An open letter to CO Sen. Michael Bennet on his support of TPP

Last week, you sent me an impassioned plea for a donation because you are anticipating lots of money coming in from out of state organizations to support your Republican opponent in 2016, whomever that might be.

While this may be true, I cannot in good conscience give you a dime, since you voted to fast track the Trans Pacific Partnership. This odious ‘free trade’ agreement has been kept secret from the American people, and Senators have not even been allowed copies of it or even to take notes. Here in Colorado, we call that a pig in a poke and know that only suckers buy something they haven’t seen and examined.

So, here’s the deal Michael: unless you reverse your position on the TPP, actively and publicly oppose it, what you can count on is that I will be working with other Democrats in Colorado to find a candidate that will represent my interests in the U.S. Senate better than you have, and ‘primary’ you from the left. Because honestly, Michael, I’m TIRED of having the people I elect to supposedly represent my interests get to Washington and instead uphold the interests of big corporations. Make no mistake, Michael, what is good for these corporations is not necessarily good for the people you represent, and TPP is most assuredly NOT good for the people of Colorado.

So, Michael, no matter how much money you think you’ll lose from corporate donors if you don’t support TPP, you stand to lose much more if you continue to ignore the interests of those who elected you.

Lastly, Udall lost in 2014 because he ran such a lame campaign that no one really knew what he stood for. He didn’t really take any positions at all, and the result was that Democrats didn’t turn out, and Colorado’s large independent electorate voted for Gardner instead. Make no mistake, it wasn’t the Koch brothers and their insidious super PACs that led to Udall’s defeat, it was Udall’s seeming refusal to take any definitive positions on anything. Don’t count on having people turn out for you, Michael, just because you’re a Democrat, because it doesn’t work that way. You have to ACT like a Democrat.

Sincerely...