Lou Pardo
Lou (Louis) Pardo is a Chicago based socialist activist, who worked with Barack Obama on voting enrolment projects in the early 1990s.
Chicago Area Committee on Occupational Safety and Health
The Chicago Area Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (CACOSH) was founded in 1972 as a not-for-profit-organization of unions and health and legal professionals. The founders included Quentin Young, MD, Lou Pardo -IAM Tool & Die Makers; Peter Orris MD; and Frank Rosen –UE among others.
Young, Orris and Rosen all had some affiliation to the Communist Party USA.
CACOSH was the first COSH group in the country and provided the inspiration and model for the 18 groups now working in all parts of the nation.
In 1972, the Medical Committee for Human Rights (MCHR) sponsored a conference in conjunction with area unions and health professionals. CACOSH grew out of that conference, because local union members decided that they needed an organization, run by union members, that would give them ongoing help on job safety and health problems.
The CACOSH motto was “No one is going to solve our problems for us, we had to do it ourselves.” The health professionals in MCHR helped educate union members about what their jobs were doing to their health.
CACOSH grew from a handful of people in a few local and district unions to an organization of more than 50 locals from 20 different international unions. Thousands of workers have participated in CACOSH and benefited from the education and training they have provided, and have shared their skills and knowledge with each other[1].
CACOSH - Circa 1980 Front row — Pat McGuire, Lou Pardo, Loretta Schuman, Joel Swartz. Back Row — William Kojola, Dan Hanks, Jean MacGraine .
Supporter of the New American Movement
In 1981, Lou Pardo, President, IAM Chicago was listed as a supporter of the New American Movement.[2]
Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights
In 1992 Lou Pardo and Edna Pardo were members of the Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights, a long time front for the Communist Party USA, then dominated by members of the newly formed Committees of Correspondence[3].
First work with Obama
Chicago City Clerk Miguel Del Valle told the 2008 Democratic Party convention of his [4]first meeting with Obama-through Lou Pardo[5];
- I first heard of Barack back in 1992. The year 1992 was a little like 2008. Then, as now, we needed to save the country from the misguided policies of a president named Bush. I was working with my old friend, Lou Pardo, a retired machinist, on an effort to register Latino voters in Chicago. One day, we were talking about how we could reach more voters and cover more ground, but we needed more resources. Lou told me we should go see Barack Obama, who was directing a voter-registration drive called Project Vote. So Lou met with Barack and, without missing a beat, Barack Obama helped us out. Barack Obama made sure that the thousands of Latinos in Chicago were registered to vote. He helped empower the Latino community and ensure that we were full participants in our democracy.
Progressive Chicago
In late 1993 Progressive Chicago letters were always signed by 17 people;[6]
- Ron Sable
- Dwayne Harris, 21st Century Vote
- David Orr Cook County Clerk
- Ernestine Whiting, ACORN
- Madeline Talbott, ACORN
- Bessie Cannon, President SEIU Local 880
- Keith Kelleher, Head organizer SEIU Local 880
- Joe Gardner Commissioner, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District
- Lou Pardo, (Northwest Voter Registration Project)
- Rene David Luna , (ADAPT)
- Dick Simpson
- Danny K. Davis
- Carol Harwell, United Voter Registration League
- Barack Obama
- Ron Davis
- Carl Davidson, Networking for Democracy
- Philip Jahn , Teamsters Local 743
Membership of Democratic Socialists of America
Pardo was, around that time, a member of Democratic Socialists of America.
According to Chicago DSA's New Ground November 1994;
- Lou Pardo, a volunteer with Senator del Valle, DSA member and activist with the Midwest-Northeast Voter Registration Education Project, emphasized how important it was to support independent progressive democrats.
Debs-Thomas-Harrington honoree
Pardo was honored by Chicago DSA, at their 1994 Debs-Thomas-Harrington awards dinner for his work on turning out the vote for leftist Democrats[7] .
- Your voter registration efforts have been recognized. In 1990, you were given the William C. Velasquez Volunteer of the Year Award at the 8th Annual U.S. Hispanic Leadership Conference. You have worked in the Midwest-Northeast Voter Registration Education Project in Senator Miguel del Valle's district. This project was a tremendous success, and on August 20, 1992, you were the recipient of an award by the Illinois State Democratic Convention for "historic efforts in registering thousands of new Illinois voters".
Committees of Correspondence connection
In 1994 Lou Pardo ,Chicago, was listed on a "Membership, Subscription and Mailing List" for the Chicago Committees of Correspondence, an offshoot of the Communist Party USA[8]
New Party
In 1995 Lou Pardo was a member[9]of the Chicago New Party.
Paul Robeson 100th Birthday Committee
In 1998 Lou Pardo and Edna Pardo were listed as a volunteers and interns of Paul Robeson 100th Birthday Committee.[10]
References
- ↑ http://www.uic.edu/sph/glakes/pdfs/25thanniversary/25th_bklt_final.pdf
- ↑ 10th Anniversary Booklet for the New American Movement, 1981
- ↑ CCDBR 1992 membership list
- ↑ Reuters press release
- ↑ Reuters press release
- ↑ Progressive Chicago letterheads November 5 and December 31, 1993
- ↑ http://www.chicagodsa.org/d1994/index.html.
- ↑ Chicago CoC "Membership, Subscription and Mailing List" 10.14.94
- ↑ http://www.chicagodsa.org/ngarchive/ng41.html
- ↑ http://www.cpsr.cs.uchicago.edu/robeson/links/chicago/ack_org6.html