Thank you for inviting me to this forum.

The League of Women Voters has been a voice and a force for progress in politics for a long time, so I congratulate the Oak Park Chapter for your dedicated service.

I’ve been given three minutes so I hope you’ll pick up my entire speech, read it and share it with your friends.  It’s also available on my website.

ENDORSEMENTS

I hope you noticed that the Chicago Tribune endorsed me this week and that the Chicago Sun-Times recognized me as the chief challenger.

THE INCUMBENT’S RECORD

Personally I like Congressman Davis, and in a political race stating his factual record is positive democracy not negative campaigning.

Rep. Davis has been pretty clear:

• He has twice indicated he prefers being President of the Cook County Board to being congressman.
• He missed 80 votes in the 1^st Session of the 111^th Congress.
• Three-fourths (74%) of his campaign contributions came from special interest PACs.
• In 1999 he voted to repeal Glass-Steagall, the 1933 law that kept commercial and investment banking separate.  If he’s consistent, he’ll have to vote against what President Obama just proposed to reign in the banks.
• The nation was attacked on 9/11 and two days later Congress voted on four bills to help the victims.  Congressman Davis missed all four votes.
• He took a trip to Sri Lanka paid for by the Tamil Tigers – a terrorist group.
• At a DC event he put a crown on Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s head as Rev. Moon declared himself the “Messiah.”

MY PLATFORM

But why elect me to Congress?

You primarily want to hear why you should send me to represent you!

• My focus will be on jobs, jobs, jobs!  President Obama has treated Wall Street better than Main Street.  He saved the financial sector which nearly sent us over the cliff, but he hasn’t put Americans back to work – and we needed both.  We need private banks to loan to small businesses because they create most of the new jobs.  And we need the Obama administration to create new versions of the Civilian Conservation Corp and Works Progress Administration for immediate jobs for the less skilled, and a Public Works Administration for bigger and longer-term projects.
• On reproductive issues, I’m pro-choice.
• I support a single-payer health care system.
• I’ll fight to improve and make us proud of public education again.
• I’ll vote for strong environmental protections and a green economy.
• I will not support privatizing Social Security.
• I’ll fight for balanced economic growth and economic justice at home and in the world economy.
• I’ll fight to get more people active and voting in our democracy.

CONCLUSION

When you run for Congress voters rightly want to know, “Is she intellectually qualified?  Does she have enough experience?  What is her platform and position on the issues?”  But in politics I’ve learned there’s something more important – “Does she CARE?”

The truth is voters don’t care what you know until they know that you care.

I hope you’ve sensed in me someone who both knows and cares, and that I’m someone who’s worthy of your trust and vote to become the next Congresswoman from the 7^th District of Illinois.

So today I’m asking for your support and your vote – and I thank you for your time and kind attention.

I’m Sharon Denise Dixon, Alderman of the 24^th Ward and the ONLY TRULY INDEPENDENT member of the Chicago City Council.  In 2007 all of the other candidates were either supported by the Mayor or the unions over the “big box” issue.

Mayor Daley, the unions, the Chicago Sun-Times, Tribune and Defender, Senator Barack Obama, Congressmen Danny Davis and Luis Gutierrez, State Senator Rickey Hendon, State Representative Art Turner, Cook County Board President Bobbie Steele and most of the clergy in my ward all supported my opponent in 2007 – and my opponent was a 3-term, 12-year incumbent.  But through hard work and a sound campaign plan I won by 192 votes in a run-off.

I was elected by the people and YOU are the ones I want to send me to Congress.  I want to represent YOU, not merely a political organization or the special interests.  That’s what I’ve done as an Alderman and that’s what I’ll do as your Congresswoman.

MY BIOGRAPHY

I’m a person “of the people.”  I grew up at 3541 West Lexington in the Lawndale Community.  I attended William Penn, Thomas Jefferson, Matthew A. Henson and Jacob Beidler and graduated from Leif Ericson Elementary School in 1977.  At the age of ten I was accidentally shot in both hands with a pistol – the shot barely missed my head – and my hands still bear the scars.  I graduated from Manley High School in just three years (1980).

I’ve worked in various jobs since the age of 13, which enabled me to buy my own clothes, and in time various cars and houses.  I began part-time as a CETA worker and worked for 11 years at the Cook County Hospital in the Dietary Department as a Food Service Worker.  I was later promoted to Dietitian Assistant.

I’m a graduate of the University of Illinois (UIC-1985), majoring in Criminal Justice.  I worked as a flight attendant for American Airlines traveling throughout the nation and world, before working in corporate America for General Electric.  I’ve worked for Northwestern Memorial Hospital in the MRI Department.  The Ada S. McKinley social service agency employed me for the two years before I was elected Alderman.  I quit in October, 2006, to campaign full-time door-to-door for the Aldermanic seat.  I’m a few hours short of completing my Masters Degree in Social Work (MSW) at Loyola University.

I became a community and political activist when I couldn’t get my garbage picked-up, street swept, trees trimmed or sewers cleaned.  As a result, I started the 16th-to-18th Street Central Park Avenue Block Club.  As President I focused on bringing the community together with a positive approach and productive efforts, such as “the cleaning initiative,” which paid local young people $10/hour to clean up their community.  It helped to instill good work habits, rewarded work and provided a sense of pride in the young people and their neighborhood.  I went to Atlanta on August 6, 2005 – the 40^th Anniversary of the 1965 Voting Rights Act – to make sure that the temporary sections of the law were renewed for another 25 years.  I also organized a community demonstration to highlight the genocide occurring in the Darfur region of Sudan.  In 2005 I launched a massive voter registration drive that I’ve continued through today.  As a result of such activism I received the “Unsung Hero Award” for my community work.

THE INCUMBENT’S VOTING RECORD

While I like Congressman Davis personally, the incumbent’s record and behavior are legitimate issues in this campaign.  Representative Danny K. Davis has been in Congress since 1997, but recently it has become clear that he no longer wants to represent the 7^th CD.  How do we know this?

First, he has twice indicated he’d PREFER being President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners over being your congressman.  He expressed an interest when John Stroger resigned and most recently he circulated and filed petitions on November 2, 2009 to become Cook County Board President – only to withdraw his name at the last minute.  He also expressed a desire to be appointed to Barack Obama’s open seat by then Gov. Rod Blagojevich.  He doesn’t seem to have YOU and ME as his priority.

Second, his lack of interest in the 7^th CD is also evident by his recent voting record.  He’s missed 78 votes so far in the 1^st Session of the 111^th Congress, nearly 17% of the 458 total votes he’s missed since 1997.  I would do better.

Third, let me share one thing that he voted “for.”  Danny Davis voted FOR the legislation that laid the legal foundation for our current economic collapse!  He voted to REPEAL Glass-Steagall – a law that had kept commercial and investment banking and insurance separated since 1933.  I would vote to REPEAL THE REPEAL – i.e., separate them again as advised by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Voulker and the 2001 and 2008 Nobel Prize winners in economics Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman!

Fourth, buckle your seat belts – there’s more.  On September 11, 2001 America was attacked by terrorists.  On September 13 and 14 Congress was back in session and voted on four related issues – including the Victims of Terrorism Relief Act of 2001 and the 2001 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Recovery from and Response to Terrorist Attacks on the United States (and, if you can you believe this), Danny Davis missed all four of those votes.  In other words, at the height of the nation’s crisis of 9/11, Danny Davis was missing in action.  He went AWOL from Congress!

Fifth, Congressman Davis has also engaged in some highly questionable behavior.  He took a trip to Sri Lanka in 2005 paid for by the Tamil Tigers.  The Tamil Tigers were a well-developed militia notorious for abduction, extortion, recruiting child soldiers, pioneering the suicide bomb jacket as a tactic, suicide bombings, the use of women in suicide attacks, carrying out civilian massacres and various other high profile attacks, including the assassinations Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1993, and former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.  Their targets also included transit hubs, Buddhist shrines and office buildings.  Other groups – e.g., Hamas, Hezbollah – adopted many of the tactics developed by the Tamil Tigers.

Sixth, the Washington Post reported on June 23, 2004, that Rep. Davis was an official sponsor of a “March 23 ceremony in the Dirksen Senate office Building” at which “Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Ill) wore white gloves and carried a pillow holding an ornate crown that was placed on (Rev. Sun Myung) Moon’s head.”  At the event the right-wing Rev. Moon – founder of the Unification Church and owner of the ultra-conservative Washington Times – “declared himself the Messiah and said his teachings have helped Hitler and Stalin be ‘reborn as new persons’.”  Rev. Moon’s supporters have contributed to Rep. Davis.  Is that the kind of representative you want representing you.

Finally, as Alderman of one of the neediest wards in Chicago, the 24^th Ward has not received our fair share of President Barack Obama’s stimulus money – e.g., money for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program – and Congressman Davis has not gone to bat for us or raised his voice on our behalf.  He may be on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, but in no “way” has the 24^th Ward received the “means” because of his leadership.

MY PLATFORM

But I’m here to ask for your support because of what I stand for.  What is my platform?

I’m a full employment Democrat. On December 4, 1948 FDR said, “providing useful work is superior to any and every kind of dole.”  I’m an original “Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act” Democrat.  I believe the government should be the supplier of jobs as a “first resort” – i.e., having a plan and economic policies that provides meaningful employment at livable wages, and training for employment, for every person willing and able to work.

I’m a pro-choice Democrat. Abortion is legal, and I want to keep it legal, safe and rare.  I believe in age appropriate comprehensive sex education, methods of prevention and adoption of unwanted children.  And I believe Americans should not be denied public funds to obtain legal abortions merely because they’re poor – that denies them “equal protection under the law.”

I’m a single-payer Democrat.  I consider health care a right not a commodity to be marketed like soda and potato chips for profit.  We spend the most money (16% of our GDP, $2.6 trillion) on health care, but according to the WHO our health care system ranks 37^th in the world.

I’m an education Democrat. I believe a high quality public education is the way out of poverty for most people, the way to generate balanced economic growth, and the way to keep our nation competitive in the new world economy.  I support private and parochial schools, but they should be supported with private, not public, funds.

I’m a “peace” Democrat, but what does that mean in the context of Afghanistan?  I strongly support President Barack Obama and I want him to succeed in every aspect of his presidency – for his and the nation’s sake.  But I have serious reservations as to whether his plan for Afghanistan is the right one, or will work.  I hope the future in Afghanistan proves me wrong, but just as State Senator Barack Obama was concerned about U.S. involvement in Iraq in 2002, I’m skeptical about our deeper involvement in Afghanistan in 2009.  To paraphrase Mr. Obama’s speech in 2002, “What I’m opposed to is an unwinnable war in Afghanistan that distracts us from an unemployment and underemployment rate approaching 20%, a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate and a drop in the median income.”

I believe we should start drawing down our troops from Afghanistan as quickly as possible.  The truth is:  Al Qaeda terrorists – including Osama Bin Laden – are no longer in Afghanistan.  These extremist militants have moved into the tribal, mountainous regions across the border in Pakistan – a nation with nuclear weapons.  Our vital national security interests are in that country.  Both Democratic and Republican administrations have neglected Pakistan for the past 20 years, so President Obama is again left with the difficult task of enlisting a reluctant, but nuclear, Pakistan to help stabilize the region.  But terrorists are more transient now and can take root in many different places – including in cells in the United States.

We need to immediately change the nature of our mission in Afghanistan from combat to training.  We should begin training Afghani security forces to take responsibility for the safety, security and stability of their own country, and we can accomplish that mission with the tens of thousands of troops (about 68,000) that are already there.

President Obama inherited the Afghanistan mess from the disastrous Bush-Cheney years.  He didn’t create Afghanistan, but after Tuesday’s speech – for better or worse – he now owns it.  It’s easy to criticize but hard to maturely and responsibly solve a problem when there are no good options.  (1) Immediate withdrawal would almost certainly leave Afghanistan vulnerable to becoming a haven for terrorists to threaten us again.  (2) The prospect of succeeding in a long-term commitment to “nation building” – without a credible and dependable government partner – is dim and too costly in American lives and treasure.  (3) “Victory” is not an appropriate word in Afghanistan.  I believe President Obama chose the ironic option of surging our troops as the fastest way to bring them home.  I believe “he believes” his strategy is most likely to allow us to exit Afghanistan but leave it in a state that will not allow the return of a terrorist haven.  I hope he’s right.  I fear he’s wrong.  My question is, what is the President’s option if the situation deteriorates by mid-2011?  Will he feel our national interests are even more threatened and thus feel obligated to send in more troops?  Such a scenario would remind us of British and Soviet Union failures, and contain the potential of another Vietnam quagmire for the U.S.!

The U.S. is not the only nation threatened by terrorists.  Many nations in the world are threatened.  We need everyone who is vulnerable to accept an even greater role than they currently have and join us in the fight against terrorism.

In many ways the President’s chosen option pleases no one, and today he stands alone with the burden of fighting an ugly war that was left in his lap.  President Obama correctly argued – in front of the military at West Point – that our real power in the world rests not in our military might alone, but in our people, our economy, our moral authority, our ideas and our ideals.  But the money, ingenuity and energy we need to fulfill the American dream of good jobs at livable wages, a quality education for the 21^st century, health care, an affordable home and a high quality of life in the U.S. must not be foolishly squandered in an unwinnable war in Afghanistan.

I’m an environmental justice Democrat.  I support creating millions of new jobs by “greening” our economy through renewable sources of energy.

I’m a Social Security Democrat.  I’m against any attempts to privatize Social Security.

I’m a comprehensive immigration reform Democrat.  I support a plan that will encourage undocumented workers to come out of the shadows to register, pay a fine, pay taxes, submit to a criminal background check and learn English.

I’m an internationalist Democrat. I believe problems that need international solutions – climate control, reduction of nuclear weapons and non-proliferation, the world economy – must be solved in cooperation with the United Nations, alliances with regional entities and bilateral agreements with other nations.

I’m a balanced growth and economic justice Democrat.  When the world changed after the Great Depression – and in the middle of World War II – a Bretton Woods Conference was convened to create new economic rules and instruments – the IMF and the World Bank – to bring greater rationality to the world economy.  Since then the international economy has undergone even greater changes.  We need another “Bretton Woods Conference” to create new rules and institutions of world economic growth and justice.

I’m a universal voter registration and participation Democrat. The Supreme Court recently said we have an individual right to a gun, but you may be surprised to learn that we don’t have an individual right to vote in the U.S. Constitution.  That’s unacceptable in our democracy.  I support adding a “right to vote” amendment (H.J. Res. 28) to our Constitution.

CONCLUSION

When you run for Congress voters rightly want to know, “Is she intellectually qualified?”  They want to know, “Does she have enough experience?  What is her platform and position on the issues?”  But in politics I’ve learned there’s something more important – “Does she CARE?”

The truth is, voters don’t care what you know until they know that you care.

I hope you’ve sensed in me someone who both knows and cares, and that I’m someone who’s worthy of your trust and vote to become the next Congresswoman from the 7^th District of Illinois.  So today I’m asking for your support.

Thank you for your time and kind attention.