State Democrats Call for War’s End, Impeachment

Union Man Only Speaker To Lift Up Party Faithful

By Edward Shanahan

 Forget Gov. Deval Patrick, a morning no-show at the  recent Massachusetts Democratic  State

Convention at the Mullins Center at UMass. Why bother with Sen. John Kerry who, along with

Patrick, finally turned up at a reception much later inthe day after most of us delegates and alternates 

had headed for home.

  My man is Robert Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, the only speaker who brought

delegates to their feet and got them cheering, after exceedingly somnolence-inducing 

presentations by Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray, new Atty. Gen. Martha Coakley, and

Secretary of State William Galvin. Convention host State Sen. Stan Rosenberg

actually wasn’t too shabby, as the lead-off speaker.

But it was Haynes who finally got the juices flowing through slightly atrophied

Democratic veins.

  Referring to the national government, Haynes made it simple: “We can’t have these fools running

our country anymore, they’ve got to go, for our kids sake, for our grandkids sake. Let’s run them

out of town … let’s put a Democrat in the White House.”

 Most of the speakers  had trouble making their case because so little has been accomplished

by the new governor since his election, despite that 88 percent  of the elected state offices are held

by Democrats, according to Haynes.

 Yet Haynes had no trouble whatsoever making the case for the party and  for “this little AFL-CIO

of mine” which he said visited 120,000 union households before the election, distributed 500,000

pieces of literature to workers at job sites, and reached out to 400,000 union members  to get them

to the polls.

  Referring often to “this little AFL-CIO of mine,” he displayed a passion the other speakers  lacked

when it came to talking about health care needs in the Commonwealth, failures in the educational

system, and the array of other social and economic woes facing working families.

 He said it was surprising, given the dominance of the Democratic Party in the state, that so many of

the programs  favored by Democrats  and supported by rank and file union members  remain stalled.

 “Sixteen years,” he reminded delegates,  Republicans have held the governor’s office.  “Their time

is done, our time is now.”

  But he also declared that “if this administration fails, it will be all of our fault,” because not enough

citizens have challenged the government and become engaged in political action.

 He also said he prayed every night for the continued well-being “Teddy” -   Sen. Edward Kennedy -

because of his nearly 50 years of commitment  to social and economic  programs that help

mainstream Americans.  Kennedy’s clout in Washington is greater than ever, Haynes said with relish.

  In addition to being galvanized by Haynes, delegates also had a chance to push though some

absolutely essential resolutions from the floor, which made most of us feel better for having spent

Saturday morning  at the Mullins Center.

  After some healthy debate and by loud voice votes, the Massachusetts

Democratic StateConvention approved the following resolutions submitted

from the floor by activist delegates:

**A call to action by the Congress to deal with the issue of widespread

mortgage foreclosures by a reorganization of the nation’s banking

system to prevent  mass homelessness of thousands of American

families;

**A petition calling for impeachment proceedings  to begin against

President Bush and Vice President Cheney because their actions

have undermined our constitutional  system of government, damaged

the reputation of America, and threatened our national  security. One

local delegate speaking in support† of the resolution was Darcy

Sweeney  of Ward 5 in Northampton’s Bay State Village, who said

if the voters lead the representatives will follow;

**A statement urging enactment  of  H.R. 1234 which calls for the

withdrawal of all US armed forces, contractors, and military bases,

within three months of passage of the bill.

 All and all, a good morning’s work – being lifted up by Brother Haynes, and becoming actively

engaged in the two most pressing issues facing the nation – impeachment  and the Iraq war.