To: The United States Senate

Return Democracy and Replace Harry Reid Now

Replace Harry Reid now, as the Senate Majority Leader, with a respected, progressive Democratic Senator who values communication with the American people, is an eloquent orator, and will work tirelessly to uphold the principles of democracy.

Why is this important?

We ask you to take a hard look at what is happening in the United States Senate. We are losing our democracy and the chief responsibility lies with Harry Reid. Senator Reid is the Majority Leader in the U.S. Senate for the Democrats and he not only squandered the wins and mandates of the 2008 election for the Democrats, he has turned democracy itself on it's head, by failing to act effectively on behalf of the majority of Americans who voted in U.S. Senate races.

We are Democrats. In 2008 we worked hard to get Democrats elected to office and we achieved a huge mandate by electing President Obama and strong majorities in the Senate and the House of Representatives. Harry Reid has essentially nullified these wins.

Since 2008 Senate Republicans have used the filibuster to block everything they can. The recent Republican filibusters are at a historic high and have resulted in the Senate being tied in knots. Harry Reid failed to use his bully pulpit to shame this practice from the start, and in January 2011 he failed to tighten the filibuster rules to prevent this overdose. We can blame Republicans all we want, but the truth is; Harry Reid is incompetent as the Senate Majority Leader and he has neglected his responsibility to represent us.

Senator Reid created Super Committees comprised of equal numbers of Republicans to Democrats, again negating the strong mandate of the 2008 elections for Democrats, and negating the majorities we won in 2010. Harry Reid needs to be replaced now; preferably no later than September 2012.

We ask our Democratic Senators to select a colleague who will keep a dialogue with the American people, explaining clearly and concisely what major legislation is being drafted and why it is important. We ask for a respected, progressive Democrat with persuasive speaking skills and a full understanding of how to use the Senate Rules most effectively and in keeping with ideals of representing the will of the people. With the above qualities in mind, we suggest the following U.S. Senators be considered most strongly for this critical position: Sharrod Brown, Richard Durbin, Tom Harkin, Patty Murray, Charles Schumer and Sheldon Whitehouse.

Please sign this petitition and send it to everyone you know that cares about having democracy and transparency in our United States Senate. Ask all Democratic candidates in every office, in private and in public forums to work hard at influencing our Democratic Senators to replace Harry Reid, in leadership, by September 2012.

Mahalo,

Christine Mingo and Michael Janovsky