Deeper Than a Soundbite
Harrison Statement concerning the DCCC spreading false rumors
The problem with the DCCC is that it's set up like a corporate special interest but with the ability to make unlimited, multi-million dollar contributions to candidates of its choice. This puts it in a unique position not only to influence voters but also to coerce Democratic candidates to support the DCCC's agenda. That agenda seems to be preservation of the Democratic power structure in Washington rather than the interests of the voters.
To a degree this problem was self-checked by the DCCC's supposed policy of neither endorsing nor funding in a primary. This allowed the candidates to run and the people of a district to democratically choose their candidate without the DCCC's "outsider" influence. Theoretically, the DCCC's funding decisions in the general election would then be made based on its evaluation of a candidate's post-primary electability, not his or her ideology, which would have been chosen by the district voters.
The DCCC now seems to have cast off any pretense of neutrality during primaries, going so far as to seek out, endorse and help fund candidates of their choosing, for their purposes. This raises the specter of DCCC endorsees running negative ads against decent, loyal Democratic opponents. This is an anti-democratic approach to democracy and it violates the core values of fairness and justice held dear by our party.
For all practical purposes the DCCC is purchasing blocks of congressional seats for the benefit of Washington insiders rather than promoting the election of diversified Democrats individually responsive to the needs of their unique districts.
I see this at work in my own district where die-hard elected progressives have inexplicably fallen in line behind a DCCC endorsed blue-dog Democrat rather than a credible progressive. The dynamics of this race are such that any Democratic nominee is likely to be elected. So why not let the people of the district decide the nominee? Is it because the blue dog is perceived as a compliant political insider willing to "go along to get along" in Washington?
I believe this shows the need for passage of a Clean Elections Law to take the money out of politics. It makes no difference if the money is coming from an oil company, an oil company PAC, a political party or a party PAC. Large dollars will always tend to have a corrupting influence on even the best of candidates. We must remove that influence freeing our elected officials to represent their constituents independently.
March 20, 2008
Good afternoon, I'm Steve Harrison and I'm running for Congress here in Brooklyn and across the bridge in Staten Island.
We've chosen to hold our press conference today at Victory Memorial to discuss healthcare...the potential closings of this hospital and several Staten Island clinics...inadequate hospital coverage in this neighborhood and the fact that Staten Island is the only borough without a New York City hospital... and, most importantly, the need for single-payer universal health coverage.
I want to start this conference in a place you would not expect. Iraq. This week is the 5th anniversary of the Iraq war. The Bush administration has not articulated a rationale for the continuation of this war. The current objective is not clear and the original reasons given by the Bush administration for the war were proven false. Why they were false -- lies or incompetence -- is beside the point. They were false nonetheless. There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Iraq was not responsible for 9/11. So there is no basis to continue. This is why I call for the immediate withdrawal of forces consistent with our troops' safety.
The Iraq War is one of the costliest mistakes in U.S. history...
Costly in lives lost or forever negatively altered...Over 4000 US and coalition casualties...More than a million Iraqi deaths that can be contributed to the conflict. Close to 30,000...American troops wounded.
Costly in money...More than 500 billion dollars since the war's start. And that's only the direct costs. The costs to disrupted military lives due to lost income, deferred maintenance to infrastructure and the like put the cost of this war in the trillions.
That half -trillion we squandered on Iraq since 2003 which continues today, would have gone long way toward providing health insurance coverage to the close to 95,000,000 uninsured and underinsured Americans. My friends at the Progressive Democrats of America... the P-D-A..., have coined the perfect phrase to change our government spending priorities... "Healthcare not Warfare
U.S. healthcare costs are more than 2 trillion annually, approximately $6500 for every man woman and child. There are around 45 million Americans with no health insurance and 50 Million only with partial coverage. People without health insurance die more often than those with insurance. There are 18,000 lives lost annually that could be saved. These are REAL people, enough to fill Madison Square Garden.
And this is not surprising. If you can't pay for healthcare you don't get it. You become more vulnerable to illness. When you become ill you seek help and wind up getting inferior care that we all pay for through our tax dollars.
Kellie Brown is a 21 year old college student studying Physical Therapy. A leg infection prevented her from walking.
Her infection spread throughout her leg. She couldn't initially see a doctor concerning this because school was out and she wasn't able to use campus healthcare resources until it reopened two weeks later. She couldn't see a private doctor because she couldn't afford health insurance.
Her condition became worse during that interval. She had a potentially fatal MRSA bacterial infection. She couldn't afford the MRSA tests, so the campus physician covered the cost but the leg won't heal for another 6 months. She's aghast at the prospect of another serious illness. She says "I hope I don't have to be cast away to die all because I can't afford health insurance."
We've gotten to the point in our nation where average people like Kelli can't afford health insurance. Worse, Americans used to rely on employer funded health plans. But now even the employers cannot afford to pay for the insurance so they drop it altogether. The effect of that is enormous. The employee loses twice. First, the benefit is taken away and then the employee has to pay for insurance out of his or her own pocket.
The cost of healthcare in America is obscene. It's the result of the greed and lobbying of the insurance and pharmaceutical special interests. And the resulting lack of insurance threatens institutions like Victory Memorial here in Brooklyn and Richmond University Medical in Staten Island with extinction.
My opponent last election cycle and again this November, New York City's only House Republican, Vito Fossella, recently helped persuade the state government to release funds to pay Victory Memorial salaries until its scheduled closing in June. That's a good thing and I applaud that effort. This community has fought hard to keep Victory open and it should. I supported that effort on Community Board 10. As long as Victory remains open, there is hope so that struggle should continue. But that struggle cannot mask the underlying healthcare crisis. A congressperson has the potential too do much more . But Congressman Fossella won't because he can't.
All too often, special interests determine how Fossella votes. The insurance industry has contributed nearly $300,000 to Fossella and the pharmaceutical industry close to 60,000. Is it surprising that Fossella would vote their way and against the interests of Staten Island and Brooklyn residents?
The American Insurance Association gives Congressman a perfect score, while the American Public Health Association, the nation's largest and oldest public health advocacy group has twice given him a score of zero over the last five years...as well as a score of 12 and two scores in the mid fifties. In 2007 he ranked third lowest in New York's 29 member Congressional delegation.
The insurance and pharmaceutical industries control this country's healthcare policy agenda by using their purse strings to influence legislators like Fossella. That's why healthcare costs Americans so much money. Healthcare comprises 16 percent of our Gross Domestic Product and is projected to approach 20 percent. It's very big business and very big money and the corporate interests want to keep it that way. I don't. Healthcare is a human right not a privilege. The health and comfort of no American should be held hostage to the profit motive. We must take care of our sick and infirm or we as a nation are lost.
The hospital next to us is scheduled to close. Staten Island's Richmond University, a hospital on financial life support, is closing three clinics including a HIV/Aids center. The entire hospital could close. This section of Brooklyn has inadequate hospital coverage and Staten Island doesn't even have a New York City hospital and is dangerously close to having only one hospital...period. All, to a large degree, because of the high cost of healthcare.
Fossella asked Staten Island University Hospital to take over the Richmond University Hospital clinics scheduled to close. Again, that's good. But it's another Band-Aid approach. A congressman can do much more, but Fossella won't.
There is only one RIGHT solution to lower the cost and increase the availability and quality of healthcare. And because the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, who support Vito, will fight this with all of their resources, Vito Fossella will never support it.
The solution is SINGLE PAYER UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE. Are you with me?
The special interests have spread lies about universal health coverage. They say it's too expensive. They say single payer is socialized medicine. It's neither.
According to the respected New England Journal of Medicine, single payer coverage would save us 300 billion in administrative costs. Currently in the US, between 11 and 30% of each health care dollar goes to administrative costs - the cost of the doctor filling out the form, the cost of the insurance company's staff. It goes to paper pushing and sometimes obscene insurance company profits.
Single payer consolidates all these procedures into one non-profit entity. The doctors do not work for the entity like in a socialized system. They simply submit their bills to the single payer like they do now but in a much simpler way.
There will be one form for doctors, no forms for patients. Show your card, give the healthcare provider your number and walk out. The cost will free physicians to practice medicine rather than sign forms. In Canada the administrative costs are about 4%. That kind of savings here plus huge savings from the bulk purchasing power of the single payer for drugs would put us on a path to an annual $400,000,000 savings and allow us to insure every woman, man and child in the nation.
A family of four currently spends around $4200 on premiums and medical services. This does not include Medicare charges. Under Michigan Congressman John Conyers' Universal Single Payer bill...HR 676, which I support in principle, these costs are reduced to $2700.
Businesses also save under Single Payer. Businesses who pay health insurance currently contribute $11,500 towards a family of four's premiums. Under the Conyers plan business pay only about $2700 to the single payer.
The special interests like spreading the myth that universal coverage will remove choice or force rationed care. That's wrong, what we have now restricts choice and rations care.
HMOs tell patients which doctors they can see and when. Insurance company's turn down coverage of pre-exiting conditions and often refuse to cover life saving procedures.
Necessary, medication is often prohibitively expensive. People without adequate insurance often have one choice, which is no choice, to choose not to seek medical care. The Insurance industry hurts those who need help the most. Real people...
Marcy Horner has a 19 year old daughter with Sickle Cell Anemia. Her daughter is uninsured because it's a pre-existing condition. They don't qualify for Medicaid because she and her husband have IRAs. Their sole source of income are the disability checks her husband receives because of a head injury. Marcy dropped her personal insurance because they couldn't afford health care premiums on their limited income.
Under single payer coverage Marcy would be able to see a doctor and she would be able to choose any doctor she wished. Physicians and hospitals would be paid by the Single Payer Plan the way they are currently paid by private insurance and government sources. Medical care decisions would be made by doctors and patients...not insurance companies not the government. There would be no care rationing.
When I'm elected to Congress, I will make Single Payer Healthcare a legislative priority. I will also fight to insure that Staten Island and Southwest Brooklyn residents have adequate health care options, securing funding and using my bully pulpit to prevent hospital and clinic closings. Thank you very much.
Background: Feminist Gloria Steinem recently endorsed and served as an honorary host of a fundraiser for Steve. Critics asked him to renounce that endorsement in reaction statements she made regarding McCain's military service not automatically qualifying him for the presidency. Steve refused to do so.
Statement:
I honor and admire the service of Senator John McCain and I always have. I believe that his service to country and grace under confinement are factors, among many, that can be weighed in determining who is best qualified to be our next president. But, as was true with the Democratic nominee in 2004, military service is only one of many factors to be considered. If military service were the sole determinant of presidential timber, then George Bush is unqualified for the position. Like Gloria Steinem, I believe that both Democratic presidential candidates are better qualified to lead our nation than the Arizona Senator. But the fact that we do not support Sen. McCain's candidacy is not inconsistent with honor for his service.
I honor and admire Gloria Steinem for her leadership in the struggle to give women their full rights as Americans. In that leadership she promoted not only women's rights but contributed to the larger quest for equality and justice for all. Clearly, America is a better place because of Ms. Steinem's contributions and courage. I do not read her comments as disparaging Senator McCain or his military service. She only states that his service alone is not enough for him to lead the nation.
Over the past two centuries millions of soldiers have fought and died defending American values ensconced in the Constitution. One of those values is the right of free speech. I will not cast Ms. Steinem aside for exercising that right concerning Senator McCain's candidacy. After all, had Ms. Steinem not wielded free speech so deftly on behalf of women during the past four decades, it is likely that American woman would still be cast in the role of second class citizens. None of us should want that.
***
February 7, 2008
You may recall the Kris Kristofferson song sung by Janice Joplin, "Bobby Magee."
It's most memorable line goes "Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose".
It was a most engaging lyric in the sixties when an entire generation of counter culture hippies were encouraged to "tune in, turn on and drop out." Those same hippies soon turned in their bell bottoms for tailored suits. As they stand on the cusp of retirement the notion of "nothing left to lose" as a synonym for freedom is so much dust.
Oddly it is George Bush and his conservative minions - like Vito Fossella - who have preserved the "nothingness as freedom" mantra and pushed it to new heights. Over ten years Bush, Fossella and company have done their level best to make sure middle class and poor Americans, and America itself, are as "free" of things as possible.
Consider the following list of items that we no longer have. This is the great wasteland - the nothingness - of the Bush/Fossella administration
We have:
No money. No budget surplus. No jobs. No mortgages. No homes. No affordable housing. No support for labor. No union card check off. No enforced prevailing wage. No fair wages. No pensions. No OSHA. No manufacturing. No fair trade policy to protect American jobs. No fair immigration policy to protect American jobs.
No healthcare for the masses. No health research for the future. No AIDS research. No stem cell research. No trustworthy pharmaceutical companies. No affordable private healthcare insurance.
No fair taxes on the rich and corporations. No corporate restraint on executive compensation.
No energy. No oil. No alternative energy sources. No plan to find future energy. No lack of interest by the oil companies to drill in ANWR and off the coast. No shame in an administration that cuts oil company taxes when they rake in record profits. .No shame in our oil companies that accept tax cuts while raking in record profits.
No Clean Water act. No Clean Air act. No Kyoto Protocol. No lack of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. No more glaciers in Greenland. No ice cap in the arctic. No tuna in the Atlantic. No lobsters in Long Island sound. No scallops in Peconic Bay. No fisherman in Gravesend Bay. No frogs anywhere.
No fast way off Staten Island. No fast ferries. No subways. No fast buses. No comprehensive plan for Island transportation.
No safe bridges. No safe roads. No safe toys. No safe food. No safe flights.
No child allowed to learn. No teacher allowed to teach. No school with enough teachers.
No equal pay for women. No marriage equality for gays and lesbians. No confidence that this Supreme Court will uphold Roe v. Wade. No confidence that this Supreme Court will support affirmative action. No fourth amendment rights. No protection from torture. No Habeas Corpus. No right to an attorney. No right to remain silent. No presumption of innocence. No freedom from profiling. No guarantee our President will follow the law and uphold the Constitution he promised to preserve, protect and defend when sworn in.
No restraint on campaign spending. No fair playing field to keep the rich from buying political office. No reasonable ethics rules in Congress or the senate.
No friends left in the world. No Spanish allies. No German allies. No British allies. No French allies. No Venezuelan allies. No Canadian allies.
No weapons of mass destruction. No competent Iraqi government. No competent Iraqi military. No plan to stay in Iraq. No plan to get out of Iraq.
No support for our troops in Iraq. No benefits for our troops who return from Iraq. No proper health plan or other benefits for our vets. No GI bill worth its salt for our vets. No cemetery for our vets.
No solid plan for Afghanistan. No discernable foreign policy for China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Israel, Palestine, Darfur or Sudan.
No Osama bin Laden!
We need a President and a Congress that understand this: freedom is promoted by a government that cares and is seen as caring. Freedom is secured by a government committed to the fair distribution of resources, rights and respect.
Kristofferson, Bush and Fossella are wrong. Freedom is NOT another word for nothing left to lose. Freedom is defined by a vision of boundless tangible and intangible treasures to gain. Freedom is built on the hopes and aspirations of people. It is this freedom that we Democrats will bring back to the people on November 3, 2008.
Thank you.
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