Above: Virginia Gubernatorial Candidate Creigh Deeds speaks
to the Ethiopian community at Meaza Restaurant in Arlington,
Virginia, on Saturday, October 17th, 2009.
(Photo by Matt Andrea/EA4C).
Source: Ethiopian Americans for Change
Monday, 19 October 2009
Ethiopian-Americans for Change (EA4C) officially endorses Gubernatorial Candidate Creigh Deeds, Leiutentant Gubernatorial Candidate Jody Wagner, and State Delegate Candidate Charniele Herring.
EA4C is a non-partisan organization dedicated to mobilizing the vast Ethiopian-American community in order to get more engaged in the United States political process and to value the significance of one vote.
A month ago, EA4C sent out personal invitations to both the Republican ticket and the Democratic ticket and asked both parties to come out and speak to the Ethiopian community. The Republican ticket was not able to attend due to scheduling conflict. The Democratic ticket accepted our invitation enthusiastically.
Thus, on Saturday, October 17th, Creigh Deeds along with Chair of the Democratic National Committee and current Governor Tim Kaine, a representative from Jim Moran’s office, Jody Wagner, and Charniele Herring all came out to speak to the Ethiopian community and to ask for their vote.
Each candidate spoke for 10 minutes and then a questions and answer session was held where individuals were able to ask tough questions. At the conclusion of the event, EA4C conducted a phone text poll where those in the audience and those who were asking questions through EA4C.org were asked to vote for their preferred candidate. 100% of the vote came in for Deeds, Wagner, and Herring.
Thus, as a consequence of that vote, EA4C officially endorses the Democratic ticket. We endorse Criegh Deeds to be the next Governor of Virginia, we endorse Jody Wagner to be the next Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, and we endorse Charnel Herring to be the next State Delegate representing Alexandria.
With over 14,000 registered Ethiopian-American voters in the 8th Congressional District (Alexandria) alone, EA4C believes that the Ethiopian community can have a DECISIVE impact on the outcome of the November 3rd vote. There are over 80,000 Ethiopians who live in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in a deeply purple state where elections are often won by less than the margin of error, the Ethiopian vote is one that has emerged as a potentially vital voting bloc.
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Learn more about Ethiopian-Americans for Change at EA4C.org or email info@ea4c.org.
Related:
First Read: The day in politics by NBC
In advance of President Obama campaigning for Creigh Deeds next week in Virginia’s upcoming gubernatorial contest, Team Deeds has just announced that Bill Clinton — along with Terry McAuliffe, whom Deeds defeated in the Dem primary — will stump for Deeds tomorrow in Northern Virginia.
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/10/19/2102728.aspx
Good Choice! Being a native Virginian (Portsmouth)I think Creigh Deeds is a good man and has been a good legislator for the state. I particularly like his position on giving tax credits to businesses that produce green jobs.
Women are a great asset to our society. Bob Mcdonnell believes that working women are a detriment to our society. Bob Mcdonnell represents the good old boy network. Vote for Deeds he will be good for Virginia.
This Saturday I was privileged enough to meet the candidates at their work. Indeed, Ethiopian-Americans have the responsibility to advance their future and the future of their children! Virginians get up and make the difference, electing Obama in the office is not enough. As Deeds said “Many want our President to fail” and that also means putting our future at risk. How unfortunate but it doesn’t mean that “those” people will succeed! November 3rd, go out and VOTE for a future that is much better than it seems today!EA4C you are doing great work, thank you !
Deed’s deeds are good indeed.
I ain’t no from VA but based of names, i’d vote for Mr. Deed unless he’s a democrat.
A. Who Exactly is Mr. Deed?
B. How many people participated in the poll?
C. Why is the result similar to the Elections in Ethiopia? How can one candidate receive 100% of the vote. That is impossible to happen in true democracy?
D. How can I participate with this organization, pay my dues and express my independent concern?
Ke akbrot gar
VA Observer (Tazabi)
In response to Tazibi the observer
A) Mr. Deeds is a candidate for Governor who took it upon himself to show up to an event where he was invited to speak in front of the Ethiopian community. If you go to his website or go to various new publications, you can find out a lot about Mr. Deeds.
B) 37 people voted via text message from the “Meet the Candidates” forum.
C) Mr. Deeds received 100% of the election because he took enough initiative and care to show up to speak to the Ethiopian community. EA4C marketed the “Meet the Candidates” forum for over two weeks. If you wanted to vote differently, you could have attended the event. Do not blame your voter apathy and lack of effort as a sign of duplicity on the part of the organizers or as a sign of simplicity on the part of the Ethiopian community. We vote for those who ask for our votes, Mr. Deeds asked for our vote, the Republican candidate did not. And yes, this is possible in a true democracy, we vote for those who extend themselves and reach out to our community.
D) You can participate in EA4C by emailing info@ea4c.org. However, if you are not happy with what EA4C has done to this point, may I humbly suggest you start your own organization where you can express your own independent concern.
Thank you Tazabi, you are doing a great job at observing. I hope you start acting.
Why you get upset? Relax lady or gentleman of EA4C…This is not Joe Willson. I am just asking questions, not heckling. BTW, I am Ethiopian American and a registered Republican since 1996 and a resident of Virginia. The only time I voted for a Democrat was for Barack Obama and he is the only Democrat that I will ever vote again. So hope you understand my independent concern. I am not joking when I said your results of 100% for one person smell like Ethiopia style voting. Ok, I see your point, only 37 people voted so it makes sense that all voted the same. The number I had in my head was 14,000.
Eheme hone ya, good luck!
VA Observer (Tazabi)
Tazabi
I think the lady or the gentlman from EA4C had every right to be upset. Before you knew teh outcome, you already made up your mind that the election was rigd. In other words, you ASSumed. It sounds to me that you are exactly what you said you are not a heckler. These young people are out here trying to do somthing positive and instead of congratulating them or offering help your first thought was to kncok them. you are not an independent thinker you are a nuisance who has nothing better to do than to break apart positive people. I think the person from EA4C had it right, maybe you should get off your butt and do somethign instead of being a negative voice. Maybe next time you should go vote to change the results from 100% to 98%, either way take action or shut up please, we need more voices like EA4C and less heckling from you. What an excellent name you chose for yourself, Tazabi indeed!
Eheme hone ya, good luck to you
EA4C, please keep doing what you are doing, you will keep running into negative souls like “Tazabi” dont let that discourage you from what you are doing, we need you more than you know!
Fassil
Republican Bob McDonnell is leading Democrat Creigh Deeds by nearly double digits, so unlike the Republican candidate, who snubbed EA4C, Deeds needs all the endorsement that he can get. Because the Republican base is a lot more fired up right now than Democrats are in Virginia. Having said that, as a woman, and given the Republican candidate’s past views on the female gender (calling working women and feminists “detrimental to the family” in his disturbing 1989 master’s thesis), I still think Deeds is a better choice, although he is headed for certain defeat. I did not participate in this poll, but I would have voted for Deeds as well.
Keep up the good work!
Monica Shewa
Falls Church, Virginia
I am almost thinking to ask for apology. what a bunch of cry babies. I assume again you’ll democrats. As a republican I take everything Democrats do with a grain of salt. As an Abesha, I question the process of the vote. Where is my vote? How come mine is not included in the vote even when I am living in Alexandria? That is not right. I never heard about EA4C before? Where did you come from? Where did the 100% vote come from? Secondly, there is something you should know about me. I am moderate in my views. I am pro-abortion, anti-gun, Pro-health care reform, tough foreign policy (cut-off aid and place embargo on Ethiopian officials from international travel until Birtukan is free), send more troops to Pakistan and get the hell out of Afghanistan. I can go on and on. My message is simple. Respect me because I am a potential vote for you. And my vote ain’t free. You have to earn it. Don’t say Ethiopian Americans because I am Ethiopian American and my vote is not counted. That’s why I say “Ethiopia style voting”. I guess we maybe out of Ethiopia, but Ethiopia is not out of us.
Ke akbrot gar
VA Observer (Tazabi)
Tazabi you unfortunately are the typical in our community who do nothing but metazeb and meferede (criticize and judge). There is nothing wrong with disagreeing but the organizers of EA4c sent out numerous email invitations, put out fliers at various ethiopian owned stores, cafes, restaurants, post on facebook etc and also opened up their website to take questions. The endorsement was not done in secret in some dark closed back room. So if you had differing views and vote, you should have come out and voiced your opinion, asked questions and vote. If you could not bring yourself to come out and hear a democrat, then I suggest you start a republican ethiopian non-profit organization and make it happen instead of sitting and metazeb. Atetazeb, get involved and make a difference.
The 37 people who showed up, showed up in a rainy cold Saturday because they realized that this is a critical election and understood the role they can play in making a better lives for themselves, family, community, state, country and the world.
Alexandria, VA
Tazabi,
Are you learning challenged? The 100% vote has been already explained.
Tazabi,
Weeehye, you call yourself an ethiopian man? you are an embarrasment!! You are right, you are owed an apology, we are all sorry that you claim to be an ethiopian-american. how many times does it have to be explained to you that you had a choice to go out and vote and seeing that the vote took place in your own backyard it was your own lazy azz that prevented you from having your vote counted. get a backbone, take some initiative, and do something besides complaining. no one cares about your political positions if you don’t vote!
Springfield, VA
I agree with Tazabi.
1. You invited both republican and democratic party and the republican party couldn’t make it because of scheduling conflict so that automatically disqualifies them of getting your potential vote?
2. You were able to get the candidates from democratic party to speak for about 10 min(15min tops) so just because they showed up without giving a chance to the other party how can you make up a decision?
3. You said “Mr. Deeds received 100% of the election because he took enough initiative and care to show up to speak to the Ethiopian community”. Let me ask you something, so what does that have to do with what Creed and Mcdonnel promises to do? What do they stand for?
4. Why did you get so offended with Tazabi’s concerned question? I wish I didn’t read your response.
Look I can go on and on but looks to me I’ll probably get same offensive responses.
Frehiwot.
Come on ppl. You guys are making much ado about nothing. There is no need for tempers to flare and for all these insults. Tazabi could have used better choice of words, but he is asking legitimate questions. And EA4C is doing commendable work organizing their community the way they know how. The EA4C person could also have used better words, better judgment and remained calm in his or her answers. Representing a community is a tall order. Wise and reassuring words are the cornerstone of leadership, not insults. But at the end of the day, we all benefit from the work of organizations like EA4C and inputs and opinion of ppl like Tazabi. Let’s learn and move on.
From Sunny Cali!
I think this is healthy debate. It shows that we are growing as a community. I would like to give a standing ovation to the young men and women of EA4C for giving us something to talk about! In my personal opinion (and you can disagree with me on this) the Republican party is no good for minority groups like Ethiopian Americans. It is not very friendly to African Americans, Latinos, Asians and all other Americans. Don’t be fooled by the puppet Michael Steel, the token black face of the Republican Party. The democrats, on the other hand, are all inclusive. Look, they nominated and elected the first African American President. For all I know, EA4C might as well be an extension of the community outreach by the national Democratic party. I would not be surprised. In conclusion, Deeds is a better choice!
All,
On behalf of Ethiopian-Americans for Change, if the previous email came across as lecturing or demeaning, let me apologize for the organization as a whole. We understand your concern, and while we are not a perfect organization, we will always strive to do what is right by you.
Along the way, we will make mistakes. Blame those mistakes not on willful intent but on growing pains associated with a new organization. To clarify one point, it is not our position to choose for the community. We will provide a platform where the community gets to come out and make an informed decision. If everyone at the event had voted for the Republican, the outcome would not have been the same.
We will try our level best to keep reaching out and include the voice of the community in any decision that EA4C makes. We have an aggressive marketing team that includes but not limited to an email service, phone-calls, radio presence, facebook, twitter, youtube, Ethiopian and non Ethiopian newspapers, weekly press releases, and more. We are trying our hardest to include everyone, which is our aim, to have an organization that serves the community and an organization that is powered by the community.
One point of clarification, we are an independent organization. We are not funded by any outside organizations, which includes the Democratic Party, any political party (domestic or abroad), nor are we a part of any political party’s outreach effort. We are an independent organization. Going forward, we will always reach out to any and every party, and those that accept our invitation will have a platform to speak to the community. We cannot be blamed for not affording someone a platform when we our open invitations are turned down.
If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact us at info@ea4c.org. Again, thank you for your time, and we look forward to you joining us in an event we will be hosting soon that aims to empower our community and organize our collective voices.
Ameseginalew,
Teddy Fikre
Organizer
Ethiopian-Americans for Change
teddy.fikre@ea4c.org
EA4C.org
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so what is the purpose of freedom of blogging and voicing opinion if Tadias’s crew edits comment? How come you guys didn’t edit EA4C’s bashing response? I understand your responsibility, but it’s not totally right to edit a post. just a thought.
Finally!!! “We will provide a platform where the community gets to come out and make an informed decision. If everyone at the event had voted for the Republican, the outcome would not have been the same.”
Thank you. See, I am not that difficult to please after all.
Ke Akbrot gar
VA Observer (Tazabi)
p.s. Woy-gud – no, I am not learning impaired, you idiot. Your handle is funny though. I will give you that much.