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The primary election is less than four months away (Tuesday, May 8). Dan Canon’s been getting good ink; here are two examples.
Dan Canon looks to flip Indiana’s Ninth District, by Mark Dunbar (NUVO)
(Canon) and his staff playfully refer to Rep. Hollingsworth as “Tennessee Trey” — on account of Hollingsworth moving to Indiana from Tennessee just a month before running in 2015 — but stay on the topic for very long and it becomes obvious that Canon doesn’t find Hollingsworth’s political consumerism very amusing.
“Here’s a guy who’s a multimillionaire, who comes from multi-generational wealth, that had probably not set foot in Indiana prior to 2015, with him and his dad clearly fishing for a district to buy. It’s really hard for somebody like that to have any meaningful understanding of what people are going through in the Ninth District,” Canon said.
Canon’s policy proposals are comprehensive to say the least. He’s for legalizing marijuana and against the Electoral College. For nationwide healthcare and against private prisons. For automatic voter registration and against exorbitant interest fees. For labor representation and against state harassment of migrant workers.
Brazenly putting forward such progressive policies has earned Canon endorsement from some of the Midwest’s most left-leaning organizations, including Democratic Socialists of America’s Louisville chapter.
When I asked if he thought some of these endorsements might be used against him in the general election, he snickered a bit before answering, “Look, my opponent called Shelli Yoder a socialist. Shelli Yoder. That’s what they’re going to do. Anyone who wants the government to work better for working class people as opposed to wanting the government to work solely for rich people is gonna be called a socialist. So we’re gonna be called that and we know that. It’s gonna be better for us if we don’t run from that term.”
This one’s in a lighter interview format.
INTERVIEW: Dan Canon on his run for Congress, impacting change through the law, and his favorite restaurant, by Syd Bishop (Never Nervous)
… Never Nervous: What prompted your run for office? Did someone nominate you or were you otherwise inspired?
Dan Canon: When you’re a lawyer who cares about stuff, I think people encourage you to run. There aren’t many folks who can take a public flogging like a civil rights lawyer. So people had suggested it to me for years, and I always resisted because I’m not the model of a pristine, charismatic politician that we’ve come to expect (and largely dislike) in the United States. My finance director Dawn hit me with the idea again after the elections in 2016, and I went for it. I think we are at a unique time in history when people want something different from the status quo, and I’m definitely that. But also I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that American democracy is really in trouble right now, and we’ve all got to do what we can to save it. This is something I can do.
SNIP
NN: What does it take to be a good leader?
DC: I don’t know how to answer that in the short space I have here, and I’m not sure I know the answer at all. I’m still learning, and I hope I always am. It seems to me that one critical aspect of leadership is having the humility to admit you don’t always have all the answers, and the resourcefulness to find and ask the people who do.
NN: How do you intend to hold people in power accountable?
DC: In my experience, the key to holding people accountable is to be willing to do it. That’s not as easy as it sounds. But I’ve got a track record of doing just that, regardless of party affiliation or any other factor, and I don’t intend to quit once I’m elected.
And if the malign contagion happens to exist in one’s own political party? Dear Leader could use a lesson in accountability, and I continue to hope that candidate Canon will speak publicly in favor of the residents of the New Albany Housing Authority. I’d really like to be able to cast my ballot for him, and so my fingers are crossed.
Previously:
THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2017: ON THE AVENUES: Would a Canon candidacy compromise Deaf Gahan’s and Mr. Dizznee’s shizz show? A boy can dream.
