tammy baldwin

Adam Green talked about the work of his Progressive Change Campaign Committee, and the organization’s agenda for the 113th Congress.*He also outlined what progressives would like to see from President Obama in his second term.

When Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren and the rest of the 2013 class of liberal senators start work this month, they’ll have to do more than figure out the byzantine ways of getting things done in Washington. They’ll also have to decide how seriously to engage a progressive movement that sees their assent a historic opportunity to shift the Democratic Party to the left.

“The cavalry is arriving,” said Adam Green, cofounder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “A lot of news coverage after the election focused on Democrats winning two seats, but the big story for us is the composition of the Democratic caucus has moved in a massively progressive direction.”

Congress will soon begin deliberating on a debt deal, and many on the right and their corporate backers are exploiting the situation to argue for a “Grand Bargain” that would cut both Social Security and the corporate tax rate.

In an interview with a local television station, Wisconsin Senator-elect Tammy Baldwin (D) argued against including Social Security in these discussions, saying that it “shouldn’t even be on the table”:

BALDWIN: With regard to Social Security, Social Security is in no way contributing to our deficit and debt, and shouldn’t even be on the table for the discussion about where we move forward from here.

Watch it:

Indeed, Social Security is a self-funded program Ai??that isAi??currently projected to beAi??fully solventAi??until the year 2037. After that, it is expected to be able to pay out 75 percent of benefits until 2084, which basically equals full benefits, once inflation isAi??accounted for. There is no threat of the program running out of money any time soon.Ai??Ai??We could make it solvent far into the future if weAi??simply raised the payroll tax capAi??ai??i?? meaning that income above $106,000 would be taxed just like income below that amount is. It does not add to the deficit nor take funds from the general treasury.

Recall that Progressive Change Campaign Committee members were integral to Baldwin’s election. We made 92,000 calls for her and also raised more than $55,000 for her campaign.

Want to stay up to date on the fight for a balanced approach to the deficit and economy? Sign up for to get e-mail updates using the form above or below.

Show your support for a progressive alternative to the “Grand Bargain” that cuts Social Security and Medicare by clicking here to add your name as a “citizen supporter” of Elizabeth …

Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin, long a voice for economic justice, peace, and equality for all, has just been elected the first openly-lesbian U.S. Senator in American history.

Our members made 92,000 calls for Baldwin. We also raised more than $55,000 for her campaign. Through our blogging and press outreach, we revealed how her opponent Tommy Thompson went to bat for the corporate clients at the lobbying firm he worked at.

PCCC co-founder Stephanie Taylor has the following statement on Baldwin’s election:

Ai??Tammy Baldwin’s win is a huge grassroots victory for anyone who cares about Medicare and Social Security. Tommy Thompson said that he would “do away” with Medicare and Social Security, but voters chose to “do away” with Tommy Thompson instead. We are proud that our members chipped in over $55,000 to Tammy Baldwin’s campaign, and made over 92,000 calls to voters in Wisconsin.

Want to continue to elect bold progressives like Tammy Baldwin and then fight for a more progressive America? Sign up with your e-mail address at the top to stand with over 950,000 other progressives who are members of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

We also hope you’ll bookmark www.thedailychange.org, our blog that you are reading right now. We’ll keep you updated on the fight for economic justice and a more progressive America.

LIVE RESULTS UPDATE: SIXTEEN PCCC CANDIDATES WINNING AND COUNTINGai??i??

Peter Shumlin (VT-GOV) re-elected. (26,000 PCCC calls)

Chris Murphy (CT-SEN) elected. (41,000 PCCC calls)

Bernie Sanders (VT-SEN) re-elected. ($53,000 raised)

Sheldon Whitehouse (RI-SEN) re-elected. (10,000 PCCC calls, over 1,000 grassroots donations)

Alan Grayson (FL-HOUSE) elected. (216,577 PCCC calls,Ai??$56,684 raised)

Lois Frankel (FL-HOUSE) elected. (230,522 PCCC calls, nearly 3,000 contributions)

Elizabeth Warren (MA-SEN) elected. (570,000 PCCC calls, $1.1 million raised)

Tammy Baldwin (WI-SEN) elected. (92,000 PCCC calls, $55,000 raised)

Sherrod Brown (OH-SEN) elected. (79,000 PCCC calls, $36,000 raised)

Mark Pocan (WI-HOUSE) elected. (34,090 PCCC …

Tommy Thompson

Bold progressive Tammy Baldwin is on the cusp of history — she may soon be the first openly-gay Senator in American history.

Her opponent Tommy Thompson — who spent the past few years getting rich working at a D.C. lobbying firm — made a crass joke last night on the eve of the election. He joked that a deer one of his campaign cars hit was “named Tammy Baldwin”:

Thompson joked while talking to workers at the La Crosse steel fabricator that he got a deer even before the season opener. Actually it was one of his campaign cars; he said he was riding in the bus behind it when the crash happened early Sunday near Shawano. ai???Nobody was hurt,ai??? he said. ai???It did a lot of damage. I think the deer was named Tammy Baldwin, but Iai??i??m not sure.ai???

Are you voting in Wisconsin today? If you witness any election irregularities or voter suppression, send us a tip about it at tips@boldprogressives.org. Or tweet it at us @boldprogressive.

We’re making final phone calls to voters to elect bold progressives like Elizabeth Warren. Click here to sign up.

Tommy Thompson

Wisconsin Senate Republican candidate Tommy Thompson made a lot of money since formally leaving the government. Shortly after leaving the Bush Administration, he went to work for a major lobbying firm advising health care corporations, essentially selling his government connections.
At a recent campaign stop, Thompson offered a condescending explanation for why he decided to pass through the revolving door and sell his government experience to corporations after leaving office:

THOMPSON: I left the government after 4 years after George Bush got elected the first time. And my wife likes to shop. And she said, ‘You know, Tommy, you’ve been in politics for 38 years. Why don’t you go out and see if you can make some decent money so I can go shopping without having to put everything on a credit card.’

Watch it:

It’s offensive for Thompson to blame his wife for his decision to join a powerful lobbying firm after leaving office.

Wisconsin needs a Senator who can own up to their own decisions.

Click here to sign up to make calls for Tammy Baldwin, his bold progressive challenger.

Tommy Thompson

Wisconsin Republican Senate candidate Tommy Thompson loves the Keystone pipeline. He always promotes it at campaign stops and debates. But what he doesn’t tell you is the D.C. lobbying firm he worked at was quietly paid to lobby for it.

In January of this year, Thompson resigned his position at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP (known in shorthand as “Akin Gump”). While there, his chief duty was to provide public policy advising to health care corporations. Essentially, he was an unregistered lobbyist corresponding with many of the same corporations that he regulated as Bush’s Health and Human Services Secretary.

But Akin Gump is a huge law and lobbying firm. It has many clients in every sector. One of the firm’s clients that signed on one month before Thompson resigned his position was Houston, Texas’s Qanta Services.

Qanta services was selected one month prior (in November) to be Canadian energy company TransCanada’s partner in building the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.

Qanta’s contract specifically lists the Keystone XL Pipeline as the issue that it hired Akin Gump to lobby on. Here’s a screenshot from the disclosure document (click it to get a larger version):

As we noted earlier, Akin Gump is a huge lobbying firm. It has literally hundreds of clients and many of them that are not asking for registered lobbying do not have to disclose their connection to the firm at all.

We have no idea what other corporate interests Thompson’s former firm may be asking him to advocate for. We just know that he spent all of his time between his service in the Bush administration and now working for various corporate interests, helping …

Mark Pocan

Here’s a special message from Mark Pocan, a Wisconsin State Assembly member and openly-gay bold progressive candidate for Congress:

When Tammy Baldwin became the first openly-gay American elected to Congress as a non-incumbent,Ai??her victory was a historic breakthrough.

It allowed other openly-gay people to seek public office without fear — people like me.

In less than one week, we could make history againAi??with Tammy Baldwin becoming the first openly-gay senator. And if myself and others like Mark Takano get elected, we could send the largest LGBT delegation to Congress in history.

Can you help us achieve history by donating $3 to Tammy Baldwin and Mark Takano’s campaign today? ]

YES! Great progressives in Congress vs. a cup of coffee. Easy choice!

No. But happy to volunteer from home. Show me the call shifts for them later today and this week.

Mark Takano is a friend and has already provided great value to his local California community as a teacher. I’m proud of him for making the decision to run for Congress — he calls himself “openly gay and openly progressive.”

All of us will oppose cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits. We want strong government investment in jobs. And we support real accountability for Wall Street.

PCCC members have already made thousands of calls for our campaigns, and today will be a big day.

Please click here to sign up to make calls from home today and this week.Ai??And know that you have our thanks.

(Or, chip in a few dollars to Tammy and Mark’s campaigns.)

Thanks for being a bold progressive.

Tommy Thompson

As bold progressive Elizabeth Warren said in her speech at the Democratic National Convention, “Republicans say they don’t believe in government. Sure they do. They believe in government to help themselves and their powerful friends.”

Case in point: Wisconsin Republican Senate nominee Tommy Thompson. At a Tea Party rally this past weekend, Thompson addressed the crowd about the virtues of self-reliance and individualism:

THOMPSON: The Constitution says We The People, not We The Government! […] Read the Constitution, Mr. President. We the people! We built it ourselves!

Watch it:

But as Thompson attacked the public sector and preached self-reliance, what he didn’t mention was that he personally has made millions of dollars off of taxpayers.

To start with, practically his entire career has been in government. Shortly after completing law school in 1966, he ran for Wisconsin State Assembly. He won, and cycled between a series of government jobs, ranging from Governor of Wisconsin to George W. Bush’s Health and Human Services Secretary.

After leaving Bush’s cabinet, he joined the private sector — sort of. He worked for the powerful lobbying firm Akin Gump, and worked to advise health care corporations and how they could make as much as possible off of the U.S. government. He became president of the health care form Logistics Health Incorporated, and got an $11 million government contract to manage health care for 9/11 first-responders — which his company bungled.

Given the fact that he’s spent nearly his entire life in government and that his few short years out of it basically consisted of figuring out how to help corporations profit off of the government, Thompson is the last person who should be lecturing anyone on the virtues of the free market and self-reliance.

Tell Thompson he …

Tommy Thompson

Wisconsin Senate Republican candidate and health care profiteer Tommy Thompson is getting desperate. He has launched a new television ad attacking his bold progressive opponent Tammy Baldwin as unpatriotic because she voted against a resolution commemorating the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2006.

But in criticizing Baldwin, Thompson is obscuring an important fact about the resolution Baldwin voted against. The resolution didn’t just honor 9/11’s victims and commemorate the attacks, it was heavily politicized and included support for Republican legislation that harmed civil liberties. Here’s a portion of the resolution that Republicans inserted and that had nothing to do with honoring 9/11’s victims:

Whereas Congress passed, and the President signed, numerous laws to assist victims, combat the forces of terrorism, protect the Homeland and support the members of the Armed Forces who defend American interests at home and abroad, including the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 and its 2006 reauthorization, the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002, the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002, and the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004;

As you can see, the resolution included support for the highly controversial USA PATRIOT Act, which many people across the political spectrum view as an attack on American civil liberties. It also included support for various immigration bills that were hotly-debated at the time.

The insertion of this section into the bill had nothing to do with remembering those America lost on 9/11. They simply served to politicize the legislation and make it supportive of Republican priorities.

Furthermore, Baldwin has voted repeatedly for bills that honored 9/11’s victims. For example, last year she voted to “award three Congressional Gold Medals in honor of the victims …

Tommy Thompson’s health “reforms” are ones we already have.

Last night, bold progressive Tammy Baldwin and Tommy Thompson held a debate over the race for Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate seat. At one point, Baldwin called out Thompson for signing a pledge that he would never vote for a tax increase ai??i?? even on the wealthiest Americans and corporations.

Thompson responded by saying “that’s just a falsehood” and denied ever signing the pledge. Watch it:

The pledge being referenced is Washington lobbyist Grover Norquist’s so-called “Taxpayer Protection Pledge,” which he uses his organization Americans for Tax Reform to enforce (ATR).

Here’s a page from ATR’s website boasting that Thompson had signed the pledge, one that even his tea party primary opponent Eric Hovde had refused to sign.

A quick tip for Thompson: stop deceiving voters about your record. A few days ago, Thompson claimed to not even remember a speech he gave where he said that as a state legislator he would adopt legislation from corporate front group ALEC word for word. Lies like that just aren’t going to withstand scrutiny.

Send Thompson a message. Click here to pitch in a few dollars to support Baldwin.

Tommy Thompson’s health “reforms” are ones we already have.

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a powerful corporate-funded group that works to secretly pass Big Business-friendly legislation in state legislatures around the country. It is the same group that is responsible for the proliferation of voter suppression and “Shoot First” laws.

Here’s how powerful the group is. Former Wisconsin governor and state legislator Tommy Thompson — who’s currently running for a Senate seat in the state — once told an ALEC conference that he’d “loved going to these meetings because I always found new ideas. Then Iai??i??d take them back to Wisconsin, disguise them a little bit, and declare that ai???Itai??i??s mine.” With that sentence Thompson basically admitted that he’d take corporate-written ALEC bills and work to pass them without anyone ever knowing their origin.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s watchdog blogger Dan Bice recently attended a Thompson campaign event and asked him about his remarks about ALEC. Thompson, clearly not knowing how to answer, shook his head and claimed he didn’t remember the words. Watch it:

It’s shameful that Thompson is refusing to talk about his servitude to ALEC and its corporate agenda. The voters of Wisconsin need a senator who will be honest about where the legislation he or she is advocating for comes from.

ALEC doesn’t need its own Senator. Click here to sign up to make calls for his bold progressive opponent Tammy Baldwin.

Tommy Thompson’s health “reforms” are ones we already have.

The Milwaukee-Journal Sentinel has an odd headlineit just published about the Wisconsin Senate race: “Thompson wins business support, criticizes Baldwin on jobs record.” The “business” group that article is referring to is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a powerful corporate front group based in Washington, D.C.

It’s ironic that Thompson would tout its support while criticizing Baldwin’s record on jobs. The Chamber has been responsible for pioneering the political push for every “free trade” agreement and tax break for outsourcing that’s out there. Here’s a small rundown:

The Chamber Pushed For And Celebrated NAFTA: The Chamber spearheaded the push for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), saying that it would help the U.S. “stay competitive” with Europe and Asia. It later celebrated the agreement during its fifteenth anniversary, saying it has had “remarkable results.” In 2005, the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute estimated that Wisconsin was one of the ten states hit hardest by NAFTA, and lost at least 25,000 jobs as a result of the agreement.
The Chamber Led The Charge For New “Free Trade” Agreements With Panama, Colombia, And South Korea: The Chamber’s lobbyists were on the front lines of fighting for these job-killing trade deals, and one of its staffers even argued that even though Colombia has more assassinations of union leaders than the rest of the world combined, that it’s a safe country for labor.
The Chamber Defends Tax Breaks For Outsourcing: Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) introduced a bill to kill tax breaks for moving investment overseas — and to introduce a tax credit to entice companies to bring jobs back to the U.S. –but the Chamber opposed it, and it was killed by …

Tammy Baldwin is raising more money than her corporate-friendly challenger, and she’s doing it all through the grassroots

Earlier today, we reported that bold progressive Elizabeth Warren has out-raised incumbent Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) by over $4 million. And she’s doing it with the power of grassroots donors, as opposed to Brown, who is relying on the financial industry for his support.

Now, numbers are out in the Wisconsin Senate race and they show that fellow progressive Tammy Baldwin is leading her right-wing challenger Tommy Thompson:

Based on statements released by Republican Tommy Thompsonai??i??s and Democrat Tammy Baldwinai??i??s campaigns Monday, the congresswoman from Madison has the lead.

Baldwin raised $4.5 million from July 1 through Sept. 30 and had $3.4 million to spend at the beginning of October, according to her campaign. Thompson raised $3.6 million during the third quarter of 2012, with more than $2.2 million of it collected since he won the Aug. 14 Republican primary. He had nearly $2 million, his camp said, to begin the final push.

Let’s dig into the numbers a little bit. Baldwin’s top donors are the members of EMILY’s List. Thompson’s top donor is Centene Corporation, a medical firm where Thompson served as a board member. More than a quarter of his top twenty donors are health care corporations and pharmaceutical giants, while not a single health care profiteer ranks as a top donor to Baldwin.

Baldwin is winning the fundraising race by tapping the grassroots, while Thompson is calling on the very same donors who he worked for as Bush’s Health and Human Services Secretary, when he cut a sweetheart deal with Big Pharma that cost Americans $20 billion year.

Help Baldwin across the finish line. Chip in a few dollars to her campaign by …

PCCC plans to make hundreds of thousands of calls for Elizabeth Warren’s Massachusetts Senate race. Another top priority is Alan Grayson’s House race in Florida. Call Out The Vote will also help Sen. Sherrod Brown’s re-election effort in Ohio and Tammy Baldwin’s Senate campaign in Wisconsin. On the House side, calls will go out for Rob Zerban, who is trying unseat Paul Ryan, Annie Kuster’s campaign in New Hampshire, and several other progressive candidates.

One of the most prominent progressive groups in the country is launching a major voter outreach effort on behalf of 20 congressional campaigns, calling it the “crown jewel” of its election functions. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee hopes to place one million phone calls to targeted voters through the effort, named “Call Out The Vote.”

Tommy Thompson’s has some really odd corporate donors.

As we told you this weekend, Wisconsin Republican Senate candidate Tommy Thompson is a health care profiteer. While serving as the Bush Administration’s Health and Human Services Secretary, he cut a sweetheart deal with Big Pharma that cost taxpayers $20 billion a year, and then left to go profit off of a variety of health care interests.

One of the — let’s say, creepier — clients that Thompson had was the Verichip Corporation (which is now known as PositiveID). This corporation — which was a subsidiary of Applied Digital, which installed Thompson on its board shortly after he left government — specialized in producing microchips that are implanted into humans for various reasons.

Here’s a 2007 CNBC clip where Thompson went on TV to shill for Verichip and the benefits of implanting human beings with microchips. He even promised to get one himself (to our knowledge, he never followed through):

The makers of these human microchips are paying Thompson back for his propaganda work. Verichip is actually Thompson’s eleventh-biggest single donor.

Thompson’s bold progressive opponent Tammy Baldwin could use your support. Chip in a few dollars to help Baldwin get elected.

Tommy Thompson’s health “reforms” are ones we already have.

On Monday, Wisconsin Republican Tommy Thompson and bold progressive Tammy Baldwin debated about their competing visions for the country as they both run for the state’s Senate seat.

As Thompson continued to rail on the Affordable Care Act, one moderator asked him about his own vision for health care. The candidate went on to the normal Republican proverbs about the need for tort reform and other non-reforms, but also bizarrely mentioned that we need to be able to buy health insurance online:

THOMPSON: What I want Bob is I want a health care system that’s affordable…let’s base it on quality. Number 2, let’s allow individuals be able to purchase health insurance over the Internet. Be able to put in what they want in there. Number three let’s do away with the liability problems.

Watch Thompson’s response (it begins at 24:38):

It’d be interesting to know why exactly Thompson thinks purchasing health insurance over the Internet will make health care cheaper (is he confusing health insurance with Amazon.com deals on consumer products?), but what’s even more important to point out is that consumers are already getting that option. There are already websites where you can shop for quotes and then purchase insurance online and one of the main features of the Affordable Care Act that Thompson opposes is the provision of health insurance exchanges where people will be able to directly shop for insurance online.

As for tort reform, a number of states have already enacted it. When Texas did, it did absolutely nothing to reduce overall health care costs.

Tammy Baldwin has an actual solution — and not just gimmicks about online purchasing and tort reform — to the health care crisis. She …

In response to Tommy Thompson’s promise to end Medicare and Medicaid as we know them, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) has gotten involved in the U.S. Senate race backing Democratic candidate Tammy Baldwin. The PCCC, which has nearly 27,500 members in Wisconsin, was very active in the 2011 recall elections here in Wisconsin as one of the leading groups running TV ads and mobilizing voters in the state.