Open Letter From Mike P

I was the Iowa Democratic Party's nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives, Fifth District, 2000 election. I ran against Tom Latham and received 29%, about 67,000 votes. My platform was anti-war and pro-immigration.

I am writing today to see if there is any interest out there in me running again in the Fifth District.

Briefly, I will be 52 soon. I live in Sheldon. I work for Hope Haven at a group home for disabled adults. I am a novelist. You can find information about my books and my writing here:

http://www.mikepalecek.com
isthisheaven-mike.blogspot.com

[I wrote a novel after the 2000 election, which is based partly on my experiences as a candidate. The book is “Joe Coffee's Revolution.” You can find it on Amazon by searching for my name.]

I am originally from Norfolk, Nebraska. We have lived in Sheldon since 1997. Ruth and I have two children. Ruth works as a dental hygienist in Sioux Center. She is orginally from a farm in southweast South Dakota.

My background, briefly: Wayne State College; Catholic seminary, St. Paul; anti-war protests, civil disobedience, jail and prison terms, for non-violent civil disobedience at Offutt AFB during the 1980s. I spent the '90s in newspaper work, small towns in Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa. The small paper Ruth and I owned in southeast Minnesota was named the newspaper of the year by the MNA in 1994, though we went out of business later that year.

My platform this time around would be much the same. I would be in favor of immediate withdrawal from Iraq. We should never have been there. We were lied to. Bush and Cheney should be impeached. They should be in prison.

I am in favor of open borders. I think that Iowans should welcome Hispanic immigration. I think we should decriminalize immigration. These are poor, good people trying to make a life here for themselves and their children. We are Christians and should take this opportunity to put our religion into practice. It is also a good strategy for growing our commmunities, restoring some tattered main streets.

I am in favor of universal health care, though not an expert on the details by any stretch of the imagination.

The last time I ran I tried to understand farming and the economics of agriculture, but found that it is very difficult. I have questions, such as why do any farmers get subsidies. I am in favor of supporting poor families and individiuals with public money, so I would not be against subsidizing farms in that sense. It would have to be explained to me further.

I do not think that any candidate should be expected to be an expert on every subject, or care equally about every subject or issue. That is just not possible.

I think the Democratic Party could be so much stronger, so much more meaningful if it were just to speak from the heart, rather than trying to tiptoe around. People want to hear us speak from our guts, to stop war, to stand up to Bush, to feel something for the poor.

That was an issue in 2000. People in the district would tell me, you can't say those things in this district, it's too conservative.

I say that doesn't matter. I say that should not be a consideration. Say what is the truth and let the chips fall where they may. That is what a real candidate would do.

I don't have any money or any prospects of getting any money.

When I ran the last time that is how the Des Moines Register and others dismissed me. They equate dollars with being electable. They do not examine the issues, do not deal with right and wrong, with people. All dollars. That is wrong. I don't have a plan to combat that attitude, but I will not fall into the trap of trying to raise massive amounts of money to make me feel good about my campaign.

I know what is right and what is wrong. That makes my campaign credible from the get-go.

Also — the last time, toward the end of the campaign, I endorsed Ralph Nader over Al Gore. Nader was clearly the better candidate. I am loyal to the best person, the best ideas. Al Gore and Bill Clinton had bombed Iraq, continued the sanctions against Iraq for ten years, “reformed” welfare, expanded the federal prison system. There is no way I was in support of that. I do not regret endorsing Nader. I wish he would run again. I think our current Democratic front runners, Clinton and Obama, are far too militaristic. We need strong leadership, someone who would be willing to investigate the Bush involvement in 911, for example. I think what we might expect from either Clinton or Obama is more of the same. We need something far different from that. The people deserve better than that.

Okay, that's enough for now.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you for your time.


Mike Palecek
Sheldon, Iowa