How Will Candidates Spend Last Minute Contributions That Come In Today And Tomorrow?

Chamber of Commerce selling America to China

If you've been pumping iron at a Gold's Gym-- or, for that matter, sleeping at an Omni Hotel-- you've helped pay for thousands and thousands of vicious and distorted attack ads against progressive champion Alan Grayson and for narrow-minded religious fanatic Daniel Webster in Orlando. The owner of both, Texas billionaire and right-wing fanatic Robert Rowling, has been pumping millions of dollars into Karl Rove's shady American Crossroads operation whose sole purpose is to take over Congress on behalf of the richest 2 or 3% of Americans... like Rowling. American Crossroads has raised more than $65 million as of Monday, $30 million of which has already been spent on 14 Senate and 18 House races, according to the Federal Election Commission. Grayson and other vulnerable progressives in tight races are among their key targets. Grayson's Orlando district is awash with shady but legal corporate cash and illicit foreign money targeting his reelection bid. The special interests want him out more than anyone else. He's too effective and too inspiring for the elites who run the country to be able to tolerate him, no matter what it costs.

On Tuesday alone, Rove's two corporate and billionaire-funded money machines, American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS spent $6.1 million attacking Democrats in 11 House races and 4 Senate races. The 2 biggest expenditures Tuesday were against Senator Patty Murray in Washington ($1,040,427) and Alexi Giannoulias in Illinois ($1,025,203) but while much of the rest was spent against Blue Dogs like Heath Shuler and Joe Donnelly, Rove also hit progressives Maurice Hinchey ($268,546) and Colleen Hanabusa ($76,195). As OpenSecrets pointed out, "his year’s federal election will obliterate spending records for a midterm contest, surpassing the previous high-water mark set in 2006 by about $1 billion... enough cash to run the city of Pittsburgh for two years. "

Identifiably conservative organizations are spending more than $2 on advertisements and other communications for every $1 liberal organizations do. While corporations are behind much of this money, many of these companies have skirted public scrutiny by laundering their cash through intermediary organizations, which often sport nondescript names and don’t immediately, if ever, reveal who funds them.

...Throughout most of last year, health care-related industries favored Democratic candidates and committees in their political giving. As Democrat Barack Obama entered the White House in January 2009, people and political action committees associated with the health sector that month donated about two-thirds of their federal-level contributions to his partisan brethren. The sector continued to favor Democrats for most of the year.

Suddenly, in January, the trend flipped-- just as Democrat-led health care reform legislation began to near final passage. In each month since, health interests have donated more money to federal-level Republican candidates and committees. And in September, a preliminary analysis of campaign finance filings by the Center indicates that the health sector donated more than 60 percent of its political money to the GOP-- by far, the greatest percentage of the 2010 election cycle.

A similar shift took place among Wall Street-related industries, which also dramatically shifted their donation patterns toward Republicans while Democratic-led financial reform legislation-- unpopular among many banks and financial firms-- coursed through Congress.

As recently as March 2009, Democrats enjoyed 63 percent of these industries’ campaign dollars. By September, the Center’s preliminary analysis finds, that figure had more than reversed itself, with 67 percent of Wall Street-related industries’ cash going to federal-level Republican interests.

...Small donors have the potential to give candidates a booster shoot of cash, as people who donate to a candidate, regardless of the amount donated, become invested in a candidate’s success.  And political candidates on the right and left have attempted to tap the enthusiasm of donors who contribute $200 or less-- political pocket change-- this season.

Some politicians rolling in the dough from small donors are Tea Party favorites, such as Florida Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio, Nevada Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), the chairwoman of the House Tea Party Caucus. Others are liberal firebrands, such as freshman Rep. Alan Grayson known for his YouTube-friendly rhetorical torrents against Republicans.

With nearly $4 billion already spent on the midterms is it still possible to have an impact with late contributions-- like today? I asked some of the candidates and their campaign staffers if there was anything they could do with last minute money that would make it worthwhile. Here are some of the responses:

Wednesday Justin Coussoule was on TV with Ed Schultz again and more donations came flooding in. Alleia Phipps manages Justin's grassroots effort in southwestern Ohio against John Boehner. "Just today," she told us, "I was able to book another 15K in media across the 8th District. While that may not sound like a lot to those in large media markets, we are able to purchase morning radio for as little as 4, 7 and 11 dollars each! A television spot in either market (Dayton or Cincinnati) can be purchased for $50 on cable with nightly news running about $1500.

Every penny we raise goes straight to media and I have our media reps on my blackberry ready to add more!

And I have to say, I do feel better and better about Justin's race knowing as we add media, so is Boehner! His campaign bought more just minutes after we did!"

I also spoke with Beth Krom, the savvy and intrepid Democrat taking on radical right Orange County Republican John Campbell.

The money that comes into campaigns between now and election day can allow campaigns to reach voters through a variety of mediums which drive GOTV efforts. Whether those resources underwrite enhanced media buys to get produced ads up on the air, or pays for professional literature drops to supplement volunteer efforts, I can think of no campaign that would not be able to effectively deploy contributions. The truth is that most campaigns commit dollars before they are raised and depend on a steady stream of contributions through election day to get their message out. We are continuing to raise in our race to end on the strongest note possible-- and have already committed to an additional mailing which those dollars will help to underwrite. Like it or not, campaigns must run like a business. That means raising the capital necessarily to effectively market the candidate. It’s not an easy proposition, and nothing is more frustrating than finding yourself with a great candidate and a great message, but lacking the financial resources to fully execute.

Lainey Edmisten is the campaign manager for Billy Kennedy's race against hate merchant Virginia Foxx in northwestern North Carolina. She answered the question very succinctly: "50% of the voters in our race have yet to hear Billy's name. 30% are still undecided. Of the folks who have seen our ads, they break our way. We have yet to go on network." Billy's campaign get's really specific about how supporters in the district can help over the next few days at that link half a sentence back. Blue America is running cable TV spots in this race and every cent that comes in on this page goes right up on the air immediately. Same for Justin Coussoule's race at this page.

Colin, who's managing Ann Kuster's surging campaign in New Hampshire has definite plans for late donations to the campaign. "In a tied race like ours, our campaign is scouring our polling and field data to find small pockets of voters that we can turnout to give our candidate the edge-- a few hundred, or a few thousand people who share particularly demographic or geographic traits that make them likely supporters. Donations by Friday at midnight can get one final piece of mail to them. Donations by Sunday at midnight can fund a ‘tele-town hall’ where we call 10,000 or 20,000 voters and put them on a professionally-managed conference call with the candidate to hear her pitch and ask questions. And donations by midnight Monday can be spent on the kind of last-minute ‘Google Surge’ advertising that helped Scott Brown defeat Martha Coakley in Massachusetts last winter."

The Blue America-backed progressive running against Wall Street shill Leonard Lance in New Jersey's 7th CD, Ed Potosnak, has outlined several plans he has for last minute contributions and he's put together an impressive Google ad initiative. "I am in a statistical dead heat with my opponent and engaged in an aggressive campaign," he reminds us. $10,000 today would allow me to beef up efforts currently underway in online advertising and voter outreach. My message has already been viewed 2,000,000 times and we have a goal to get another 10,000,000 impressions. Your contribution now will allow me to maintain this aggressive push and increase the number of times my ads are viewed by voters. Online advertising is an increasingly effective way to persuade voters and get them to the polls."

Kristopher Daams and Katie Mantz at Bill Hedrick's campaign here in Southern California will also make good use of whatever last minute contributions come in. "Probably the most effective way to use the money for GOTV would be to purchase minutes on a predictive dialer that increases the volume of GOTV phone calls a campaign can make (a predictive dialer is like this computer system that dials the telephone number automatically, increasing volume). Those calls can go out to 'lazy' Democrats who don't normally vote in midterm elections."

Fred Johnson's campaign manager, Lance Penny, tells me "If we got $500 - $1000 we'd like to put up a radio ad in Grand Haven. This is a town on the Lake Michigan shoreline that went blue for the first time in decades in 2008. It is loaded with first time voters from 2008, and will be key to our outcome. We'd love to run a GOTV centered ad on radio, to get these voters out. I can record a spot on a moment's notice, and have it on air later the same day. We could also do this in a number of other similar towns along the lakeshore, for about the same money in each town. It's not too late!"

Joyce Elliott's campaign manager, John Whiteside, also got back to me with a plan-- and a new ad (below). "It is definitely not too late to help our campaign as we enter the home stretch. Money you give today will immediately help us towards our television media buy which will be closing with the new advertisement. In addition, money given today and tomorrow will help us stay up with a strong presence on radio, internet, and our Get out the Vote volunteer and paid phone operations. We know the national folks have overlooked our race and we are grateful that the opposition has underestimated the strength of our candidate and the true progressive nature of our district. I can tell you Joyce Elliott's race is one of the best kept secrets in the country and it's a shame because she is one of the most talented and well qualified candidates in the country. We know we are going to win on Tuesday and we will be forever grateful for your help in these late stages and we will always remember those who stood with us."

You can donate today to the Blue America candidate of your choice on our House page or on our Senate page. The money won't be wasted.

Throwing In The Towel In The Democrats' Great ATM State

Let me start with California and I'll do the rest of the country soon. Obama won big in California in 2008. He beat McCain 8,274,473 (61%) to 5,011,781 (37%). All 51 of the state's incumbent House members were reelected, 34 Democrats and 19 Republicans. However, in 8 congressional districts with Republican incumbents, Obama beat McCain. Some were very close, like in the 48th CD (the heart of Orange County) where Obama edged McCain by just a few votes in a 49-49% finish and in the 3rd (the Sacramento suburbs), where it was almost an identical result. Other districts broke more resoundingly with their Republican pasts, particularly CA-45 (much of Riverside County) where Obama beat McCain 52-47%, a nine point swing after Kerry's dismal 43% in 2004. There were no congressional districts in California with Democratic congressmen where McCain beat Obama.

What this says is that, at least in theory, there are 8 Republican incumbents who should be in jeopardy in November. This is the list, along with Obama's winning percentage:

Dan Lungren (CA-03)- 49%
Elton Gallegly (CA-24)- 51%
Buck McKeon (CA-25)- 49%
David Dreier (CA-26)- 51%
Ken Calvert (CA-44)- 50%
Mary Bono Mack (CA-45)- 52%
John Campbell (CA-49)- 49%
Brian Bilbray (CA-50)- 51%

Each of these Republican congressmen is running again this year and each has a Democratic challenger. These are the races:

Dan Lungren vs Ami Bera
Elton Gallegly vs Tim Allison
Buck McKeon vs Jackie Conaway
David Dreier vs Russ Warner
Ken Calvert vs Bill Hedrick
Mary Bono Mack vs Steve Pougnet
John Campbell vs Beth Krom
Brian Bilbray vs Francine Busby

So is the DCCC seeing California as eight clear pick-up opportunities? Absolutely not. The DCCC is playing defense this year, not offense. Debbie Wasserman Schultz has made it clear the priority is to save seats of Blue Dogs and other conservative Democrats who have voted against Democratic priorities and thereby turned off the Democratic base. Virtually all the money the DCCC is collecting this year is going to shore up the desperate campaigns of reactionaries like Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL), Travis Childers (Blue Dog-MS), Chris Carney (Blue Dog-PA), Frank Kratovil (Blue Dog-MD), and Suzanne Kosmas (FL). The DCCC is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars per district-- as much as a million in some cases-- to help reelect members who vote anti-Choice, antigay, anti-healthcare. Some, like Bobby Bright and Walt Minnick, are even refusing to commit to vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker if the Democrats win in November.

Now, back to California and to the DCCC support for the challengers there. There's virtually none. Just two of the eight, Ami Bera and Steve Pougnet, are listed on the anemic, mostly ignored Red to Blue page, though neither of them, and none of the others, are getting any substantive help from the DCCC. Bera and Pougnet are, of course, grateful with the little help they are getting, though both campaigns, like the other six, are working hard on the ground and not counting on DC for anything. Like I said above, virtually every dime is going to bolster the conservatives who have caused the enthusiasm gap for the Democratic Party with their lockstep votes with John Boehner on so many crucial issues. So far the DCCC hasn't spent any money at all on media buys for any of the California challengers. Pougnet has raised $5,789 on the Red to Blue page and Bera has raised $1,255. Presumably, some Democratic donors will write checks because they're on that list. And the some media outlets interpret the list to mean they're "serious" candidates.

In 2008 the incumbent who came closest to be ousted was corrupt sex predator Ken Calvert, who beat challenger Bill Hedrick 129,937 (51%) to 123,890 (49%)-- in a district that is trending Democratic and where registered Democrats now outnumber registered Republicans. After Hedrick's shocking totals, the DCCC admitted they had made a mistake by not backing him and promised to not let that happen again. Although that's exactly what they're doing again. Not only haven't they given Hedrick any financial help-- which he can really use; they acknowledged last time that he would have won had they helped him-- but they haven't even given him the symbolic gesture of putting him on their limp Red to Blue list.

Calvert, a Big Business fave for his record of unwavering support for corporate bailouts and corporate welfare, has collected $1,368,747 so far this year. Bill's grassroots supporters have contributed $367,698 towards his campaign. (Blue America has helped him raise just over $10,000 so far and the PCCC is on the ground and working their butts off doing the functions that a less venal and confused and more competent DCCC should be doing.)

In CA-48 Beth Krom, the former Mayor of Irvine, is challenging John Campbell, an avowed “Birther” who is widely regarded as one of the most stridently partisan, do-nothing obstructionists in Congress. Beth is no naïve newcomer. She won five consecutive races as a Democrat in Irvine-- right in the heart of conservative Orange County. And she didn’t just win by a hair; she won her second term as Mayor with almost 60% of the vote. And guess what? Irvine is the largest city in the district, representing almost 30% of voters.

If that alone was not enough to catch the eye of the DCCC, she’s raised almost $600,000 with the vast majority coming from new contributors in the district. At a time when it’s pretty hard to separate people-- if not corporations-- from their money, Beth has built a whole new fundraising base. And get this... I'm hearing that more than 20% of her money has come from Republicans and another 20% from independents. That’s unheard of in Orange County, and demonstrates that Beth-- like Obama-- can get the crossover support necessary to win.

From what virtually every candidate and some Insider sources have told me, there are basically two criteria that guarantee the attention of the DCCC: raise $1 million without their help or run in a safe Democratic district where the minute you have won the primary you are the de facto winner of the general election.

I’ve met Beth Krom; she’s got moxy and Blue America was really proud to endorse her. To her credit, she doesn’t seem to have let the lack of enthusiasm by the power elite in Washington distract her from her goal. She made headlines a few months ago by winning the Democracy for America All-stars competition for grassroots organizing, beating out 99 other candidates nationwide. She’s exactly the kind of person we need in Washington, and if the DCCC or EMILY’s List (I don’t know what EMILY stands for today, but it definitely no longer means Early Money Is Like Yeast) were smart, they would have made Beth’s campaign one of their higher profile races.

I asked Beth how she feels about being ignored by these folks, and here’s what she said:

“Is it frustrating? Of course it’s frustrating. I see Joe Sestak on MSNBC talking about how he raised $4 million in four weeks following his primary win, and I understand the power that these endorsements have. Other than the $25,000 we raised following our DFA All-star win, every penny we’ve raised has been through a phone call or event. I’ve put every friendship and relationship on the line to raise what we need to fund a credible campaign-- I’m still $250,000 short, so tapping into a national network of support would be a dream right now. This is a race we can win. Partisan registration has changed dramatically with Republicans representing only 44% of registered voters, and many of those folks supporting me. We’d love to be put on the DCCC Red to Blue List, and know it would help us immensely, but with or without institutional support, our team is determined to do everything we can to make history in November.

I spoke to over a dozen candidates in districts across the country where Obama won but where the DCCC has just given up and there is tremendous frustration and even anger. Most of the candidates, understandably, were reluctant to go on the record and express their contempt for the party organizations. Russ Warner, however, is a straight-shooter and didn't hold back. He ran against David Dreier in 2008 and lost by approximately 32,000 votes out of around 150,000 cast. Russ has raised around a quarter million dollars this year which isn't bad until you see that Dreier, one of Wall Street bankster's most beloved California shills, has $1,021,140 in his campaign warchest. Needless to say, the DCCC has no interest in Russ' race whatsoever. Russ doesn't seem terribly interested in them either.

"The DCCC is one of the most self-serving organizations in Washington, DC. They only help those candidates in the 'good old boy' system. I'm not part of the good old boy system. They didn't help me much last time and this time they're not helping me at all.

Blue America is trying to help Russ overcome the immense financial wall he has to climb to be competitive with Dreier. If you can help, our DumpDavidDreier page is a good place to start. And what Russ had to say is pretty much what I heard from all the candidates who had run before and from almost all of the first time candidates as well. The feeling is that Obama ran a campaign that inspired hope among people disaffected from 8 years of Bush/Republican/corporate rule-- and then handed power to back to conservatives (an effective governing coalition of Republicans and Blue Dogs). It’s obvious the national Democratic party has chosen to play it’s power in ways that serve the party rather than the people. If incumbents lose their seats this November, they will have only themselves to blame.

The Democratic party used to stand for something more than protectionism. We can only hope the Democratic leadership will learn something from the pummeling that pollsters and pundits are predicting. Failing to embrace opportunities to pick up new seats seems like an obvious misstep. What a shame that with a Democratic President and House majority, the party is too short-sighted and self absorbed to support fresh ideas and help inspiring candidates.

Unemployment Benefits Finally Approved

DCCC begs us to keep shelling out cash so Walt Minnick can keep voting with the GOP on... everything!

Yesterday the House voted one last time-- so that their bill and the one the Senate finally passed this week would be identical and Obama could sign it, retroactively sending missed insurance compensation checks to over 2.6 million Americans thrown out of work by the very policies put forward by the conservatives who voted against unemployment insurance! The final vote in the House yesterday was 272-152, 10 worthless conservative Democrats joining Boehner to form a coalition against working families and 31 Republicans crossing the aisle in the other direction, mostly too scared to vote against their own constituents.

The treacherous Democrats-- exactly the types the DCCC is sure to give the most support in the upcoming midterms-- are retiring Washington shithead Brian Baird, Marion Berry (Blue Dog-AR), Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL), Jim Cooper (Blue Dog-TN), Baron Hill (Blue Dog-IN), Betsy Markey (Blue Dog-CO), Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC), Walt Minnick (Blue Dog-ID), Glenn Nye (Blue Dog-VA), Heath Shuler (Blue Dog-NC)... oh, an angry, retiring mentally unbalanced guy and 9 reactionary Blue Dogs. What a shock!

Speaker Pelosi was quick to blame Republicans responsible for causing this mess-- and rightly so-- but it strikes me as a little hypocritical that she rails against them and doesn't say a word about conservative Democrats who did the same-- and who are getting millions of dollars in DCCC re-election funds from a DCCC that she controls.

This emergency legislation will extend unemployment insurance (UI) benefits to millions of Americans families, which Republicans have held up for more than 7 weeks causing an estimated 2.5 million families to lose their lifeline that they have earned through their work... This is urgently needed after weeks of Senate Republicans’ ongoing obstruction of job creating legislation that extended critical unemployment benefits to help Americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own make ends meet as they look for a new job. We will not abandon these families.

Note: without the connivance of conservative Democrat Ben Nelson, the bill would have passed weeks ago and averted the tragedy for hundreds of thousands of American families. That said, most conservatives-- and especially most conservative sociopaths without consciences are Republicans. John Campbell, a far right California congressman from Orange County, voted against the unemployment extension once again yesterday. His opponent, former Irvine Mayor Beth Krom, currently on that city's Council, has been endorsed by Blue America-- and, of course, ignored by the DCCC. We called her after the vote yesterday and she told us she was disappointed-- but not surprised-- that Campbell wasn't among the nearly three dozen Republicans who put aside their partisan agenda for a moment to do something for average Americans in a tough spot. “Once again," she said, "as Congress in a rare show of bipartisan support voted to extend jobless benefits for 2.5 million unemployed Americans, John Campbell decided partisanship was more important than leadership. While Mr. Campbell makes excuses that he can’t support something if he doesn’t know exactly where the money is coming from, he conveniently forgets voting to support two wars as well as the bailout of Wall Street and the auto industry without ever concerning himself with how it would be paid for. The truth is, a lot of those 2.5 million unemployed Americans have people like John Campbell to thank for supporting policies that undermined our national economy.”

Just down the road a ways Blue America has another progressive candidate, Bill Hedrick, running against another reactionary shill, corrupt sleazebag Ken Calvert, who also refused to join in the bipartisan support to help the unemployed workers. "While I'm glad Congress finally passed extending unemployment benefits," said Hedrick, "it's sad to see local families being held hostage by the partisan political games Republicans like Ken Calvert are playing in Washington. Congressman Calvert should be ashamed of himself for using local families as pawns to score political points and for turning his back on his constituents when they needed his support the most."

Interestingly, every single Republican the Blue America candidates are running against voted in opposition to the extension: Michele Bachmann, John Boehner, Calvert, Campbell, and, of course, North Carolina crackpot Virginia Foxx. Ah... yes, crackpot Virginia Foxx... I called Billy Kennedy what the folks in western North Carolina think about Foxx's anti-family antics. He told me that around 9,300 of her constituents "have lost their jobs due to outsourcing to cheaper labor in China."

Her reasoning is that the government cannot possibly be expected to help those who are desperate to find jobs because it will add to the deficit.

But Virginia Foxx, the richest House member from North Carolina, doesn't worry about her personal tax cuts breaking the bank. She supports huge tax breaks that are extended to the richest Americans, even if the government has to borrow money to pay for it.

The unemployment benefits extension cost $34 billion. Virginia Foxx opposes it. The tax breaks for the wealthiest 5 percent of Americans cost more than one trillion dollars, all of which is borrowed money. Virginia Foxx supports them.

The big tax break windfall Virginia Foxx supports didn't go to most Americans. It didn't go to Americans who work hard days and long hours. It went to the bankers, big oil executives, crooked Wall Street traders, and... Virginia Foxx.

The way I see it, we just can't afford Virginia Foxx's tax break. And we can't afford Rep. Foxx any more either.

Too few jobs have been created in the past 10 years, and good people looking for jobs can't find them. But why should Virginia Foxx care? She's got hers. And you're paying for it.

I'm calling Virginia Foxx out on this hypocrisy. It's clear that she's out of touch, and it's time she took a peek outside those thick walls of Washington and came home to struggle to make ends meet like the rest of us.

Today's Worst Person: John Campbell (R-CA)

If you happen on the official congressional website of California Congressman John Campbell-- the one the taxpayers pay for-- you're notice he doesn't really keep it up. Under his "voting record," the last update was December 16, 2009. And there's a frontpage claim that the propaganda-oriented website, much mostly talks about how he's against everything, from healthcare to energy and environmental legislation, won a Bronze Mouse Award. “I have long made it a priority that my staff and I perform at the highest level of constituent service and outreach," bragged Campbell.  "My website serves as a vital conduit for this effort, and I, along with my staff will continue to work on improving it and other avenues of communication.” So why no update on the voting record since 2009?

Perhaps, and I'm only speculating, it's because he's embarrassed that someone representing a moderate, mainstream California district is voting so far to the right and that his 3.94 (out of 100) Progressive Punch score would be more suitable to some crackpot district in Texas or Mississippi than in the highly educated and culturally diverse Orange County suburbs.

Tuesday evening, for example, the House passed the Homebuyer Assistance and Improvement Act in order to extend the homebuyer tax credit for the purchase of a principal residence before October 1. It passed overwhelmingly with a bipartisan vote, 409-5. Even the GOP leadership, which usually obstructs just about everything, urged Republicans to vote YES. And 165 did, including some of the worst of the extremists like Michele Bachmann, Darrell Issa, Eric Cantor, even Joe Barton, the Texas crook who apologized to BP last week and was then caught laundering Big Oil cash into the campaigns of dozens of Republican candidates through his sleazy Texas Freedom Fund. (And, yes, Campbell took $2,500 from the Texas Freedom Fund and adamantly refuses to return it or donate it to an oil spill cleanup fund.) But 5 radicals dug in their heels and voted no-- and one was John Campbell.

Speaker Pelosi explained why the legislation is so important to helping to revitalize the American economy. “As a part of our efforts to strengthen America’s housing market, Democrats created the successful first-time homebuyer tax credit. With the help of this credit, more than 4 million families have been able to achieve the dream of homeownership, and in doing so, given a boost to our economy. 

“The legislation passed by the House today will extend the deadline for Americans already in the process of buying a home, but facing delays that would mean they no longer qualify for the credit. Up to 180,000 homebuyers will now receive the tax credit they deserve, and our housing market will be strengthened as a result.

“We will continue to work to strengthen our nation’s economy: creating good American jobs, providing the lowest taxes in 60 years for the middle class and small businesses, and closing tax loopholes that send jobs overseas.”

Makes sense, even to kooks like Mean Jean Schmidt, Virginia Foxx and Steve King. But not to John Campbell. No wonder he doesn't want anyone to see his current voting record on his "award-winning" website!

Blue America has endorsed City Councilmember and former Irvine Mayor Beth Krom and we reached her this morning. She pointed out that "Once again, John Campbell has voted against the interests of his own district by opposing the homebuyer tax credit."

Given that he and his family live in an exclusive gated estate community that overlooks a vast swath of open space, you would think he could muster a little sympathy for the thousands of people in his own district who stand to benefit from this tax credit. He doesn’t mind corporate welfare, but when it comes to the needs of working people in America, he couldn’t care less. He’s not just opposed to helping homebuyers, though. In a recent post on the Town Hall blog, he recommends eliminating funding for Amtrak, Community Development Block Grants, Public Broadcasting, National Endowment for the Arts, Energy Star and Title X Family Planning programs-- just to name a few. Compared to this guy, Marie Antoinette looks like a friend of the people. I don’t want to live in the kind of America that John Campbell represents. Corporations are not more important than people in our society. If we lose our ability to aspire for a better life, including the opportunity to own a home and realize the American dream, our future as a nation will look far worse than it does today.

Today's the last day of the campaign fundraising quarter and if you're thinking of donating to a campaign, let us suggestion you think about Beth's race against Campbell (who is, after all, awash in oily special interests money).

Republicans And Their Blue Dog Allies Fight Disclosure Of Where Big Money In Politics Is Coming From

Ordinary Americans on both sides of the red/blue divide reacted the same way to the recent narrow ruling from the corporatist Supreme Court in Citizens United v. FEC, Virtually everyone would like to see whittling away at democracy dealt with. Virtually. Those who don't want to see it dealt with are corporate executives, lobbyists, and, of course, the Republican and Blue Dog office holders who have built their political power from corporate patronage. The first step towards fixing it, the DISCLOSE Act passed yesterday 219-206, only 2 Republicans voting with the American people-- while 36 mostly corrupt Blue Dogs crossed the aisle to stand with corporate hacks like Boehner and Cantor.

Among the bad Democrats yesterday were many of the usual suspects, Boehner Boys like John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA), Melissa Bean (IL), Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK), Allen Boyd (Blue Dog-FL), Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL), Travis Childers (Blue Dog-MS), Mark Critz (DCCC-PA), Joe Donnelly (Blue Dog-IN), Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (Blue Dog-SD), Baron Hill (Blue Dog-IN), Frank Kratovil (Blue Dog-MD), Jim Marshall (Blue Dog-GA), Walt Minnick (Blue Dog-ID), Harry Mitchell (Blue Dog-AZ), Glenn Nye (Blue Dog-VA)... I think you get the picture. It would be more newsworthy if this crew of corporate shills voted with the Democrats!

Earlier this week People For The American Way released a poll showing that 77% of Americans-- including majorities of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans-- support a Constitutional Amendment to reverse Citizens United, and 74% would be more likely to vote for a congressional candidate who felt the same. Let's hope those voters keep that in mind this November, when a safe bet would be to just vote against every single Republican and every single Blue Dog.

Yesterday the opposition to the legislation was led, as usual, by an annoyed John Boehner who seemed to resent he had to waste time in DC when he could be putting away on one of his favorite Florida golf courses. His clownish negativity about reform had to be contrasted to some of his past statements on the subject-- like on Meet the Press on February 11, 2007: “I think what we ought to do is we ought to have full disclosure, full disclosure of all of the money that we raise and how it is spent. And I think that sunlight is the best disinfectant.” One year before he gave a press conference where he also posed as a reform-minded good government type, maybe a little nervous about the incident with the tobacco lobbyist checks on the floor of the House: “The House is going to take up 527 legislation next week. And there may be several proposals on the floor in terms of how we rein in their activity. I think this was a gaping loophole in the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill. I think it needs to be fixed. To have all of this unregulated campaign cash going to these organizations and allowing them to engage in campaign activities without any disclosure is-- it's wrong. And so we've worked closely with Senator McCain. The House needs to deal with this, and we will next week.”

And just two weeks before that, Boehner was bullshitting about 527s: "The 527s were created out of the bipartisan campaign finance reform, something that many of us foresaw, that we were pushing money out of a regulated system into an unregulated system. You know, most people wanted to get rid of soft money because they didn't think it was regulated, even though soft money had to be disclosed in terms of who gave it, what amounts, and how you spent it-- and there were rules around how you could spend it. And when you look at what happened after campaign reform passed, these 527 organizations erupted. There is no disclosure of where their money comes from or how they spend it or what they do with it. And they're spending hundreds of millions of dollars trying to influence federal elections. And I believe that these organizations ought to be covered under the same kind of regulations that govern political parties."

And his response yesterday? Aside from voting against what he himself said should be done in the past, he forced Republican discipline so that even members of his caucus uncomfortable with the notion of being labeled as corrupt so close to an elect, were all forced to toe the party line. The Democrat running for the western Ohio seat currently occupied by Boehner, Justin Coussoule expected no more from Boehner. "Why would anyone doubt that John Boehner would vote against restricting the expected avalanche of corporate contributions to extend their domination of our American political process? The idea, as expressed in the Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United decision was foolhardy enough, pretending that corporations such as BP are to be recognized as 'persons' whose free speech and political contributions should be unlimited, but given the level of big oil, tobacco , insurance and pesticide contributions that Boehner chalks up like clockwork is it any wonder that he refuses to support meaningful restraints that ensure the transparency and keep our democracy on life support? Boehner once again has shown that he stands with faceless corporate power against the interests of citizens in his district and across the nation who often suffer from policies that he supports and for which he is richly rewarded by his big money benefactors."

Contrast Boehner's disingenuous approach to that of Jerry Nadler, chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Nadler, calling the bill "an essential bill to reform the campaign finance system in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s January 21st decision in Citizens United v. FEC," said it has been irresponsible of the Supreme Court to rule that corporations are the same as people and have a constitutional right to pump as much money as they want into elections. "The very real danger now is that corporations, some with wholesome sounding names, will be able to use vast sums of concentrated money to further corrupt our political process. Without action, as a result of this activist Supreme Court decision, our electoral system will once again be at the mercy of large moneyed interests. The DISCLOSE Act will make a vast and substantial difference in protecting the integrity of our elections. The DISCLOSE Act, which is the most far-reaching campaign finance reform since McCain-Feingold, will:

•     Prevent government contractors from spending money on elections;

     •     Prevent corporate beneficiaries of TARP from spending money on elections;

     •     Prevent foreign nations, companies and individuals, or U.S. corporations controlled by foreign governments, from exerting influence on U.S. elections;

     •     Prevent campaign spenders from coordinating their activities with candidates and parties, thereby halting manipulation of elections by fly-by-night hit groups funded by corporations such as BP, special interests, foreign companies, and multimillionaires;

     •     Strengthen disclosure of electioneering communications, exposing Wall Street, Big Oil, insurance companies, and other special interest groups behind last minute attack ads and other election ads, and requiring their CEOs to stand by their ads;

     •     Enhance requirements for public disclosure of political expenditures by corporations, unions and non-profit organizations;

     •     Enhance disclaimers in ads, requiring sponsors and top donors to identify themselves and take responsibility for their ads;

     •     Require organizations that lobby to disclose political expenditures under the Lobbying Disclosure Act; and,

     •     Enhance requirements for disclosure of political expenditures to corporate shareholders and member of other organizations.

Another advocate of this bill-- and someone who helped craft it-- was Orlando congressman Alan Grayson. His was the amendment to limit foreign-owned companies from influencing American elections, which passed unanimously, even Republicans too embarrassed to vote against it. The amendment prohibits campaign spending by corporations who have a majority of their shares owned by foreign nationals and bans spending by foreign entities in which a foreign government, foreign government official, or foreign government-controlled company has more than a 5% ownership stake. “American elections are for Americans," he said. "We cannot put the law up for sale, and award government to the highest bidder. Democracy is for the people by the people-- not something into which foreign interests can buy... Foreigners cannot vote in our elections, so they should not be allowed to spend unlimited money to buy votes either. [It] protects against the threat of a corporate takeover of government in America. By keeping control in the hands of citizens, and away from foreign influences, we are protecting our country. Decisions will be made by those with our best interest in mind."

Several of our Blue America candidates fully agree with Grayson that these kinds of decisions are being made by people who do not have our bets interests in mind-- but their own. Oklahoma state Senator Jim Wilson is running against one of the few Democrats to vote with the Republicans on this, reactionary Blue Dog Dan Boren. This morning Jim told me that Boren's vote makes it "even more obvious that Dan Boren believes in a Bourgeois Society in which the wealthy and their offspring and chosen few control the masses. Could it be he thinks the citizens of Oklahoma Congressional District 2 are his proletariat, the poorest class of working people without the ability to select a representative who is not chosen by class?"

Our two Southern California progressive candidates, Beth Krom and Bill Hedrick-- each of whom is challenging one of the recipients of laundered Texas Freedom Fund money (which neither will return)-- both had serious questions about why their opponents refused to vote for the legislation. Bill Hedrick: "Who could oppose the right of citizens to know who is paying for political ads? Who could oppose limits on corporations with significant foreign ownership from meddling in US elections? No one, with the exception of those candidates like Ken Calvert expecting to benefit form a gush of corporate-funded ads.

"The DISCLOSE Act is a first step toward addressing the wrong committed against the American political process when the Supreme Court opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate influence. It has been said that when the light goes on, the roaches scatter.  The DISCLOSE Act shines a bright light on secretive political ads.  It will be fascinating to watch the scurrying when those paying for ads must be revealed."

Beth's opponent, John Campbell, is the same kind of sleazy operator as Calvert and she couldn't say she was surprised by his vote. By now, everyone knows what he's all about-- himself. Beth:

Once again, my opponent, John Campbell has sided with special interests instead of supporting greater transparency for the American people. Apparently he thinks organizations airing political ads shouldn’t have to disclose where the money to fund the ads is coming from. Since most of his fundraising dollars have come from special interest PACs, it appears self interest has played a large role in his opposition to the DISCLOSE ACT.

Why should special interests be allowed to spend millions of dollars to influence the outcome of elections, without having the same public disclosure requirements American citizens must adhere to? If corporations are granted the same rights as citizens, they should have the same obligations.

Unchecked influence in our political process has undermined our democracy and degraded the quality of our leadership. In light of the recent Supreme Court ruling allowing corporations and unions to freely spend their own funds to influence the outcome of elections, it seems only fair that there should be public disclosure of how that campaign activity was paid for.

In less than one minute on the House floor, Georgia Congressman Hank Johnson summed up the DISCLOSE Act in a way anyone can understand:

Blue America Welcomes Beth Krom (D-CA)

This year the DCCC has decided to spend virtually all of its resources playing defense. They're not spending money on replacing out-of-step, obstructionist Republicans-- not even vulnerable ones like John Boehner, Paul Ryan, Thaddeus McCotter and John Campbell-- but on saving the worthless hides of the mistrusted Blue Dogs who vote most frequently with the GOP and who have opposed most of the president's Change Agenda-- reflexive reactionaries like Travis Childers (MS), Bobby Bright (AL) and Walt Minnick (ID). So once again, its up to grassroots and netroots organizations like ours-- who helped find and support progressives the DCCC ignored, like Alan Grayson, Donna Edwards, John Hall, and Carol Shea-Porter-- to work toward making Congress a more receptive place for progressive values and ideas that put ordinary working people before wealthy corporate interests. And today we want to introduce you to one of those candidates, Orange County activist Beth Krom. She'll be joining us live at Crooks and Liars at 11am, PT-- 2pm, ET, in case anyone from the DCCC wants to see what they're missing.

Beth is a proven, intrepid, can-do progressive-- a former mayor of Irvine and current City Council member of that city-- who is running for the Orange County seat, CA-48, currently help by one of the most ridiculous of all California Republicans, "Birther Amendment" author John Campbell. The district used to be solidly red but has been changing-- and rapidly. Old style pundits and prognosticators may not have noticed-- they're better at reporting what happened than predicting what's happening-- but districts like Beth's have undergone profound demographic changes. In 2008, in fact, Obama narrowly won the 48th, which helped him run up a 67-31% statewide vote against John McCain.

A dedicated environmental activist, she first ran for City Council in 2000 to stop an international airport from being built at Orange County’s former El Toro Marine Base. Within the first two years she served, a countywide initiative was drafted and passed that rezoned El Toro for park and open space use. Today, where the airport was proposed, the Orange County Great Park is being developed. The park is the missing link in, what will be, once restored, the longest urban wilderness corridor in America, extending from the ocean at Crystal Cove to the Mexican border. When we talked with Beth about the importance of smart growth, open space preservation and balanced planning, she pointed out that "buildings don’t make communities; people make communities."

Beth is exactly the kind of candidate we would like to see replacing a careerist clown and partisan hack like Campbell. Profoundly anti-environmental-- yet representing one of the most beautiful stretches of seacoast in America-- Campbell is every irresponsible developer's fondest dream. Beth has a very different vision for Orange County and for America.

As we experience the “shock and awe” that has gripped the nation in the wake of the worst offshore oil spill in human history, it’s important to consider that our thirst for oil has led to policies that place our entire ecosystem at risk.

When everything is out of balance, we feel the effects on a daily basis. An economy out of balance, a healthcare system out of balance and a planet out of balance, reflect public policies that are out of balance. There are no perfect solutions, but ignoring our problems will only lead to greater challenges in the future.

Politics is not about the black and white, it’s about the thousand shades of gray. It takes smart, courageous politicians to advance the kind of policies that will inspire change and help to move our country forward.

We think Beth can win and we think she'll bring a tremendous improvement to Congress and to Orange County is she does. If you can, please consider giving her a hand at the Blue America ActBlue page.

Notes From The Grassroots- Guest Post From Lori Vandermeir

In politics, it’s not always our enemies who keep us up at night. Sometimes it’s our friends.

That’s one of the tough lessons I learned working on the Bill Hedrick (CA 44) race against Ken Calvert in 2008. We came within 2 points of winning that race. Amazing, considering the district was considered a "safe" Republican seat with a 16 year incumbent and a large registration disadvantage. The Democratic candidate who ran two years earlier lost by 23%.

On paper, that district looked impossible to win, even with an incumbent being investigated for shady land deals and questionable earmarks. As a result, Bill got few endorsements and no support from the national players.

It wasn’t for lack of trying. I spent hours on the phone, trying to convince the Democratic leadership that Bill was the perfect candidate for that solid blue collar district. He was a family man-- a father of five with two sons serving in Iraq-- and an educator and elected school board member with strong credibility and great name recognition. Unemployment in the Riverside portion of the district (which accounted for almost 80% of the vote) was the second highest rate in the nation. Foreclosures were staggering, and the incumbent had voted for everything that had gotten us into this economic mess. The incumbent was vulnerable. It was the perfect storm.
 
Bill raised only $190,000 in that race. But we had an aggressive field campaign, knocking on doors of both Democrats and Republicans. With another $50,000 we could have secured the votes to win. There’s no doubt that Bill’s race in 2008 was seen as “the one that got away.” Hindsight doesn’t help much in politics. That’s why foresight is so important.

Bill is running again, and I hope he wins. [Blue America has endorsed him and is helping him raise funds; the DCCC is still taking a wait-and-see approach.] Unfortunately, Calvert has been awakened to his vulnerability and will not be complacent this time around. An opportunity was missed in 2008 and whatever lessons were learned, there is no way to apply them retroactively.

In this campaign cycle, I am working for Beth Krom who is challenging incumbent John Campbell (CA 48), co-sponsor of the “Birther Bill.” Beth has won five consecutive elections in Irvine-- the largest city in the district-- including two terms as Irvine’s directly elected Mayor. Beth is bright, articulate, engaging, thoughtful, and has a proven track record for winning tough elections. She knows the district better than the incumbent and has built an amazing network across many platforms. [Beth is Blue America's most recently endorsed candidate.]

Beth understands how to connect the dots, she is solution oriented and demonstrates the kind of passion and courage that is desperately needed in Congress today. Unlike Campbell who is rarely seen in the district and who hates the retail side of politics, Beth Krom is seen as both accessible and effective. She is energetic and focused, and respected by almost everyone-- even those who may disagree with her on certain issues.

Consider this: of the more than $400,000 she has raised to date, more than 20% has come from Republicans! THAT has never happened in an Orange County race where a Democrat was challenging a Republican incumbent before. And no district in America has seen registration shift as much over the past decade as CA 48. What was once considered a rock solid Republican district, is now dominated by Democrats and Decline-to-State voters, with Republicans holding only 44% of the vote. People are still amazed to learn that Barack Obama won the district!

Is this a viable race? You bet!

Yet, even with key endorsements from Labor, NEA, Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood and others, the DCCC remains on the sidelines-- at least for the time being. They say that people who do not learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them.

Scott Brown had a 3 to 1 registration deficit when he pulled off his upset in Massachusetts. Charlie Brown ran twice in California and nearly won both times-- despite a 15% registration disadvantage. Through both of these races, as well as Bill Hedrick’s, runs a common thread. The presumed winner was out of touch with constituents, treated public office as an entitlement and upset voters so much that they were willing to vote for a person rather than a party.

The same dynamics are at play in Beth Krom’s race against John Campbell. She points out that, during her term as Mayor, he didn’t once visit City Hall, attend a public event, inquire about the city’s priorities or even send a letter of congratulations when Irvine was named “Safest Big City in America” four years in a row. And despite the fact that CA 48 is one of the “Top 10” districts when it comes to sending tax dollars to Washington, Campbell-- who defines EVERY appropriation as an earmark-- works every day to make sure not one penny comes back.

That pissed off residents in Newport Beach who sought funding to dredge the Back Bay as part of their coastal preservation efforts, not to mention UC Irvine-- a major research university-- which loses out of federal grants because Campbell won’t advocate for them. Throughout the district, local leaders cite occasions when they reached out to Campbell for assistance, only to be rebuffed.

When Beth wins this race-- and I believe she will-- I hope it is with the full support of the DCCC, Emily’s List and other key players. Most of Beth’s current donors have never given to a federal candidate before. That’s impressive. But those who are accustomed to writing checks to national candidates, need the Democratic leadership and the base to openly endorse and urge support for this the winnable race in their own backyard.
 
The “Mrs. Krom Goes to Washington” campaign recognizes that people are still the greatest source of power in our democracy. This will be a game-changing election for Orange County and for America. There are no magic wands or crystal balls, but with a great candidate, active support, an aggressive field campaign and an “anti-incumbent” sentiment growing throughout our country...this is an opportunity we can’t afford to miss.



UPDATE: A Little Note From Howie

I hear testimony from idealistic grassroots activists like Lori-- from all over the country-- constantly. They are frustrated with the Insider game national politicians, and the special interests who finance them, play. This isn't just about corrupted Republicans; it's also about a corrupted Democratic Establishment. The DCCC is no friend of progressives, of grassroots activists, or of ordinary working families. Candidates like Beth Krom and Bill Hedrick are. I'd like to acknowledge Lori's activism today by offering to give away a box of 25 brand new CDs, all genres of music included. Everyone who donates any amount to both Beth Krom and Bill Hedrick (here, at the Blue America page) in the next 24 hours will have their name entered for a Blue America drawing and one winner will be randomly chosen to get the box of CDs.

Who's Worse So Far This Week, John Boehner Or John Campbell?

Boehner must have been high from something in the tanning salon but he twittering away merrily today a letter to the editor Mike Pence wrote and managed to get the Indianapolis Star to print for him. Big surprise: Mike Pence opposes bailouts. He actually does. Pence was the only member of the Republican House leadership, in fact, who voted against the September 29 and October 3 no-strings-attached Wall Street bailouts that Bush shoved down their throats. And the biggest irony of all is that Boehner, of all people, is sucking up to Pence when it was Boehner who not only voted for the heinous bill twice but who strong-armed reluctant Republicans into going along with it and then delivering two dozen Republicans on October 3 to pass the bill after it had been defeated just a week earlier. Boehner certainly earned the $3,533,714 he's accepted from the Financial Sector-- as did his #1 Deputy Dog Eric Cantor ($4,030,235) and other crooked members of the House Republican leadership, like Roy Blunt ($3,573,427), Pete Sessions ($3,002,107), Spencer Bachus ($4,287,174), David Dreier ($2,234,838), and Paul Ryan ($1,787,215). Boehner, whose entire political career has been-- and continues to be-- financed by special interests lobbyists, led them all into the calamitous TARP bailout which the Bush economic team had carefully put together to rip off American taxpayers on behalf of the most avaricious and venal banking interests in the world. And now he's desperately trying to make out like he hates bailouts. Since the political demise of Tom DeLay Boehner has been widely considered the most corrupt man in Washington, a favorite of the most insidious lobbyists and a bagman for corporate special interests eager to funnel legalistic bribes to Republican members of Congress willing to do their bidding, regardless of how badly it impacts their own constituents.

A regular on the cocktail and fundraising circuit, Boehner has long been friendly with a number of corporate and contract lobbyists-- a network that he is increasingly relying on now as he eyes the Speakership. Altria’s Gates, along with his wife, Joyce Gates, who once served as Boehner’s chief of staff, and Quinn Gillespie’s Lampkin are considered key members of Boehner’s inner circle, as are Gary Andres of Dutko Worldwide, Terry Holt, a former Boehner aide who is now with the Republican lobbying firm HDMK, and John Fish, an in-house lobbyist with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

Ohio native Steve Clark of Clark, Lytle & Geduldig, his partner Sam Geduldig, who was Boehner’s political director, and Glover Park Group’s Brian Gaston, another one-time Boehner staffer, are also tight with the top House Republican.

“I think that he has an excellent relationship with a lot of people on K Street,” Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.) said. “He raises a lot of money through the Freedom Project, and of course, he transfers a lot of money to the team, to the [National Republican Congressional Committee] and to Members.”

Justin Coussoule, the fiscally responsible Democrat opposing Boehner for re-election doesn't want to see him get away with the perfidy unchallenged. "To those millions who are rightfully angered by the bail out of Wall Street banks and financial institutions who violated our trust and created an economic disaster for American families," said Coussoule, "they should be reminded that the bail out was George Bush's and John Boehner twisted arms to pass the bill for his friends on Wall Street.

"Although a response while our nation stood at the edge of economic collapse may have been necessary, a bail out without transparency, accountability and safeguards for American families was inexcusable. But 'Bail Out Boehner' chose to protect his friends on Wall Street and stiff working families, leaving them to pick up the tab."

Yesterday-- like almost every day when he's not out on the links, Boehner was running around making a lot of negative noises, a substitute, at least in his mind, for doing substantive work to clean up some of the mess he has helped create over the past two decades. Yesterday what he was huffing and puffing about was his and Cantor's silly new pet project-- yet another tax-payer funded gimmicky boondoggle for Republicans-- YouCut.

He yells and carries on so much about how long it's taking for Obama to fix the economy-- that he was so integral in wrecking-- that he never seems to notice when any of the progress the legislation he always routinely opposes seems to be working. Yesterday the nonpartisan CBO gave credit to the Recovery Act-- which Boehner claimed would lead to the end of the world-- with having already created or saved nearly 3 million jobs in the first quarter of 2010-- something that Boehner fears could have an adverse effect on his ability to hang on to his own job!

While more must be done to create and save jobs, this is even better than earlier CBO estimates for this time period. Looking ahead, CBO projects up to 3.7 million American jobs could be attributed to the Recovery Act by the end of the September.

In January 2009, before Congress enacted the Recovery Act, Americans lost 779,000 jobs in just one month. A year later, job losses have turned to jobs gains of 290,000 in April-- the largest gain in four years and a 1 million job swing from the end of the Bush Administration. This marks the fourth month of job growth with 573,000 American jobs added since December-- 84% in private sector. This is a sharp reversal from the job losses and deep economic crisis President Bush left behind. If job growth continues at this pace, the Obama Administration will create more jobs in 2010, than the Bush Administration created in eight years:

But when it came time to vote, Boehner was reluctant, this close to election time, to be as blatantly obstructionist as usual. So Monday night he led most of his caucus-- not counting 4 lunatic fringe nutcases who got all carried away with the Limbaugh rhetoric about the government failing and collapsing, 4 with drool dripping from their chins-- to vote "yes" on Hank Johnson's and John Conyers' legislation to amend the Antitrust Criminal Penalty Enhancement and Reform Act of 2004. The 4 were the usual anti-U.S. suspects: Paul Broun (R-GA), Michael Burgess (R-TX), Tom McClintock (R-CA) and, needless to say Rand's loony papa Ron Paul (R-TX).

Then yesterday another bill came up that Boehner decided was too dangerous to obstruct: Jerry McNerney's H.R. 5145, Assuring Quality Care for Veterans Act. In fact that one passed 413-2. 2? Who would oppose quality care for the men and women who fought to protect our country? Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and John Campbell (R-CA).

Flake has a mind of his own but Campbell usually always goes along with Boehner on everything. He was certainly an avid Bush bankster bailout supporter-- and no one had to twist his arms. One of the most egregiously corrupt members of Congress, Campbell is always sniffing around for bankster PAC money and he voted for the bailout on September 29, when most members of Congress opposed it and it failed, and again, when it passed, on October 3, 2008. A couple of weeks ago the Irregular Times featured a story about Campbell wearing that "Join The Resistance" tee-shirt you see him modeling above.

That sounds hip. It sounds independent. It sounds countercultural.

Is it? Just what sort of resistance is Representative Campbell advocating?

It seems that Campbell’s resistance is heavily funded by corporations and their lobbyists. According to the Federal Election Commission, among the biggest contributors to Campbell’s 2010 re-election campaign are the following political action committees:

- AFLAC PAC

- American Bankers Association PAC

- American Financial Services Association PAC

- American Insurance Association PAC

- Ameriprise Financial Inc. PAC

- Bank of America Corporation Federal PAC

- Blue Shield of California PAC

- Charles Schwab Corporation PAC

- Citigroup Inc. PAC

- Commercial Real Estate Financial Council PAC

- Credit Suisse Securities PAC

- Ernst and Young PAC

- Exxon Mobil Corporation PAC

- Financial Services Rountable PAC

- International Council of Shopping Centers Inc. PAC

- Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company PAC

- Microsoft Corporation PAC

- Mortgage Bankers Association PAC

- New York Life Insurance Company PAC

- Pricewaterhousecoopers PAC

- Raytheon Company PAC

- Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association PAC

The only resistance I can imagine all these powerful corporations would participate in would be a resistance to control of the political process by individual constituents. Why would we want to join that kind of resistance?

Campbell has never opposed a special interests bill that any of his big campaign donors has hired lobbyists to push. He's just that kind of guy. Not even when we're trying to help veterans-- and just as Memorial Day approaches.

Beth Krom is the newest candidate to be endorsed by Blue America. A former mayor and current city council member of Irvine, she's a progressive Democrat taking on the odious Campbell. She noticed his bizarre vote yesterday as well and sent us a comment on it last night. She pointed that "despite the endorsement of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Paralyzed Veterans of America, Congressman John Campbell (CA 48) voted NO today on H.R. 5145, the Assuring Quality Care for Veterans Act. With our nation poised to honor the service and sacrifice of military personnel in observance of Memorial Day next week, it is astounding that Campbell would be one of only two Congressmen opposing this bill-- which enjoyed strong bipartisan support and passed with 413 votes."

She looked into the bill closely to try to understand why her district's congressman broken with the rest of Congress, including his own party leaders, to vote against this bill which most people in Orange County would be very support of and find very patriotic. The 48th district, which has a strong military history and a large veteran community, was home to the Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro and the Tustin Lighter Than Air Base. Camp Pendleton, an active Marine Base, lies just beyond the district boundaries. "The legislation, which encourages VA medical professionals to participate in continuing education courses in their field of practice, will help ensure that our nations veterans get the best possible care from medical professionals by supporting up-to-date training. H.R. 5145 allows the VA to offer reimbursements for continuing professional education to nurses, psychologists, physical therapists and other medical providers, as well as physicians and dentists. The reimbursement rate will be increased from $1000 to $1600-- the first increase since 1991." Obviously all the other Southern California members of Congress-- both parties-- voted for it.

“John Campbell had no trouble supporting Cash for Clunkers, but when it comes to investing in the education and training of the people in whose care we place our injured and ailing military veterans, he just says NO! Apparently Campbell cares more about cars than the quality of care provided to our veterans... Given the increase in traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) cases related to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the need for enhanced training has never been greater."

We're just getting going with fundraising for Beth's campaign. Please consider helping out at the Blue America ActBlue page.

Will Voters Bail Out Republicans Like John Boehner, Paul Ryan & John Campbell Who Engineered The Wall Street Bailout & Are Fighting Against Reform?

On September 29, 2008, the Bush economic team acted as though it was hysterical about the banking system melting down. The House had just defeated H.R.3997, a vehicle for the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, better known as the Wall Street bank bailout, and the Bush team demanded Congress change its mind or the financial system would collapse. It had failed 205-228, although Republican House Leader John Boehner managed to drag himself off the golf course to vote for it, as did GOP heavyweights Spencer Bachus (R-AL, top Republican on the Financial Services Committee), Paul Ryan (R-WI, top Republican on the Budget Committee and the Ways and Means Committee), Eric Cantor (R-VA, number-two Republican in the House) Roy Blunt (R-MO, ex-number-two Republican in the House), Pete Sessions (R-TX, head of the NRCC), Jerry Lewis (R-CA, top Republican on the Appropriations Committee), Dan Lungren (R-CA), Ken Calvert (R-CA), and David Dreier (R-CA, top Republican on the Rules Committee).

Among the Republicans who voted for the bailout (either on September 20 or October 3 or on both days) and have been financed politically by the Wall Street bankers and are now running for higher office are Mike Castle (who wants to be a Delaware senator), John Boozman (who wants to be an Arkansas senator), Mark Kirk (who wants to be an Illinois senator), Adam Putnam (who wants to be the Florida Agriculture Commissioner, a step toward the governor's mansion), Roy Blunt (who wants to be a Missouri senator), Pete Hoekstra (who wants to be governor of Michigan), Mary Fallin (who wants to be governor of Oklahoma), Zach Zamp (who wants to be governor of Tennessee), and Gresham Barrett (who wants to be governor of South Carolina). Ryan, of course, is being touted by his powerful financial backers as a presidential or vice presidential contender, something daily being pushed out by the right-wing media. In all, 65 Republicans voted yes.

But then Bush's team, along with Boehner, Ryan and Cantor, got busy twisting arms and threatening and bribing members over the weekend. The "conservative" experts on Bush's team, threatening doom and gloom, finally got the horrible bailout they were demanding, more than two dozen Republicans changing their votes from nay to aye. Over the course of the last year I've been speaking with a top Republican staffer for one of the members who switched votes. Insisting on anonymity for his boss's sake, he told me that the member was brutally double-teamed by Boehner and Ryan and forced to switch votes under all kinds of threats. My source said:

If anyone thought this kind of thuggish behavior had ended with Tom DeLay leaving Congress, they got a rude awakening. Bush seemed very detached from the whole thing, like he didn't understand what was happening and couldn't have cared less. But Boehner and Ryan were real assholes and just wouldn't let up. Boehner told [the member] that changing the vote wasn't going to hurt, and that not changing the vote was going to hurt really badly. We took it as a direct threat. Ryan was even more of a nasty prick, and we could practically see the Wall Street money hanging out of his pockets.

Today the tables may have turned on Boehner, and perhaps his votes for the bailout and his arm-twisting on its behalf will hurt John Boehner, just the way it has hurt thousands of families across Ohio and across America. For the first time since being elected in 1990-- in a special primary election against a Republican child molester-- Boehner is facing a serious challenge. He has not only GOP primary opponents (two) and general election Tea Party opponents (two again), but also a focused and energetic Democratic candidate, Justin Coussoule.

Justin is offering Ohio voters a real choice for a change, and if the mood in the country really is as anti-incumbent as we're being told, no one is as vulnerable as Boehner. This morning we contacted Justin, and he told us:

Boehner's arm-twisting mechanics over the bailout bill were nothing new. It was reminiscent of the day he passed out checks from tobacco lobbyists on the floor of the House minutes before a key vote on a tobacco subsidy.  What is most outrageous about Boehner's behavior over the bailout, though, is that he is now arm-twisting again in an attempt to block any effort at reregulation of the very banks he fought so hard to bail out.  Just this weekend he managed to harass Senate Republicans in an effort to stop any bipartisan deal on badly needed reform.  I'm running hard against Boehner to give voters here a real choice and an opportunity to reject this checkbook representation in which Boehner only serves the interests with the biggest checkbooks.

Today at least a dozen Republican members of Congress are fighting for political survival because they voted with Wall Street and against their constituents. Most likely to lose their seats are Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), Ken Calvert (R-CA), John Campbell (R-CA), Charlie Dent (R-PA), Bob Inglis (R-SC), Dan Lungren (R-CA), Mean Jean Schmidt (R-OH), Mark Souder (R-IN), Lee Terry (R-NE) and Frank Wolf (R-VA).

This morning we spoke with Irvine city councilmember and two-time mayor Beth Krom, the popular Democratic candidate running for the Orange County seat occupied by Campbell. She was very much aware of Campbell's two votes in favor of Bush's no-strings-attached Wall Street bailout. She told us:

When John Campbell supported the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street in October 2008, he put a post on his website that asserted that the bill was "basically a cost-free plan to stabilize financial markets and save every American’s savings and investments, not a bailout." He also suggested, "This bill may wind up costing less than one year’s worth of earmarks."

True to form, his enthusiasm for bailing out the banks may have been more about self-interest than the public interest. Not only was he worried about his own hefty portfolio of personal investments, he had a debt to pay to all the financial folks who have bankrolled his campaigns with hundreds of thousands of dollars in PAC contributions.

So while Campbell-- who regards every appropriation as an earmark-- refuses to bring tax dollars back to the communities he represents, he has no problem recycling them into his own investment accounts and campaign coffers.

Not All Earmarks Are A Bridge To Nowhere And Not All Earmarks Are Meant To Line Congressional Pockets

Fox News exposes Republican crook Ken Calvert

There are earmarks and... then there are earmarks. Not every earmark goes to line the pockets of corrupt congressional earmarkers and their cronies the way characters like Duke Cunningham, Don and Bill Young (R-AK & FL), Jerry Lewis (R-CA), and Ken Calvert (R-CA) have worked it. There are also the kinds of earmarks that are exactly what members of Congress are supposed to be doing for their constituents. This is what the L.A. Times had to say about one of southern California's most corrupt congressmen in history, Ken Calvert. (Take a look at what the Fox News report has to say about his shady dealings in the video below.)

Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) is an experienced investor in Riverside County's booming real estate market, so he's used to seeing prices change quickly. Last year, he and a partner paid $550,000 for a dusty four-acre parcel just south of March Air Reserve Base. Less than a year later, without even cutting the weeds or carting off old septic tank parts that littered the ground, they sold the land for almost $1 million.

Even for a speculator like Calvert, it was an unusually good deal.

During the time he owned the land, Calvert used the legislative process known as earmarking to secure $8 million for a planned freeway interchange 16 miles from the property, and an additional $1.5 million to support commercial development of the area around the airfield.

A map of Calvert's recent real estate holdings and those of his partner shows many of them near the transportation projects he has supported with federal appropriations. And improvements to the transportation infrastructure have contributed to the area's explosive growth, according to development experts.

That's the bad kind of earmarks-- the kind Republicans know the most about and engage in as a matter of course. But there's another kind of earmark, the kind not meant to enrich oneself but to benefit the constituents of your district. Pinpointing federal tax dollars to assist their districts is actually a core Constitutional responsibility of elected Representatives. Sure, the vast majority of Republicans as well as some other bad apples have used the earmarking process to benefit themselves, their families and contributors and lobbyists and corporations that will kick back money to them, but that shouldn't lead to a wholesale negation of the benefits of the process. Since the GOP was voted out of power the whole earmarking process has been reformed so that it's now all out in the open and much less likely to be used the way Republicans use it. So, of course, now the GOP is opposing it. All but three of them, Anh Cao, Don Young and Ron Paul, have opted out of the Republican Party drama queen stunt of condemning all earmarks (until they can get back into power and change the rules back towards the corruption they thrive on). Meanwhile, they're threatening Cao, Young and Paul with being thrown off their committee seats. Cao and Paul do not make earmarks to benefit themselves, only for their constituents. Young, of course, is as corrupt as your garden variety Republican and sees the earmark process as a kind of piggy bank for himself and his campaign donors.

Keep in mind that in the Senate the two most prodigious earmarkers are Mississippi Republicans Thad Cochran ($470,857,775) and Roger Wicker ($390,993,300). And David "Diapers" Vitter ($249,182,063) is not far behind. Yesterday we talked with Orange County Democrat Beth Krom, an Irvine City Council member and former mayor running for Congress against one of the more cynical members of Congress, John Campbell, who always puts his extremist ideology before the needs of his constituents.

[H]e’s signed an “anti-earmark” pledge, and considers any appropriation an earmark. So when Newport Beach needed federal funds to dredge out the Back Bay-- one of the few wetlands remaining in Orange County-- Campbell said NO. And when UC Irvine competes for federal grants to advance biomedical research or new technologies, Campbell won’t lift a finger to help. It doesn’t matter how meritorious the request, Campbell will not go to bat for his constituents.

Bottom line: we send billions of dollars to Washington in taxes every year, and he works every day to make sure not one penny comes back. If that’s not “taxation without representation, “ I don’t know what is.

Just a few districts over from Campbell's another far right extremist, Trent Franks, is also angering municipal officials-- including Republicans-- by throwing their cities under the bus. The very right-wing Arizona Republic, the biggest newspaper in Franks' western Arizona congressional district, reports some very disappointing news for his constituents.

Congressman Trent Franks, R-Arizona, pulled a $10 million earmark that would have helped build an interchange at Bell Road and Grand Avenue, said Michael Celaya, intergovernmental relations director, at Thursday's City Council work session.

Celaya visited the nation's capital in early March with council members Sharon Wolcott and Richard Alton to meet with several members of the Arizona congressional delegation.

The earmark for the interchange, submitted during fiscal 2009-10, was nearly guaranteed to the city, Celaya said, but "they (lawmakers) pulled from everybody."

Another blow: Franks, who represents Surprise in Congress, declined to submit an appropriation request for the expansion of Litchfield Road. That was a priority in the city's fiscal 2011 legislative agenda.

The good news: Congressman Ed Pastor, D-Arizona, known as Surprise's "silent champion," is submitting a $713,000 appropriation request to fund technology upgrades at the Surprise Police Department. The Surprise team turned to Pastor after Franks declined to submit the proposal.

John Thrasher is the Democrat running against Franks and he was as angry as everyone else in the area. "As your congressman, you can rest assured your fair share of tax dollars sent to Washington will come home to fund projects the current Congressman has deemed unnecessary" John told residents of Surprise, just northwest of Phoenix. "Like public safety... In pulling the funding to fix this dangerous intersection, Franks said no to public safety, no to job creation, and once again takes Arizona further down the wrong track."

The rapidly growing city of around 110,000 is pretty affluent-- median income for a family was $47,899 in 2000-- and a part of the district which has supported Franks' career. One Republican City Councilmember, on the condition of anonymity, told us today that several of them "would work behind the scenes for Franks' defeat... He doesn't care about the people in this district; he's never cared about anything but Trent Franks. I've never voted for a Democrat in my entire life, not for anything, but I'll be voting for Thrasher in November and so will lots of other people as angry as I am over this... This kind of game-playing is what turns people off to Washington, except it isn't Barack Obama; it's Trent Franks and John McCain. Ed Pastor didn't have to do what he did for us but it was the Christian thing to do. We won't forget him either."

Last week we met Ed Potosnak, the refreshing and brainy Democrat running in central New Jersey against corrupt Wall Street puppet Leonard Lance. Lance, of course, signed on to the GOP moratorium stunt and I called Ed to ask him how that would go over in Somerset, Union and Hunterdon counties, all of which already pay a higher share of taxes to support red state laggards in less advanced parts of the country.

Out of 435 Congressional Districts we pay the 13th highest amount in Federal taxes, and we only see a fraction of those dollars come from home.

My opponent, Leonard Lance, is pulling another political stunt at the expense of the taxpayers in our District, passing up tens of millions of dollars that could have funded critical priorities in our neighborhoods. These so-called “savings” will not go to deficit reduction; he is just aiming to score political points instead of working to improve our communities.

The families in the 7th Congressional District deserve to see the benefits of their tax dollars at home. Maybe its time that, we the citizens, have more of say in how we spend our money. Leonard used to place the interests of his constituents ahead of the politics of partisanship, but all you hear from him these days is national Republican talking points. Leonard has changed; he is not the Leonard we knew.

When I am in Congress I will fight to ensure the Federal government invests in projects across the 7th District to create jobs and strengthen our economy, increase our safety and security, and improve business opportunities and education.