Tom Fiegen lays out his platform

[rurallib]

I was copied on an email from Tom Fiegen where he answers whether he is a Progressive or not:
It was so good, I ased him for permission to reprint it in this blog. So here goes:
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I am challenging Chuck Grassley for three reasons, that are closely tied to my platform of "Fiegenomics."

1) He doesn't get how bad the economy is in Iowa and across the nation, or how long it could last based on the real and potentially long term decline in consumer spending. Every day I get calls from home town attorneys in Iowa asking for advice for their farming, retail and manufacturing clients. I know the first stimulus package is in the pipeline, but it may not be enough. Unlike Grassley who has said that 10% unemployment is not that bad, I think it warrants an additional fiscal stimulus package in 2010/2011 if the economy does not improve markedly. This alone is reason enough for me to take him on.

2) Health care coverage for all who need it. Did you know the majority of personal bankruptcies are to discharge medical bills? Plus some in the medical and pharmacy fields are scamming the federal government with their Medicare and Medicaid billings. Add to that, Grassley has promised for 35 years, without success, to increase the reimbursement rate for Iowa doctors and hospitals. Then last week he said that if we passed the Democratic proposals, Senator Kennedy's brain cancer would not be covered/treated. Now, this week, he said health care reform will mean that the federal government will pull the plug on grandma. The bottom line is that many many Americans are not be served by private insurance industry, either because of cost or because of pre-existing conditions that are excluded. Grassley is not an honest broker on health care. His largest group of contributors in 2004 were in the medical and pharma industries. Check out opensecrets.org I'm willing to pound the pavement across Iowa for the next sixteen months to do everything in my power to beat Grassley and remove him as an obstacle to health care reform.

3) Banning financial piracy. Grassley is the godfather of Wall Street in the Senate. His bankruptcy bill in 2005 was a gift to the credit card industry. He voted for every financial deregulation bill that allowed the meltdown in 2008. Then the only bailout he voted for was the $750 billion TARP ransom for Wall Street. Now he opposes modification of subprime home mortgages in Chapter 13. Grassley is in the pocket of Wall Street. I am on the other side. I am on the side of Iowans who have been screwed by Wall Street through credit cards, subprime mortgages, and now the bailout.

This race is person for me based upon the Iowans that I have represented through tough times. Chuck Grassley has made their lives harder, not easier. The role of the federal government is to do things for the citizens that they cannot do for themselves. That includes making life easier when it can, not harder. Using that test for government and our elected officials, Chuck Grassley fails.

On top of all of that, I think he has a case of "Jack Rife-itis." Grassley has been saying the MOST outrageous things since President Obama took office. AIG executive suicide, Twitter, go to work for the federal government if you want good insurance, the Kennedy comment, the pull the plug on grandma comment, etc. Nonpolitical people have been talking about what has been falling out of his mouth. Do Iowans really want another six or seven years of more and more bizarre statements by their U.S. Senator? I'm betting not.

I can do better. Iowa can do better.

The other thing that I would say is that I have always considered myself a progressive and a populist.
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Tom also had an interview in the Wall Street Journal blog here:
http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2009/08/17/lawyer-aims-to-bring-%E2%80%98fiegenomics%E2%80%99-to-washington/