In the Doldrums: Dold Votes to Repeal Affordable Care Act – Again (Continued from Page 1)

In This Issue: In the Doldrums: Tenth Video...... 1&2 Locked Roots...... 8 Congress Watch...... 1&3 Nuns on the Bus...... 9 Pants on Fire...... 4&5 Ravinia Event...... 10 Dold Votes to Repeal Affordable Care Act – Again Yes we Did...... 6&7 Quinn-terns...... 11 Less than two weeks after the Su- H.R. 6079 is not the first time Dold has For information or to volunteer: preme Court upheld the Affordable voted for the full repeal of the ACA, Email us at [email protected] Care Act (ACA) as constitutional, and it highlights his foremost priority: Or visit our website at www.tenthdems.org Or call us at 847.266.VOTE (8683) Republican Congressman Robert Dold protecting the profits of the corpora- Or write to Hon. Lauren Beth Gash, Chair, Tenth joined all but one member of his party tions that fund his party and his elec- Dems, P.O. Box 523, Deerfield, IL 60015 on July 11 in a symbolic party-line tion campaign—at the expense of Editorial Consultant: Barbara Altman vote for H.R. 6079—a bill the American public’s access to vital Editors: Susan Friedman, Allan Sperling proposing the full repeal of the medical care. continued on page 3 Editorial Staff: Jack Altschuler, Joan Attenberg, President’s landmark healthcare Jeanne Marie Dauray, Eleonora di Liscia, Hon. Lauren Beth Gash, Adrienne Kirshbaum, legislation. The vote is largely Steve Sheffey, Debra Shore, symbolic because the legislation has Laurie Kaplan Singh, Lee Vickman virtually no chance of actually becom- Design: Tom Peltier Photos: Jeanne Marie Dauray, Ravi Ganapathy ing law. Even if it were to pass in the Distribution: Ravi Ganapathy, Glenn Stier Democratic-led Senate (an unlikely The opinions expressed are those of the writers and not event), it would still face the Presi- necessarily endorsed by Tenth Dems dent’s veto.

www.tenthdems.org

TenthAUGUST 2012 Illinois Tenth Congressional District DemocratsNews Newsletter Volume 9, Edition 8

Tenth Dems Goes Video As the critical November elections approach, Republicans are forcing restrictive voter ID bills through state legislatures. Tenth Dems volunteers produced “Right Wingers (Let Me Vote)" to the tune of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Cecilia.” Click on the image below to view! continued on page 2

Free event! Meet Brad Schneider on August 2nd in HP. Click here for more information. AUGUST ISSUE 1 Tenth Dems Goes Video (continued from page 1)

Musicians Shelley Orbach and Clara Berman perform for videographer David Akinde.

RIGHT WINGERS

Lyrics by Eleonora di Liscia You’re rigging the rules That isn’t my name. ‘Cause you only can win I’m not that armed robber To the tune of “Cecilia,” When you’re cheating. From Texas. With apologies to Simon and Garfunkel. Oh, Right Wingers, Oh Right Wingers, Right Wingers, Here’s my student ID. You want so many forms, You’re breaking my heart. Won’t it prove that it’s me I can’t prove I was born You’re taking my rights away daily. At the polls? In this world.

Oh, Right Wingers, Purging votes in the afternoon with Vote Suppression, I’m down on my knees. right wingers Block Tyrone and Jesus I’m begging you please For democracy. ‘Cause they’re going to vote blue Let me vote! If you vote, they’ll lose the race. If you let them. So when you show up, you’ll find Right Wingers, Your name’s just been erased. Vote Suppression, They won’t stay on top, Right Wingers, Unless they can stop You again!

AUGUST ISSUE 2 In the Doldrums: Dold Votes to Repeal Affordable Care Act – Again (continued from page 1)

Repeal of the ACA would have a dev- cally underserved communities to •H.R. 1213—A bill that proposes to re- astating impact on the lives of tens of get the care they need to peal funding for the State Health Ben- millions of Americans. Writing in the stay healthy. efit Exchanges (SHBEs). Health benefit Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Kathleen exchanges allow individuals and small Sebelius, Secretary of Health and “Repeal will take us back to the days businesses to compare the costs of Human Services, highlights some of when insurance companies were various health plans and different types the potential consequences of not accountable,” Sebelius told the of health benefits. In the process, they ACA Repeal. Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. The help make the health insurance market ACA now requires insurance com- more transparent and competitive. •Millions of Americans will lose panies to spend at least 80 cents of their insurance. every premium dollar on healthcare •H.R. 1217—A measure that proposes and quality improvements, not CEO to repeal the Prevention and Public •Americans with insurance will again salaries or advertising. Health Fund created by the ACA to face the risk of lifetime dollar caps provide approximately $15 billion over and cancellation of their coverage With so much at stake, it seems 10 years to assist state and community when they get sick. unconscionable that Dold would vote efforts to increase preventive care. to repeal the ACA. But he did, and •Insurance companies will again not once, but several times. Working What’s more, despite repeated cam- be able to throw children with pre- on behalf of the insurance industry paign promises and public statements existing conditions, like asthma and to protect its profits and control over touting his commitment to preserving diabetes, off a family policy, or refuse Americans’ access to healthcare, Medicare, Dold voted for two Repub- to cover their illnesses. Dold voted on January 19, 2011 for lican budgets that effectively kill the H.R. 2—Repealing the Job Killing program and replace it with an inad- • Tens of millions of insured Ameri- Health Care Law—the first bill to equate voucher system. cans will pay more for preventive propose full repeal of the ACA. When care. Under the ACA, 54 million people this effort failed to pass the Senate, Each of these votes, individually and with private health insurance now Dold voted for numerous smaller in the aggregate, flies in the face of have access to free preventive care bills aimed at defunding healthcare Dold’s repeated campaign and web- like vaccinations, check-ups, and reform one provision at a time. site claims about his commitment to cancer screenings. These include: protecting Medicare and improving Americans’ access to quality health- •Senior citizens on Medicare will •H.R. 1214—A bill that proposed care. That’s because the claims— lose free preventive care, including to block $200 million in manda- along with virtually all of Dold’s other cancer screenings and annual well- tory funding for the construction of claims about working on behalf of the ness visits which Medicare now cov- school-based health centers (SB- American people--are outright lies ers with no co-payments. HCs), despite the fact that the cen- intended to deceive 10th District voters ters have proven highly effective and into believing he is working to protect •Millions of seniors who reach the cost-efficient in providing medical their interests when, in truth, he is Medicare prescription drug donut care (including mental health and working against them. As his voting hole will lose the 50-percent discount social services) in public schools. record demonstrates, Dold’s only prior- provided under the ACA. SBHCs currently serve nearly two ity is helping to further the agenda of million children and adolescents the corporate interests (e.g., the insur- • Investment in expanding communi- across the country. Numerous ance companies) that fund his party ty health centers and training doctors studies have shown they increase and his campaign. His disregard for and nurses in medically underserved academic performance, as students the healthcare needs of the American regions, which now is taking place do better when they come to school people and willingness to cast sym- under the ACA, will slow to a halt, healthy. SBHCs are also linked with bolic votes against President Obama’s making it harder for people in medi- lower emergency room usage, fewer signal legislative achievement make it hospitalizations, and reduced Medic- imperative for 10th District residents aid costs. to come together in November to elect Democratic challenger Brad Schneider to replace Dold as our representative House has voted 32 times to repeal all in Congress. or part of healthcare reform law ! AUGUST ISSUE 3 Pants on Fire, or Where Trust Goes to Die by Jack Altschuler

President Kennedy was as human as that Nixon was a crook or that he had The Republican Revolution of the 90’s the rest of us, but we Boomers hung compromised himself and the office of brought us Newt Gingrich and a con- an idealistic sense of hope on him. the President so severely that he felt tinuing witch hunt of Bill and Hillary, After he was murdered, the Warren compelled to deny his guilt? which paralyzed Congress for years. Commission did its kabuki theatre of Gingrich’s crowning achievement an investigation and produced an ab- Then President Ford pardoned Nixon was getting expelled from the House surd document that nobody believed. for all crimes “which he may have for his ethics violations. That started a generational cynicism committed.” With that one stroke that continues today. of the executive pen our nation of Then George W. Bush became presi- laws was cast aside to exonerate a dent by means of a legal contortion Lyndon Johnson had his “credibility guilty man from unknown, unrevealed created by the Supreme Court. In a gap.” That was the way the press crimes, a permanent get out of jail ruling they said was a one-time-use labeled his disconnect from truth, as free card for his high crimes and mis- judgment, they stopped the recount of he lied us into the full-blown military demeanors. the vote in Florida, disenfranchising incursion in Viet Nam. That illicit war tens of thousands of American citi- ripped America apart, with fathers Ronald Reagan ran up budget deficits zens whose votes were not counted. and sons and brothers estranged greater than all the presidents before from one another and our belief in the him combined. Wait a second: didn’t Bush lied us into war in Iraq, scaring validity of our government shaken to he say he was a fiscal conservative? us with threats of nonexistent weap- its core. ons of mass destruction. Then he George H. W. Bush told us, “Read my refused to pay for the war, effectively Nixon told us he had a secret plan lips: no new taxes.” Then he raised doing Enron-style, off-balance-sheet to end the war in Viet Nam and then taxes. accounting and leaving the mess for dragged his feet for years, allowing an someone else. Our CIA and Special additional 26,000 of our young to die Bill Clinton pulled the plug on the Forces could have nabbed bin Laden and eight times that many more to be protections against financial disaster at Tora Bora, ending our need to wounded. of the Glass-Steagall Act, leading invade Afghanistan, but Bush pulled directly to the financial meltdown our forces out and allowed him to Watergate brought us a peculiar of 2008. escape, ensuring years more killing, question: Which was more shocking, maiming, and dying. continued on page 5

continued on page 6 AUGUST ISSUE 4 Pants on Fire, or Where Trust Goes to Die (continued from page 4)

The financial house of cards that We have made ourselves into a tabloid We have reduced ourselves to shout- Wall Street had become finally col- society of cynicism and distrust. And it ing at one another while nobody lapsed under the crushing weight gets worse. listens. An honest exchange of ideas of its fraud and abuse, causing with the hope of working together financial destruction for millions of In his article The Downside of Liberty, to seek a better path forward simply Americans. To date, not one Wall Kurt Andersen argues, as others have, doesn’t happen. Our decades-long Street banker has been brought up that Boomers are the “me generation” habits of institutional dishonesty, on charges, much less done time, and then he takes that notion one step betrayal of trust, and self-indulgence making it clear that the biggest of further. Letting “me” stand for any keep us from solving our very real wrongdoers can get away with any- of us, if it’s all about me, he suggests, and vexing challenges. How will we thing, leaving the rest of us to pick then Congress has to operate the way find a way forward when our trust up the tab and suffer I want. Seen that way, compromise has been so severely undermined? the consequences. itself is an elongated four-letter word, so “My way or the highway” won’t get legislative strangulation makes sense. the job done. We have to find a bet- This is just a short list of the shocks Seen that way, perhaps the Goldman ter way; otherwise, we can kiss our we have taken to our sense of trust Sachs people were giddy with “it’s all self-image of American exceptional- in authority and order, in our belief about me” justification, as they shorted ism good-bye and learn to accept in our institutions and, correspond- their derivatives and, at the same time, our insignificance. ingly, our belief in ourselves. We’ve sold the worthless stuff to unsuspect- even promoted our own cynicism ing clients. Perhaps our generational with our love-hate mania for uncov- self-indulgence is foundational to our ering conspiracies and wrongdoing. national paralysis.

AUGUST ISSUE 5 YES, WE DID! WE CAN’T WAIT by Eleonora di Liscia

When your opponents’ sworn motions filed to date was 139 teachers and first responders. objective is to ruin your presidency, during the Bush presidency’s final “Republicans say the measures were you just might look for other ways to two years,after you-know-who took flawed and potentially harmful to the get things done. back the Senate. For the session economic recovery,” wrote The New immediately prior (2005-2006), while York Times. ( http://www.nytimes. After Republicans blocked President Republicans happily stuffed their com/2012/05/09/us/politics/senate- Obama’s American Jobs Act (“People policies down our throats, only half republicans-block-bill-on-student- back at work! That will kill us!”), the that number was filed—68. The top loan-rates.html) President took matters into his own number of motions filed on Democrat hands. Declaring “We Can’t Wait!” filibusters was 82 during Clinton’s Obama has faced criticism for skirting he created change through his own term (1995-1996) and 71 during the Congress to carry out his agenda, as presidential powers. Bush administration he had criticized Bush for doing the (1999-2000 and 2001-2002). same thing. Like it or not, however, For those of you who want numbers— these tactics form a legitimate part of although I’ve recently concluded that Besides the Jobs Act, Republicans our Constitution’s separation of pow- they are entirely superfluous to win- filibustered bills 1) holding down ers. ning the political debate—in Obama’s student loan interest rates, 2) repeal- first two years, Democrats filed 137 ing tax breaks for oil companies, 3) The We Can’t Wait! Program has motions for cloture (a vote setting a minimum tax for households moved forward on a variety of fronts: on cloture is needed to end a filibus- earning more than $1 million a year, ter). The highest number of cloture and 4) helping communities pay for JOBS: Since blocking Obama’s Jobs continued on page 7

AUGUST ISSUE 6 YES, WE DID! WE CAN’T WAIT (continued from page 6)

Act spurred We Can’t Wait!, many colleges in rural communities with the G.I. Bill dollars, some schools have initiatives appropriately concern job resources they need to train used deceptive practices to recruit creation. The American Jobs Act had health professionals. veterans. For example, schools have included money for summer jobs and enrolled veterans with brain injuries year-round employment for low-in- CONSUMER PROTECTION: A new while failing to offer the necessary come youth. When that failed, Obama “Privacy Bill of Rights” is aimed at academic support. Or schools have formed a coalition of businesses, non- online consumers. The Bill of Rights pushed veterans to take out expen- profits, and government to help at-risk serves as a guide to companies han- sive school loans when they might youth find jobs through paid intern- dling consumers’ private information. have qualified for federal aid. The ships and through teaching skills such Under the Bill of Rights, consumers administration acted to keep schools as resume-writing. should control what data is collected with misleading practices off military and how it is used. bases and require transparent infor- Through Startup America, the White mation about financial aid options (the House earmarked capital invest- HOUSING: New rules make the Home Know Before You Owe form) as well ment for new business startups. The Affordable Refinance Program more as about a school’s record on gradua- administration also shortened the time accessible and allow anyone with a tion and job placement. for products to go from research to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgage marketplace and launched Business who is current in payments to refi- To help students manage overwhelm- USA, a centralized website for busi- nance, with potential savings up to ing debt, Obama capped student loan nesses to learn about $2,500 a year per household. repayment at 10 percent of discretion- federal resources. ary income starting this year instead HEALTHCARE: Through the Afford- of waiting until 2014. In addition, the Spearheaded by former President able Care Act, the administration of- Financial Aid Shopping Sheet will help Clinton, the Better Buildings Chal- fers awards to hospitals and doctors students better compare the financial lenge creates jobs by getting the who create innovative ways to deliver aid packages offered by private sector to invest in energy high quality medical care while keep- competing institutions. upgrades for commercial and ing down costs. The administration industrial buildings. also took steps to combat prescrip- ENVIRONMENT: Using its rulemak- tion drug shortages by requiring early ing powers, the administration has To help farm communities, Obama in- notification of possible shortages and worked to reduce greenhouse gases creased government purchase of bio- by quicker review of drug manufactur- through mandating fuel-efficient cars. based products such as soaps and ing sites. The administration will also By 2025, cars and light trucks should paints that come from farms instead watch that companies do not jack up achieve 54.5 miles per gallon. of from chemical companies. The Ru- prices by hoarding drugs in anticipa- ral Jobs Accelerator awards money tion of a shortage. The Obama administration also invest- for innovative rural job creation. The ed in major energy-saving upgrades government will also work to connect EDUCATION: Hoping to grab those to federal buildings and garnered commitments of private money from labor leaders, universities, CEOs, and mayors for more energy- efficient projects.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: Recogniz- ing that domestic violence can harm both federal workers and the federal workplace, Obama directed federal agencies to set policies on domestic violence, improve workplace safety, and help victims of violence.

AUGUST ISSUE 7 The Empire of Locked Roots by Debra Shore

When European settlers made their Jolliet paddled their canoe into these three inches down. way from the East to Illinois, emerging waters in 1673. out of the hardwood forests of Ap- The plows the settlers brought with palachia into the tallgrass prairie of Marquette wrote in his journal: “We them from the East could not break the heartland, they were astonished, have seen nothing like this river that the tough prairie soils, the “empire disbelieving. The land that was to we enter, as regards its fertility of of locked roots.” It was not until a become the Chicago region was a soil, its prairies and woods, its cattle, blacksmith named John Deere in tapestry of rolling savanna and prai- elk, deer, wildcats, bustards, swans, McHenry County (and another named rie, clear streams and noble groves of ducks, parroquets, and even beaver. John Lane in Will County) invented ancient oaks. Buffalo, cranes, tur- There are many small lakes and riv- a steel moldboard plow that settlers keys, beaver, mountain lions all made ers. That on which we sailed is wide, were able to ‘break’ this tough prai- their home here. Vast beds of mussels deep, and still, for 65 leagues. In the rie soil and the empire began to fall. and clams were found. spring and during part of the summer Once this new plow demonstrated its there is only one portage of half effectiveness, within the space of a The Chicago region happens to lie a league.” generation we had transformed the where three major biomes converge. landscape, converting the prairies We are situated at the southernmost Settlers coming west in the mid-1800s into Illinois’ rich agricultural base. extent of the north woods from Wis- rode through the oak groves, kept consin; we are at the eastern extent open by periodic fires set by lightning The benefits were enormous – but so, of the tallgrass prairie; and we are at or by Native Americans, and made it turned out, were the costs. We have the western edge of the eastern hard- their way across a sea of grass. lost much of our native biological woods from Appalachia. And wher- “From the first oak openings of Ohio diversity, and the ability of the ecosys- ever you have these major biomes and Kentucky till it washed to the foot tem to capture water and carbon. converging, you get enormously rich of the Rockies, grass ocean filled the biological diversity as a result. So, for space under the sky,” wrote natural- There is a wisdom in these na- instance, the Indiana Dunes National ist Donald Culross Peattie. “Steppe tive plants, a wisdom reached over Lakeshore, which is fairly small as meadow, buffalo country, wide wilder- thousands of years evolving in this national parks go, has the third most ness, where a man could call and call climate, in these soils. Come to think plant species of any national park and but there was nothing to send back of it, prairie plants don’t need to be more than the island of Great Britain. but an echo.” mowed or watered! Given the drought we are experiencing now in Illinois, The rich black soil was recognized Peattie has called the deep root should we consider the merits of the soon enough as the permanent systems of native prairie plants carbon and water-capture system foundation of a Midwestern economy, the “empire of locked roots…. that native plants provide, a pathway and a great metropolis was destined Root touched root across this for water to recharge our aquifers, a to grow here. Indeed, one historical empire,” he wrote. Those roots of repository for carbon from fact worth noting is that Chicago is native prairie plants, some stretching the atmosphere? the largest city in the country whose 10 to 15 feet belowground – shown name links it to the native landscape. here in a wonderful illustration by Go ahead. Liberate a part of your For Che-ca-gou was the Native Heidi Natura -- are a carbon capture lawn. The birds, the bees, the butter- American name for the wild onions system and a water capture system. flies and beneficial insects, and your that grew in profusion along the In contrast, the roots of Kentucky wallet will thank you. riverbanks and swampy areas when bluegrass carpeting our lawns and Father Jacques Marquette and Louis corporate campuses extend about

PHOTO EDITOR. The Tenth News is looking for a photo editor. This important job would entail (1) ensuring that all important Tenth Dems events are covered for the newsletter by a photogra- pher and (2) ensuring that all event photos are promptly forwarded to the newsletter editors and identified. No experience necessary. If you’re reliable, organized, and want to make a positive contribution to Tenth Dems, you’re the person we’re looking for. Contact us at [email protected]. AUGUST ISSUE 8 Tenth Dems Rally with Nuns on the Bus

Nuns on the Bus was a highly pub- able populations. The bus tour visited was worthy of such a visit. As licized nine-state tour that included Congressman Joe Walsh in Fox Lake, explained at length in the February stops in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois which is now in the 10th District. There, 2012 issue (“Who Represents the on its way to Washington, D.C. It was joined by a number of Tenth Dems vol- 10th District?”)(available at http:// organized and led by Sister Simone unteers who lent her their enthusiastic www.tenthdems.org/2012/02/february- Campbell SSS (Sisters of Social support, Sister Simone presented the 2012-newsletter-joe-walsh-repre- Service), an attorney and the execu- “Faithful Budget” as an alternative to senting-the-10th/), Rep. Dold has tive director of NETWORK. The nuns’ the Ryan plan. joined his caucus-mate Joe Walsh mission was to lobby Republican in consistently voting “yes” for the members of Congress against the Although incumbent 10th District Con- Ryan budget. Paul Ryan budget because of its gressman Robert Dold did not receive failure to provide for the poor, elderly, a visit from Sister Simone and the other and disabled or for working and mid- nuns on her bus, readers of the Tenth dle class families and other vulner- News should know that he certainly

Max Maxwell, Kim Kearby, Jim Walz, Swapna Baumann, Barb Hogman, Mary Jean Kelley, and Maxine Zerbst wait for the nuns to arrive. Sr. Simone Campbell addresses the crowd. Joe Dubaniewicz and Sharon Narrod are on the right.

The nuns prepare to leave on their bus. Supporters follow the nuns across Grand Avenue to Congressman Joe Walsh’s office. Paid for by the Illinois Tenth Congressional District Democrats (www.tenthdems.org) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Contributions are not tax deductible. Federal law requires us to use our best efforts to collect and report the name, address, occupation and name of employer of individuals whose contributions exceed $200 in a calendar year. Corporate contributions are not allowed. AUGUST ISSUE 9 Join Tenth Dems for our Ravinia Event The Guthrie Family Reunion: Happy 100th Birthday Woody Guthrie

Reserve your tickets!

Date: Sunday, August 19, 2012

Time: We’ll start gathering at 6:00 PM; show starts at 7:30

Location: Ravinia Festival (200 Ravinia Park Rd., Highland Park)

Contact: For more information or to RSVP, call 847-266-VOTE (8683), send an email, or RSVP online.

Individual Lawn Ticket and Dinner $40

Two Lawn Tickets and Dinner $75

Host Committee Levels

Bronze $250

Silver $500

Gold $1,000

Platinum $2,500

Benefactor $5,000

Arlo Guthrie, son of the legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie, has released several critically acclaimed albums and been an active voice in politics, most recently speaking out against the actions of Scott Walker, Wisconsin’s Republican gov- ernor. Rolling Stone has called him “the natural heir to the best qualities of the folk movement: its concern for an ethical politics, an abiding sense of place and the preservation of tradition.”

Mary Chapin Carpenter is a five-time Grammy Award-winning country folk singer. Her albums have sold over 12 million copies, and The New York Times has described her voice as “a voice made to engage in hushed heart-to-heart all-night conversations about things that really matter.

AUGUST ISSUE 10 Quinn-terns: Tenth Dems Interns Help Staff Event; Mingle with Illinois Governor

AUGUST ISSUE 11