-- by Rep. Les GaraI need your help.
Together we can make this a progressive state again. It will take your volunteer energy. It will take donations to candidates who can change this state (please visit alaskahdcc.com). It will take letters to the editor (letters@adn.com). Simply, it will take all of us working together.
This election has brought a lot of attention, and a lot of great energy to Alaska. When I was first elected in 2003 I decided I was going to work to change this state for the better; and help replace old-time corporate-interest Republicans with Progressive legislators who'd fight for:
- universal health care;
- better wages;
- betters schools and a real pre-k education system; and for
- a real renewable energy policy.
This year there are thousands of Alaskans who have been calling for the same thing.
It will be a shame if we end our involvement in the blogosphere. Since I've been in the Legislature we've fought back from a 43 - 17 Republican majority to a bi-partisan coalition in the Senate, and only a slight Republican majority in the House. There are a lot of local campaigns that need your help if we are going to have a Progressive Alaska Legislature for the first time in almost 20 years.
How can you help? I chair the Democrats House candidate fund, HDCC (PLEASE DONATE at alaskahdcc.com). We try to raise funds for our candidates so they are not swept away by the Republican Party money that goes to their candidates. There is a similar Senate Democratic fund. If we cede a fundraising advantage to those on the republican side who rely on oil company and other corporate executive and PAC money, we cede the future of this state.
In 2006, for the first time in a decade, our efforts, and the Republicans' loss of their "giving" donors at VECO to a few little indictments, helped us raise as much money for our candidates as Randy Ruedrich raised for his.
We need to do this again this year!
So - want to help, even a little? Please donate. And please find your favorite candidate to volunteer for directly (or just call the Alaska Democratic Party at 258-3050, and ask for the candidate campaign coordinator, Heather Beaty). Just a few hours of your time would help.
As we talk to each other, spread great information between each other, and hope for a better future, let's also stand together, not only on national issues, but on issues right here at home too.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. And thanks to so many of you for all your work. Rep. Les Gara (lesgara@yahoo.com; 274-0730).
Oh, and legally I have to write this:
Paid for by the House Democratic Campaign Committee, 1241 W 27th Ave # 562, Anchorage, AK 99503-2318.
disclaimer - the manager of Progressive Alaska is Mat-Su Area and District 13 Alaska Democratic Party secretary
2 comments:
I believe Rep Gara is speaking of hope rather than reality in building the case for a progressive Alaska. Why I finally left my home state after 47 years was coming to understand that the economy dictates the culture.
In the case of Alaska, its primary sources of wealth creation are minerals, oil and gas, timber and fisheries, perhaps transportation links. These are not leading light industries for a progressive economy. These are not requisite generators of what is being hailed as the new civil society.
That this resource-driven cocktail has so often attracted a grab-the-money culture counter to the interests of a communitarian one should not be a surprise. It is precisely the problem of Alaska. It is a result of its sustainability compact for federal statehood admission in its very constitution.
It has not proven progressive. Sadly, Eddie Burke is right--Anchorage ain't 'Frisco. But how I and so many wish it could be.
Thanks, Les, for trying to make it better. All the best.
Jay and Gene, London
Does Les Gara support Israel?
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