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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 29, 2010
Contest Announcement: Name Rodney Glassman’s Campaign RV and Go To Netroots Nation
PHOENIX, Ariz. — U.S. Senate candidate Rodney Glassman is launching an Internet-based contest today for supporters to submit name ideas and then vote on suggested names for the campaign’s new bio-diesel RV.
Submissions will be accepted from supporters through Friday, May 7. Beginning on Monday, May 10, supporters can come back to vote on the finalist submissions through Wednesday, May 20. The nickname with the most votes will be put onto front of the bus (covering the area just above the windshield), and the person who submitted it will travel to Netroots Nation in Las Vegas in July. The winner will be announced by June 1.
Nickname ideas can be submitted at: www.RodneyGlassman.com/rv
Complete contest rules are available at: www.RodneyGlassman.com/rv-rules
Glassman is about to launch a statewide tour in the campaign’s new bio-diesel RV. The campaign will travel in the RV to cities and towns across Arizona.
“I want Arizonans to know that I’m listening to them from day one,” said Glassman, “This contest will allow our supporters to connect with us and give their input even before we make it to their towns and cities.”
“We are truly excited to be traveling to every corner of this beautiful state. We plan to spend as much time as possible out among the people in our bio-diesel RV named by the people of Arizona.”
Although the purpose of the contest is to solicit ideas from Arizona voters, the contest is open to any supporter of Rodney Glassman for U.S. Senate who is a registered voter in the United States.
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April 29, 2010
While McCain and Hayworth are stuck in a bitter race to the right, Rodney keeps looking stronger for November. Polls were released today from Behavioral Research Center (BRC) and Public Policy Polling (PPP) showing that even if McCain beats Hayworth in the primary, McCain will be vulnerable in the general election.
Both polls show less than half of Arizonans favor McCain over Rodney (BRC-46%, PPP-49%). Rodney looks even better against J.D. Hayworth: PPP reports that Rodney would beat Hayworth 42-39, and BRC shows Hayworth only garnering 37% against Rodney. PPP also found only 34% of Arizonans think McCain is doing a good job in the U.S. Senate.
Arizonans are speaking out against McCain’s willingness to throw Americans under the bus in order to get reelected. They’re speaking out against Hayworth’s extremist ideology and hateful rhetoric. Everyday, more Arizonans say Rodney Glassman is the right person to represent Arizona values and advocate for Arizona families in Washington, D.C.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 28, 2010
McCain Defends Wall Street Schemer
PHOENIX, Ariz. — U.S. Senate candidate Rodney Glassman issued the following statement following John McCain’s third vote this week to protect Wall Street:
“For the third time this week, John McCain is defending Wall Street from a crackdown on the high stakes gambling and double-dealing schemes that cost thousands of Arizona families their homes and jobs,” said Glassman. “Wall Street gamblers used taxpayer bailout money to bankroll more risky schemes and lavish themselves with failure-rewarding bonuses while they continue the same schemes and threatening more economic instability for Arizona families. Arizona needs a U.S. Senator who looks out for the interests of Arizonans. Arizonans want to move forward on reforms that ensure that when a banker fails on Wall Street, they don’t cost millions of jobs on Main Street. Instead, McCain is keeping his promise to stop cooperating for the rest of the year, no matter what it costs his country and the people of Arizona.”
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 27, 2010
McCain Stands with Wall Street Donors, against Arizona Families
PHOENIX, Ariz. — Monday, Sen. John McCain stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Wall Street bankers, voting against financial reforms that would hold banks and financial firms accountable, provide consumer protections, and make future Wall Street bailouts unnecessary.
Since 1990, McCain has accepted $13.2 million from special interests, including securities, banks, and financial interests. Now, instead of standing with Arizona families, he is standing with his Wall Street benefactors who swindled America into the worst economic mess since the Great Depression, including Goldman Sachs who is now under investigation for defrauding investors.
“Arizonans need a U.S. Senator who will stand on the side of Main Street and stand up to Wall Street and other powerful special interests,” said U.S. Senate candidate Rodney Glassman, “Arizonans are living in the debris of the last financial bomb set off by high-risk financial foolishness, and the next bomb is ticking because Washington insiders like John McCain refuse to stop the bad behavior that led to financial crisis.”
“The Constitution gives Arizona two senate seats,” Glassman said. “It’s time to take one of those seats back from Wall Street.”
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 23, 2010
Glassman Response to S.B.1070
PHOENIX, Ariz. — U.S. Senate candidate Rodney Glassman released the following response to the passage of S.B.1070:
“This legislation is a rash attempt to score political points. The federal government has failed to secure our border and that must change. John McCain has been in Washington for 28 years and while he has been on all sides of the issue, our immigration problem has gotten worse under his watch.
S.B.1070 is the type of legislation that undermines the trust between law enforcement and neighborhoods that so many have worked so long to achieve. It does nothing to secure the border or stop the violence in our border region. It does nothing to address the reasons so many cross our borders without going through legal channels. This bill is nothing more than an unfunded mandate that shifts the financial burden onto cities and towns already grappling with budget cuts.”
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First John McCain tells NEWSWEEK he’s not a maverick (after his major campaign ad in 2008 was entitled “Maverick”) and will refuse to cooperate with President Obama for the rest of the year. Now McCain is supporting the odious immigration bill that Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is signing into law. This bill is a repudiation of everything McCain has stood for for 25 years. It actually legislates ethnic profiling against the 30 percent of Arizonans who are Hispanic. It allows the police to demand citizenship papers of any brown-skinned person they see and waives the need for a search warrant if police think illegals are inside a house. Of course the bill is actually terrible for police. It turns them into immigration agents who will have much less time to actually catch crooks, not to mention not leaving them any place to put the tens of thousands of illegals they round up.
In the past McCain has tamped down anti-immigrant fever. He showed great leadership in pushing for comprehensive immigration reform. But now that he has a tough primary challenge from former radio-talk-show host and blowhard congressman J. D. Hayworth, he’s willing to deport all of his principles.
It may all be for naught. If McCain manages to win the primary, the Democratic nominee, likely to be Rodney Glassman, former JAG and Tucson city councilor, will get new life and energy from all the Hispanics and Anglos in Arizona who think this bill is disastrous. Glassman already has the money to be competitive in November. The bill scrambles Arizona politics in ways that are impossible to predict, but Glassman should be moved from long shot to a possible Democratic pickup. It would serve McCain right if he sold his soul and lost anyway.
It’s sad that it has come to this. The culprit isn’t McCain but the awful primary system we have in this country. Prop 14 in California, on the ballot in June, would replace the party primaries with a “top two” primary where the top two finishers in the first round square off in November regardless of party. This would take primaries away from extremists in both parties and help restore the center. If Arizona had that system, John McCain would never have had to repudiate everything he spent 25 years building.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 20, 2010
Response to McCain Comments About “Illegals” Intentionally Causing Freeway Accidents
PHOENIX, Ariz. — Arizona candidate for U.S. Senate, Rodney Glassman, issued the following response to comments made on The O’Reilly Factor by Sen. John McCain when asked about racial profiling:
“I’ve been talking with people across Arizona who sit on both sides of the debate, and John McCain is the first person I’ve heard suggest such an epidemic, ” said U.S. Senate candidate Rodney Glassman. “This kind of over-the-top rhetoric does nothing to bring the two sides together to hammer out common sense ways to enforce our laws and save lives.”.
Partial transcript:
O’REILLY: But what about the racial profiling? You know that’s going to happen has to happen.MCCAIN: I hope — I would be very sorry that if some of that happens. And I regret it, but I also regret the — really, it’s not just the murder of Robert Krantz. It’s the people whose homes and property are being violated. It’s the drive-by that — the drivers of cars with illegals in it that are intentionally causing accidents on the freeway. Look, our border is not secured. Our citizens are not safe.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 16, 2010
Neither McCain Nor Hayworth Command Strong Support Among General Electorate
PHOENIX, Ariz. — A poll released by Rasmussen Reports Friday afternoon shows that neither Sen. John McCain (R) nor his opponent, former House member J.D. Hayworth (R), are commanding strong support among general election voters.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Rodney Glassman released the following statement:
“Arizona voters are focused on jobs, public schools and border security. Maybe that’s why neither a four-term senator nor a former six-term congressman who are focused on attacking each other don’t command a strong following among voters,” said U.S. Senate candidate Rodney Glassman, “Arizona voters want someone in Washington who does more listening and less talking.”
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Hoping to benefit from a pitched battle on the Republican side of the aisle, an up-and-coming Democratic office holder in Arizona announced on Tuesday evening that he will formally run for the Senate seat held by John McCain.
Rodney Glassman, a one-time aide to Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), has formally dropped his elected position as Vice-Mayor of Tucson and is making a bid either to unseat McCain or defeat his Republican primary challenger, former Rep. J.D. Hayworth.
In making his bid, Glassman becomes the most serious entrant on the Democratic side of the aisle, and the first certifiable hope for the party to take the seat. But it remains a long shot. Strategists at the party committees have expressed mild interest in the Arizona race, and only because of the hot-tempered primary battle going on between the two Republican candidates.
Should Hayworth pull off the upset, it seems likely that more investments from the national infrastructure would come. McCain presents a more formidable challenge.
That said, Glassman has political appeal that has drawn attention and support in far-reaching circles. Former DNC Chair Howard Dean told the Huffington Post back in February that he was on his radar, mainly because Glassman had restricted donations to his exploratory committee to a scant $20.
“People should pay attention to him in this atmosphere,” Dean said. “If someone is going to run and limit contributions to $20 now and [keep it that low] they can catch on even with the Tea Party crowd, which is big in Arizona.”
Glassman’s personal story, meanwhile, is an almost absurdly weaved-together set of impressive jobs and achievements that make him all the more compelling. In an interview several months ago with the Huffington Post, he promoted himself as having grown up as a “nice Jewish boy in a Scout troop chartered by the Mormon church.”
He hails from California but came to Arizona in 1997. At the age of 23, Glassman started his own non-profit group called the Glassman Foundation, which did charitable work throughout southern Arizona. He volunteered for Grijalva’s congressional campaign in 2002, after which he went to D.C. to be part of the congressman’s legislative staff.
His time in D.C. was limited, as he went back to Arizona to get his PhD in Arid Land resources at the University of Arizona’s college of agriculture. But he kept one foot in politics, holding on to his formal duties on the congressman’s staff. As if that wasn’t enough for his plate, Glassman than pursued a law degree at UofA, during which a spot on the Tucson City Council opened up. Persuaded to run for the post, he left Girjalva’s office and announced his candidacy. That was 2006, his second year of law school.
The actual election took place in 2007 and his admission to the Arizona Bar took place in May 2008. Still, apparently, not internally satisfied, he decided to join the Air Force to become a JAG — a challenge in its own right, but made even harder by the fact that officials told him he had to lose 60 pounds to qualify. He did it. In six months.
It was during JAG training, Glassman says, that he first was approached about the idea of running for the Senate in 2010. A listening tour followed, during which Glassman took only $20 donations for an exploratory committee. In between, he got married. And on Tuesday, he decided he would officially run for the seat held by an Arizona icon.
“What we found is that Arizona is very interested in a U.S. Senator that is focused on Arizona,” the candidate told the Huffington Post a few months back, “We have a U.S. Senator that has spent the majority of his career running for president and who has spent his most recent time in the Senate stonewalling the president but never really focusing on us.”
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 6, 2010
It’s Official: Glassman for U.S. Senate
Rodney Glassman is officially running against John McCain for U.S. Senate
TUCSON, Ariz. — In accordance with Arizona’s resign-to-run law, Rodney Glassman resigned from the Tucson City Council Tuesday night to run against the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate. Glassman’s resignation came hours after the Tucson City Council completed sending its budget recommendations for 2011 to the Tucson City Manager.
“This was a very serious decision for me. As I traveled across Arizona, I heard a resounding message that John McCain has been in Washington so long that he’s become part of the problem,” said Glassman, who has been traveling across Arizona for several months on a listening tour. “The families who call Arizona home want a senator who also calls Arizona home—a senator who will put Arizonans first.”
Glassman will soon make announcements about upcoming events in cities and towns across Arizona, including a formal statewide kick-off tour later this month.
Glassman has earned the support of elected officials, community leaders, labor organizations and activists across Arizona. Thousands of Arizonans have already donated and pledged their support to Glassman.
“I am honored and humbled that so many Arizonans are asking me to run against a Washington, D.C. fixture like John McCain,” said Glassman, “Arizona is my home. I love the city of Tucson where my wife Sasha and I will raise our family. I will bring Arizona values to the DC beltway.”
Glassman’s labor endorsements include:
* American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 2384
* Arizona State Council of International Machinist and Aerospace Workers
* Communication Workers of America Local 7000
* International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 570
* International Union of Operating Engineers Local 428 Arizona
* Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 469 (Arizona statewide)
* Sheet Metal Workers Local 359 of Arizona
* Statewide Teamsters Local 104
* United Association Road Sprinkler Fitter’s Local 669
* United Transportation Union
Arizona’s leaders and activists are standing behind Glassman’s run for U.S. Senate:
“Having served in the House of Representatives for four terms, it would be nice to finally have an Arizona Senator that is willing to work with our entire Congressional delegation regardless of party affiliation,” said Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.). “Rodney has a unique desire and ability to work with everyone and provide everyone with equal set at the table.”
“Rodney Glassman has been a strong business advocate during his time with the Tucson City Council. He understands the needs of the business community and has always been willing to discuss our issues and be sensitive to them,” said Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce President Jack Camper.
“Arizona needs someone representing us who has the interests of our state, not Washington, D.C. bureaucrats, in mind. We need someone approachable and involved in Arizona,” said Arizona Sen. Paula Aboud (D-Tucson). “We need someone who doesn’t need a GPS to find his way around Arizona. Rodney Glassman knows his way around our state and he’s working for us.”
“Rodney is going to surprise a lot of people who don’t know him. Those of us who are in Arizona know him. He’s our guy. He’s the guy we want in this race,” said Phoenix Vice Mayor Michael Nowakowski.
“Rodney has already proven to Southern Arizonans that he will stand up for us against lobbyists. Unlike McCain who stands up for people who already have money and power, Rodney will continue to stand up for Arizonans in the U.S. Senate,” said Gila County Supervisor Shirley Dawson.
“It is refreshing to see an elected official who is enthusiastic about trying new approaches to solve old problems. And, Rodney really means it when he says he wants to take a bipartisan approach to policy-making. His track record proves it. Isn’t it about time we saw that from Arizona senators?” said Mesa City Councilman Dennis Kavanaugh.
“It’s time Arizona got a Senator with integrity, honesty, and a real concern about the economic future of the state. Rodney Glassman is that man,” said Cottonwood City Councilmember Darold Smith.
“Rodney Glassman is the breath of fresh air we have been waiting for. It’s time we have a Senator who will represent us, who will stand with us, and who is not only looking out for his own interests. Rodney has the ability to cross party lines and work well with others, something that is critical and not easy to come by among Politicians,” said Wellton City Councilmember Alex Bejarano.
“Rodney Glassman’s enthusiasm for the exciting race ahead will help energize Democrats in Arizona. We’re eager for fresh and insightful leadership in Washington, and he brings many talents to the campaign that will inspire the base and open-minded voters.” said Mark Manoil, former Maricopa County Democratic Party Chair. “It’s about time we elected an excellent senator. Arizonans have proven that they can make bold decisions when given the choice: Goldwater in ’52 and DeConcini in ’76. We’ll add “Glassman in ’10″ to that list.”
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Rodney Glassman is Tucson’s former vice mayor, a former small businessman and a community fundraiser who has raised more than $1 million for children’s charities. He also serves as a U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps Reserve Officer. He is the first ever Democratic challenger to John McCain to have thousands of donors, to be an elected official, to be endorsed by dozens of elected officials, and to have the full slate of statewide candidate endorsements.
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