Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Donna Smith of the California Nurses Association -- Solomon led a successful effort to get “guaranteed” healthcare for all adopted as a plank of the 2008 party platform at the Democratic National Convention. The effort gathered several hundred signatures from delegates pledged to Obama as well as to Hillary Clinton.

A longtime resident of Marin County, Solomon lives in Inverness with his wife Cheryl Higgins, who has worked for many years as a family nurse practitioner in Point Reyes Station and Petaluma. He is currently teaching a course on “War, Peace and the News Media” for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute program at Dominican University in San Rafael.

The announcement of the Norman Solomon for Congress Exploratory Committee coincided with the launch of its website, www.NormanSolomonExploratory.com.

Permalink