One of the biggest problems facing progressive Democrats right now are candidates willing to spout progressive rhetoric and cozy up to progressives on the campaign trail, but who don't govern as progressives once they are in office. As I believe we are now seeing in Pennsylvania, many Democratic candidates and party leaders seem all to willing to act in bad faith toward progressives if it helps them acquire or maintain power. They want our votes, but don't share our values.
It is a serious problem, because it nullifies much of the electoral and issue work we do. While no method of rooting out false progressive candidates is full-proof, a good indication is to check to see if a candidate has previously supported, or lobbied on behalf of, powerful corporate interests. Take, for example, a local candidate who lobbied for Verizon against net neutrality and for telecom immunity for warrentless wiretapping, but who is now running for office as a progressive. The candidate in question is Mark Keam, a man running for Virginia House of Delegates in the Democratic primary for an open seat on the slogan "Progressive Values. Common Goals."
More in the extended entry.
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To be elliptical for a moment, let me provide some background. One of the first projects Open Left engaged in was Legislation 2.0, a set of conversations with Senator Dick Durbin around net neutrality and broadband policy. Durbin promised he would have a wide-spread discussion around broadband, and then come out with legislation to implement a national broadband strategy. The first part of the deal happened, but Durbin never did come out with the legislation.
Interestingly, unlike most Democratic members of Congress, Durbin hasn't even come out for net neutrality. As you probably know, net neutrality is the regulation that protects the uncensored, self-publishing, full-access, low-cost Internet from telecom companies like Verizon. Such companies would like nothing more than to block websites like YouTube or Skype, so you are forced to buy their cable and phone services. However, as far as I can tell, Durbin has not come out in support of net neutrality yet, despite clear interest in the policy area and that he is typically one of the most reliable progressives in the Senate.
This is where Mark Keam comes in. For six years, Keam worked in Senator Durbin's office. Later, he was paid much more to work as a lobbyist for Verizon, a company that always has "progressive values" and "common goals" at heart. He is listed as a lobbyist for Verizon both in pushing against net neutrality, and on retroactive immunity to aid Bush's wiretapping. Keam he now claims that he had nothing to do with any of that, and he work for Verizon was all magically progressive despite being listed as a lobbyist in those areas.
It always amazes me how self-proclaimed progressive candidates who worked as corporate lobbyists never did anything but progressive work for those companies. And I'm sure that Keam also had nothing to do with Durbin never coming out with any of the legislation he promised, or even in favor of net neutrality. And I can tell that Keam believes his work for Verizon appeals strongly to progressives, because he left it off his bio page entirely:
In February 2007, Mark left Congress to join the private sector in the communications field where he began his legal career a dozen years earlier. In the same week, Barack Obama announced his candidacy for the President of the United States.
Apparently, it isn't important that Keam worked as a lobbyist for Verizon on some pretty odious legislation, just that he worked in "telecommunications." Oh--and it is also important that Barack Obama announced his candidacy for President the same week that Keam left Durbin's office to do this. Talk about a non-sequitor cover-up.
We need to do a better job of identifying and rooting out false progressives, whether they are Arlen Specter or Mark Keam. If you have chance tomorrow, please vote for someone else in Virginia's 35th. |
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