Bonior - Whip

Advance Praise for Whip

David Boniors book documents a congressional leader who built a movement around working-class justice and global peace while assembling a winning campaign base in his tough district. As we consider ways to build a populist Democratic Party, Boniors years as whip, and his amazing political run in Michigan, offer road maps for our future.

Keith Ellison, US Representative from Minnesota

David Boniors Whip reminds you how our politics rewards conviction, authenticity, and service, not cynicism and blind ambition. Whip is a valuable memoir and history, but more importantly, it is an antidote to a popular culture and a president, Donald Trump, that discourage citizen engagement and hope.

Stan Greenberg, Founding Partner, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research

David Boniors career in Congress provides a road map for how to avoid big money politics with an organized grassroots campaign in a working-class district. The chapter on trade is as valid today as when Bonior led the campaign to defeat NAFTA. Democrats take heed.

Larry Cohen, Former President, Communications Workers of America; Chair, Our Revolution

The job of Congress is to connect the local with the global. No one ever did this better than David Bonior. From his grassroots base in Macomb County, Bonior built a career as a progressive leader who rose to the highest ranks of American politics.

Throughout this volume, Bonior shows how he combined the insiders mastery of the system with the outsiders instinct for organizing. Veterans returning from the Vietnam War in the 1970s found in Bonior a champion to help them win the recognition and benefits they deserved. In the 1980s, Boniors whip organization became the strategic hub for human rights, peace, and social justice campaigns to end the wars in Central America. As the impact of deindustrialization hit in the 1990s, Bonior stood up to the president of his own party in opposition to trade deals such as NAFTA that left American workers behind. In perhaps his most gutsy campaign of all, Bonior exposed the abuses of power that led to the downfall of Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Through David Boniors eyes, we see the seeds of many of our countrys current divisions, dysfunctions, and dissatisfaction with elites. We also find hope and a way forward. This books most important contribution is the valuable insights and encouragement it offers for citizens who seek to revitalize our democracy.

Kathy Gille, Senior Fellow, Washington Office on Latin America

In the hands of David Bonior, a life in Congress unfolds with unexpected drama, humor, humanity and impact. From backbencher to a top perch in the Democratic leadership, Bonior gives us a twenty-six-year panorama of the personalities and issues, both domestic and foreign, that confronted him and his fellow lawmakers in the last quarter of the twentieth century. Part memoir, part primer on how our government works (or can be made to work), part policy manual, Whip is above all a testament to the skill and reward of turning ideas into bills and bills into laws that touch peoples lives for the better.

Lynne P. Brown, PhD, Professor of Political Science, Senior Vice President, NYU

In this timely and engaging book, David Bonior shows what it took to be an effective legislative leader in the years before gridlock set in, based on his dozen years as Democratic Party whip in the US House of Representatives, both when his party was in the majority and when it was in opposition.

Gerhard Lowenberg, Professor Emeritus, University of Iowa

This superb book provides a unique perspective on the US Congress and on some of the defining issues of our time. David Bonior combined a sharp intellect, a deep moral passion, and unflinching political courage throughout his career. His humanity and commitment shine through in improving the lives of people from autoworkers in Michigan to peasants in Guatemala. A must-read for understanding where weve been and, even more importantly, where we might go.

Harley Shaiken, Professor and Director, Center for Latin American Studies, University of California, Berkeley

David Boniors autobiography is timely and important. When good people with real political skill enter the political arena, they can inspire and change the world even when the odds are stacked against them. David Bonior helped build a political movement of young idealists in the unlikely political terrain of Macomb County, MichiganReagan Democrat terrain. This book is a must read for any aspiring progressive politico. Its a how to guide for how to blend idealism and effectiveness and win political battles even in challenging times.

Brian Brady, President, Mikva Challenge

From the perspective of 2017, it is hard to remember there was a time when members of Congresseven those in leadershiphad to carefully attend to voters back home or risk losing the next general election. Today, fewer than 10 percent of districts are competitive, with members of Congress answerable only to the small minority who turn out in their partys primary. David Bonior held one of those competitive districts, where organization was key to winning and holding his seat in Congress. Bonior recounts in vivid detail how he grew his organization from a handful of likeminded people in 1972 to ten-thousand-strong thirty years later. If progressives of 2017 wish to recapture the Midwest, taking a page from Boniors years of experience will be an important key.

David P. Redlawsk, Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Delaware

For years, David Bonior was one of the biggest figures in Congress. But as he wrote in Eastside Kid , Through it all I pushed myself to never forget I was a son of Detroits working class who grew up loving underdogs. Ive always admired Bonior for leaving Congress voluntarily at the peak of his powers. But these days, I wish he hadnt decided to go quite so soon.

Jack Lessenberry, Senior Political Analyst, Michigan Radio

For Judy,

whose support and love made this book possible.

Copyright 2018 by David E. Bonior

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any fashion, print,
facsimile, or electronic, or by any method yet to be developed,
without the express written permission of the publisher.

City Point Press

P.O. Box 2063

Westport CT 06880

www.citypointpress.com

Distributed to the book trade by Simon & Schuster

Hardcover ISBN 978-1-947951-02-0

eBook ISBN978-1-947951-03-7

Cover and book design by Barbara Aronica-Buck
Front cover photo used by permission of Lloyd Wolf, Photographer