2018 General Election Elected 53 — 47

Scientist, advocate, suburbanite, politician

Sean Casten won a close race to be the nominee, a race he was supposed to lose.  He is an environmental guy.  The incumbent’s reaction was “voters in the 6th District want balance for environmental and energy policies and not a radical agenda.”

Is Sean Casten https://www.castenforcongress.com/ too radical for a far suburban congressional district that forms a semi-circle around Chicago’s western suburbs?

1. Start with the environment:  Sean Castenis a scientist.  He’s not a mad scientist.  Sean Casten is an entrepreneur.  That might make him acceptable to  Republicans if his focus was not on clean energy. His business is building and installing clean heat and power plants in industrial facilities, reducing carbon dioxide emissions and saving money on energy.  Sean Casten explains we don’t have to choose between protecting the planet and creating jobs.  Like a lot of businessmen, he complains about regulations; that the current regulations lead to inefficiencies. They discourage investments to save energy and create jobs.  Unlike a lot of businessmen, Sean Casten would have regulations that focus on goals.He wants regulations that create standards which reduce reliance on fossil fuels.  He would have federal agencies be an example of what should be done operate with clean and efficient energy.  NOT RADICAL.  A SCIENTIST WHO RELIES ON EVIDENCE.

2. Guns.  Sean Casten’s got a list: a. Ban assault weapons for individuals, b. have the ATF store gun records electronically, c. Prohibit those convicted of domestic abuse or those under restraining orders from owning lethal weapons. d. Ban high capacity magazines, e. Close the gun show loophole, f. Prohibit gun sales to those on the “no fly” list. g. Allow the CDC to study gun violence, h. Require registration, insurance, and licensure for guns and owners — like cars.  NOT RADICAL.  COMMON SENSE.

3. Immigration.  Build a policy that reflects the  “American willingness to uproot and resettle in a foreign land, [a legacy which] gave us… risk-takers, adventurers, and hard workers.   It is what made America great.”  Sean Casten denounces the incumbent Congressman and  VP Mike Pence for “demonizing refugees as undeserving of our support.” Sean Casten would “rather have interesting, aspirational, tolerant, hardworking immigrants as neighbors than Mike Pence.”  NOT RADICAL.  GENEROUS AND ALERT TO THE COUNTRY’S BEST INTEREST.

4. Women’s issues.  Sean Casten urges support for and expansion of  women’s rights and opportunities. Sean Castenis dismayed by the incumbent Congressman’s record with what the record should beSean Casten complains: Congressman Peter Roskam voted against the Violence Against Women Act in 2013.  He opposes abortion in all cases — including rape and incest. He voted to ban all abortions under the Right to Life Act. He opposed equal pay for women as well — voting against the Paycheck Fairness Act.  He refused to speak out against Alabama Senatorial candidate Roy Moore. 

Sean Casten would protect reproductive rights, fight for equal pay for equal work, defend women subjected to harassment and abuse, and much more.  NOT RADICAL.  COMMITTED TO EQUALITY FOR WOMEN

5. LGBTQ Rights. Sean Casten opposes discrimination based on sexual orientation on every level — from jobs to access to public services to funding of services.  He deplores the incumbent lobbying his fellow Republicans to retain, in the 2016 party platform, the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman. He deplores Trump rolling back gains by LGBTQ people including the latest prohibition of transgender people from joining the military.  NOT RADICAL.  COMMITTED TO EQUALITY.

Sean Casten’s positions on education, health care, and jobs are NOT RADICAL.  They are practical, in the interests of the public, and in the interests of the country.  Sean Casten might argue that people like the incumbent who oppose common sense solutions, who oppose reliance on evidence, who oppose equality in America are the ones who are RADICAL, who are working against the interests of the country.

Sean Casten’s life and career is more like the American dream than a radical experience.  He lives in the suburbs of Chicago — a suburb with the suburban sounding name of Downer’s Grove.  He has lived there with his wife and children.  Now that the children have grown a little older, his wife has returned to work — as a communication manager.  NOTHING RADICAL HERE.

Sean Casten went to Middlebury College in Vermont.  With his science degree, he worked at Tufts medical school outside of Boston in a cancer study.  From there he went to Dartmouth in New Hampshire where he got two Master’s Degrees related to engineering.  NOTHING RADICAL HERE UNLESS YOU COUNT NEW ENGLAND AS RADICAL — WHICH SOME DO.

For three years,Sean Casten worked as a consultant for Arthur D. Little on clean energy.  Then he bought a business — Turbostream Corp.  He was President and CEO of a business that custom built fuel efficient heat and power plant.  NOT RADICAL.  THIS IS CALLED BUILDING AN AMERICAN BUSINESS.  REPUBLICANS USUALLY ADMIRE THAT.

Sean Casten sold the business.  He made some money.  He moved to Chicago and, with his father, opened another business — Recycled Energy Development.  With the help of private equity firms the business expanded nationally.  He did one more thing.  He founded what he politely called an advocacy organization on behalf of energy companies like his.  NOT RADICAL.  THAT’S LOBBYING.  THERE IS HARDLY ANYTHING MORE AMERICAN OR MORE BUSINESS-LIKE THAN LOBBYING. 

Help him out.  Help us out.  Help make a Democratic wave.  Provide some support for the practical and imaginative, the businesslike and visionary Sean Casten https://www.castenforcongress.com/

Legislative Special Election (Donations now would make a difference) Arizona 08  Northwest of Phoenix — physician and cancer researcher HeralTipirneni in a special election on April 24.  She is running to replace a Republican who resigned due to a particularly boorish six scandal, She is facing a candidate who has her own, less spectacular, financial/political scandal. It would be great, but an upset, to have her as the incumbent for November (Likely Republican)Ohio 12 — On May 8, Democrats will choose a farmer or a county sheriff to attempt to flip this open, formerly Republican Congressional seat.  The election is on August 7.