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Standing up for our values.

Published: Mar 8, 2006 4:29 PM

By Jim Dean

If you are looking at this DFA website, it is probably because you want to change the way politics is conducted in this country so that we can elect people who put the voters first; and elect people who understand that public service means something more than being able to give away taxpayer owned assets to the highest bidder. If you are reading this, you probably know that the effort to restore this kind of integrity to our political process is a long-term commitment, and that it will take some time to rid ourselves of this current culture of incumbency that has so dishonored our democratic institutions.

Yesterday, we were further reminded that this battle is not an easy one. As you know we supported Ciro Rodriguez's run for Congress in theTexas 28th congressional district because Ciro Rodriguez stands for American values—a nation that must take care of our own, and a nation that must bring integrity back to Congress. Ciro was running against incumbent Democrat, Henry Cuellar who does not have these values. As of now, it appears that Henry Cuellar has won.

  • First and foremost, I extend my heartfelt thanks to all of you who donated your money and time to support Ciro. Few folks were paying attention to this race until our community got involved in it. We were early supporters of Ciro's campaign and, thanks to you, that helped make this challenger vs. incumbent battle a close race and one that garnered national attention for the fight to get real Democrats elected to office.

  • With Ciro getting 41% of the vote against an incumbent, your efforts once again demonstrated that, the ultimate victory in the battle to take our country back is no longer a matter of "if" but only a matter of when as long as we keep fighting. Thank you Ciro for showing all of us that we can do this, and we sure hope you will give us a chance to support you again in the future!

  • To our friends in other progressive organizations, particularly MoveOn, Latinos for Texas, and the Labor and environmental movements, I am grateful for all that you did to help Ciro's campaign and hope we will have a chance to work together again on getting real Democrats elected to office.

  • We fought hard in this race. We gave credibility to our beliefs that Democratic officeholders should act and vote like Democrats. I'd like to see our congressional leadership demand the same.

    Folks, whether it's Ciro Rodriguez's courageous campaign which has brought attention to the importance of a Democratic Party being faithful to it's values, whether it's Richard Morrison's campaign in 2004 that has made it possible for Nick Lampson to beat Tom Delay, or whether it's Christine Cegelis and Francine Busby's battle to bring integrity back to Congress in the upcoming elections on March 21 and April 11th respectively, we must take as much advantage of these opportunities as we can. We must do what we can to persuade voters, and to let the Democratic Party leaders understand that the future of our party lies not in the power of incumbency, but in the power of innovation and people like Ciro Rodriguez who are willing to stand up for real Democratic values.

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