And finally, I want to profile one of the losers in the election. Her name is Janie Baker Clarke and she was running as a Democrat for State Auditor of Alabama. I came across her after a reader wrote me about her. I checked out her Web site and am including this excerpt which I hope she doesn’t mind me doing.
From the candidate--“I’ve never been able to raise funds,” Clarke laughed. “When I was a little girl, when it came Girl Scout cookie time, my daddy had to buy all my cookies. I hate asking people for money. I’m conservative in that I know about saving money. I was a single mom (after her husband died) raising two little boys, going to law school at night. I didn’t have money for a gallon of milk at the end of the month. It was either a gallon of milk or a gallon of gas,” Clarke said. “I’m personally frugal and I’ll take that to the auditor’s office.”
Those same experiences helped shape Clarke’s liberal social values. “I am not conservative when it comes to social services, the entitlement of working people — people that are in the shape I was at 35 — who are struggling for health care, good education for their children, the opportunity to go to college, those things,” Clarke said. “There’s money shining everywhere (in Huntsville and Decatur). I think sometimes we forget that there are people who are absolutely poverty stricken in our state. I’ll be honored to serve,” Clarke said, “or I’ll be happy to go home, keep the grandkids and do my yard work.”
Oh how I wish Janie had won! We need people like her who have struggled with life to really understand these issues. These are the real issues. Good jobs, not just any job. Education that offers a chance to be better. Do you realize how many Americans no longer believe that the American Dream is obtainable? Health care. Have you ever lost a job and worried about what you would do if you got really sick? Career politicians have lost touch with reality. They have for the most part not had to struggle, or if they have, they have forgotten what it was like.
Janie didn’t. I admire you for your values and honesty. We need more candidates like her. The state would be a better place.
4 comments:
Thanks for posting such a wonderful tribute, Sheila. I'm sending a link to this to Mrs. Clarke.
Don,
I was truly impressed with her. Just think if she had had some money to reach the public. That's what so frustrating to me. I know there must be a better crop of people who could be running, but they are locked out because of money for their messages.
I thank you for pointing me in her direction. Thanks for the AP links too.
Dang it. I wish I could edit stuff after I write it especially when I don't proof properly. It should be "what's" instead of what. Duh!
Sheila! You used the "L" word! Now she will never be able to run for anything, even for dog-catcher!
I, too, am too liberal for Alabama. Now, I've said it!
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