Nov. 8, 2011
This is the Robison political newsletter, e-mail version. It is sent in advance of the primary and general elections to about 2,000 people by e-mail and bulk mail. We apologize this is so late.
The national situation demands comment before the discussion of the upcoming election, which is the usual focus of this newsletter and is a simpler and more pleasant task. We apologize to any readers who find this newsletter harsh and excessively partisan. But we owe you our honest opinions.
The people now dominating the Republican Party, in Pennsylvania as well as nationally, are dedicated to weakening, diminishing, or abolishing everything that aids economic justice. They are hostile to every initiative developed since Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected president in 1932. This includes Social Security, Medicare, public education, public health, public transportation, environmental protection, civil rights, civil liberties and the United Nations, as well as strong unions.
These policies are not ‘conservative’. The gap between the rich and the poor grows, and the middle class is squeezed. This destabilizes American society. These people act as if government has only two legitimate purposes. Governments should make the rich and powerful more rich and powerful. And governments should make war. Supposedly, rule by the rich and powerful will benefit society as a whole. Consider the manipulations of the political system, and the increasing power of big money. Consider the mandated photo id law, which will reduce the number of poor people who vote. This is plutocracy, not conservatism. This seems to be based on their sincere beliefs, which is frightening.
The core values of our society are under attack. What can we do?
The elections in 2012 will be crucial. Don’t let your friends be hoodwinked by hostility to various groups in our country, such as gays and lesbians, unions, Arabs, immigrants, public employees, Hispanics, and, of course, African-Americans. People should realize that voting with the rich won’t make you rich.
Therefore, we must support the re-election of Barack Obama. Do I have issues with his presidency? Of course, starting with the war in Afghanistan and ignoring single-payer systems in his health care legislation. Sometimes anger directed at friends’ imperfections is necessary. But we mustn’t confuse imperfect friends with enemies, and aid people who want to destroy everything we have built. Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts put it well: “I never supported a candidate who I was 100% satisfied with, except myself, the first time I ran.” The Obama re-election campaign has already started. You have probably already been contacted. More information is on his website, www.barackobama.com Locally, to contact the campaign, you can call 412-638-0979 or e-mail ashimm@ofapa.com.
What else can we do in 2012? We need to elect more Democrats to Congress. In addition to local candidates, we can support candidates elsewhere. Emily’s List, www.emilyslist.org, encourages individual contributions from everywhere for progressive, pro-choice Democratic WOMEN. Emily’s List selects good candidates, publicizes its list, and asks you to give directly candidates you select.
In addition to electoral politics, we can support economic self defense. We should support unions, union organizing efforts, and boycotts of corporations attacking workers’ rights. We should support non-violent protest, such as Occupy Pittsburgh.
We have not forgotten that there is an election this year, on Nov. 8, with Rich Fitzgerald running for county executive, and two perhaps obscure, but important, statewide judicial races..
Two statewide judicial races are first on the voting machine. The importance of these positions which few non-lawyers think about, is seen in the current efforts of the Republican leadership to use the redistricting and other election rules to influence the outcome of next year’s presidential election. You might also note that Commonwealth Court handles zoning appeals. We support
David N. Wecht for Pennsylvania Superior Court.
David Wecht, like his father Dr. Cyril Wecht, is a solid progressive, hard-working, and outspoken.
Kathryn Boockvar for Commonwealth Court
We also support Kathryn Boockvar. Her experience includes years of work for civil rights and voter protection, including her work drafting agreements for same-sex couples giving both many of the legal protections of a marriage. This is the court that hears governmental issues, including zoning appeals. Both Boockvar and Wecht are endorsed by the Gertrude Stein Political Club (the GSPC), to which we both belong.
Mike Marmo and Alexander Bicket for Court of Common Pleas
. There are two candidates running for two seats on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. Mike Marmo is already a judge, sitting by appointment, so he has to run in a contested election. The two both have both parties’ nominations, so their election is assured. Both have solid records and both are endorsed by the GSPC. Both will be good on the county bench.
Rich Fitzgerald for County Executive
The clear choice for Allegheny County Executive is Rich Fitzgerald, even before his opponent promised to eliminate the drink tax even if it worsens the financial problems of PAT.
Rich Fitzgerald is qualified and experienced, as we said in our primary newsletter. He served as president of the Allegheny County Council. He is endorsed by the GSPC, especially because of his solid record on lesbian and gay rights and reproductive rights – the ‘social issues’. Our personal reasons are:
a) Rich is a real Democratic, a stalwart liberal.
b) Rich is a solid supporter of a woman’s right to choose a safe and legal abortion, which is important to my wife and me.
c) Rich has been an active leader in support of lesbian and gay rights, which is important to my wife and me. He and Amanda Green Hawkins, a new member of County Council, managed the addition of sexual minorities to the protections of the Allegheny County’s anti-discrimination ordinance.
d) Rich is very bright, which is important to all of us.
Some polls suggest that Rich is an easy winner over a weak opponent. A smart politician always runs scared. In addition, this election is an opportunity to practice our skills at maximizing voter turnout, which will be critical next year. If you want to help on his campaign, you can call his campaign headquarters at 412-241-3489. You can click on his website, www.voterichfitzgerald.com.
Chelsa Wagner for Allegheny County Controller
She is bright, liberal, and independent-minded, coming from an establishment Democrat family. Her husband is a leader in the Afro-American community. She is an emerging leader in the Democratic Party. She has been an important supporter of reproductive rights and lgbt rights as a State Legislature. She is endorsed by the GSPC.
Stephen A. Zappala for Allegheny County District Attorney
Incumbent Steve Zappaala is unopposed.
John K. Weinstein for County Treasurer
John P. DeFazio for County Council At-Large
Labor leader John DeFazio is likely to be an important leader on Council with Rich Fitzgerald as county executive. His opponent, Heather Heidelbaugh, is unopposed for the two-month unexpired term. You can vote for only one, but the top two will be elected, ensuring both major parties a seat on Council.
Most County Council Seats Uncontested
The only contest for Allegheny Country Council is in the 7th District, including Penn Hills and Plum Borough. There, the GSPC is backing the incumbent Democrat, Nicholas W. Futules. For the Fourth Ward, Oakland, former State Rep. William Russell Robinson, is unopposed. One new face is our long-time friend Barbara Daly Danko, endorsed by the GSPC, who is unopposed in the 11th District, which includes Squirrel Hill and Shadyside.
Michael E. Lamb for Pittsburgh City Controller
Mike Lamb is the incumbent, unopposed as well as endorsed by the GSPC. He and City Councilman Bill Peduto, who does not plan to run for re-election to Pittsburgh City Council, are considering candidacy for mayor of the Pittsburgh, the position now occupied by Luke Ravenstahl. Both are bright, qualified liberals with a record of support for lgbt rights and woman’s rights. It would be deadly if they both ran, and we understand that they both know this.
Most City Council Seats Uncontested
Of the five odd-numbered districts of Pittsburgh’s City Council, most of the races were over after the Democratic primary. In the 5th District, which includes Squirrel Hill and Hazelwood, Corey O’Connor has nominal Republican opposition for the seat held by his late father, Mayor Bob O’Connor.
Rosemary Moriarty, an Independent Candidate, for Pittsburgh School Director in District 8
Dr. Moriarty is a Democrat running as an independent, and we want to urge support for her even though we don’t live in her district. Her district covers most of the North Side, but also includes Downtown, most of the Hill, most of Beltzhoover, and Knoxville. She has over 35 years experience in education. Prior to her retirement, she was principal of the Miller School in the Hill. Her opponent, Mark Brentley, is notorious for his isolation on the nine-member Board of Education, generating an 8-1 vote on almost every issue. She will work with everybody to get things done.
On the voting machines, to split your ticket it works better to vote for each candidate individually. Dr. Moriarty decided to run as an independent because the primary field against the incumbent was already crowded. If you know anyone in her district, please encourage them to vote for her. More information is available by clicking on www.voterosemoriarty.com. Anyone who can help her, especially on Election Day, please call her at 412-668-1014 or 412-287-4705. Her e-mail is info@voterosemoriarty.com.
In our own district, incumbent Bill Isler is deservedly unopposed.
Carnegie Library Tax - Yes
There is one referendum question on the ballot in Pittsburgh. It would amend the Pittsburgh City Charter to provide a 0.25 mill tax on real estate which can be used only for maintenance and operation of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. We are not enthusiastic about the process – amending the City Charter to provide funding for libraries. It is a back-door initiative and referendum. But the issue is important, the need is urgent, and the amount is small. For example, someone with a house assessed at $100,000 would pay $25. And, eventually, we maybe we should have initiative and referendum in Pennsylvania, like California.
The ballot also includes retention referenda on 11 state and Allegheny County judges. Retention elections almost always get ‘yes’ votes, and we know of no opposition to any of the judges.
Kim Hoots for Magistrate, Paige Trice for Council in Wilkinsburg
We usually don’t discuss municipal candidates outside Pittsburgh. But we have suggestions on two candidates in the polarized politics of Wilkinsburg. The incumbent magistrate, Kim Hoots, deserves re-election. She has done the duties of her job, and someplace less bitterly divided than Wilkinsburg, would probably be unopposed. We also suggest for Wilkinsburg Borough Council Paige Trice, the incumbent in Ward 1. Both candidates are endorsed by Pennsylvania NOW.
PAT IS STILL IN DANGER
PAT, the Port Authority of Allegheny County, operates our transit system – the buses, light rail, and inclines. With the 15% cut in service last March 27, PAT has enough money to keep on until June 30, the end of PAT’s fiscal year. But then unless major new funding for PAT is found, PAT will need to reduce service by about an additional 30% to balance the budget. I’m retired as president of the Allegheny County Transit Council (ACTC). But I’m still concerned about transit. A 30% cut in transit service would be a disaster for everyone. This includes automobile drivers who will find traffic worse and parking less available, and includes businesses who need transit for their employees to get to work.
People agree that we need a permanent solution to the transportation funding problem, statewide, before the buses shut down and the bridges fall down, So Governor Tom Corbett created a Transportation Funding Reform Commission, and told to recommend a solution by July 1. The Commission did its job, but the Governor has done nothing. The outlook is grim.
Peace Vigils Every Saturday – Still
The wars go on in the Middle East. What can we do? As we have mentioned previously, there are one-hour vigils for peace in Iraq and Afghanistan every Saturday. I, Jon, am at a vigil almost every Saturday, usually at noon in Regent Square, at Forbes and Braddock, or sometimes at 1 pm in East Liberty, at Penn and Highland (organized by Black Voices for Peace). There are also vigils in the North Side, and in surrounding counties. For more information, contact the Thomas Merton Center, 412-361-3022 or info@thomasmertoncenter.org.
Mary and I have two wonderful grandchildren. We want to be able to tell them that we DID something about the wars. Please join us at the vigil some Saturday.
MS Walk – Again
I expect to go on the 5 kilometer walk in my power wheelchair every year – unless we find a cure. So this is a personal appeal. I - Jon – have Multiple Sclerosis. The walk is to raise money for research on MS and a possible cure. The Pittsburgh MS Walk will be Sunday Apr. 22. 10 am, starting at Point State Park. You can walk with us or make a check payable to the National MS Society and send it to me.
More Personal Medical Problems
Mary’s cancer is still with us, but hasn’t gotten worse.. The chemotherapy seems to have helped, but was exhausting. So she and her doctor agreed on a break for a few months. If you are interested in more details, you can call her at 412-683-0237 or 412-578-8493.
What’s a ‘Fair Wage’?
Since the e-mail and website version of the newsletter isn’t constrained by postal limitations, I will add my views on a current issue,
People have always kvetched about other people’s compensation for their work – not just about baseball stars and movie stars, but steelworkers, teachers, bus drivers, and everybody, especially when unions are on strike or threatening a strike. The ‘Occupy Wall Street’ mobilizations have denounced the compensation received by bankers and business executives who get richer while ordinary workers are laid off.
As the encampments spread around the country and around the world, it becomes harder to avoid the underlying question. What is ‘fair compensation.? Nobody wants to ask this question, much less answer it. Intelligence, skills, education, even virtues such as industriousness, arise from environment and heredity. So it largely comes down to choosing your parents wisely. It’s hard to find any moral justification for differences in compensation.
Economic necessity, or at least economic benefit, as a justification for disparities in compensation is questionable. The baseball star and the movie star work hard. But they are doing what they want to do. Likewise the banker or business executive. More than ever, a high tech society needs creative workers. Increasingly, machines can do the grunt work. I suggest that the business person is like an artist or writer. What they want most, and deserve from society, is the freedom and opportunity to do their creative work. With no big paychecks, would the recipients just sit home and watch television? I doubt it.
Premium pay for dangerous work, like fighting fires, seems reasonable. People also should get paid a premium for doing a job that is necessary but inherently obnoxious, such as changing diapers on mentally retarded adults. If people in such a job were paid more then a successful trial lawyer, would we lawyers abandon our briefs and pick up a bed pan? No. We’d be less likely to work 60 hour weeks, and would spend more time at home. This would presumably be beneficial to our families, and society would be none the worse.
Quality work should be recognized. The business executive, the artist, the scientist, should receive recognition and honors, along with the baseball star and movie star.
The question of fair compensation, applied to society as a whole, and not just one person or group, encourages difficult questions about our economic system. Even if we came to the conclusion that the disparities in compensation were unjustified, it is not clear what we should do. How could we make such major changes in the economic system? In a word, slowly. I think that the flamboyant ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement has served society by raising the question.
Our society’s problems need radical solutions. Please note that radicalism is NOT militance. Radicalism tries to get at the root of problems. Militancy is often the OPPOSITE of radicalism. Violence is one of the root problems of our society. The ‘Occupy Wall Street’ participants don’t want to compromise their radical principles. Therefore, they maintain their non-violence.
If you wonder why you got this e-mail, probably we were both at a meeting, I got your address, and I thought you might find this newsletter interesting. If for any reason you want off the list, please just tell me. If any friends don’t receive the e-mail edition, it’s probably because we don’t have a usable e-mail address (‘.edu’ addresses sometimes don’t go through.) We will be happy to add any names to the list, preferably with their e-mail address. Please TELL US if the newsletter is ok, but NOT to the e-mail address we used. Why do we prefer to send to an e-mail address? Obviously, it saves on postage. In addition, we can send a longer newsletter, more than four pages.
Some of our friends contribute to help support the newsletter, and we are grateful. If you would like to help with the costs, you are invited to send a check to Robison Political Action Committee, 154 N. Bellefield Av., #66, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. Please forward or give copies of this to any interested friends.
Love and Peace,
Jon and Mary
Jonathan and Mary Robison
p.s. – In the Primary newsletter, I indulged myself by appending a couple of the poems I have written over the years. This is a benefit – at least to me - of the e-mail, which is not constrained by weights and postal rates. Obviously, you can simply delete them. Nobody objected to the addition, so I’m doing it again. I ask your feedback. Is the poetry an addition to the newsletter? Any responses or reactions will be cherished.
- Jon
Geology, Sociology, and Impermanence
Jonathan Robison 90’s
The Vermont dirt road is not as new as the meditation center
where I began this walk.
The road is not nearly as old
as the stone walls,
half tumbled down and overgrown,
more green than grey.
The road depends on us. It seems permanent
as long as we use it.
The hills are tree-clad again. Briefly,
they were denuded when people came
up the nearby river, with axes and saws,
bringing an appetite for wood,
and land.
Now many have gone away, seeking urban amenities and job opportunities.
The trees are back, while the stream
still chatters all the way down to the river.
It is still cutting rock, removing soil.
The stream is relatively young, younger
than the rocks it plays with. Unlike
the Connecticut that it flows into, it was not around
when the glacier came and conquered.
Rocks are everywhere, large and small. Some
are nearly in situ. Some were brought down
from higher slopes as water turned mountains.
into hills. Some traveled hundreds of miles,
carried by the ice. Then they were left behind as the ice retreated.
They will stay where they are until they are moved
by water, ice, or people.
Once upon a time there were tall mountains here.
Going back farther, the land had been low: silt, sand, and mud,
often covered by seawater.
Rock was formed, layer upon layer.
Then continents collided. Rock layers
were squeezed, pushed upward, torn and crumpled, made into mountain ranges.
Heat and pressure metamorphosed the sedimentary rock.
After the uplifts, came erosion. Streams carried away the fruits of its work.
Briefly, glaciers ruled. Water continued its slow work,
sculpting the rounded hills we love.
Eventually the land will again be silt, sand, and mud.
The polished wood floor in the meditation center seemed solid as we sat.
The ground we walk on certainly seems permanent, at least to us.
Report of the Bus Captain
Jonathan Robison 4/9/95, rev. and retitled 11/02
This is the report of the bus captain in Pittsburgh Bus # 4,
In the Cherry Blossom Festival and Stop the Violence bus tour:
There were thirty three people on this bus bound for Washington, D.C.
Nothing remarkable happened when we boarded at 4 a.m.
The convoy of buses on the Turnpike was the usual line of lights.
Phyllis Wetherby’s face was unchanged.
She has been organizing buses for NOW since I don’t remember when.
since before she retired from U.S. Steel.
The Post House in Breezewood hadn’t changed much.
I’m glad to report that the hills and long valleys going into Maryland
also have not changed.
“This is a beautiful country,” as John Brown remarked long ago.
Many of the buttons are the same.
There are some new T-shirts. One sported women cavorting
around a flag with the caption
“.. and to the republic for witches’ dance..”
The chants always seem the same.
I wish we did more singing.
The signs and the slogans have changed slowly.
Our concerns are now even closer than Cuba.
Viet Nam is in our children’s history books.
Slogans for civil rights, however, are still current.
Our dreams are still deferred.
Abortion Rights we won, but the struggle continues.
The Equal Rights Amendment we lost, but the struggle continues.
Union locals at the rally have their own signs
and recycled Solidarity Day banners.
Union signs were rare in the Sixties,
especially official ones, professionally printed.
Now unions see that they are threatened, and not by kids with long hair.
The Coalition of Labor Union Woman is an important addition.
You could say that the trade union movement is no longer CLUWless.
The lesbian and gay communities used to be invisible, even to us.
Now they bring new signs, new demands, and new constituencies.
One organization has multi-purpose signs that proclaim,
“Hadassah is proud to be here.”
One sign tells us: “We are the leaders
we’ve been waiting for.”
Most of the demonstrators today are as young as ever.
I myself am older. For a major march
I rely on neither overextended public fountains
nor overpriced vendors. I bring a canteen.
I know that no quick solution will be enough
for the mending of our shattered community, for Tikkun Olam.
Now I plant seeds, together with young friends and strangers.
As I dig and plant and water, I often know
that I myself “Will never see
red fruit hanging from the tree.”
So I feel a loss of immediacy in this demonstration.
A change, subtle but profound, and not just in me.
Once we marched for withdrawal of our troops from Viet Nam,
Our demand was simple: “Bring them home!”
We expected success, and quickly.
Once we thought that civil rights could be won
With just a few big demonstrations and a few new laws.
Once the ERA had a deadline imposed by Congress -
We almost made it.
Today we still demand justice now
freedom now, peace now.
But we know our struggle stretches
beyond our own lives.
Forward beyond our sight, forward beyond our imagination,
and also back into the past
into the deeps of time. remembered only
by the stars above and by our songs.
“Stop the Violence Against Women” -
This is the rally slogan in the spring of 1995.
The Clothesline Project fills the middle of the Mall with clotheslines on loan
from cities and suburbs and small towns around the country.
The clotheslines are hung with shirts, each from a victim,
of rape, incest, bigotry, domestic abuse, murder.
There are little shirts, children’s shirts.
The shirts are bright and grim with decorations, slogans,
messages from the owner or her surviving kin:
Re-affirmations of hope and of vengefulness, brief histories.
Many shirts bear a name. They remind us:
“Unto every person there is a name.”
Each name is a word
for a spell of summoning.
The Clothesline is heavy with this power:
potent, like the Quilt and the Wall.
The clotheslines tie together the victims, and display
the interminable sameness among all the variations of violence
which our society neatly categorizes.
As if there were a difference
between beating up a woman because she is a lesbian
and raping a woman because she is “your” wife.
We witness violence.
We learn how power can employ violence.
Our rallying cry is new, our insights are new.
But violence against women, violence itself, is old.
We spoke of the attacks on abortion rights,
yet another variation
on the theme of violence.
The murders at the clinics are new.
But there is nothing new about regulations and repression
for women who would control their own bodies.
Speeches and slogans also address economic violence
Signs decry the “war on the poor”.
One speaker asked whether “Women and children first” had a new meaning.
The targets are plain: school lunches, medical care, Section 8 housing,
public housing, public transportation, and, in the bull’s-eye, AFDC -
Aid to Families with Dependent Children.
The broad sweep of these attacks is new.
Their remorseless speed is startling.
But poverty is not new, poverty and women, poverty and children.
Not even the high school students at this rally hold any illusion
that one victory in Congress or one election victory
would be enough to bring us justice, would free us
to go home, to relax, and just cultivate our gardens.
Therefore:
We do not focus on any short-term goal.
We lack a demand more specific
than “Stop the Violence Against Woman”.
We know that violence has no immediate solution,
especially at this level where economic violence, political violence,
and physical violence are seen as one sickness.
In the Sixties we had peace walks:
San Francisco to New York, Quebec-Washington-Guantanamo.
Measured in miles, the distances were great. But the objectives
seemed nearer and clearer than ours do today.
Now we have intransigent problems, not just intransigent governments.
Now we know that the responsibility of finding solutions
does not rest with those in authority, with experts,
or even with our own leaders, to bring back
from the mountain top or from the national conference.
Finding solutions is our work,
“the work that we must do”:
Our work, individually and collectively.
We must do more than make demands.
We must make programs;
We must remake structures.
We are on our own Long March.
We make the map.
We are the compass.
May our compassion be as inclusive as the meanness that we face.
May the depth and radicalism of our love match the depths of hate.
Phyllis Wetherby titled this spingtime bus trip,
“Cherry Blossom Festival and Stop the Violence Against Women Bus Tour.”.
That was to give us special tour bus parking privileges.
Now our bus will return to Pittsburgh. We are all
In need of Spring, in hope of Spring, bearing Spring.
Road to Washington
Jonathan Robison 1/27/91
By five the buses stretch along the pike.
The road is darker for their string of light.
The barren fields and snowy hills are black.
No sign of sun or spring, no stars are bright.
To Washington against a war again.
We read or talk or snooze; the hours creep,
although the bus rolls swiftly through the night.
My dreams endure the cold and winter deep.
I want to see the dawn. I want to help
the spring green spread across the hilly dark.
Would daybreak come if we stayed home asleep?
At least each turnpike mile we see a mark.
Riverfront Park on Southside
Jonathan Robison, 6/92, Note: the city discovered this gem, and made it an official park, fortunately without major ‘improvements.’
Find the street, a path with pavement.
Then park the car and go on foot.
Walk beneath the maze of trees.
Part the head-high bushes, look.
An uncut lawn slopes gently down,
inviting any shoeless foot.
Ferns and willows guard the shore.
The water seems a simple blue.
Then you notice the other shore.
Industrial cranes and railroad tracks
seem distant, vague, and unrelated.
Green trees hide the rusty mill.
The bridges up and down the river
support the calm. They frame the scene.
They shield us from the angled shapes
that represent the towers of town.
The daily city: receding like a dream
from this older unseen island in the stream.
Increase in the minimum wage, moving towards a living wage and broaden eligibility for unemployment compensation