By: Trevor Loudon
Editor: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

Take the Fight to the Progressives and the Enemies Within!

KeyWiki.org Page: http://keywiki.org/index.php/Barbara_Boxer

Election Facts for 2014:

• Party – Democrat
• State – California
• Location – California Senate
• First Elected – 1993
• Candidates in 2014:
None

Barbara Boxer is the Junior Democratic member of the United States Senate, representing California.

Background

Barbara Boxer became a United States Senator in January of 1993, after 10 years of service in the House of Representatives and 6 years on the Marin County Board of Supervisors. In November 2010, she was reelected to her fourth term in the Senate.

Boxer grew up in Brooklyn, before moving with her husband, Stewart, to San Francisco in 1965 and then to Marin County in 1968. In 1972, Boxer ran for the Board of Supervisors and lost to an incumbent Republican. She then worked for far left Democratic Congressman John Burton. In 1976, she ran again for the board and won. In 1982, she ran for the House and was easily elected.

She was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992.

Influence

Senator Boxer was the first woman to Chair the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Boxer also Chairs the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, making her the only sitting Senator to Chair two Senate committees. She is a senior member of the Senate Commerce Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where she chairs the first Subcommittee ever to focus on Global Women’s Issues. The Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, also includes the Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety and Security, the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Insurance, the Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard, the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security and the Subcommittee on Science and Space. The Foreign Relations Committee includes the Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs, the Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs, the Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy and Global Women’s Issues and the Subcommittee on International Development and Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs and International Environmental Protection.

Senator Boxer is also a member of the Democratic leadership in the Senate, serving as the Chief Deputy Whip since 2005, which gives her the job of lining up votes on key legislation.
Boxer is currently fifteenth in seniority in the United States Senate.

Communist Connections

John Burton Protégé

During the late 1970s, Barbara Boxer worked as an aide to U.S. Representative John Burton – a man often described as Boxer’s political mentor. When Burton retired unexpectedly in 1982, Boxer ran for the House and was easily elected.

John and his brother Phillip Burton were two of the most radical representatives to ever serve in the U.S. Congress. Both were tied to the Soviet front World Peace Council (WPC), and to the Communist Party USA (WPC).

In 1978, Congressmen John Burton, Ted Weiss, Ron Dellums, John Conyers, Don Edwards, Charles Rangel and others… attended a WPC organized meeting on Capitol Hill.

WPC delegation members included President Romesh Chandra, a leading member of the Communist Party of India; KGB Colonel Radomir Bogdanov and Oleg Kharkhardin of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union International Department.

Sponsors of the Communist Party’s 1996 Bay Area People’s Weekly World Banquet at His Lordship’s Berkeley Marina included then California State Assemblyman John L. Burton.

On May 9, 1998, the People’s Weekly World held a centennial festive tribute celebrating the life of well known Communist Party scholar and singer, Paul Robeson. Speakers included Communist Party Vice Chair Jarvis Tyner, retired ILWU International Rep. and communist Abba Ramos, Northern California Communist Party leader Marilyn Bechtel and Northern California Young Communist League Co-Chair Amie Fishman.

Among the event’s co-sponsors was then California Senate President Pro Tem John L. Burton – who is incidentally now the Chair of the California Democratic Party.

John Burton, Barbara Boxer

Burton Inspired “Rage for Justice” Award

Consumer Watchdog hosts the annual Rage for Justice Awards to honor the “heroes and heroines of the public interest movement.” The awards are named after Congressman Phillip Burton, one of the “most productive and driven progressive legislators in American history.”

The 2008 Award went to U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer. She was introduced by Phillip Buton’s equally radical brother, and her old boss and political mentor, John Burton.

Eulogy for Communist Carlton Goodlett

In February of 1997, Barbara Boxer read a tribute to another icon of the Northern California left, Carlton Goodlett, into the Senate Record:

Mr. President, I rise today to celebrate the life of Dr. Carlton Goodlett. Dr. Goodlett recently passed from this life, leaving it richer and more decent for his presence. The challenge of his voice, conscience, and healing hand is the legacy of a singular man.

To say that Carlton Goodlett was multi-talented is to understate his genuinely remarkable energy and versatility. He was a medical doctor, held a doctorate in psychology and published a newspaper for nearly 50 years. He was local president of the NAACP and worked side by side with many of the giants of the civil rights era. Born in a time and place where discrimination and violence were commonplace, he remained passionately concerned about peace and equality throughout his entire life.

Although his contributions resonate most clearly in San Francisco’s African-American neighborhoods, Dr. Goodlett’s example and spirit were in inspiration to many young Americans, irrespective of race. When he acted or spoke, his message was meant for anyone with an open heart and mind. He embraced people with great warmth and ideas with great facility. He was a leader in the truest sense.

At the Sun-Reporter, he nurtured numerous fledgling writers, giving them the opportunity to develop their professional talents while simultaneously providing readers with invaluable insight into a vibrant community at play, at work, in worship, and in struggle. As a physician, he helped guide young men and women into medicine. As a civil rights leader and advocate for peace, he appealed to conscience of leaders and citizens alike.

Dr. Goodlett considered life and community to be sacred. Though his time has come and gone, his message of hope and fairness endures. For all he did for others, he will forever be treasured and missed.

Boxer failed to mention Goodlett’s long-time Communist Party USA membership, his heavy involvement with the Soviet-controlled, anti-US military World Peace Council, his receipt of the Lenin Peace Prize in Moscow, on April 22, 1970, or his ties to Bay Area Marxist cult leader Jim Jones – of Jonestown Massacre infamy.

Succeeded Alan Cranston

When far left Democratic California Senator Alan Cranston retired in 1992, Boxer sought his seat. In the November general election, she defeated Bruce Herschensohn, a Republican whose candidacy unraveled in the final weeks of the race after reports surfaced that he had visited a nude bar.

Interestingly, Cranston, an extreme left legislator, also fell under suspicion of communist ties early in his career.

In World War II, Cranston was Chief of the Foreign Language Division of the Office of War Information, the U.S. information and propaganda organization, which was heavily penetrated by communists.

Cranston recommended that the OWI hire David Karr, as “a senior liaison officer working with other Federal agencies.” Karr had been writing for the Communist Party newspaper, The Daily Worker, as well as for Albert Kahn, an author who was later revealed in Congressional testimony to be a Soviet agent.

In spite of this record, Cranston recommended Karr for employment, claiming that he knew he had worked for The Daily Worker, but did not know he was a communist.

After the War, Karr launched a successful career in international finance and became even more active in pro-communist work. In 1975, for example, he arranged a $250 million credit for the Soviet Foreign Trade Bank.

His main contact in Moscow was reported to be Djerman Gvishiani, Deputy Chairman of the Soviet State Committee for Science and Technology and son-in-law of Soviet Premier Kosygin.
Cranston remained a long-time friend of Karr and said later that Karr “had a strong social conscience that made him an intense promoter of Detente.”

Throughout his career in the Senate, Cranston was one of the most radical in opposing aid to countries fighting Communist insurgencies such as South Vietnam and El Salvador, and for refusing to support anti-communist movements in Communist dictatorships such as Nicaragua, Angola, Mozambique, etc.

He was also supported by the anti-U.S. military, Council for a Livable World, founded by reported Soviet agent Leo Szilard.

Socialist Connections

DSA Support in ‘92

California Democratic Socialists of America discussed its role in the Barbara Boxer Senate campaign, at an August 2 1992 meeting in the Student Union at Stanford University, Palo Alto.

21st Century Democrats

The mission of 21st Century Democrats, a DSA led Political Action Committee, is to build a “farm team” of progressive populists who will be the future leaders of the Democratic Party.

The organization supported Barbara Boxer in 1998 and in 2010.

“Progressive” Connections

Borosage on Board

Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) leader Robert Borosage has served as an Issues Adviser to several progressive political campaigns, including those of Senators Carol Moseley Braun (a Communist Party supporter and DSA affiliate), Paul Wellstone (a DSA supporter) and Barbara Boxer.

On April 10, 1982, an IPS-sponsored group visited Moscow for a week of meetings with high-level Soviet officials responsible for disseminating disinformation and propaganda for U.S. consumption. The IPS group was led by its principal spokesman, Marcus Raskin and by Robert Borosage, IPS Director, National Lawyers Guild activist and former Director of the Center for National Security Studies.

The IPS group identified only two of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Central Committee officials they met – Georgi A. Arbatov, head of the Institute of the USA and Canada, a “think tank” that provides research and analysis and also cultivates and develops contacts with Americans at the direction of the KGB and the International Department of the CPSU Central Committee; and Vadim V. Zagladin, First Deputy Chief of the International Department.

Russia Today, the Moscow-funded propaganda channel, aired a special program on February 22, 2012, on how progressives in the U.S. can “Take Back the American Dream” by defeating Republicans. The propaganda effort was broadcast throughout the United States and produced in collaboration with IPS allied groups such as the Campaign for America’s Future and Demos.
The “National Teach-In to Take Back the American Dream,” featured Democratic Socialists of America affiliate Robert Reich (a former U.S. Secretary of Labor); Heather McGhee of Demos and Robert Borosage of the Campaign for America’s Future.

Take Back America Conferences

Barbara Boxer was on the list of 237 speakers at the 2007 Take Back America conference, which was organized by the IPS and DSA initiated Campaign for America’s Future.

IPS Inspired Attack Ad

In California’s 2010 Senate race, both incumbent Senator Barbara Boxer and Republican challenger, Carly Fiorina, used Executive Excess Reports to attack one another. The Institute for Policy Studies has published these annual reports on CEO pay for 17 years.

Friends of Barbara Boxer cited IPS’ Executive Excess 2003 Report in an attack ad on Fiorina.
As the advertisement pointed out, Fiorina laid off 25,700 workers in 2001 and then saw her pay jump 231 percent, from $1.2 million in 2001 to $4.1 million in 2002. Whereas, previous HP heads strove to avoid layoffs, IPS pay analyst Sarah Anderson described Fiorina as “like the Annie Oakley of the corporate world, coming in with her guns blazing.”

CODEPINK

CODEPINK: Women for Peace, a partner organization of the IPS, is a strong supporter of Barbara Boxer, citing her as “our beloved Barbara Boxer” in a 2005 action alert.

Boxer has worked with the group and supported its goals on many occasions. In early 2005, Boxer was the only member of the Senate to oppose certifying the Electoral College result that returned George Bush to office for a second term. CODEPINK hosted rallies and participated in various demonstrations and marches to “defend democracy” against the results of the 2004 elections.

On January 7, 2005, CODEPINK thanked Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones and Senator Barbara Boxer for their role in objecting to certifying the Electoral College votes. They wrote, “We ended the day at the office of Senator Boxer, singing her songs of thanks for stepping forward.”

CODEPINK founder Medea Benjamin is an IPS Trustee and a long-time affiliate of the Communist Party spinoff, Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism.

Foreign Policy/National Security

Council for a Livable World

The Council for a Livable World, founded in 1962 by long-time socialist activist and alleged Soviet agent, Leo Szilard, is a non-profit advocacy organization that seeks to “reduce the danger of nuclear weapons and increase national security,” primarily through supporting progressive, Congressional candidates who support their policies. The Council is an effective enemy of the U.S. military. The Council supported Barbara Boxer in her 2010 election campaign.

Previous to this, the Council had also supported Boxer in her Senate and House of Representatives campaigns.

The Council certainly got value for their money. In Congress, during the Cold War, Boxer consistently worked to cut military funding for projects such as the Patriot missile and stealth aircraft, and supported a Congressional Black Caucus recommendation to cut the defense budget in half. In 1991, she sponsored a House resolution demanding prior Congressional approval of all covert U.S. actions overseas – a measure that would have crippled anti-terrorist efforts. This proposal was defeated unanimously.

While endorsing her in 2010, the Council said this about Boxer:

Council for a Livable World has had a long and close relationship with Senator Barbara Boxer… she has been one of the Senate’s most steadfast leaders on progressive issues for almost 20 years. Boxer will continue to be a staunch ally of the Council…

She was motivated to enter politics by the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy, as well as her opposition to the Vietnam War… Boxer’s intense grassroots activism enabled her to win an open seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982. In that campaign, she emphasized arms control and during her decade in the House, she helped lead the fight for a nuclear freeze and an end to underground nuclear testing.

Senator Boxer, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has significant experience and expertise on other military and foreign policy, always trying to control national security spending. She discovered the Pentagon’s notorious $7,622 coffee maker and was successful in more than a dozen Pentagon procurement reforms. She became a leading member of the Armed Services Committee.

From the outset of the war in Iraq, Senator Boxer has been a vocal opponent and critic of the use of force there. She cast her vote against the war in 2002, repeatedly criticized the Bush Administration’s go-it-alone strategy, and supported numerous efforts in Congress to force a redeployment of American troops out of Iraq. She authored amendments in the Senate to end the no-bid contracts given to Halliburton and to require the Pentagon to regularly report on the cost of military operations in Iraq.

She has been an ardent supporter of nuclear arms control treaties, and voted for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1999. In the most recent Council for a Livable World voting records, she received a 90%, a 91% and a 100%, with two absences producing the only negatives. Senator Boxer has consistently opposed high national missile defense budgets and new nuclear weapons and was one of the few Senators to vote against the U.S.-India nuclear deal, arguing at the time: “The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is the keystone of our efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons throughout the world.

Voted Against Support for “Contras”

The Congressional Record of February 3, 1988, shows that Barbara Boxer was one of the 38 leading Democratic Party Congress members who voted against aid to the Nicaraguan Freedom Fighters – the “Contras” – then fighting against the Marxist-Leninist Sandinista government of Nicaragua.

“Congressional Pink Caucus”

In October 1989, the Nicaraguan Sandinista Government announced that they would no longer comply with the 19 month-old cease-fire agreement with the “Contras.” This had been considered a prime step forward for the “peace process” that was progressing slowly as part of the Arias Peace Plan.

A resolution was introduced in Congress deploring the Sandinistas’ action. The Senate voted unanimously in favor, but in the House the vote was 379-29. All of the 29 Congress members voting against the resolution were Democrats. Barbara Boxer was one of them.
The Council for Inter-American Security dubbed these 29 people the “Congressional Pink Caucus.”

Trip to Cuba

From April 19 to April 22, 2002, Boxer and her husband, Stewart Boxer, visited Cuba to discuss “California trade.” The trip was paid for by the Center for International Policy, a project of the Institute for Policy Studies.

At the time, Boxer was serving on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Assisting CODEPINK’s “Fallujah Aid”

In December 2004, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer of California; two Communist Party affiliated Congressmen, Raul Grijalva of Arizona and Dennis Kucinich of Ohio; and “progressive” Rep. Henry Waxman of California, provided diplomatic courtesy letters to a contingent of anti-war groups and individuals desiring to travel to Fallujah, Iraq.

Among those traveling in the contingent were: Rosa Suarez del Solar and her husband Fernando Suarez del Solar; Jeffrey Ritterman, Physicians for Social Responsibility; Jodie Evans, Co-Founder of CODEPINK: Women for Peace; Medea Benjamin, Co-Founder of Global Exchange and CODEPINK; and Hany Khalil, National Organizer of the IPS affiliated United for Peace and Justice.

Fernando Suarez del Solar stated that had it not been for the Congressional help, the tour would have not seen the light of day due to obstacles laid by the Pentagon. The contingent traveled from December 27, 2004, through January 8, 2005.

The contingent delivered $100,000 in cash and $500,000 in humanitarian aid. At the time the diplomatic courtesy letters were issued, Medea Benjamin had stated that the aid was intended for families of the “other side” in Fallujah.

This research is part of KeyWiki.org’s ongoing efforts to expose Progressives throughout our political system. Funding for KeyWiki furthers our efforts to bring true transparency to American politics and hold our leaders responsible for their past actions. Donations can be made at Trevor Loudon’s site: New Zeal – http://www.trevorloudon.com/. More information on the Enemies Within can be found in Trevor Loudon’s latest book, “The Enemies Within: Communists, Socialists and Progressives in the U.S. Congress.” Trevor’s books can be purchased at http://www.pacificfreedomfoundation.com.

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