At noon on Wednesday, Gordon Smith will finally get a challenger for his seat in 2008. Steve Novick will be announcing his candidacy in Portland at the ILWU Local 8's hall at noon, and then will be off for another announcement at 3:30pm in Eugene at the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza.
I know there's been a lot of excitement about DeFazio running, and there's no question that he would be a great candidate. But I think Steve Novick deserves a good long look from the netroots--especially considering he's the only one currently in the race. I think Steve says why he is running best on his website:
I'm running because while George Bush has been taking our country to hell, Senator Gordon Smith had his hand on the handbasket every step of the way. I'm running because Gordon Smith represents government of the rich, by the powerful, and for the special interests, and I believe in government of the people, by the people and for the people.
So who is Steve Novick?
Steve first came to Oregon in 1973, when he was 10 years old. At 14, he started attending the University of Oregon and went to Harvard when he was 18, eventually earning his degree. By the age of 24, he was working for the U.S. Justice Department. He successfully brought cases against violators of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts during his time there and ended up acting as lead counsel in the Love Canal case, ultimately helping to win a $129 million judgement.
Steve also has spent considerable time working in politics, acting as policy director for both Ted Bruggere's 1996 Senate bid and Ted Kulongoski's successful 2002 campaign for governor. He's fought against, and helped defeat, anti-funding measures brought by both Bill Sizemore and Don McIntire, including the 2006 TABOR measure that was voted down.
Now Novick is looking to finally take down Gordon Smith. He has a different idea of how this country should be run, built around strong, progressive ideals.
First of all, he supports universal health care:
If we were starting from scratch, I would likely favor a "single payer" system, which cuts the insurance companies out: you'd be allowed to pick your own doctor, and the government would be the insurer, as it is with Medicare. However, since there are legitimate concerns that switching to a single payer system immediately would be disruptive (for one thing, it would throw an awful lot of insurance company employees out of work), I would favor an interim approach to getting health care to more people, such as those proposed by Senator Ron Wyden and former Senator, and presidential candidate, John Edwards.
Both Senators' proposed plans would: (1) provide health insurance to all citizens; (2) stop insurance companies from discriminating against anyone who might actually get sick (which would save a lot of money, because insurance industries dedicate vast resources to figuring out how to avoid actually covering people); and finally (3) ensure that all employers pay something toward health care. If all employers had to pay something, it would end the unfairness of the current system, in which employers who do provide health care are in effect punished for their responsibility ... because they wind up, indirectly, paying the costs of the uninsured. When the uninsured get really sick, they often go to the emergency room, and the hospitals make up those costs by raising rates for the insured patients and their employers.
I would support either Senator Wyden's or Senator Edwards' plan and as your Senator would work to get one of them passed and put into action.
Novick wants us out of Iraq:
Like all five Democrats in Oregon's Congressional delegation, I was opposed to the war in Iraq from the beginning.
[. . .]
Now, we need to get out of Iraq. But before we leave, I think we need to follow the Baker Commission's recommendation and at least try to engage the regional powers, such as Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia, in diplomatically coming up with a plan to stem the sectarian violence, and bring peace to the country. We need the involvement of regional players in the Middle East to have any chance to stabilize the country, help install a lasting plan for the future, and help to monitor its progress.
He recognizes the threat of climate change:
To fight global warming, reduce dependence on foreign oil, and create high-paying jobs, we need a massive investment in renewable energy - wind power, wave energy (for which Oregon is one of the most promising locations), biofuels, geothermal - in conservation, and in retrofitting our economy to operate on non-fossil fuels. Imagine if even ½ of the money spent in Iraq had been spent on research and development of renewables.
We also need to stop making the climate crisis worse. I will fight to prohibit building any new coal-fired power plants unless we are guaranteed they are equipped to strip out carbon dioxide before it escapes into the atmosphere. And, of course, we need to raise fuel efficiency standards for cars.
He supports the Employee Free Choice Act:
In the Senate, I will co-sponsor the Employee Free Choice Act, to stop employers from threatening and punishing employees who try to organize in unions. (Today, such threats and retaliation are illegal but there is almost no penalty or breaking the law; the EFCA would give the law teeth.) I know that some people believe that unions are old-fashioned. But some truths aren't old; they're not new; they're timeless. One of those timeless truths is that if regular folks want to get a decent deal for wages and benefits when they're dealing with the rich and powerful, they need to band together and stand together. And that is what a union is all about.
He supports net neutrality:
I would join many other US senators, and the rest of what we might call Google Nation, in supporting "net neutrality." We need to prevent broadband providers from creating a two-tiered system of access to information, in which content providers with money would have an advantage over those that don't, and Internet users would often find it harder to Google their way to the information they really need.
[. . .]
Several US Senators (including our own Ron Wyden) have sponsored legislation to keep full access for everyone to the Internet. This legislation, known as the Internet Freedom Preservation Act, would ensure that broadband service providers do not discriminate against Internet content, applications or services by offering preferential treatment. This issue is also often referred to as "net neutrality."
I proudly support the Internet Freedom Preservation Act, and as Senator would fight to pass it, and keep it. The web should be for all - not just those who can pay special premiums for it.
Novick strikes me as a strong progressive who believes that a government should represent the people, not the powerful, not the rich, and not the special interests. He's damn smart to boot, and I'd like to see a little more of that in Congress. I've been intrigued by his candidacy ever since reading an article in the Willamette Week that laid out much of what he now says on his website, in terms of how Smith has failed Oregon and how he would truly serve the people. He has a long history of working for the public good and is not afraid to speak out for progressive policies. I think he'll be a hell of a fighter in the Senate and can't wait to see him go toe to toe with Smith.
Novick's website is here. You can donate to him through my ActBlue page and can sign up to volunteer here. If you happen to live in Portland or Eugene and your day is free tomorrow, stop by and check out his announcement. Then let's get to work taking down Gordon Smith.
Joel Caris