I was a skunk at Trone's garden party.

I was a skunk at Trone's garden party.

 David Trone [info@davidtrone.com], a member of Congress in the 6th district in Maryland, is running to replace Senator Ben Cardin.  As activists, we have talked about bird-dogging candidates.  So I signed up to be on the Trone Campaign email list, and subsequently got an invitation to the Older Adults Luncheon, a curious name, at The Forum Caterers on Primrose Avenue in an industrial area of West Baltimore on November 19 at 12:30 PM. 

  The neighborhood looks quite worn out, and parking was difficult.  After parking several blocks away from the site, Janice Sevre-Duszynska and I were guided to a table in an enormous hall with some 200 people there.  Near the stage, there were probably twenty tables in the area then a gap and twenty more tables towards the far side of the room.  Our table was the first one after the gap. Once seated, we were warmly greeted by others at the table.  The meat and potatoes luncheon, funded by the Trone campaign, was aimed at the Black senior voter.  At most, there were ten white people in the audience. 

   This event was strategically aimed at senior citizens suffering from the inequities offered up by Congress.  The formal part of the afternoon began with Long Time Comin by the Winans: “It's been a long time comin,' But a change is gonna come, I've waited till the morning, Now I finally see the sun.” 

 Around 1:20 PM, the candidate entered the room to lots of applause and headed up the stairs onto the stage to join a panel of experts. Rep. Trone told the crowd that he was the one who would make their lives quite a bit better, and added it is necessary to respect the elders.  Then we all stood as the Negro National Anthem, Lift Every Voice and Sing, was played. The candidate then informed us he wants to answer lots of questions about returning citizens, Social Security, unfair drug prices, and Medicare.  He explained the necessity of following the money from Big Pharma, and Big Oil.  Trone does not accept money from PACs, lobbyists or corporations.  He can take this stance as he and his brother David own Total Wine & More, a privately held alcohol retailer.  He stated that he has employed 1,400 people who were former prisoners. 

  He boasted nobody owns him, that he is the most progressive Democrat in the race, that he will build bridges, that he has given $20 million to the ACLU and that “I will work for you.” The experts then took over and talked about hearing loss, outreach to older adults and most of all highlighted that Social Security must be protected. An aide to Rep. John Larson from Connecticut who introduced the 2100 Social Security bill spoke about rescuing this legislation from the Republicans.  Trone promised a room full of Social Security recipients that he would save this beloved blessing.

  The questions started coming from those near the stage. What about Fair Housing? Public safety? An increase in SNAP benefits? Insulin price increase? Medicare Advantage plans, yuck? One of the more revealing questions came from the legendary civil rights activist for some 50 years, Doc Cheatham.  He pointed out that he lives in a food desert.  While there are no grocery stores, there are too many liquor stores.  I wondered if there is a Total Wine & More store in Doc’s neighborhood.

 Trone exuded confidence he can solve many of the ills pointed out by the questioners.  He offered up a myriad of platitudes.  We must communicate.  He will walk the streets of Baltimore.  He is tremendously concerned about the opioid crisis as his nephew was one of the victims. Fentanyl is  a killer. Actually, if the Democrats maintain a slim majority or lose the Senate, Senator Trone will have minimal effect.  

 Eventually the microphone made its way to where I was sitting, and an aide gave it to me.  I now had the opportunity to address the candidate but more importantly some 200 perspective voters.   

I thanked the representative for holding this town hall, but noted that the conversation so far was lacking.  There was no mention of the bloated military budget, nor the tax dollars wasted on nuclear weapons.  There was no comment about what is happening in the Gaza Strip.   I explained that tax dollars which should be used to deal with the problems raised by other questioners are being wasted on an obscene military budget and mass destruction weaponry.   I urged him, with low expectations, to call for a ceasefire now in the Gaza Strip and to co-sponsor H. Res.  77 which endorses the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

 As I handed back the microphone to the woman who gave it to me, I was jostled by a person who I think is Trone’s campaign manager.  He accused me of grabbing the microphone.  We moved our conversation to outside the main room as he was furious that I brought up forbidden topics.  He wanted me to apologize to the aide.  I was very firm with him that I was handed the microphone.  As he was huffing and puffing, a security guard had to settle him down.  I went back to the main room, but missed Trone’s response to my comments.  As people were filing out after the program ended, five people came over to thank me for my comments.

 The event was carefully orchestrated, and I went against protocol by introducing difficult subjects not on the main agenda.  This was not the first time, I was the skunk at a garden party.

  For example, I was part of the Ghosts of the Iraq War, where a group of us including the inimitable Eve Tetaz, gathered in the Senate gallery while Senators Ben Cardin, Ted Kennedy and others were meeting down below.  The action was organized by the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, and we wore shirts stating We will not be Silent and placed gauze over our faces.  One at a time we stood up to let the senators know that we represented the dead in Iraq.  A marshal would enter the gallery and take the first person away.  Then the second stood up until we were all in custody. As I was taken out by a Capitol police officer, I kept speaking.  He in turn placed his hand over my mouth before escorting me to the elevator to take me down into the bowels of the Capitol to be processed.

 I think it is extremely important to question candidates about these uncomfortable topics.  While they may want to tell the assembled about their plan to save Social Security, we must make the point that children are being killed in the Gaza Strip with US weapons, that $20 billion will be wasted to refurbish the nuclear arsenal and that the Pentagon with its colossal waste, fraud and abuse has never passed an audit.  You may be too shy to a be a skunk at a garden party, but you still may be able to encounter a candidate one on one to try to convince him/her that it is wrong to fund death and destruction, especially when social programs are being slashed.  We must not tolerate platitudes in these most difficult times.  We need candidates who recognize the federal budget as a moral document. 

  I suspect David Trone will replace Ben Cardin in 2024.  He has already spent about $5 million on his campaign before the year is out.  To be frank, he will be an improvement over Ben Cardin.  As Cardin told me at a town hall, he believes in a strong defense [sic].  Also the senior senator has been awful with regards to the death and destruction ongoing in the Gaza Strip.  He told Isaac Chotiner who interviewed him in the November 22 New Yorker that humanitarian concerns should not hold up funding for Israel’s war effort.  However, even if Trone is an improvement over Cardin, we must continue to pressure him to speak out against weapons contractors, and the bloated military and nuclear weapons budgets.

Kagiso, Max

Donations can be sent to Max Obuszewski, Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206, Baltimore, MD 21212.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs