Cooney: ‘I’m running for Congress’

By David James

Western Herald

Western Michigan University’s College Democrats meeting played host to a high profile guest Wednesday evening, as six-term Kalamazoo City Commissioner and WMU Associate Professor Don Cooney spoke with the group regarding his unannounced 2010 run for the U.S. House of Representatives.

“I’m running for Congress this year,” Cooney said. “I ran last time, and I came closer than anybody had to [6th District Representative] Fred Upton in 20 years.”

Although Cooney’s 2010 run is yet to be formally announced or filed, he spent the meeting laying out his reasons for a campaign this year, his plans for campaign organization, and why voters should choose him over Rep. Upton, as well as asking students for assistance gathering petitions for ballot access.

Cooney has spent over three decades teaching at WMU’s School of Social Work, and he said that although his plans were not to be such a long-term employee, the university provided him with opportunity and stability.

“I was going to volunteer for the Peace Corps, and my placement fell through,” he said. “So I decided I’d look for a place to teach for a year.

“They offered me a job [at WMU], 34 years ago, so it lasted more than a year.”

Cooney’s campaign will face the difficult prospect of unseating Upton, the incumbent congressman who has served the 6th district for over 20 years.

Cooney acknowledges that his campaign will not be able to generate the financial capital of Upton’s, but vows to make inroads with the voters in other ways.

“People don’t think that we can [win]. The Democratic Party doesn’t think we can,” he said. “[The party] isn’t going to give us any money.

“We’re on our own, but that’s OK with me.”

The clear central message of Cooney’s campaign will be improvements in quality of life for the working class and poor, two groups that he has worked with for his entire life. Cooney spent time as a Catholic priest, working in the anti-war and civil rights movement. He went on to work as a community organizer for nine years in his hometown of Philadelphia.

“My whole life is about working for working people and the poor,” he said. “[On the city commission] we’ve been able to do some things, like pass a living wage policy, try to give more resources to kids, and start a poverty reduction initiative.

“But a lot of problems that we face are much deeper than the city can deal with, and that’s why I want to be a Congressman,” Cooney said.

The WMU College Democrats attending the presentation showed optimism regarding Cooney and expressed excitement about helping the campaign in any way possible going forward.

“Cooney ran a good campaign [in 2008] and unfortunately wasn’t able to win,” said Max Glick, president of the College Dems. “But hopefully this year he’ll be able to build off that past experience.”

Glick went on to highlight that the WMU College Democrats have no plans of slowing down as summer approaches.

“What we have planned for the summer is to go and help out Don Cooney and every Democratic candidate that’s running in this area,” he said. “Come fall of 2010, we’ll be kicking into drive a big push to get students registered to vote and get them involved with campaigns so we can get Democrats elected all over Kalamazoo.”

Cooney is expected to make a formal announcement regarding his potential candidacy next Wednesday at a press conference, but until then he continues to speak with optimism about his chances come next fall.

“I do think that we can do this, and if we do, it will be a huge upset,” he said.

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Posted by heraldstaff on Apr 22 2010. Filed under Breaking, Campus, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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