News & Events
Nurses Use the Airwaves, Billboards to tell Upton and Camp to Listen to Constituents
11.01.2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011
Contact: Dawn Kettinger (517) 614-6810, dawn@progressmichigan.org
Nurses Use the Airwaves, Billboards to Tell Camp and Upton to Listen to Constituents
Supercommittee members have not responded to requests for public town halls
LANSING – As supercommittee members U.S. Representatives Dave Camp of Midland and Fred Upton of St. Joseph continue to deny residents the chance to express their concerns at public town halls, Michigan nurses are taking to the airwaves and billboards to call on them to choose Main Street over Wall Street.
“With so much at stake for everyone in our country, it is wrong that Michigan’s members of the supercommittee are only listening to Wall Street corporations and special interests,” said Jeff Breslin, a registered nurse and President of the Michigan Nurses Association. “Our Congressmen need to listen to Michigan families who want to tell them firsthand that cutting Medicare and Social Security will only hurt our communities more. Congressmen Camp and Upton should be supporting a financial transaction tax to help avoid cuts to essential services, instead of letting Wall Street and the wealthy off the hook again and again in exchange for campaign donations.”
The radio ads and billboards that urge the public to demand town halls from Camp and Upton start Wednesday and are available at fightformainstreet.org/press-materials/. They are being used in Camp’s district (the 4th Congressional District), Upton’s district (the 6th Congressional District), and the Lansing media market.
Neither Upton nor Camp, two of the 12 members of the supercommittee charged with recommending how to cut the nation’s $1.2 trillion deficit by Nov. 23, has held a town hall in their district to get public input on the topic since being appointed Aug. 10. Neither has responded to the Michigan Nurses Association’s letters requesting that they hold a public town hall.
However, both Camp and Upton have collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from Wall Street corporations and special interests(1), including many that have a stake in the supercommittee’s decisions. Camp is also Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, which handles tax policy; he wants to reduce the maximum tax on corporations and the wealthy.
Camp and Upton have also failed to respond to the Michigan Nurses Association’s request to support their Main Street Contract for the American People. The campaign, conducted in coordination with National Nurses United, supports priorities such as jobs at living wages; guaranteed health care for all; a secure retirement, with the ability to retire in dignity; and a just taxation system where corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share. A minuscule tax on Wall Street transactions – a financial transaction tax, already used in more than 40 countries – would raise billions of dollars to pay for these priorities and help heal the damage that corporate greed and wrongdoing has inflicted on our communities.
“My fellow nurses and I see the suffering that our patients are going through due to actions of big corporations and Wall Street that helped ruin our economy – suffering far beyond what we can fix at the bedside,” said Emily Fredericksen, a registered nurse and Upton constituent who lives in Kalamazoo and works at Borgess Medical Center. “If Congressman Upton is serious about solving problems like unemployment and foreclosures that plague Michigan, he needs to take time to listen to his constituents like me and my neighbors. I don't begrudge corporations their riches, but they should spend their profits on hiring people instead of purchasing votes from politicians. The voice of every individual should count and be heard, whether they can pay for it or not!”
In addition to the radio ads, billboards and an aggressive social media campaign, the nurses are sponsoring a petition drive at www.fightformainstreet.org to call on Camp and Upton to hold town halls.
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The Michigan Nurses Association, www.minurses.org, represents 10,000 registered nurses across the state, advocating for them and their patients. Visit fightformainstreet.org for more information on their Michigan Main Street Campaign.
