Mittleman for Congress

When I began Plug Power (a high-tech eco-friendly alternative energy venture), much of the fervor and energy I brought to the new company was based on my underlying desire to make the world a better place.  It was this same underlying belief that led me to announce my candidacy for US Congress earlier this year. 
 
I didn’t have to look far in order to become inspired.  Just tell me what is wrong with this picture.  Oil is over $110 per barrel.  The dollar has been devalued nearly 50% versus the euro.  Our deficit is at all time highs and growing by another $400 billion this year.  The mortgage crisis had to become so bad that it nearly crippled the entire stock market before anyone began to take notice.  Since entering Iraq we have put our soldiers in harms way and spent the equivalent of over $100 thousand for every Iraqi household without finding a solution.  Global warming is taking measurable tolls.  The economy is in a recession.  Unemployment is over 5%.  With all these critical issues facing us, Congress is spending millions of dollars interrogating Roger Clemens as to whether he lied about taking steroids.  Well, he did sign autographs….
 
The quality of decisions coming out of Washington is driving our country into turmoil.  The career politicians are either puppets to the lobbyists that enable their campaign funds or they are so out of touch with real world circumstances — and how to fix them — that they fail to get the job done.  Either way, this is cause for concern.
 
Let me cite some recent examples.  We are receiving $152 billion of checks in the mail to stimulate our economy and create jobs.  The checks will do neither.  Instead, they will further increase our enormous debt burden which is the cause of our ills in the first place.  The pentagon is awarding $35 billion of contracts to foreign companies without regard to the American jobs and technologies lost overseas.  After ten years of discussions, federal and local officials are now only proposing to do something about the Watervliet arsenal for business start-ups.   Congressional members are proposing silly placebo fixes to counter the high price of gasoline by depleting the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  We are enabling Pakistan with nuclear grade material.  And, with regard to nearly everything else, it seems we hear lots of talk and see little action.
 
My campaign has taught me a lot about our political system.  It’s no wonder that our representatives are so unproductive. They spend most of their time raising money by twisting arms. Some remind their constituents of the favors they have provided in the past.  The $18.3 billion of our taxes which were spent on earmarks and pork barrel grants go a long way toward financing a campaign.  Others stress the power they have to make good things happen (or not) for business owners.  There are sophisticated consultants, hired by our lawmakers to help collect campaign contributions.  These consultants use formulas to calculate whether the allocation of government contracts has been matched by corresponding political contributions.  Is it surprising that our representatives fail to address our problems?  They spend so little time thinking about them.
 
The magnitude of manipulation and waste in our political system is the biggest surprise I have confronted since I announced my candidacy.    The average congressional contender in New York this year will spend close to $1.4 million.  While I have welcomed financial support from those who believe that I would be an effective congressman, I do not have the expertise nor the interest in horse-trading my way into office.
 
It is no longer clear that my campaign and election to Congress is the best way to address and fix these problems.  First, I am concerned that if elected I will have a futile experience implementing ideas with a political machine that is so entrenched and financially motivated to prevent them.  Second, I believe that there may be a better way to promote my ideas.  Instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of my money on campaigns, I am now choosing to take this same money and start a foundation aimed at making this world a better place and getting our government to move on ideas that will help our lives.
 
Soon, I will provide you with more information about my new foundation, One Dream One Earth.  In the mean time I thank you for your support and I welcome any suggestions you may have.  For those of you who offered early support in the form of a financial contribution to my campaign, I will be returning all contributions made in full.  I am grateful for the faith you have shown in me, and since I have decided to withdraw from the race as a Democratic contestant and pursue another direction in my service to society it’s only appropriate that your campaign donation should be refunded.  I truly appreciate your support.

Although I am frequently critical of politicians’ approach to energy policy, I think that the establishment of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in 1975 was very wise.  The reserve was initiated after the oil embargo shocks of 1973-1974.  It was intended to be used for emergencies and it has been employed effectively for that purpose.  The reserve was used, for instance, to help maintain production after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
 
Now, a group of panderers in congress have come up with their own use for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  They want to offer it to us as a placebo, to (maybe) lower gas prices for a while.  They hope, in doing so, that we will forget their dramatic failure to do anything meaningful about the energy issues we face.
 
Members of congress, including Kirsten Gillibrand, want to draw down the reserve in the hope that it will lower prices at the pump.  What an insulting sham!
 
In a world of accelerating demand for oil, the reserve draw-down would offer a temporary and modest “fix” to increasing prices at best.  It’s a small part of a vast world market, and oil-producing nations could counter it easily.  There is no telling if OPEC would drop their prices or raise them.  What would we have to pay to refill the reserve in the future: $120 per barrel? 
 
And what do these politicians suggest we do in the case of a genuine supply emergency?  Perhaps they don’t think there are significant threats to our foreign oil supply from places like Africa, Venezuela and the Mid-east!
 
Prices at the pump are painful, and heating oil has gone through the roof.  Our leaders need to work on long term solutions.   Let’s not let them continue to ignore the real crisis by tampering with our emergency reserve!
 
Gary Mittleman
Founding CEO Plug Power and
Democratic Candidate for Congress

I recently spent some time on the phone with a woman in Schenectady.  She is diabetic, and unable to hold a job.  She is largely confined to her own home, and depends on Social Security and Medicare for support.  When she signed up for her Medicare benefit options, she found the forms so complex and confusing that she actually selected some of the wrong options.  Now she worries about how to change her selections, and whether it may be too expensive to do so.  “Mr. Mittleman, I’ve tried to get help from people in Washington, but they just tell me that that’s the way the system works.  Can you help me?  I’m just too stupid to figure this out.”
 
Feeling “too stupid” to figure out the Medicare plan is something that no American should ever experience.  But this woman is far from alone.  I’ve heard similar complaints from business executives who had the “luxury” of being able to afford to hire consultants to help them figure out the timing and appropriate benefit options.
 
Our tax dollars pay for Medicare.  It is our plan and it should work for us, not against us.  We need representatives in Washington who will speak up for change and never accept that “that’s the way the system works.”     

I thank you for coming to our Blog site and for your interest in wanting to learn more about me and my campaign for U.S. Congress.  On the official web site (www.MittlemanforCongress.com) you will be able to find information about me, the benefits I can bring to people in the 21st district, my campaign speech, my positions on many issues, and more. 

We would love to hear your thoughts about my announcement, as well as any ideas you may wish to share with us about national policies of particular interest to you.  Please leave your comments below.