Blue States, Red States, Purple States—The Wellstone Way!

The newsletter of
Wellstone Action
FA L L 2 012
Igniting leadership in people and
power in communities to win change
in the progressive tradition of
Paul and Sheila Wellstone.
Blue States, Red States, Purple
States—The Wellstone Way!
The last few weeks have been among the most inspiring I’ve had in
the 15 years I’ve been doing this work. We have just experienced a set
of movement moments that should be tipping points in our country’s
history. I want my kids to grow up in a state and country where everybody’s in, nobody’s out, no exceptions. And today, we’re a giant step
closer to making that a reality.
Every single one of you contributed to these historic victories.
Through your steady support, Wellstone Action helped deliver victory
after victory for social justice across the country, in blue states, red
states, purple states—25 states in total, in fact. Here are just a few of
the ways we won, the Wellstone Way:
• In New Hampshire, we won back the House. And we didn’t just
win—we flipped from having 102 seats to 222 seats—a 120-seat
gain—and 31 of these winners are Wellstone Action alums!
• In Minnesota, we won back both the House and Senate, with 40 of
our alumni taking office. And we defeated two ballot measures that
would have limited the freedom to marry and vote. Several senior
staff on the Minnesotans United for All Families campaign, including
campaign manager Richard Carlbom, were trained by Wellstone
Action. And in addition to training the entire field staff and volunteer
leaders, several of our own staff (including me) took leaves to help
drive the campaign into the home stretch. And we won. After more
(see page 3)
Left: Jie Wronski-Riley and Nora Whalen celebrate Paul and Sheila's legacy.
Right: Connie Lewis delivers remarks to remember and honor Tom Lapic,
Mary McEvoy, Will McLaughlin, and Marcia Wellstone Markuson. PHOTOS © ERIN SMITH
Hundreds Gather to Honor
Paul, Sheila, Marcia, Mary,
Tom, and Will
More than 700 people came
together on October 10th to honor,
remember, and celebrate Paul and Sheila
Wellstone, their daughter, Marcia, and
campaign staff members Tom Lapic,
Mary McEvoy, and Will McLaughlin.
While the room was often somber, this
gathering was truly a celebration of the
courage and conviction in which Paul
and Sheila lived their lives, and an event
to honor those who carry forward the
Wellstone Legacy today.
Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton
offered the keynote address, sharing a
vibrant, boisterous memory of the first
time he met Paul—a vibrant, boisterous
Paul!—when he was running for State
Auditor. Paul and Sheila’s children, Dave
Wellstone and Mark Wellstone, each
provided a tribute to their parents and
their sister, reminding the crowd of one
of Paul’s most beloved sayings: “never
separate the life you live from the words
you speak.”
The drum group, Hoka Hey,
offered an honor song to those we lost.
Peggy Flanagan, Wellstone Action’s
Director of External Affairs, shared her
experience of how interning at the
Wellstone campaign office set her life
in motion—one where she proudly
spends each day fighting for social
justice. (Peggy became the first Native
American, and the youngest member
ever, to serve on the Minneapolis
School Board).
Connie Lewis, a Wellstone Action
Board Member and former Minnesota
State Director for Paul, took the stage
(see back page)
Ten Years Later, A Return to Eveleth
It was the first snowfall of the season.
Hundreds of people had told us they were
coming, but it was the first snowfall in a rural
and remote northern Minnesota town, and we just
didn’t know what to expect.
Well, almost 300 people did come—braving the
slush and wind to stand with us at the Wellstone
Memorial and Historic Site
near Eveleth, Minnesota, the
site of the crash that took
Paul, Sheila, Marcia, Mary,
Hundreds traveled through
the year's first snowfall to
join hands in tribute on the
10th anniversary of the
plane crash.
Tom, and Will ten years ago. And as our tribute
began, the snow slowed, bringing soft, fat flakes
down around us.
The event was filled with heart-swelling stories
from many people on the Range who loved Paul
and Sheila, including: Lisa Radosevich-Craig, who
directed Paul’s northern Minnesota office; Todd
Markuson, Marcia Wellstone’s husband; Gabe
Brisbois, one of Paul’s dearest friends; George
Sundstrom, a long-time labor leader who fought
alongside Paul to protect miners and their families;
St. Louis County Commissioner Steve O’Neil,
who still fights for social justice and peace in
Paul’s name; and Jerry Fallos, who broke our
hearts with a story of how Paul wrote a personal
check when the LTV mine was shut down, so
(see next page)
PHOTO © ZACHARY NELSON
The Iron Range Remembers
with a choking, shattering grief at the news of
Paul’s death, a grief that made him “more a baby
than a man that day.”
There is still much sadness with us. There’s
still disbelief that it’s been 10 years. But alongside
our heartbreak is a hope, a joy, a promise that the
Wellstone legacy lives on today, in the lives of
those who loved them, and in the lives of all of us
who are inspired to do work in Paul and Sheila’s
name. It lives on in Wellstone Action, and in all
of you who continue to fight for what Paul always
taught us—that “politics is not about big money
or power games; politics is about the improvement
of people’s lives.”
PHOTO © ZACHARY NELSON
There’s a culture on the Iron Range, one
you’ll find in many small Minnesota towns, of
fellowship, camaraderie, music, laughter…and
pasta salad. Little sandwich buns, too. And if
you’re on the Range, you’ve gotta know that these
sandwiches are usually filled with porchetta!
The Clinton Town Hall in Iron, Minnesota,
brought all of us in from the snow to share stories
with each other about how Paul and Sheila touched
our lives, and how we all work to remember and
celebrate them still today. After the remembrance
at the memorial site in Eveleth, hundreds of us
gathered to the music of the Roe Family Singers,
who had made a snowy trek from the Twin Cities,
and to Bill Maxwell, from Duluth, to join in
joyous celebration of our warmest memories of
Paul, Sheila, Marcia, Mary, Tom, and Will.
Speaking at the Town Hall was Senator
Al Franken, who delighted the crowd with his
impression of Paul Wellstone ordering breakfast
(“Those Eggs! I Want Those Eggs! Those Eggs Are
FANTASTIC! Give Me Some Of That TOAST!
I LOVE THAT TOAST!”); Senator Amy Klobuchar,
who told us how Paul and Sheila treated absolutely
everyone with dignity and respect, from members
who sat on the other side of the aisle to secretaries
in the front office, to Darrell, who operates the
tram and who Paul warmly greeted by name; and
Senator Tom Harkin, who shared a story he’d never
told anyone before, one of how he was struck
SENATOR AL FRANKEN who holds the seat
once held by Senator Wellstone, remembers
Paul’s commitment to improving people’s lives.
Blue States, Red States, Purple States
• In Maine, we continued the fight for marriage
equality by partnering with Mainers United for
Marriage to move voters and win this campaign.
No state has ever approved same-sex marriage
by popular vote. This is an unprecedented and
heart-bursting victory for Mainers, and for all
of us.
• In Florida, we played a key role in winning a
state that was written off as un-winnable. Not
just for the Presidency (and we tip our hat
to Wellstone Action trainer and Obama for
America—Florida Field Director John Gilbert
for working to deliver that victory), but also by
teaming up with Florida New Majority and the
Florida Immigrant Coalition, along with SEIU,
to engage and mobilize voters, on the ground,
in communities that are often ignored.
• In New York, we took back the State Senate,
with Cecilia Tkaczyk (and two other Wellstone
alums!) poised for victory as a result of our
steadfast partnership with Working Families
Party to create a viable pipeline of progressive
leaders.
• In North Dakota, Wellstone Action trainer
Prairie Rose Seminole and her team at Native
Vote brought a victory for Heidi Heitkamp,
flipping that seat to elect the first female U.S.
Senator in North Dakota’s history.
• In Montana, Washington, New Mexico,
and Arizona, among other states, we teamed
up with Western Native Voice, Western
Organization of Resource Councils, Native
Vote Washington, Native American Voters
Alliance, Rock The Vote, and National
Congress of American Indians, respectively,
to mobilize communities and increase the
power of the Native vote.
The eagles circle
In a ceremony
To guide their kind friends home.
Though our time here is brief,
An ancient truth circles with the eagles:
That spirits never die.
They stay alive
In love, in hope,
Ben Goldfarb
Many of you are familiar with the Martin Luther
King, Jr. quote: “The arc of the moral universe is
long but it bends towards justice.” It’s one I come
back to often, especially when I’m feeling down or
not believing that things are changing in the world
as fast as they should. Turns out that this quote is
a paraphrase of a longer one from Theodore Parker,
a Unitarian minister from the 1850s. It reads:
“I do not pretend to understand the moral
universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches
but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and
complete the figure by the experience of sight;
I can divine it by conscience. And from what I
see, I am sure it bends towards justice.”
Thanks to you, we’re sure, too.
We celebrate these victories, and we continue
this work to bend that arc together, alongside you.
Warmly,
Ben Goldfarb
Ten Years Later, A Return to Eveleth
(from previous page)
workers could buy their children Christmas presents
—making Jerry promise to never tell anyone.
Prairie Rose Seminole offered a song and smudge
to begin the day.
At the entrance to the memorial lies a stone with
the following poem etched in honor and mourning:
PHOTO © ERIK PETERSON
(from page 1)
than 30 straight defeats at the ballot box, this is
a historic first in the fight to stop these freedomlimiting measures and ultimately win marriage
equality.
In eagles’ wings touching the sky,
In people extending hands to one another
To circle like an eagle
And bring everyone home.
Written by LeAnn Littlewolf on the day of the
crash, LeAnn is today a Wellstone Organizing
Fellow, and she read the poem aloud with the
reminder that it belongs to all of us.
The event closed with Ida Rukavina, Ann
Olson, David McLaughlin, Dick Miller, and
twelve-year-old Mika Wudinich stepping forward
to read some of Paul’s words aloud—and Terry
Goodsky offering an honor song, with a swell of
a hand drum, surrounding us in the snow.
Hundreds Gather
PHOTO © ERIN SMITH
(from page 1)
to share her memories of Tom,
Mary, and Will and update us on
their families. Students from
Wellstone Elementary (pictured
below), sang their school song in
tribute. The memorial event closed
with remarks from Daniel Yang,
a Wellstone Organizing Fellow,
who beamed with pride at Paul’s
influence in his life, from their first
meeting, when Daniel was just nine
years old, to today, where Daniel
proudly carries forward the
Wellstone Legacy as a Wellstone
Fellow.
Wellstone Action is grateful to
have been joined by so many of
you in remembering and honoring
our lost friends. We stand prouder
than ever to carry forward Paul
and Sheila’s vision for the next
ten years—and the ten after that!
Tim Gihring and Lucy Lyon are a first for us
—our very first Wellstone love connection! And
it’s a good one, folks. Two people who met at a
Camp Wellstone, one on assignment, one on a
break from graduate school, separated by many
miles and then by many years, only to come back
together again for true love. And to celebrate
this love last summer at our very first Wellstone
Wedding!
Said Tim, “In January 2004, I went to ‘Super
Camp Wellstone’ held at the University of St.
Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, to report on the
event for Minnesota Monthly magazine. Lucy was
there, attending while on a break from graduate
school. She was in the Citizen Activism track, and,
when I needed to select a group to join … well, I
looked around, saw her, and instantly chose her track,” Tim said with a shy grin.
Tim noted, “it was a little more than a year since Paul and Sheila had died,
and like so many others in those early camps, Lucy told me she simply felt
inspired to learn more about what made them work. How could she keep their
success going? And, as a grad student in international peace studies, how could
she apply it to her own work? I had expected to visit the camp for a day, talk to
people, see what it was like, and be done.
But I was fascinated by the enthusiasm of the people attending and I ended
up coming back for the entire camp. When it was over, I contacted Lucy for a
follow-up interview. But she was studying in New York, at Columbia University,
and I had no reason to think I’d see her again. I figured that was that.”
Tim continues, “a few years later, we began seeing each other around
Minneapolis. We had friends in common. And once we figured out where we
had met, the spark returned. Lucy invited me to a dessert party she was holding
that weekend to promote Ranked-Choice Voting. The idea was to vote for your
favorite fresh-baked dessert to understand how Ranked-Choice Voting worked.
She was still involved in progressive politics—and I was charmed.”
After a few months of dating, marriage wasn’t far behind. Lucy and Tim
got married on July 14th, 2012, and have never forgotten how it was Camp
Wellstone that brought them together. As you can see, they even posed with
Paul’s seminal book, Conscience of a Liberal, for their engagement photos!
Said Tim, “on the 10th anniversary of the plane crash that took the lives
of Paul, Sheila, Marcia, and five others, we have thought a lot about that legacy
of progressive activism. Because of how we met, I think Lucy and I will always
respond to that call to activism and public service. We admired each other for
it eight years ago and now it’s an important shared value. Some people are
brought together by friends or the Internet or a night in a bar—we were
brought together by Camp Wellstone.”
Salud to you, Tim and Lucy, from all of us at Wellstone Action!
2446 UNIVERSITY AVE W SUITE 170
ST. PAUL, MN 55114 www.wellstone.org
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PHOTOS © STUDIO LAGUNA
Tim and Lucy—A Wellstone
Wedding Story