American Family Voices

By Michael Lux, President, American Family Voices

Dear Friends,

I wanted to write to you, our allies in the progressive blogosphere, to introduce my organization, American Family Voices, to those of you who don’t know us, and tell you about some of our current projects.   AFV was founded in 2000 to help fill the strategic gap created by too many single issue groups that don’t have the flexibility to move quickly to take on key issues and innovative projects as opportunities arise. 

●  We took on the arsenic in the water issue early in Bush’s term, helped blow the issue up into a media firestorm, and forced Bush to back down;

●  We organized a war room on Enron and the corporate responsibility issue, and helped force Bush to sign the Sarbanes/Oxley bill, which is the only major piece of progressive economic legislation signed while Bush has been President;

●  We were the first group after 9-11 to have the guts to run an ad directly attacking Bush, in June of 2002, and helped drive his approval rating down 15 points in little more than a month;

● We were the first group to run an ad against Halliburton’s insider contracts in Iraq, helping to make it a major issue in the 2004 campaign.  

In the 2006 cycle, we have done voter contact and guerilla media projects in over 70 different congressional districts, and our original research produced negative media stories on DeLay, Blunt, Boehner, House Ethics Committee Chairman Hastings, and House Appropriations Chairman Lewis, as well as Ney and Cunningham. 

Besides all these activities, we also do everything we can do help promote and build the progressive media echo chamber.  We played a role in the early discussions of getting Air America going, helped John Podesta launch the Center for American Progress, and helped the Ed Schultz radio show go national.  We’ve been involved in some of the first and most successful political internet videos, including the Will Farrell video that ACT did in 2004. 

We’ve also helped to promote books and movies that advance the progressive cause, and wanted to tell you about 3 new projects we are currently working on that we hope you will take a look at and promote as well if you are interested. 

●          Last Thursday, American Family Voices launched a new campaign called “Who’s Making A Killing?” in coordination with the release of Robert Greenwald’s new film Iraq for Sale.  The film, our campaign, and the many other groups and individuals who have been involved with this issue, delve into the government contracts in Iraq, exposing the hidden truth of rampant profiteering in Iraq through the personal stories of soldiers, whistleblowers, survivors, and families of loved ones lost due to corporate greed.  While the film won’t be released until the beginning of October, we are very excited by the impact it can have.  We encourage you to visit our website, www.americanfamilyvoices.org, to learn more about our “Who’s Making a Killing?” campaign, and for more information on the film. 

●          A new documentary called Al Franken: God Spoke is a window into Al Franken’s experience as a political comedian, activist and observer over the last two years.  The movie will be available later this year, and we will be in touch with you again to let you know how to purchase your own copy.  American Family Voices has been working with Franken on his movie premieres in New York and DC, hosting the receptions following the film screenings with proceeds, benefiting AFV’s work.  The New York event was last Wednesday evening, and was a great success. 

●          Sidney Blumenthal, a former journalist and senior advisor in the Clinton White House has recently released a new book called How Bush Rules: Chronicles of a Radical Regime.   Blumenthal is a regular columnist for the Guardian in London and for Salon.com, and his latest book is a collection of his weekly columns over the last three years.  His latest book details the destruction of our system of checks and balances by the radical Bush administration and their political allies in Congress, and the effects of leaving power in Washington, DC unchecked and unaccountable.  You can buy Blumenthal’s new book through our new store at www.americanfamilyvoices.org/products.

Please take a moment to visit our website to get more info on these and other efforts from American Family Voices.  I always welcome your thoughts and ideas on our work, so please feel free to contact me. 

Best,

Michael Lux

President, American Family Voices