The Demarco Factor - 9780826517036

"Michael Pertschuk has spent his life battling for ordinary Americans against the moneyed interests in Washington---and, along the way, has energized and mobilized countless numbers of ordinary Americans for that same battle. It's the only hope we have. Read this and don your armor."---Robert Reich

Vinny DeMarco mght be a latter-day Don Quixote except that he tilts his lance at real obstacles to social justice: lobby-locked state legislatures and Congress, stonewalling the public will. In twenty years of organizing campaigns in Maryland, he has led successful efforts to pass gun control laws (against National Rifle Association opposition), to hike cigarette taxes to prevent youth smoking, and to extend health care to hundreds of thousands of low-income workers. He has also built a unique alliance of mainstream and conservative faith groups, which helped secure rare bipartisan votes in Congress for the enactment in July 2009 of landmark FDA regulation of tobacco manufacture and marketing.

Michael Pertschuk's engaging study of Vinny DeMarco and his successes draws out strategic and leadership lessons that engaged citizens and advocates can put to immediate and practical use.

"The lively campaign stories in this book capture the essence of [Vinny's] leadership."---Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, former Maryland Lieutenant Governor

"No advocate who wants to make change happen can afford to miss The DeMarco Factor."---Celinda Lake, progressive pollster; President, Lake Research

"My old adversary, the National Rifle Association, spends millions of dollars on slick campaigns and has lobbyists in $4,000 suits, but Vinny beats them with pocket change while wearing a Winnie-the-Pooh tie."---Sarah Brady

"The faith community in Maryland and across the country has benefited greatly from Vinny's uncanny ability to mobilize us behind life-saving public health policies."---Bishop Douglas I. Miles, Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD)

"As I have, all of us can learn from Vinny how to transform public will into political power."---Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley