AP: Avakian "trumpeting solidly liberal positions"
Kari Chisholm
The AP's J.J. Cooper is authoring a series of profiles of each of the candidates in the First Congressional District. First up, Brad Avakian. I recommend reading it in its entirety, since it includes a bunch of biographical background. I've excerpted out the policy chunks here.
On the wars in the Middle East:
As he courts Democratic primary voters to help win the Nov. 8 special election, Avakian is trumpeting solidly liberal positions on a number of issues — ideas that could play well in the Democrat-dominated Northwest Oregon district, even if they're less popular in a Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives. Avakian wants, for instance, to immediately end the war in Afghanistan and use the money to hire many of the 14 million out-of-work Americans to build new bridges, and upgrade airports and railways.
"I would take every available aircraft carrier we have, I would send them to the Middle East, I would load up our troops immediately and bring them home," Avakian told The Associated Press in a recent interview.
His tough talk is a repudiation of President Barack Obama's strategy, which calls for bringing home the troops by the end of 2014, and a nod to liberals who are highly skeptical of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. His Democratic opponents — state Sen. Suzanne Bonamici of Portland and state Rep. Brad Witt of Clatskanie — have also said the Obama should bring the troops home sooner, though not necessarily immediately.
Avakian said he hasn't seen enough progress in Afghanistan to justify endangering troops any longer, and he said he'd be willing to vote against funding for the conflict.
On creating jobs:
Avakian, 50, is a lawyer who represented workers in employment discrimination cases. He said the experience showed him the importance of a job — for money, to be sure, but also for a person's psyche and sense of self-worth.
Avakian said he wants to help people find jobs by focusing on workforce training, reviving shop classes in middle and high schools and finding a way to get banks to lend more money so businesses have confidence in their cash flow. He also wants to reduce regulations on credit unions in hopes that they'd lend more to small businesses and compete with larger banks.
On health care:
He isn't much of a fan of the federal health care overhaul. Not that he agrees with the law's conservative critics who say it's socialist or unconstitutional. He thinks it didn't go far enough, and he'd prefer an option for government-run health care for people who choose it. Eventually, he said, he'd like to see a single-payer health care system.
Still, he said he would've voted for the federal health overhaul because it gave health coverage to people who were uninsured.
On civil rights:
Avakian opposes restrictions on abortion and supports the legalization of gay marriage. He says illegal immigrants now in the United States should be allowed to legalize their status, with a penalty of some sort, and the country needs to acknowledge that significant industries rely on illegal-immigrant labor.
"I wish that more people in America valued citizenship like I think we used to, and I wish that more immigrants that were coming here saw a pathway to citizenship and wanted it, because I think it's a valuable thing," Avakian said.
Discuss.
 |
More Recent Posts | |
Albert Kaufman |
|
Guest Column |
|
Kari Chisholm |
|
Kari Chisholm |
Final pre-census estimate: Oregon's getting a sixth congressional seat |
Albert Kaufman |
Polluted by Money - How corporate cash corrupted one of the greenest states in America |
Guest Column |
|
Albert Kaufman |
Our Democrat Representatives in Action - What's on your wish list? |
Kari Chisholm |
|
Guest Column |
|
Kari Chisholm |
|
connect with blueoregon
10:39 p.m.
Sep 3, '11
Full disclosure: My firm built Brad Avakian's campaign website. I speak only for myself.
1:21 p.m.
Sep 4, '11
Of all the declared candidates, is Avakian the leftmost credible candidate? (I once read an interview with John Kenneth Galbraith, who said this is the criterion he used to make these decisions.)
7:53 p.m.
Sep 5, '11
I happen to think so, and many others do too.
But "leftmost" and "credible" are both subjective terms that are best left to each individual to determine. So, that's your call.
4:56 a.m.
Sep 28, '11
Tom: the great thing about a primary is you're given the choice between good and better. Avakian is the latter in my view.
I have no illusions that either candidate is 100% squeaky clean, but the only negative campaign I've seen against Avakian is article Bonamici's consultants got planted in the WW that said he paid his property taxes late when he was under financial duress.
Avakian has a record not only of being a strong progressive voice, but (somehow) working with Republicans and still getting incredibly progressive legislation passed. Research it House Bills and Senate Bills and you'll find him the most progressive, credible, and--most importantly--the most active/effective candidate.
4:58 a.m.
Sep 28, '11
Tom: the great thing about a primary is you're given the choice between decent, good, and better. Avakian is the latter in my view.
I have no illusions that either candidate is 100% squeaky clean, but Brad's legislative record is impeccable. The only negative article I've seen is the one Bonamici's consultants got planted in the WW that said he paid his property taxes late when he was under financial duress.
Avakian has a record not only of being a strong progressive voice, but (somehow) working with Republicans and still getting incredibly progressive legislation passed. Research it House Bills and Senate Bills and you'll find him the most progressive, credible, and--most importantly--the most active/effective candidate.
1:47 p.m.
Sep 4, '11
Nice!
11:01 p.m.
Sep 4, '11
I'm not picking on my freind Brad Avakian, but he says something a lot of elected officials say, that to me is a contradiction: they would end the wars, bring the troops home and spend the money on domestic programs (and I vigorously support that idea); and they would vote against funding the conflict. Unless the majority in the House changes very significantly, there will be no money to spend on the domestic programs, because the current majority leadership has no interest in creating working class jobs and restoring American prosperity. The republicans will always vote to fund defense, no matter how misguided, but not for anything at home.
7:50 p.m.
Sep 5, '11
Woulda, coulda, shoulda.
You're arguing that Congress won't cut funding on the wars in the Middle East. Avakian is arguing that Congress should cut that funding.
Both can be true.
To say that no member of Congress should ever make an argument that the majority won't pass, well, that's to suggest that the minority party shouldn't bother even making their arguments.
And that's just silly.
8:28 p.m.
Sep 5, '11
Furthermore, the minority party NEEDS to make those arguments, loudly and consistently and as much as possible with one voice. That's the only way they'll ever stop being the minority party.
9:15 a.m.
Sep 5, '11
Aircraft carriers are not troop transports.
11:41 a.m.
Sep 6, '11
And Afghanistan is landlocked so the troops go in and out by plane.
4:37 a.m.
Sep 7, '11
And Iraq has only one deep water port,Umm Qasr,which could barely handle an Aircraft Carrier if we were crazy enough to send one there.
We do not have troop transport ships anymore.
It is statements like this by politicians that give me a headache. I don't expect perfection but at least have a clue about the real world.
8:30 a.m.
Sep 7, '11
Again, my trouble is that in this race is that I don't see a turncoat non-liberal. It isn't like Suzanne is some secret DLCer. When, at the 1st CD meeting Glen Geller asked if she intended to join the Progressive Caucus if she won the race, she said yes practically before he finished the question.
To me, the issue isn't intent. It's effectiveness. That was always the issue with David Wu. Still, again, I'm having trouble. Of what I know, all three of these people are highly effective.
I may just leave this one blank. I'm not sure.