Adam Sullivan To Challenge Jerrold Nadler

http://sullivanforcongress.net/index.php/home

About Adam

I have for many years been proud to boast of my representative in Congress: the progressive causes he championed, his liberal voting record, his commitment to legislation that would improve the lives of his constituents. I was therefore shocked and appalled when I and others met with Jerrold Nadler to discuss the prospects for impeachment of Dick Cheney, and my liberal champion insisted that impeachment had no support in Congress, that those in Congress who did support it were on the fringes, and that he had a better idea than impeachment. No support? A better idea?

Impeachment is the most important check against abuse of executive power that our Constitution grants to Congress; furthermore, our representatives in the House are our direct representatives, bound by their oath of office to protect the Constitution and advocate for their constituents. When my congressman tells me that he will not co-sponsor an impeachment resolution against a reckless and criminal vice president, I submit to you that he has broken faith with the people he is meant to serve, and violated his sworn oath to the Constitution. He has chosen to adhere to the wishes of his party leaders in the name of some short-sighted political“wisdom.”

I will never break an oath to protect the Constitution, no matter the perceived cost to a political agenda. The cost to our country, our republic, and to each individual citizen is too great to bear. We are citizens of the United States of America. We deserve better.


Kevin Powell To Challenge Ed Towns

http://www.kevinpowellforcongress.org/home/

Here are the issues he stands for.

The Blueprint: A New Deal for the 21st Century


Our nation currently faces unprecedented challenges. Americans are hungry for new leadership. Citizens are crying out for reform. We have the opportunity to implement far reaching programs that can dramatically sustain and transform our country.

There is no place in more critical need of change than Brooklyn’s 10th district: rampant crime and unemployment; exploding gang wars; substandard healthcare; escalating drug abuse and booming drug economies; woefully under-funded schools. Residents of the 10th district have yet to reap the benefits that 30 years of economic development has brought to other parts the country. An unshakeable sense of hopelessness runs through much of the district. Parts of the district look more like a third world country than a section of the nation’s wealthiest city. If a change was supposed to come, it hasn’t happened yet.

Kevin Powell has the vision and drive necessary to actually bring change to his district. With 20 years experience as a political activist, community organizer, and public speaker, he has demonstrated a commitment to social justice and anti-violence education. He is a respected and influential member of his community, and a trusted friend and mentor to countless Brooklyn residents.

Kevin is calling for a fresh blueprint – a New Deal for the 21st Century; programs and initiatives that will finally address the problems strangling the district's opportunities for growth and change. The progressive and reformist spirit of President Roosevelt’s New Deal animates Kevin Powell’s visionary outlook. His policies, outlined in this platform, are designed to bring relief, recovery, and reform to hard-working Brooklynites struggling to make ends meet.

The 10th Congressional District (CD) of Brooklyn New York encompasses East New York, Canarsie, Brownsville, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Cypress Hills, Clinton Hill, Mill Basin, Midwood, downtown Brooklyn, Boreum Hill, as well as Fort Greene and Williamsburg. It is a majority-minority district, or a federal district where ethnic minorities constitute the majority of the population. Black Americans in the 10th CD reside primarily in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Ocean-Hill Brownsville and East New York. These areas face an array of social and economic challenges:
Life expectancy, infant mortality and the burden of disease all afflict African-American Brooklynites disproportionately when compared nationally or locally.
Heart disease, cancer and AIDS cause the most deaths among Brooklyn residents. The death rates for all causes were higher in Brooklyn than in New York City. The rate of AIDS infections in heterosexual African-American women was particularly high.
Majority of black neighborhoods are plagued by high and chronic unemployment, underemployment and low wages.
40%, or 28,000, of the incarcerated black men and women in New York State correctional facilities are from Brooklyn’s black communities, directly impacting the number of "marriageable males" and the number of women raising children alone.
The median income for the district is 30,000; the rest of the city enjoys a $35,000 income
Kevin’s platform is also focused on implementing Poverty Reduction and Community Growth Strategies. Modeled on successful domestic and international community and micro-development models. These innovative and responsive programs can be deployed to revitalize the 10th district and drastically improve the lives of the district’s residents through the creation of sustainable businesses and local intuitions providing underrepresented goods and services.
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Areas of Focus

Economy
Immediate relief for those hit by the current recession
More targeted job creation in the private and publics sector
Reduce Unemployment & Underemployment
Development and Investment in our communities.

Education
Repeal no child left behind
Increase school funding for NYC schools and public schools in general
Restore and expand after school programs

Daycare
More charter schools

Youth Services
More and innovative anti-gang initiatives
Restore and expand after-school programs- i.e. Sports, music, tutoring

Healthcare
Create universal healthcare: single payer system
Immediate relief for those with no or inadequate coverage
Maintain and expanded HHS, (Medicaid Medicare, WIC, food stamps etc...)

Prisons and the Criminal Justice System
More Education and Less Incarceration
Balance Federal/State spending on prison construction with education spending
Abolish Capital Punishment
Address Policing- Stop and Frisk and police violence
Improve departmental responsibility and community relations

Drug Policy (as related to Youth Services and Person and Criminal justice as well)
More Treatment and Less Incarceration
Repeal Rockefeller Drug Laws
Equalize Crack vs. Cocaine Sentences
Legalize Medial Marijuana and revisit the socioeconomic and criminal justice benefits of decriminalization
End Loss of Civil Liberties and Educational Benefits due to drug prosecutions
Supplement Law Enforcement expenditures
Reduce High Incarceration Rates with sensible sentencing
Anti-drug and alcohol education focused on maintaining mentally and physical healthy life styles, not simply criminal punishment

Housing
Maintain and Expand Rent Stabilization
Protect Title 8 (access to affordable housing)
Maintain Section 8 (funding/subsidy for affordable housing)
Address gentrification with human locally oriented solutions
No Support for Atlantic Rail Yards Project

Cultivating the Next Generation-co-circular Educational Services
Anti –Violence and conflict resolution education
Reinvigorating Local arts and sports program
Sensible Sex-Ed programs

Environment
Clean up Superfund Sites and Brown Fields in Brooklyn
Ensure Safety at Nuclear Transfer Way Station (Williamsburg)
Strengthen Clean Air Act
Push for access to Green Spaces

Energy Policy
Closer scrutiny and regulation of gas, oil & electricity pricing and speculation
More Green Engineering & building
Improve CAFE standards
Cultivate Sustainable development in Brooklyn Communities
Support alternative and renewable energy sources
Reintegrate the US with the Community of Nations on Climate Change

International Relations
End America involvement in Iraq War
Sign on to ICC agreement
Orient Foreign Policy toward diplomatic and multi-lateral solutions
Propose American and multi-lateral action to end Black genocide in the Sudan; the rest of Africa and the Diaspora
Increased America and multi-lateral action aid to stem the AIDS pandemic in Africa and the Caribbean and require pharmaceutical companies to provide inexpensive drugs for treatment.
Assert the African Diaspora’s firm place and role in the global economy;
Advocate favorable trade agreements among the U.S. Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America
Implement Fair Trade Policies with the world’s two largest markets, China and India
Debt cancellation for third world nations

Military and Defense Spending
Re-program the multi-hundred billion dollar war budget for veterans assistance and domestic programs
End funding for unneeded Cold War weapons systems
Engage in multilateral nuclear non-proliferation efforts
Fully fund and upgrade domestic port, air and infrastructure security measures
Brooklyn to NJ Cross Harbor Rail Tunnel
Wait till the feasibility study is completed
Examine investment alternatives and New York City transportation infrastructure as a whole

Malpractice Insurance
Find Alternative Tort Reform measures
Insure Consumer Protection

Union Card Check
Making unionization fairer

Net Neutrality
Maintain net neutrality by preventing Internet providers from speeding up or slowing down web content based on its source, ownership or destination.

Iraq War
End the War
Bring the Troops Home

Civil Liberties
Repeal the Patriot ACT
Repeal the Military Commissions Act
FISA – No Immunity for Telecom industry

Mortgage Banking and Credit Crisis
Repeal Graham-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act to bring back banking reforms of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933
End Predatory Lending
Help build credit in minority communities

Poverty Reduction and Community Growth Strategies
Micro-development
Family and Adult educational program
Local business development and job training
Child and Adult Car alternatives for working and student caregivers

Gender Equality/Ending Violence Against Women
Roe v. Wade's guarantees of a woman's right to choose cannot be weakened.
We must dedicate ourselves to supporting strong anti-violence/anti-domestic violence initiatives that prevent violence against women and that support victims of domestic violence.