Global climate change, campaign-finance reform, universal healthcare, education, criminal justice reform, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, peace, Irish music, accordion, guitar, piano, local politics, social justice and civil rights. Fighting for sensible priorities-
Music
Classical (especially Chopin), Irish, Folk, Jazz, Iowan, you name it.
Movies
Gandhi, Man Facing Southeast, Good Will Hunting, An Inconvenient Truth, Phenomenon
Television
I think all televisions should be gathered together in one big heap and rocketed into outer space.
Books
I love almost all books, especially banned books. Over the past year or so, I've read Paul Wellstone's Conscience of a Liberal, Gandhi's Vows and Observances, McKibben's The End of Nature, Kazantzankis' The Last Temptation of Christ, Culver's American Dreamer, O'Hara's Last of the Donkey Pilgrims, Sirolli's Ripples from the Zambezi, Thoreau's Walden (for thee third time), Peck's The Road Less Traveled, and Cahill's How The Irish Saved Civilization.
Heroes
Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi, Dorothy Day, Simone Weil, Paul Wellstone, Tom Harkin, Minnette Doderer, and Jesus Christ (hey, any guy who can take on a corrupt foreign power and a compliant domestic power while feeding the poor, healing the sick and preaching good news to the downtrodden is a hero!)
I'm a committed public servant and activist who just completed serving fourteen years in the Iowa House of Representatives. I also ran for governor in 2006, and though I didn't win, I received 26% of the vote. (The pundits who tried to predict election results at first thought I'd get about 5% of the vote. So, while winning would have been better, finishing way ahead of projections was encouraging.)
I ran every one of my elections without money from PACs, paid lobbyists or big donors. As a citizen, I continue to work for a Voter-Owned Iowa Clean Elections (VOICE) law, and have helped create a new organization called I'M for Iowa committed to this and other progressive reforms.
My focus as a lawmaker was to champion the needs of constituency groups that are treated unfairly by government or neglected by the majority of policy makers. I continue with that focus in my work with I'M for Iowa and with John Edwards in his campaign for president.
I am socially progressive and fiscally conservative and believe in putting human need before corporate greed.
I am 49 with a degree in religion from Drake University. I play a bunch of musical instruments and speak Spanish and French.
I am divorced and live in the historic Sherman Hill district of Des Moines. My daughter, Fionna, is 19 and studies Psychology and Spanish at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. My son, Ben, is 21 and studies Navigation at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
I am an avid gardener, and in the past grew much of my family's food on land reclaimed from a clay parking lot in the inner-city of Des Moines. I maintain strong connections to my father's farm in Ireland, where I organized the planting of 25,000 oak trees in 1999.
!-START Block to Place Custom Banner at top of navigationbar.
This works for Artist/Band page and Standard Page-!!-END Block to Place Custom Banner top of navigationBar -!
Who I'd like to meet:
People concerned about social justice, poverty, equality, peace, the environment, building community, and local action to address global climate change.
Together we continue the fight to bring progressive change to America.
