10-year remembrances to be held for Paul, Sheila Wellstone

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

Hard to believe we're coming up on a decade since that sad day...

October 25 is the 10th anniversary of the plane crash that took the lives of U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, his wife Sheila Wellstone, their daughter Marcia Wellstone Markuson and Wellstone campaign staffers Tom Lapic, Mary McEvoy and Will McLaughlin. This fall, three remembrance events are planned to honor their lives and remember their legacy.

On Wednesday, October 10, a remembrance for Paul and Sheila Wellstone will be held at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, wheresupporters, colleagues, family and friends will gather to remember the Wellstones, celebrate their lives and honor their legacies. Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton will deliver the keynote address.

(...)

The events are being organized by Wellstone Action, which was founded by Paul and Sheila Wellstone’s two surviving sons, David and Mark, with members of Senator Wellstone’s campaign staff, in order to continue the Wellstones’ work to bring back a politics that is about improving people’s lives. Today, Wellstone Action is the largest training center for progressives in the nation, teaching practical skills to candidates, campaign workers, and organizers to win progressive change through politics or issue advocacy. Since its founding in 2003, Wellstone Action has trained 55,000 alumni, partnered with 350 organizations nationwide, seen 500 of its progressive candidates elected to office and supported 3,000 winning campaigns.

For the 10th anniversary, the Wellstone Action website has been redesigned to honor the life and legacy of Paul and Sheila Wellstone. The site includes a space for friends, supporters and colleagues of Paul and Sheila Wellstone to write tributes in their memory. The website also features an extensive archive including biographies, speeches, news articles and other information on the Wellstones’ legacy.

http://www.echopress.com/event/article/id/98105/group/News/

[tjdee]

1. I think of him often actually.

I didn't follow him too much until the months before his death, and what a tragedy. Glad to see others remember he and his wife as well.

[AtomicKitten]

2. Paul was the epitome of what a public servant should be.

He is missed.

[jsr]

3. Tremendous loss.

[Bjorn Against]

4. I was just in his hometown of Northfield, MN today

As I was driving through the town I saw a march to end hunger so I pulled over and stopped the car to join it. I definitely thought of Wellstone's legacy and I could tell I was not the only one thinking about it. I got such positive energy from the town that I am actually considering moving down there.

[Zoeisright]

13. That's where I live!

My husband was at a gathering with Senator Wellstone the Sunday before he died. I'll never ever forget that day.

[Bjorn Against]

14. Awesome, we might be neighbors someday

I am currently living about 30 miles north in Inver Grove Heights so I am not too far away, but I am sick of the suburbs and I want change. I had been thinking of moving into the city for several years, but when I visited Northfield today I was really impressed and I thought it seemed like a place that I would fit in well. I like the combination of small town atmosphere and left leaning politics, it seemed very laid back yet at the same time showed signs that there may be a lot of potential for organizing citizen activism. I am going to watch for job openings in the area, I would really love to work for Carlton College but I am open to other things as well. If I can find a job down there I am going to move.

[Odin2005]

5. He was my senator.

I am convinced that his plane crash was no accident, he was assassinated.

[jimlup]

6. Yes I think you are correct...

And I think the perpetrators are the same dark forces who were G. W. Bush's puppet masters and are behind Mitt Romney today.

[glinda]

9. yup

[bahrbearian]

8. +2

[Dawson Leery]

10. Ted Kennedy was scheduled to be with Wellstone that day.

Ted had to change his plans due to schedule conflicts. It is a good thing he was not on that plane.

[Nye Bevan]

12. Nope.

Other pilots at the charter company told NTSB that both pilots displayed below average flying skills. The captain had a well-known tendency to allow copilots to take over all functions of the aircraft as if they were the sole pilot during flights. After the crash, three copilots told of occasions in which they had to take control of the aircraft away from the captain of the accident flight.[23] After one of those incidents, only three days before the crash, the copilot had urged the captain to retire.[26] A few months before the crash, the accident flight's captain told another pilot, a childhood friend, that he had difficulty piloting and landing King Airs.[27] Significant discrepancies were also found in the captain's flight logs in the course of the post-accident investigation indicating he had probably greatly exaggerated his flying experience, most of which had been accrued before a 12 year hiatus from flying due to a fraud conviction and poor eyesight.[23] In 2001 he had Lasik surgery but it only improved his vision to 20/50, 20/30 and he was required by FAA regulations to wear corrective lenses; however, the pilot's wife and his childhood friend said he had stopped wearing them.[27][28] The coroner who examined his badly burned body was unable to determine if he was wearing contacts at the time of the crash.[29]

The First Officer was cited by coworkers as having to be consistently reminded to keep his hand on the throttle and maintain airspeed during approaches.[23] He had two previous piloting jobs: one with Skydive Hutchinson as a pilot (1988–1989), and another with Northwest Airlines as a trainee instructor (1999). However, he was dismissed from both jobs for lack of ability.[30] The captain's widow told the NTSB that her husband told her “the other pilots thought [the accident flight's copilot] was not a good pilot.”[31]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Wellstone#section_8

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

7. A lot of times, he seemed like a lone voice in the wilderness

It's easy to forget just how hard the Democratic Party had lurched to the right while he was in office - V-P nominee Joe Lieberman, Clinton signing Newt-passed welfare reform, etc.
When he spoke out against the Iraq war, he was in a minority in his own party - the 'immortal 23' as his fellow anti-war Democrat Robert C. Byrd called them.
In the years following his death, we saw a true resurgence of liberal activism and organizing - whether in the form of the Dean campaign and later DNC chairmanship, the rise of the progressive blogosphere, folks like Maddow getting a platform to promote the progressive agenda. All of these things are rooted in the work Senator Wellstone did and a testament to his legacy - and were largely responsible for Democratic successes in 2006 and 2008.
Had he lived, he would have been the elder statesman of the left and a formidable contender for his party's nomination.

When he died, the GOP could no longer attack him personally, so they decided to go after his funeral with lies - which made his loss even harder to take. Thankfully, we were able to oust the insidious Norm Coleman from his seat in 2008, and give a victory to Wellstone's friend and admirer Senator Al Franken.

[Brickbat]

11. I will never, ever forget that day.

[Gal Friday]

15. God! Has it been that long?