Charlie Brown Launches His Second Campaign

Today my friend Charlie Brown officially kicks off his second campaign to unseat John Doolittle in California's 4th congressional district. He'll be speaking in several places throughout this very large district. I'll be at one or two of them. Another of my retrospective series will be several pieces that I wrote about Charlie's first campaign. Below is the first of them. Written in August 2005 and published a few months later, it describes how we met by chance, and the shared connection to the past we discovered.

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A Soldier of Peace Launches His Campaign
By Thomas Gangale
Petaluma Argus-Courier
Petaluma, California
30 November 2005

In August I attended a Democratic fundraiser in Grass Valley in the hope of getting a few minutes of face time with Art Torres, California Democratic Party chair. Serendipit-ously, I also met Lt. Col. Charles Brown, USAF (Ret.), who was exploring the possibility of challenging the Republican Congressman John Doolittle for the very "red" 4th District, which runs from Roseville to the northeastern corner of California.

After talking to me for a while over some chicken and potato salad, Charlie was called to the podium. During his speech, he mentioned that whenever he is in Washington, DC, he visits the Vietnam Memorial at a time of day when it's quiet. His voice wavered when he spoke the name of the last fatality of the war, who was killed during the rescue of the SS Mayaguez crew, a merchant vessel that the Khmer Rouge had captured in international waters. Charlie had flown a chopper that day in May 1975.

After I had my conversation with Sen. Torres, I tracked down Charlie and said, "You were at Koh Tang Island. Did you know Bob Undorf?"

"Sure. FAC [foward air control] pilot. OV-10 [a small, slow, unarmed, propeller aircraft]."

"Wow! He was my squadron commander! Small world! He turned off the Pentagon on his radio and ran the operation his way."

"Everyone turned off the Pentagon! The F-4s [fighter-bombers] were screwing things up. Undorf took off in his OV-10 on his own authority and got the operation on track." Major Undorf understood that the key to success was to listen to the people who had their butts on the line.

That's a metaphor for the Charles Brown for Congress campaign. Charlie was a life-long Republican, but now he's turned them off. It's no longer the party he first joined, and it's screwing things up. Just like the armchair quarterbacks who were trying to direct the Mayaguez operation from half a world away, the Republican Party is out of touch with what's really going on. So now, Charlie is ready to run the operation his way and get it on track. And, he'll listen to you, the people who have their butts on the line, because you are the key to success. He officially announced his candidacy in October.

Charlie, like so many Boomers, is one of Graham Nash's "Soldiers of Peace." We served in uniform because we believed in our country even when we didn't believe in some of the wars it fought. We former military officers have studied Sun Tzu and understand, "He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight." It was plain to most of us that Iraq was the wrong fight. So it's time for us to bring it home, "now fighting for children, for homes and for wives."

We understand that America will not last much longer as a great military power if we let things rust and rot here at home. The neoconservatives are not true to traditional conservative values. They have mortgaged America to the top of the Capitol dome. Some of our most dangerous economic competitors hold most of that paper, thus the Republicans have recklessly placed our children's future in those foreign hands. The Republicans' decades-long campaign to starve and dumb-down the American public education system is making it impossible for our children to work smarter than our overseas competitors, so they are now forced to work cheaper.

A well-balanced economy is a national security issue. A strong educational system is a national security issue. A secure Social Security system is a national security issue. A healthy work force is a national security issue. A clean environment is a national security issue. A government of integrity -- that isn't in the pocket of war profiteers and energy spot-market gamesters, that doesn't "out" its own intelligence officers, and that doesn't defy the law of civilized nations and alienate its allies -- is a national security issue.

Charlie will tell you that he's no pacifist. There are times when one must fight. But victory lies in knowing when to fight, and Charlie has the experience to make that judgment. He wants to bring our people, including his own son, home from Iraq. "The old warriors don't want you to hurt any more."

Welcome home, Charlie.