Some of you may know me name already. I am Jeff Seemann, and I have decided to take another shot at the US House Of Representatives and I have already announced my campaign for 2006. I’ll once again be running for the seat in Ohio’s 16th District, and my opponent will be Ralph Regula.
In the next couple of weeks, my new campaign website will launch, but the campaign itself will take a big step forward much sooner than that. I’m here today to announce a campaign initiative.
It’s my firm belief that you cannot properly represent your district until you truly understand the problems that many Americans face. Ralph Regula has been in Washington DC for 33 years, and he’s clearly lost touch with the issues that affect his constituents.
How many people never have to worry about affordable health care? How many people never have to worry about whether or not their next paycheck will cover the rising price of gas and if they can afford to heat their home this winter? How many people get to actually VOTE for their own pay raise year after year after year?
My life hasn’t been as easy as Ralph Regula’s, but I know that half of America has it harder than I do. Furthermore, I believe that you cannot represent Americans until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.
So I’m going to start walking in some different pairs of shoes. I want to KNOW what many Americans face every single day, not just hear about them. I will be spending significant amounts of time experiencing the difficulties that many Americans deal with daily.
Starting this Sunday, I will spend 100 hours homeless in Stark County, Ohio. I hope that by surrounding myself in a different atmosphere, I can truly understand how to tackle the important issues that are often overlooked in this modern world.
From Sunday afternoon until late Thursday evening, I’ll disappear into the city. No cell phone, no hot shower in the morning, no evenings with my girlfriend, no money in my pocket, and no Thanksgiving dinner with my family. I believe I need to immerse myself into the life with no cheating. If I want to understand what homelessness is like (and how to confront it legislatively), I need to experience it for myself.
Every day, I will make one phone call so I can check in with one friend. That friend will post my experiences online, and I will personally post a recap at the end of the 100 hours.
I will NOT be notifying the local media of this experience until it is complete. I do not view this as a photo-op or a hot story, and I do not want any reporters looking for me while I’m trying to learn from experience. Also, this is no joke and I am not trying to gain anything from the plight of homelessness, except an understanding of what it takes to survive.
I ran this idea past several people to get their take on it….and it’s been almost unanimously supported. Christy Harvey of the Center For American Progress actually said it “had a Morgan Spurlock feel to it”, which completely flatters me.
When the experience is all over, I will be summarizing who treated me the best, which agencies need to work on their community outreach, and which shelters (if any) can make the best with a little more funding.
And when it’s done, the agency/shelter which most deserves the support will get a check from my campaign for 10% of everything we raise from now until the end of the 100 hours.
When the 100 hours are complete, I believe I will be able to better represent my constituents, having a better understanding of what it’s like to survive on my own. But I won’t have constituents unless I can defeat my out-of-touch opponent, Ralph Regula.
To contribute to my campaign, please donate through ActBlue, or via my blog and PayPal. I would love to be able to send a check for 1,000 dollars to a homeless shelter/agency in Stark County, so I’m setting a goal of 10,000 dollars to raise by Thanksgiving night.
I will be here and at Daily Kos, answering your questions for a while, so now’s the time to sound off about this new plan. Let me know what you think, and ask me anything you want to know about my campaign.
When this is all over, I know I’ll be better equipped to represent Ohio’s 16th District. I’ve never been to a $2,000/plate dinner like Ralph Regula has spent 33 years attending. But in 2 weeks, I’ll be the only one of the two of us who’s spent Thanksgiving with Americans who are truly in need of help.
Jeff Seemann
To contact the campaign, send me an e-mail at jeffseemann at yahoo dot com – when the new webpage is launched, we’ll have a complete list of contact info.
