You’ve probably heard about the two amazing Socialist Alternative campaigns. Ty Moore is running for City Council in Minneapolis’s Ward 9, and Kshama Sawant is running for City Council in Seattle. We have a chance to win in both areas, and any help you can give in the final week would be hugely appreciated.
Big business has taken an interest in our campaigns as well. A multi-million dollar, Tea Party supporting Super-PAC is spending thousands to try to defeat us in Minneapolis. The incumbent in Seattle is resorting to smear campaigns in the corporate media. Please donate to help us make history, combat these attacks and elect socialists to two major city councils.
Anything you can give helps, and if you have already donated, then please know that we appreciate it and have used it effectively. Please dig deep in this final week and consider donating the maximum amount of $300 to Ty’s campaign and $700 to Kshama’s.
Donate to Kshama’s campaign here
Realtor Super-PAC Tries to Defeat Ty
In a surprising move, one of the main US-wide lobby groups, formally based in Chicago, Illinois, stepped into this local race. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) – a lobby group of real estate/property agents – supports Democrats and Republicans, including Tea Party leaders like Michelle Bachmann and Ted Cruz. It put $40 million into elections last year. Two weeks before Election Day on 5 November, a mass mailer by this Super-PAC (‘political action committee’) called on voters to give their support to Cano, followed by a second mail-out, a few days later.
This same NAR has been on a ferocious campaign to undermine the Green Party in Richmond, CA who have been doing ground-breaking work to use eminent domain proceedings to stop banks from carrying out home foreclosures.
See an angry letter from a Ward 9 voter, Ty supporter and Latina community leader here
Smear Campaign Against Kshama
Conlin felt the need to start an ugly smear campaign. Eagerly taken up by the Seattle Times, the main pro-establishment newspaper in the city, Conlin questioned Kshama’s “civic engagement” as she had only voted in 3 of the 4 elections that she could have done so after registering. Formally Conlin is making points about voting and engagement but the subtext of his attack is clear: Kshama is an immigrant (she got US citizenship in 2010). This attack against a candidate of color from an immigrant background had a polarizing effect and also mobilized new support for the Vote Sawant campaign.
The Stranger came out with a clear response to Conlin’s accusations and concluded: “Conlin’s problem is that Sawant is too civically engaged.
“Conlin should stop crowing about about her votes—Conlin should be worried about his votes against transit, for half-funded freeways, against sick leave, for an anti-panhandling bill that violated the city’s own human rights standards, against making homeless encampments safer, and the rest of his record.”
Please also read other appeals to donate and get involved. One is from Green leaders Jill Stein and Matt Gonzalez. The other is from Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello.
You may also contribute by sending a check to “Vote Sawant” at P.O. Box 85862, Seattle, WA 98145, or to “Ty Moore for City Council” at 3401 Pillsbury Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55408. If you have given over $100 to a campaign, the law requires you include your occupation, employer (if self-employed list the name under which you do business), employer’s city & state.