Difference between revisions of "Cathy Glasson"
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Glasson “is one of the top bold progressives running for governor this cycle,” Taylor said. “With her history as a nurse and an advocate for workers, Cathy will bring bold progressive change to Iowa with a $15 minimum wage, expanding union rights and Medicare for all.” | Glasson “is one of the top bold progressives running for governor this cycle,” Taylor said. “With her history as a nurse and an advocate for workers, Cathy will bring bold progressive change to Iowa with a $15 minimum wage, expanding union rights and Medicare for all.” | ||
| − | The endorsement follows Glasson’s participation in an hourlong conference call with Progressive Change Campaign Committee members | + | The endorsement follows Glasson’s participation in an hourlong conference call with [[Progressive Change Campaign Committee]] members during which she fielded questions about her agenda. |
| − | The Progressive Change Campaign Committee plans to email its million members, including more than 7,600 in Iowa, asking them to help fund Glasson’s campaign. Since its founding in 2009, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee has raised more than $25 million for progressive candidates and committees. It raised $1.17 million from 70,000-plus small-dollar donations for Elizabeth | + | The [[Progressive Change Campaign Committee]] plans to email its million members, including more than 7,600 in Iowa, asking them to help fund Glasson’s campaign. Since its founding in 2009, the [[Progressive Change Campaign Committee]] has raised more than $25 million for progressive candidates and committees. It raised $1.17 million from 70,000-plus small-dollar donations for [[Elizabeth Warren]]’s 2012 Senate run. |
| − | Glasson is not a stranger to the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. She attended its national candidate training earlier this year and joined Taylor on a panel at Netroots Nation 2017 about the ongoing opioid addiction crisis. | + | Glasson is not a stranger to the [[Progressive Change Campaign Committee]]. She attended its national candidate training earlier this year and joined Taylor on a panel at [[Netroots Nation 2017]] about the ongoing opioid addiction crisis.<ref>[http://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/government/national-populist-group-endorses-cathy-glasson-for-iowa-governor-20170921 The Gazette, National populist group endorses Cathy Glasson for Iowa governor, James Q. Lynch The Gazette More stories from James Sep 21, 2017 ]</ref> |
==Supporters== | ==Supporters== | ||
Revision as of 22:51, 26 November 2017
Template:TOCnestleft Cathy Glasson is an Iowa activist. She is married to Matt Glasson.
Gubernatorial run
After months of “exploring” a run for Iowa governor, union leader Cathy Glasson officially entered the race September 2017.
Glasson, a nurse and president of the SEIU Local 199 union that represents health care workers at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and elsewhere, is one of seven Democratic candidates running for the June party primary.
She’s positioning herself as the most progressive candidate in the race, championing a higher minimum wage and state action on universal health coverage, among other policies.
“I’m inspired by the hundreds of working people I’ve listened to across Iowa who are ready to rise up for a $15 minimum wage, expanded union rights, universal health care, clean water and fully-funded public education,” she said in a statement Tuesday. “Iowans who are struggling to make it are demanding a seat at the table in 2018. They’re not going to let the politicians ignore them anymore.”
Glasson, 58, of Coralville, announced that she was exploring a run for governor in May and has been actively campaigning since then, appearing at party events and speaking on stage with the six other Democratic candidates.
As Glasson announced her candidacy in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, her campaign gathered supporters in Iowa City, Sioux City, Des Moines, Waterloo, Davenport, Ames and Burlington to knock doors in a “day of action.”[1]
Enlisting DSA support
Iowa City Democratic Socialists of America Meeting Minutes – September 30th, 2017.
- Misty Rebik of Glasson gubernatorial campaign presented. Union and labor rights will be at forefront of campaign. Core issues in platform including medicare for all, minimum wage raise, restore/expand union rights, water/ag pollution, free k-12 and tuition.
- Q and A session with Rebik.[2]
DSA supporters
The following Democratic Socialists of America members have supported Cathy Glasson for Governor.
CCI endorsement
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement endorsed Cathy Glasson for Governor in September.
- HUGE NEWS — Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI) Action Fund endorsed Cathy Glasson this morning! With 4000 people now committed to knock doors and make calls, this is BIG!
Progressive Change Campaign Committee
A day after formally entering the race for the Democratic nomination for governor, Coralville nurse and union president Cathy Glasson wasendorsed by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
Glasson is an “authentic, gut-level economic populist who is instinctively on the side of working people,” Progressive Change Campaign Committee co-founder Stephanie Taylor said in the endorsement.
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee describes itself as the “Elizabeth Warren wing of American politics and advocates for populist priorities like expanding Social Security, debt-free college, Wall Street reform and universal health care.
Glasson “is one of the top bold progressives running for governor this cycle,” Taylor said. “With her history as a nurse and an advocate for workers, Cathy will bring bold progressive change to Iowa with a $15 minimum wage, expanding union rights and Medicare for all.”
The endorsement follows Glasson’s participation in an hourlong conference call with Progressive Change Campaign Committee members during which she fielded questions about her agenda.
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee plans to email its million members, including more than 7,600 in Iowa, asking them to help fund Glasson’s campaign. Since its founding in 2009, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee has raised more than $25 million for progressive candidates and committees. It raised $1.17 million from 70,000-plus small-dollar donations for Elizabeth Warren’s 2012 Senate run.
Glasson is not a stranger to the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. She attended its national candidate training earlier this year and joined Taylor on a panel at Netroots Nation 2017 about the ongoing opioid addiction crisis.[3]
Supporters
Many people, including Iowa City councilor Rockne Cole, COGS grad student Scott Olson, UI professor Packy Moran, John Green of Lone Tree, and Brad Pector, who said that without the Affordable Care Act, his health insurance would cost over $100,000 a year, spoke up for Cathy Glasson.
The first to speak up for Cathy, Pauline Taylor, a progressive Iowa City councilor, has known Cathy Glasson for 19 years. They've both been nurses together at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. They've both been members of Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
- I knew Cathy before she became SEIU president and before she married Matt Glasson, who was at the time our labor attorney. Back when I knew him, Matt used to say, "You could probably fit all of the labor lawyers in the state in one café booth." Matt characterizes himself as a labor educator today. He was always both.
- I was an SEIU steward working for the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program. Our working conditions at HACAP were so deplorable that we joined SEIU in a right-to-work state (the right to work is the right to work for less money and few or no benefits). Don Maniccia, our then manager, decreed that he'd stop giving us Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the Fourth of July off as holidays and instead make us take those holidays off out of our meager 10 days a year vacation time. Even poorly paid Head Start teachers, social workers, secretaries, and clerks, mostly women, knew that was a screw job. So we voted to join the union. Don Maniccia didn't even know he had to bargain with us once we formed a bargaining unit. We had to educate him by forcing him to the bargaining table.
- Of course, years later, doing their corporate masters' bidding, Republicans made it harder to join unions in 2017 and ongoingly, harder to certify unions, difficult or impossible to collectively bargain with management, difficult or impossible to collect workman's compensation if you're hurt on the job . . . all of the labor rights that unions worked hard to pass into legislation. That's why it's important to vote for a union friendly gubernatorial candidate. You can't get any more union friendly than Cathy Glasson. She's the real deal. She's not just campaigning for governor. She's fighting for fast-food workers who are trying to get better pay.
"I'm tired of getting beat up," she said as one worker to the rest of us. "One third of Iowa households can't pay their bills. People can't send their kids to college on less than $15 an hour.
"Kim Reynolds, the unemployment rate may be low, but the misery index is high. Iowans are ready to rise up for clean water, for fully funding education, for bringing back collective bargaining rights, for bringing back a strong workman's compensation law for workers hurt on the job, and for a $15 minimum wage!"[4]