PDS Meets Congressman Michael Capuano

Written by: Katherine Wallace on Jul 24, 2006 12:42 AM EDT

On May 8th Congressman Michael Capuano met with a group of about 40 members of PDS at the VNA building on Lowell Street. Our newly elected PDS Secretary Paula Stuart took the following notes during the meeting.

Katie Wallace welcomed Congressman Capuano on behalf of the group and each member present introduced themselves, specifying their roles in PDS (we had both of our founding members present that evening), their ward or neighborhood and other political affiliations (such as members of the City Committee, PDC, etc. State Representative Carl Sciortino and Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz were also present. Congressman Capuano was accompanied by his wife Barbara, his son Michael and Kate Auspitz of the congressman's staff

After introductions, Katie presented a brief history of PDS and how it was formed and what we have been involved in to date, including elections, caucus activities, endorsements, educational activities such as candidates forums and other events, and cooperative efforts with other agencies, and organizations.

Marty Martinez provided details of some of our organizing and education efforts.

(It was, when you heard it all together, an amazing list of accomplishments for such a young organization! - my editorial comment and personal opinion).

At Katie's suggestion, Mike then talked about what he's been working on in Washington and his efforts to help the party elect Democrats in other districts. He expressed how tiring it is to not only not be able to win an issue, but to be prevented from even presenting one. He provided a glimpse of how the party in the majority was able to manipulate the rules of debate and voting to make it very difficult to even present alternative ideas to those of the leadership.

He said that he's also found himself deeply involved in issues he didn't expect to be, such as the situation in Darfur. As a former Mayor he expected to be involved in domestic issues, rather than international ones, he said, but "Some issues come to you, you don't have to go looking for them"

Then the fun began as PDS members asked the Congressman questions ranging from divisions within the party to immigration laws to progressive vs. conservative voting patterns.

Mike talked about differences in even Democratic districts across the country. He noted that he had colleagues to whom he really can't discuss gun control because it was a deal breaker in that Rep's district. He noted that the same congressman was a staunch and effective ally on other progressive issues. He talked about needing to get 51% of the vote before you could change anything. He also talked about no one being anointed with the right answers.

In response to Mike's comment about not being afraid of the voters on issues, he was challenged with the example of a civil rights issue such as gay marriage, and whether that type of issue should be put to the voters. Mike's response was that now might not yet be the time for that vote to occur but that at some point, having the electorate vote to uphold those laws actually could make them stronger.

In answer to a question about whether deficit reduction was possible, he talked about the importance of paying for the services we want and balancing the budget. Noting that he believed we had to pay for the services we want and that voters needed to have the information to make some of those choices.

He referred to the divisions within the party as being "a family fight" a comment that generated some lively discussions after the formal meeting was over and folks were chatting in smaller informal groups.

In response to the question of what PDS could do to help elect Democrats, Mike talked about a couple of potential candidates in New Hampshire and the need to "get on a bus" and help with some of those campaigns. Katie noted that many PDS members had done just that for prior elections and would be willing to do so again. Mike promised to get back to us at the appropriate time.

The meeting ended a little after 8 pm but with a series of small discussions breaking out among members

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Location: Somerville, MA 02144