Gerrymandering And Bribery Defining The Decline Of Representative Democracy

Ric Keller shed some major pounds-- and a GOP registration edge

Over the course of the last month, DWT has had an underlying theme running through it about how democracy doesn't thrive when big corporate entities flood the airwaves with billions of dollars to create "conventional wisdom" that the corporate candidate-- whether a Republican or a nominal Democrat from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- is "solid," "moderate," "trustworthy," "independent," or whatever they want to tag the bribe-takers who serve their special interests. And "billions" is not an exaggeration. Since 1990 here is a list of some of the industries that have bought off federal elected official. Next to each industry is the amount and the percentage that went to Republican candidates:

Commercial banks- $202,277,227 (60%)
Insurance- $295,786,177 (63%)
Big Oil & Gas- $220,438,183 (75%)
Pharmaceuticals- $156,914,005 (65%)
Real Estate- $548,872,745 (53%)
Telecoms- $112,197,677 (56%)
Automotive- $129,123,535 (75%)
Accounting- $104,391,210 (59%)
Gambling- $80,443,289 (46%)
Lobbyists- $141,823,142 (48%)
Health Professionals- $414,596,937 (57%)
Securities & Investment- $576,374,966 (50%)
Retail Sales- $124,338,201 (61%)
Crop Production- $101,769,909 (59%)
Air Transport- $114,112,051 (60%)
Beer, Wine & Liquor- $90,584,648 (56%)
Defense Aerospace- $63,932,281 (57%)
Tobacco- $60,567,666 (74%)

That's far from complete but that's already billions. And that money, as we've been pointing out, is going directly into enhancing the careers of politicians in return for votes of the special interests of the industries giving out the loot. And this is just the legal bribes. Not counted in this are unknowable sums that have been paid to overtly corrupt politicians like Ted Stevens (R-AK), Conrad Burns (R-MT), Duke Cunningham (R-CA), John McCain (R-AZ), Jerry Lewis (R-CA), Tom DeLay (R-TX), Bob Ney (R-OH), William Jefferson (D-LA), Gary Miller (R-CA), John Doolittle (R-CA), Tom Feeney (R-FL), Don Young (R-AK), Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Rick Renzi (R-AZ)...

You getting the picture? Without real-- not fake McCain style-- campaign finance reform, so anathema to Republicans and to Blue Dogs, Big Business will just continue to buy off Congress and our taxes will continue to be misappropriated and spent to enrich ambitious crooks-- inside and outside of government.

And there's another side to this systemic corruption as well, one covered-- at least from a Florida perspective-- in today's Orlando Sentinel by Scott Maxwell: Politicians Get To Pick Their Own Constituents. And Florida may be is one of the worst, but is certainly not unique. Short story: state legislators of whichever party controls the legislature get together once a decade (unless you're in Texas) and redraw, very specifically, legislative and congressional districts that virtually guarantee your party's-- or in really corrupt cases, like Tom Feeney's and the Diaz-Balart Brothers'-- your own slam dunk electoral victories. It's why almost no incumbent ever loses an election.

Maxwell tells the story of Republican rubber stamp hack John Mica whose bizarrely shaped district snakes through half a dozen counties looking for wealthy suburbs and avoiding people of color to create a safe Republican seat.

Not that Mica's complaining. His district may be long and unwieldy. But it's also solidly Republican -- which is precisely how it was designed.

In fact, the lines were crafted so precisely that five of these six Central Florida congressional districts favor Republicans-- even though collectively they contain more Democrats.

Welcome to politics in Florida-- where the deck's stacked before you even get to the polls.

Redistricting has long been a slimy game. Back when the Democrats were in charge in Tallahassee, they drew lines to suit their fancy. And Republicans cried foul... until they got in control and decided to do the same.

That leaves us with the mess we have today-- with districts that look like they were drawn by a drunken cartographer, splitting cities in half and following few logical geographic boundaries.

The other side of the black magic map making that created Mica's 7th district, also created the 3rd district, occupied by Corrine Brown, also twisting and turning this way and that, a district that Republicans created to dump as many Democrats in as possible, guaranteeing a seat to Corrine, but keeping lots of Democrats where they could do the least "harm" in the 5 other Central Florida districts. Her bizarrely drawn district has a PVI of D+16! Republicans don't bother to run there. But they know they will take the other 5 neighboring districts which have been sucked clean of Democrats. The result: 5 entrenched, extremely mediocre, Republican backbench rubber stamps with districts that have virtually guaranteed that-- between the corrupt campaign financing system and the advanced political-demographics of district drawing-- they will serve forever-- Ginny Brown-Waite (best known for threatening to dig up the bodies of Americans who died in France during the World Wars because France wouldn't attack Iraq), Cliff Stearns, the aforementioned Mica, the more-mediocre-than-Brown-Waite Ric Keller, and Florida's most corrupt politician, Tom Feeney.

This year it looks like Brown-Waite and Stearns are home free, Mica and Feeney will have spirited challenges, and Ric Keller will probably lose his seat, due at least in part to a vastly superior opponent (Alan Grayson) and a fortuitous and significant Democratic shift in registration. And Corrine? She's safer than anyone, of course. Republicans, points out Maxwell, "crammed so many Democrats into Corrine Brown's serpentine district, which snakes its way through nine counties from Orlando to Jacksonville, that there were enough Republicans left over to make the rest of the districts GOP-friendly." And, like I said, Florida is bad, but by no means alone. Certainly Texas and California are just as bad. Florida, at least, may address this corruption with a state constitutional amendment that takes the power for redrawing districts out of the hands of politicians. There are innovative proposals to address this problem around the country. And, who knows, one day voters may even realize politicians should not get to define what is-- and what isn't-- bribery.

CLINT CURTIS TAKES AIM AT ONE OF FLORIDA'S CROOKEDEST POLITICAL HACKS-- AND THE DCCC

One of the most corrupt members of Congress still not indicted or imprisoned is Tom Feeney (FL-24), who represents the wealthy suburbs northeast of Orlando and a nice strip of coast starting at Daytona Beach. The district leans Republican, but not overwhelmingly so. Bush took 55% in 2004 and, pathetically, Feeney wasn't opposed that year. Last year he was challenged Clint Curtis, a former computer programmer who was asked by then Florida House Speaker Feeney-- and close Bush family ally-- to create a vote-rigging software prototype. In 2004 Brad Friedman started following this case-- and he's never let up. In fact it was Brad who first told me about Clint and because of Brad I talked with Clint on the phone and asked him to catch us up with what's happening down in the district going into the '08 election-- when he again intends to take on Feeney. A little note before I turn it over to Clint. The DCCC has assured grassroots activists and bloggers that the bad old Rahm Emanuel days of interfering in local races by pushing out progressive candidates in favor of reactionary hacks are over. Occassionally I hear from potential candidates that they're not always being 100% scrupulous in holding to that. Clint is the first person to go on the record about it. "The DCCC lied to you. They are meddling to the best of their ability," he wrote me a few days ago. His post:

Back in 2005, I met with the DCCC in Washington to discuss my campaign. They said they were impressed with all the work I'd done to protect election integrity in Florida and warn voters about the dangers of electronic voting (which is now, thankfully, no longer permitted in the Sunshine State).  At that point, they promised that should I win the primary, they would give me $350,000 to beat Feeney. I won the primary with 61% of the vote.

Naturally, the DCCC would not return my calls.

Despite being outspent by Feeney an incredible 26-1, we were within two points of unseating him, according to a Zogby poll taken just weeks before Election Day. Just imagine what we could have done with that $350,000. Defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory.

While in Washington last winter to work behind the scenes in support of ending e-voting, I met with the DCCC again. I was told if we raised enough money and expanded the campaign beyond the voting issue, they would support me. I was told to call anytime for help with media and suggestions on campaign strategy.

We've now learned that the DCCC has actively recruited candidates to run against me. Frank Bruno, Volusia County Chairman, told them that he would not run against me because I would beat him and he doesn't enjoy wasting his time and money. Suzann Kosmos, a millionaire and former Florida state house representative from Volusia County, has decided to run after the DCCC convinced her they'd help her win (a refrain I'm growing increasingly familiar with).

It's no coincidence that the Congress, full of Rahm Emanuel's hand-picked freshmen who back down to the Administration at every confrontation, has an approval rating of a mere 11%. The American people want much more than a legislature of partisans that never accomplish anything they were elected to do. The people want to have a say in government again. They want a representative with the backbone to stand up for them, who will not cave in to Republican aggression or pressure from our Democratic "leadership." They want someone to take the lead in defense of their ideals and aspirations for what our country should, and can, be. That is what I intend to do-- to bring leadership for a change to Washington.

I will be a leader who sets an example of what it takes to work for the American people by protecting our Constitution from the Bush Administration, and protecting our dreams from his disastrous policies. By the time Bush leaves office it is estimated that 700,000 fewer people will own homes than did when he was first sworn in, and the recent sub-prime mortgage debacle is only making the problem worse. It is time to revitalize our middle class so the dream of a bright future where homes are paid off, children have a college education and retirement is secure becomes a reality. 

We have a well-organized campaign. We have strong union support. We have deep grassroots support and participation across the country. All we need now are the financial resources to compete with Feeney's deep-pocketed cronies. Despite ample evidence that Feeney, a longtime buddy of Jack Abramoff and now under investigation by the FBI, is a crook and his seat is vulnerable, the media and the pundits won't pay attention to this race unless we step up our fundraising efforts. The DCCC is already doing radio ads pointing out his vote against SCHIP, and the DNC is organizing a lit drop to be held Nov 3rd that will target Feeney, but we know from experience that we can't count on national Democratic groups to still be here when the going gets tough. That's why I'm setting out to raise enough money to send Feeney packing and help bring real change to Washington.

We need a representative in Congress who will listen to your issues, support your causes, and do what is right for the American people. Florida's 24th deserves better than Tom Feeney, and America deserves better than a weak and ineffective Congress. If you can, please help me take this message to Washington.

Clint may sound too independent and too rigorous of a thinker for the Inside the Beltway establishment but, to me, he sounds like exactly what the country needs-- in spades. The DCCC has Jim Marshall, one of the 2 reactionary Democrats to vote to sustain Bush's S-CHIP veto yesterday, on their Front Line Page. If you donate money to the DCCC, you are donating money to Jim Marshall so he can continue voting against children's health care, against Choice for women, against every progressive policy that comes up and for the entire Bush-Cheney War Agenda. Instead, why don't we let them know that they can keep their elitist millionaires-- from both sides of the putrid aisle-- because this government belongs to the people. Check out Clint at his website.

NEXT CROOKED REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMEN TO BE CHARGED? HINT: WHAT DO ALASKA AND FLORIDA HAVE IN COMMON?

So you know all about the FBI raids on crooked Republican congressmen Rick Renzi (R-AZ) and John Doolittle. And you've already figured that they're both probably going to resign and go to prison, just like Bob Ney and Duke Cunningham. And now you want to know who's next. I know you want it to be Jerry Lewis and Duncan Hunter. I do too. But it looks like two other GOP congressmen have been clamoring for legal attention even louder: Alaskan pork king Don Young and the bribe-taking Orlando crook Tom Feeney.

Feeney, like Ney, Doolittle and DeLay, was in cahoots with Abramoff. Like them, he was on the receiving end of plenty of goodies. It's up to the feds to figure out and prove what he did in return. He claims he's "cooperating" but, of course, that's a complete lie and he'll never admit anything until he's presented with the irrefutable evidence of his own criminality. Then he'll say he was an alcoholic or high on pain killers or something. CREW pegs him as one of the 20 most unethical and corrupt members of Congress. Brad at the BradBlog has been building an even more disturbing case against Feeney for a couple of years.

We've been covering the corrupt Congressman in great detail for years in relation to claims by Florida computer programmer, Clint Curtis, that he'd asked him to create a vote-rigging software prototype when they worked together at a software firm in 2000 while Feeney was serving as a registered lobbyist for the company even while he was Speaker of the Florida House. We originally broke that story in December 2004. A summary version is here.

Let's hope Curtis saved those "Clint Curtis for Congress" signs. He may need them again sooner than he might have thought.

Now the case against Don Young is more garden variety and he's going down by the tried and true FBI method of catching a little piggie and making him squeal, the same way they did with Ney, Cunningham and Doolittle. In Young's case, the little piggy-- Abramoff-connected, of course, is Mark Zachares. His plea bargain comes today.

According to the document, Zachares and Abramoff had what they called their "two year plan": Zacheres would work for Abramoff on the inside, taking advantage of his congressional position to throw business Abramoff's way, and eventually, when Zachares left Congress, Abramoff would reward him. As the information reads: Abramoff "would 'credit' Zachares with the 'business' Zachares... referred or developed for Abramoff's firm, and would ultimately employ Zachares as a lobbyist credited 'with business,' warranting a high annual salary."

In addition to the usual stream of junkets, meals, and sports tickets, Abramoff also funneled $10,000 to Zachares through one of his phony charities. In return, Zachares referred clients and provided a number of favors for Abramoff's various clients.

The document does not implicate Rep. Young, but it does mention that in 2002, Abramoff "assisted Zachares in obtaining his position as a staffer on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee," which Young chaired. And Young has come up often in the course of the Abramoff scandal.