Go Donna!
This little bit towards the end of the article - usually wouldn’t make it into such an article as it is a non sequitor - but in this era of “Yes, our president appears to be a fricking fruitcake” it makes perfect sense to include:
Shalala has dealt with Trump in the past. As president of the University of Miami from 2001 to 2015, she received recommendations from Trump every time a coach position opened up, she says.
He didn’t live in Florida, he has no credible experience in Football (um, buying a team in an upstart league and running that league into the ground doesn’t count), and he is not an alumni of U. of Miami. So - wtf - Trump? This is how the great business man spent his time. Contacting college presidents to make recommendations (that they wouldn’t pay any attention to) about coaches when ever a coach positioned opened up.
I wish her well. She is very smart, suffers no fools, and was an excellent HHS Secretary and university president.
There’s even a campaign song ready to go:
I remember when Shalala began as UM prez.
Some state legislators still held a grudge against the Clinton administration over the Elian Gonzalez debacle – even though Shalala was not involved – and spoke darkly about looking into any state support or grant funding UM receives.
She was terrible on labor issues at UM. Reason enough to make sure she doesn’t advance beyond the primary stage. She was lackluster at HHS and disappointed advocates in many areas.
No, no, no, no, no, and frickin’ no!!! The last thing this party needs is a new candidate who the same age as people eligible for the draft during the Viet Nam War. I am of that age too, and I think this party needs much younger candidates who share enough economic and social values to appeal to the coalition of people who cannot stand Republican roboticsm on guns, sex, and religion. Give the next generation a chance, Donna. They cannot do worse than ours in building a sustainable colation à la Franklin Roosevelt.
I like Donna, but don’t we deserve somebody who is younger than 77? What the hell is the Democratic party doing to reinvent itself? We don’t need a retread, we need somebody new.
In a sense I agree…
However, I don’t think her name is so big that folks will shy away from the race. So I say let the primary chips fall where they may.
I just hope the DCCC doesn’t start working against the other candidates…
I don’t live in FL, but she’d get my vote in a hot minute. I don’t care about her age, she’s running for Congress, not the Presidency. If it were the Senate, I’d have some misgivings, but I’ll take her experience and expertise over any opponent. Good luck to her.
Union Busting and Sexual Harassment
Shalala was president when the school’s hilariously underpaid janitorial staff went on hunger strike, protesting union-busting moves by their contractor, who refused to recognize a simple majority who wanted to join a union and push for higher wages and benefits. Shalala sided with the contractor, who eventually forced the janitors to accept rules requiring well above that simple majority to push for unionization, ignoring personal pleas from the hunger strikers and civil rights leaders.
As president, Shalala was hauling in $913,000 annually — roughly 37 times the wages of those striking janitors, Slate reported at the time.
That wasn’t her only nationally televised pushback as president. Critics also pounced over her handling of a sexual harassment complaint against Colin McGinn, a prominent professor. Shalala defended her actions, including pushing McGinn out of his tenured job — telling New Times that “no good deed goes unpunished” — but the lawyer who represented the victim complained that Shalala had essentially quietly shuffled out an abuser.
Here’s what attorney Ann Olivarius told New Times in 2015:
“For centuries, the standard way Catholic bishops handled child sexual abuse by priests was to move them quietly to a new job and keep mum,” she says. “Donna Shalala doesn’t quite look like a Catholic bishop, but I am astounded how much she seems to have borrowed from their playbook in steering the University of Miami after one of its graduate students.”
… which is exactly the problem! Before throwing support or money to a name that happens to be familiar from 20 years ago, wouldn’t it make sense to consider the other candidates in “a crowded field” — some of whom look to be well qualified, many of whom may be better qualified than she, and most of whom have deeper connections to the community. She’s ahead in the polls based on name recognition, which means she’s squeezing out well-qualified candidates for fundraising and media attention.
I my view, Congress is precisely where constituents benefit from having their representatives come in at a reasonably young age (or at least middle age), because seniority is so important. Even in the Senate, first-termers can have some impact (because there’s not so many of them). But in the House, you need to assemble seniority before you get much done; how much seniority can one reasonably expect a 77 year old to acquire. The Presidency is an executive position in which one serves no longer than eight years, so while age could be a drawback, it would make sense that the one would reach the apex a bit older.
Beyond that, have you noticed how old our top party leaders are? Pelosi (77), Hoyer (78), Sanders (76), Biden (75), Feinstein (84), Leahy (77), Warren (68). Chuck’s Schumer’s 67, and he’s the sapling. For God’s sake, it’s ridiculous
Look at this incredibly promising state senator, who’s running against her: JosĂ© Javier RodrĂguez (Florida politician) - Wikipedia
Or this former federal judge: https://marybarzeeflores.com/home/#aboutmary
This particularly field is over-stuffed with good candidates — more qualified, unfortunately, than many of the folks who made it into runoffs in some of the competitive districts in Texas earlier this week.
It strikes me as incredibly selfish for Shalala to bigfoot an incredibly well-qualified field. She can help the resistance. She should help the resistance. Instead, she’s on ego trip that hurts the resistence.
When she handed my daughter her diploma at U of M I couldn’t believe how short she was. A small bundle of energy to oppose Trump, why not?
from Ballotpedia
Hoagie,
Exactly correct. I’m pretty good on budgeting, have done some, have won a bet on questions around it from time to time… and she’s just excellent!
I want to know what the #Parkland kids want. If they think this old lady is OK, that’s fine. But isn’t there SOMEONE within 50 years of 77 who might like a winnable seat?
Sadly, because the Republicans and liberal New York Times can link her to the Clintons, Ms. Shalala doesn’t stand a chance.
I stand corrected, though I maintain that if Shalala were the nominee against any Republican, she’d have my vote. Here in NY, we are presented with the hypothetical of Cynthia Nixon running for governor (against the execrable Andrew Cuomo.) I would have to think twice about that one; I’m a bit tired of “celebrities” and “business people” running for higher office. A seat in the House? There should be some “regular people” there, provided they understand that they are elected to represent the voters of their district. Senate/governorships/Presidency? I prefer some actual government experience. Thanks for your input, it’s given me quite a bit to think about.