DNC Candidate Questionnaire -
Brad Parker
If you are an incumbent DNC member, what have you done as a DNC member
to promote the progressive agenda on the following issues?
a) Ending the US occupation of Iraq
b) Eliminating Poverty
C) Promoting Universal Single-Payer Healthcare
D) Ensuring Election Integrity (protecting each vote to ensure it is
counted as cast)
E) Preventing a US attack on Iran
F) Preserving a free and open Internet
G) Impeaching or indicting Bush and Cheney
H) Redirecting California's resources to support education, not
incarceration
I) Protecting LGBT Rights and Promoting Marriage Equality
J) Promoting public financing of elections
K) Abolishing the death penalty
L) Promoting alternative energy/energy independence
If you are not a DNC incumbent, what have you done to address the
issues enumerated above?
All of the above issues and many more are part of the Progressive
Policy that I have been writing on and speaking to for many years. My
articles that address these and other issues germane to the body
politic can be found on my website at:
http://www.riozen.com/salon2.html
Let me add that I believe that elected leadership should reflect the
membership rather than direct it. From progressives, liberals,
Democrats and across the spectrum of American citizens, there is much
that can be learned by party leaders and elected officials - if they
will take the time to listen. Consent of the governed on these and a
myriad of other issues can best be gained by securing the right to
dissent, a redress of grievances and constant vigilance against top
down control. Facilitation, inclusion and tolerance must become the
bywords of the Progressive, Liberal Democratic Majority.
I have done something on each of these issues. Like most of you, I have
done more on some than others but have supported efforts and continue
to support results on all of them. I have been most active in:
a) Ending the US occupation of Iraq
b) Eliminating Poverty
C) Promoting Universal Single-Payer Healthcare
D) Ensuring Election Integrity (protecting each vote to ensure it is
counted as cast)
E) Preventing a US attack on Iran
F) Preserving a free and open Internet
J) Promoting public financing of elections
The organizations I am a member of - listed below - have been active in
holding forums, demonstrations, fundraisers and communications on these
vital issues. I have been a part of all of those efforts. The most
critical issue - other than ending the Iraq occupation - I have worked
on is Net Neutrality. I am a co-author, with Jim Gordon (Chair of the
Labor Caucus) of the Net Neutrality resolution passed by the CDP. This
success - the Labor and Progressive Caucuses working together on a
vital issue - led to the Immigration Town Hall at this years CDP
convention, where several caucuses came together to give voice to the
diversity of opinions in our Party on a fundamental issue. I look
forward to organizing with all of the other groups in the Party in the
future. Building consensus around our principled Progressive policies
will take our best diplomatic efforts both inside and outside the
Party.
If you had been in Congress, how would you have voted for the most
recent 178-billion dollar war package?
I would never have voted for funding this unnecessary war - not before
it began or during it. I would only vote for money to bring all of
troops home now and to rebuild Iraq.
How have you used your activism or Party involvement to challenge the
leadership's support for war funding?
I am an outspoken opponent of the war and a consistent critic of the
Democratic Party electeds who supported this travesty as well as the
Republican criminals in the Executive branch who perpetrated this
debacle. My writing and speaking in opposition is on the record with
the Progressive Caucus, PDA and Valley Democrats United as well as the
DSCC and the LACDP. The expansion of the military-industrial complex
must be stopped.
Have you ever supported an insurgent primary candidate or someone who
is challenging an incumbent on the issues?
Every candidate I have supported is a proponent of Progressive Policy
and deeply involved in the ideological struggle for the soul of the
Party. Opposition to the status quo is best served by vigorous debate,
constant organizing and a flexible mind. I had the honor of speaking on
behalf of Marcy Winograd in 2006 from the floor of the CDP convention.
I reminded the members of their courageous stand against the war in
2005 and demanded that they follow their conscience and not vote to
support a candidate who has consistently voted for the war - Jane
Harman.
What qualifies you, in terms of your organizing work, to represent
progressive values on the E-Board?
This question is answered in both the first question and in the
experience question below. For the record - there are many members of
the Progressive Caucus running for the DNC and I have complete
confidence that any one of them will represent progressive values as a
member of the DNC in a manner that we can all be proud of. It’s a
Movement - the Progressive Swarm!
Why should progressives on the CDP E-Board vote for you as a DNC
delegate?
Because I have the time, resources and skills to facilitate our
Progressive evolution into the Party at large as we demonstrate what
inclusion can do as an instrument of change.
Do you think we should have super delegates? Why or why not?
Superdelegates, appointees and ex-officio members in every body of the
Party are used to control voting outcomes in favor of the status quo. I
am a co-author of the Progressive Plan, where we lay out the argument
against this practice in some detail. These offices should be altered
or abolished in favor of more “elected” members and fewer “selected”
members.
Are you running on a slate with other candidates? If so, who are the
other candidates running on your slate and what was the process for
choosing these candidates to run with you?
I am on two slates. One with Jo Olson, Ahjamu Makalani and Christine
Pelosi and another with all of the members of the Progressive Caucus
who are running. Both were chosen by their support for Progressive
policy. Jo, Ahjamu, Christine and I have been working on many policy
issues together over the last several years including the most
progressive Platform of any Party body in the nation.
What experience has prepared you to run as a DNC member?
• 40 years of political action - starting with Vietnam War protests in
Berkeley, California and Austin, Texas, in the 1960’s.
• Campaign work from precinct walking in Solano County in the 1970’s to
phone banking in Los Angeles County in the 2000’s with a stint in
Tennessee in the 1990’s.
• Advisor to many candidates - including Al Gore and Tom Hayden.
• Fundraising for many candidates including Sen. John Edwards.
• Many years of political leadership including my current offices:
o Valley Democrats United, President
o Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles, Vice President
o Progressive Caucus of the CDP, Officer at Large
o Platform Committee of the CDP
o DSCC, Delegate, 42nd AD
On which committee(s) would you like to serve and what are your
personal goals for each committee?
I want to serve on the Platform Committee and make it as Progressive as
the Platform committee of the CDP - on which I serve - has become.
One last thought: the purpose of the DNC is mainly process. All of the
processes of the DNC from committees to primaries must be updated to
better serve the membership and the nation as a whole. Without open,
transparent and accountable processes, any political organization
becomes stagnant and a mere rubber-stamp for the status quo. When the
processes are allowed to breath and connect to the people then the
policies, as embodied in the Platform, will come to address the true
needs of the nation.
As we have reinvigorated the CDP - let us go further together to
reinvigorate the DNC.
E Pluribus Unum
