Press Release

Bagwell for Congress

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Tim Bagwell         Phone: 812 607-0721

June 18, 2010

Tim Bagwell Endorsed by Illinois AFL-CIO

On June 11 the Illinois AFL-CIO extended their endorsement to Tim Bagwell (D) of Olney in the race for the U.S. House seat in the Illinois 19th Congressional District.  The seat is currently held by incumbent John Shimkus (R) of Collinsville.  The endorsement is contained in a letter signed by Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael T. Carrigan and Secretary Treasurer Timothy E. Drea. The heart of the endorsement follows.

"The Illinois AFL-CIO represents 1,500 local unions and more than one million union women and men in Illinois.  The political arm of our organization, the Committee on Political Education (COPE) met this week and considered the records of incumbent public officials and questionnaire responses for new candidates. Your support of the Illinois AFL-CIO on issues affecting the working men and women of Illinois earned you the endorsement."

Tim Bagwell is deeply gratified by the support of the working women and men of the Illinois AFL-CIO.  It is important to continue the work of the Labor Movement.  Work that includes the minimum wage, the five day work week, overtime pay, as well as a host of health and retirement benefits.  Without the Labor Movement there would be no middle class in America.  But the work must go on to preserve the middle class.

Tim Bagwell may be contacted at the above phone number.

Bagwell Speech Before the Greater Madison County Federation of Labor Awards Dinner

July 24, 2010

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is Tim Bagwell and I am running to represent the citizens of the 19^th congressional district.  The Madison County Democratic Central Committee and the Illinois AFL-CIO have already endorsed me.  I wish to thank the Greater Madison County Federation of Labor for this important opportunity to speak.  I also wish to thank IBEW Local 309 for their support, along with IBEW Locals throughout the district, and with your support I will soon be able to open an office in Madison County.  Until then you are invited to visit my campaign website at bagwellforcongress.com.

In 2008 great events took place for working people.  We expanded our control of the House and for a while filibuster-proof control of the Senate.  And, most importantly, we were able to elect Barack Obama President. However, we came to power at one of the worst possible times: Wall Street debacles, the Mortgage Crisis, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the BP oil spill are among the challenges that have added to the load of a busy legislative agenda.

As a result, we have made progress but are nowhere near where we need to be, where we need to be to claim to be forceful advocates for working men and women and their families.   We need to have a claim on power that exceeds the power of Wall Street, the power of Insurance Companies, and the power of Corporations over honest working people.

With all due respect, the health care bill fell short of being a Single-Payer solution. A Single-payer solution will streamline administrative processes and reduce costs.  Instead the bill is a compromise that may cause a rise in insurance and health care costs and will almost certainly operate inequitably in a number of respects.  Although coverage will be expanded for some (certainly not all) this legislation has not loosened the grip private insurance companies have on the pulse of health care.  We must and will continue to fight for single-payer health care.

The financial reform bill, like the health care bill, is surrounded by too many voices for the big banks and not enough voices for citizen consumers.  We must continue the fight for a consumer financial protection agency that will control usury level interest rates, curb the abuses of debt collectors and protect consumers from overly complicated, and other fraudulent schemes.

Recently, the United States Supreme Court dealt an attack on Federal Campaign reform, further elevating the privileged position of corporations and the wealthy over working people.  We must continue to fight for real campaign finance reform that will level the playing field for free speech so that the voices of working people will be heard and will be heeded and respected.

The unbridled power of corporations has gutted the hull of the ship called Democracy.  The greater part of that gutting was the export of our jobs to foreign markets and the lowering of American incomes resulting in the gutting of the middle class.  This was followed by a mortgage and credit crisis that has further crippled our ship.  It is time to throw those who would undermine Democracy overboard and return the helm of our ship of state to the working people of this country.

By exploiting fear, the far-right has mobilize the so called “Tea Party” in attempt to make taxes now seem a burden and social programs the cause of budget deficits.  The Tea Party likes to claim their acronym means “Taxed Enough Already.”  I think it really means “Tearing Everyone Apart.”

Ultimately, it is not about our taxes, it is about our wages.  If wages were raised, the taxes would take care of our deficits and restore the social safety net that protects the middle class and those less fortunate.  The Tea Party is another distraction of the Right to forward a corporate agenda that will sink the Ship of Democracy.

The Corporatist Far Right movement is well financed and is able to use whatever institutional power they have remaining to further their agenda.  Ousted from the House, stymied in the Senate, and purged from the Presidency, the Far Right has sought refuge in the Supreme Court.

Effectively lifting the limits on corporate participation in politics the Supreme Court has discarded working people and voters into freezing waters while allowing incumbents and their corporate sponsors onto comfortable lifeboats, lifeboats bound for an American republic remade as a country ruled by corporations!

John Shimkus enjoys this degradation of our Democracy.  He consistently votes against health care reform, against pay equity for women, against labor, against financial reform and against campaign finance reform.  He certainly enjoys his ride in the corporate lifeboat.

If elected I would not accept corporate sponsorship.  I would vote for additional health care reform, I would vote for wage (pay) equity for women.   I would fight for financial reform and I would fight for finance campaign reform and I would fight for the Labor Movement that has done so much for our people and our country.  Instead of lifeboats fleeing a sinking ship I want to be part of a fleet, a movement that saves the sinking ship of Democracy by restoring the voice of working people and those who are unable to work.

We need to get out the vote for all candidates supported by the Labor Movement.  I ask for your vote in November and I ask for your support.

Ladies and Gentlemen thank you for your time this evening.