Herb,
Why do I need your help? Because I’m a proud progressive Congressman who gets things done, which is something that drives the right wing crazy.
Why do I need it now? Because later will be too late. Let me explain...
In my first term in Congress, despite representing an area that had been Republican for 34 years, I stuck my neck out to pass a bill to prohibit Wall Street from using bailout money for bonuses -- and passed it in nine days. I created and implemented a mandatory mediation program that cut foreclosures in half and was adopted throughout the State of Florida. I mocked the Tea Party, saying the GOP healthcare plan was “don’t get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly.”
So what happened? The Republicans declared me their #1 target that year. The Koch Brothers, the Chamber of Commerce and the GOP joined hands to set an all-time record in “outside expenditure” sewer money in a House race -- a tsunami of blistering, slanderous attack ads. And I lost by 18 points.
Beaten but unbowed, I ran for the House again in 2012, and with the help of PCCC members, I won in the biggest comeback in the history of the House.
Remarkably, I was the only Member of the House, Democratic or Republican, to get most of his 2012 campaign funds from small donors giving less than $200.
And ever since, I’ve been doing good things for good people. On Thanksgiving night 2012, before I was even sworn back into office, I went to a local Walmart and handed out brown paper bags to the workers. The bags had three things inside: a turkey sandwich (hey, it was Thanksgiving), a bag of chips, and a letter explaining the right to organize.
Last year, I wrote more bills than any other Member of Congress, in the House or the Senate. And in the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party House, I passed more amendments than any other Member, Democratic or Republican, even though I lose on every single party-line vote.
This year? Already more than last year -- and it’s only July.
Here are some of our progressive successes:
- Moving $40 million from the military budget to the biomedical research budget -- to find a cure for cancer.
- Increasing the budget for bilingual housing counseling by 50% and for free tax assistance for seniors by 50%.
- Protecting our privacy by preventing the NSA from forcing other agencies to incorporate weaknesses into encryption standards.
- Introducing a “contractor death penalty” that eliminates federal contract dollars for contractors who commit crimes or fraud.
And that's not all. I wrote a petition against “any and every cut in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits” that drew 3 million signatures, and I delivered that petition to the Speaker and the White House. That put an end to the so-called “chained CPI” scam. And in my outspoken opposition to U.S. military intervention in Syria (including seven national TV interviews in a single day), I not only kept us out of another war in the Middle East, but also established the vital principle that when it’s our money, and our blood, then it’s our decision.
That’s why Slate magazine called me the “most effective Member of Congress.” That’s why Business Insider said I am the most productive Member of Congress. That’s why Time magazine called me a “stand-out” exception in a do-nothing Congress.
And that’s why all those right-wing nuts are desperate to get rid of me: Because I’m a progressive who gets things done.
Help me remain in office. Donate $3 to my campaign today.
You may have heard how Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid has been calling out the Koch Brothers, America’s 3rd and 4th richest billionaires, for their dishonestsaturation propaganda and attack ads. Well, good for him. But Harry Reid is not on the ballot this year. He serves for six years.
I was on the ballot in 2010. And I posted one article after another about the Koch Brothers’ evil empire of lies. So the Koch Brothers then spent $4,000,000 on a public crucifixion -- the average voter in Orlando saw 70 disgusting personal attack ads against me. And they won.
Fast forward to 2014. I have been pointing out in the Huffington Post and elsewhere that the Koch Brothers are the primary beneficiaries of the Keystone XL pipeline, because they own so much of the refinery capacity on the Texas coast where the pipeline would terminate. That pipeline means billions of dollars for the Koch Brothers, and Planet Earth be damned. (When the Earth is as hot as Venus, I guess that they’ll move to Mars.)
So now the Koch Brothers are gunning for me again. The Koch Brothers have been running ads against me in my district since last November. One ad features two veterans who complain that I want government healthcare for all, and wouldn’t that be just terrible! (One of the vets is on Medicare; he should ask his doctor to check him for irony-poor blood.) Another Koch Brothers ad condemns me for being President Obama’s “collaborator.”
And they’re not the only ones. Listen to who else has been attacking me lately: Bill O’Reilly. Sean Hannity. Mark Levin. Mike Huckabee. Allen West. Even Joe the Plumber. It’s a confederacy of cretins, a legion of losers, a posse of pinheads, an organization of the out-to-lunch -- but they’re gunning for me.
Let me tell you how the Koch Brothers work. They put their little toes in the water before Labor Day. Then between Labor Day and Election Day, it’s a big, fat belly-flop.
Do you want to see me to be washed out in another wave election? And if not, then what are you willing to do to prevent it?
Click here to donate $3 to help me win in 2014.
We have to be prepared, and we have to be prepared now. Our campaign already is paying 15 canvassers to brave 90-degree heat in Orlando, going door to door to spread the word. But we don’t need 15. We need 50. We have less than 100 days to go, and we can’t afford to waste a single one of them. The future is now.
I’d like to think that we are less than 100 days from victory. But that depends on you. It’s up to you. Every dollar that you contribute counts, just as you count.
You have a bold, fearless progressive in Congress who is constantly figuring out ways to win -- not just win elections, but win on policy and embody our progressive principles in law. And you see that he is under attack -- for that very reason. What are you going to do about it? Will you help?
I can’t turn to the lobbyists and the multinational corporations and the millionaires and the billionaires to help me. They’re the ones who want me out, because I am unbought and unbossed.
I have only one chance at political survival: You.
You can count on me. And now I have to count on you. Will you help? Yes? Then click here.
Courage,
Rep. Alan Grayson
I love great art, no matter the medium.