New Broom Coalition

Dear NBC,

Thanks for participating in this coalition. This was the first and
only coalition I maintained contact with this year of candidates for
office. I hope that in the future more coalitions like this will take
shape. The Green Party could learn a thing or two from NBC about
forming coalitions, supporting listservs and dialogue. Here is my end
of campaign report/thank you letter I sent out to my supporters in
Tennessee.

Chris

Dear Friends,

Thanks so much for your support this campaign season. Thanks to your
efforts I was able to gather 9,067 votes for peace in the US Senate
race. When I began in October of 2007 I did not realize how many
friends I would make on the trail and how many people in Tennessee are
in support of peace and real human priorities for Tennessee.

It has been a tremendous honor to travel this beautiful state. My
campaign began last year in Jonesborough, Tennessee where hundreds of
us gathered to call for an end to the production of depleted uranium
weapons at the Aerojet facility in Irwin. We learned about the role
that Aerojet plays in the production of depleted uranium and how it
has caused long- term health problems for our soldiers in Iraq and
Afghanistan.

Since then I have been to all corners of this state - to Oak Ridge for
the Stop the Bombs annual action to call for an end to the
remanufacturing of nuclear bombs. We were also in Oak Ridge this year
for the Department of Energy Hearings and spoke out in support of
putting hundreds of people to work cleaning up the toxic legacy of
sixty years of DOE activity in the area. Many of us closed out the
year at a conference sponsored by S.E.A.C. at Middle Tennessee State
University in Murfreesboro where we learned about the
interconnectedness of the nuclear issues in this state, where foreign
countries ship waste into Tennessee to incinerate, landfill and put
into permanent temporary storage facilities.

Thanks also to the support I received this year from Democracy for
East Tennessee and the Knoxville Greens as well as students at
Heritage High School in Maryville, Tennessee and Kevin Rowland for his
efforts. I would also like to recognize the work that so many people
are doing in East Tennessee to promote peace and support a progressive
agenda, especially members of the GLBT community.

There are so many wonderful people to thank who have offered their
support and encouragement for the past thirteen months. I would like
to thank the NAACP for hosting the only US Senate debate this season
at Austin Peay State University, the Green Party of Middle Tennessee,
the Green Party of Tennessee, the Chattanooga Area Greens, Democracy
for Tennessee, Scott Banbury for personally securing a visit of
Cynthia McKinney to Tennessee to submit her nominations to be on the
ballot in as our presidential candidate. I would like to thank John
Miglietta who ran a fantastic campaign as the Green Party candidate
for the 5th District US House seat and was my constant companion in
middle Tennessee as we traveled to neighborhood meetings, festivals,
fairs, public events and campaign meetings.

I would like to thank my partner, Nini Thomas, who traveled with me
across the state from Memphis to Chattanooga to Jonesborough and all
points in between. Nini listened to my speeches, proofread my
letters, designed my buttons and brochures and was a constant source
of encouragement. I would like to thank the peace activists in
Memphis at the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center and the Gandhi-King
conference, especially Allison Glass and Jacob Flowers for promoting
peace through a fantastic conference that brought together hundreds of
peace activists from around the world to talk to each other and hear
Amy Goodman.

I would like to thank the Nashville Peace and Justice Center for all
the good work they do to promote peace and offer a center for
community groups to gather and hosting numerous events this year all
while fighting a lawsuit and undergoing an audit. I would like to
thank the Nashville Movement for letting me flyer at their events this
summer to seek justice for taxicab workers, HUD houses for the
homeless and a living wage for everyone. These groups did not endorse
me and they did not take a position on any candidate because of their
non-profit status, but their work for social justice has made
Tennessee stronger and I believe in what they are doing.

I would like to thank the Poor People's Economic Human Rights
Campaign, whose path I crossed many times this campaign season
including in Nashville where Sherri Honkala helped lead an occupation
of an abandoned HUD house with the Nashville Homeless Power Project,
and again at the Republican National Convention protests in St. Paul
where I marched with Sherri Honkala and the Green Party of Minnesota
and hundreds of protesters demanding economic human rights, and then
again in Chattanooga this fall when Sherri came in October and we
marched to the doors of the city council with demands to address the
needs of the working poor and homeless in Chattanooga.

Thanks also to the folks at Clarksville Online and the activists in
the Clarksville area where almost ten percent of all troops deployed
in Iraq and Afghanistan are stationed or shipped through, and their
long struggle and transformation from Clarksville Freethinkers for
Peace and Civil Liberties into their work with Clarksville Online and
the Unitarian Church and their collective struggles for peace in the
heart of a military town.

I would also like to recognize the work that the Cumberland County
Center for Peace and Justice are doing with communities in the plateau
region around Monteagle, Sewanee, Tracy City and points beyond as well
as the Farm in Summertown, Tennessee. I am so impressed with the
efforts of the Peace Roots Alliance and their work, especially Liz
Barger and Alan Graf and Judy Meeker and Albert Bates and so many
others at the Farm, which has held its space for the past thirty years
as a home for peaceful, community seeking individuals. This campaign
season I crossed paths with so many different people all of who had a
collective vision of peace, social justice, the environment, a living
wage, economic justice, the need to address the deep wounds of racism,
disarmament, education, alternative energy and more.

I have seen a shift in Tennessee. In 2006 I think that there was much
less tolerance for the message of peace and the environment. People
seem to be more tolerant and more interested in the message. I think
that perhaps this is the beginning of a real shift. I think it will
be a long time coming, and perhaps it won't come at all, but I
definitely noticed a change. Everyone in Tennessee seemed to be more
open minded, more willing to hear differing perspectives this year,
more willing to consider alternatives.

Thanks to the Tennessee Alliance for Progress for all the work they
are doing to promote a common message in Tennessee and Radio Free
Nashville for promoting democracy on the airwaves. Thanks to Middle
Tennessee Students for a Democratic Society for all their fantastic
work at MTSU and thanks to the folks in Dyersberg, Lexington, Lebanon,
Jackson, Hohenwald, Shelbyville, Cookeville, Crossville and other
places in rural Tennessee who expressed support this campaign season,
especially to Howard & Katey for all the work they do for the Green
Party of Tennessee and Catherine Austin Fitts for all the work she
does to reclaim our democracy and thanks to the Reverend Larry Fagre
of Vetsburg for all his work to support housing for homeless veterans.

Thanks to Cathy Danielson and to Kathi Gregory for her blog
Streetalker and Dan and Beverly Sweeton for all their support this
year, especially at the Wilson County Fair. I would be remiss if I
didn't also say thanks to my parents for their support as well as
Marylin and Ray Williams, Eric Schecter, Glenn Christman, Sandy
Hepler, Courtney Meeker, Richard Aberdeen, Ricky Nickolson, Beth
Dachowski, Ken and Fle Frasure, Martin Holsinger, Bill Humble, Free
Land, Gigi Gaskin, Rhonda Fergus, Joe Shedlock and Sizwe Herring for
all of his fantastic work at the Carver Food Park and being an anchor
of the community in so many ways.

But I would especially like to thank the Nashville Peace Coalition for
all of their support and fantastic work for peace this year,
especially organizing the fifth anniversary peace rally and the
alternative presidential debate. It was so exciting meeting eight
presidential candidates this year and having six of them attend our
alternative debate. I can't believe how much work everyone I have met
across the state of Tennessee is doing on peace, the environment and
other areas of social justice.

I would also like to thank my opponents, the Libertarians, for their
spirit of cooperation on many issues including tolerating my many
posts on their message boards and for the cooperative work they did
with the Greens this year on the ballot access lawsuit as well as
coming out for protests against the war, against FISA and turning out
for the alternative debate. Daniel Lewis is a man of integrity and it
was a pleasure to run against him for the US Senate seat. I would also
like to thank the Democrats for their support this campaign season.

Many progressive Democrats were supportive of my running and I wanted
to personally thank them, even if I didn't receive their vote -
especially the folks at the L-Club and Democracy for Tennessee who
have been so nice and respectful all this campaign season. I would
also like to congratulate Bob Tuke on a good run. I was always
impressed with his professional approach and happy to see his support
on environmental issues in Tennessee.

I don't think I have mentioned all of the people I wanted to thank for
their support this campaign season nor all of the national contacts
that we have made. If I have omitted someone please forgive me. I
just wanted to thank everyone who was supportive this campaign season.
The reason that I ran is because it is my hope that we can build a
progressive majority in Tennessee

I think the most important thing we need to do is talk to each other.
As a candidate I have had an opportunity to meet a lot of
communities, and I think one of the principal needs we still have is
to get together and network more and let each other know what we are
doing. The other need I really see is for us all to come together
under one big tent on issues we can all agree on. I think this is
possible in Tennessee, but we need to talk more. Really I think more
than anything we need to talk to each other and learn who we all are.
There are actually a lot of progressive in Tennessee and if we get to
know each other then I think we can build a strong movement in this
state..

To end I would like to leave you with a letter for your consideration,
written by Tom Hayden of Progressive Democrats for America and
co-founder of Students for a Democratic Society in the 1960's. I met
Tom this summer at the Democratic National Convention protests in
Denver, and he talked about pushing the Democrats from within.

Now is the time to push the incoming administration to bring the
troops home and it is the time to push hard. Maybe they will give us
what we have been working for six years to end, or maybe they won't.
The jury is out. But I will leave you with this letter to consider
for our President Elect.

Thanks for your support and best wishes.

Sincerely,

Chris Lugo

9 Music Sq So #164

Nashville, TN 37203

615-593-0304

chris4senate@gmail.com

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Dear President-Elect Obama,

We are deeply moved to address you as our nation's first
African-American president and, we proudly note, the first president
whose campaign began with a pledge to an anti-war rally. Your
courageous speech in October 2002, provided the rationale momentum
that led to victory in Iowa and other Democratic primaries, and we
still applaud you for that stand.

We write amidst this exciting week to urge your immediate attention
and opposition to the so-called Status of Forces Agreement on Iraq
being prepared in secret negotiations by the outgoing Bush
Administration. The current United Nations authorization ends December
31st, making it imperative that you take leadership even before being
sworn in.

The proposed agreement is a transparent attempt to circumvent Congress
and formally bind your Administration to a war and occupation that far
exceeds your stated commitment to a 16 month withdrawal of our combat
troops. As your own website specifically states, any agreement should
include a commitment to begin withdrawing our troops and avoiding any
permanent bases. We also believe that thousands of Iraqi detainees
should be treated according to human rights norms, or released in the
absence of charges or evidence. You also have committed to a role for
Congress in affirming any agreement.

Already the Bush administration and Pentagon are threatening
"consequences" if the Iraqi parliament fails to endorse this pact.

We believe instead that you should signal your intention to abide by
your pledge and work with the Congress immediately to formulate an
agreement consistent with your pledge to end this war as rapidly as
possible. We propose that you include the withdrawal of all American
forces, including trainers and advisers caught in a sectarian
crossfire, as recommended by all peace and justice organizations as
well as such Washington think tanks as the Center for American Progress.

In place of this counterinsurgency war. we recommend an immediate
diplomatic surge, including talks with Iran, as the only alternative
to the continuing quagmire in Iraq which now costs our taxpayers some
ten billion dollars per month, puts lives needlessly at risk, and
stains our national honor.

We realize you will be hearing from all sorts of advocates for
prolonging the occupation by one means or another. We urge you to keep
the faith with the voices of those who put you on the road to the
presidency, by implementing your pledge to end the war in 2009.