From Former Quigley Supporter:

14th Congressional District Update 7/13/19

Underwood Tweets About Shirley Chisholm, She Needs to do What Chisholm Would Do When Race Card Played Against Pelosi

Last night Congresswoman Lauren Underwood tweeted, through her campaign Twitter account, about Shirley Chisholm, a genuine hero of American history:

The New York Times story linked to her tweet is a very good read. 

Chisholm, along with other women who have served in Congress, like Barbara Jordan of Texas, are women who can be role models for us all. 

The tagline of the Times reference, “today’s progressive politics”, is one which in the past three weeks, have exposed an even deeper division within the House Democratic majority caucus that would make Chsholm and Jordan turn over in their graves. 

Specifically, the current feud between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and progressives in the House, led by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) or AOC, Ilhan Omar (MN), Rashida Tlaib (MI) and Ayanna Pressley (MA), who call themselves the “Squad”. 

Progressive politics is quickly associated with this Squad, or a better phrase might be the Four Horsewomen of the Progressive Apocalypse. 

This feud between Pelosi and the Squad has been written about in these updates this past week for good reason, and this is traced to something Congresswoman Underwood did that was right back on June 27th, voting with Speaker Pelosi, and all but 7 Republicans for the Senate amended emergency border funding bill, H.R. 3401. 

The 95 Democrats who voted against this bill that passed 305-102 were primarily progressives. 

But after the closed-door Democratic caucus meeting Wednesday morning where Speaker Pelosi laid-down the law, the Squad, in particular AOC, fired back in a way that Shirley Chisholm did not intend when she used the “Unbought and Unbossed” quote she originated. 

Because AOC told The Washington Post the following cited by The Wall Street Journal:

“…[The] persistent singling out…a point where it was outright disrespectful… the explicit singling out of women of color.”

As The Wall Street Journal editorial from yesterday (7/12) points out:

“And there it is—the old accusation of racial animosity.  We should have seen it coming.  We’re no fans of Mrs. Pelosi’s politics, but the suggestion that her criticisms had anything remotely to do with the color of these four women’s skin is preposterous.”

Wow, from the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal. 

But Speaker Pelosi found a vigorous defense somewhere else, from President Trump himself who shortened his reference to AOC to “Cortez”:

“I think Cortez is being very disrespectful to somebody that’s been there a long time.

“I deal with Nancy Pelosi a lot, and we go back and forth and it’s fine.

“But I think that a group of people is being very disrespectful to her, and you know what?

“I don’t think that Nancy can let that go on…Cortez should treat Nancy Pelosi with respect! 

“She should not be doing what she’s doing.

“And I’ll tell you something about Nancy Pelosi that you know better than I do.

“She is not a racist, OK?

“She is not a racist!

“For them to call her a racist is a disgrace.”

Again, wow. 

Whether you like President Trump or not, he used the bully pulpit to tell the powerful truth about Speaker Pelosi and what AOC is doing is wrong. 

Now it is time for Congresswoman Underwood to step up, and do what is right. 

While Underwood does not have the bully pulpit of the presidency, she is a woman of color, inspired by a real champion in Shirley Chisholm. 

Other women of color have stepped up during this feud with progressives, for example, Congresswoman Terri Sewell of Alabama, who is African-American. 

AOC’s chief-of-staff tweeted about the House New Democrats Caucus, where Sewell is vice-chair, along with the Blue Dog Coalition:

“Instead of ‘fiscally conservative but socially liberal,’ let’s call the New Democrats and Blue Dog Caucus the ‘New Southern Democrats.’

“They certainly seem hell bent to do to black and brown people today what the old Southern Democrats did the 40s,”Sewell, as reported in POLITICO responded:“

“I’m not going to talk about my own private talks with members.

“But it’s enough to say that I’ve issued my statement about the tweet that her chief of staff did.

“I was highly offended by that — I represent the Deep South.”

Congresswoman Underwood needs to do something, and if she’s doing something in private, she needs to share it. 

If she’s done something and I’ve missed it, I’ll stand corrected. 

But in addition to continuing to cast votes with Speaker Pelosi, as Underwood continues to do, she needs to step up and say/do more, and that means confronting the Squad and/or denouncing their outrageous attacks of Pelosi and moderate Democrats being racist. 

Yesterday’s the House passed H.R. 2500, the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2020. 

Underwood voted with the Speaker, but the Squad again voted against it along with the Republicans and were joined by Congressman Mark Pocan, who is a co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus. 

Please note, this legislation passed the House with 2 votes to spare (218 votes needed to pass anything in the House).

The Senate version passed by an 86-8 vote late last month, so it’s on to a conference committee to make a final NDAA for FY2020. 

But Underwood needs to step up, and really live-out the “Unbought and Unbossed” slogan made famous by Shirley Chisholm. 

It’s widely known that Underwood received help from AOC to raise money back in late March, through an AOC tweet. 

Always remember, when AOC tweets, it goes to over 4 million people as this one did in late March:

Towards the end of June within 5 days of the end of 2nd quarter fundraising, Underwood was endorsed by the progressive group, Democracy for America:

And in DFA’s April endorsements, there you see the Squad at the end of the DFA screenshot.

Congresswoman Underwood needs to stand up to the Squad more visibly and forcefully. 

If President Trump and the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal can do so, among others, so can Underwood. 

As I have done in the past, I will pray for Congresswoman Underwood to do the right thing. 

The last time I prayed for Underwood to embrace real bipartisanship, her first bipartisan bill, complete with a Republican co-sponsor was made known through an Underwood press release this past Monday, H.R. 3526. 

Maybe if all of us join in prayers to end this Pelosi-progressive feud and stop throwing around labels like “racist” at someone who is not, we will all better off.

• The Wall Street Journal editorial “Pelosi’s House Discipline”, 7/12/19:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/pelosis-house-discipline-11562886550
• NBC News Coverage of President Trump speaking for Pelosi, 7/12/19:  https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-kamala-harris-come-pelosi-s-defense-after-aoc-criticism-n1029336
• POLITICO Link:  https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/11/nancy-pelosi-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-feud-1407292H.R. 2500 Vote Grid from California Target Book:  https://californiatargetbook.com

None of the 14th Congressional Candidates Have Filed Their 2nd Quarter FEC Reports, and Deadline is Monday

It’s early afternoon on Saturday, and to-date, none, of the 6th and 14th congressional district candidates, including the incumbents, have filed their 2nd quarter Federal Election Commission (FEC) fundraising reports. 

While Congresswoman Underwood and Congressman Casten released their fundraising numbers to the press on Monday, and 14th candidate Jim Oberweis told a reporter his fundraising total, none have filed their reports with the FEC.  Monitoring this over the weekend. 

In addition to the incumbents, the following Republican challengers are obligated by the law to file reports:  Ted Gradel,  Danny Malouf, James Marter, Jim Oberweis

Once the disclosure reports are filed and processed by the FEC, then everyone will see who is contributing to the incumbents and their Republican challengers.