The threat of a primary challenge by the popular Lieutenant Governor and healthcare reform supporter Bill Halter helped knock Blanche Lincoln off her high horse. Now it's time to do the same to Bart Stupak.
Over in Michigan, healthcare reform supporter Connie Saltonstall has thrown her name into the ring and will be challenging Stupak in the primaries.
If you want to stick it to Stupak, please consider chipping in $5 or whatever you can afford to her campaign using the ActBlue site.
If you want to read a little more about her, here's the press release from Ms. Saltonstall's web site:
CHARLEVOIX, MI – Democrats in Michigan’s First Congressional District will now have a choice in the August Primary. Connie Saltonstall has announced she will challenge Bart Stupak for the Democratic Nomination for United States Representative. This week supporters of Saltonstall launched a petition drive to collect the 1,000 signatures required to place her name on the August primary ballot.
Saltonstall, a life-long Charlevoix resident, declared that one of her top priorities is to work for affordable, accessible healthcare for all Americans and to support what the Supreme Court has ruled as a woman’s right to privacy. Saltonstall states, “Our Congressman has let us down. Bart Stupak has threatened to block healthcare reform unless the Amendment that bears his name is included in the final bill. I believe that he has a right to his personal, religious views, but to deprive his constituents of needed healthcare reform because of those views is reprehensible.” Saltonstall has heard from Democrats throughout the First District who are outraged by Stupak’s hard line on this important issue and demand a candidate who will support real healthcare reform.
Saltonstall ran for State Representative in the 105th District in 2008 and served as a Charlevoix County Commissioner in 2006. A graduate of Charlevoix High School and the University of Michigan, Saltonstall has a background in both education and business. She taught fourth grade in the Charlevoix Schools. In 1978 she was elected to the Charlevoix Board of Education, was appointed to the Michigan Association of School Boards Taxation Committee, and recently completed a three-year term on the Charlevoix County Commission on Aging. She also founded and was Vice President of a small but nationally known research and consulting firm, with clients including Viacom, ABC, ESPN, The Weather Channel, and CBS. Currently she is a mediator and board member with Northern Community Mediation and serves as board president of Hospice of Northwest Michigan. She is well known for her tireless work on behalf of the Charlevoix Public Library.
Saltonstall believes that voters in Michigan’s First District will support a candidate who will work for them on the important issues of job creation, healthcare, education, infrastructure maintenance and improvements, and protecting the environment of our precious Great Lakes. “Michigan and the First District are facing enormous challenges and we cannot afford to sacrifice solutions for individual agendas. Stupak is co-chair of the Pro-Life Caucus and is putting their interests above those of his district. No federal funds have been used for abortions since 1977, and that provision will stay in effect without his amendment. In my opinion, Bart Stupak has shown that he is willing to block important legislation to support his own agenda at the expense of those he was elected to represent.”