Portland, young and old
Filed under: Articles by Ralph Carmona, Campaign Trail, Photos
Among my conversations last night were talks with two Republicans. One was a woman in her eighties. She said she supported issues over party and was open to supporting me.
Another voter and I talked for almost an hour. He was clearly a prominent and active member of the community. We engaged in animated conversations regarding city call responsiveness, immigration, crime and civil rights. He was a real straight talker. We had real differences. But we also found a common respect in our arguments and in our listening to one another. He mentioned he would consider voting for me and we talked about getting together again. We both parted ways with smiles on our faces.
I was delighted to meet young voters at the Deering Oaks farmer's market, and even persuaded one or two of them to hold up my sign for the camera! Here's Sarah Davis, whose many talents include playing the cello.
This morning, I attended the Portland Farmers Market at Deering Oaks, gathering signatures from Portland voters for my nomination. I got support on the spot from a number of people, especially younger voters excited about the prospect of my vision for a Portland on the Rise. One invited me to a Fair Food Farm Tour on July 30th at 200 Anderson St. in Portland. I plan to be there!
I also attended the 150th Commemoration of Sgt. Alonzo P. Stinson, the first Portlander to give his life in the Civil War. He was killed in July 1861, at the Battle of Bull Run, Virginia. It was the first major battle of the Civil War and a rout of the Northern Union Army. The ceremony took place at 11:30AM in front of Stinson’s granite monument in Portland’s Eastern Cemetery.
I had the opportunity to see Nick, another of the mayoral candidates. In the tradition of positive campaigning, we signed each other's nomination papers.
Notes from the campaign trail
Filed under: Articles by Ralph Carmona, Campaign Trail
In talking with elderly Republican and Democratic voters, I am finding surprising support for my desire “to get things done.” One started our conversations by telling me that “all your guys are clowns” and ended by saying, “I like what you say and you are not a clown.”
Another older Republican voter was impressed by my sense of the nation and how I was able to come from a poor environment to where I am today. “I do not care where you came from, I am amazed at what you have been able to do with your life.”
A moderate Democrat said those people are wasting money money hiring this new mayor and picking a city manager from out of town. I explained that sometimes we have to go outside, like our departing police chief and and now is the time to go inside. And savings can be made up with someone on the outside with 40 years of experience, who knows how to find them. “That is just what we need!” he said. “Good luck to you!”
One former Portland city executive, a Republican, asked how I have been able to do what I have done in the relatively short time I have been in Portland. I explained that I chose to come to Portland. It is my life, I have no higher ambition, and my accomplishment comes from 40 years of experience. After hearing the details on that, she said, “you are just the kind of person we need. Thanks for stopping by.”
A Green party member and his Democratic partner were both impressed by my desire to change our car culture and create a sustainable green economy, as well as my involvement in civil rights and support for gay marriage. “You look like the right kind of guy.”
A staunch Republican talked with me for 20 minutes. He described himself as anti-government, anti-George Bush (father and son), libertarian, and said “greed is good.” He added: “I have nothing against gay marriage, but we are giving them tax benefits, and we should leave it to religion.” I said: “We are simply allowing them to get the same benefits straight folk have, and that when you get married you need a city — not a church — license.” I added that “greedy people in politics, business and life can be destructive. The bottom line is, as a leading Founding Father reminds us, none of us are angels and we need a government to govern us and then govern itself. That’s why our government is inherently inefficient. But, you know what? It is the best government in the world!”
He agreed and said “I like you because you listened to me. Some people do not like to hear what I have to say.” I emphasized that “I will always be there to listen, not always agree, but listen.” “It is a long ways away,” he concluded. “But I like what I hear from you.” I told him: “You might even endorse me,” and gave him my business card.
Fourth of July, Eastern Promenade
Filed under: Articles by Ralph Carmona, Campaign Trail, Photos, Portland Issues, Videos
Photos by Alejandro Albiar-Carmona
Walking and meeting with 4th of July voters was a way of sharing my “Portland of the Rise” message and how it is integral to the Declaration of Independence ideal of “pursuit of happiness.”
In my many conversations, voters I talked with indicated that they wanted change and a leadership for a “Portland on the Rise.” They expressed support for my desire to have Portland make greater changes and respond aggressively and decisively to the challenges we face.
Newly-naturalized citizens were especially moved by my immigrant sensibility and support for civil rights.
Sitting on their porch, younger voters wanted to know how I was going to bring jobs. One, in particular, lost his job as a school teacher; another wants to go into teaching. I emphasized that the greatest investment we can make is in a public school and that we need to increase local revenue to make those kinds of investments with proposals like the Thompson’s Point project — 1300 jobs and $26 million in revenue. They liked my research in public schooling and 20 years of higher education background.
I also met with one well-established Maine voter who, after listening to me, concluded she would support me because “You are respectful of tradition and respectful of people.”
Conservative and business-oriented voters like the idea that I was a Democrat who believed in revenue growth and that working with business means to a future Portland. Many folks had just arrived and not yet registered. I urged them to register ASAP, gave them my cell number and website (flyer) and shared my “Portland on the Rise” message.
I’m proud to say that a number of voters said: “you’ve got my vote!”
Many voters working, for the first time, to encourage July 4th visitors to recycle their waste, were interested in my 15 years of working as a leading executive for America’s 6th largest publicly-owned electricity utility. After hearing of my involvement on issues of global warming, recycling, renewable and efficient energy, they were very supportive.
One voter challenged me on how I would work with business and bring more revenue to Portland. He expressed support after hearing me say that I lobbied for the biggest bank in the world and am dismayed by its failure to add value to America in ways that lead to near global financial collapse. He was impressed that I know how business people engage in public policy and would be Portland’s chief lobbyist in Augusta and Washington DC.
Of those I talked with, only one mentioned another candidate in the race. For all others, it was the first time they met and talked with a mayoral candidate.
One lady and her husband said they were lifelong Democrats and were delighted to hear I was a 21-year-old McGovern delegate at the Democratic National Convention. They said they would support me. Another couple said it was time to get rid of the ceremonial mayor and elected a mayor with leadership. They said they would not vote for any established past or present elected official.
I’m proud to be part of this great nation and this great city. You’ll see me around town in the weeks to come, and I hope you’ll take a moment to share your vision for Portland with me.
And if you have a moment, take a look at Alejandro’s photos in this slide show:
DeCoster Chicken farm practices highlighted
Filed under: Articles about Ralph Carmona
BY RAMONA DU HOUX – MAINE INSIGHTS
April 14th, 2011 · Filed under: Civil Rights, Community Maine, Public Safety
The Maine League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) discussed a series of interviews being conducted with workers at the DeCoster Chicken farm on violations involving working conditions and worker rights. LULAC State Director Jose Lopez talked with past and present DeCoster employees on employee conditions that can only be described as inhumane and slave-like.
“These are poor people seeking the American dream,” Lopez emphasized, “some as old as 60 years of age, who migrated to Turner, Maine on a company commitment for both liveable wages and working conditions. They were lied to, fired when injured and forced to work in unspeakable conditions.”
Maine LULAC said that they will have three hours of tape interviews and will work to provide an hour-long DVD for public availability.
Lopez highlighted the issue because proposed legislation, LD 1207, would eliminate overtime, minimum wage and the civil rights for DeCoster workers to collectively organize and bargain on worker rights, conditions and benefits.
Testimony on the bill will be heard at 1:00PM Friday, April 15, before the Maine State Legislative Joint Committee on Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development.
“This bill hits at the heart of a worker’s livelihood. We do not see the camel’s nose under the tent, we see the whole hump,” said Dr. Ralph Carmona, President of Portland LULAC. “It is bad enough for the DeCoster people to outright reject claims from poor, immigrant and injured people. Worse, DeCoster is circumventing ownership responsibility with a legislative proposal crafted that specifically exempts his company and symbolizes the destruction of Maine civil and worker rights.”
“For more than 20 years, under the DeCoster watch, female workers have been raped and harassed on work premises, consumers have been delivered poisonous (Salmonella) products, decent worker conditions, animal rights, child labor and environmental laws have been violated. This is a billionaire who is directly and indirectly responsible for one-third of America’s egg production. He is a public monster for his seamless decades of cruel, wicked and terrifying business effects on Maine people and the American public.” said Carmona.
“The political dimension of this monstrosity is the ability through legal, lobbying, and business procedures to rearrange and rename the company to undermine worker rights and seek special legislation like LD 1207.”
The Maine LULAC also will oppose LD 1346, that establishes “training” work at below minimum wages for teenagers and removes hourly regulation for child labor. “It is,” Lopez concluded, “an effort to reverse child labor law as we know it.”
Founded in 1929, LULAC is the nation’s largest and oldest Latino civil rights organization with over 900 councils throughout the country. The Maine State LULAC is headquartered in Lewiston with chapters also in Portland, Auburn and Bangor.
LePage actions add significance to Chavez event
Filed under: Articles about Ralph Carmona
By Curtis Robinson, Portland Daily Sun
Mar 30, 2011
After dinner at an Austin-area restaurant early last year, noted historian and biographer Douglas Brinkley was asked by a colleague if there is “one major American figure” lacking a really definitive biography.
Brinkley, himself the author of several best-selling biographies, did not hesitate. “Cesar Chavez,” he said.
In a telephone interview Tuesday, Brinkley explained that Chavez, the co-founder of the National Farm Workers Union and an icon of Latino civil rights, is a “sustainable hero” from the 1960s and predicted he will grow in importance as the United States Latino population grows.
Chavez and the labor movement have gained relevance in Maine this month as Gov. Paul LePage decreed that the state Labor Department conference room that bears Chavez’s name, along with seven other such meeting areas, have their names changed to reflect a more “balanced” attitude toward business-labor relations.
That same decision included removing a labor mural, a move that earned international headlines and mockery on network late-night television.
In Portland, the LePage controversy has added significance to the community’s annual observance of “Cesar Chavez” day, scheduled for tomorrow at First Parish Church on Congress Street. Chavez, who died in 1993, would have been 84 on Thursday.
If any writers take Brinkley’s advice on the next big biography, they could get a good start Thursday as several Chavez colleagues are scheduled to speak, including an 86-year-old Bangor physician who served as the labor activist’s doctor and a onetime critic and Nixon supporter (who came to embrace the movement) who will testify that he was honored to work with Chavez, who it turns out was an accomplished ping-pong player.
The program, which begins at 9 a.m., will also feature immigrant speakers and address the Chavez legacy on immigration. Some historians contend that Chavez and the UFW opposed illegal immigration based on concerns that undocumented workers could not only be exploited but drove down wages for American workers. The First Parish participants argue that’s a distortion, and that any opposition was only to a specific program and that the union embraced rights for “all workers.”
The First Parish program takes aim at a couple of common Chavez misconceptions, including that he was from Mexico — he was actually born in Arizona, where his grandfather had settled after receiving land through the 1862 Homestead Act. His grandparents were actually Euroupean immigrants.
Ralph Carmona, president of the Portland chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) which counts 900 councils including four in Maine, says Thursday’s program celebrates “a man who really made a difference” and drew comparisons with civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., noting that both used non-violent protest.
“Cesar Chavez worked for the poorest workers in America,” said Carmona, who spearheaded organization of the First Parish event. “He shifted the arch of the moral universe.”
As for removing the Chavez name from a conference room in Augusta, Carmona said that putting the name there was clearly symbolic — and so was its ordered removal. The governor has agreed to a meeting with LULAC next month and the name-change is a likely topic, he added.
Chavez actually visited Maine in August of 1974 as part of a New England tour promoting a boycott of non-UFW harvested grapes and lettuce — it would become widely regarded as the longest-running nationwide boycott ever atempted by the harvester’s union.
In published accounts of the visit, local historian and former state reprentative Herb Adams reports that “… at a noon rally at Lincoln Park, flanked by Portland Mayor Bill Troubh and State Rep. Jerry Talbot, Chavez told 500 cheering supporters that 65 % of New England markets respected the UFW boycott, the best in the nation. Mayor Troubh presented Chavez with a key to the city, and Chavez grinned he was soon returning to his hometown of Delano, Calif., ” where if I live for 200 years I’ll never get a key to that city !”
The march, reminicent of civil rights marches of the era, is another reminder that, for many, the Chavez parallel with Martin Luther King Jr. included tactics like public protest and non-violent events. But Brinkly says that there’s another link through both men’s spiritual approach.
King famously held to his Baptist faith while Chavez remained a Catholic.
Eventually, that spirituality will help with ongoing efforts to create a national holiday for Cesar Chavez, predicted Brinkley. Eight states now officially note the day, but national recognition remains elusive.
Brinkley says several factors may work against a national Chavez holiday, ranging from the fact that his political battles with Ronald Reagan left cultural scars with supporters of the popular president and that some Americans confuse him — believe it or not — with Hugo Chavez, the controversial president of Venezuela.
It’s unlikely there will be much of that confusion at First Parish tomorrow morning, where the next step for Mainers in support of the Chavez legacy will begin and end with the Highlander Folk School ballad “We Shall Overcome.”
(Curtis Robinson is editor of The Portland Daily Sun. Contact him at curtis@portlanddailysun.me.)
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