Joe DioGuarid is running for US Senate in the state of New York

Contact:          Faton Bislimi

faton@albaniansfordioguardi.com

+1 902 452 2881

March 23, 2010

The announcement of former Congressman Joe DioGuardi’s candidacy for the U.S. Senate provides Albanian Americans with an excellent opportunity to bring a powerful, representative voice to Capitol Hill. Joe DioGuardi is running as a Republican against an appointed Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand to represent the State of New York in the U.S. Senate in Washington, DC.  All Albanians should strongly support DioGuardi because he is good for America and even better for Albanian Americans!

Less than ten days after DioGuardi’s official announcement, Albanian Americans for DioGuardi (www.AlbaniansForDioGuardi.com) was launched as a way to bring together all Albanians across America in support of DioGuardi’s campaign. “DioGuardi’s candidacy presents the Albanian American community with a unique and historic opportunity to have a powerful and proven voice on Albanian national issues in the U.S. Senate,” said Faton Bislimi of Albanian Americans for DioGuardi. “If Serbs could help elect a governor of Illinois and a U.S. Senator from Ohio, both of Serbian descent, Albanian Americans can certainly help to elect Joe DioGuardi of Albanian heritage to the U.S. Senate. They must come together and support him now,” he added.

During his service in the US House of Representatives (1985-1989), Joe DioGuardi introduced the very first resolutions in support of Kosovar Albanians’ legitimate demands for fair treatment and freedom in the then Republic of Yugoslavia. At that time, most members of Congress and the American public had not heard of Kosova, much less about the cruel treatment of Albanians under the Serb-dominated Yugoslavia. Upon leaving Congress, DioGuardi founded the Albanian American Civic League in 1989 to represent the concerns of the Albanian peoples in Washington, D.C., especially for the independence of Kosova.

The work of AACL under the leadership and vision of Joe DioGuardi and his wife, Shirley Cloyes, succeeded in making Congress and the international community sensitive to the plight of Albanians living in Kosova, Macedonia, Montenegro, the Presheva Valley, and Cameria. Joe and Shirley initiated and testified at Congressional hearings to unveil the deteriorating political and economic conditions in which Kosovar Albanians lived. Also, at their invitation, several members of Congress went on fact-finding missions to Albanian lands in order to inform the U.S. government and the international community about the appalling brutality exercised by Slobodan Milosevic against Kosovar Albanians during ten years of occupation, culminating in the genocidal war of 1998-1999, and the repression of Albanians in Montenegro.

Thus, as Albanian Americans, we have a national and moral obligation to support Joe DioGuardi in his bid for Senate because since 1985, he has served as the defender of the security and human rights and freedom of the Albanian people. In the Senate, DioGuardi will continue as a passionate advocate in defending and promoting freedom, democracy, economic prosperity, and peace for all Albanians in the Balkans.