Tom Andrews
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Tom Andrews, a former Member of Congress from the first Congressional District of Maine, is the National Director of Win Without War, a coalition of forty-two national membership organizations including the National Council of Churches, the NAACP, the National Organization of Women, the Sierra Club, and MoveOn. Win Without War led the national campaign opposing the US invasion of Iraq and is now leading opposition to the Bush administration’s policy there.
Andrews’ leadership of Win Without War has thrust him into the national spotlight appearing on network television programs such as Meet the Press, NewsNight with Aaron Brown, Wolf Blitzer Reports, Lou Dobbs and Crossfire and through speeches and special events including an address to the National Press Club in Washington that was broadcast to a live national television and radio audience. Andrews is a widely known and respected strategist and organizer. Win Without War’s campaign to lobby Congress generated over 1 million calls in a single day and its global candlelight vigil led to over six thousand events in 136
Andrews is President of New Economy Communications, a not-for-profit organization that provides strategic planning and communication services to individuals and groups working on human and labor rights issues at home and abroad. His clients include “No More Sweatshops – The Campaign for the Abolition of Sweatshop and Child Labor.” He is Senior Advisor to the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, chaired by Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. He has worked to promote democracy and human rights in emerging democracies throughout the world including Indonesia, Cambodia, Yemen, Algeria, Croatia, Serbia and Jordan and with international coalitions in Europe and East Asia.
He works on behalf of Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League of Democracy of Burma, the political party that won 82% of the seats in the parliament in Burma’s last democratic election but was denied the right to take office by Burma’s brutal military regime. In 2001 Andrews directed an international campaign for the release of Suu Kyi with the Nobel Peace Committee in Oslo Norway. The campaign featured 40 simultaneous events worldwide that included the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former Philippine President Corozan Aquino, and twenty-one Nobel Peace Laureates. The events were connected through satellite television and the Internet.
Andrews’ twelve years in public political office earned him a reputation as a strong, principled and effective leader. The columnist Jack Anderson called Andrews “the most courageous member of Congress.” Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate, called him “the most principled politician I have ever met.”
He was elected to the Maine House of Representatives in 1982, the Maine Senate in 1984 and the United States Congress in 1990. In the Maine Senate Andrews served as Chairman of the Joint Standing Committees on Taxation, Economic Development, and State Government. Upon his arrival in Washington, Andrews was elected president of the class of newly elected Democrats. He served on the powerful Armed Services Committee as well as the Committee on Small Business and the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee and was a Deputy Majority Whip.
Andrews grew up on a farm in Easton, Massachusetts and moved to Maine to attend Bowdoin College where he earned a degree in Philosophy and Religion. A turning point in his life was the discovery of cancer in his right leg at the age of sixteen. “I made one of those classic deals with the Almighty: Let me live and I’ll make it worth your while. I have literally been trying to keep my end of the bargain ever since.” His home is in South Portland Maine.