Trump Continues To Roil Congressional Republicans-- One Gets Ready For Prison, While Another Announces Retirement

Trump with his favorite House Republican, Chris Collins

It was always just a matter of time. Chris Collins really had no viable defense. He was caught in multiple violations of insider trading statutes. The only reason it took so long (around 14 months since he was arrested) for him to resign is that he was using his seat as a bargaining chip with federal prosectors for lighter charges and a lighter sentence. Yesterday it all came together, beginning with a resignation from Congress, triggering a special election.

As the progressive Democrat who nearly beat him last cycle, Nate McMurray, said this morning, "The real victims of Collins' crimes are the people of his district that he repeatedly lied to about his guilt. Collins and Republican party insiders robbed his constituents of the representation they need on important issues like the rising cost of healthcare, the opioid epidemic, and the fight for good paying jobs. They all failed us, so I’m going to keep talking about the critical issues Western New Yorkers face every day, because that’s what public service should be about, working to make other people’s lives just a little bit better."

Jerry Zremski, the Buffalo News Collins beat reporter, wrote about the choreography early yesterday. Collins resigned yesterday and will plead guilty at 3pm today. "A new court filing in the case," wrote Zremski, "filed in federal court in Manhattan, shows that U.S. District Court Judge Vernon S. Broderick scheduled a court hearing where Collins-- who had pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him-- will change his plea. Moments after that docket entry was filed, a second appeared, indicating that Collins' co-defendants-- his son Cameron Collins and Cameron Collins' prospective father-in-law, Stephen Zarsky-- plan to change their not-guilty pleas as well. A hearing in their case is set for Thursday."

Normally the way crooked congressmen are handled is that the prosecutor makes a deal to let the relatives off easy in return for a resignation from Congress, which, if the judges agree-- which they almost always do-- also results in a much lighter sentence, particularly for white crooked members of Congress.

Collins, his son and Zarsky are charged with securities and wire fraud, conspiracy and lying to the FBI. They were arrested in August 2018 in connection with an alleged insider trading scheme involving Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian biotech.

Collins, a Clarence Republican, served on Innate's board for years. Prosecutors said that while at a White House picnic in June 2017, he got inside information that the company's only product, an experimental drug for multiple sclerosis, had failed in clinical trials.

Prosecutors say Collins then called his son, who started dumping his shares of Innate stock the next day. The indictment charges Cameron Collins with then sharing that inside information with Zarsky.

Collins also told several other Republican members of Congress the news and the insider trading was part of why former Georgia Congressman Tom Price, Trump's Health and Human Services Secretary, resigned in return for not being prosecuted for that and several other instances of criminal behavior. Never charged for insider trading with 4 other crooked Republicans in the House-- Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Billy Long (R-MO), Mike Conaway (R-TX) and John Culberson (R-TX)-- defeated for reelection soon after-- all of whom bought shares in Innate Immuno at Collins' suggestion.

Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) introduced the Ban Conflicted Trading Act in response to the Collins scandal but it was unpopular among crooks on both sides of the aisle and never went anywhere. Imagine prohibiting members of Congress from abusing their public positions for personal financial gain! No, no, no... certainly not with Moscow Mitch running the Senate. The Ban Conflicted Trading Act would prohibit members of Congress and senior congressional staff from buying or selling individual stocks and other investments while in office and force new members to sell individual holdings within six months of being elected. Alternatively, members of Congress would be allowed to choose to hold existing investments while in office-- with no option for trading until they leave office--  or transfer them to a blind trust. Members of Congress would still be allowed to hold widely-held investments, such as diversified mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. In addition, the legislation would prohibit members of Congress from serving on any corporate boards while in office.

AOC & Nate McMurray both want to clean up corruption in DC-- for real

I'd like to recommend helping Nate McMurray take on whomever the GOP throws up against him. So far all the likely candidates appear as bad as Collins. Just click this 2020 congressional thermometer on the right and then hit the link on the right that says: "Click here to allocate amounts differently or view all recipients." Remember, Collins was the first member of Congress to endorse Trump. Makes sense, right? Criminal thugs are attracted to each other. The third member of that three-some is Duncan Hunter (R-CA), who was nabbed around the same time as Collins was and is also trying to get a good deal for a plea and refuses to give up his House seat until he gets good terms. He sometimes argues that it was he, not Collins, who actually endorsed Trump first!

In more congressional news, the Texodus continues.Yesterday Mac Thornberry, ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, announced that he won't be running for reelection. TX-13 though is one of the reddest districts in the country. Hillary couldn't even squeeze 20% of the votes out this place, which includes all or part of 40 counties, each which Thornberry won. Not even one county was close. Last cycle he won with 81.5% The PVI is R+33, but one of the counties, King performed as an R+94! The district is very rural and the two locations that pass for cities are Amarillo and Wichita Falls. If an anti-red tidal wave were to sweep over Texas in 2020, TX-13 would still remain in Republican hands. The local Democratic Party needs to be rebuilt from the ground up.

Flipping Another New York State Congressional State Blue?

Want to see a right-wing nut's head explode?

Big states often have big chunks of territory left over after the congressional districts are drawn, diverse counties and parts of counties that have nothing necessarily in common with each other but don'tfitinto the other districts. In California, the massive 8th district is like that. It goes from the San Bernardino and Redlands suburbs and Yucca Valley and Lake Havasu in the south through Death Valley and Mammoth Lakes all the way north as far as-- though east of-- Sacramento. In New York, the district is the last one, NY-27 in the western part of the state. It includes the left over rural areas between Buffalo and the suburbs west and south of Rochester. 65% of the popuation-- about 92% white-- live in suburbs and 22% live in rural areas. It includes all or part of 8 counties, listed in order 2018 voters and including political performance in the congressional race that year:

• Erie- 124,657 (D+5)
• Niagara- 49,265 (R+1)
• Ontario- 28,373 (D+9)
• Livingston- 24,083 (R+2)
• Genesee- 20,808 (R+13)
• Wyoming- 13,237 (R+28)
• Orleans- 12,640 (R+22)
• Monroe- 12,115 (D+2)

Although, it isn't remotely related to the congressional results, Cook's PVI is a heavily red R+11. Obama lost the district both times by double digits and Trump beat Hillary 59.7% to 35.2%, his best and her worst performance in the state.

The congressional race between Trumpets incumbent Chris Collins and progressive Democrat Nate McMurray was essentially a dead heat, the closest race in the country-- and one neither the DCCC nor the NRCC was involved with:

The two candidates raised around the same amount of money but Collins used banked money to spend $1,811,514 compared to McMurray's $1,252,822.

This cycle is shaping up very differently. First of all, McMurray is no long a basically unknown candidate from one corner of the district (having served as a Grand Island (Erie County) Supervisor. With Collins about to go on trial or, more likely, cop a plea that will include resigning from Congress, for a range of corruption charges, federal, state and local Republicans are frightened that McMurray will flip the seat next year.

There are already 3 Republicans primarying Collins, state Senator Rob Ortt, far right activist Beth Parlato and state Senator and former Secretary of State Chris Jacobs whose family is the wealthiest in western New York. (His family owns the Boston Bruins and his uncle is worth over $4 billion). As of the July FEC report Jacobs had raised $$771,273 to Collins' $516,380, all of it self-funded. (42% of Jacobs money comes from an unidentified source-- like his family-- $323,000 and the rest of it comes from large contributions.

According to Politico state GOP chair Nick Langworthy doesn't think Collins will run in 2020. One of the other candidates, Rob Ortt from North Tonawanda who is unknown outside of his own small district, said "It’s a district where there are a lot more gun clubs than country clubs. I know those voters, and I know the issues that they’re concerned about. They want someone who’s going to go in there, defend the president’s agenda and not be afraid to take on a fight.

Another local GOP official said he spoke to two other interested candidates just this month. Additional names high on the possible succession list include Republican Erie County comptroller Stefan Mychajliw Jr., state Assemblyman Stephen Hawley (R-Batavia) and Medal of Honor recipient David Bellavia, an Iraq War veteran who ran against Collins in 2012, when the incumbent won his first term.

“Obviously you don’t want to wait too long if you are interested and something happens,” said Niagara County Republican Committee Chairman Richard Andres. “It was a very, very strange situation last year, and this will be just as interesting one to watch.”

While there’s no shortage of candidates eager to fill Collins’ seat, it’s not a given that he is too weak to survive. After all, he did manage to win last year even though his indictment was announced just three months before Election Day. Independent polling in the district from earlier this month showed 60 percent of Republican primary voters still view Collins favorably. Next year Trump’s name will be at the top of the ballot-- a boon for the party in a district where 81 percent of Republicans who have recently voted in a primary or presidential election said they viewed Trump favorably, according to the poll from Tel Opinion Research.

“This will be a year where polarization of country will probably hold most Republicans in line,” said James Campbell, a University at Buffalo professor who specializes in political campaigns. “I think it would take an unusually strong Democrat and an unusually divisive nomination battle to put us in the toss-up category.”

Republicans didn’t have much time to triage the news of Collins' indictment in 2018, Campbell said, so it makes sense that primary candidates are coming out strong and local party leaders are receptive to Collins’ challengers.

But if the race widens too much, it could play against those seeking his replacement. And that’s exactly what McMurray, the Democrat who nearly took Collins in 2018, is hoping for in round two, he said.

McMurray, a town supervisor who announced in August that he’ll run again, doesn’t buy the concept that the close margin in 2018 was an outlier due to the year’s Democratic wave election and the fresh nature of Collins’ charges.

He said he believes there are moderate Republicans in the district who have grown weary of both Trump and Collins, but that the current challengers look “fake” and “opportunistic” because they’re taking advantage of Collins’ precarious position.

“Every single person in this district knows who I am now,” McMurray said. “They know I’m the guy who stood up to Chris Collins first.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee isn't getting involved in the primary, but is not concerned about a repeat performance from McMurray, NRCC spokesperson Michael McAdams said.

“There’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that Nate McMurray can win with President Trump at the top of the ticket in a district he won by more than 24 points," McAdams said by email.

McMurray, whose $24,021 in reported cash is dwarfed by Republican candidates' funds, said he’s not running his campaign out of the back of his car this time-- “We’re better than we were a year ago”-- and believes he will have a stronger foundation of support from local and national Democrats who took note of his underdog near-victory in 2018.

The way he sees it, a crowded Republican field can only help. “The primary’s not ‘til June next year and they’re going to rip each other apart before then,” McMurray said.

Blue America has endorsed McMurray again and you can contribute to his campaign by clicking on the thermometer above. He's campaigning on the Green New Deal, on Medicare-for-All, on raising the minimum wage to a livable age and on a general reform platform that targets corruption. He's not a big fan of the Trump trade wars that are harming farmers and small towns in western New York.

It's On: Nate McMurray Is Challenging Indicted Trump Crony Chris Collins In Western New York

On Saturday, Nate McMurray wrote, "Today I am officially declaring my candidacy in New York’s 27th congressional district. In some ways it seems like I never stopped. I continue to travel across Western New York meeting with good people; listening and learning." Nate's 2018 race against the ineffective, criminally indicted incumbent-- Chris Collins-- was not supported by the DCCC and yet Collins wound up doing better than many of the candidates the DCCC wasted millions of dollars on. It was one of the closest finishes in the country-- and in a blood-red R+11 district where Trump had crushed Hillary 60-35%.

Collins outspent McMurray by over half a million dollars. Had the DCCC not spent the $3 million trying to elect Blue Dog Paul Davis in Kansas-- to just cite one of the races where McMurray out-paced the DCCC loser-- and spent just a portion of it in NY-27, McMurray would be in Congress today, voting for Medicare-for-All, the Green New Deal, impeachment, raising the minimum wage, banning the sale of military style assault weapons, lowering the cost of drugs... all things Davis would have opposed-- and all things the DCCC frowns of for candidates. That's why the DCCC spends millions on Blue Dog and New Dem conservatives and ignores progressives and real Dems.

This week marks the one year anniversary of  Chris Collins’ federal indictment chargers for insider trading. Mr. Collins and the political machine behind him remain strong despite his many ethical and legal failures. Many party loyalists continue to view him favorably, even more than his Republican challengers. He retains this support in part due to the tactics he employs; the depths he and his hateful political forces will stoop to.

Despite the perceived insurmountable challenges in 2018, our race against Collins was one of the closest in the country (decided by less than 1%), achieving the largest partisan swing of any first time state/ federal candidate in the country-- in a district designed for a Republican (any Republican) to win easily. This was despite our side being outspent, outnumbered, and attacked day after day by some of the most dishonest and detestable TV ads ever produced for a political race.

Why did we perform so well? Many are tired of being asked to vote blindly for their party. They are tired of nothing ever improving, nothing ever changing. And they are tired of the politics of hate and corruption. With your support, passion, and service to our community, we can finish what we started 2018 and finally reclaim this seat on behalf of the hardworking people of Western New York. People like you, who go to work on time everyday, who help their neighbors, who never cheat their business associates, and who spread kindness and goodness throughout their lives.

...In 2020, we will go to Washington to fight for healthcare for every American (now!), infrastructure (now!), for common sense gun control (and now!), for immigration reform to help our farmers (now!), and for technologies and policies that will confront the reality of climate change. I will also fight for a capitalist system that preserves the American Dream and provides opportunities to all, and not just hoards wealth for the most connected and elite.

“Given how close Nate came in 2018, we are thrilled to have him running for us this cycle. It’s been too long since the people of NY-27 have had a representative that cares about representing the voters rather than the party. It is the one-year anniversary of Chris Collins’ indictment and the Republicans are still stuck with him and don’t know what to do. We are delighted to have Nate running again” - Judith Hunter (Chair, Livingston County Democratic Committee)

"When Nate McMurray ran in NY-27 in 2018, he came within less than a percentage point of victory. But along with this, he did something else, something magical. He energized the rural counties. He created a movement on the ground that hasn't gone away.  Nate asked them all to ‘Fight Like Hell’, they did, and will again." - Cynthia Appleton (Chair, Wyoming County Democratic Committee)

“I am so pleased to hear that Nate will be running again.  He has visited Orleans County many times and is very aware of what our small county faces every day...few jobs, lack of affordable housing and high taxes.  We need Nate!!” - Jeanne Crane (Chair, Orleans County Democratic Committee)

“Chairwoman Brittaney Wells and the Monroe County Democratic Committee are proud to join Nate to finish the fight he began in 2018 for the 27th Congressional District. We are confident that he will be successful in his effort to unseat an absentee billionaire that has not represented the hard-working people of the 27th. Nate will restore integrity to the office and ensure his constituents are heard.” - Brittaney Wells (Chair, Monroe County Democratic Committee)

Thank you all for standing with me in the battles ahead. Together we will finish what we started; together we will bring real representation to the hard-working people of Western New York.

McMurray sat down for an interview with Jerry Zremski of the Buffalo News before announcing. Asked about the rumors that he would challenge moderate Democrat Brian Higgins instead of Collins, McMurray explained his thinking:

McMurray expressed some sympathy with the sentiment that Higgins not done enough to take on Trump.

"This is not a time to play it safe," McMurray said. "I've expressed that to Congressman Higgins, but also to others in safe seats in New York State when I've had the opportunity. I've said, 'You need to stand up and be stronger: a voice for impeachment, and and a voice against Mr. Collins.'"

McMurray made his anti-Trump, anti-Collins stance clear in a turbulent 2018 race that he lost to Collins by only 1,087 votes.

If anything, McMurray has made his progressive views even clearer since then, calling for Trump's impeachment and stronger gun-control measures even though he's running in a heavily rural district where a recent poll found Trump with an 81% approval rating among Republicans.

Asked how he planned to appeal to Trump voters, McMurray said he's counting on them turning on the president.

"In politics, things change quickly," McMurray said. "And if Trump's brinkmanship in economic matters or international matters continues, and we have a change in the economy, or when you see these terrible trade policies start to affect directly more local farmers, I think you can see a quick change."

McMurray raged against Collins on ethics issues both before and after the lawmaker's indictment last year, and he plans to do so again.

"I have many witnesses that are verifying my previous arguments-- and that's the Republican Party itself," he said.

For instance, State Sen. Chris Jacobs, a Republican who has already announced his bid for Collins' seat, has said the incumbent can't really do the job while under indictment. Local attorney Beth Parlato has also joined the race for the GOP nomination, and other possible candidates include State Sen. Rob Ortt of North Tonawanda and Medal of Honor recipient David Bellavia.

Collins was stripped of his House committee assignments after his arrest, leaving him with little legislative clout. But Collins continues to tout his close relationship with the Trump White House while stepping up campaign-like activities in his district and awaiting his criminal trial, which is set to begin next Feb. 3.

Collins my also have to beat back other primary challengers before he can face McMurray. Jacobs and right-wing anti-AOC loon Beth Parlato are already running against him but other Republicans weighing their options include Erie County legislator Ed Rath, state Senator Rob Ortt, Erie County comptroller Stefan Mychajliw, Assemblyman Steve Hawley, Assemblyman Ray Walter and potential vanity candidates Carl Paladino, Michael Caputo and David Bellavia.

House GOP Throws 2 Crooks And A Nazi Overboard

Recently, J.D. Scholten, who's still considering another run against Steven King in northwest Iowa, told me that "In the last decade, King has missed 82% of the Small Business Committee hearings and nearly 40% of the Agriculture Committee hearings. He continues to abdicate leadership for his own personal agenda as the 4th district continues to fall behind." Now he misses 100% of the meetings on those two key committees, since the Republican leadership kicked him off both and many Republicans are hoping one of the 3 Republicans challenging King in a 2020 primary beats him. McCarthy is well aware that without a seat on the House Agriculture Committee, King is even more useless to his constituents than he usually is. (And he usually is.)

But King isn't the only Republican who finds himself in this predicament. Tuesday Splinter published a really funny piece of reporting by Samantha Grasso, The GOP's Lonely Heartless Club. She wrote that "Duncan Hunter of California, Chris Collins of New York, and Steve King of Iowa have a whole lot of time to do nothing in the House of Representatives, where nobody wants to sit next to them during lunch or play tag with them at recess. The three Republicans were basically excommunicated from the House GOP when they were pulled off their committee assignments, forcing them to watch the 116th Congress from the sidelines."

Hunter, the vaping congressman, and Collins were both stripped of their committee assignments last summer after being federally charged with misusing campaign funds for personal use with his wife and insider trading, respectively. Both pleaded not guilty, ran for reelection in their districts, and (somehow??) still won. However, under a new House GOP conference rule adopted shortly after the elections, any representative under indictment for a felony must be removed from committees and leadership posts “until the legal matter gets resolved,” according to Politico.

Ammar Campa-Najjar nearly beat Hunter last year and is running against him again. Today he asked, "Can someone please tell me why taxpayers have to continue paying Duncan Hunter’s salary? Given that Hunter is now simply watching from the sidelines and unable to perform the basic duties of his job as a Congressman, he should do the right thing and immediately return his entire salary to the taxpayers or donate it to a local charity. It’s one thing to put taxpayers through the embarrassment of watching their Congressman get indicted on 60 charges, but to also make them pay your salary while you sit around and await your criminal trial-- now that’s just adding insult to injury."

Meanwhile, King is spending his time kicking rocks over by the edge of the playground as punishment for defending white nationalism and white supremacy in an interview with the New York Times last month.

Without their committees, Hunter, Collins, and King have been left to twiddle their thumbs or desperately vie for some C-SPAN time with short House floor speeches at odd hours of the day. And while they might have some luck with congressional caucuses, that venue is all but pointless without the help of other representatives. From Politico:

The members could also put more energy into congressional caucuses or lobby their colleagues to move their bills, though there is little guarantee for success. It’s much more difficult for a single lawmaker to wield influence in the House, whereas in the Senate, any lone member can hold up floor proceedings...

Yet caucuses are hardly a substitute for congressional committees, where lawmakers hone their policymaking skills and climb the party ranks... That means the castaways would likely need the cooperation of their colleagues to be effective-- and there is little appetite, especially among Democrats, to work closely with the trio of lawmakers who are under indictment or condemned for racist remarks...

“Zero” is how Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) described the level of interest among his colleagues in working with Collins, Hunter or King.

Hunter and King, clearly upset that no one wants to come over to their houses after school for Xbox and Totino’s Pizza Rolls, did not return Politico’s requests for comment. But Collins told the site he plans on using his newfound free time to focus on constituent services, attend more district events, get underutilized congressional caucuses running again, and possibly co-sponsoring bills that lost their GOP backers in the midterms.

“I’m disappointed, but I’m making the best of it,” Collins told Politico.

Inspiring!

It's widely believed that the House GOP leadership is encouraging local Republicans to primary Collins so that progressive Democrat Nate McMurray doesn't take the R+11 seat away from them, something he nearly did-- by a fraction of 1%-- in 2018. I spoke to Nate today-- who is almost definitely running for the NY-27 seat again-- and he told me "The people of our region were lied to. They were told their vote was essential, that a vote for the party was more important than a vote for integrity. We can never trust these men or the people who helped them stay in office."

New Jeff Merkley Bill Would Prevent Members Of Congress From Owning Stock In Companies Whose Value They Affect

When I met Jeff Merkley in 2007, he was Oegon's state House speaker and a candidate for a U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Gordon Smith. He was a working class guy seeking to join a millionaires club. As minority leader of the state legislature, he directed the successful Democratic drive to win the majority and was unanimously elected speaker in 2006. He ran as an unabashed progressive from day one and Blue America endorsed him. He's never disappointed us and has maintained an "A" rating from ProgressivePunch. This cycle, he and Elizabeth Warren are the only two members with perfect 100% crucial vote scores. In 2016, he was the only senator to endorse Bernie for president. This cycle, like several Bernie supporters, he is competing for early support towards winning the Democratic presidential nomination. I don't know if he'll stay in the race if Bernie decides to run. I feel like he would be tied with Elizabeth Warren as my second choice if Bernie doesn't run. You'll never find him on the list of the Worst Democrats Who Want To Be President.

On Thursday, Merkley penned an essay about a bill he and Sherrod Brown have introduced, the Ban Conflicted Trading Act, that would prohibit members of Congress from abusing their public positions for personal financial gain. Following congressional insider trading scandals in the last couple of years, involving Chris Collins (R-NY) and Tom Price (R-GA), Merkley's bill would ban legislators and top staffers from trading stocks while participating in decisions affecting their value. The next step would be to ban legislators from accepting contributions from companies or executives whose business comes before any committees they serve on, but that isn't a step Merkley and Brown have taken, at least not yet. Merkley:

The Ban Conflicted Trading Act follows two major congressional trading scandals in recent years.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that Representative Chris Collins (R-NY) bought nearly $1 million in discounted shares from the Australian pharmaceutical company Innate Immunotherapeutics. Chris Collins sat on the company’s board, while he and his family members owned about 20%--  with a personal investment worth $720,000--  of the company. He sat on the Health Subcommittee of the Committee on Energy and Commerce during that time. On August 8, 2018 Collins was arrested by the FBI, along with his son and son’s father-in-law, for wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, securities fraud, and lying to the FBI in connection with his activities related to Innate Immuno. Representatives Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Billy Long (R-MO), Mike Conaway (R-TX) and John Culberson (R-TX) also bought shares in Innate Immuno.

Meanwhile, in January 2017, it became apparent that then-Health and Human Service (HHS) Secretary nominee Tom Price (R-GA), who sat on the Ways and Means Committee and Health Subcommittee during his time in Congress, had made dozens of stock trades in the health industry over a multi-year period while also acting as a top health care policymaker. While legislating, he advocated for the interests of a company he was invested in, Amgen, without disclosing the conflict of interest. And less than a week after purchasing shares in Zimmer Biomet, a medical devices company, Price introduced legislation to delay a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid regulation until 2018--  a move that would protect the company’s finances. After introducing the act, Price’s reelection campaign received a donation from Zimmer Biomet’s PAC. In total, Price held stock in more than 40 companies that created conflicts of interest for his position as Secretary of HHS.

The Ban Conflicted Trading Act would prohibit members of Congress and senior congressional staff from buying or selling individual stocks and other investments while in office.

New members would be allowed to sell individual holdings within six months of being elected, and sitting members of Congress would be allowed to sell individual holdings within six months after enactment of the bill. Alternatively, members of Congress can choose to hold existing investments while in office-- with no option for trading until they leave office--  or transfer them to a blind trust. Members of Congress would still be allowed to hold widely-held investments, such as diversified mutual funds and exchange-traded funds.

In addition, the legislation would prohibit members of Congress from serving on any corporate boards while in office.

Rumblings In Western New York-- If The Wave Is Strong Enough...

Only Collins has been arrested so far but Reed sells his votes to fracking interests

The most conservative congressional district in New York (NY-27) isn't one the DCCC thought was winnable. So they ignored it, allowing a progressive who backs Medicare-for-All, Nate McMurray, to win the primary. The Trumpist maniac Chris Collins was arrested, arraigned and released on bail, first saying he had withdrawn from seeking reelection and then deciding the would have a better chance at a plea bargain if he was a sitting member of Congress. So... Collins is running again and suddenly McMurray-- even in an R+11 district that Trump won 60-35%-- is looking like a contender. Even the DCCC, albeit reluctantly-- wound up endorsing a staunch progressive. He's been outraging Collins, while Collins hides out and avoids the media-- and his constituents. Yesterday, the Buffalo News, which normally always endorses incumbents regardless of party, endorsed McMurray.

"McMurray," wrote the editors, "may be aiming high, but he is not without notable accomplishments. They include development of the West River Parkway Trail and the arrival of cashless tolls on Grand Island. And while it’s a big leap from town supervisor to Congress, McMurray, a Democrat running in the state’s most Republican district, has pledged to find “core common values” with other members and to reflect voters’ concerns. By itself, Collins’ indictment renders him unsuitable. But even before the indictment, his reckless mingling of his private business with his public duties was troubling. And his push to eliminate New Yorkers’ deduction for state and local taxes was baffling and outrageous. He was so wed to ideological mumbo jumbo that he chose to hurt his constituents and all of New York. This may be one of the hottest congressional races but the decision should be easy. McMurray is the better choice."

There's another western New York district the DCCC thought unwinnable, NY-23, the district that Trump won 54.5-39.7% and stretches across the Southern Tier from the exurbs west of Binghampton to Ithaca and the Finger Lakes region, through Emira, Corning, Hornell, Olean, and Jamestown all the way to Lake Erie. The PVI is R+6 and the incumbent is Republican Tom Reed, who tries to portray himself as a "moderate" though his voting record is that of a pure Trump rubber-stamp. In the 2016 primaries, Hillary lost every county; this was pure Bernie country, making it even more unpalatable to the DCCC.

Tracy Mitrano narrowly won her primary and didn't seem to be making any noise, at least not nationally, until the last couple of weeks when she started gaining on Reed. As of the September 30 FEC reporting deadline, Reed had raised $3,219,777 to Mitrano's $1,037,942, not too much of a disparity for a Democrat to win in an anti-red wave cycle. Although No Labels spent $144,162 bolstering Reed, there has been no other significant outside money spent in the race so far. If Mitrano wins, it will be one of those, "who could have guessed?" results.

The only public poll shows Reed beating Mitrano 49-47%, though FiveThirtyEight has decided she only has a 1 in 6 chance of winning (17.3%).

Closer to the ground, the Buffalo News is less certain. The paper endorsed Reed but reports that he's less of a sure thing than was once thought. "Recent signs," wrote News reporter Sandra Tan, "suggest the eight-year Republican incumbent has a more serious fight on his hands from Democratic challenger Tracy Mitrano, who counts on support from Democratic and unaffiliated voters to unseat him. The Cook Political Report has added the Reed-Mitrano race to its list of competitive races, changing its position from 'solid' Republican to 'likely' Republican. 'It can't be ignored that Democrat Tracy Mitrano, former Director of IT Policy at Cornell University, raised $855,000 in the third quarter and is on air attacking Reed for voting for a $1.9 trillion tax giveaway for the wealthy,' wrote David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report."

Reed has opted to spend heavily on TV advertising, including a wave of negative campaign ads against his opponent. And, Reed received another Twitter endorsement Monday from President Trump, who tweeted Reed "has done a great job."

Reed remains the favorite to win, though his campaign appears to be taking nothing for granted.

"At the end of the day, Reed can probably count on Trump's popularity and Gov. Andrew Cuomo's unpopularity to keep him secure," Wasserman wrote. "But it's worth watching."

Reed, a Trump supporter, has touted his co-chairmanship of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus to reform the House of Representatives. He has referred to his desire to address the national debt, immigration reform and improvements in district infrastructure, among other issues.

"The job is not done," Reed told the Buffalo News Editorial Board earlier this month. "There’s a lot more work to do."

Reed's TV commercials typically show the smiling congressman touting his family and down-home values, but he has opted to run negative campaign pieces calling Mitrano a "liberal Ithaca extremist" who supports government-controlled health care and "heroin injection sites."

Mitrano called the negative ads by Reed misleading. And the Cook Political Report understated her third quarter fundraising by roughly $100,000, she said.

Mitrano said three-fourths of her contributions come from within the district, which extends across the Southern Tier from Jamestown to Ithaca.

"I think the message is out that Tom Reed has turned his back on this district and neglected his duties," she said.

Aside from enthusiastic Democrats, Mitrano added, she's also gaining support from politically unaffiliated voters who like her focus on education, affordable health care and student debt.

"He’s grasping at straws," she said. "He tries to paint me as someone who’s an extremist, who’s out of touch, and a risky choice. If there’s any extremist in this race, it’s him. He's the one who's out of touch."

Bannon's Campaign Rallies Are A Complete Bust... Everywhere

Looks like the Trumpist base isn't interested in Dr. Frankenstein any longer, now that his own monster has banished him. He released a delusional, manipulative video-- starring Corey Lewandowski, Hungarian Nazi, Sebastian Gorka and other #MAGAbomber types-- that has been largely ignored. This was his big screening for neo-fascist Michael Grimm fans (all 38 of them) on Staten Island earlier in the week:

The film employs the right-wing penchant for victimhood, specifically designed to make low IQ and opioid-addicted Trump fans feel like they are under siege by their imagined enemies. Bannon took his pathetic show on the road but has received the same non-reception everywhere. The "Red Tide Rising Rally" in the Buffalo suburb of Elma was widely publicized and Bannon said Trumpist Congressman Chris Collins-- currently out on bail after being arrested by the FBI on a pile of heavy-duty corruption charges-- and other far right Republican office-holders and candidates would be onstage with him at the suburban fire-house. No candidates or office-holders showed up, disappointing the 200 people who did turn out.

The Guardian reported that "in a move unlikely to please his former boss, Bannon spent the first part of his speech at the Jamison Road volunteer firehouse in Elma talking up his own importance in Trump’s 2016 victory, in an apparent attempt to thrust himself back into the national spotlight.

“Let’s go back in time,” Bannon said, in a potentially revealing turn of phrase.

“When I came into the campaign as CEO in mid-August [2016], we were down, what-- eight,10, 12, 16 points – double-digits down in every battleground state. Not a lot of money, not a lot of organization.”

There followed a Trump-style riff – a retelling of the obstacles and hardships the Trump campaign overcame to win a thrilling victory on 8 November.

The difference is that in Bannon’s version, he is very much front and centre, the power-- or, as Saturday Night Live portrayed him, the grim reaper-- behind Trump, whispering in the candidate’s ear, guiding him to victory.

Bannon, clad in familiar green Barbour jacket, grey hair swept back, recalled what he told Trump after signing on to the campaign.

“I said: ‘The numbers show that working class people in this country will unite around a leader who will return America to her former glory.

“‘This whole campaign is going to be compare and contrast. She [Hillary Clinton] is the representative of a corrupt elite, and you are the voice of the working people in this country.’

This recounting is unlikely to impress Trump, who claimed Bannon had “lost his mind” after leaving the White House, but then the president is probably not following his former guru as closely as he once did.

When Bannon left his job as Trump’s chief strategist in August 2017, reportedly after clashing with colleagues, he returned to Breitbart News, the organization Bannon had once declared “the platform for the alt-right.”

He could be “more effective fighting from the outside for the agenda President Trump ran on” than in the White House, Bannon claimed, but the reunion proved to be short-lived. Bannon was booted from Breitbart in January of this year after saying Donald Trump Jr’s meeting with a Russian lawyer was “treasonous” in Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. The volume prompted Trump to speculate about the state of Bannon’s mind and brand him “Sloppy Steve."

The debacle left Bannon with some catching up to do to regain relevance in conservative politics. Wednesday marked a beginning of sorts-- the former chief strategist drew a crowd of just 38 to an event in Staten Island, New York, on Monda-- but the Elma event had got off to an inauspicious start when the original venue cancelled, allegedly amid threats of violence.

Bannon had originally been slated to appear with David DiPietro, running for re-election to the New York state assembly, but after the first venue pulled out, so did DiPietro.

A couple of hours before the event, Michael Caputo-- conservative strategist, organizer of the Bannon event, and DiPietro’s campaign manager-- still thought DiPietro might actually turn up. Caputo said he had invited all Republicans running for office in the western New York area, but had yet to receive a single reply.

“It might be no one,” Caputo said.

He was right. Even Chris Collins, the US congressman for New York’s 27th district who is running for re-election despite having been charged with federal securities fraud, stayed away.

...Bannon spoke for about 25 minutes, warning of the ills of the “marxist left” and eventually explicitly praising Trump on job numbers, the border, and Korea.

And as he drew to a close, the former hedge fund manager showed off the knack for appealing to the man in the street-- however disingenuous that appeal may be-- that brought him, and Trump, such success.

“If you gave me the choice between the first hundred people who showed up here at Jamison firehouse today, in a red ball cap, to govern the country, or the top hundred partners at Goldman Sachs, I would take these red ball caps every day,” Bannon said, to whoops and whistles from the crowd.

“Think about what the country would be if we took the first hundred of you and you made the decisions,” he said. “Well, that’s the closest we’ve got with Trump.”

Tonight, crazy right wing nut, Jeff Lukens, vice chairman of the Hillsborough County Republican Party, is hosting a dinner featuring Bannon. The county GOP was counting on the gala event to be their big Get Out The Vote fundraising bonanza and were selling tickets for $1,ooo per person. Well, not exactly selling... trying to sell. No one in Florida wants to have dinner with Sloppy Steve. So they cut the ticket prices in half and then in half again and finally to $50-- and no one bought any. Yesterday, the Tampa Bay Times reported that the big event is now FREEEEEEEEE and that a mysterious (unnamed) donor is covering the costs. The event is to commemorate the anniversary of Trump being "elected" president.

Chris Collins (R-NY) Is Really Bad-- And Out On Bail-- But You Can Support Nate McMurray Without Even Thinking About Collins' Unsuitability

For the past decade, the DCCC has been wrong about one of their most basic tenets-- to win in red districts candidates have to go-- or be-- GOP-lite. This has proven a disastrous, failed policy but one the DCCC has dug in on. This cycle, for example, nearly every single candidate they recruited and nearly every single candidate they are supporting with money is a New Dem or Blue Dog from the Republican wing of the party. The only reason to vote for almost any of them is... Trump. Their recruits are, literally, almost all putrid. One candidate they didn't recruit and who is anything but putrid, is Nate McMurray, the progressive Democrat running in western New York (NY-27), a district too red for the DCCC to have bothered to insert one of their repulsive GOP-lite candidates. (Virtually every worthwhile candidate running is either from that kind of a district-- one the DCCC ignored-- or who jumped in on their own and won the primary.) Anyway, over the weekend the editorial board of the Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post, a right-wing paper, announced their congressional endorsements for 10 districts in New York and New Jersey. For all the DCCC's efforts to recruit especially vile New Dems and Blue Dogs, the only Democrat endorsed by the Post was for PROGRESSIVE Nate McMurray. Ironically, The Post denigrated all the DCCC GOP-lite recruits, from right-wing NRA-loving Blue Dog Anthony Brindisi, who the Post referred to as "a typical liberal Democrat," and Wall Street owned New Dem incumbent Sean Patrick Maloney to clueless militaristic New Dems like Mikie Sherrill and Tom Malinowski. On the other hand, this is what the crazy right-wing Murdoch paper told their readers to do about NY-27:

The one Democrat to win The Post’s backing is Nate McMurray. Not that we find him so impressive, but he’s running against Rep. Chris Collins, who’s under federal indictment for securities fraud and in­sider trading. After first agreeing to drop out, Collins changed his mind and plainly means to use the seat as a chip in plea-bargaining, just as Staten Island’s Michael Grimm did. Again, voters should return the incumbent’s contempt. Republicans can try to retake the seat in 2020.

I guess Medicare-For-All isn't what they liked about Nate. But voters he talks to about it are starting to come around.

Chris Collins was the first member of Congress to endorse Trump-- and there's virtually no one in Congress who has been more of a rubber-stamp. The second member of Congress to endorse Trump was Duncan Hunter. I'm embarrassed to say that I can't remember which one of them was arrested by the FBI and indicted first. The dates were very close, so it hardly matters Collins and Hunter were both indicted on a myriad of unrelated corruption charges.

The odds are a lot better than 538 forecasts

The corruption issue is why even The Post endorsed Nate. The anti-corruption planks of Nate's platform are resonating with voters in a big way, especially because of Collins' impending trial (2020) or-- more likely, plea-bargain. Meanwhile, Nate's Clean up Corruption Plan is going over very well. "Corruption on both sides of the aisle is all too familiar to the people of Western New York, from Chris Collins’ recent indictment for insider trading and lying to the FBI to the guilty pleas of former Erie Democratic Chair Steve Pigeon. Elected officials," he wrote, "should work on behalf of the people they represent and no one else-- not corporate boards, not special interests, their constituents. It’s that simple. We know the consequences of a man like Mr. Collins all too well in this region: their greed robs us as taxpayers and their betrayal undermines our faith in democracy. It is the antithesis of public service. In Congress, I will fight for this to limit special interests’ influence on our leaders and elections. We deserve better.” This is an outline of the plan he's been sharing with NY-27 voters:

Political Corruption by Nancy Ohanian

• Enact far stricter limits on political contributions from special interests, lobbyists and wealthy special interests. Nate has voluntarily imposed  a ban on corporate PAC money for his campaign, but this should be the law for all candidates.
• Prohibit Members of Congress from sitting on for-profit corporate boards.
• Pass tougher campaign finance laws and more transparent disclosures of outside political spending.
• Overturn the disastrous Citizens United decision, which opened the floodgates for unlimited, untraceable spending in our elections.

As you'd expect, Nate has funded his campaign the right way. Nearly 6,000 different people contributed to his campaign in the last three months. More than 4,600 of them gave $50 or less. In fact, the average donation was under $70. Good fodder for debates, right? Yeah-- and maybe that's partially why Collins keeps skipping out on them-- and why he refuses to sit down with the media for any interviews. A few days ago they were supposed to do a forum at SUNY Geneseo and-- par for the course-- Collins was a no-show.

Nate remarked that "If Chris Collins doesn’t show up for the voters now, how can they believe he’d show up for them in Congress? We already know the answer-- he hasn’t. And he won’t. He was arrested by President Trump’s justice department for insider trading, he’s out on bail, he’s using his position as member of Congress to stay out of prison, and he doesn’t want anyone to ask him about it. After the forum, voters came up to me to say 'we’re so glad you came. Chris Collins never comes here.' They know that country is more important than party and they deserve a representative who works every day to protect Medicare and Social Security, fights for farmers and supports small businesses."

Nate has been crisscrossing the district all year talking to voters and holding public events. He’s pledged to hold one town hall per month once elected. The only opportunity anyone has to hear from Collins is via his poisonous and deceitful TV ads against Nate. Unless you're a fat cat donor, you don't get to see him in person.

On Monday, Joseph Spector at the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: broke the news that the race-- which the DCCC had originally written off as unwinnable-- is now a dead-heat.

I usually warn readers that the NY Times-Siena polls are worthless and that they don't give any real indiction about who's going to win. They just don't know how to poll in races outside New York. But they do know how to poll New York and their polls are worth considering in the New York state races. The new one they just released for NY-27 stunned many political observers. The district has a daunting R+11 PVI, Obama lost it both times and Trump trounced Hillary 59.7% to 35.2%, her worst performance-- by far-- in any New York district. But Nate, a progressive, is no Hillary Clinton and it's worth remembering that Bernie won the district handily in the 2016 primary.

In the new poll, the candidates are within the margin of error-- Collins with46% and McMurray with 43%, although only Collins was up on TV during the polling. The poll also found that Collins has a 37% favorability rating with 49% unfavorable rating, compared to a favorabilty rating of 32% for McMurray who has a 21% unfavorable and still needs to get better known. You can contribute to his campaign by clicking on the Blue America 2018 congressional thermometer on the right. It will help to get his name and his message out to more voters in this largely rural district.

“The indicted incumbent, who only recently reignited his campaign after initially suspending it, ekes out a small advantage over his challenger,” Siena College poll spokesman Steven Greenberg said in a statement.

“Republican Collins holds a narrow three-point lead over Democrat McMurray in a district that has more than 40,000 more Republicans than Democrats."

The district favored Republicans maintaining control of the House by 18 percentage points, but was split over Collins and McMurray, the poll said.

While McMurray was supported by nearly three-quarters of Democrats, Collins has the support of 19 percent of them, Greenberg said.

However, McMurray did better than Collins with the opposite party, with nearly one-quarter of Republicans backing McMurray, the poll found.

“Collins is well known but not particularly well liked," Greenberg said.

"Only Republicans view him favorably, and that’s not overwhelming at 48-35 percent. In fact, one of every eight Collins voters views him unfavorably."

Conversely, Republicans approved of President Donald Trump by 74 percent to 17 percent.

Collins was charged with giving insider information about a pharmaceutical company to his son, who then allegedly sold off shares before the news became public. The case isn't set for trial until 2020.

Ready for some more irony? Murdoch and his editorial board aren't the only Republicans backing Nate. There's now an official Republicans For Nate organization helping to flip voters-- and that's without Nate going all GOP-lite on us. Nate: "From the beginning, our campaign has been about the values of this region, economic fairness and integrity. My commitment was never to any one party, it was always to families like mine, and hardworking folks worried about healthcare and social security, wanting a system that works for them, knowing we deserve better than a member of Congress out on bail. I may not agree with everyone on every issue, but I promise to listen and truly represent the people of this region. If you believe in America First, that means you also believe that party has to come second-- and that should be true for Democrats or Republicans. I’m humbled by the support of such hardworking patriots who know we need to put country over party... Voters from all backgrounds can’t run away fast enough from Chris Collins. Every day I meet more regular folks who believe in putting country over party. They’re sick of the fighting, sick of being lied to, and embarrassed to be represented by a man out on bail. Voters are smarter than Mr. Collins gives them credit for... We don’t all agree on every issue, but I will always listen and truly represent the people of our region."

Founded by Cecily Molak, Republicans for Nate has steering committee members from across the district who will lead outreach to their fellow Republicans on behalf of Nate. They include Theron Howard, a former town supervisor from Pavilion, as well as veterans and GOP activists.  Since the August indictment, national and local Republicans have been turning their back on Collins. Paul Ryan stripped him of all his committee assignments and the NRCC said they would "not give a dime" to this race. And the House Ethics Committee voted unanimously to investigate him.

Molak, who's from the eastern part of the district in Monroe County: "When I voted for Chris Collins in the 2016 election, I had no idea that a few months later I’d be filing a complaint against him with the Office of Congressional Ethics. I didn’t know that he’d sold us out to make himself, his family and his friends even richer. We have a right to demand that our government officials act ethically and in our interests. I’m convinced Nate McMurray will do just that. I’m voting for Nate in November, and so are almost all my Republican friends."

Charles Brown of South Wales, a longtime Republican who joined the steering committee, said he's "disgusted with Chris Collins and the way he’s enabled a national agenda I just can’t agree with. I watch what Nate has done on Grand Island, using practical experience, hard work and intelligence to bring growth and opportunity to his constituents. Nate has integrity and toughness. We need smart minds and fresh approaches to the old problems that the current tired old bunch in Washington refuse to do anything about. In my mind, Nate McMurray is the man for the job.”

Theron Howard, the former two-term Town Supervisor from Pavilion, NY said that he had crossed over to back a progressive Democrat because he "realized that there is no Republican candidate for New York’s 27th congressional seat that I could in good conscience vote for. Rather than allow my absence from the polls to, in effect, give a vote for the status quo, I took a close look at Nate McMurray. I was immediately impressed with what I saw. He embodies the qualities we want for our elected officials and is not afraid to come out and meet with the people he seeks to represent. He is tuned in to the issues that are important to all of us and not just a privileged few. He has my unqualified support and I urge everyone to carefully consider our options on November 6th, forget about blurred party lines, and vote for Nate McMurray for truly quality representation in Congress.”

Alan Knight (USAF Ret) lives in Canandaigua, also in the eastern part of the district. He explained that "Just because I’m a Republican doesn’t mean I’ll vote for a criminal. I met Nate at a roundtable with veterans like myself. He took the time to listen to us and pledged to continue to meet with us and address the concerns of the veterans community in Congress."

See what I mean about how wrong the DCCC is about insisting their candidates run as inauthentic GOP-lite-- or, worse, as authentic GOP-lite.

WGRZ Tracks Down Trumpist Crook Chris Collins (NY-27) And Makes Him Answer 2 Questions

How does a progressive Democrat will in a Republican district with an R+11 PVI? Nate McMurray got a helping hand when the FBI barged into Republican incumbent Chris Collins' Manhattan penthouse and arrested him on a long list of charges related to Insider Trading. But that doesn't put him-- nor Ammar Compa-Najjar, who is also running against an indicted right-wing felon on the other side of the country (San Diego's equally red suburbs)-- into the seat.

Like I said, this is a helluva red district and there are many right wing voters who would prefer to elect a crooked Republican than a Democrat. McMurray hopes his first ad (above) will introduce him to NY-27 voters in a way they can relate to. He's running it both the Buffalo and Rochester media markets. He can use some help keeping it on the air and please consider contributing by tapping on the congressional thermometer on the right. Right now the race is in a dead heat-- even with the huge amount of money Collins has spent against him, smearing him in every conceivable way in the hope of getting Democrats and independents to just throw up their hands in disgust and not vote, the idea being, of course, that they're both corrupt. That's what an indicted felon has to do. Duncan Hunter is pulling a similar stunt on Ammar, who he's trying to paint as an Arab terrorist, even though Ammar passed a very tight security test when he worked in the Obama administration, a test Hunter could never pass-- not just because he's a drug abuser but because of the 36 page indictment. Paul Ryan kicked him off the House Arms Services Committee as a national security risk. So, try to tar your opponent with the same brush... the Republican strategy.

McMurray's not buying in to the negativity and has kept his campaign positive and issue-oriented. Collins has been ducking debates and interviews and any kind of public exposure. But... David McKinley from Buffalo power house station WGRZ wrote that he had tracked Collins down and got him to answer a couple of questions before he scurried away. "After months of trying to get a hold of Representative Chris Collins to get your questions answered," he wrote, "2 On Your Side has finally tracked him down. In an exclusive interview with 2 On Your Side's Dave McKinley, we found Collins and he spoke with us for a couple minutes outside the Brookside Banquet Hall in Newfane. The Niagara County Republican Party was holding a meeting the candidates event there. [Neither] the Niagara County GOP Party nor the Collins campaign made mention that he would be attending the event. If you take a look at the party's website, candidates that were invited were named except for Collins. We are the station that holds the people in power accountable and we brought the tough questions to Rep. Collins."

Dave McKinley: HOW CAN YOU ASK SOMEONE TO VOTE FOR SOMEONE WHO IS UNDER INDICTMENT?

Rep. Chris Collins: "WELL VERY SIMPLE, I'M INNOCENT. SO I'M REMINDING PEOPLE OF MY SIX YEAR VOTING RECORD, MY RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ADMINISTRATION AND THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS SEAT STAYING REPUBLICAN TO KEEP NANCY PELOSI FROM BEING SPEAKER TO KEEP JERRY NADLER FROM BEING CHAIR OF JUDICIARY TO KEEP MAXINE WATERS FROM BEING CHAIR OF THE FINANCIAL SERVICES. THIS IS ABOUT PROTECTING TRUMP AND THE DIRECTION OF THIS COUNTRY FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS AS OPPOSE TO GRIDLOCK, INVESTIGATIONS, INQUISITIONS, IMPEACHMENTS. IT'S THAT SIMPLE."

Dave McKinley: YOU TALK ABOUT BEING EXONERATED AT TRIAL, YOUR TRIAL DATE WAS SET TODAY, IF YOU EVER GET TO TRIAL, FEBRUARY OF 2020. HOW EFFECTIVE CAN A CONGRESSMAN LIKE YOURSELF BE WITH A MILLSTONE AROUND HIS NECK?

Rep. Chris Collins: "THERE IS NO MILLSTONE AROUND MY NECK, I'VE BEEN IN CONGRESS SINCE THE INDICTMENT. UM, I'M BEING TREATED LIKE I'VE ALWAYS BEEN TREATED. I'M, I HAVE NOT MISSED A VOTE. I AM SPONSORING LEGISLATION, I'M CO-SPONSORING LEGISLATION. I HAVE FOLKS COMING THROUGH MY OFFICE TALKING ABOUT THE ISSUES IMPORTANT TO THEM. I'M IN DISCUSSION WITH THE ADMINISTRATION. LET ME TELL YOU DAVE, NOTHING HAS CHANGED IN MY RELATIONSHIP IN CONGRESS WITH MY FELLOW MEMBERS OR WHAT I'M DOING A DAY-TO-DAY BASIS SINCE THERE, SO THERE YOU GO RIGHT THERE PROVES."

When asked if Collins gave insider trading information to his son, he did not answer the question and walked inside.

Again, that thermometer up top is so you can contribute to Nate McMurray's campaign. This is one we can help a good candidate replace a really bad one.