Left In Lowell

This Saturday, April 5th, at Tewksbury High School (320 Pleasant St. in the Auditorium), local registered Democrats of the 5th Congressional District will meet to select our delegates to the national convention. We have 6 delegates to elect. Two of them (one male, one female) are to be elected for Barak Obama. The caucus starts at 1pm - doors open at noon, and lock closed at 1pm sharp.

I have knowledge of four people running for the Obama slots, two for male and two for the female. I thought I would share with you that information (I am not endorsing, though I know who I am going to vote for). The 5th Congressional District is made up of the following towns: Acton, Andover, Ayer, Berlin, Billerica, Bolton, Boxborough, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Concord, Dracut, Dunstable, Groton, Harvard, Haverhill, Hudson, Lancaster, Lawrence, Littleton, Lowell, Maynard, Methuen, Shirley, Stow, Sudbury, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough, Wayland (Precincts 1, 3, and 4), and Westford.

The two males are Rep. Jamie Eldridge and Alex Buck of Chelmsford. The females are Sarah Compton and Wilda Gerideau-Squires. After the flip, I’ll tell you what I know of these folks and post what they have sent to me.

I know three of the candidates personally. I supported Rep. Eldridge for Congress, as most of you know, and he is a serious and progressive political figure. I also know Wilda - she is a fellow artist, my neighbor, at Western Ave, and came by to give out flyers. I was surprised to learn she was running, and asked her why. She says that she’s never done anything like this before, but heard Obama speak about the importance of art in education, an issue dear to her heart. She is one of those thousands of activists whose first political activism began for Obama across the country.

I also have worked with Alex Buck, a progressive activist in Chelmsford, on the Patrick campaign. He’s another young, fresh face in local political circles.

From Sarah Compton and Rep. Elridge:

Sarah Compton and I are running as a slate to be the one female and one male delegate selected. We invite you to come and caucus!

It really matters who we send to the Democratic National Convention this year. We need delegates who are grassroots activists, who have the experience and know-how to organize neighborhoods and communities for our Democratic nominee. Sarah and I will be such delegates. Please read below to learn more about our work for progressive values and the Democratic
party.

The Caucus is being held on Saturday, April 5th at 1 pm in the auditorium at the Tewksbury High School at 320 Pleasant Street, Tewksbury, MA 01876. We will be organizing carpools to the caucus location, and have arranged for a bus to take Acton-Concord area supporters to Tewksbury.

You must be a registered Democrat in order to vote. Doors open at 12 noon and will be locked at 1 pm. We expect things will conclude by 3 pm.

We need to know if you can come and support us for Obama delegates. Please RSVP at Obama@JamieEldridge.com, or 978-929-2973. Thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Jamie Eldridge & Sarah Compton
Candidates for Obama Delegate
5th Congressional District

REP. JAMIE ELDRIDGE FOR MALE OBAMA DELEGATE

Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) is the state Representative for the 37th Middlesex District. Since 2003 he has been a strong progressive voice in the House of Representatives, and has lead the fight for increased public education funding, marriage equality, anti-poverty programs, protecting open space, and economic development for all Massachusetts residents. Eldridge ran last year for U.S. Congress upon Marty Meehan’s retirement, and was endorsed by the Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts (PDM) and the Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) as the clear progressive in that race. Eldridge serves as the Vice-chair of the Middlesex & Worcester (”M&W Dems”) Democratic Coalition, which he helped co-found with Kate Donaghue to support all area Democrats.

In 2006, he served with Kate Donaghue as co-coordinators for the Deval Patrick campaign in the Middlesex & Worcester Senate District, and Eldridge was one of the first legislators to publicly endorse Deval Patrick for Governor. Over the past year, Eldridge has campaigned for progressives across the state, including Lisa Wong for Mayor of Fitchburg and Tim Schofield for Boston City Council. Jamie is currently running for State Senate, with the announcement that State Senator Pam Resor will not be running for re-election. For more information on Jamie’s work on Democratic issues, please visit his website, www.JamieEldridge.com, or contact him at 978-929-2973 or Jamie@JamieEldridge.com.

Rep. Eldridge has been supporting Barack Obama since December, organizing area Democrats to canvass in New Hampshire for Senator Obama, and then after the NH primary, organizing phonebanks to support Barack Obama in the Massachusetts primary. A member of the New England Obama for President Steering Committee, Eldridge has also worked directly with Governor Patrick on being a spokesperson for the Obama campaign in Massachusetts. He is proud to support such a visionary, wise, and inspirational candidate for President, and is committed to volunteering for Barack Obama throughout the
year.

SARAH COMPTON FOR FEMALE OBAMA DELEGATE

Sarah has turned her strong support for Barack Obama into action. Since November, Sarah has worked tirelessly and enthusiastically to build a strong and effective grassroots volunteer organization for Barack west of Boston. Sarah founded and leads the Concord for Obama group as well as Metrowest for Obama, which she created to include volunteers and supporters in eight surrounding towns. She has organized volunteers to reach thousands of voters through canvasses and calls to voters in New Hampshire and Massachusetts and she lead Get-Out-the-Vote efforts for six towns for the Massachusetts primary in February. The towns in the Metrowest for Obama group produced the second largest voting block for Barack outside of the city of Boston. Since then, she has kept local phone banks up and running to contact voters in Rhode Island, Texas, Ohio and Vermont. Currently, she is one of the statewide leaders for voter outreach to Pennsylvania, running phone banks and organizing groups to travel to that state prior to the April primary.

Sarah, who was a regional field organizer during Deval Patrick’s gubernatorial campaign, along with other former Patrick campaign staff, advised and supported Obama field organizers as they set up operations in Massachusetts last fall. Sarah, a former public relations executive who also worked in New York City and in France, has, for the last several years, dedicated her professional life to advocating for candidates and causes she believes in. She currently serves as executive director of a non-profit organization dedicated to criminal justice reform. Sarah can be contacted at sdcompton2@aol.com.

From Alex Buck:

I’m running for the only Obama male-delegate spot from the 5th Congressional District.

I had a great time meeting so many wonderful people as the Lowell/Chelmsford Organizer for the Obama Campaign, I can only imagine how much fun it would be to go to the National Convention.

If you are a Democrat registered in the 5th CD*, an Obama supporter, and have a couple hours on the afternoon of April 5th, I would really appreciate your support at the Delegate Caucus.

Please drop me a line if you can make it and would like to support me. This will help me keep track of my support.

Thank you so much for considering it. Feel free to pass this on to anyone who may be interested.

Alex Buck
aebuck@comcast.net

From Wilda Gerideau-Squires:

From: Wilda Gerideau-Squires, Founder of Barak Obama Voices for the Arts.
Your help and support are really needed@ In an effort to gain our rightful recognition as “artist citizens,” I have declared my candidacy for one of the 5th Congressional District delegates for Senator Barak Obama.

If you are a registered Democrat in the 5th District, your attendance and vote at this caucus would be most appreciated and will provide us with an avenue to presenting our issues to those in decision-making positions.

My support for Senator Obama is based upon the simple fact that he has an actual platform that demonstrates a commitment to the arts and artists. Among these many items are:

• Support increased funding for the NEA: Funding for the National Endowment for the Arts has been slashed from $172 million annually in 1992 to $125 million today. Barak Obama supports increasing funding for the NEA, which will serve to promote the economic development of countless artists and communities.
• Provide health care for artists: Finding affordable health coverage has often been one of the most vexing obstacles for artists and those in the creative community. Since many artists work independently or have nontraditional employment relationships, employer-based coverage is unavailable and individual policies are financially out of reach. Barak Obama’s plan will provide all Americans with quality, affordable health care.
• Ensure tax fairness for artists: Barak Obama supports the Artist-Museum Partnership Act, introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT). The Act amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow artists to deduct the fair market value of their work, rather than just the costs of the materials, when they make charitable contributions.

To indicate your intent to attend the caucus [to support me], please go to this link or email me.

To support any of these candidates, please attend Saturday’s caucus, arriving before 1pm, at the Tewksbury High School.