Pete Ashdown

According to insiders at Mark Warner’s “Map Changers” PAC, we lost out of getting to the second round by a few votes. Those votes could have been yours if you didn’t participate.

Right now my campaign is at a financial crossroads between taking money from Political Action Committees with clear agendas and staying with individual contributions. Ideally, I would like to stay with individual contributions, but there are financial obligations which will not be met if I keep that rule. Many of you have already contributed, some of you have donated multiple times and I thank you for your belief in me and winning this race.

Another candidate contest has come forward and it presents an even higher potential than Mark Warner’s. This time it is sponsored by Senator Barbara Boxer and has the potential to raise $30,000 – $80,000 in individual contributions for the winner. This would help me stay on track without approaching Political Action Committees for more money.

Please vote here and continue to track my progress over the next two weeks. I need you to encourage your friends who support this campaign to do the same thing:

Vote Here

I continue to need volunteers for events around the state. Please check the campaign calendar and email david@peteashdown.org or justin@peteashdown.org if you can help march, organize, or canvas.

Recent media:
Salt Lake Tribune
Seattle Times
PBS

BoingBoing tipped me off to a great development that happened today. Jimbo Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, has established a space for campaign and policy discussion inside their new Wikia project.

My use of a wiki in my campaign has solicited some great ideas that I have taken on the campaign trail as solutions to the problems in America. I understand fully that many candidates do not have the technical ability or the resources to put towards doing wikis of their own. What Wikia is offering is space for that to happen. I applaud their efforts. If you’re a candidate, there is now no excuse for not having a wiki of your own.

The only wish I have in multiple wikis on policy and campaigns is some way to connect them all so there is no duplication of effort. Blogging software has the same problem in my opinion. Instead of writing on my blog then duplicating it by hand on my DailyKos diary, Myspace bulletins, and elsewhere, it would be nice if there was a distributed connect and sharing of commentary. This is what I still like about Usenet. Post it once and it gets distributed to any site carrying the group worldwide. Blogs and wikis need a way to do the same kind of distribution if so desired.

Alaska’s Ted Stevens did a stunning job this week of demonstrating why we need technology leadership in the U.S. Senate.

I had a long conversation with a concerned voter over my Net Neutrality position yesterday. He stated that I was putting too much trust into the corporations and the telcos to do the “right thing”. Through extensive experience, I realize that they’ll usually do the self-serving thing, but this is difficult to do on the Internet. The best example of this is China’s attempt to control the Internet, which yet again, had another method demonstrated this week of how to bypass it. Activists continue to raise the spectres of restricted free-speech, corporate agendas, and toll booths on the Internet, yet I have seen time and time again that the regulatory approach towards resolving problems of the Internet is not effective. I am proud of the role I had in crafting anti-spam and anti-spyware legislation, but I fully realized beforehand that it would have very little effect on the actual problem. Instead of lamenting the lack of laws, I went back to work at my business and worked on real solutions. My opponent applauds the flavor of the week for filtering the Internet, yet I’ve been giving effective solutions to parents for over a decade without the help of my government representatives.

Please understand, I believe incidents like what was attempted against Vonage are wrong. The FCC dealt with that quickly and effectively without additional legislation. The individual who I spoke with yesterday expressed real concern that corporations will block websites that they disagree with. Much like politicians revising their own Wikipedia histories, I think any attempt to do this will generate far more bad press for the censoring corporation than good. Yet, I do support federal action against any entity that attempts to secretly restrict free-speech and interstate commerce, but I support it reactively rather than in response to excessive speculation beforehand.

One reaction that I fully support is to level the playing field and unrestrict commerce inside peering points. I briefly mentioned this problem in my previous blog, yet in spite of it being a hindrance to “net neutrality” since 1994, luminaries such as Moby continue to be ignorant on this issue. This is why we need people inside the Senate who understand the modern complexities of technology and its effect on all facets of our lives.

Campaign fund raising as a challenger is something I would not wish on my worst enemy. Doing the ask does not bother me. Pitching to strangers is something I had to do repeatedly in the early years of XMission. However, I’ve had a higher hit rates selling chocolate Santas as a teenager than with donors who have traditionally given high amounts to Democrats in other races.

Many have expressed dismay at the amount that has been raised in this campaign, versus my opponent who has over $4 million dollars. I can only wonder where he finds the time outside his Senate office to make all those calls. Yet minimal amounts are par for the course for Democratic federal candidates challenging incumbents in Utah. Looking at one of my favorite websites, Open Secrets, the following record is presented. In the past eight years, wunderfund and former party chair, Donald Dunn comes in first with $379,269 total, with individual contributions at $273,610 and an additional $87,189 from PACs. The mark slopes rapidly from there. My predecessor, Scott Howell raised $189,037 and received $14,000 from PACs. Post BCRA, Paul Van Dam brought in $93,057 with PAC contributions of $18,750. The Democratic challengers in congressional districts after 2002 averaged contributions of just over $32,000.

Although I applaud Howard Dean’s 50-state-strategy, supporting the candidates in all states by connecting them to donors is equally as important as hiring party employees. I called a number of consistent donors on the national level and the reaction was always the same, “You’re running against who?” with a laugh. This attitude needs to change inside the Democratic party. The races that make the most difference in winning are the races that are hardest won.

Some have joked to me that BCRA was otherwise known as the Incumbent Protection Act. Admittedly, I had a completely different picture of campaign finance reform before I became a candidate. The fund raising advantage has long been in the hands of the incumbent, and BCRA didn’t do anything to resolve that. Talking to Chris Cannon at the Scandinavian Days Festival in Ephraim he lamented the state of campaign finance, but when I brought up public financing he told me he was opposed to it, because it gave the advantage to the incumbent. He didn’t elaborate on how this worked out, but it continues to puzzle me to this day.

Right now, I have to walk a tightrope between calling potential donors and getting out to meet the public. Frankly, I would rather that all candidates did only the latter and none of the former. A bipartisan group of four former senators seeks to do just that with “Just $6”. While it is nice to have former senators and potential senators calling for federal finance reform, what we really need is existing senators to be on board. Rabbits running the cabbage shop, kids in charge of the candy store, raccoons collecting garbage, find your favorite euphemism, but there aren’t many that want to see the status quo change. What is needed is to replace them with people who are committed to this change and I promise that I am.

Of course, until that day arrives, I still need your donation.

Throughout my campaign for U.S. Senate, I have been talking about what my fundamental “business values” are. Points like paying a fair wage, absorbing health-care costs, building and protecting pensions, and holding employee, customer, and community needs above your own. I believe that most small businesses in America recognize these values without government intervention.

However, there are many businesses who do not. Instead, these entities operate with greed as their primary motivator, then turn around and share the wealth in campaign contributions to preserve the status quo. The minimum wage in America is a prime example of this. I have spoken at the Utah State capitol in favor of increasing the minimum wage and I will continue to fight to hold businesses responsible for fair treatment of their employees. Last Wednesday, the Senate once again rejected a minimum wage increase which has been the same since 1997.

Embarrassed over voting for yearly hikes, congress made their pay-raises automatic in 1989. Representative Jim Matheson has been a lone voice that has stood up against this increase year after year. If congress can get an automatic pay-raise for inflation, why not index the minimum wage in the same manner?

When I started hiring employees at XMission in 1995, I set the entry level pay at $7.00/hr with included benefits. I calculated this amount because as a single student, I was making about $6.15 an hour and I still needed subsidies from my father to live on my own. Today it has increased to $11.00/hr. Certainly there are new businesses that can not afford to meet a minimum wage of $7.00/hr. On the other end of the spectrum, if you compare some executive salaries against what people on the bottom are compensated for, lack of fair wages becomes unconscionable and irresponsible of the employer that is profitable. These businesses force their employees to use government sponsored benefits and as a result take taxes from responsible businesses and individuals to subsidize their own.

I will continue to fight for the American worker and will join Jim Matheson in voting down congressional pay-raises until they are properly warranted by a debt-free government, a responsible budget, and a strong American economy.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported on a immigrant couple who have tried to follow all the necessary rules to become U.S. citizens. It is a good example of how broken the legal immigration system is. This couple has worked hard to become part of their community and have a naturalized son. I don’t think they are asking to be treated specially, simply fairly, and that is not what the existing system is giving them.

What caught my eye is the Hatch response to the situation has been muted. Where our Senior Senator could help a Utahn in need, it is slow in coming due to the “political” ramifications. Although Senator Hatch has worked to extend residency for legal immigrants, he has done very little to fix the bureaucratic system that law-abiding immigrants have to jump through to attain citizenship. It must be like taxes, he needs to be chair of the finance committee to actually get anything done.

Hatch’s spokeswoman Heather Barney states that this kind of action is reserved for, “Life or death situations.” Maybe that means bringing the U.S Congress into your family hospital room decisions. Thankfully there is a way we can find out. According to GovTrack here are some current life or death situations:

S. 3047: A bill to reduce temporarily the duty on unit asy-battery hi volt.
S. 3048: A bill to reduce temporarily the duty on certain transaxles.
S. 3049: A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on shield asy-steering gear.
S. 3045: A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on converter asy.
S. 3050: A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on booster and master cyl asy-brake.
S. 3044: A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on hydraulic control units.
S. 3046: A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on module and bracket asy-power steering.

The audio for the BBC interview from last Monday is available here.

My good friend Ellie Pirelli (pictured in this article) from Washington County apparently made quite a splash at the Yearly Kos blogger conference. I saw Ellie before she left and sent her off with some campaign material and then heard from others about the good work she did there. Ellie, you are an inspiration to us all.

I wish I could have attended Yearly Kos, but there were a couple of campaign opportunities here in the state that were too good to pass up. However, I will be a panelist tonight at the Utah Bloggers Conference. Hope to see you there.

Also, today is the last day you can nominate me in the Map Changers Contest. Your help is much appreciated!

Steven Peterson of Washington County, Utah is my volunteer of the week. Steve took my plea to spread the word to heart and got the BBC interested in my campaign. They did a short interview today and will follow-up with a longer interview on Monday. This is a great example of what you can do to help get the word out. I need you to talk to press, big and small about this campaign and get them interested in how I am recrafting American politics. Read Steven’s account of getting the word to the BBC and how you can listen to the program on Monday:

Obiter Dicta by Steve

There is another great opportunity in which you can help get the word out. Former Virginia Governor Mark Warner has an organization that is running a contest to find Democratic Candidates with fresh ideas. They are currently running a nomination and voting process to find these candidates. Aside from the fund-raising potential this contest has, it is a great way to get the word out about my campaign. Note that participation does require registration and they will most likely use your information for future political ventures.

Map Changers

Aside from another Blue Eagle breakdown coming back from Saint George, this has been another fantastic week for the campaign. Be sure to read the coverage in the The Spectrum of my conference in Washington County:

Ashdown Senate Campaign Rolls Into Town

If I don’t turn up in Salt Lake County soon, this was my last location. According to my father’s type written instructions, if air gets into the fuel line of a diesel engine, you have to pump it out by hand. This wouldn’t be something new to me, I have had to do this task twice before, once over a decade ago on a trip with a friend, and last week coming back from Green River. The engine hasn’t been the same since last week.

The process involves strattling the right front wheel at the side of a busy highway. Reach in and work a small pump while adjusting a bleed valve to get the air out of the system. While you are doing this task, you consider the awesome implications as to whether any other U.S. Senate candidate has been put through this kind of wringer. I really hope Wellstone’s bus broke down somewhere on the trail, because I don’t want to be the first.

It’s also important to keep the thought of someone rear-ending the motorhome out of your head, but it isn’t easy because every truck that goes by causes the bus to sway back and forth from the air pressure.

This time, the bleeding process is not working. The roadside service found me a truck that is headed down from Cedar City in 90 minutes. So I write this entry via my Stompbox wireless and my draining laptop battery. Wish me luck.

After vigorous debate and much public outcry, the United States Senate has finally found a solution to the hot topic of illegal immigration. Ban gay marriage and flag burning.

Maybe its my genetic memory calling, but governmental involvement in marriage doesn’t rest easy with me. Imagine by some miracle this grandstanding on gay marriage actually takes hold and it becomes the 28th amendment to the constitution. Then what will stop government from going further in defining marriage? Say for example, that in order to stop all marriages of convenience, or marriages for citizenship, the government must now be allowed to verify the ceremony with a representative. In Utah, where LDS marriages are performed in temples where only active members are permitted, this legislation would go over like a lead balloon. Yet a similar stomping of the minority is being advocated by the LDS church and other religions in conjunction with an expanding and intrusive government. I do not agree with their advocacy. I doubt the persecuted and hunted LDS church of the 19th century would look favorably upon an amendment restricting their religious freedom either.

There are Christian religions that sanction gay marriage. With Republicans attempting to define (yet again) marriage through a constitutional amendment, it is a clear violation of the establishment clause in prohibiting the free exercise of religion. Now according to Mitt Romney, all manner of evils have spewn forth from Massachusetts legalization of gay marriage. He claims that homosexual lifestyles are now being promoted in public schools. Why Mitt needs the help of a constitutional amendment to deal with issues inside his state would be my question. He is free to do as Utah has done and make gay marriage illegal three times over.

The government needs to get out of the business of marriage. Anyone who stands for “limited, small government” and approves of this type of expansion needs to explain their position to me. I see no reconciliation between the two ideas. In a free country, everyone should also be able to decide who their insurance benefits. Recently, I had a long conversation with an unmarried man who was taking care of his disabled sister, who was too young for medicare. When government limits his ability to extend his insurance benefits, who exactly is being protected? In my opinion, it’s the insurance companies and not the American citizen.

This is a prime example of attempting to divert public attention from problems that we are all dealing with on a daily basis.

(See also the Press Release on this topic.)