Janet Oleszek; our CHOICE for the Virginia State Senate
By: Next Generation Democrats
Published On: 5/1/2007 8:20:29 PM
Do you ever wish you had procrastinated just a little bit, because you learn something after the fact that would have made your work better? That happened to me today, before I read about Ken Cuccinelli's Complete Disregard for Women I sent out an e-mail talking about his desire to take away the rights of women (apparently, the very women he would like to completely "throw away")
Next Generation Democrats sent an e-mail today to our members (see e-mail below the speed bump) and we have gotten a fantastic response, everyone is fired up about Janet defeating Cuccinelli.
In fact, we sent out an e-mail to our national list (this first time many of these folks have heard of Janet or Ken), and raised over $750 for the Janet Oleszek for Senate campaign (in the past 9 hours), with only $150 coming from Virginia!
People are naturally drawn to Janet's progressive stances, and really put off by Cuccinelli's extremism.
Click Here Today to Contribute $37, $50, $100 or the most that you feel comfortable giving.
So, now I want to ask you, my fellow Raising Kaine community to step up and join our fellow progressives from Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Louisiana, Washington DC and of course Virginia in supporting Janet Oleszek's campaign for the State Senate.
I just wanted highlight out a few quick bullet points from the e-mail.
* Janet has been endorsed by EMILY's List and Virginia NOW.
* Cuccinelli received a ZERO Rating from BOTH Planned Parenthood and NARAL.
Click Here Today to Contribute $37, $50, $100 or the most that you feel comfortable giving.
Even if you are only able to contribute a small amount, it really adds up when joined with contributions of like minded progressives from around the country that understand what happens here in the 37th affects us all through redistricting (2007 is the last State Senate election before the 2010 census redistricting, and this is a pivotal seat in taking back the senate and ensuring a fair and representative process).
-Nate de la Piedra
Executive Director, Next Generation Democrats
Nate[at]ngdpac[dot]org
PS: If you want to get updates from NGD or learn about which candidates we're working with and why, sign up for our e-mail list (we send updates about 2-3 times a month)
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| Janet Oleszek; our CHOICE for the Virginia State Senate
As Progressive Democrats, we tend to focus more on the role of government in society and less on specific or wedge issues then our opponents on the extreme right. Yet, every so often there is a specific issue or campaign that must be addressed and must be able to count on our full support, and this is one of those times.
The 2007 race in Virginia's 37th State Senate District could affect the Commonwealth for generations to come and even has national implications. The Democratic nominee Janet Oleszek is running against the most conservative member of the General Assembly and just to make more exciting, control of the State Senate most likely rests with the victor of this seat.
Janet Oleszek is a Pro-Choice Progressive Democrat and proud of it! Janet has been endorsed by both EMILY's List and Virginia NOW. Her opponent State Senator Ken Cuccinelli, on the other hand is not. In fact Ken Cuccinelli has repeatedly introduced bills that would ban all abortions and even most forms of birth control! He even received a rating of ZERO from both Planned Parenthood and NARAL.
The rule of thumb in politics is don't mention your opponent by name, but I am breaking that rule because we all need to be aware of the fundamentalism and extremism that will continue to be in power should we fail to take action.
Janet Oleszek has a history of success but is going against a well groomed prot+¬g+¬ of Grover Norquist and his extremist buddies. Janet Oleszek has been a statewide leader of the PTA and is currently
serving as an At-Large Member of the Fairfax County School Board.
Janet won her school board race with the highest vote total any
Democrat has ever received. Perhaps even more impressively, Janet became the first female State Senate candidate ever to have $100,000 or more on hand at the end of the first quarter of the year. Yet, all this success may not be enough against an extremist with national allies. Let us stand behind Janet and provide her the help she needs to ensure a victory for the good guys this November.
Janet's victory would not only remove THE most conservative member of the State Senate, but would also provide one of the three seats needed to rest control of the State Senate from the Republican Party. Keeping in mind that this is the last State Senate election before redistricting in 2010, it is crucial that we take back control of at least one chamber of the State Legislature to ensure fair and proportional representation in both the Virginia General Assembly and in the Congressional Delegation that Virginia sends to Washington.
I hope that you will join me today in supporting Janet Oleszek so that together, we can defeat an extreme anti-choice legislature, and take back the Virginia State Senate.
Sincerely,
Nate de la Piedra,
Executive Director of Next Generation Democrats
Paid for and Authorized by Next Generation Democrats PAC. www.ngdpac.org
Not Authorized by Any Candidate or Candidate's Committee
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Comments
Huge Thank You to Everyone (Next Generation Democrats - 5/1/2007 8:47:36 PM)
Thanks to everyone's support, the Next Generation Democrats ActBlue page is now #3 on ActBlue's "Today's Hotlist" after Senator Edwards for President and BlogPAC, but ahead of Democracy For America.
You guys are awesome, keep on rocking in the free world.
We were not planning on making our next round of endorsements until June so as to not "throw too much" out there at once, but if this is the type of response we're gonna get, it may not be a bad thing.
So if the RK community manages to get the Next Generation Democrats ActBlue page up to #1, we will announce our endorsements early thus speeding up the assistance in terms of cash and staff to the next round of candidates.
-Nate
PS: ActBlue ranks hot pages based on number of individual donations.
Nate, I'm curious. (Lowell - 5/2/2007 2:58:38 PM)
How do you guys decide on endorsing candidates? Here at RK, we spent a great deal of time and thought on a process by which we would consider endorsing in intra-Democratic contests. I'm just wondering how you guys go about it. Thanks.
Watch for it soon (pitin - 5/2/2007 11:36:34 PM)
So I worked on school stuff for 14 hours straight and then thought I would write you a quick response.
Well, it's over a thousand words now, and I've gotten this question before. So in the next two days I will post on NGD's homepage (as static/non-frontpage) and here as a diary, so that candidates and just generally curious folks like yourself can read about the entire process, and even how we got to that process.
-Nate
Yes, Nate, I'm Also Wondering (Greg Bouchillon - 5/4/2007 5:49:48 PM)
How much does my candidate have to pay you in order to have you endorse them? Is $2000 the going rate (plus gas) or does it depend on the candidate?
Greg (pitin - 5/4/2007 6:07:18 PM)
you well know that I left Janet's campaign
before she ever got an NGD check. And that also my salary was directly paid by the caucus not here.
More interestingly, You came out with these false allegations a mere hours after I sent an e-mail to other bloggers asking if we should continue to link to you after you put up a post glorifying violence against minorities and laden with racial slurs, including spic and beaner.
For the rest of the readers not knowing what is going on, you can read about it here
If your salary was paid by the caucus (Greg Bouchillon - 5/4/2007 6:55:10 PM)
Why is it on Janet's report? Nate, your PAC isn't really adding up, and so far, I've seen you spin the purpose of your PAC four different ways, and change the age requirement.
wow, learn to read a report (pitin - 5/4/2007 7:13:31 PM)
I was in-kinded which means the donation is reported (in it's cash value, the $2,000 I was paid) with a matching expenditure so that the cash balance remains zero but the report shows the donation.
Oh hey Look at that!! (pitin - 5/4/2007 7:49:21 PM)
De La Piedro, Nathaniel G 2/2/2007 $2,000 Consulting
There I am on the VA Dem Senate caucus report. They misspelled my name, it's "de la Piedra" with an "a" not an "o", but don't worry it's still me.
You can see all for your at their VPAP page.
Hey Nate, thanks for helping Janet but... (Lowell - 5/4/2007 5:53:10 PM)
...isn't your group's mission to help Democratic candidates under the age of 40 (hence the name, "Next Generation Democrats"). Janet looks great, but I don't think she's under 40. :)
Lowell (pitin - 5/4/2007 6:11:05 PM)
actually we focus more on supporting young staff by providing earmarked contributions that must be spent to supplement the salaries of 1st and 2nd cycle staff.
We provide Janet's campaign with $250 a month (either raised or contributed) to supplement the market rate salary ($500 p/month) of her deputy field director.
You can read all about that too at the same link I gave greg, but here it is again in case you missed it.