Alan Grayson vs. the Whigs?

Flickr/<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/60861613@N00/4095488789/">lisby1</a>

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Like Disneyworld and a Tallahassee flea market, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) has quite the knack for attracting nutty characters. I’m specifically talking about Grayson’s campaign for re-election this fall, and the latest challenger to emerge out of the woodwork: a Ocala, Florida, resident named Steve Gerritzen who’s running as the lone candidate for (drumroll) the Whig Party. Yes, those Whigs, the ones who haven’t had much clout in American politics since the 1850s. Apparently, Gerritzen, fed up with Democrats and Republicans, “wants to remake the American education system in the model of that of Iceland, which emphasizes high rates of literacy, early childhood education, and taxpayer-funded collegiate studies,” the Ocala Star-Banner reports.

By day, Gerritzen, 39, is an electronics assembler, and struck a populist tone in what’s presumably his coming-out interview with the Star-Banner. “A lot of people are talking about a revolution, but I’m calling for a revolution through the ballot box,” Gerritzen told the newspaper. “Seventy percent of the people make less than $50,000 a year, and that’s who I want to represent. I care about the people because I am the people. I am the working class.”

In addition to the Whig resurrection, Grayson faces a challenge from the Tea Party’s Peg Dunmire, whom Grayson called one of Sarah Palin’s “undead minions.” So rhetorically gifted is Dunmire, Grayson said, that she deserved a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for “Most Consecutive Cliches.” Dunmire’s website says she want to eliminate most payroll taxes, repeal the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (a landmark reform of financial accounting principles), and ramp up offshore drilling off Florida’s coasts.

Florida’s a bizarre enough state as it is, an off-kilter peninsular republic complete with hanging chads, Katherine Harris, Elian Gonzalez, and on and on. Thanks to Grayson and his cadre of challengers, it’s only getting stranger.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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