Dingell and Stabenow also attend reception
By John Minnis
Legal News
Elizabeth Warren — the former Harvard law professor turned consumer activist turned U.S. senator — made an appearance in Michigan recently, stumping on behalf of U.S. Senate candidate Gary Peters, the U.S. congressman from Oakland County who is seeking to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Carl Levin, the longtime Democratic senator from Michigan.
The outspoken Warren, who grew up in Oklahoma on the “ragged edge” of the middle class, has become a top Democratic fundraiser and campaigner on behalf of candidates in key races needed to keep control of the U.S. Senate in November. Besides coming to Michigan, the Massachusetts Democrat has stumped for candidates in Ohio, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, Kentucky and West Virginia.
On Friday, July 18, Warren spoke to a large crowd of supporters at the $100-a-ticket VIP reception and rally at the MGM Grand Detroit on behalf of Peters.
“It is for me truly remarkable to be standing here talking to you,” said Warren, explaining that she grew up in the 1960s in a family that had “a lot of ups and downs.” Her father worked for minimum wage as a janitor. Her dream even from a young girl was to be a teacher, but there was no way her family could send her to college. Instead, she began her education at a community college.
“I am the daughter of a janitor who ended in the United States Senate,” she said. “This is a great country! I grew in an America that invested in its children.”
She also grew up in an America, Warren added, that invested in its roads, telephone and electrical grids and medical research, to name a few.
“They came together not only to put a cop on the beat on Main Street but also on Wall Street,” she said. “Then the Republicans turned in a very bad direction. They are no longer there for children, for the unemployed. They are turning this country into a ‘we’ve got ours, the rest of you are on your own.’”
Warren explained how when she had an idea for this “little agency” — the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which she conceived and championed but was never allowed to head — the financial interests spent $1 million a day for more than a year fighting it. The financial reform bill finally did pass, thanks in large part to Peters’ support in the House.
“That’s when I learned Gary Peters was a fighter,” Warren said. “Gary is ready to go to Washington and fight for Michigan families.”
“That little agency,” she said, “has only been up and running for three years now, and that little agency has forced those big financial institutions to return $4 billion back to families.”
Warren chided Senate Republicans for voting against equal pay for equal work, and blasted the Supreme Court of the United States. “Five Republican judges on the Supreme Court,” she said, “ruled a woman does not have a right to free access to birth control. She (Republican U.S. Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land, Peters’ opponent) represents just one more vote to appoint more anti-women justices on the Supreme Court. Gary is a fighter and that’s what we need in the U.S. Senate.”
Warren concluded by pointing to the millions being spent by the Koch brothers on Land’s candidacy for the U.S. Senate.
“They are going to spend all it takes to win this seat,” she said. “We have to do what it takes to stand up for Gary Peters. They’re betting against you. They’re betting they can stand up to you. … Gary Peters is betting on you. Debbie (Dingell), Debbie (Stabenow), Gary and I bet that you will care.”
“I am extremely humbled to be running for a seat so ably held by Carl Levin,” said Peters. “He are represented the best of public service. I’m committed to honoring that incredible legacy. When I go, I’m looking forward to working with another Senate great, Elizabeth Warren.”
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