house party for Team Tyner in Woodstock Sun. @ Melinda/Bill McKnight's home-- join us!...

Hi all...


Paul Wellstone, Maurice Hinchey, Dennis Kucinich, Russ Feingold, Alan Grayson-- gone, gone, gone from office (or soon about to-- unfortunately for us and for Maurice, Dennis)...


....but if you're a progressive here in Hudson Valley/Catskills region you can send progressive to D.C....


Come out if you can to join Melinda and Bill McKnight next Sunday (Mar. 18th) at 7:30 pm at their home at 60 Holland Drive in Woodstock-- they'll be hosting a house party for my campaign for Congress!...
[see coalition at http://www.RebuildtheDream.com -- Bill and Melinda host parties there for this coalition]


[note, too-- am assembling campaign team-- some of you have indicated interest-- need your help folks]


Crucial to campaign: send $$$, folks-- Joel for Congress, 324 Browns Pond Rd., Staatsburg, NY 12580!


Attention-- friends Ulster, Sullivan, Dutchess, Columbia, Greene, Delaware, Otsego, Schoharie, Montgomery, Rensselaer counties-- time is NOW to step up to plate to make this campaign real...


In just ten days I'll be kicking off petition-gathering-- need to build massive volunteer time to do this!...


We need as many of you as possible to commit to help us hit the ground running starting Mar. 20th to help us get the many petition signatures we'll need to be on the ballot (1250 minimum; 2500 to be safe):
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20120215/NEWS/302150032/Federal-court-intervenes-state-s-redistricting .
[also see: http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/nycode/ELN/6/6-136 ]


[note-- as long as you're a registered Dem in NYS you can gather in the 20th-- let us know if you can!]


Again-- 'tis true-- local living legend Pete Seeger, scholar/author/activist Cornel West, "Gasland" director Josh Fox, Dutchess County Democratic Elections Commissioner Fran Knapp, Troy Area Labor Council President Mike Keenan, PEF/DEC anti-fracking engineer Wayne Bayer, the Town of Union Vale and Town of Clinton Democratic Committees, and 230 others have endorsed my run for Congress-- join us:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Joel !...(many urging me to plow ahead with my campaign-- so I am)...


Fact: I'm a proven winner-- I just got elected to a fifth straight term in our County Legislature here in Dutchess to represent Rhinebeck and Clinton-- two towns that have long had GOP town supervisors.


Seniors vote; Kathy Hochul wasn't supposed to win last May in 26th c.d.; she won harping on Medicare; that's a big point we've been making over last eight months we've been campaigning; how we can win back the 20th c.d.:
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2011/08/truth-re-gibson-anti-senior-anti.html .

So again-- if you're just as upset as we are that it's not just Republicans in Washington-- but also too many Democrats-- that don't seem to be really speaking up against the rush to war with Iran...aren't speaking up against fracking...aren't speaking up against Wall Street (to break up big banks, tax Wall Street speculation, and truly investigate those behind destruction of our economy), aren't speaking up against indefinite detention...aren't speaking up against bipartisan attack on Medicare/Medicaid, aren't speaking up for a truly sizable public works/infrastructure jobs program, aren't speaking up for Medicare for all, aren't speaking up to amend our Constitution to make it clear corporations aren't people, aren't speaking up Fair Elections Now legislation (federal version of Clean Money Clean Elections campaign finance reform), aren't speaking up for fair trade (to get us out of job-killing NAFTA/GATT/WTO), aren't speaking up for our troops to come home NOW from Afghanistan, aren't speaking out against tar sands pipeline, aren't speaking up for our Constitutional freedoms-- and aren't speaking up for Bradley Manning-- and aren't speaking up for voting integrity to reject computerized voting machines...
[$4 trillion in proposed cuts too; see: http://www.jackrasmus.com/2011/09/18/the-4-trillion-income-shift/ ]

Well-- if you're as upset as we are about far too much of a bipartisan sell-out on all of the issues above...

[except for folks like Maurice Hinchey-- our hero for decades-- help send another progressive to D.C.]


And wondering what you can do about it-- LET'S DO THIS!...come out and join us next Sunday!...


Recall this from recent Daily Freeman-- "Gibson, who lives in the Columbia County town of Kinderhook and would be the district's incumbent, would lose the northern part of his current 20th District but retain Northern Dutchess and Greene, Columbia, and Rensselaer counties, as well as most of Delaware County and about half of Otsego County.
[see: http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2012/03/01/news/doc4f4ee3af4d388022167954.txt ]


And this posted recently to the Albany Times-Union's Capital Confidential blog as well:
"Gibson, R-Kinderhook, currently resides in the Hudson Valley district, which would include Columbia, Greene, Ulster, Otsego, Delaware and Schoharie counties, as well as parts of Montgomery and Dutchess counties."
http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/119247/manns-plan-unites-albany-schenectady-and-troy/


[district maps: https://www.nyed.uscourts.gov/pub/docs/cv/324457/1.11.cv.5632.6729180.2.pdf ;
demographics https://www.nyed.uscourts.gov/pub/docs/cv/324457/1.11.cv.5632.6729180.3.pdf ;
existing lines right now-- http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd?state=NY ]


Pass it on!...


Joel
845-444-0599/876-2488
joeltyner@earthlink.net
http://www.JoelforCongress.org
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Joel

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[again-- letters to editor needed NOW on these facts below-- to be put into newspapers across 20th c.d.]

Fact: I refuse to accept any campaign donations whatsoever from Wall Street or the insurance industry-- and will fight in Congress to stop any cuts to Medicare or Social Security.

Fact: Chris Gibson has raked in over $122,000 over just the last two years alone from securities and investment firms on Wall Street and over $46,000 from the insurance industry as well over same time.
[ http://maplight.org/us-congress/legislator/1461-chris-gibson ]

Fact: The Wall Street Journal reported April 4th last year that the Gibson/Cantor/Boehner "Cut, Cap, and Kill" legislation would "essentially end Medicare", eliminating 700,000 jobs; Gibson staff lie re: this.
[ http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2011/08/truth-re-gibson-anti-senior-anti.html ]

Fact: Gibson voted Nov.: so-called "Balanced Budget Amendment": Social Security/Medicare cuts.
[ http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2011/11/hinchey-tonko-owens-right-gibson-wrong.html ]

Fact: "In a recent poll by the Pew Research Center, 77 percent of Americans said too much power is concentrated in the hands of a few rich people and large corporations. In a poll by Time Magazine, 86 percent of Americans said Wall Street and its lobbyists have too much influence in Washington."
[from "Corporate Rule Is Not Inevitable" by Sarah van Gelder (Jan. 20th):
http://www.YesMagazine.org/blogs/sarah-van-gelder/corporate-rule-is-not-inevitable ]

Fact: 81% of Americans support taxing millionaires/billionaires more: solve federal budget woes.
[ http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/7333/what_americans_want_the_peoples_budget ]

Fact: 78% of Americans support protecting Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid from any cuts.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/poll-shows-americans-oppose-entitlement-cuts-to-deal-with-debt-problem/2011/04/19/AFoiAH9D_story.html

Fact: 59% of Americans support expanding Medicare to cover us all-- to save $400 billion a year.
http://www.healthcare-now.org/another-poll-shows-majority-support-for-single-payer/ ; http://www.PNHP.org/

Fact: 80% of Americans oppose 2010 Supreme Court decision giving corporations free-speech rights of people; it's time to amend the Constitution to make it clear-- corporations aren't people(!).
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenumbers/2010/02/in-supreme-court-ruling-on-campaign-finance-the-public-dissents.html ; http://www.freespeechforpeople.org/node/75

Fact: 67% of Americans support $10/hour minimum wage to put money in pockets of working class.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/06/americans-minimum-wage-poll_n_752921.html

Fact: 53% of Americans support full federal funding for Planned Parenthood & reproductive justice.
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/node/15708

Fact: More New Yorkers support protecting drinking water with statewide ban on fracking than not.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/15/new-york-gas-drilling-rul_n_900011.html

Fact: 54% of Americans support full funding for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-- not cuts.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2011/02/16/harris-poll-epa-budget/ ]

Fact: 79% of New Yorkers support Clean Money Clean Elections-- real campaign finance reform.
http://rochesterturning.com/2008/04/28/poll-says-3-of-4-new-yorkers-support-publicly-financed-elections/

Fact: 59% of Americans support our troops coming home from Afghanistan and Iraq now without delay.
http://www.thinkprogress.org/2011/05/11/afghanistan-get-out-59-percent/

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[this below posted online Feb. 17th to Post Star (daily paper for Saratoga, Warren, Washington counties); thx again tons to Vane Lashua of Mid-Hudson Progressive Alliance for helping to make this happen!]

Folk singer endorses Democratic challenger to Rep. Gibson

MAURY THOMPSON -- thompson@poststar.com
The Post-Star | Posted: Friday, February 17, 2012 7:54 pm

http://poststar.com/news/local/folk-singer-endorses-democratic-challenger-to-rep-gibson/article_c72d5418-59cb-11e1-9c46-001871e3ce6c.html

He may not have much money in his campaign fund, but Democratic congressional candidate Joel Tyner has an asset equally important to getting elected, said legendary folk singer Pete Seeger.

"He's got persistence, and as Calvin Coolidge said, 'Persistence is the one thing you need in this world because genius won't do it,' " Seeger said in a telephone interview on Friday, confirming his endorsement of Tyner's candidacy.

Seeger said he has known Tyner, a political activist, for about 10 or 20 years.

[JT note-- I've known Pete since '81(!)...(stayed at his house then, took care of boat-- "Woody Guthrie"]

Tyner, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook, in November, announced Seeger's endorsement in a press release earlier on Friday..

"The world is full of geniuses who have failed, but if you have persistence, sooner or later you're going to make it. And Joel does have that, and he also is a very sensible guy and will do a lot of good things," Seeger said.

"On the other hand, you know what (Democratic presidential candidate) Adlai Stevenson said when somebody in 1952 said, 'Mr. Stevenson, all the intelligent people in the country are on your side,' " Seeger asked, going on to answer his own question. "And Stevenson said, 'I don't need all the intelligent people. I need a majority.' "

Tyner, a political activist and substitute school teacher, is serving his fifth term on the Dutchess County Legislature, a government board equivalent to boards of supervisors in other counties. Prior to getting elected, he ran five unsuccessful political campaigns - two for the county legislature and three for the state Legislature.

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From former Co. Leg. Bill McCabe (wmc1226@optonline.net):

"At its regular monthly meeting in February the Union Vale Democratic Committee officially endorsed Joel Tyner in his campaign to become our next representative in the US Congress for the 20th Congressional District. Committee member Bill McCabe describes Joel Tyner as tireless in his advocacy of Democratic principles. Joel's positions on the environment (against hydrofracking), the economy (a just tax policy that requires a fairer contribution from the top 2%), and government reform (independent re-districting panels) make him an ideal candidate to give voice to the issues of greatest concern to citizens of all parties in the Hudson Valley. Joel has been courageous as a Dutchess County Legislator, and he would do the same as our Representative in Washington, DC."


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Fact: Gibson voted with House majority in Sept. to allocate only half the FEMA funding Senate did.
[ http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2011/09/hincheytonko-right-re-fema-shame-on.html ]

Fact: Gibson voted for Ryan budget Apr. 15th against the disAbled-- by cutting Medicaid by 35%.
[ http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2011/12/gibson-forcing-people-with-disabilities.html ]

Fact: Gibson voted this winter for REINS-- jeopardizing food safety and Dodd-Frank provisions.
[ http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2011/12/another-bad-gibson-vote-this-week-for.html ]

Fact: Gibson's signing on to Grover Norquist's "no new tax" pledge means Congressman 1% will continue ignoring an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll in March finding that 81% of Americans support taxing millionaires to solve federal budget problems-- not putting Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security on chopping block (send me to Washington-- Joel will be an even louder voice telling both GOP and Dems to save all three of these from cuts.
[ http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/7333/what_americans_want_the_peoples_budget ;
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/invoke-the-14th--and-end-the-debt-standoff/2011/07/01/gHQAUif8yH_story.html ; http://www.PetitionOnline.com/ILikeIke ;
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/08/26/305451/citizen-slams-gop-rep-over-anti-tax-pledge-we-are-your-consituents-not-grover-norquist/ ]

Fact: Gibson refuses to support Obama's American Jobs Act-- and he also refuses to support Rep. Jan Schakowsky's even better "Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act", which would create 2.2 million jobs rebuilding our infrastructure and hiring in our schools, hospitals, child care centers, parks, police officers, firefighters, weatherization, and recycling-- by raising taxes for Americans who earn more than $1 million and $1 billion, by eliminating subsidies for big oil companies, and by closing loopholes for corporations that send American jobs overseas.
[see: http://www.AmericanJobsAct.com/ ; recall my http://www.PetitionOnline.com/JobsNow effort]

Fact: Gibson voted last fall to kill more American jobs by extending so-called "free-trade" agreements to Korea, Panama, and Colombia-- though we've already lost 5 million jobs from NAFTA.
[ http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/83832/tonko-gibson-at-odds-on-trade-agreements/ ;
http://www.americanjobsalliance.com/content/new-free-trade-pacts-will-hurt-middle-class ]

Fact: Gibson voted last February to eliminate $300 million in Title X Planned Parenthood funding-- even though "Title X funding can only be used for family planning services including birth control, life saving cervical and breast cancer screenings, HIV counseling and testing, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, and education. The funding cannot and is not used to provide abortion services. Under the proposal, 48 percent of Planned Parenthood patients nationwide would be cut off from their source of health care for these essential services. Ninety-seven percent of the services provided by Planned Parenthood are preventive, most of which are women's gynecology services."
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/newsroom/local-press-releases/representatives-gibson-hayworth-vote-block-funds-planned-parenthood-would-cut-health-care-milli-36335.htm

Fact: Gibson voted last fall for HR 358-- legislation that "would allow a hospital to deny a woman lifesaving emergency abortion care-even if a doctor deems it necessary. It would also take comprehensive health care coverage away from women and create loopholes that states and insurance companies could exploit to undermine the new requirement that insurance companies provide birth control with no co-pays or deductibles."
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/newsroom/local-press-releases/rep-gibson-votes-deny-lifesaving-emergency-health-care-women-38215.htm

Fact: Gibson's allegiance to Grover Norquist jeopardizes national support for farmland protection.
As Scenic Hudson noted recently on WAMC, it's crucial that even the small amount of federal funding for farmland protection ($100 million) now in the the farm bill about to be re-authorized be maintained-- the fact is this becomes more and more impossible with Norquist acolytes like Gibson in office who reject progressive taxation.
[ http://www.riverkeeper.org/news-events/news/stop-polluters/pollution-enforcement/outlining-vision/ ]

Fact: Gibson refuses to push for a wide variety of common-sense progressive initiatives that have broad populist support, as evidenced repeatedly by many polls-- a statewide ban on fracking (and immediate national moratorium), a liveable minimum wage, Medicare for all, Clean Money Clean Elections campaign finance reform, amending the Constitution to make it clear corporations aren't people, taxing Wall Street, breaking up the big banks, bringing back the Glass-Steagall Act, ending the speculation driving gas/oil prices up through the roof, bringing our troops now from Afghanistan, Iraq, and all over the globe to save $125 billion a year for taxpayers (and redirect $ home to our needs)-- and he refuses to lift a finger to join Sen. Bernie Sanders in seriously challenging the $16 TRILLION the Federal Reserve recently lent out to practically every major financial institution and corporation around.
[ http://www.AMillionFrackingLetters.com/ ; http://www.FrackAction.com/ ; http://www.ToxicsTargeting.com/
http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=9e2a4ea8-6e73-4be2-a753-62060dcbb3c3
http://www.freespeechforpeople.org/node/75 ; http://www.PetitionOnline.com/FDRagain ;
http://www.thinkprogress.org/2011/05/11/afghanistan-get-out-59-percent ]

Fact: Rep. Chris Gibson voted Dec. 14th for the atrocious indefinite detention NDAA bill ("The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012-- (House Vote 932 - H.R.1540: On Agreeing to the Conference Report").
[see: http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2011/12/fact-gibson-voted-for-indefinite.html ;
http://www.politics.nytimes.com/congress/votes/112/house/1/932 ]

Fact: Rep. Maurice Hinchey, Rep. Paul Tonko, and 91 other Democratic (and principled) members of the House of Representatives voted Dec. 14th against the indefinite detention NDAA legislation.
[see: http://www.votesmart.org/bill/14203/37472/ ]

Fact: It wasn't just 93 Democrats in the House who voted against the indefinite detention NDAA bill; the truth is also that literally 43 GOP members of the House of Representatives (but not Chris Gibson) voted Dec. 14th against indefinite detention NDAA legislation-- all the following GOP (not Chris Gibson tho):

Republicans Justin Amah (MI-3), Larry Buchshon (IN-8), Michael Burgess (TX-26), Dan Burton (IN-5), John Campbell (CA-48), Jason Chaffetz (VT-3), Mike Coffman (CO-6), Scott DesJarlais (TN-4), Jeffrey Duncan (SC-3), John Duncan, Jr. (TN-2), Jeff Flake (AZ-6), J. Randy Forbes (VA-4), Scott Garrett (NJ-5), Robert Goodlatte (VA-6), Paul Gosar (AZ-1), Trey Gowdy (SC-4), Tom Graves (GA-9), Morgan Griffith (VA-9), Andy Harris (MD-1), Robert Hurt (VA-5), Tim Johnson (IL-15), Walter Jones (NC-3), Paul Labrador (ID-1), Cynthia Lumnis (WY-1), Connie Mack (FL-14), Tom McClintock (CA-4), Mick Mulvaney (SC-5), Mike Pence (IN-6), Bill Posey (FL-15), Reid Ribble (WI-8), Phil Roe (TN-1), Dana Rohrabacher (CA-46), Todd Rokita (IN-4), Ed Royce (CA-40), David Schweikert (AZ-5), Mike Simpson (ID-2), Marlin Stutzman (IN-3), Scott Tipton (CO-3), Tim Walberg (MI-7), Joe Walsh (IL-8), and Rob Woodall (GA-7)!
[see: http://www.opencongress.org/roll_call/show/9593 ]

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This-- from http://www.DCCC.org/races/district/new_yorks_20th ...

[more info here from Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee]

House Republicans voted for a radical budget that ends Medicare rather than ending taxpayer giveaways for Big Oil or tax breaks for the ultra rich. Republicans' [Chris Gibson's] plan would be devastating to seniors in the district who are currently enrolled in Medicare:

* Increase prescription drug costs for 11,200 Medicare beneficiaries in the district who would be caught in the "donut hole."
* Eliminate new preventative care benefits for 117,000 Medicare beneficiaries in the district.

Republicans' [Chris Gibson's] radical plan to end Medicare would also affect those 54 or younger who are not currently enrolled in Medicare:

* Deny 480,000 individuals age 54 and younger in the district access to Medicare's guaranteed benefits.


* Increase the out-of-pocket costs of health coverage by over $6,000 per year in 2022 and by almost $12,000 per year in 2032 for the 125,000 individuals in the district who are between the ages of 44 and 54.