I donated to Democrats in 2016, so that means that the DCCC calls me about once a week to ask for money. I always tell them no, because I support Democratic candidates through organizations like Our Revolution — the kinds of Democrats who stand up for working people, universal health care, a $15 minimum wage, investment in renewables and curbs on the finance industry.
The DCCC, on the other hand, spends its donors' money running smear campaigns against the likes of Laura Moser, who wants to challenge a flippable seat in Texas once held by George Bush I — a Sanders Democrat who founded Daily Action, an SMS service for activists that suggests a meaningful way to resist Trumpism to 300,000 subscribers every day. Instead of Moser, the DCCC is backing corporate lawyer Lizzie Pannill Fletcher whose most notable achievement is security a $5.3M judgment against the SEIU over their Justice for Janitors campaign. Fletcher is opposed by the AFL-CIO, who described her as "undermining the rights and efforts of predominantly immigrant janitorial workers."
In the second district of Virginia, the DCCC has endorsed a former Republican, Elaine Luria, who voted twice for Scott Taylor, the Republican she's hoping to unseat on behalf of the Democrats; she's not the only "former Republican" whose campaign you'll be supporting if you donate to the DCCC — there's also Nebraska's Brad Ashford. Both secured the DCCC endorsement over progressive Democrats, who were shunned by the party establishment.
Describing the DCCC as a revolving door that raises money to pay political consultants whose ultimate loyalty is to the corporate donors who pay their salaries, Cohen, who also serves as vice chair of the Democratic Party's Unity Reform Commission, said that the long-term answer was to build a Democratic party that could hold candidates accountable. Next weekend, the party's Rules and Bylaws Committee meets to consider the commission's proposals—a key indication of whether the Sanders supporters have made any headway in pulling the party to the left, or are merely being taken for a ride.For now though, progressives should simply hang up on those DCCC robocalls. The best way to support progressive Democrats is to know the candidates you're supporting. Groups like Our Revolution, Justice Democrats, and the Working Families Party offer a far more reliable guide to Democrats who aren't beholden to corporate interests than the DCCC or it's senatorial counterpart the DSCC. Voters concerned with a particular issue would do better to consult groups like 350.org or Planned Parenthood. Because right now the label "Democrat"—at least as interpreted by the DCCC—doesn't seem to stand for anything at all.
When DCCC Calls, Hang Up the Phone [D.D. Guttenplan/The Nation]
(via Naked Capitalism)
