Marcinkowski: Making the Real Difference for MI (08)

If there's one thing Mike Rogers' aint, it's compassionate. In the time that he's been elected to Congress representing the 8th Congressional District here in Michigan, I'm still trying to figure out what he's done. Here's what I do know -

He LOVES the Iraq War. And I mean loves! In the various times I've visited his DC office (and we're talking over 5 times in the last six years) to advocate on behalf of the patient community (I have a chronic illness and work with several national patient advocacy organizations) all I've heard about is how much he's 'working on the war'. What exactly does that mean?
So he's concerned about making sure our troops have what they need to do the job (a valid concern, and yes, if they are risking their lives they deserve the right equipment to stay safe) BUT - its not like he's out in the trenches with them, or can't crawl out from under his lofty Washington lobbying contributions to get work done. I mean, how many times have we seen the man strolling the D.C. streets with Mark Foley on CNN? Apparently all that time with Mark Foley has kept Rogers a busy boy, and away from appropriating much-needed funds to the National Institute for Health to do everything from research on down. Poor Mike, it must be hard LOVING the war. Question is - what has he actually done for his constituents?

Well, as far as I'm concerned - he's got to go. Never before is there a man more aptly suited to do his job than Jim Marcinkowski. Check out his website here and I think you'll agree with me.
There's a great story today about Jim in one of the lesser-read papers here in Lansing. It might be the paper of MSU, but they occasionally run some decent stories, and today's about Jim is no exception. Here's just a tad of what they have to say about Jim -

Jim Marcinkowski has waged a campaign focused on change.

The Democratic challenger for Michigan's 8th Congressional District, which includes MSU, says he wants to "put this country back on course" by increasing funding for health care, withdrawing troops from Iraq and improving the country's economy.

After spending more than 30 years in government service, including tenures in the FBI, CIA and Navy Marcinkowski switched to politics and joined the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office where he became Royal Oak's deputy city attorney in 1996.

He says his background in the federal government, particularly in overseas affairs and in the intelligence community, would help him as a congressman. Specifically, Marcinkowski says, he is running to bring an end to the Iraq war, and increase funding for health care and higher education.

Although I must say, my favorite part of the article is Jim's closing statement.

Marcinkowski expressed serious concerns about the direction the country is headed in, and also the conduct of his generation's leaders.

"I'm old enough to be concerned about what I will turn over to my children," he said. "(If it keeps up), my generation will turn over something less than what we were handed."

Marcinkowski is afraid government has become too accommodating of corporations, not the people it was meant to serve.

"You can complain and do nothing, or you can get off your dead ass and do something about it," he said.

So why might you vote for Rogers?

~LL