As
it was in 2012
I made a point in disclosing who I donated money to in the upcoming election
campaign in part due to maintaining some credibility with my writing, give a
hand to get some Democrats elected in other states, and the Citizens United
decision.
I
wrote a paper on Citizens United for my American Legal Systems class in
college. It was not my best work. You can judge for yourself as
I have posted it and other papers I wrote in college online. I eventually
plan on re-writing it with updates and corrections.
Here
is who I am donating money to for the 2016 election cycle.
I
make it a point to not donate to any candidate running in primaries because it
takes away one valuable resource a campaign needs to function: money.
That
money can be used to defeat Republicans in the general election instead of
bludgeoning Democrats in a primary. Colorado’s primary for elections starting
with US Senate on downward are held in June and I donated another important resource:
time. I was part of the Leslie Herod campaign as a volunteer donating my time.
My
motivations for supporting Ms. Herod over her primary opponent was due to her
being a dedicated public servant, having an active presence in the Denver
community, and will bring that energy into the Colorado General Assembly when
she is sworn in as the next representative for State House District 8. We also
shared a couple of Facebook friends: Ms. Monica Roberts and Commander Zoe
Dunning.
I
value their opinions and if they know Ms. Herod and given their roles as leaders
in their respective communities then they see something in her that would be
beneficial to Colorado.
Now
that the primary has been long over in Colorado, the focus has long been on the
general election.
I
believe that whatever I can contribute can help regardless of the amount.
What
I am saying with my donations is this: “Here’s a couple of bucks; go get some
food for phonebankers, a case of water for blockwakers, or some office supplies
to make some posters.”
A
couple extra volunteers means more voters are contacted and the more voters
contacted could mean the difference in a key state.
If
you notice in my list, my donations are going to the top of the Democratic
ticket (Hillary Clinton), 13 senate races, the Colorado Democratic Party, two
US House races based in Colorado, and three Colorado legislative races.
Clinton
is obvious because the president gets to pick Supreme Court judges and other
judicial branch officials. However, it is moot when there is a Republican-led
Senate. You can ask President Obama and the stalemate between him and the Senate
over holding confirmation hearings for Merrick Garland, the justice that Obama
picked to replace the deceased Antoni Scalia.
I am
only giving money to the two House candidates in competitive races in Colorado.
I would love to give money to other House candidates but I believe that
flipping those two seats in Colorado is a start to put Democrats closer to a
House majority.
Since
being involved in politics for the last eight years (wow… it’s been that long)
I have come to the conclusion that it is those DOWNBALLOTS that matter the
most. This was a lesson learned from Omar Navarez, currently a member of the
Dallas school board. I remember at a Dallas Stonewall Democrats meeting he
said, “President Obama is going to give me (a gay Latino) my equality. But he’s
not going to fix the roads on Harry Hines Blvd.”
And
right there, I got it.
While
it does matter who occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in DC, I am just as
concerned about what happens at 200 East Colfax ZIP Code 80203 during an annual
120-day period that starts in January.
What
happens in the state legislature matters, probably has more impact on your own
life than what happens in DC. This was true in Texas in 2013 during the Davis
filibuster and the eventual passage of the state’s anti-abortion legislation
that was recently struck down by the Supreme Court in June. Many states have
imposed new laws to restrict access to the ballot and due to the Shelby County
decision three years ago have ramped up efforts to get those laws in place
prior to the 2016 election. North Carolina is the poster child of such laws
which the courts are doing what they can to strike down portions of those laws.
Speaking
of North Carolina, the state and many others have passed so-called “religious
freedom” laws in response to the Obergefell decision. Come 2017 you can count that
many Republican-controlled state legislatures will be introducing these North
Carolina style bills and the LGBT community and their allies will be fighting
back. As well as laws in response to the overturning of Texas’ anti-abortion
law, more laws to restrict access to the ballot box, and anything else the
rightwing desires.
One
last point
I
put my money where my mouth is.
PRESIDENT
SENATE
US HOUSE
COLORADO LEGISLATURE
ORGANIZATIONS
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