You Know Tuesday Is Do Or Die For The Democratic Party, Right?

Sink, Bircher, Jolly, Peters, some other guy

Once Bill Young announced his retirement October 9 and then quickly died on October 18, we've written about the campaign to replace him in FL-13 a few times (here and here). Just before he announced his retirement, a poll from PPP for MoveOn.org showed a generic Democrat beating Young.

FL-13 is, basically, Pinellas County. When Alex Sink ran for governor against Rick Scott in 2010, he narrowly edged her statewide 2,589,915 (49%) to 2,522,857 (48%). It wasn't that close in Pinellas County, however. Sink beat him 153,747 (51%) to 136,577 (45%). National Democrats have been winning FL-13 for two solid decades and Obama beat McCain 51-48% and beat Romney 50-49%. The election is March 11 and Sink is the Democratic candidate. The whole party has coalesced around her. The Republicans have a tough primary next Tuesday with three candidates, David Jolly, a sleazy lobbyist, Kathleen Peters, a state Rep, and wild card Mark Bircher, a retired Marine Corp Brigadier General. (This morning the final poll was released showing Jolly winning with Peters falling so far behind that even Bircher beats her-- Jolly, 37%, Bircher, 27% and Peters 24%.)

Pinellas Congressional candidate David Jolly said he supports the ban that prevents oil drilling off Florida's Gulf Coast, a perennially important issue in local politics.

But he's facing questions over his own 2011 federal lobbying report, which indicates he lobbied for a House bill designed to expand oil drilling in the Gulf and elsewhere.

Under the "specific lobbying issues" listed in his report, Jolly included House Resolution 909, "A Roadmap for America's Energy Future."

A typically backward-looking Beltway pundit, Stu Rothenberg (backward-looking but, of course, highly regarded inside the Beltway by far more ignorant politicians and hack staffers than he is). Rothenberg insists the FL-13 race is a must win for Democrats, but, presumably, not for Republicans, who would be losing the seat. Here's the conventional wisdom Rothenberg is so highly regarded for:

A loss in the competitive March 11 contest would almost certainly be regarded by dispassionate observers as a sign that President Barack Obama could constitute an albatross around the neck of his party’s nominees in November. And that could make it more difficult for Democratic candidates, campaign committees and interest groups to raise money and energize the grass roots. ...The Republican primary has not been without rancor (it has even divided members of the late congressman’s family), and the eventual nominee will have to unite his or her party quickly, raise funds for the special election and immediately start to engage Sink.

Money could be a significant problem for the GOP.

In her Dec. 25 online fundraising report, Sink showed total contributions of $1.43 million, with just more than $1 million in the bank. In his late December report, Jolly showed just under $142,000 on hand, while Peters reported less than $18,000 in the bank.

The calendar also favors the former Florida CFO, who is clearly more prepared to launch a top-tier campaign after the polls close next week than her eventual Republican opponent will be. While a mere eight weeks separate the special primary and the special election, the window is even narrower than that, because absentee ballots for domestic voters are tentatively scheduled to be mailed on Feb. 4 and early voting begins March 1, according to the website of the Pinellas County supervisor of elections.

Given all of the advantages that Sink has-- the district, her experience and proven electoral success, her money in the bank and her united party-- and the problems the GOP nominee will face, shouldn’t the likely Democratic nominee be a clear favorite to win the special election, getting her party one seat closer to the majority in November?

The answer is “yes,” and if this seat had become open in 2006 or 2007, there is little doubt that Democrats would have been solid favorites to win.

But the president’s weak poll numbers nationally and the problems associated with the launch of the health care law could undermine Sink’s obvious advantages, particularly in this Central Florida district, where 22 percent of residents are 65 or older. (Republican strategists believe that voters 65 and older could constitute close to 30 percent of the special-election electorate.)

If swing voters decide to use the special election as an opportunity to register their displeasure with the president or punish Sink because she is a member of Obama’s party, the eventual Republican nominee’s prospects could rise.

And Democrats are worried that the composition of the special-election electorate will make the contest more challenging for their nominee than it would be in a regularly scheduled election.

Still, all things being equal, Sink has enough advantages to produce a narrow but clear victory. So, while a victory would constitute a takeover and give her party’s talking heads an opportunity to demonize the Republicans in Congress once again, it would not be surprising.

On the other hand, since most nonpartisan handicappers and analysts have for years expected this seat to go Democratic when it became open, a Republican victory in March would likely say something about the national political environment and the inclination of district voters to send a message of dissatisfaction about the president. And that possibility should worry the White House.

The National Republican Congressional Committee would love to keep this Florida seat in the special election. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee cannot afford to lose it. Those are two very different perspectives that reflect the relative importance of this election to the two parties.

As everyone in the Tampa Bay Area already knows, the Republican primary race got very ugly, very fast. As a notoriously sleazy lobbyist, Jolly, who has been endorsed by the Tampa Bay Tribune in an especially insipid editorial, is an easy target.

In a mailer sent to voters, Peters’ campaign declares, "Since 2007, David Jolly has given almost $30,000 to keep Democrats in Congress!" It then adds "(But not a dime to Congressman Bill Young)" before launching into a number of bullet points about how Jolly has supported his rival party.

…Peters has spent a lot of time making hay over Jolly’s past as a lobbyist, illustrating why it is so difficult for a lobbyist to run for office (leaving office to become a lobbyist is nowhere near as difficult-- or as uncommon).

Her mailer says, "In the past three election cycles, Washington Lobbyist David Jolly has made nearly $30,000 in personal contributions to the campaigns of Democrats in Congress-- liberals who have forced Obamacare on America and have fought responsible Republican policies."

The flier then lists 13 "Jolly Good" Democratic senators and representatives to whom Jolly has given campaign contributions. Among the baker’s dozen are Florida’s own Sen. Bill Nelson (who received $4,500 in direct contributions and through his PAC, Moving America Forward), Rep. Kathy Castor ($3,600) and former Rep. Allen Boyd ($7,500). Boyd, who was defeated for re-election by Republican Steve Southerland in 2010, is now a lobbyist for the Twenty-First Century Group.

The list also includes other Democrats from around the nation, including Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin ($1,000), late Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye ($1,000), Maine Rep. Mike Michaud ($2,250) and former Illinois Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. ($2,300), who was sentenced in August to 30 months in prison for wire and mail fraud for using campaign contributions for personal expenses.

The total listed on the mailing was $28,622, a number PolitiFact Florida confirmed through Federal Elections Commission filings from 2007 to 2013.

The most recent polling (December 3) shows Sink beating Jolly 49.3- 36.3%, beating Peters 47.7- 34.6% and beating Bircher 50.4- 30.2%. Blue America has no endorsement in this race, although Sink is less objectionable than the other candidates.

Alex Sink Is Running For Congress

The big news in Florida this morning wasn't exactly a surprise. After Florida's former chief financial officer and Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Alex Sink, expressed interest in running for the open congressional seat in Pinellas County (FL-13), she became the focus of all Democratic attention. And when former candidate Charlie Justice and potential candidates Janet Long and Ken Welch said a few days ago they weren't running, it was widely assumed Sink had let them know she was in. This morning Adam Smith at the Tampa Bay Times let everyone else know. Sink, who lives in nearby Hillsborough is moving into the district "imminently." Here statement was pure boilerplate, almost word for word what every candidate says when they declare they're running for Congress.

"Washington's broken. And I, like everybody else I know, is angry and mad about the logjam, about shutting down the government, about not understanding the impact it was going to have on small businesses and people. The people up there just don't seem to be able to work together," said Sink, who had considered running for governor again but ruled that out in late September.

"I'm somebody who's solved problems, has a long history of working with Republicans and Democrats to get things done," said Sink, who used to run Bank of America's Florida operations and was the state's CFO from 2007-11. "I believe I can be an effective advocate for the people of Pinellas County and get to Washington and make a difference."

…"I am no stranger to Pinellas County," Sink stressed. "I have a long history here. I have been involved in doing business in Pinellas County for decades, and the people of Pinellas County have elected me twice. They voted for me to be their CFO and they voted for me to be their governor, in this very district."

In addition to helping lead four banks doing business in Pinellas, Sink said that as CFO she worked closely on the BP oil spill that affected the county, helped crack down on insurance agents scamming victims in Pinellas, and selected Largo to be the site of one of her office's two call centers, after consolidating 11 centers to save money.

"Do I know everything there is to know? Of course not," Sink said. "But I'm no stranger, and it has to be about whether or not I can be a leader and an advocate and a voice for the people of this district in Washington. I think I'm the best person to do that."

As we saw a few days ago, the Florida state legislature, sensing Bill Young's time on earth was short, redistricted to make the seat a little less impossible for a Republican to win. It went from a D+1 to an R+1 district, but Republicans have trouble holding onto R+1 districts these days as well, since independents have been tending to break for Democrats as the national GOP drifted further and further away from the mainstream. In 2008, what is now FL-13 gave Obama 177,758 votes (51%) and McCain 164,644 votes (48%). Obama won again last year 171,102 (50%) to 166,087 (49%) against Romney.

With Young out of the way, this district should be a "gimme" for the Democrats. Even before he announced he was retiring, a new PPP poll showed Pinellas County would be happy to replace him with a Democrat. Although his death has rescucitated his popularity, a week before he died his job approval was down to 33% and voters said they were ready-- by a 48-43% margin-- to vote for an unnamed Democrat against him. Worse still, was when voters were informed that Young had voted to shut down the government, his Democratic opponent's chances to be elected sky-rocketed into a 51-42% outcome.

Over on the Republican side, most of the viable candidates have already said they don't want to run, although the best hope for Republicans is to persuade former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker to change his mind. It's more likely that the GOP will be stuck with one of Bill Young's relatives. His brother, Tom, wife, Beverly, and son, Bill II, are all claiming the "right" to the district. A few days ago another Florida pundit was waxing ecstatic at the prospect of Junior running for his father's vacant seat. I responded snidely about Louis XVI following Louis XV who followed Louis XIV. He had an even snider response-- either that or he didn't understand that many people-- usually those who prefer democracy to any kind of aristocratic governance-- don't like the whole idea of political dynasties. It's so unAmerican… at least in theory it's unAmerican. In reality, it started right from the git-go. The two awful George Bushs came long after the two John Adamses, the second and sixth presidents. Among the political dynasties in our country are the Kennedys in Massachusetts, the Udalls in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, the Daleys in Chicago, the Tafts in Ohio… The Youngs in St. Petersburg is a stretch. A few months ago, Time Magazine had a little discussion of political dynasties in reference to the horrific prospect of Cheney's fascist-oriented daughter Liz, following him into politics.

Liz Cheney's announcement last week that she is running to unseat three-term incumbent Sen. Mike Enzi upended politics in Wyoming where the two Republicans are set to duke it out over their conservative credentials. But her candidacy also serves as the latest test of dynastic power in the United States, in her attempt to follow in the path of her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney. "She said it's just time for her to quit sitting on the sidelines and roll up her sleeves," recalled Wyoming Republican National Committeeman Greg Schaefer. They also discussed her last name. "I told her it's her best asset," he said of the candidate's famous pedigree. "It's also her worst liability."

The Constitution is clear, "No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States," but for centuries Americans have shown a clear preference for electing lawmakers of the same political families-- with family names like Adams, Taft, and Kennedy. Roughly one in ten lawmakers in Congress have had a family member serve in either the House or Senate, and many more come from state and local political clans.

President Barack Obama's defeat of the Clinton machine in 2008 could have indicated a decline in political family trees as Democratic primary voters rejected what could have been 24-years of two-family rule. Instead, these dynasties are making a comeback, with at least four well-known surnames considering running for president in 2016. Indeed while America has long held an aversion for kings, it sure loves its princes and princesses.

This is the kind of thing we've come to expect in placed with shallow-rooted democracies, like the Phillippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia… so perfect for Florida.

Banner Congressional Race In FL-13? Will We See Alex Sink vs Bill Young II?

C.W. Bill Young's friends and family have been speculating for years about when he would retire from Congress. Very ill, finally on October 9 he announced he would... in 2015-- and then died about a week or so later. Everyone is busy remembering the good times and trying to not bring up anything about the corruption that defined his life. And political types are all paying homage to fake memories and only whispering about the race for the very swingy 13th congressional district that will turn into an unseemly brawl after the funeral later this week.

The Florida state legislature, sensing Young's time on earth was nigh, redistricted to make it a little less impossible for a Republican to win. It went from a D+1 to an R+1 district, but Republicans have trouble holding onto R+1 districts these days as well, since independents have been tending to break for Democrats as the national GOP drifted further and further away from the mainstream. In 2008, what is now FL-13 gave Obama 177,758 votes (51%) and McCain 164,644 votes (48%). Obama won again last year 171,102 (50%) to 166,087 (49%) against Romney.

With Young out of the way, this district should be a "gimme" for the Democrats. Even before he announced he was retiring, a new PPP poll showed Pinellas County would be happy to replace him with a Democrat. Although his death has rescucitated his popularity, a week before he died his job approval was down to 33% and voters said they were ready-- by a 48-43% margin-- to vote for an unnamed Democrat against him. Worse still, was when voters were informed that Young had voted to shut down the government, his Democratic opponent's chances to be elected sky-rocketed into a 51-42% outcome.

The last time the district went for a Republican presidential nominee, almost half the people who live there hadn't been born yet. So… will the DCCC figure out a way to ruin the Democrats' sure thing? No one thinks so and, in fact, all the Republican Party's top contenders have said "thanks, but no thanks." State Senator Jeff Brandes, former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker and state Senator Jack Latvala have all bowed out. Latvala mused on Facebook, "Who wants to be in a job that is rated less favorably than a cockroach?" GOP die-hards are still hoping they can find a top tier candidate to face off against former Democratic gubernatorial nominee Alex Sink, who looks like a sure bet for the Democratic nomination.

When Sink ran for governor against Rick Scott in 2010, he narrowly edged her statewide 2,589,915 (49%) to 2,522,857 (48%). It wasn't that close in Pinellas County, however. Sink beat him 153,747 (51%) to 136,577 (45%). Adam Smith, the dean of Florida pundits and the Tampa Bay Times' political editor is working hard to make the race as exciting and pivotal as possible. Over the weekend, he called it the bellwether congressional race between now and the midterms.

A handful of congressional districts nationwide are as politically competitive as Young's. Seeing such a seat open up with no incumbent favored to win is rare, which is why so many local politicians and would-be politicians started gearing up as soon as Young announced his retirement less than two weeks ago.

But the dynamic is completely changed. Mounting a campaign over 12 months is vastly different from running in a multimillion-dollar special election just a few months away.

Prospective candidates and party officials on Saturday did not want to publicly discuss political machinations so soon after Young's death. But the new time frame is sure to prompt national party officials to heavily pressure candidates with the best-known names and money-raising potential to jump in-- and the underdogs to clear out of the way in the name of delivering the seat to their respective parties.

That means former Democratic gubernatorial nominee Alex Sink and former Republican St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker look like the overwhelming favorites.

"Special elections in a compressed time frame favor known quantities: Neither side has much of an opportunity to build an organization or an image," said Republican consultant Rick Wilson of Tallahassee. "Candidates who step in it during a special have a hard time washing it off their shoes for Election Day."

Baker has voiced no interest in running-- while also doing nothing to discourage speculation. He has long said he would not mount another major campaign until his children are out of high school (one is a senior, the other in 11th grade), but he's sure to face some arm-twisting in the coming days.

Sink has described herself as "very interested" and reaffirmed that interest Saturday, while the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has telegraphed its enthusiasm for her.

"A candidate-- like Alex Sink-- who has a strong record of solving problems would be extremely competitive in this district," the DCCC said as soon as Sink's name emerged.

Another significant, new consideration for any prospective candidates: Not only will they face a special election probably within a few months, but they also will face a re-election campaign a few months after that, including a potential, if not likely, primary challenge. A credible, conservative Republican alternative to Baker, for instance, may not be able to build a strong campaign in 120 days or so but in 10 months could be plausible.

It's widely assumed that if the GOP can't persuade a top tier candidate to run against Sink, they'll let Young's son, Bill Young II, do it in the hopes that people are confused or nostalgic. Apparently Young's wife, Beverly would also like the seat. If she and the son were in a primary battle, it would be even better than a bellwether race.

Finally... Bill Young (R-FL) Is Retiring

When C.W. "Bill" Young was born, Herbert Hoover had just led the United States into the Great Depression. Young's entire childhood past the age of 2 was in the backdrop of FDR's presidency-- first in a poor coal-mining area of western Pennsylvania and then in the Tampa Bay area. When he finally retires next year he'll be 84. Even his family has been whispering about him retiring for nearly a decade now. Young never went to college or even finished high school and before getting on the political gravy train in 1960, was an insurance salesman. His early political life was devoted to leading a crusade against gay people. Once he got to Congress, in 1970, his political life was devoted to crass pork barrel politics. When he was chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, he was known as the King of Earmarks and his congressional district saw a tsunami of federal funds enrich already wealthy constituents. He was very much in cahoots with Duke Cunningham's criminal career on the Appropriation Committee's Subcommittee on Defense. He's the longest-serving Republican in Congress.

Last week a PPP survey of his Pinellas County district showed him losing his seat and that his approval rating, after he voted to close down the government on behalf of defunding the Affordable Care Act, had sunk to a dismal 33%. A generic Democrat was leading him by 5 points (and by 9 points once the voter was made aware that Young voted to shut down the government).

Young told the Tampa Bay Times that the current congressional gridlock influenced his decision to pack it in. "I'm a little disappointed. It seems there's too much politics. It's a different Congress." And although he told the Times he admires the Tea Party-- "I love every one of these guys"-- a week ago he was singing a different tune:

Young last week, however, broke with most Republicans and said he would vote for a budget resolution that did not attempt to dismantle the president's signature health care reform law. In candid comments about the control the tea party had over Boehner, Young said in an interview: "He withstood the pressure for a long time. He finally has agreed to the outspoken minority of his conference. And they're pretty much in charge right now."

Democrats have been winning FL-13 for two solid decades and Obama beat McCain 51-48% and beat Romney 50-49%. Last year a middle-of-the-road, garden variety Democrat, Jessica Ehrlich-- who had no support from the DCCC, of course, and was outspent two to one-- scored 42% against him, one of only two times a Democrat held him under 60% in his 22 House races. Ehrlich is running again, but because Young is retiring, she will probably face a difficult primary challenge, likely from County Commissioner Ken Welch, who is favored by the DCCC, although another County Commissioner, Charlie Justice, who took on Young several years ago, is thinking of running again as well. This morning, Peter Schorsch was reporting a flash poll that shows 54% of Democrats want Charlie Crist to run for the seat (although Crist isn't interested in a mere House seat) and the other contenders lining up like this-- Ehrlich- 10%, Justice and Welch at 8% each, Janet Long- 7% and Scott Wagman- 2%. With Crist out of the running, Justice leaps out into the lead with 20% to Ehrlich's 17%.

The Republican Establishment wanted to put up a hackish self-funder, Jeff Brandes, but he says he's not interested. The establishment Republicans will be just as happy with popular former St Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker, and other possibilities include state Senator Jack Latvala and ex-Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard. It's likely the Tea Party will run at least one lunatic fringe candidate. Last year two ran against Young in the primary and one, Darren Ayres, got 19% and the other, Madeline Vance, got 9%. This kind of lunatic fringe:

Republicans Get Down To Dividing Up The Spoils

The new Republican House chairmen are busy doling out subcommittee chairs this week. Yesterday there was a big hurrah when Texas freak Lamar Smith, tragically the new head of Judiciary, eliminated the House's most anti-Hispanic bigot, Steve King (R-IA) as the top Republican on the Immigration and Enforcement panel. Not that anyone is too excited about the slug he picked instead, California racist Elton Gallegly (although... Gallegly's district is now around 25% Hispanic, which will lead to some interesting organizing possibilities). Still, it's great to get Tom Tancredo's successor's hands off the steering wheel. Smith seemed to target the two worst and most conspicuous clowns on his committee, King and Louie Gohmert, with denial of advancement.

But the big subcommittee moves yesterday were all about Appropriations-- the fount of free-flowing corporate bribes. Or I should say "founts," plural. Regardless of which party is in control, all the most corrupt Members try to get on Appropriations. Under Republicans it was Abramoff's favorite committee and under Democrats, Jack Murtha used it the same way Republicans do. Boehner knew he couldn't get away with reinstating as blatant a criminal as Jerry Lewis as chair so he made sure someone just as corrupt, but less likely to get indicted, Hal Rogers (R-KY), "the Prince of Pork," got the plum assignment. And this week Rogers selected his "12 cardinals," the all-powerful subcommittee chairs whose main functions will be to squeeze money out of special interests for Republican election campaigns.

The biggest source of corruption has always been the Defense subcommittee-- that's where Lewis served before becoming Appropriations Chair and that're why Duke Cunningham is now serving time in a federal prison. It's certainly one of the most singularly corrupt places on Capitol Hill and Rogers picked a singularly corrupt earmarker as subcommittee chair, C.W. Bill Young of Florida, who was granted a rules waver to get the position, despite his reputation of playing fast and loose with the taxpayers' money. Rogers deemed Jerry Lewis (and Young), "chairmen emeritus," a make believe position that allows these 2 crooks to sit on all subcommittees.

Heading the Appropriations Committee's Agriculture subcommittee will be Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) who had also wanted the defense position, Rogers said. [Kingston immediately announced he will work to deny food safety efforts any funding, working hand in hand with Frank Lucas, new head of the agriculture Committee another vicious opponent of food safety.]

The Commerce, Justice, and Science subcommittee will be overseen by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and the Energy and Water subcommittee will be overseen by Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.).

Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) will head the Financial Services subcommittee while Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) will head the Homeland Security subcommittee formerly headed by Rogers. Aderholt is switching subcommittees from the Legislative Branch subcommittee.

The Labor and Health and Human Services subcommittee will be headed by Rep. Dennis Rehberg (R-Mont.).

The Interior and Environment subcommittee will be headed by Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) while the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs subcommittee will be headed by Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas). Culberson had been seen as in line for chairman of the Homeland Security appropriations panel. [Simpson is eager to do his bit to end the EPA's regulatory functions by defunding them and leaving the environment to the polluters, his campaign financiers.]

Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) will be in charge of State and Foreign Operations while Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa) will be in charge of the large Transportation spending account.

Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R-Fla.) will head the Legislative Branch subcommittee which controls the smallest amount of spending. He is switching from the Military Construction subcommittee to do so.

Justice For All-- Especially Sleazy Republican Congressman Bill Young

Young (right) left his own makeup home

The DCCC is very excited about their prospects for unseating long-term (since 1970) Pinellas County Congressman Bill Young, a somewhat feeble member who was born even before FDR was elected president to clean up Young's conservative party had done to the country. Young has long been a colorless rubber stamp for Big Business and the status quo, making him a perfect fit for the national GOP-- if not the rapidly changing 10th CD, which now has a D+1 PVI and only gave John McCain 47% of its vote (as opposed to 51% for Bush in 2004). The DCCC is enthusiastic about their candidate, St Petersburg state Senator Charlie Justice. Support from Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the DCCC makes me suspicious of any Florida candidate and I'll have to look a little closer at where Justice stands on key issues-- his website, in fine D-Trip tradition is very skimpy on controversial issue positions-- but I know he has been a champion in the battle against offshore drilling. And yesterday I was impressed with a press release I got from his office.

Turns out it's the first of an expected series billed as a 10 Count Indictment Against Bill Young. In it Justice accused Young of earmarking millions for the U.S.S. Intrepid, a floating museum in New York, in exchange for campaign contributions. Young is considered the worst Republican earmarker in the House and his career is pocked with a series of sleazy deals he's made to give corporate contributors earmarks in return for cash. The particular 1998 earmark Justice was talking about yesterday, in the amount of $13 million, has netted him $120,000 in campaign contributions over the years according to Justice’s indictment.

From the press release:  “It’s curious that a congressman who represents a tourist destination state like Florida would hide $13 million in taxpayers’ money for a tourist destination in New York Harbor. It’s curious, at least, until you learn that Congressman Bill Young got $120,000 in contributions to his campaign in return for boosting tourism in New York.” It was an open secret around Washington, but very hush-hush in Pinellas County, that Young has used his earmarking ability to benefit New Yorkers and himself while leaving hard pressed west coast Florida residents with nothing to show for it.

Young replied to the St Petersburg Times with typically irrational hysterics and name-calling: "The radical left wants me out of Congress because they just don’t want a voice for reason and Constitutional government who stands in the way of their big government power play..." His campaign also claimed that Justice "is not immune to ‘earmarks,’ pointing out that in 2006 Gov. Jeb Bush vetoed his request for spend $187,000 to replace windows and add a generator to a building operated by the Pinellas Association for Retarded Children for use as a hurricane shelter ."

Hmmm… Are all earmarks equal?

Young campaign contributor Howard Lutnick, chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a global financial services firm specializing in bond trading, came to Young’s defense, claiming that Young is committed to New York because of 9/11.

"Congressman Bill Young's support of New York in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks is legendary," Lutnick said in a statement. "All of us affected by 9/11, including the families of our 658 employees who perished in the attacks, deeply appreciated his support and compassion and strong leadership, which were instrumental in helping New York recover. We will continue to support Congressman Young as long as he serves in Congress."

Uh, Howard, Young’s earmark for the Intrepid came in 1998, three years before 9/11.

Is It Fair To Assume What Kind Of A Senator Charlie Crist Would Make Based On His Actions As Governor?

Girls just wanna have fun

Rep. Bill Young is old-- he'll be 80 next time he has to face the voters-- and there's been chatter about him retiring for almost a decade. Last year it was all planned out how his wife would run, and he didn't wind up declaring his candidacy until a few hours before the deadline. He's represented Pinellas County since 1970, and even since the African-America precincts of south St. Petersburg were carefully gerrymandered out to keep it safely Republican, the district has trended more and more Democratic. Last year President Obama beat McCain 51-47%, while Young's downward election results slide continued. In 2000 he won with 76% and was unopposed in 2002. In 2004 he won with 69%, which decreased to 66% in 2006 and 61% last year. The DCCC has never taken FL-10 seriously, but they plan to target it and are pushing state Senator Charlie Justice, someone who could well beat Young.

There has been a great deal of talk about saving Young the indignity of ending his political career with a rejection at the polls by appointing him to fill out the remaining year of the Senate seat Mel Martinez is retiring from early. That way the mainstream conservative, someone generally respected and liked by his peers Inside the Beltway, could go out as a U.S. Senator and live out the rest of his life with people calling him "Senator Young."

Governor Crist, a candidate for that seat himself, and facing a very rough primary from grassroots far right extremist Marco Rubio, gets to decide who will serve out the rest of Martinez's term, and Young isn't what he had in mind. Instead, he appointed a sadsack crony of his, ex-campaign manager and chief of staff Georgie Lemieux, a man with no political following outside of Crist's immediate circle. He's generally being seen as Crist's puppet, and Crist has managed to offend Cubans by not appointing Bobby Martinez and the lunatic fringe religionist psychos who dominate so much of the Florida GOP by not appointing state Senator Dan Webster.

On the other hand, Crist, a barely closeted homosexual, likely felt that the vaguely pro-gay (for a Republican) Lemieux would protect his exposed rear flank.

Former Congresswoman Karen Thurman, currently Chair of the Florida Democratic Party, says Crist should have looked for someone who had the knowledge and skill to help solve the economic problems that the Bush Regime, coupled with years and years of Republican rule in Tallahassee, caused Floridians.

"Today, Charlie Crist decided to play political games with the public's trust by appointing George LeMieux to the U.S. Senate. This glaring example of political cronyism is the last thing Florida needed while we face these tough economic times and the Congress is tackling critical issues such as health insurance reform and global warming.

"In appointing LeMieux, someone who has made millions over the past several years selling access to Crist to the highest bidders among Tallahassee's special interests, Charlie Crist once again put his own political ambition above doing what is right for Florida.

"Floridians are sick of the Republican culture of corruption and the Tallahassee back room dealings that clearly led Crist to pick LeMieux, whose only qualification is being Charlie Crist's crony."

Now, were Crist a decent governor, who put Floridians' interests above his own unbridled political ambitions, he might say that Young's opposition to health care reform makes him ineligible for appointment to the Senate. After all, the reform bill Young is adamantly opposing would have a gigantic positive impact on almost 15,000 senior citizens in Pinellas County-- as well as over 18,000 small businesses. Just in Young's district over 71,000 uninsured individuals would gain access to high-quality, affordable health insurance if Young and other Republican allies of Big Insurance would start working for the good of the country instead of just trying to obstruct everything and demonize President Obama. A report that came out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee has all the hard facts for people living in FL-10:

• Help for small businesses. Under the legislation, small businesses with 25 employees or less and average wages of less than $40,000 qualify for tax credits of up to 50% of the costs of providing health insurance. There are up to 18,600 small businesses in the district that could qualify for these credits.

• Help for seniors with drug costs in the Part D donut hole. Each year, 14,800 seniors in the district hit the donut hole and are forced to pay their full drug costs, despite having Part D drug coverage. The legislation would provide them with immediate relief, cutting brand name drug costs in the donut hole by 50%, and ultimately eliminate the donut hole.

• Health care and financial security. There were 1,200 health care-related bankruptcies in the district in 2008, caused primarily by the health care costs not covered by insurance. The bill provides health insurance for almost every American and caps annual out-of-pocket costs at $10,000 per year, ensuring that no citizen will have to face financial ruin because of high health care costs.

• Relieving the burden of uncompensated care for hospitals and health care providers. In 2008, health care providers in the district provided $78 million worth of uncompensated care, care that was provided to individuals who lacked insurance coverage and were unable to pay their bills. Under the legislation, these costs of uncompensated care would be virtually eliminated.

• Coverage of the uninsured. There are 90,000 uninsured individuals in the district, 14% of the district. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that nationwide, 97% of all Americans will have insurance coverage when the bill takes effect. If this benchmark is reached in the district, 71,000 people who currently do not have health insurance will receive coverage.

• No deficit spending. The cost of health care reform under the legislation is fully paid for: half through making the Medicare and Medicaid program more efficient and half through a surtax on the income of the wealthiest individuals. This surtax would affect only 4,180 households in the district. The surtax would not affect 98.7% of taxpayers in the district.

But Crist doesn't give a hoot about any of that. In fact, for the last few years his pal LeMieux has been a special interest lobbyist raking in millions of dollars selling access to Crist to the highest corporate bidders in Tallahassee, including, of course, the same insurance companies that are financing the disruptive tactics at the town halls and making up all the lies for dull Republicans about death panels and government takeovers. LeMieux has never been elected to any office by actual voters and has only ever been beholden to Charlie Crist, Republican Party donors, and his special interest clients. That's why he was selected for the job-- another example of putting cronyism and corruption above the interests of Florida families.

A PORTRAIT IN REPUBLICAN HYPOCRISY-- C.W. BILL YOUNG, UNDERMINING U.S. TROOPS IN IRAQ, JUST LIKE HE DID AT WALTER REED

Like many Americans, it's physically difficult for me to listen to George Bush's defensive, whiny, passive-aggressive yowling these days. It's a really ugly sound-- like fingernails on a chalkboard-- regardless of the topic. I don't think "Bush fatigue" even begins to describe it. And nothing I do hear from him pisses me off more than his twisted Rovian talking points about how the Democratic Congressional leadership is trying to micromanage the war instead of letting "the men in uniform" do it. The hypocrisy drips from this creature's every pore. Every single time a professional military officer tried warning Bush or Cheney or Rumsfeld that their incompetent harebrained schemes were nonstarters, they were fired and their careers destroyed.

Today one of the worst Bush Regime asslickers, a worthless, honorless rubber stamp who should be driven from office by patriots in his Florida district, repeated the same line of garbage. We've come across right wing loon C.W. Bill Young before-- when it turned out that he made the conscious decision to let wounded American soldiers lay in vermin infested rooms at Walter Reed rather than do his job and embarrass the Regime. Today this sleazy apologist for Bush and Cheney is using more twisted logic to put forward the right-wing meme in favor of endless war.

The Army Times is reporting that Young is whining that Congress shouldn't manage the conduct of war.

Rep. C.W. “Bill” Young, R-Fla., said catastrophe always follows when civilians turn a deaf ear to their military officers.

In the 2003 run-up to the war, Young said in an interview, administration officials dismissed a top Army officer’s estimate that securing Iraq would probably require several hundred thousand troops.

“I just don’t think that it’s a good idea for us here in the Congress to try to manage the conduct of the war,” Young, a military appropriations expert, told his colleagues during a meeting Monday.

So Young thinks Congress should just abdicate it's responsibility and let Bush's failed policies spin further out of control, the same way he abdicated his own responsibilities to wounded soldiers at Water Reed? Bush and Cheney-- two of the least competent elected officials to ever get control of a military force-- haven't a clue how to handle the war they started in Iraq. It is Congress' job to get us out of the mess these maniacs have dragged us into. Young should be tossed onto history's trash heap at the first opportunity for being a shameful partisan enabler for these two criminals while Bush's puppet regime in Iraq falls apart and the increasingly anti-American insurgency goes, violently, from bad to worse.


UPDATE: DOES THIS SOUND LIKE A BUCKLE TO YOU?

In about an hour I'll be on a conference call with the House Leadership and maybe I should wait before I write about this. So just let me quote the CongressDaily:

House and Senate negotiators approved a $124.2 billion war supplemental spending bill Monday that includes a "goal" of withdrawing combat troops from Iraq by April 1, 2008, and troop readiness standards that could be waived by the president.

No comment... for now.

IS C.W. BILL YOUNG GOING TO RETIRE AND CEDE A REPUBLICAN SEAT IN FLORIDA TO THE GOOD GUYS?

When the blame for the disgrace that Walter Reed has come to symbolize-- the horrifying abuse our wounded vets have taken from the Bush Regime-- get apportioned, and there's plenty to go around, I'm sure several rubber stamp members of Congress will be right up there with Bush cronies from the Regime itself. That blame will fall disproportionately hard on members whose jobs it was to oversee the medical care of our wounded servicemen and women, from real villains like John McHugh (R-NY) and Steve Buyer (R-IN) to a hapless and well-meaning chump like Florida's C.W. Bill Young. (I explained the case against Young last week.)

Yesterday Young, 76, said he has been contemplating retiring. This district leans Democratic and there is a good chance that if he does retire-- or even if he doesn't go voluntarily-- it is a possible pick-up for Team Blue next year. Young doesn't want to slink off with his tail between his legs. His wife, Beverly, is a huge advocate for the wounded vets and he's extremely embarrassed to have been exposed for, at the minimum, being in a severe state of denial. This week he told CongressDaily that he had "given some serious thought to retiring at the end of this term. I do not run away from political threats. If the national Democrats think that this smear attack, based on this big lie, will get me to retire, they don't know me very well."

The less than moribund Florida Democratic Party seems to have suddenly awoken to the opportunity making itself apparent in Young's district.

Democrats served notice Thursday they hope to make a serious run at Young's seat by blasting the veteran lawmaker for not using his clout as chairman and now ranking member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee to force changes in the care that injured soldiers receive on their return from Iraq and elsewhere. Former Rep. Karen Thurman, chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, sent an e-mail to 150,000 party activists that Young's "silence on this issue is a moral outrage" and urged them to contribute to the party and write letters to the newspaper. "Most Americans would agree that our heroes should come before politics. It's simple human decency, and if our members of Congress don't understand that, they need to be fired," Thurman wrote. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee last week sent Southern regional political director Bret Wask to the district to meet with potential candidates. A Florida Democratic Party spokesman said Thurman acted out of personal outrage at the Walter Reed revelations, and noted that her former district has one of the highest concentrations of veterans in the country.

He blames bloggers for his bad press on this and claims he's being smeared. The reality is, what he feels in his heart about helping the wounded vets did not get translated into action. He's elected and paid for getting something done, not for feeling sympathy. Beverly Young did a great job. C.W. Bill Young failed and should resign.


The DCCC is feeling feisty and aggressive and they smell a shot for a pick-up in Florida. Unlike Emanuel, whose only experience is fighting progressive Democrats, the new DCCC head, Chris Van Hollen, actually took on an entrenched Republican and beat her. Emanuel was good at attacking grassroots and anti-war Democrats and failed miserably when it came to electing Democrats over Republicans. Most Democratic winners last year won despite Emanuel, not because of Emanuel, John Hall, Carol Shea-Porter, Jerry McNerney being some of the most outstanding examples of Democrats he tried to defeat but who were able to overcome him and then the Republican incumbents. In FL-10 state Reps. Lars Hafner, Bill Heller and Rick Kriseman, state Senator Charlie Justice, Bayfront Medical Center CEO Sue Brody, and former state House Speaker Peter Rudy Wallace are all good bets to run whether Young decides to retire or not.

C.W. BILL YOUNG (R-FL) OFFERS HIMSELF UP AS A TARGET FOR DEMOCRATS NEXT YEAR: "KICK ME, I'M A JERK"

About a week ago, Adam, the DWT sometimes art director, briefly sobered up long enough to introduce me to a friend of his, a perfectly nice guy who has the misfortune to be related to a Republican congressman. Adam didn't remember which one. "What difference does it make?" he asked. "They're all the say anyway and my friend is a Democrat." Well, as John Aravosis over at AmericaBlog pointed out last night, they're actually not all the same. When mainstream conservative Chris Smith (R-NJ) was a little too pro-servicemen when he was chairing the House Veterans Affairs Committee, the GOP leaders removed him and put in a far right extremist who loves wars and hates the men and women who fight them, Indiana neo-Nazi Steve Buyer. Today Buyer is still doing all he can to continue hurting our wounded soldiers and vets. He claimed that all the fuss over Walter Reed Hospital is just politics. It just happened to have happened on Buyer's watch and, as Aravosis suggested last night "this GOP America-hater should be forced to spend a month at Walter Reed, in a wheelchair, with the mold, the cockroaches, the asbestos, the 3rd degree burn showers, sleeping in his own urine-- then see how political he thinks our maimed soldiers are being complaining about what the Republicans have done to them." That sounds so sensible. Can I second that? And when it comes to screwing returning vets, Walter Reed is just the tip of the iceberg.

But neither Buyer nor Smith is Adam's friend's uncle. Florida Republican C.W. Bill Young is. Until the Democrats won the elections in November Young was chairman of the uber-corrupt House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee (from which Randy "Duke" Cunningham, Duncan Hunter, Virgil Goode and Jerry Lewis abetted so many "generous" Republican donors in defrauding American taxpayers out of so many millions billions of dollars).

Young admits he was aware of the mold and cockroaches and asbestos and rats and all the little problems at Walter Reed calls "political." So why didn't he do something about it? He wanted "to avoid embarrassing the Army while it was fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan... We got in Gen. Kiley’s face on a regular basis. We did not go public with these concerns, because we did not want to undermine the confidence of the patients and their families and give the Army a black eye while fighting a war." That's what Young said. Like the soldiers and their families didn't see the black mold and the rat shit and feel the frustration of trying to get decent treatment? That didn't undermine their confidence?

Young represents Florida's 10th congressional district, all the white parts of Pinellas County. It's a swing district (Cook Partisan Index says it's +1 Dem. Gore had 51%; Kerry took 49%. The Democrats often run no one against Young or, when they do, don't seriously contest the seat. Last year he ran against a single mom, Denise "Samm" Simpson, with virtually no money and no Democratic Party support, and took 66% of the vote. Young has a garden variety rubber stamp voting record, especially atrocious on Iraq, and a flat zero-- terrible on every single vote-- when it comes to health care for vets and active military personnel.

Perhaps the Florida Democratic Party, one of the worst-run in the country, and the DCCC, now that it's partially out from under the clutches of Rahm Emanuel, can look into supporting a grassroots Democrat with Democratic values and principles against Young next year. When Howard Dean talks about a 50 state strategy, districts like FL-10 should be a given even before we start talking about heavily Republican areas.