Jennifer Lawless: "You have to elect real Democrats who are going to try to halt the Bush administration"

Forget bumper stickers. Congressional candidate Jennifer Lawless is driving home her point with the name of her new Web site: www.LangevinEqualsLieberman.com.

Lawless, a Brown University professor, is looking to jolt Rep. James R. Langevin in the Sept. 12 Democratic primary just as Ned Lamont leveled Sen. Joseph Lieberman in a Democratic primary in Connecticut earlier this month. She likens Lieberman to Langevin, saying they're both "out of sync" with their constituents and too often align themselves with President Bush and Republicans in Congress.

"If we want to stop what's going on in Washington, you have to elect real Democrats who are going to try to halt the Bush administration and the Republicans in Congress," Lawless said. "It's not enough to wait for Democrats to take back the majority. Too many Democrats have stopped fighting."

The winner of the primary will face independent candidate Rodney Driver in the November general election. There is no Republican candidate in the 2nd Congressional District, which stretches from the middle of Providence to Glocester to Westerly to Narragansett and Warwick.

Lawless argues that Langevin holds more conservative views than many residents of the district.

"The people of the 2nd Congressional District want a timetable to get out of Iraq, they support a woman's right to choose, and they want to make sure their elected officials uphold their right to privacy," she said. "Jim Langevin doesn't do those things, and that's what this election should be about."

Langevin pointed out that -- unlike Lieberman -- he voted in October 2002 against authorizing the use of military force in Iraq. But Lawless said that since then Langevin has voted to continue financing the war, and he voted in favor of a resolution that said an "artificial timetable" for withdrawing troops would be "inconsistent with achieving victory in Iraq."

Lawless said, "We need a clear timetable to bring Americans home. My opponent has voted to stay the course every step of the way."

When asked if the Iraq war was worth it, Lawless said, "No. I would have voted against the war. But the more important issue is: How do we get out? We need a clear timetable to get out. The main difference is Langevin voted against the war but hasn't done anything to expedite the process to bring the troops home or to hold the administration accountable."

Lawless, who supports abortion rights, said Langevin is also out of step with his constituents in opposing abortion rights in most cases. "That issue is particularly salient right now when we see the Bush administration stacking the Supreme Court with anti-choice judges and more and more states passing anti-choice legislation," she said.

Lawless said Langevin has voted 27 times "against women's right to choose," and "one of the most egregious examples" was his vote against an amendment that would have allowed military personnel or their dependents to use their own money to obtain abortion services in overseas military hospitals.

Lawless said the majority of Rhode Islanders share her view on abortion. While Rhode Island has the highest percentage of Catholics in the nation, a 2005 poll by SurveyUSA found 63 percent of state residents identified themselves as "pro-choice" while 32 percent identified themselves as "pro-life."

Lawless said Langevin also veers from the views of his constituents on issues of privacy.

For example, Lawless noted Langevin voted for a bill that gave federal courts jurisdiction in the case of Terri Schiavo, a severely brain-damaged Florida woman. Lawless said Congress should not have gotten involved in the fight over whether Schiavo's husband would be allowed to remove her life support against her parents' wishes. "It is a very private, personal decision, and we don't need the U.S. Congress intervening," Lawless said.

Lawless also noted that Langevin voted for the USA Patriot Act, the collection of antiterrorism measures passed soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Parts of the Patriot Act have come under fire from advocates for civil liberties.

Langevin noted that last year he voted against renewing the Patriot Act. But Lawless emphasized that Langevin later voted for a bill that amended the renewed act. Langevin said those amendments were aimed at protecting civil liberties, but Lawless said, "I don't buy it. These provisions certainly don't protect civil liberties."

Lawless criticized Langevin for voting against the use of marijuana for medical purposes. "That is a decision that should be left between patients and their physicians," she said. "There is no reason why we should make people's lives more difficult and painful than they have to be. It is abhorrent to arrest terminally ill cancer patients who have been prescribed medical marijuana."

Like Langevin, Lawless plans to vote against a November ballot question that would amend the state Constitution to allow the Narragansett Indian Tribe and Harrah's Entertainment to open a casino in West Warwick. "It is a decision that should be left to voters, but I don't like the idea of amending the Constitution to benefit one particular business or company," she said.

Lawless, 31, is an assistant professor of political science and public policy at Brown University. She was born in Queens, N.Y., and grew up in Middletown, N.Y. She received a bachelor's degree in political science from Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., and a master's degree and a doctorate in political science from Stanford University in Stanford, Calif.

Lawless moved to Rhode Island and began teaching at Brown University in 2003. In 2005, she and a Union College professor wrote a book It Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office. She lived in Providence's East Side neighborhood until May, when she moved to Cranston's Edgewood neighborhood so she could run against Langevin in the 2nd Congressional District.

This marks the first time Lawless has run for public office. But, she said, "People are ready for change and they're tired of career-ladder politicians. They're ready for someone to bring a new voice to Washington."

Through June 30, Langevin had raised $663,095 for his campaign, compared with Lawless' $264,233. But Lawless said she's waging a strong grass-roots, door-to-door campaign, and can focus all of her money on the primary.

Lawless trailed Langevin by 58 percent to 14 percent in a Brown University poll in February. She noted that in Connecticut's Senate primary Lieberman led Lamont by 68 percent to 13 percent in a Quinnipiac University poll in February.

This article, written by Ed Fitzpatrick, appeared on August 20, 2006 on the front page of the Providence Journal.