News and Blog Posts from Wellstone Action

The Line in the Sand on Health Care

admin — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:20:16 -0500

When the Communication Workers of America (CWA) (an international union representing workers in telecommunications, as well as the public sector and health care, airline, and media industries) decided that they wanted to build a campaign to engage their members on healthcare, they called Wellstone Action.

They idea was pretty simple, really - build internal capacity in the union by developing leaders who can organize others, and hold members of Congress accountable by demonstrating the power of one million union members raising their voices for universal healthcare coverage.

This kind of organizing is an innovation for labor unions, which have long been active in electoral politics but in recent years have taken an interest in organizing for policy changes that impact union families. Affordable healthcare is chief among these issues, because CWA has realized that it is just too big a problem to solve at the bargaining table, contract by contract.

CWA decided to invest millions in a program that created organizing jobs for CWA members in more than 120 targeted Congressional Districts across the country. These organizers are responsible for talking with their fellow CWA members, asking them to contact members of Congress with postcards and face-to-face meetings, and ask them to sign a pledge agreeing to CWA's Healthcare Principles.

At the same time these organizers will be talking to other members about healthcare and holding members of Congress accountable, they will also be strengthening their union by asking them to volunteer as part of the Steward's Army, donate to their political fund, and get further training on healthcare and other key policy issues.

Wellstone Action trained these 120 organizers, recruited from the rank-and-file of CWA's membership, on the skills of meeting with members of Congress, making the "ask" of union members and leaders, and targeting. After the training, they will put these skills to use across the country. The campaign will first mobilize fellow rank-and-file members to engage during the 2008 election year, then leverage that power to change policy in the new Congress and Administration.

One participant explained how the training helped her. "I fully understand how this all ties together," she said. "Healthcare, Qwest bargaining, Stewards Army, the 2008 Presidential Campaign, and legislation are all part of a cycle of advocacy."

These CWA organizers will gather again next week in Dallas for a "Train the Trainer" session led by Wellstone Action. This will help the new organizers become leaders of others and foster further internal leadership development in CWA.

Learn more about CWA's Health Care for All campaign at http://www.healthcarevoices.org/

Not Your Average Joe

admin — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:18:30 -0500

Frustrated by a state law telling him he wasn't old enough to give back to his community by donating blood, Joe Gibson, a sophomore at Blooming Prairie High School, decided to do something to change it. By working from the ground up, Joe advocated for a bill in the Minnesota legislature to lower the legal age for blood donation from 17 to 16.

At 15, he did not expect a petition to his state representative (and Wellstone Action alum), Patti Fritz, DFL-Faribault to be taken seriously. Now, age 16, Joe's bill has passed unanimously in the House and Senate. In Saint Paul this morning, Governor Tim Pawlenty signed the bill into law, overseen by sponsor Sen. Kathy Sheran, DFL-Mankato. Joe was present at the signing of his bill, which will take affect on July 1st.

During his campaign, Joe learned the basics of policymaking and compromise. For instance, Joe originally wanted the bill to allow 15-year-olds to donate blood. But with research and the recommendation of the American Red Cross, the bill was revised to reflect the recent changes across the country of blood donation age to 16. To participate, an individual will need permission from a parent or guardian. Unlike donors age 17 and older, 16-year-olds will not be financially compensated for donating blood, encouraging adolescents to donate for other reasons than just to earn a few bucks on the side.

Joe is proof that young people are engaging in politics and public life, even before they are old enough to vote. If you are a high school student, or know any, check out our upcoming Camp Wellstone for High School Students in St. Paul on May 9-11, 2008.

-- Louis Prokop

Sign up here for more information.

How to Disenfranchise Voters Without Really Trying

elana — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:23:16 -0500

On Monday, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a democracy-destroying law in Indiana, which forces voters to present a state-issued picture ID at polls. Voters without IDs are allowed to cast provisional ballots, provided they show up at the county courthouse within 10 days to prove their identity. In Indiana, these picture IDs are given to citizens free of charge.

According to Indiana progressive and civil rights groups, this law is tantamount to discrimination, claiming it disproportionately affects poor, minority, and elderly voters. The law was passed under the banner of preventing voter fraud, but to demonstrate support for the majority opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens reached back to those tumultuous days of 1868 and the disputed poll outcomes and influence of Boss Tweed in New York's municipal elections. Don't we all remember that?

Critics of the law show evidence that if voter fraud is to be found, it's usually with absentee balloting. But despite the fact that their law is a solution in search of a problem, Indiana is now a model for other states like Oklahoma and Texas, which support the ID law and plan to pass similar restrictions. 25 states currently require some form of ID for voting.

Right on the heels of this decision, the good folks at Facing South report that African-American households in North Carolina are receiving fake robo-calls with inaccurate voter information. The automatic calls tell voters that they will soon receive a "voter registration packet" in the mail and that they must sign, date, and return the packet in order to vote. The official story is that this is an identity theft scam, and not a naked attempt at voter suppression in the African-American community.

And what do we glean from these stories from two states on the eve of their Democratic primaries? Whatever their intended purpose (securing the electorate, stealing identities, etc) the voter ID law in Indiana and the dirty tactics in North Carolina create a climate of confusion, fear, and distrust in our election process. It doesn't take many drops to poison the well, and give voters one more reason not to come to the polls and hold elected officials accountable.

Progressive groups and civil rights organizations need to continue to organize to stem the tide of voter disenfranchisement and actively engage in voter education to be sure voters have all the tools in hand to be able to exercise their rights.

Populism, Organization and Conviction:

admin — Mon, 05 May 2008 11:04:25 -0500

Today, the silence that Senator Paul Wellstone's progressive voice once filled is deafening. The plane crash that took his life in late October, 12 days before Election Day, was an agonizing tragedy on many levels.

His absence is especially poignant because Wellstone would have won his re-election campaign and would now be serving his third term in the U.S. Senate. No fewer than five separate polls taken before the crash, including those of both major Twin Cities newspapers, showed Wellstone holding a lead of 4 to 8 points. For more than a year, Wellstone had withstood a barrage of coordinated attacks from his opponent, the national Republicans, and insurance and drug industry front groups. He was accused of everything from taxing the dead (because he did not support complete repeal of the estate tax) to supporting policies that supposedly would have led to the death of more American soldiers in Afghanistan. And still he held a lead, just as his campaign organization was about to start its massive get out the vote effort-which many analysts believe were estimating could have added at least an additional percentage point to his vote.

In fact, he had held the lead since right after October 3, when he announced his opposition to Bush's go-it-alone resolution on Iraq. Despite being pummeled on television by his opponent for being "soft" on terrorism, Wellstone jumped into a 4 to 5 point lead that held until the crash.

Why does it matter that Wellstone was going to win this last election? It's important because it was to be a particularly significant victory with national lessons. He was bucking all the trends. He was an outspoken progressive, running against the hand-picked candidate of Karl Rove and the Bush White House, winning in a year when Democrats were pounded across the country. He boldly stood up for what he believed in a year when Democrats struggled to find a message. He mobilized hundreds of thousands of people through his campaign organization in a year when Republicans did better than Democrats on the ground in many states.

How did he win three elections? He employed a campaign strategy that combined a consistent message with grassroots organizing and personal authenticity. At the core of the strategy were three elements: a sharp focus on an economic populist message, an emphasis on building a campaign off a strong, organized base, and having the courage of his convictions despite the political winds.

Focus on a Populist, Progressive Economic Message

The new campaign ad that was to begin on the day of the plane crash had Paul Wellstone looking directly into the camera saying:

"I don't represent the big oil companies, I don't represent the big pharmaceutical companies, I don't represent the Enrons of this world, but you know what, they already have great representation in Washington. It's the rest of the people that need it. I represent the people of Minnesota."

This bold, clear message about being on your side, combined with a positive economic agenda of what Wellstone called "kitchen table issues:" jobs, health care and retirement security, resonated strongly with our core supporters-voters who want someone who truly represents "the little guy" in Washington.

Interestingly, Wellstone's focus on a populist, progressive economic message was also working with enough swing voters in the suburbs of Minnesota to win the election. An important segment of the swing vote in this last election responded to a message about being on their side when it came to corporate interests that seemed to be gaining too much power. Wellstone had found a winning message that galvanized his base and appealed to a sizable portion of independent voters who are not doing well economically, who share some anti-establishment feelings, and who want to see change.

Paul Wellstone put it another way in his book Conscience of a Liberal: "Politics is not about left, right and center. It is about speaking to the concerns and circumstances of people's lives." He went on: "People yearn for a politics that speaks to and includes them."

But the title of his book, Conscience of a Liberal is a misnomer: Paul Wellstone cobbled together winning majorities because in the end, he was always less of a liberal and more a true populist.

Base-Building and Volunteer Mobilizing

Wellstone's winning campaigns were all underpinned by a large, energized, and organized base of support. Through hard work, a message that excited and moved people, organization and thorough training, he built deep support among many diverse constituencies-farmers, labor, environmentalists, communities of color, educators, students, new immigrant populations-and knit that together into a formidable organization. He never stopped employing strategies that nurtured and enlarged his committed base of supporters.

Winning the excited support of a large base was just the first step. His campaign organization focused on turning tens of thousands of strong supporters into active volunteers. These volunteers would receive training and then plug into a statewide organization that worked to continue to expand the base vote, win over undecided voters, and then massively mobilize that base vote on Election Day.

This base-building required a serious commitment of resources. A large, skilled organizing staff with strong support is needed to properly run a field-intensive campaign. Wellstone did raise money-in the 2002 election cycle, a record 122,000 donors gave an average of $50. Instead of dumping it all into television ads, he invested in developing professional organizers who knew how to build the infrastructure required to recruit, train, and effectively utilize tens of thousands of volunteers.

This method of organizing also became part of the message. With thousands of people active in his campaign, Paul Wellstone had no trouble establishing himself as the candidate of regular folks, while his opponents looked like the candidates of wealthy donors and corporate special interests.

The Politics of Conviction

In countless conversations with Minnesota voters, Wellstone heard comments like: "I don't always agree with you, but I like it that I know where you stand." This sentiment was voiced particularly when he took very politically risky stands like his vote against the Iraq resolution less than a month before the election, and his vote against Clinton's welfare reform bill late in the 1996 Senate race. When faced with these difficult votes he would ask himself a simple question: Can I live with my decision after it's made? For Wellstone, there was no option but to do what he believed was right, tell the voters where he stood, and let the chips fall as they may. It was a model of rare principled leadership that made donors and supporters from other states often claim that Paul Wellstone was their senator too.

It turned out that the right way--this Wellstone way--was smart politics. A perfect example was Wellstone's announcement of his opposition to the Iraq resolution: his approval ratings actually went up. Minnesotans, even if they didn't agree with his position, expected nothing less from him. For Wellstone, conviction politics were winning politics.

These lessons of Paul Wellstone's political career have implications for politics across the ideological spectrum. His successes offer a particular model of political leadership for progressives who want to win elections: show voters what you believe in and that you'll stick to your guns; mobilize an army of volunteers; and focus on an economic populist message that resonates with liberals and independents alike.

Paul Wellstone was, at his core, an organizer. He believed in teaching, training, and mobilizing people to become leaders in their communities. What's more, he believed this work was his responsibility and obligation to those without a voice and to future generations. If that plane had not crashed, Wellstone would have won, and would have continued to teach progressives how to win elections, even in a hostile political environment. So it will be up to those left behind to carry on the work that Paul and Sheila Wellstone would be doing today.

Jeff Blodgett ran Wellstone's 1990, 1996 and 2002 campaigns. He is now Executive Director at Wellstone Action, an organization that carries on Paul and Sheila Wellstone's work by training a new generation of campaign professionals, activists, and candidates for office.

Wellstone Action Co-sponsors Peace Rally in St. Paul

admin — Mon, 05 May 2008 10:37:22 -0500

Parents add voices to pleas for peace

Photo by Jerry Holt , Star Tribune

Colleen Hogan of Blaine, whose cousin is serving in the military in Iraq, attended Sunday's antiwar demonstration at the State Capitol. The event was sponsored by several organizations, including the Minnesota AFL-CIO, Sierra Club, Veterans for Peace, Wellstone Action and the Women's Political Alliance.

A mother and father of a veteran Reservist who died in Iraq joined the crowd at the State Capitol on Sunday calling for an end to the war.

Nancy Anderson doesn't want the world to forget her son. She also doesn't want another mother to go through the pain of losing a child to war.

So Sunday morning, Anderson and her husband, Claremont, drove 2½ hours from their home in Hoffman, Minn., to the front lawn of the State Capitol to protest the war that took their son's life.

Wearing T-shirts and buttons with a photo of their son, Stuart, they hooked up with several hundred banner-waving, sign-wielding war protesters to voice their opposition to the war in Iraq and lobby Minnesota's congressional delegation to help end it.

"We do support our troops, but they're just caught in a bad situation," Anderson, 65, said before the rally started. "I know those aren't any profound words, but it's the truth."

The hourlong rally, put together by dozens of organizations such as the Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, the Minnesota AFL-CIO, the Sierra Club and the Women's Political Alliance, featured several speakers, including former state Sen. Becky Lourey, whose son, Chief Warrant Officer Matthew Scott Lourey, 40, was killed in Iraq in May 2005 during his second tour of duty there.

In a brief but passionate speech, Lourey urged the audience not to be fooled by reports that the troop surge is working.

"The lesson of Vietnam should be that half of the American troops killed in Vietnam were killed after the generals knew the war was lost," she said.

Those words hit home for Anderson, who lost her son, a 22-year veteran of the Army Reserve, during his second tour of duty when a Black Hawk helicopter he was riding in crashed in bad weather.

Anderson said she noticed a dramatic change in her son's personality between his first and second tours in Iraq. Before he went over the first time, she said, "he was all rah-rah."

But the second time, "he was not that way at all. He was very subdued. He was very matter-of-fact. He knew what the deal was."

She said she knew then that the reasons for going to war and the strategy behind it were flawed.

"We never should have gone in there," she said. "We weren't prepared. When Bush stood on that aircraft carrier and said 'Mission accomplished' ... if that had been true, my son would have been alive today."

Some in attendance Sunday, such as Elizabeth Smith, 64, of Bloomington, and her husband, William Allen Smith, 74, are frequent participants at antiwar rallies and vigils. On Sunday, they carried and waved an orange and black peace flag.

Others, such as Vietnam veteran John Bramschere, 61, from North St. Paul, were first-timers.

"I'm appalled by this war," Bramschere said. "And I hate to see young men lose their lives in a country that doesn't want us there."

Bramschere, who wore his Army shirt and a veteran's hat, said he gave up an afternoon of watching NASCAR on TV to attend Sunday's event.

"I hope it does some good," he said.

Mary Hess, 44, of St. Paul, who held a U.S. flag with her son, Nathaniel Celeste, 9, by her side, hoped the same, saying, "This is a way to stand up and say 'Get out!'"

AP: Wellstone son presses mental health bill

admin — Mon, 05 May 2008 10:20:33 -0500

Wellstone son presses mental health bill

WASHINGTON - In a quest to overhaul mental health insurance as "a huge legacy for my dad," the son of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone is teaming with the son of Sen. Edward Kennedy _ though the elder Kennedy has a different proposal in mind.

Wellstone's son, David Wellstone, is backing legislation by Rep. Patrick Kennedy that would require equal health insurance coverage for mental and physical illnesses when policies include both.

"This is an issue fundamentally of civil rights," Rep. Kennedy said at a House subcommittee hearing on his bill Friday _ just before Father's Day.

Kennedy's father, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., has a bill pending in the Senate that both sons say doesn't go far enough.

"I think the House bill would be a huge legacy for my dad," said Wellstone, 42. "I know he would be opposed to the Senate bill." Wellstone has made repeated trips to Washington to lobby members of Congress, hoping to win passage as a tribute to his father, a Minnesota Democrat who was killed in a plane crash in 2002.

The younger Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat who has battled depression, alcoholism and drug abuse, was diplomatic about the differences between his father and him on the legislation.

"Obviously, my father and I are trying to get the strongest bills through our respective chambers," he said in a telephone interview. "The House bill is stronger in that it lets the medical community define mental illnesses rather than the insurance community."

The elder Wellstone championed the issue known as mental health parity for years. His longtime ally, Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., along with Sens. Kennedy and Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., put forth the version pending in the Senate.

The trio of senators announced a compromise "breakthrough" bill this year that resulted from negotiations with businesses, the insurance industry and mental health advocates. Business and insurance groups had fought previous versions, arguing the legislation would drive up insurance costs.

The House version specifies that if a plan provides mental health benefits, then it must cover conditions provided by the health plan with the highest average enrollment of federal employees. The Senate bill does not have similar language.

Rep. Kennedy said he believes that his bill has had an impact. "Our bill has brought the Senate bill together in a lot of ways," he said. "I don't think the Senate bill would go as far it does had it not been for our bill."

Kennedy worked with Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad of Minnesota, a recovering alcoholic, in crafting the legislation. Ramstad, Kennedy's Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, also testified for the bill Friday.

Another House-Senate difference is that the Senate bill calls for pre-emption of state parity laws in treatment limitations and financial requirements.

"I'm opposed to that," said Kennedy, 39. "States have been very aggressive in going the extra mile. We don't want to see that usurped by our work. We want to see states be able to go further if they choose to."

In a statement, the elder Kennedy said his bill "unequivocally protects the mandated mental health conditions covered by each state parity law, including state medical management mandates and contractual arrangements."

"The Senate parity bill gives 82 million people the assurance that their mental health benefit will be treated the same as their medical/surgical benefit," he said. "It is a historic step forward in addressing the long-standing discrimination against mental health."

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which Kennedy chairs, approved the bill earlier this year.

In 1996, Sens. Wellstone and Domenici won passage of a law banning plans that offer mental health coverage from setting lower annual and lifetime spending limits for mental treatments than for physical ailments. Both the House and Senate bills would build on that by adding things like co-payments, deductibles and treatment limitations.

The House bill, the "Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act," has 268 co-sponsors _ more than 60 percent of the House membership. It's backed by groups such as the Eating Disorders Coalition for Research, Policy and Action and the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

The Senate bill, with 51 co-sponsors (a little more than half the senators), isn't named for Wellstone, and David Wellstone said that's just as well.

"I wouldn't have wanted my dad's name on that Senate bill," he said.

But some of the national mental health advocacy groups are supporting the Senate version.

"It is a very strong bill that would end insurance discrimination against people with mental health illness and their families," said Andrew Sperling, a lobbyist for the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Peter Newbould, director of congressional and political affairs at the American Psychological Association, said the Senate bill is the better one "because it can pass."

"I don't buy that," said David Wellstone, echoing his father's trademark tenacity and passion. "We just have to work hard and not cave in."

Star Tribune: Bringing life to Wellstone's dream

admin — Mon, 05 May 2008 10:18:33 -0500

The following editorial appeared in the June 11, 2007 Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Stuck in traffic on an April morning in 2002, Paul Wellstone got to talking. "You know," he said of his fellow lawmakers, "party affiliation counts for less than I once guessed. There are decent folks on both sides of the aisle. Take Jim Ramstad. The guy is -- well, really, he's a total mensch."

With trademark sentence fragments and Wellstonian gestures, the professor-turned politician expressed a surprising certainty about the future.

"Jim and I have fought, like, forever to win equal treatment for mental illness and addiction -- and I'm telling you, he's just not giving up. He's a recovering alcoholic. He knows this stuff. No big-bucks insurance lobby will ever get him to back down. I mean, we're definitely passing these bills next year -- no question -- but if it takes another 10 years, that guy won't quit. And neither will I."

Wellstone's words might have been entirely on the mark but for a poorly piloted plane. But though his death in October of 2002 stalled the parity quest, his assessment of the Republican named Ramstad was apt. More than a decade after joining Wellstone in this project, Ramstad is as resolute as ever. This year he enlisted Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., to push a revamped bill, which wisely demands that both mental and addictive disorders be treated under the same rules as physical illnesses.

Entitled the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act, the new bill merely changes federal law to reflect scientific fact: Mental illness and addiction -- like Alzheimer's disease and epilepsy -- are brain disorders treatable by medical care. There's no reason to set them apart, and the Ramstad-Kennedy bill thus would bar health insurers from doing so. The measure would end the higher copayments, deductibles and out-of-pocket costs that patients with such brain disorders now pay. It would also nix tighter limits on hospital stays and office visits for these illnesses than for other ailments.

The plan makes a world of sense, and its House sponsors insist this is the year to write it into law. Though the measure's Senate companion -- sponsored by Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. -- is meeker, there's reason to expect the more compelling House bill to prevail. Hopes have risen enough to draw Wellstone's son David -- no ordinary lobbyist -- to Washington to make the case for parity.

After all this time, surely lawmakers can grasp the logic: Pretending that brain diseases aren't "real" illnesses requiring medical care is harmful, not thrifty. It keeps sick people sick, hurts families and deprives society of contributions from citizens helped to recovery.

If lawmakers still don't get it, perhaps they should call in an expert. Their best bet is Paul Wellstone's old friend Jim Ramstad -- a fiscal conservative who happens to be a recovering alcoholic -- not to mention a mensch.

Editorial: Mandate coverage for mental health

admin — Mon, 05 May 2008 10:14:20 -0500

Mandate Coverage for Mental Health

In Congress two bills have been introduced this year that would broaden insurance coverage for mental health but would not achieve equal coverage for mental and physical health.

Either would be progress over misnamed Mental Health Parity Act of 1996, which did not provide for any such thing.

It mandated that health plans that offer mental health coverage must not authorize fewer dollars for mental health treatment than for medical/surgical treatment. But that applied only to plans that actually offer mental health coverage; many plans do not include any coverage for treatment of mental disorders.

The current Senate bill would expand mental health coverage within plans that already offer it, without requiring all health plans to offer it.

According to Sen. Pete Domenici, a New Mexico Republican and co-sponsor of the bill, it would require plans that offer health coverage to provide equal coverage in terms of parameters beyond medical/surgical coverage.

Many big insurers favor that bill because it does not require mental health coverage for all plans, and because it excludes plans with fewer than 50 members.

The House version, known as the Wellstone Act and sponsored by Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island, would go further. It would require insurers to provide the same level of mental health coverage in publicly marketed plans that has been included in plans available to members of Congress since 1999.

New article about mental health fairness campaign

admin — Mon, 05 May 2008 10:11:51 -0500

Click here to see a great photo of David Wellstone with Speaker Pelosi

WASHINGTON - Mental illness and addiction, topics still considered taboo by some, are now the subjects of candid discussions on Capitol Hill.

Legislation promoting equal treatment by insurance companies for mental health treatment sits before Congress. And with a growing list of co-sponsors and the House leadership's express support, advocates for enhanced coverage for mental illnesses such as depression, anorexia and post-traumatic stress disorder are optimistic that this will be the year to change the law.

At a news conference Wednesday to publicize the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic House leaders stood with the bill's sponsors, Reps. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., and Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., and other congressional supporters in a bipartisan show of strength.

The White House, too, backs mental health insurance reform.

"The president supports it," Elaine Goheen, a spokeswoman for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said in a telephone interview. "We support it."

Named for the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn.., who championed mental health parity, the bill would require that health insurance companies offer as much coverage for the treatment of mental illnesses and addiction as they do for other medical and surgical needs.

"This is a big deal for Connecticut," Rep. Chris Murphy, D-5th District, said in an interview after the news conference.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 46 states have some version of mental health coverage laws on the books, but only 25 states-including Connecticut-require full parity.

Laws regarding insurance co-payments also vary considerably. And, as in most states, Connecticut's mental health law only pertains to group health plans, leaving companies' self-insured plans unregulated.

The Wellstone act would regulate both.

Steve Larcen, president and chief executive officer of Natchaug Hospital Inc. in Mansfield Center, Conn., and vice president of behavioral health for the Hartford Healthcare system, said, "Connecticut has probably one of the more advanced parity laws, but it only applies to about a third of insurance holders."

Larcen traveled to Washington last week to meet with legislators to discuss federally regulated mental health insurance parity.

"For those covered by group insurance, there wouldn't be any benefits, necessarily, one way or the other" from the federal legislation because they already are covered under state law, he said. But for people whose companies provide the insurance coverage directly - so-called self-insurance, "this would be a real improvement," he said.

The distinction between group insurance and company self-funded plans is often unclear to policy holders.

"Some people might have group coverage and still be in a self-insured plan," said Debra Korta, a spokeswoman for the Connecticut Insurance Department.

In a self-insured plan, companies cover the costs of their employees' medical treatments as they arise rather than paying an insurance company a premium to guard against potential medical expenses, gambling that the actual costs will be lower than the premiums.

"The company itself kind of funds its own insurance costs," she said. The process can be hard to discern, she said. "You may still have your coverage through Aetna, but rather than the insurer taking on the risk, the company takes on the risk. They'll have Aetna serve as the third-party administrator," she said, "and they'll pay a fee for that," but the company itself will pay the expenses for its employees' treatments.

Korta said the Connecticut Insurance Department has expressed concern to Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., regarding the Senate's mental health insurance bill, introduced in February by Sens. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and Pete Domenici, R-N.M.

The Senate version is similar to the House bill but would pre-empt state mental health laws even if the state laws have better coverage requirements.

"Our interest in this is that we want to be sure that anything that passes at the federal level doesn't pre-empt, doesn't negate, some of our laws," she said. "We do have a fairly comprehensive mental health parity law," she said. "We are very hopeful that Connecticut's mental health reform statutes are not undone or superseded by any federal statutes," she said.

The House bill, which now carries 264 co-sponsors, would allow state laws that are superior to federal requirements to stand.

Michael Tanner, director of health and welfare studies for the libertarian Cato Institute, called the mental health parity legislation a "mistake," stressing the cost of additional coverage and the ambiguity of diagnosis and treatment.

"If someone has a broken leg, you know when it's broken and you know when it's fixed," he said. But "it's very difficult, clinically, to differentiate between people with depression and people who are sad. It is, in essence, a self-diagnosed illness."

And providing blanket coverage for such illnesses would drive up the cost of insurance, he said, making health care plans unaffordable for many and possibly causing businesses to stop offering any coverage for mental illnesses.

"There's a trade-off," he said. "It's not free. If you make it appear to be free" then more people will seek treatment, whether or not it's necessary.

But Larcen at Natchaug Hospital said treatments for mental illness must be shown to be "medically necessary" in order to receive coverage.

"That's why it's called parity," he said, "not to make mental health special, but to make it the same" as physical health issues. "It becomes an issue of access," he said. "There shouldn't be a disincentive for seeing the psychiatrist rather than seeing a doctor."

Restricted coverage and limited doctor visits don't work for a diabetes patient and shouldn't be expected to work for an individual suffering from depression or anorexia, he said.

"Ten visits or 20 visits might not really meet the need" so treatment shouldn't end simply because the insurer is no longer willing to cover it.

AP story on Kennedy and parity press event

admin — Mon, 05 May 2008 10:08:45 -0500

WASHINGTON Rep. Patrick Kennedy says he is tackling his prescription drug addiction one day at a time, a year after crashing his car into a Capitol barricade in the middle of the night.

In an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press, the 39-year-old son of Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said he has been more vigilant about reducing stress and reaching out to friends and colleagues for support.

"I'm much more aware of the stresses in my life and minimize it where possible and connect with people whenever I do have it, so I have social support systems there when I need them," said Kennedy, a Democrat from Rhode Island now in his seventh term.

Kennedy said Rep. Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., a recovering alcoholic who is Kennedy's Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, has played an important role in his recovery.

"There's a lot more going on in the relationships I've had with my colleagues in the last year than just the politics," Kennedy said. "It's made my service here, my work here so much more enjoyable on a day-to-day basis, a richer experience."

Kennedy crashed his 1997 Ford Mustang convertible into a security barrier about 3 a.m. on May 4, 2006. He agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors on a charge of driving under the influence of prescription drugs.

He completed his court-ordered drug treatment and probation last month. Treatment included weekly AA meetings and counseling with his physician, who told the court in March that Kennedy was "clean and sober."

"Recovery is a day-to-day thing," Kennedy said. "I just take it - you know, life - as they say to take it, one day at a time."

The congressman has battled addiction since high school. He said his struggles to recover from depression, alcoholism and substance abuse have made him a more passionate advocate for improved mental health care coverage.

Citing the extensive health coverage that members of Congress enjoy, Kennedy said he considers himself fortunate and wants to see more people "gain access to the kind of treatment I had. That's why I'm so passionate about it."

Kennedy was joined by House Democratic leaders at a rally Wednesday for his bill to expand mental health and addiction treatment. The proposal would require group health plans offering benefits for mental health and addiction to do so on the same terms as care for other diseases.

"Ultimately, this is a civil rights battle because none of the people who suffer from a mental illness asked to suffer from a mental illness," Kennedy said.

The bill is named for the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, a Minnesota Democrat who championed the legislation.

"It's time to finish what Paul Wellstone started!" Ramstad said at the rally.

One of Wellstone's sons, David Wellstone, is in town to lobby for the legislation, which has more than 260 co-sponsors.

"That's going to be my volunteer job over the next six to eight weeks, to try to make this thing happen," Wellstone said on a conference call later with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. "And to try to have a bill that my dad would be proud of."

Klobuchar noted that both Democrats and Republicans said they wanted to pass the bill following Wellstone's death in 2002, as a tribute.

"The time now has come," she said.

Star Tribune covers David Wellstone's trip to DC

admin — Mon, 05 May 2008 10:07:22 -0500

WASHINGTON - Congress needs to pass a mental health parity bill, said David Wellstone, who was at the Capitol on Wednesday lobbying for legislation his father started seeking 13 years ago.

Wellstone rallied with Reps. Jim Ramstad and Patrick Kennedy to support their bill, which would require group health plans that offer mental health and addiction benefits to provide the same coverage they do for physical illnesses.

The bill has the backing of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who attended a morning news conference.

"This is not just another public policy issue. This is a life-or-death issue for millions of Americans," said Ramstad, R-Minn. He and Kennedy, D-R.I., are the authors of the bill. The bill has gotten a hearing in one House committee but has yet to be voted on. It needs to get through two more committees before it can go to the House floor for a vote.

Sens. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., are co-sponsoring similar legislation in the Senate.

UPI article about National Parity Day

admin — Mon, 05 May 2008 10:05:58 -0500

Push for mental-health 'parity' continues Health Business - Briefing Published: May 2, 2007

WASHINGTON, May 2 (UPI) -- Mental-health parity advocates set up camp at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday to demand equal insurance coverage for mental illness. After an outdoor news conference with Reps. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., and Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., sponsors of a bill that would require health insurers to cover mental illness in the same way as physical illness, advocates set up a headquarters in a Senate office building from which they organized lobbying visits and phone calls.

The Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act would prohibit insurers from imposing higher co-payments and deductibles on beneficiaries for mental healthcare. The bill is named after the late Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota who was the bill's original sponsor.

"This is a public health crisis that in some way impacts every family in America. It's time to break down the barriers to good mental health and addiction treatment," Kennedy said.

The Most Obviously Belated Political Realization Ever: Young People Matter

admin — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:25:24 -0500

The winds have been blowing in this direction for the last several election cycles, but Iowa's primary was the gust that brought it to campaigns' doorsteps: young people matter.

Despite this instant frenzy of enthusiasm for young people, we rarely see political leaders speak to our interests, let alone make policy that is positive for us. We're managing staggering school debt, we're baring the brunt of the health care crisis, and the war in Iraq is being fought with our futures.

That's why Wellstone Action created Campus Camp Wellstone, a two-day training for students on campuses across the country. Our aim is to help students see the relevance of politics to their lives, and help them with skills to be leaders and organizers.

We've long been the engine that runs the internal grassroots efforts of campaigns; now we're the targets of that campaigning too. They've figured out that if they involve us and inspire us, we give back in multitudes.

So without a doubt, campaigns will be asking your support-in dollars, hours, connections and cache.

Give it. Definitely give it.

But you've got leverage in this relationship. You can ask for things too. You can ask the campaigns to ante up when it comes to pursuing young people-that they devote real resources to it and step out of the musty box of traditional campaign tactics.

If they're smart, they'll know that what you're asking for on behalf of young people is the very same thing that will make their campaign smarter and more viable. So here are some key win-win demands to put out there:

Go where we are: We turn off political ads and rhetoric, but turn on when other young people talk with us about what affects our lives. So find out where we are en masse. Use teams of young people to "vote mob" bars, sports events, shows and clubs-have them register and talk politics with other young people at places they'd go anyways.
Come correct: Young people don't want to hear about our "civic obligation" to the political process. Instead, focus on how our participation shifts the balance of power and takes it from powerful interests that ignore the issues that affect our lives. Don't give us the candidate's biography; tell us about how their policy choices will affect young people.
Get good contact information: Most of us don't have landlines and we move constantly, so when collecting information from young people, focus on cell numbers, e-mail addresses, IM addresses and social networking pages.
Work our connections: One of the first things you can do with young volunteers is challenge them to recruit five of their friends as volunteers. Do the same with each of these five volunteers. You'll quickly identify the "super volunteers"; those are the one you should give more responsibilities, like being a lead organizer on a campus.
Make us leaders: At the beginning of the campaign, identify roles that you want to see young people fill as the campaign evolves-volunteer coordinator, field organizers, press aides-and make a conscious effort to recruit us to fill these roles.

And most importantly, make sure the campaign understands that for you the ‘big win' is not one or another politician getting into office. The win is what happens next-it's when real people can tangibly feel real change in their lives. So make sure they hear, loud and clear, the most important condition of our participation:

• Go to bat for us: When you do win, fight with us, for us. We'll do the same for you.

Mattie Weiss is the director of the Campus Camp Wellstone program at Wellstone Action, and co-author of How To Get Stupid White Men Out of Office.

Column features David Wellstone's work for mental health fairness

admin — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:36:38 -0500

There are places David Wellstone would rather be.

On the charter fishing boat he operates in Hawaii, for example. Or his home near Santa Cruz, Calif., not far from brother Mark's place.

But Washington calls again. The bill that was supposed to be his father's legacy, the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act, is back before Congress, and David is spending considerable time at the Capitol trying to push it over the top.

The legislation would require insurance companies to offer as much coverage for the treatment of mental illnesses and addictions as for other medical and surgical needs.

Sen. Paul Wellstone began pushing this legislation in 1992. The feisty Democrat was joined on the House side by Republican Jim Ramstad.

The two became close friends because of their shared interest in the fundamental fairness of this bill.

Over the years, it's come close to passing in the Senate. It's come close to passing in the House. But always, the insurance industry has been able to throw up enough last-minute obstacles to stop it.

"Sometimes I'd get down about how difficult it's been to get this passed," said Ramstad. "Paul would always say, 'Jim, remember, it took 40 years for civil rights bills to get passed. We can't get discouraged.' "

When Wellstone, his wife, daughter and five others were killed in a plane crash in 2002, teary-eyed pols attached Wellstone's name to the act and said they'd pass the legislation in his memory.

Talk is cheap in Washington. The bill still hasn't been passed.

But it's close again. It has overwhelming support in the House, though the Senate version of the bill is so watered down that it doesn't even carry the late senator's name.

Still, Ramstad, Wellstone and the Wellstone Alliance believe it's time to push the House bill hard and hope for the best from the Senate.

And so David has been spending considerable time in D.C., a living reminder of all the vows that were made when his father died.

He's so intent on getting this work done that he's wearing a suit for his Washington trips. David, a carpenter, fisherman and wrestling coach (his 12-year-old son is a California champion), is not typically a suit-and-tie sort of guy.

"His dad would roll over in his grave," said Ramstad, laughing about seeing David Wellstone in Washington attire. "But he'd also be really proud. David's got a great heart, and he's doing everything he can to get this done."

Said Wellstone, "It feels good to work on this. It brings back a lot of good memories."

Though both David and Mark are voluntary members of the Wellstone Alliance and though both have their father's passion for society's underdogs, they tend to shy from the limelight. That's one reason they call California home now.

"After the crash it was just a little too hard to try to live up to his name in Minnesota," said David.

But, for the time being, that's exactly what he's doing in D.C.

Doug Grow • dgrow@startribune.com

When Wellstone Action Goes to the White House

admin — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:54:09 -0500

"Field organizing" is the new buzz word in this year's presidential campaigns. Pundits and campaign analysts who are used to talking about which candidates are raising the most money, securing the most endorsements, getting the highest poll numbers, and airing the cleverest TV ads, are suddenly talking about who has the best field operation. They're talking about what's at the heart of what we teach at Wellstone Action: Reaching people where they live, engaging them in direct conversations about the election, and getting them to the polls on Election Day. Field operations have always been central to winning elections, but somehow the media rarely paid attention.

2008 has been called "The Year of the Organizer" by American Prospect magazine, arguing that community organizing has proved decisive in Barack Obama's presidential primary victories so far. They report that back when Obama was a political organizer he asked a local newspaper, "What if a politician were to see his job as that of an organizer, as part teacher and part advocate, one who does not sell voters short but who educates them about the real choices before them?" They go on to point out that, "since embarking on a political career, Obama hasn't forgotten the philosophical and practical lessons that he learned on the streets of Chicago and that are now central to his campaign for the White House."

Reading that quote of Obama's, it makes me think about what we teach candidates at Camp Wellstone - that good progressives can win and improve our democracy by building a strong base of support, bringing new people into the process, and inspiring and empowering people to work for change.

Wellstone Action has now trained 17,500 people to run for office, manage campaigns, and advocate for a broad range of progressive issues. There will be twice that many by the next presidential election in 2012. There are now 4 Wellstone Action graduates in the U.S. House of Representatives and over 200 in city, county and state government. All of them knew the importance of the "field" and won elections with shoeleather, strategic contact with voters, and mobilizing supporters. This new wave of trained candidates and organizers will one day reach a tipping point, and a Wellstone Action graduate will mount a viable presidential bid. And that person will bring to the campaign all the skills and lessons they learned from Wellstone Action, and put to good use in earlier campaigns. They will have built a strong and active base of grassroots political and financial support. And they will be able to train and set loose talented, experienced organizers to reach enormous numbers of voters.

Ok, so maybe the thought of a Wellstone Action graduate in the White House sounds far-fetched. But the Obama campaign is one high-profile example that the winning brand of politics that Paul and Sheila Wellstone practiced is back in vogue, and at the highest levels. This thing called field organizing is changing the definition of a winning politics, and it may actually help win the presidency of the United States this year. If people-based, field-oriented, grassroots campaigns can dominate and win at the national level, then it follows that one of our own graduates can do the same. Your commitment to developing new leaders has a direct impact on making that happen.

700 Minnesota progressives gather for election de-brief

admin — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:36:45 -0500

Over 700 Minnesota progressives gathered Friday to de-brief the 2004 election results and discuss what went right, what went wrong, and how to sustain the progressive movement over the long term. The event, sponsored by Wellstone Action, featured an analysis of the Minnesota results, a panel of first-time candidates who won election in 2004, and breakout sessions featuring discussions of how new voters got involved, how issue-based campaign work went, and what canvassers heard when talking to voters. After the sessions were complete, an opportunity fair and networking hour gave participants an opportunity to connect with other progressives and find out ways to continue their activism.

The election analysis was presented by Robert Richman of the St. Paul-based consulting firm Grassroots Solutions. Using polling data and actual election returns, Richman analyzed the performance of progressives in Minnesota at the statewide and local levels, explaining exactly how John Kerry won the state with 51.8 percent of the vote, and how 13 progressive candidates unseated incumbents to win election. The conclusions? Progressives performed well in Minnesota because of a massive, coordinated grassroots effort to turn out voters. Progressives held their own in suburban and exurban areas, and performed extremely well in urban regions.

Richman also pointed out that the much-discussed "gender gap" that used to favor progressive candidates over conservatives was virtually non-existent in the 2004 election. In its place is what he called a "marriage gap" - married voters tended to vote for President Bush, while single voters overwhelmingly voted for John Kerry. In addition, the youth vote in the Minnesota election swung strongly in favor of John Kerry when compared to Al Gore's performance in 2000.

Richman concluded his analysis by noting that despite bucking national trends, Minnesota is still a swing state and will likely remain so for the near future.

The election analysis was followed by a panel discussion featuring first-time legislative candidates Steve Simon and Maria Ruud and Minneapolis School Board candidate Lydia Lee. All three won there elections, and were asked to discuss their experiences as candidates - what worked, what didn't, and what they would have done differently.

Simon, who unseated a popular incumbent in the southwest metro area, talked about the importance of running a grassroots campaign that was connected to the people of his district. "Give volunteers power, and treat them like people, not cattle," Simon said. By empowering his volunteers, Simon was able to run a high-energy campaign that focused on having direct conversations with voters at their doors and on the phones. Instead of just giving voters information, Simon and his volunteers engaged them in conversations and listened to the concerns that mattered to them. He also said that a strong, positive message was particularly important in his race; instead of smearing his candidate, he focused on differentiated his positions on issues from his opponent's. The result speaks for itself: Simon won by 11 percentage points.

Maria Ruud also ran an intensive grassroots campaign based on the issues of education, health care, and jobs. "The biggest reason I won: the grassroots," said Ruud. "I tried to get as much face time with voters as I possibly could." To do so, the Ruud campaign employed a technique that she called "door swarming." She would go doorknocking with a team of volunteers, and when the volunteers found a voter at home, they would call Maria over to that house so that she could have a conversation with the voter. The door swarming strategy paid off: running a traditionally conservative district, she won by just over 200 votes.

As a teacher running for Minneapolis School Board for the first time, Lydia Lee was initially daunted by the task before her. But she found a great strategy for helping her put a campaign together. With the help of a mentor and current school board member, Lydia got great advice from a lot of people with campaign experience. She focused on securing her party's endorsement through an intensive grassroots effort, and ran her campaign on a simple message. "I'm a teacher," Lee said. "I consider that to be my essence." Minneapolis voters liked what they saw, and gave Lee the second-highest vote total of the candidates running for School Board.

Following the candidate's panel, the group heard from Representative Keith Ellison of Minneapolis, who urged progressives to begin building the type of organization and movement that conservatives began three decades ago. "There's all this talk about whether we should move right or move left," Ellison said. "I say before we do that, we need to move down - down into the communities and into the grassroots." That means organizing community groups, building relationships with disenfranchised people, and standing up strongly for our values.

Inspired by Ellison's remarks, the group then proceeded to three breakout sessions, hearing from panelists about what voters were saying this year, how new voters made the difference in the campaign, and how campaigning on issues instead of candidates went.

Panelists and participants discussed a wide range of subjects in the breakout sessions. In a discussion about how to talk to young people, Amalia Ellison of the Young Voter Project debunked the idea that progressives need to cater their message. "Talking to young voters is not rocket science," she said. "We care about the same concerns as everyone else." The challenge, she said, is not what to say to young voters, but where to find them. Young people are hard to reach at home and on the phone, so the Young Voter Project went out into communities - parties, bars, street corners, and parks - to engage in conversations with young people.

A participant in the discussion about campaigning on issues said that after working on partisan campaigns all her life, she found it very rewarding to talk to voters about issues in a non-partisan fashion. "After knocking on their doors and actually talking to them, I felt a stronger connection to them," she said. "I could just say to them, ‘I don't care who you vote for, just vote!'"

In the panel about young voters, Nick Mohammed of America Coming Together (ACT) discussed ways that ACT mobilized urban voters and connected with hip-hop culture in ways that had not been seen before. Through coalition-building among African-Americans, Latinos, new Americans, and others, they were able to build a formidable coalition that can be built on for the future. "In the next election, we'll keep seeing the fruit of this cross-pollination," Mohammed said.

After the day's activities ended, participants stayed to socialize, network, and reflect on the importance of our work in the 2004 election. Despite the disappointments at the national level, progressives had a good year in Minnesota, and began building a political movement that is sustainable for many years to come. The event was a rousing success that left people energized and ready to keep working. As Nick Mohammed put it, "When we do work together, beautiful things can happen."

Training with Yalla Vote Campaign

Abarboza — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:35:47 -0500

At Wellstone Action, we're all about building capacity of people and organizations looking to get involved in electoral and issue campaigns. In April, the first of several Voter Engagement School trainings with the Arab American Institute (AAI) took place in Dearborn Michigan, centered on the nonpartisan Yalla Vote Campaign. Yalla Vote, brainchild of AAI, is an organized effort to increase political participation for Arab Americans nationwide. They represent a mostly unspoken for constituency in America, a voice that often obscured and disempowered by acts of hate and discrimination. But like any underrepresented constituency, the first steps to being heard are getting organized, educating leaders, and building on available resources for the movement. AAI did just that by working with Wellstone Action to build their capacity to fight for change.

Yalla Vote Campaign organizers and volunteers have been busy this year, collecting petition signatures supporting a national policy agenda for the Arab-American community. These petitions will be sent to the Democratic presidential nominee, once chosen, and Republican nominee John McCain, delivered at each party's national convention by AAI in August and September. All the while, Yalla Vote organizers will be registering unprecedented numbers of new Arab-American voters. The goal of the Yalla Vote Campaign is to demonstrate the power of the Arab-American community to party leaders, and communicate their national and international agendas.

Over 65 people attended the Dearborn training, ranging in age from high school and college students to retired activists in the Arab-American Community. Participants learned tools for engaging voters in the national political process, connecting on the issues that directly impact them, and identifying candidates who will fight for their interests.

Wellstone Action is proud to partner with the Arab American Institute on the Yalla Vote Campaign. Keep a look out for AAI Voter Engagement School trainings happening in Washington D.C and New Jersey later this year.

For more information on the Yalla Vote campaign, click here.

Camp Wellstone Touches Community and Technical College

elana — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:08:59 -0500

About 40 MSCTC students received a taste of progressive activism last weekend via a training program named for a late U.S. senator.

Campus Camp Wellstone is a non-partisan program designed to build skills like campaign planning, coalition building and message development. It is held on college and university campuses around the country, and on Friday and Saturday, Campus Camp Wellstone visited Fergus Falls.

"It's teaching people how to organize and mobilize people so they can build respectful coalitions," said Heather Thormodson, MSCTC Director of Student Life. "This is, what I think, a once in a lifetime opportunity. We are thrilled to offer it."

Campus Camp Wellstone attracted leaders from the college's Student Senate, students from MSCTC sociology classes, a handful of faculty and others.

MSCTC student Baird Miltich, 23, said he attended the program hoping to learn how he could become a better voice for change.

"The main thing for me is I want to try to bring more grassroots groups together," Miltich said, explaining that progressive change comes from the efforts of everyday people. "It's more about a community and really getting people together, and it doesn't have to be so radical."

The skills students learned over the weekend may come in handy as MSCTC-Fergus Falls prepares to host a series of events in honor of Earth Day April 22. Those events will include a tree planting ceremony near the Spartan statue at 9:30 a.m.; a visit from Rick Terway of Parks and Recreation on a possible campus trail system at 10 a.m.; a 12 p.m. visit from Mayor Russ Anderson on the Bag Lady Project, an effort to promote reusable shopping bags; and help with bike tune-ups from 2 to 4 p.m. near the dragonfly statue between the science center and the administrative building.

When Wellstone Action Goes to the White House

Jblodgett — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:47:18 -0500

House to Vote on Cause Wellstone Championed

admin — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:32:10 -0500

By KEVIN DIAZ

WASHINGTON - Five years after Paul Wellstone's death, the U.S. House is poised to pass a mental health and addiction bill named for the late Minnesota senator who championed the cause in the last years of his life.

But today's vote, which is being termed "historic" by Wellstone's family, will not be the last word on the matter. The long-sought legislation, which would require insurers to cover mental health in the same way as physical ailments, still faces stiff opposition from industry groups, who prevailed upon the Senate to pass a less stringent version last year.

Competing bills

Now, as the competing bills head for House-Senate negotiations, the two sides are ramping up their lobbying, with the Wellstone forces summoning former First Lady Rosalynn Carter and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for a pre-vote rally outside the Capitol.

"For five years, I have heard promise after promise that Congress will pass mental health parity legislation in my father's honor," David Wellstone wrote in a message to supporters this week. "Now, this is it."

With a majority of the House having signed on as co-sponsors, there is little doubt that this vote may be it -- as far as the House is concerned. For some, including retiring Minnesota Republican Jim Ramstad, an overwhelming show of support in the House could be enough to win critical leverage in the bargaining with the Senate.

Ramstad, who worked with Sen. Wellstone to advance the legislation, has signaled that he is open to compromise. But it is unclear how far he can go without giving in to industry groups who say the House bill would mandate expensive new treatments and drive up costs for everybody.

"The American people should not have to wait any longer to receive the same access to treatment that members of Congress have," said Ramstad, a recovering alcoholic who has made addiction and mental health treatment a central part of his political legacy.

The Senate version gives insurers much greater latitude than the House bill in determining what mental conditions are covered. Sen. Wellstone's sons, Wellstone Action co-founders David and Mark Wellstone, fear that the Senate bill would leave many people without coverage.

Wellstone Action supporters peppered House offices Tuesday with e-mails urging passage of the bill, saying that the legislation is a "critical part" of the legacy of Paul Wellstone, who died in a 2002 plane crash.

On the other side, employer groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce appealed to House members to adopt the Senate version, which they say represents a compromise among the business, insurance and mental health communities.

Bruce Josten, the chamber's executive vice president for government affairs, said the House version would "constrain employers' flexibility in plan offerings, and ultimately, cause employers to cut or curtail voluntary benefit offerings."

In a sign of the business stakes involved, Josten noted that House members' votes may be counted in the chamber's annual ratings scorecard.

Minnesota senators in sync

Although the Senate passed its version of the bill unanimously, senators from Minnesota and elsewhere also have expressed support for the House version, named the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act.

"With passage of this bill in the House, we are one step closer to ending the discrimination against those who suffer from debilitating mental health disorders," said Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said that she supported the Senate version to keep the legislation moving but that she prefers the House bill. "We had to get a bill through the Senate," she said, noting that many senators viewed it as an improvement over current law.

Critics of the House bill include Minnesota's John Kline, the ranking Republican on the House subcommittee that deals with health legislation. Kline, who has accused Ramstad of "overreaching" with the Wellstone legislation, tried unsuccessfully to have the House take up the Senate version of the bill.

Divisions over the competing bills also have sparked what one Capitol Hill newspaper called the "Tale of Two Kennedys," with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., sponsoring the Senate version in opposition to his son, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., chief sponsor of the House version.

No matter which version Congress ultimately passes, Wellstone's followers are expected to cheer today's House vote as a high-water mark in a decade-long quest. "It's everything that we wanted," said Wellstone Action spokeswoman Elana Wolowitz. "We feel good about having Senator Wellstone's name on it."

Kevin Diaz • 202-408-2753

2004 floor statement by Senator Tom Daschle

admin — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:19:24 -0500

For Immediate Release

Contact: Todd Webster

Sarah Feinberg (202)224-2939

Floor Statement by Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle on Keeping Alive the Work and Spirit of Paul Wellstone in Congress and Throughout America

Wellstone Action Launches New "Civic Dialogue Project" this week; Democrats to Seek Vote on Wellstone Mental Health Bill this year February 5, 2004

Mr. President, I'd like to use a few minutes of my Leader time this morning to talk about a remarkable new effort that is being launched today to try to develop a broad national consensus about the kind of future we want in America, and how we can achieve it. It's called the "Wellstone Civic Dialogue Project." It's being organized by Wellstone Action, the progressive advocacy organization created by Paul and Sheila Wellstone's sons, Mark and David, to keep their parents' work and spirit alive. The first meetings will be held this evening. In what may be the largest book group ever, thousands of ordinary Americans in 40 states will meet in private homes, schools, churches, community centers, bookstores and hundreds of other places to discuss the direction and the future of our nation.

Those attending the discussions are encouraged to read a book Senator Wellstone wrote, which was published the year before he died. It's called "The Conscience of a Liberal." If the title evokes memories of another book, it is deliberate.

In the introduction to his own book, Paul recalled the good-natured ribbing some of his Republican colleagues gave him when he attended Barry Goldwater's funeral service. "They gave me Goldwater's 'The Conscience of a Conservative' to read on the plane. 'Paul,' they said, 'read this; we read this book at young ages, and it set us on the right path. We still have hope for you!' " Paul replied that he, too, had read Senator Goldwater's book at a young age, and explained, "That's why I'm a liberal." "But," he said, "I also told them that I admired Barry Goldwater for his political integrity."

More than almost anyone else I have ever known, Paul Wellstone had an unshakable faith in the fundamental decency of most people, and in the genius of democracy. He believed that if we faced our challenges squarely and listened respectfully to each other, we would discover that most of us share the same values, the same concerns, and the same dreams; we would also discover the solutions and strength to overcome virtually any obstacle.

The Wellstone Civic Dialogue Project is an attempt to bring ordinary Americans together to develop a consensus to move America in a more humane, more progressive direction. It's what Paul called "citizen democracy." Groups will meet in more than 600 communities throughout America. In a touch that I'm sure Paul Wellstone and Barry Goldwater would have appreciated greatly, in several of the groups, self-declared Republicans and Democrats have agreed to sit face-to-face and discuss their ideas and values.

The first meetings, as I said, will take place this evening in more than 600 communities throughout America. The topic for tonight's discussion is "Can we dream again?" It is a reference to a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt that Paul loved and preached often: The future will belong to those "who believe in the beauty of their dreams." It's expected that groups will meet as many as eight additional times over the next several months to discuss issues ranging from education to health care, domestic violence, money and politics, and the war in Iraq. Anyone interested in attending a Civic Dialogue Project discussion can go to the Wellstone Action website, to find a discussion group near them, or to download study guides for any of the discussion topics. If there isn't a group in your neighborhood, you might want to consider starting one. Wellstone Action has trained hundreds of volunteer facilitators to help people set up, and run, discussion groups in their own communities.

Before Paul Wellstone came to the Senate, he was a political science professor. But there was nothing the slightest bit academic or abstract about his politics. He used to say, "People yearn for a 'politics of the center' - not 'the center' so widely discussed by politicians and pundits in Washington -- but rather a politics that speaks to the center of people's lives: affordable child care, good education for children, health security, living-wage jobs that will support families, respect for the environment and human rights, and clean elections and clean campaigns."

You can see that yearning today in the record turnouts for Presidential caucuses and primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire and many other states. Instead of questioning each other's character and motives and patriotism, people want politicians to talk honestly about the concerns at the center of people's everyday lives. One of those concerns is the refusal by some insurers to provide fair and equitable treatment for people with mental illness.

Nothing made Paul Wellstone angrier, or offended him more deeply, than the stigma attached to mental illness and the discrimination and suffering that people with mental health problems suffer as a result of that stigma. He thought it was cruel that people with mental health problems very often received lesser care than those with physical health problems. He was outraged by the terrible toll such discrimination often takes on people with mental illness and their families. He and Senator Domenici introduced a bill -- now called the Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act -- to end such discrimination.

The bill was re-introduced at the beginning of this Congress. But it has been stalled in committee for more than a year now because of opposition from the insurance industry and its allies.

Last October - on the first anniversary of the plane crash that killed Paul and Sheila, their daughter Marcia, and four others, I asked unanimous consent that the Senate take up and pass the Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act. It would have been the perfect tribute to Paul.

The Republican leadership blocked that request. But they gave us their word that the Senate will consider the Wellstone mental health bill early this year. I am here to say, very clearly, that Democrats intend to hold them to that promise.

Like tens of millions of Americans, Paul Wellstone knew well the anguish that mental illness can cause families. Nearly 50 years ago, when his older brother Stephen was a freshman in college, he suffered a severe mental breakdown. Stephen Wellstone spent the next two years in mental hospitals. Eventually, he recovered and graduated from college -- with honors -- in three years. But it took his immigrant parents 20 years to pay off the bill from those two years.

In his book, Paul recalled the years that Stephen was hospitalized. "For two years," he wrote, "the house always seemed dark to me - even when the lights were on. It was such a sad home." Fifty years later, there are still far too many sad homes in America; there are still far too many families that are being devastated by the physical -- and financial -- consequences of mental health problems. In many cases, they have health insurance. But their insurance companies refuse to pay for the mental health care they, or their loves ones, need. I hear from such families every week.

Three days ago, a woman from Sioux Falls called my office. She's about 50. She and her husband have two children, and they have health insurance through his job. Years ago, she suffered one of the most agonizing losses a person can endure: Her 3-year-old daughter died from spinal meningitis. She now suffers from chronic depression, which she manages with the help of medication and therapy. Recently, the cost of her medication jumped from $100 a month to $500 a month, and her insurance company informed her that she has now hit their lifetime cap on mental health benefits, so they will no longer pay anything for her medications, or her therapy. So she and her husband now face a choice: pay the entire cost of her prescriptions and her therapy each month, out of pocket -- or pay their mortgage.

She was fighting back tears when she called my office. She said, "If I had a heart ailment, they wouldn't think twice about sending me to a cardiologist. But there's such a stigma associated with mental health. She added, "This isn't something I've chosen anymore than people who suffer from diabetes or heart disease chose their conditions."

What makes her story even more terrible is how many other people in this country are having to fight the same fight, and make the same awful choices. No family is untouched by mental health problems. Fifty-four million Americans suffer from some form of mental illness. They include Republicans, Democrats and people who don't care at all about party labels.

Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici were about as far apart politically as two people could be. But they shared a common bond: They both had people in their families, who they loved, who were affected by mental illness.

They were unlikely but great allies. In 1996, thanks in large part to their leadership, Congress passed the Mental Health Parity Act. It says that group health plans sponsored by employers with 50 or more workers cannot place annual or lifetime dollars limits on mental health benefits that are more restrictive than their limits for physical health care. It was an important step forward. But discrimination persists; we know that. Some insurers openly disregard the law. Some have found new ways to restrict mental health benefits. The results can be devastating: unemployment, broken homes, shattered lives, poverty, poor school performance -- even suicide.

The Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act does not force employers to offer mental health coverage. It simply says that if employers offer mental health benefits, insurers cannot provide more restrictive coverage for mental health benefits than they do for other medical and surgical benefits.

Some insurers already meet this basic fairness standard. They are to be commended for doing the right thing. But others will not do the right thing unless they are required by law to do so. So Congress needs to act.

The insurance industry claims - incorrectly - that requiring insurers to treat mental illness the same way they treat physical illness will drive premiums up so high that more people will lose their health insurance. Their claims are not true. They are simply scare tactics; we've heard them before.

The truth is, two highly respected organizations have analyzed the Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act. The private accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts the bill would increase health insurance premiums by one percent. One percent! That works out to $1.32 per month. The Congressional Budget Office predicts an even smaller average increase: nine-tenths of one percent. I think most families would think that was a very good deal.

Senators Domenici and Wellstone modeled their bill on the mental health parity provisions on the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program. For three years, Senators and the other 8.5 million members of that program have had the protection of genuine mental health parity. According to the Office of Personnel Management, it has increased premiums only 1.3 percent. And that includes parity for substance abuse services, which are not included in the Wellstone mental health bill.

Nearly two years ago, President Bush said, "Our country must make a commitment: Americans with mental illness deserve our understanding and they deserve excellent care. They deserve a health care system that treats their illness with the same urgency as physical illness." We urge the President to back up his words with leadership.

The Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act is cosponsored by 68 Senators -- more than two-thirds of this Senate. It is also supported by more than 360 national organizations -- 90 of which have added their support just since October.

Groups endorsing the Wellstone bill include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Alzheimer's Association, the National PTA, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Catholic Charities, the National Association of Counties, the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, the American Association of Pastoral Counselors, the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, the National Rural Health Association, the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and many other groups. I ask unanimous consent that the complete list be inserted at the close of my remarks in the Congressional Record.

Mr. President, nearly 50 years after mental illness brought such sadness and financial strain to Paul Wellstone, doctors and scientists have made great strides in understanding and treating many mental health problems. But those advances mean little to those who cannot afford them. In South Dakota and throughout America, there are still too many homes that seem dark even when the lights are on. There are too many people who are being denied essential mental health care because of arbitrary decisions by insurance companies putting profits ahead of people. The Wellstone bill can change that. We have a commitment from the Majority Leader that the Senate will deal with this issue early this year. We are determined to see that that happens. I yield the floor.

What people are saying about Camp Wellstone

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"I had only done lobbying once in my life and was painfully shy about it. However, due to my experience at Camp Wellstone and the lobbying simulation, I was able to feel confident enough to phone state legislators regarding a bill I was concerned about and give my message." (Laurie, Pennsylvania)

"I am putting to use the skills I got out of Camp Wellstone by meeting with public officials, knowing how to perform GOTV operations, and staying on message for the upcoming battle. Thanks to all of the hard work that your organization put into training all of us, I can honestly say I am more prepared than ever for the world of politics and progressive change. (Padi, Ohio)

"I think Camp Wellstone for me was another step in the process of me getting more active politically again." (Amy, Minnesota)

"Thanks to Wellstone Action for all your help and support - especially moral support. It feels like this will be our year!" (Tina, Minnesota)

"The camp was the best money my campaign has spent!" (Jeff, Ohio)

"My campaign is going great. I have another Camp Wellstone grad who just drew up my field plan and we are implementing it." (Lonny, Iowa)

"The Wellstone training was extremely informative and innovative. We are presently implementing the plans and strategies learned attending the St. Louis Camp Wellstone." (John, Missouri)

"In the run-off week of campaigning, we rolled up our sleeves, dug deep into our Camp Wellstone handbook, and burned off loads of elbow grease!" (John, Ohio)

"Camp Wellstone was exactly what I needed to prepare for the campaign." (Rebecca, Michigan)

"The Camp Wellstone training was very helpful - only wish my entire team had been able to attend!" (Kim, Minnesota)

"When are you coming back to Ohio? We need you!" (Mandy, Ohio)

"While I am a long time political activist, there is only so much I can do by myself. The Wellstone training camp taught me how to teach others." (Jean, Florida)

"I loved my Camp Wellstone experience." (John, Minnesota)

"I must say I learned MUCH the weekend I was in Kansas City for the Wellstone Camp!" (John, Missouri)

"Wellstone Action rocks!" (Allan, Florida)

"I really enjoyed learning about Paul Wellstone's own personal outlook, with regard to his integrity and political views." (Shirley, Florida)

"Thank you for inspiring us, for teaching us the tools necessary to win, and for sharing with us the passion and knowledge of Paul and Sheila Wellstone." (anonymous)

"Thank you for this opportunity! So many great connections, so much inspiration, so many new friends." (Doug, Georgia)

"Thank you for showing me that it is possible to be a politician without compromising my progressive roots." (Yochi, Michigan)

"This has given me the hope and inspiration I needed!" (Alex, Tennessee)

"I learned much, but more importantly I felt, and had the opportunity to contribute to, an incredible driving progressive energy!" (Eli, Ohio)

"This has been the most useful three days of my life...It was amazing." (Nic, Minnesota)

"This kind of thing gives us every hope in the world. We can do anything, really." (Sonia, Minnesota)

"There are few moments in one's life when you are at the right place at the right time, doing the right thing. I just experienced one of those rare and perfect moments." (Pat, Missouri)

Wellstone Action Labor Program Encourages Union Members to Run

admin — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:36:10 -0500

Union members crowd ballots

By Merrily Helgeson

6 September 2006

ST. PAUL - Union members in unprecedented numbers are standing for election to Minnesota statewide offices this fall.

A running tally kept by Minnesota AFL-CIO showed 43 union members on ballots around the state as of Aug. 23, with another five or so possible. Bidding for election to Minnesota House and Senate seats are men and women who belong to teamster, laborers, carpenters, teachers, nurses, electricians, machinists, roofers and service-worker unions.

"I'd say it's the most ever," said Minnesota AFL-CIO Legislative and Political Director Brad Lehto. "In the last election, the number was in the 30s, I would say."

Union representation in the Minnesota state house has been growing, Lehto said. "Right now, we have 17 in the Legislature who are union members, and it was probably 12 or 13 before the last election.

"I'd be surprised if we don't get into the 20s, this time, even 25 or better. I think that's going to encourage other people to run, as well."

What will more union members in government get us? Better understanding of how life goes for the rest of us, Lehto thinks.

"There are a lot of people who say they understand working people's issues, and some do," he said. "But the fact is, unless you've been a union member or been on the picket line, or been without a paycheck because of a strike - unless you've gone through that, you really don't understand."

Unions have provided a lot of support for people who aren't members, and have received good service in return. But there's a difference. "They are very good, but they don't necessarily understand what it means to deal with intimidation at work and that sort of thing," Lehto said.

Why are so many union members suddenly ready to move beyond traditional sidelines support for traditional candidates and throw their own hats into the ring? Some say they're fed up with the actions - and inaction - of current legislators. Some have been working toward this goal for years. And some have gotten a boost from candidate and activist training provided by Wellstone Action, the program established as a memorial to the late Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone and his family.

Glenn Resman, apprenticeship coordinator for Laborers Local 563, is seeking election in Senate District 16, an area that covers Mille Lacs and parts of Sherburne, Benton and Morrison counties. He said he decided to run after completing a three-day Wellstone Action training program in Minneapolis last January.

"I'm not naturally outgoing," Resman said in a phone interview in late August. "Similar to what some people talk about having a calling for religion, I felt I had a calling to get involved in politics. People are ready for a change. That's what I put on my literature.

"The main reason was that I saw so many things that were going the wrong direction, that I needed to get involved. Everything from the high cost of health care in Minnesota to the way there have been huge cuts in funding for education, resulting in higher class size.

"I live outside the Twin Cities. Our roads and bridges are getting in worse shape, and the money is not coming back to Greater Minnesota for fixing them."

Out door-knocking, Resman said, he tells people that he is DFL-endorsed and a union candidate. The reaction is usually good. "They say, ‘Okay, you've got my vote.' There have been very few instances where it's been a negative reaction."

Wes Urevig, a member of IBEW Local 343, also is running for office for the first time. A Rochester resident, he is seeking election to House District 29A. He did not attend a Wellstone Action training.

Urevig is president of the Southeast Minnesota Building and Construction Trades. He is also a Vice President of the Minnesota State Building and Construction Trades.

Urevig said he got into the race because he wanted to work on education, health care costs and good jobs. He's knocked on more than 2,000 doors so far, he said, and what he hears from people are that they're worried about education, health care and good jobs. "So I know my issues are on track."

"My feeling is there are too many business interests injecting their philosophy on how quality of life in Minnesota should be." He said he sees "a big move to unseat the incumbents - throw the incumbent out."

Union members have a big advantage in running for office, once they decide to start using it. "I think they have a grassroots organizing capability that the Republicans don't necessarily have access to," he said.

And they're motivated. "I think a lot of the union members are much more educated in politics now than they were in the past. They're really realizing how it affects their daily lives. Things they worked for for years can be erased with the stroke of a pen at the legislative level."

Running for election in House District 64A is Erin Murphy, a registered nurse and executive director of the Minnesota Nurses Association. Murphy said she had participated in a Camp Wellstone training for nurses, but not a specific candidate training. "It was very helpful," she said, "extremely helpful."

Murphy grew up in a union family in Janesville, Wis. Her dad worked on an assembly line, and the entire family talked politics and worked on campaigns. This time, she's working on her own campaign. She's going to win, she said.

"I decided to run because I became frustrated, like many of my union brothers and sisters, by the lack of investment in Minnesota," Murphy said. "It's become very clear that what I feel about the failings in health care, environmentalists are feeling about the environment - a failure to address the future. We're just treading water, and that hasn't been Minnesota's tradition."

At Wellstone Action, the growing number of union members running for office is seen as a significant and lasting change in how unions participate in politics. Erik Peterson, Wellstone Action director of labor programs, said the coming election looks to him like "the beginning of a shift in the way labor sees its power."

"For years and years, they saw their power as being a lever on those in power, which is something you can do when you have 30 percent union density and when 50 percent of households are union households," Peterson said in an Aug. 18 interview.

But unions no longer can claim those numbers. "I think with declining union density, there's also a realization that if we are to build union power in this country, we have to become decision-makers."

Peterson said that over the past five to 10 years, he's seen this shift in attitude. "The infrastructure is just getting into place now. The problem is that there's no institutional support, outside of the work we're putting together, to train union folks to run for office and speak to a broader office."

Unions have done a good job of mobilizing members to vote for pro-worker candidates, Peterson said, but they need to start encouraging and training individual members to organize their own campaigns. "I think it's critical," he said. "I think it's one of the missing pieces, in terms of looking at labor as an overall political program."

Lehto said the Minnesota AFL-CIO does indeed plan to invest more effort in training its own members to run for office. "I think we need to start in the off-year and do that," he said.

Peterson said that union members who run for office probably do encounter occasional hostility from a populace that has been encouraged to view unions as just another "special interest." He added with dark humor that the same standard never seems to apply to lawyers or members of the chamber of commerce.

"I think that's the biggest hurdle, that they're seen as a narrow special interest," he said. "That's one of the key reasons for doing the (Wellstone Action) training, to teach people to talk about a broader worker agenda, so that it's not just a union agenda. With 8.5 percent of the population represented by the unions, the rest of the population has to see themselves in that or they won't buy it."

Wellstone Action will be investing more work in training union members to run for office, Peterson said, partly because they would be great at making public policy.

"The folks I deal with every day in labor are a whole lot more connected with their community and are more ‘with it' than other people," he said. "They bring an understanding of what it means to make ends meet today."

"I think what union members bring that regular workers don't is that the power of collective action can actually improve your life. There's such a missing piece in politics right now that believes that, as collective action, we can make things better. And that's what unions do."

Merrily Helgeson edits Quarterly Update, the publication of Bricklayers & Allied Craftworkers Local 1 Minnesota/North Dakota. An earlier version of this story ran in Quarterly Update, September 2006.

Wellstone Action alum Juanita Lewis is putting her skills to use

admin — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:34:28 -0500

As the daughter of immigrants from Sierra Leone, Juanita Lewis says she has always had a passion for working with communities of color and was looking for a way to work in those communities after graduating from college in 2003. When a friend told her about Camp Wellstone that was held in early 2004, she decided to attend. "I knew I wanted to get involved, but I didn't know how," Juanita says. "So I decided to go to Camp Wellstone and see what I could get out of the experience."

A lot, it turns out. At an opportunity fair on the last day of the Camp, Juanita met a representative from ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), who was looking for organizers to help mobilize around education issues. Energized by her Camp Wellstone experience and eager to apply the skills she learned, Juanita spent the next six months as a community organizer with ACORN and was then hired on the Kerry presidential campaign for the final months of the campaign. That led to a job the following year working as an organizer for the re-election campaign of the mayor of Minneapolis and for City Council Member Don Samuels.

By the time the 2005 election was over, Juanita had become an accomplished campaign organizer, and she was ready to take her skills to the next level. She applied for and was accepted to Wellstone Action's first Advanced Campaign Management School, held in December 2005. "I wanted to stay involved in politics," she said. "I started asking myself, ‘How can I do this and be in a leadership role?'"

At the Advanced Campaign Management School (ACMS), Juanita joined 50 other participants also looking to work as senior staff members or managers of campaigns. The five-day training provided participants with a set of hard skills in advanced campaign organizing and gave them opportunities to share their skills and experiences with their colleagues.

"ACMS pulled from everyone's personal experiences," Juanita said. "The people doing the training knew what they are talking about, and the participants had a lot to add. It was empowering to see how I could transition my organizing skills into being a senior staff member."

A week after the ACMS ended, Juanita got an opportunity to take her skills to a new job, when she was hired by the newly-elected mayor of St. Paul to coordinate his public appearances. In her work, she says the lessons of ACMS still resonate. "ACMS helped with the work I'm doing now: organizing and having a strategic plan," she said. "Putting together an actual plan is something I had never done before ACMS; I had always been the one implementing a plan that others wrote."

The training also introduced Juanita to a candidate for Minneapolis school board who asked Juanita to become her volunteer campaign manager. While she is keeping busy balancing a full-time job with the responsibilities of managing a campaign, Juanita finds the work energizing. "It allows me to make a difference and do what I love," she says.

When she's able to find the time, Juanita plans to pursue a master's degree in public policy and a law degree and is planning a career working in politics and civil rights issues.