UMass Democrats Kick-Off Meeting
About Our Speakers:
John Bonifaz
John Bonifaz is the founder and general counsel of the National Voting Rights Institute, a prominent legal center in the campaign finance reform field. He is a 1999 recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. Bonifaz is a 1992 graduate of Harvard Law School and a 1987 graduate of Brown University.
In February and March 2003, Bonifaz served as lead counsel for a coalition of US soldiers, parents of US soldiers, and Members of Congress (led by Representatives Conyers and Kucinich) in a federal lawsuit challenging the authority of President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld to launch a war against Iraq absent a congressional declaration of war or equivalent action.
In his book, Warrior-King: The Case for Impeaching George Bush (Nation Books) Bonifaz lays out the case that the president violated the U.S. Constitution, when he launched a first-strike invasion of Iraq, resulting in the deaths of thousands. With a forward by Congressman John Conyers, Warrior Kings argues that the framers of the Constitution wanted to ensure that our presidents would not be like European kings of old who could decide, on their own volition, to send their subjects into battle. The courts heard the case on an expedited basis, but ruled that they were barred from deciding it on the grounds that it raised a “political question” to be addressed only by the political branches. Bonifaz argues that if we are to preserve our Constitution, we must now act:
Bonifaz formerly served as the Staff Attorney for the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, DC, a leading research authority on the influence of private money in the electoral process. He is the co-author, with constitutional law professor Jamin Raskin, of articles in the Yale Law & Policy Review and the Columbia Law Review which argue that the current campaign finance system violates the constitutional guarantee of equal protection for all. He is also the co-author, with Professor Raskin, of The Wealth Primary: Campaign Fundraising and the Constitution.
-Transcribed from SpeakOutNow.org
Pat Duffy
Pat Duffy has worked for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and the Holyoke-based United Auto Workers Local 2322. Both jobs require a deep and ever-growing knowledge of business, government, law, contracts, and the social and economic needs of people who work for a living.
She has been privileged to work with people at all levels of society -- business and labor leaders, local and state elected officials, and regular folks, working hourly wage jobs, struggling to make a living. She has the knowledge and the ability to work with everyone to make Holyoke a better place.
Duffy's work experience has taught her the importance of weighing the needs of every part of the community. Municipal governments
have been facing tough times including unfunded mandates from the federal government, the severe cutbacks of the Romney administration, and a slower economy. We need to work together to make the tough choices, and to ensure that they are made fairly.
A longtime resident of Western Massachusetts, Duffy became a Ward 6 homeowner in 2004. "My heart has been in Holyoke for quite some time," she says, "This city's vitality comes from the past and future of the immigrants drawn here."
Meeting Agenda:
6:15 - 6:25: Introduction.
6:25 - 7:00: UDems club business ... What UMass Dems does as an organization ... stuff that happened over the summer ... Upcoming events ... ways to get involved.
7:00 - 8:00: Speech and Q&A with John Bonifaz.
8:00 - 8:30: Speech and Q&A with Pat Duffy.
