Dr. Lee Rogers Giving Buck McKeon a Taste of Sour Medicine-- Open Wide for Countrywide!

We all know that Buck McKeon is, at the very least, a legalistic bribe taker of massive proportions. We call them legalistic bribes because they are in the form of campaign contributions and eventually make it into his joint checking account by the method of payments to his incompetent treasurer/wife (and failed state assembly candidate). She has collected almost $600,000 from his campaign. It would be illegal for him to hire her for his congressional staff, so he hires her to do campaign work, albeit, horribly. She is the highest paid congressional spouse doing campaign work, not just in California, but anywhere in this wide country. The nepotism doesn’t end there. He paid $108,000 to redo his website, mostly to his son, David McKeon.

Now a bribe wouldn’t be a bribe unless he returned some kind of favor. So McKeon takes more money from weapons manufacturers than any other 2 congressmen or senators combined. He sits as the powerful chair of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) and had direct control over how tax dollars are spent on arms and on military contractors. Before becoming chair of the HASC he voted in agreement with the weapons manufactures 25% of the time. After becoming chair, in 2011, he voted in agreement with them 100% of the time. He thinks so highly of weapons manufacturers, he appointed one of their top lobbyists to be an advisor on the HASC, but not before this lobbyist collected a $500,000 bonus from Northrop Grumman. This "bonus" have been illegal if it occurred just days later. McKeon also foundeded and chairs the “drone caucus” which funnels hundreds of thousands of dollars into the pockets of Members of Congress who are “for sale” to strike the Fourth Amendment by authorizing 30,000 drones in US airspace by 2020. No joke. Who will they be spying on? Us.

Now on to the illegal bribe where McKeon was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Rep. Darrell Issa, chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is a fellow Republican and recently uncovered wrongdoing by several awful Democrats who were taking bribes from Countrywide Financial to raise the FHA loan limits and eventually led to the mortgage meltdown and sparked our recession. Don’t take my word for it. Listen to Issa here describing the program and calling them “bribes.” But, this is before Issa knew that McKeon was involved in the scandal. Issa’s report can be read here; McKeon starts on page 60.

Dr. Lee Rogers, a Blue America-endorsed candidate, has been hammering Buck McKeon where it hurts, on Countrywide. His campaign started a website www.PayItBackBuck.com with a Country Western theme claiming “Buck made out like a bandit.” Rogers has been leading the charge in the district, making sure voters know exactly what McKeon did and how it led to the mortgage crisis. He has pointed out the federal law prohibits gifts to any member of Congress and that House rules ban gifts more than $50-- we don’t know why there is a discrepancy either. In any case, it is proven than McKeon got a gift from Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo worth thousands. The Rogers team just released the ad (up top) online and is fundraising to put it on TV.

For his part in the mortgage meltdown, Mozilo agreed to a $73 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission but will not serve jail time. McKeon is the only member of Congress accused of wrongdoing in the Issa Report who has the gumption to run for reelection. All the others have already decided to retire or have been retired by the voters. Now it's McKeon's turn... but he's not going voluntarily.

Let's help Lee’s campaign raise $5,000 to put it up on cable TV in the district. There are two cable networks that, together, cover nearly the entire 25th CD, from Simi Valley to Santa Clarita and out to Antelope Valley. A $60 contribution gets the ad on the Rachel Maddow Show and $170 gets it up on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360. There are more exotic ways to go as well. $300 will cover either Project Runway on Life or the Food Network's TOP Chef: Masters. And then it's just $100 to get the ad on AMC's Breaking Bad. An alternative to picking a specific show is just to pick a prime time rotator schedule so the ad shows up in prime time on whatever show has space. It's a lot less expensive and your dollar goes a lot further. MSNBC only costs $30 and AMC is $65. CNN is $115; Life is $205 and Bravo costs $200. Take a look at the ad again and if you want to help, contribute on this page Lee set up specifically for this ad campaign. This is how we’ll help to put away one of the worst Members of Congress, Buck ‘The Bandit’ McKeon.