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Virginia Democrats Rejected Corporate Money, Outraised Predecessors

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Democrats in Virginia are eschewing corporate cash in favor of grassroots fundraising, focusing on the people behind the money. A report by the Virginia Public Access Project shows freshman democrats are taking the charge on giving power to the people.

Legislators in 2018 have diversified their campaign funding, especially when it comes to corporate donors. From 2008 through 2016, 39 percent of funding came from corporate donors; in 2018, that number dropped to 8 percent. They also raised more money, increasing the average from $14,000 to almost $36,000.

Del. Lee Carter, a Democrat who represents Manassas, said corporate money is becoming a liability to delegates. He has tried to separate himself from the influence of monopolies by refusing to take any money from corporations.

“I think it’s important I walk the walk,” Carter said. He said he is trying to demonstrate he is serious about separating himself from corporate interest.

Carter is part of the People’s Caucus, a coalition of legislators that refuse campaign contributions from public service corporations. Three of the four members in the caucus, most of whom are freshman democrats, were patrons of House Bill 562, a bill introduced in January that would have prohibited candidates from accepting contributions from public service corporations. Freshman delegates Carter and Kelly Fowler, who represents Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, and Del. Sam Rasoul, of Roanoke, joined Del. Danica Roem, of Manassas Park, in supporting the bill.

Carter believes the purpose of for-profit corporations is for profit. The closer a candidate is to a corporation, the more likely it is the corporation may expect something in return. He hopes the overall culture of corporate donations changes.

Roem, who introduced HB 562, said contributions from for-profit corporations are not just about supporting a candidate.

“For-profit corporations don’t donate to campaigns to be nice,” Roem said. “They [support] campaigns because it’s about influence.”

She said she wants to make clear to her constituents they are her bosses, she answers to them and not to corporate donors.

“I’m doing my best to restore power to the people and make sure the regulated don’t have undue influence over the regulator,” Roem said. “A lot of these regulating monopolies have been getting their way on bill after bill after bill after bill for a longtime in the Virginia General Assembly.”

When corporate donors appear on campaign finance reports you don’t know the human being that decided to donate that money, Roem said, describing it as a transparency issue. She said corporations are using “hostage money” to have a seat at the table to steal influence. She doesn’t think the regulated should have undue influence over the regulators.

She also makes a distinction between donations from individuals, social justice organizations and corporate donors because those donations are in support of her platform. LGBTQ and Human Rights organizations have supported her, Roem said, because of the historic importance of her being the first openly transgender lawmaker. To her, this distinction between social justice groups is important, because they are advocating for civil rights and equality, not for personal profits.

“You can’t put a value on that,” Roem said. “A more inclusive America where more people from more walks of life who have been historically disenfranchised and left out of government to begin with can absolutely be left without a seat at the table actually having representation. Representation is power.”

Roem, Carter and Fowler are in good company with their fellow freshman democrats. Of the 16 delegates included in the report, 13 accept 10 percent or less from corporate donors. Del. Jay Jones, of Norfolk, is one outlier; he’s received the most in corporate contributions at 73 percent. Multiple attempts to reach Jones went unanswered.

Roem said money doesn’t win elections, though. In fact, all of the delegates in the People’s Caucus were outspent by their opponents.

HB 562 was passed by indefinitely in a subcommittee of the committee on privileges and elections by a republican majority. Passed by indefinitely means the bill could be considered at the next meeting, but that it would not move further in the legislative process without further action. The senate version of this bill, Senate Bill 10, introduced in November by Sen. Chapman Peterson, of Fairfax, had a similar fate.

Roem believes a democratic majority is necessary in both the House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate for true campaign finance reform.

“Every effort that we’ve had to do it has failed over and over again we’ve got to do better than this,” Roem said. “We have another shot in 2019 and I hope that the majority will come around to our side on this. If they do the right thing, great, if they don’t, well, we have the 2019 elections to solve that.”

Opinion: When Will the Democratic Party Finally Listen to the Next Generation?

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A week ago I wrote an opinion piece for this publication titled, “How To Kill the Democratic Party of Virginia” after attending the Blue Commonwealth Gala in Richmond on June 16. I had no idea that this opinion piece would create as many arguments and as much division as it has.

I have been called a “traitor”, an imitator, and told to “become an agent of change” and be “more involved in the party”. I disagree with all of this. Nonetheless, I have been called out, verbally attacked, and sternly spoken to as if I were a child. These interactions were naturally from Virginia Democrats. I’m not sure if this occurred because the title of my piece was so shocking, or if I just hit a raw nerve within the party by saying what lots of people (especially young people) are thinking, and how can we not? Look around at what’s happening nationally.  

Either way, the blowback was surprising and emotionally draining. But let me tell you a story:

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an activist and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, beat long-standing Democratic Congressman and New York City political powerhouse Joe Crowley in New York’s 14th congressional district Democratic primary race.

What does this win tell you? It tells me that the Democratic Party has become old, tired, and is not listening to the young people it should be recruiting as its next generation. Crowely even refused to debate Cortez publicly–part of a long trend of the party being patronizing and dismissive towards young people.

What was Ocasio-Cortez doing during the last weeks of her primary campaign? Protesting at an ICE detention center in Texas. This is what we want to see as young Democrats. This young woman stands for the abolition of ICE, universal Medicare, criminal justice reforms, a federal jobs guarantee, and free college tuition. She was at Standing Rock, from April 2016 to February 2017, when Native Americans protested against a natural gas pipeline cutting through their sacred North Dakota land.

On the other hand, Crowly presents like a Republican: He voted to create the Department of Homeland Security, voted for the war in Iraq, is a monied Democrat, and has not been challenged in 14 years. Too many elected Democrats struggle to believe that a change is upon the party. They still believe this is the party of Hillary and Bill Clinton, and consistently struggle to understand why this is a bad strategy.

One of these Democrats is House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. In a statement after Ocasio-Cortez’s win she said, “The fact that in a very progressive district in New York it went more progressive—Joe Crowley is a progressive, but more to the left than Joe Crowley, is about that district. It is not to be viewed as something that stands for everything else.”

Pelosi’s refusal to acknowledge that Ocasio-Cortez’ win is a threat to establishment Democrats is a wake up call to what young people are shouting at the top of our lungs: what is happening right now in the party is not working.

How would you describe today’s Democratic Party, nationally and in Virginia? Is it a party that is divided over ideology and outreach? Have the Democrats protected us from the hate, fear, and restriction of civil liberties being restricted (because the current administration excels at dividing and conquering)? Does the party have a strategic plan to fight against Trump’s next Supreme Court appointee (his last nominee was supported by at least three Democratic Senators)? Is this a party that looks eerily similar to the Republican Party in the way it is financed by corporate donors who reject a progressive agenda?

Now, more than ever before, Democrats in Virginia and nationally need to band together and adhere to a strategy that represents the party’s next generation. Democrats have won the popular vote in six out of the past seven presidential elections, but conservatives continue to dominate both houses of Congress and now the Supreme Court–that is reflective of political failure.

Republicans will use their control of the Supreme Court to exert policy control nationally for many generations to come, which will damage unions, uphold voter suppression, and, in every way, threaten Roe v. Wade and LGBTQ rights.  

In the years ahead, there are other justices that may also need to step down given their age (Ruth Bader Ginsberg is 85, Stephen Breyer is 79), resulting in more liberal seats opening during the Trump Presidency.

So the question once again becomes, what is our strategy? Because older establishment Democrats will not have to bear the brunt of this, we will.

As a thought exercise, I can describe what I envision the Democratic Party in Virginia and nationally to look like moving forward: a party focused on protecting the environment, removing money and corporations from politics, healthcare for all, eradicating ICE, making education a priority, resolving the student loan debt crisis, investing in critical national infrastructure, and re-establishing the middle class–something the party has moved away from.

Ocasio-Cortez’ win shows that the sentiment in my original opinion piece was not wrong or misguided. Progressives are ready for a change in leadership. It is important for me to highlight how many strangers have tweeted, messaged, and emailed me to say that they agreed the Democratic Party is being unrealistic regarding their expectations for the average member.

The Democratic Party needs to do better and stop turning their noses up at candidates like Ocasio-Cortez. The Democratic Party would prefer that moderate centrists candidates continue to run, but we don’t live in moderate times.

The only silver lining about the 2016 election is nothing is safe anymore with regards to status-quo politics. Ocasio-Cortez and her progressive platform is an excellent example. I for one am going to keep working for the most progressive candidate, the one whose platform aligns with the issues that impact my life and the lives of the those around me, the patients I see in my practice, and the voices that seem to be forgotten in the current Democratic Party. If you’re a candidate like Ocasio-Cortez, count me in as someone who will work relentlessly to ensure you’re elected.

Opinion: How to Kill the Democratic Party of Virginia

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This past Saturday, I attended the Blue Commonwealth Gala in Richmond, the Democratic Party of Virginia’s (DPVA) signature annual event. As I sat there for three hours I couldn’t help but think that this was the way to kill the Democratic Party. Speeches for three hours, plates of gluten-free chocolate cake that had been resting on the table for hours, and a dinner costing $150 are not going to bring in the much needed 18 to 34-year-old demographic needed to vote.

According to Pew Research Center, as of November 2016, an estimated 62 million millennials (adults aged 20 to 35) were voting-age U.S. citizens. Yet a Brookings Governance Survey found that only 50 percent of millennials that are registered as Democrats self-reported to have voted in the 2016 election; up only 1 percent from the 49 percent that voted in 2012. This means only half of young people who identify as Democrats vote. 

Imagine if the other half voted in 2016?

As a 32-year-old woman who founded and now directs a progressive group in Hampton Roads called Peninsula Voices for Change, I frankly only attended this dinner to hear Cory Booker speak.

Like all of these events, I had to wait for two hours and listen to Dorothy McAuliffe (why? her husband is no longer in office), former-Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Congressman Donald McEachin, Congressman Bobby Scott, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, Sen. Mark Warner, Gov. Northam, the governor’s wife Pam Northam, Sen. Tim Kaine and his wife Anne Holton, along with various state delegates before Sen. Booker even spoke.

I may be forgetting someone – it was a long night of standard stump speeches.

Nonetheless, every speaker said the same thing. “We finally passed Medicaid expansion!”, “We elected Governor Northam”, “We have women as delegates now”, “We need to keep Tim Kaine in office”, and  “The children at the border!”

And yet, I found it particularly interesting how politicians cited their accomplishments – many coming from the direct advocacy of the people who elected them – with the pronoun “we”.

I have always believed that even though politicians cast the votes, they represent the people that elected them. Wouldn’t that mean that the accomplishments that were touted would actually be those of the people they are supposed to represent?

The accomplishments are for every person who states their frustrations with politicians and the policies they are advocating. They are for those who donate money they don’t have to politicians who make promises to improve their lives. They are for the people who canvas and bring friends to the polls on election day.

The question then remains: Why were these accomplishments not mentioned by the Democratic political class this past Saturday?

I will tell you what I did not hear, though; and that spoke louder than what I did hear.

I did not hear what actionable things these politicians are doing regarding the children who are being ripped from their parents at our southern border. I did not hear about Trump’s attempts to repeal Title IX protections from women. I did not hear about the importance of voter registration; about how every single person should make sure they take at least five of their friends to the polls. I did not hear about voter suppression either. I did not hear about how every 18-year-old needs to be registered to vote so Corey Stewart, with his “bring back the Confederacy” pandering, does not continue to mainstream white supremacy. I did not hear about how Democrats were going to connect with communities of color and the LGBTQ community.

And most importantly, I did not hear about how the Democratic Party of Virginia was going to diversify and evolve into the 21st Century to address the complex challenges we now face.  

Speaking of DPVA, the only person in attendance that actually mentioned the pay gap experience was Sen. Booker (from New Jersey). He said that the Democratic Party is the one political institution which not only cares about the people sitting at the fancy dinner, but the people who clean up afterward.

And he should have. But why didn’t any of our own Democratic politicians from the Commonwealth bring this point up? Virginia is a state with incredible pay gaps. According to the National Education Association – estimates of school statistics from 2016 to 2017 – teachers face a 40.2 percent pay gap, as teachers on average are paid $51,049 and college graduates can make up to $85,432  – currently the largest in the country. A report produced in 2016 by the National Partnership for Women and Families showed that women in Virginia are paid 80 cents for every dollar paid to men, amounting to an annual wage gap of $10,419.

Perhaps this is why the Democratic Party of Virginia is missing out on 50 percent of its millennial voter base. I am not the Chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia; yet if I was I would have designed this event differently.

Let me tell you what I would have done to engage the people who need to be brought into the party: I would have organized a meet and greet with a flat price of $20. I would have invited food trucks from all over Richmond to cater the event (isn’t Richmond known for its stellar foodie scene?). Prior to the event, it would be explained to all elected officials that no speeches would be given. Instead, politicians would be encouraged to mingle with attendees directly. For once, politicians should be in a position to listen and not speak.

Blue Commonwealth Gala in Richmond

The theme of the event would be: ‘How to Improve Engagement in Politics‘. Faced with the Trump insurgency and a candidate like Corey Stewart, who will use fear and hate to compel his campaign, we should not underestimate how effective this might be – therefore, the only question we must ask ourselves right now is: how can we engage the 18-34-year-olds, women, people of color, and LGBTQ community?

If this event was targeted to the people whose lives are being threatened by Trump and his administration – and the cost of this event was actually affordable – I believe the Democratic party could live up to its creed of being the party of the people.

If this party was truly representing educators who are barely making a living wage, and women that are earning significantly less than men then they would create an event that acknowledges pay gaps like these – not host an event that just congratulates each other in front of one another.

I am so disheartened after this event. I have considered the possibility of running for office, but I cannot imagine running for office with a party that does not include the people who need its help most.

Here is the bottom line: I believe that if Virginia is going to flip and if we are going to take back the country from Donald Trump and the worst of his supporters, it is up to us to engage with new demographics and new audiences. It is up to people like me and like you: young people who are angry, scared, and pissed off. People who are tired of waking up and seeing children living in tents, ripped away from their parents. People who believe that the taxes we pay mean that we are entitled to health insurance and someone in office who will fight to protect our rights – not the rights of people that can easily afford $150 dinners and the weekends that go along with them.

This is what the Blue Commonwealth Gala in Richmond this past Saturday failed to acknowledge and in doing so, failed to acknowledge what the next generation of the Democratic Party wants to see from its party and politicians.