Biden Isn't The Only Conservative Democrat Being Embraced By Republicans-- The Chamber Of Commerce Just Pulled The Trigger For Lots Of Blue Dogs And New Dems

Last week, we noted that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was preparing-- with some partisan pushback from the GOP Establishment-- to endorse a gaggle of freshmen Democrats who have records of being sufficiently anti-working class congressional Democrats and who, generally, are part of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. And now they have now so: 23 Democratic freshmen and 29 Republican freshmen-- all representing the interests of Wall Street and anti-family, corporate governance. Trump-Republican Eric Esshaki-- a sore loser, pissed off that he didn't get the Chamber's endorsement for Michigan's 11th congressional district-- summed it up well when his New Dem opponent Haley Stevens was endorsed. Esshaki dismissed the Chamber as "the swamp lobbyists swimming with Haley Stevens" and said that "Congresswoman Stevens being endorsed by another set of lobbyists in Washington, D.C., is not news. These lobbyists care about backroom deals with Nancy Pelosi. Every lobbyist knows Stevens blindly follows the Nancy Pelosi agenda. Haley Stevens is bad for jobs, bad for working families and bad for health care."

Trump won MI-11 in 2016-- 49.7% to 45.3%-- but in 2018, Stevens beat millionaire self-funder Republican Lena Epstein, who had been endorsed by the Chamber, 181,912 (51.8%) to 158,463 (45.2%), winning in both the Wayne and Oakland counties parts of the suburban Detroit district. Epstein had put $1,168,790 of her own money into the race and spent $2,636,898 in all. Stevens was able to out-raise her significantly and spent $4,149,627. The DCCC and it's allies spent around $5.8 million bolstering Stevens and GOP groups only ponied up about $1.3 for Epstein. So far this cycle Stevens has raised $3,858,939 to Esshaki's $418,369, $100,000 of which was self-funded and most of which he has already spent in an ugly primary battle. It doesn't look like any significant outside money will be spent in MI-11 this cycle and that Stevens will breeze to reelection.

These are the 23 Democratic freshmen who have been endorsed by the Chamber-- each with their progressive punch first year grade next to their name:

• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)- F
• Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC)- F
• Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog-VA)- F
• Elaine Luria (New Dem-VA)- F
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)- F
• Cindy Axne (New Dem-IA)- F
• Abby Finkenauer (IA)- F
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)- F
• Andy Kim (NJ)- F
• Colin Allred (New Dem-TX)- F
• Lizzie Fletcher (New Dem-TX)- F
• Xochitl Torres Small (Blue Dog-NM)- F
• Antonio Delgado (New Dem-NY)- F
• Greg Stanton (New Dem-AZ)- D
• Josh Harder (New Dem-CA)- F
• TJ Cox (New Dem-CA)- F
• Harley Rouda (New Dem-CA)- F
• Sharice Davids (New Dem-KS)- F
• David Trone (New Dem-MD)- F
• Haley Stevens (New Dem-MI)- F
• Angie Craig (New Dem-MN)- F
• ean Phillips (New Dem-MN)- F
• Susie Lee (New Dem-NV)- F

The 5 Democrats with the very worse voting records in Congress-- all Blue Dogs-- are also all Chamber of Commerce endorsees. Here's the list, from horrible to worst and the percentage next to each name indicates how often they have voted for anything even vaguely progressive:

• Kendra Horn (OK)- 29.11%
• Abigail Spanberger (VA)- 29.11%
• Ben McAdams (UT)- 27.85%
• Anthony Brindisi (NY)- 25.32%
• Joe Cunningham (SC)- 24.05%

For comparison's sake, there are only 8 freshmen with "A" grades, Andy Levin (100%), Joe Neguse (97.47%), Ayanna Pressley (96.20%), Chuy Garcia (94.94%), AOC (94.94%), Rashida Tlaib (94.94%). Lori Trahan (93.67%) and Ilhan Omar (92.41%). Needless to say, the Chamber certainly didn't consider endorsing any of them. In fact, this cycle the Chamber has spent 6-figure amounts against AOC, as well as $200,000 to bolster Blue Dog Henry Cuellar against progressive primary opponent Jessica Cisneros.

The Chamber had endorsed and spent money for Blue Dogs and New Dems from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party before, but it's odd this time seeing them working to elect Democrats who they worked hard against in 2018. For example, now they're all for conservative Democrat Sharice Davids but they spent $200,000 against her just two years ago. This year they love conservative Democrat Joe Cunningham; last cycle they endorsed Republican fringe nut Katie Arrington against him. In California's Central Valley, there is a re-match between incumbent TJ Cox and former incumbent David Valadao. In 2018, the Chamber was all for Valadao. This cycle they're backing Cox. On receiving their endorsement, Cox boasted about how frequently he votes with the Republicans against the working class. "Small businesses are the backbone of our Central Valley communities and the work our local Chambers of Commerce have done to help keep Main Street weather the storm of this year is nothing short of a lifesaver,” Cox said of his new best friends. "As a businessman myself, I’m proud to work with anyone and every one to deliver for the Central Valley, which is why I have backed pro-small business legislation that supports shared prosperity through good-paying jobs, even bucking my own party to get results."

A scumbag like Cox knows he can count of Democrats to vote blindly for the "D" next to his name, regardless of his shitty voting record and irrespective of his Republican-orientation when it comes to policy. The Fresno Bee also reversed positions. Having backed Cox in 2018, they have now endorsed Valadao, primarily, they wrote, because of his unscrupulous business dealings: "Not paying workers their wages. Not paying taxes. And, with the razor-thin victory two years ago, not a mandate for Cox to represent the 21st."

The Fox channel in Oklahoma City seemed delighted for their favorite conservative congresswoman. "Earlier this year, Congresswoman Kendra Horn received the Chamber’s highest bipartisanship score among the Oklahoma congressional delegation. Congresswoman Horn ranks higher with the U.S. Chamber for her legislative record than Oklahoma’s Senator Inhofe, Senator Lankford, Congressman Hern, and Congressman Mullin."

Horn, who beat an unfunded progressive Democrat in the primary said she is "honored to have the endorsement of the U.S. Chamber because it means I’ve delivered on my promise to bring both parties together in support of Oklahoma’s businesses and economic opportunity in our state. I fought to save small businesses during the pandemic and hosted a job fair to connect Oklahomans with dozens of local employers. In Congress, I work with business and industry leaders from aerospace to health care to oil and gas to support our diverse economy. My support for pro-growth policies, like USMCA, set our businesses, workers, and families up for success. We don’t have to choose between policies that are good for our people and policies that are good for our pocketbooks."

If you'd like to support candidates for Congress who have not ever been endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce-- or any other Republican front groups-- I've included a thermometer on the right that goes to the Blue America Act Blue page with Democratic congressional candidates whose agendas are in the best interests of working families in their districts, like, for example, Cathy Kunkel in West Virginia. "In our campaign," she told me yesterday, "we are unapologetically for working class West Virginians: Medicare for All universal healthcare, negotiating to bring down prescription drug prices, $15/hour minimum wage and more. We support cutting the military budget and forcing wealthy corporations to pay their fair share in taxes so that we can invest in healthcare, education and infrastructure to combat poverty here at home. Our campaign is not taking any corporate PAC dollars exactly because I'm not going to be the kind of politician who goes to DC and immediately sells out their constituents to wealthy campaign donors."

Federal Court Unanimously Strikes Down Republicans Unconstitutional Gerrymander Of Michigan

A federal court Trump hasn't had the opportunity to pervert yet, voted unanimously to strike down the Michigan GOP legislature's grossly unconstitutional gerrymander that handed a 50/50 state over to the Republicans in the state House, state Senate and congressional delegation, even while statewide, the Democrats were kicking GOP butt. The decision will force a redrawing of congressional districts 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12; state Senate Districts 8, 11, 12, 14, 18, 27, and 36; and state House Districts 24, 32, 51, 55, 60, 63, 75, 83, 91, 94, and 95. (The Court let 7 contested legislative districts stand as they are-- three in the state Senate and 4 in the state House but will also require Michigan to conduct special state Senate elections for some seats next year, cutting in half the four-year terms those current lawmakers are now serving.)

Unless the Supreme Court-- which Trump has perverted (very much so)-- grants a stay, fairly likely with 2 similar cases pending for North Carolina and Maryland, the new boundaries will have to be approved by the court in time for the 2020 election. The court characterized the boundaries the legislature drew as a partisan gerrymander "of historical proportions."

The ruling stated flatly that the "predominate purpose" of the Republican redistricting plan (2011) "was to subordinate the interests of Democratic voters and entrench Republicans in power" violating the first and 14th Amendment rights of the plaintiffs. In the statewide races last cycle, the Republicans got just 43.7% in the gubernatorial race and just 45.8% in the U.S. Senate race.

The court ordered a super-transparent redistricting process that requires the legislature to present Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer a new map she agrees to sign by August 1. If they fail-- likely-- the court will appoint a special master, the way the court in Pennsylvania did, which was catastrophic for the Republican congressional delegation. The Pennsylvania delegation went from 13 Republicans and 5 Democrats under the illegally gerrymandered map to 9 Democrats and 9 Republicans (if the GOP holds onto PA-12 next week, as expected).

The unanimous decision was made by 3 judges, 2 Clinton appointees and one appointee of George H.W. Bush. During the process, Michigan's new Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson (D), wasn't nearly as harsh towards the GOP law-breakers as the court was. But yesterday she said that the ruling "confirms that these Michigan state House and Senate and U.S. congressional districts are unconstitutional... As the state’s chief election officer, I’m committed to working with the Legislature, citizens and the court to ensure the new districts comply with our U.S. Constitution."

When the suit began, Michigan had 9 Republicans and 5 Democrats in Congress, despite the fact that the statewide votes are around 50/50. In 2018, though, 2 red seats were flipped and the delegation now stands at 7 Republicans and 7 Democrats. The redrawing could turn the delegation bluer yet. These are the members of Congress directly impacted by the ruling, along with the PVI of each district:

• MI-01- Jack Bergman (R)- R+9
• MI-04- John Moolenaar (R)- R+10
• MI-05- Dan Klildee (D)- D+5
• MI-07- Tim Walberg (R)- R+7
• MI-08- Elissa Slotkin (D)- R+4
• MI-09- Andy Levin (D)- D+4
• MI-10- Paul Mitchell (R)- R+13
• MI-11- Haley Stevens (D)- R+4
• MI-12- Debbie Dingell (D)- D+14

As far as I can tell, a fairer map wouldn't change much. Slotkin and Stevens would probably wind up with less red districts, perhaps with an R+1 lean rather than the current R+4 leans that are usually only flippable in wave cycles. The Republican who could be in serious jeopardy is Tim Walberg in the southeast corner of the state, where his district is likely to end up with more Democratic voters from Washtenaw County in Debbie Dingell's district. It wouldn't put her in jeopardy at all to turn MI-07 into an evenly split district, which is always what courts want to see. Maybe I'm being too conservative in my thinking, but my best guess is that a new map will result in just one change in the delegation. If the DCCC runs a reasonable candidate-- like the sack of Blue Dog garbage they ran in 2018-- they would be able to retire Walberg. That's really it, other than more safety for reelection hopes for Slotkin and Stevens, who are being targeted by the NRCC now, but probably will be just targeted on paper after their districts are made more even.

Walberg beat back wretched Blue Dog Gretchen Driskell, one of the worst candidates the DCCC was pushing last cycle, 158,730 (53.8%) to 136,330 (46.2%). In a slightly fairer district, a non-lesser-of-two-evils Democrat would probably spell the end of Walberg's political career. There are currently 8 counties in the district. The DCCC was eager to field a Blue Dog with relatively little in common with actual Democrats who live in those counties beyond Choice and other social issues. Keep in mind that Democrats in those 8 counties went overwhelmingly for Bernie-- he won all 8 counties-- rather than Hillary in 2016, a real indictment of DCCC interference in local elections. The eight counties are listed here by the size of their voter turnout, but big and small they were all Bernie territory. Democrats chose to back the populist progressive, not the corporatist status quo candidate. That didn't stop-- never stops-- the DCCC from saddling them with an even worse candidate than Hillary, a full-fledged conservative, Republican-lite Blue Dog:

• Monroe- Bernie- 48.1% (to Hillary's 47.2%)
• Jackson- Bernie- 55.0%
• Washtenaw- Bernie- 55.4%
• Eaton- Bernie- 55.6%
• Lenawee- Bernie- 53.9%
• Hillsdale- Bernie- 56.7%
• Branch- Bernie- 53.6%

In the general, Trump won Monroe (58.4%), Jackson (57.2%), Eaton (49.6%), Leenawee (57.6%), Hillsdale (70.9%) and Branch (66.9%). Clinton won only Washtenaw County, where, remember, Bernie has edged her in the primary. It's why people so often say Bernie would have won-- and will in 2020, unless the Democrats manage to run another Clinton-type candidate.

More Centrists-- The Arena Has Nothing To Offer

Anti-ideology advocate Jason Kander had a cool video... and lost

I've talked with Andy Kim a few times on the phone. A little straight laced for me but Andy is a former Obama White House national security official who coordinated the fight against ISIS inside the National Security Council. Before that, he worked at the Pentagon, the State Department and in Afghanistan as a strategic adviser to General David Petraeus. Andy was a Rhodes Scholar and received a Doctorate in International Relations from Oxford after going to the University of Chicago. Today he's running for the South Jersey congressional seat (NJ-03, stretching right across the state from the suburbs east of Philly through the Pine Barrens to Toms River) held by one of the devious architects of TrumpCare, reactionary multimillionaire Tom MacArthur. He seems like a very worthwhile candidate who would probably make a good member of Congress.

And I've talk with Lillian Salerno a few times as well. She's running for a north Dallas-metro congressional seat (TX-32) held by cartoon arch-villain Pete Sessions. Before running for office, Obama had appointed her deputy undersecretary of rural development for the Department of Agriculture. She's a widely respected anti-trust expert and her campaign is pure Texas populism. If she wins her race, expect her to be a real player in crucial and much-needed reforms.

A couple nights ago, I had dinner with another candidate, Haley Stevens, the progressive Democrat running for the open MI-11 seat (Oakland and Wayne counties northwest of Detroit and Dearborn). She was the highly regarded chief of staff for the Obama administration’s auto bailout and is a universally  respected expert on industrial policy. Haley is another excellent candidate who, if elected will be a real upgrade in the House of Representatives and a boon for the folks living in Birmingham, Troy and the suburbs and small towns west of Detroit.

All three have a couple things in common-- they are successful Obama Administration alums with real expertise in their fields. All three are likely to be endorsed this cycle by Blue America, not because the worked in the Obama Administration per se, but because they are smart progressive candidates who are offering worthwhile experience, passion, courageousness and integrity to the people of their districts. About a week ago, writing for the New Republic Ben Austen reported on a new group, The Arena, that is pushing Obama Administration officials for Congress, as if they are another-- albeit more exclusive, identity group. The Arena was founded by Ravi Gupta, who worked in the Obama Administration for a short time and then went to work in the charter school industry. Austen defines the group as one in which "the populist surge that elected Trump is not exactly welcoming to the political insiders and coastal elites who founded the Arena. The group, which plans to run candidates in red and blue districts across the country next year, has adopted a deeply pragmatic approach. It avoids specific positions on policies, encouraging each candidate to fashion his or her own message, even on core liberal issues like health care and government oversight... A candidate in Wisconsin might advocate universal health care and a $15 minimum wage; an office-seeker in Georgia, meanwhile, might eschew gun control and abortion rights... [T]he Arena focuses on process, not policy."

The danger of this district-by-district relativism, of course, is that the party offers up a thousand messengers but no message. Democrats don’t have a “vision or story they want to paint of what is wrong with America today,” Matthew Yglesias observed recently in Vox, and no model for “what is the better country they want to build for the future.” Gupta, like many establishment Democrats, believes that the core principles of economic equality and social justice are enough to unite the party, especially at a time when Republicans are intent on slashing health care and aid to working families. The Arena, in essence, embodies the debate at the heart of the widespread resistance to Trump: Can Democrats regain power over the long term without articulating a clear and compelling party agenda? And can a group of young Obama acolytes bend the moral arc of the universe toward justice, as their candidate so often proclaimed, without agreeing on what justice looks like?

...Inside the vote center, Yvonne Cash, a UAW representative, laments the outcome of the election in the Rust Belt, where Trump won a majority of the white electorate. “The Republicans took our message and flipped it,” she says. “They said they were for the working class, and that the Democrats are only educated, college elites.” The young lawyers and techies from the Arena listen intently. One of them asks Cash how, as candidates, they can connect with organized labor.

Cash pauses for a few beats. “I’m going to be very real,” she says. “The first question we ask when we screen a candidate is: What kind of car do you drive?”

It’s an awkward if revealing moment. Cash is suggesting that Democratic candidates must adhere to the “buy American” message that the UAW has been promoting ever since Japanese imports invaded the U.S. auto market in the 1980s. If you want to get working-class voters out to the polls, she implies, you have to drive a Ford F-150. But that kind of “old economy” thinking runs the risk of reinforcing the false promises that Trump made about restoring a bygone industrial age. And it has little to do with the “new economy” challenges facing the Arena’s young millennial candidates, many of whom don’t even own a car. They use Lyft and Uber.

...[Arena-think] glosses over the knotty questions that Democrats are wrestling with right now: What specifically do they believe? And what policy positions in their candidates are they willing to forgive to win races next year and beyond? Gupta, for his part, talks excitedly to me about Bill Clinton on the campaign trail in 1992 doing just what Kander extols. “He was Yale Law and a Rhodes scholar,” Gupta says, “and he crushed it on blue-collar issues.” I point out that while Clinton was coming across to working-class voters as a folksy guy who felt their pain, he and the New Democrats were shredding social welfare and putting millions of black Americans behind bars. Gupta agrees-- to an extent. He says there’s nothing worse than the “Ivy-educated elite who wears flannel,” and he has turned away candidates seeking his help who seemed inauthentic. But he also argues that Bill Clinton gets a bad rap. “For people who care who’s on the Supreme Court and about our tax policy,” he says, “Clinton did win back the White House after three terms of Republican rule.” It’s an undisputedly pragmatic position, but one that is unlikely to inspire the millions of disaffected Democrats who rejected Clintonism in favor of Trump and Sanders during last year’s election.

We came across a relatively worthless Arena candidate, Lauren Underwood, in IL-14, where 6 Democrats are running to take on centrist Republican Randy Hultgren. She worked for Obama's Department of Health and Human Services. At her core Underwood probably has more in common with Republican Hultgren than with the energy of the post-2016 Democratic Party. The DCCC absolutely loves her; she's just like they are. Austen: "Underwood is, in many ways, the picture of a candidate running on the virtues of Obama: She’s young, African American, reared in his administration-- and, as she tells me with mock apology, “not the most liberal Democrat.” She is fine with Elizabeth Warren, but does not agree with Sanders and his followers on many issues, including the legalization of marijuana and the aversion to U.S. intervention in world conflicts. She says she has no time for activist groups like Brand New Congress, which wants to mount primary challenges to Democratic incumbents it deems insufficiently progressive." If the DCCC manages to slip her into the nomination, it will take a wave higher than the Sears Tower for her to beat Hultgren in an R+5 district Obama lost to Romney and in which Trump beat Hillary 48.7% to 44.8%. Bernie beat Hillary in IL-14 and on primary day several of the key counties didn't just see Bernie outpolling Clinton, but outpolling Trump as well. Kane is the biggest county I'm the district. Bernie took 31,085 votes to Hillary's 24,063. Trump won 21,605 votes. Same dynamic in Kendall and Lake counties. But Underwood thinks she's in touch with the voters in the district. Maybe she is, but not the Democratic voters.

To Gupta, Underwood and the other political hopefuls at the summit embody the way forward for Democrats: young, experienced candidates able to articulate their passion and connect with voters. “If we’re successful in the 2018 race,” he says, “the Arena-backed candidates will all be the clearest examples of telling an authentic story in the clearest, most compelling way.” But one Democrat’s authenticity is another Democrat’s selling out. Many in the party warn that unless candidates address the needs of working-class voters, Democrats will continue to lose ground to Republicans at every level of government. “We don’t just need more people running for office,” says Becky Bond, who served as a senior adviser in the Sanders campaign. “We need credible candidates who run on a bold platform that will significantly improve people’s lives if elected. We need to give the voters who the Democrats have consistently taken for granted or written off a reason to turn out and vote. Medicare for all, free college tuition, an end to the cash bail system. Resistance groups should encourage and support candidates who step up to run on these ideas.”

Underwood rejects that kind of thinking as out of touch for her district. She is content to shape her own message, even if it diverges from the prevailing upsurge of populist sentiment, tailoring it to what she sees as the concerns of her constituents. She’s eager to start talking to voters at supermarkets and churches in McHenry County, the reddest part of her district, which Trump won by eight points. She won’t be highlighting some traditional Democratic issues, like gun control, which she considers a no-win proposition there. And she doesn’t think it prudent to lead with calls for racial equity. She looks me over, considering how freely she should express her views on the world as it is and the world as it should be. “I am running in reality,” she says.

...It is not until the very last panel that I hear the name Bernie Sanders spoken aloud at the summit. The conference room is packed for “The Millennial Generation and the Future of American Democracy,” and I stand in the back as a former county financial official from Detroit encourages people to do their stint in local government: “The best experience of my life,” he says. A national political consultant talks about the need to rebrand politics so it’s cool for young people. The head of a creative studio that does campaign videos-- most recently for Randy Bryce, the union ironworker challenging Paul Ryan in Wisconsin-- argues that millennials aren’t being given the right incentives to invest in politics. A city councilman from Cincinnati chastises Democrats for ceding the economic argument to Trump, who spoke about trade, jobs, and industry only in fanciful generalities.

Suddenly, an African American web developer from Brooklyn raises his hand to interject. More millennials voted for Sanders, he points out, than for Clinton and Trump combined. What’s more, the Labour Party in the United Kingdom ran a far-left campaign earlier that month and reclaimed seats in Parliament. “They have a platform that is unapologetically progressive,” the man continues. “They say, ‘We’re going to take care of regular people.’ We don’t have that message.”

“We don’t see a platform that goes with our beliefs,” someone else interrupts.

A white woman cuts in, “We want to feel something.”

“The party assumes that most progressives are Democrats,” another woman shouts. “But most millennials don’t see themselves in the party platform. So they don’t feel an obligation to show up for the party. I’ve worked in politics ever since I was a teenager, but I’m not a party loyalist.”

It’s as though a quarter-century of frustration with the Democratic Party has boiled over in the space of a minute. The moderator for the panel is Milia Fisher, a former Hillary Clinton staffer in her twenties who recently launched the Defiant Network, a grassroots group dedicated to creating a “powerful crowdsourced vision to save our democracy.” She asks how many people in the room identify strongly with the Democratic Party. Fewer than half raise a hand.

It’s hardly a rousing vote of confidence. If Democrats aren’t giving their most energized members a clear and inspiring sense of why the party matters, then what hope do they have of winning back the Rust Belt or middle America, or turning red states blue? In July, the party establishment unveiled a modest agenda called “A Better Deal,” calling for a $15 minimum wage and regulations to cut prescription drug costs, but it did little to change minds that the Democrats stood for more than being anti-Trump.

Gupta is a joke-- a very, very bad joke. He actually tells Austen why he's a Democrat-- a slog so sick that even the DCCC-- which came up with it-- eventually rejected it. "I’m a registered Democrat. I mean it’s, like, better than the other guys."

His candidates are mostly centrist garbage who are headed towards defeat. Elissa Slotkin (MI-08) and Chrissy Houlahan (PA-06) were both endorsed by the Wall Street-owned and operated New Dems. Dan McCready (NC-09) is even worse-- a fucking Blue Dog. Josh Harder (CA-10) is running in one of the most winnable GOP-hed seats in the country. The PVI went from R+1 in 2015 to even this year. Obama won the district twice and Hillary beat Trump 48.5% to 45.5%. It's a minority majority district but the DCCC is determined to run Harder, a wealthy venture capitalist from San Francisco running a centrist platform.

Is Small Business Really The Backbone Of Our Economy? And Do Congressmen Have Backbones?

Southern California's best member of Congress, Ted Lieu, understands the problems small businesses face better than most members. "Republicans," he told us this morning, "love to talk a big game when it comes to supporting small businesses, but in reality most of their policies benefit big corporations. I grew up working in a small gift shop owned by my parents, so I know that small businesses really are the backbone of our economy. Since the turn of the last century, we have known that when a very few massive corporations have nearly complete control over a market it is bad for workers, bad for consumers, and bad for innovation. Government has an essential role to play in protecting its citizens from the adverse effects of corporate consolidation."

If you're interested in monopolies and anti-trust action to contain them, you've got to watch the John Oliver segment above. It's among his greatest hits. It's time to bring back an anti-trust effort in a big way and for candidates to start addressing it. Voters certainly understand they're being screwed by the monopolies Oliver was talking about on his show. A couple of weeks ago, we took a look at the state of monopolies in the Trump Era. Today I turned to Lillian Salerno, the sensible populist candidate running against GOP crackpot Pete Sessions in the Ft. Worth area (CA-32). As an Obama deputy undersecretary of rural development for the Department of Agriculture, she's something of an expert on the destruction monopolies cause to working families. Today she told us that "There is a graveyard of small businesses that died from the gunfire of monopolies and corporate strongmen. The American worker and consumer pay the price, as all of working class America wonders how they are going to put their kids through college or pay for elder care in retirement."

South of where she's running, another progressive Democrat, Derrick Crowe, is the candidate Blue America has endorsed for the Austin-San Antonio seat being occupied by reactionary Republican Lamar Smith has recognized the monopoly problem and has been writing about it himself. This morning he told us that, "Monopolies suck cash out of the hands of working class people and give it to the super wealthy and corporations. Under monopolies and oligopolies, corporations call the shots, not voters. They bully the consumer and overcharge us. They bully suppliers and underpay them. They close markets to small businesses and they concentrate economic and political power in the hands of a very, very few people. That’s how we get the rigged system. That’s also why we pay too much for goods and services like health care, food, cable and Internet, and plane tickets.  We need people in Congress that will push the administration-- Republican or Democratic administrations--to use anti-trust tools to break up monopolies-- and also hold hearings to expose anti-competitive, anti-democracy behavior by corporations. We also need folks who are ready to fight the rise of platform monopolies so that companies like Facebook and Google don't get a stranglehold on democracy."

Last March Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) sent a letter to Secretary of Defense James Mattis and the Pentagon’s acting inspector general accusing defense contractor TransDigm Group of illegally overcharging the Department of Defense by acting as a "hidden monopolist."

The business model Khanna described is devilishly clever, wildly profitable and totally at odds with the basic principles of a competitive market. TransDigm is essentially the Martin Shkreli of defense contractors. It’s a large holding company that searches for specialty parts used in heavy machinery-- unique panels, connectors, cables and other components-- that are produced exclusively by a single company. TransDigm buys these producers and Pharma Bros them, dramatically inflating the price to exploit their monopoly.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) cited examples of TransDigm price hikes, including a cable assembly that went from $1,737 to $7,863 and a motor rotor that had been $654 now going for $5,474.

Khanna’s letter cited five specific aerospace parts the company had jacked the price on, including a “cable assembly” that went from $1,737.03 to $7,863.00 after being acquired by TransDigm. The price of a TransDigm “motor rotor” soared from $654.46 to $5,474.00.

But the practice is widespread throughout TransDigm. The company’s own filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission state that 80 percent of its sales come from parts for which TransDigm believes itself to be a monopolist.

Not all of the company’s parts even work. In 2016, the Washington Post reported that drones were crashing due to faulty starter-generators supplied by a TransDigm subsidiary.

“The president is asking for $54 billion more on defense,” Khanna told the Huffington Post. “How much money are we wasting on monopolistic behavior?”

The Pentagon has rules designed to defend itself against predatory pricing. Companies that function as the sole vendors of supplies have to detail their costs to the government, which allows the firms to reap a reasonable profit margin over and above these expenses. But Khanna’s letter argued that TransDigm evaded these rules by setting up “a network of captive distributors”-- middlemen who sold to the government, creating the illusion of an actual competitive market.

“TransDigm isn’t a business, it’s the abuse of monopoly power so extreme it borders on performance art,” according to Matthew Stoller, a fellow with the New America Foundation’s Open Markets division. “Congress should investigate this aggressively.”

No less than 12 TransDigm subsidiaries failed to disclose to the Defense Department in their procurement filings that they were owned by TransDigm, according to Khanna.

TransDigm did not respond to requests for comment. The company’s chief executive, W. Nicholas Howley, received $18.7 million in 2016-- more than the chief executives of Apple, Boeing or Citigroup.

Khanna’s interest in the TransDigm case reflects a broader concern in Washington over concentrated economic power. In early March, the Center for American Progress hosted a forum on Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, focused on his antitrust record...

Khanna is waiting to hear back from the Defense Department before taking further action, but he hasn’t ruled out a congressional investigation.

“This is a bipartisan issue,” Khanna told HuffPost. “There are many of my Republican friends who want to see our dollars going to troops and readiness and not to anticompetitive behavior.”

Haley Stevens is likely to be the next member of Congress from suburban Detroit's 11th CD. These kinds of issues are at the core of why she's involved in public service. Previously, the chief of staff for the Obama administration’s auto bailout, she told us that "We must reclaim the narrative that our economy drives from people, and a person's ability to make, sell, produce and purchase from their individual capabilities. For too long we've gone lax on anti-trust while the middle class has paid the price. We've let large conglomerates take over at the expense of our regional economies. Now is the moment to hold corporate America accountable, reclaim the fight for working families, fair wage, and an equal playing field that benefits people. It's the people first agenda that will win the future."

Dan Canon, a civil rights attorney, is running for the Indiana seat help by Trump rubber stamp backbencher Trey Hollingsworth. "We've known since at least the early 20th century," Dan told us, "that the dispersal of economic power creates a stronger working class, a stronger economy, and a stronger country. The only reason to gut antitrust laws, or not to enforce the ones already on the books, is simple: to consolidate economic power and create an oligarchy. If politicians really supported small business, they'd support antitrust reform and enforcement-- not tax cuts for the rich."

Another Republican Congressman Calling It Quits-- Michigan Foreclosure King Dave Trott Heads For The Hills

Dave Trott, the guy who made a living evicting little old ladies from their homes during snow storms, is the latest congressional Republican announcing his retirement. A- Excellent! B- If there was a competent DCCC there would never have been a Congressman Trott to begin with. DCCC chair Steve Israel boosted him by undercutting his progressive opponent who was guilty of the crime of being Muslim. Yeah, you thought it was only Republicans with that kind warped degenerate mind? Nope Pelosi pulled Blue Dog scumbag Steve Israel out of the toilet to head her DCCC-- twice!

Trott was first elected in 2014 after beating a pyscho-teabagger Kerry Bentivolio, in a district covering the suburns west and northwest of Detroit-- southern Oakland County (Troy, Birmingham, Novi, Wixon, Bloomfield Hills) and western Wayne County (Livonia, Northville, Plymouth). Obama won the district, narrowly, in 2008 and, after gerrymandering, lost in narrowly in 2012. Last year it was Trump's worst-performing of the 9 GOP-held Michigan districts. He beat Clinton 49.7% to 45.3%. The DCCC had no interest in helping the Democratic candidate there-- Anil Kumar-- and Trott was reelected with just 52.9% of the vote, the worst performance for any Michigan Republican incumbent, although-- of course-- the DCCC spent millions in other districts on dirty GOP-lite Blue Dogs. Kumar absolutely would have beaten Trott had someone blown up the DCCC in 2015.

This cycle, the Democrats have a candidate, Haley Stevens, who probably could have beaten Trott. She was the chief of staff for the Obama administration’s auto bailout and her unparalleled expertise in manufacturing is sorely lacking inside the halls of Congress; she’s an excellent fit for the district.

Trott is a garden variety rubber stamp Republican with a 97.6% Trump adhesion score, about as bad as it comes. On Monday he announced that "This was not an easy decision, but after careful consideration, I have decided that the best course for me is to spend more time with my family and return to the private sector."

Political analysts at the Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball promptly changed their ratings for Michigan’s 11th District from “likely” Republican to a toss-up to reflect Democrats’ increased chances of flipping the seat.

“Midterm elections typically are challenging for the presidential party, particularly if the president is unpopular, as Donald Trump is at the moment,” said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.

“So while MI-11 is a Republican-leaning district ... a favorable Democratic environment could easily put it in play, and Democrats could very well nominate a strong challenger.”

President Donald Trump won the district by about 4.5 percentage points last fall-- slightly worse than Mitt Romney fared in the well-educated, affluent district in 2012, Kondik noted.

Trott’s retirement comes as another Michigan congressman, GOP Rep. Fred Upton of St. Joseph, pushed back against rumors that he’s leaving Congress.

Upton, a member of the U.S. House since 1987, is still considering running for re-election or for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate.

“Fred is very happy with his day job and very focused on the work he’s doing for our region and state,” Upton spokesman Tom Wilbur said. “He is exploring all of his options, but retirement is not in the cards.”

Trott’s post-congressional plans were not immediately clear. In the House, Trott sits on the Committee on Financial Services, which he joined earlier year.

Trott was taking substantial bribes from the banksters he was charged, as a member of the Financial Services Committee, with overseeing. Since getting to Congress, Trott has gobbled up $614,065 in legalistic bribes from the crooks he's consistently voted to deregulate. This cycle Stevens was matching him dollar for dollar in the fund-raising department As of the June 30 FEC reporting deadline, Trott had $284,191 in his campaign war chest and Stevens had $281,387. MI-11 is clearly the Democrats' best shots for flipping a red seat blue and not even the regular gross incompetence will cause the DCCC to fail to see the viability of Stevens. This is what she told us last night:

"This is a new moment. My campaign is about people, our community, and working families. I am running for Congress to usher in a 21st century labor movement, to address the broken system that has resulted in over 40% of Michigan families being unable to pay for basic necessities, where student loan debt topples an average of $30,000. The time is now to send a new and progressive voice to Washington and be a real voice representing the people of Michigan's 11th district. Yes we can and yes we will."

The DCCC Has Proven They Can't Win Seats In Michigan; Maybe Haley Stevens Can Teach Them How To

Last year the most winnable Republican-held seat in Michigan was the 11th district, cut out of Oakland and Wayne counties northwest of Detroit and Dearborn. It carefully skirts Pontiac but stretches awkwardly from Troy and Birmingham in the east to Novi and Livonia to the west. Trump didn’t do as well as Romney did but he narrowly beat Hillary, 49.7% to 45.3% in the district. Although the incompetent and corrupt DCCC chose to waste millions of dollars in other districts, promoting Blue Dog conservatives with no chance to win, they steered clear of MI-11 where a progressive, Anil Kumar, did better against David Trott than any of the DCCC did against their opponents. Kumar held Trott to a 52.9% win and the district looks like to flip-- unless the DCCC sabotages the Democratic candidate again-- in 2018.

The most prominent candidate to emerge so far is Haley Stevens, who was born and raised in Rochester Hills. That she lived in DC while working as chief of staff for the Obama administration’s auto bailout, has caused Trott’s desperate campaign to try to label her a “carpetbagger.” No one’s buying it, especially not from the out-of-touch former foreclosure king. Her expertise in manufacturing is sorely lacking inside the halls of Congress and she’s an excellent fit for the district. We asked her to introduce herself by explaining a little about what she is offering folks in MI-11 that Trott isn't providing. Her guest post is below and you can visit her website here and if you’d like, contribute to her campaign as well.

In Michigan, I See the Future of America
-by Haley Stevens

The great innovation, export and import engine epitomizing 20th century economic might rises today to tell a new story.

Today, Michigan boasts 75% of the country’s autonomous vehicle research and development. In 2006, Google’s first office outside of Silicon Valley moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan. And our freshwater lakes still remain the envy of the world.

Michigan innovation, and occasionally our natural resources, are just as connected to Silicon Valley as they are to us; and Silicon Valley needs Michigan a great deal.

Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, in his Harvard graduation address declared, “We should have a society that measures progress not just by economic metrics like GDP, but by how many of us have a role we find meaningful.”

As a policy maker, I invite this conversation and opportunity to shine a light on the true spirit of human capabilities and our future economy.

Many people live to work and are lucky enough to find community and passion in their work. The men and women I have met in manufacturing offices and on shop floors over the past decade stand proud of their daily output. At the same time, the United States maintains a skills gap as defined by hundreds of thousands of open manufacturing positions that go unfilled each year. There is an overwhelming demand from companies of all sizes for welders, computer numerical controls operators, and technicians, but there are just not enough qualified people to fill these jobs.

Many emerging and mid-sized companies driving the maker economy are fighting for technology and manufacturing talent just to stay afloat. We are in a newfound competitive skills environment where computer and coding skills meet traditional manufacturing work.

Coding and computer science must make their way into school curricula from an early age, whereas we can make skills obtainment in these fields universal and affordable. We can lower the barrier to entry and even the playing field so everyone competes fairly for jobs and available work.

During my years spent running a multi-million-dollar future of work agenda funded by the Department of Defense, I frequently cited the importance of analog skills meeting digital requirements. I’ll tip my hat to Mark Zuckerberg on this point, who also said last month, “as technology keeps changing, we need to focus more on continuous education throughout our lives.”

Overnight global technology advances more rapidly than policymakers can put their pens to paper, and as a result we find ourselves going into the quarter 21st century mark with profound questions looming.

What is the role and value of human work? Now more than ever we can encourage, foster, and place value on the bounty of human work and human driven experiences.

These questions centralize on the critical role policy makers play working in tandem with industry leaders to determine outcomes, catalyze growth and ultimately the value of our work.

I’m prepared to be one policy maker leading the charge. Alongside the Michigan innovation story, my central motivations to run for Congress in Michigan’s-11th district comprising metro-Detroit are to promote a true progressive agenda that holds current and reckless leadership accountable. As a lifelong Democrat running for Congress my message for the party and to voters is: The value of work matters, each individual life matters, and that is why we do what we do; because your health, our environment and the richness of our economy for everyone matters.

While the economy has been growing in Michigan since coming out of the Great Recession, it has only been growing for a few. Incomes have remained stagnant.

We feel it: we could all be a little better off and our children’s future could appear brighter, student loan debt not as burdensome or non-existent if we choose to address this looming problem vis-à-vis collaborative, industry driven solutions before debt is even incurred.

By coming together with industry leaders, chambers, universities, and associations for pro-growth, inclusive solutions; government leaders are in a poignant position to address the challenges that have left so many hard-working people behind. And to top it off, government can find a way to remove itself as necessary and promote efficiency. Identifying where the government can come in as a strategic partner is where leading policy makers can make a proven difference.

By seeking an office in the nation’s capital and asking everyone I know to support me in any way they can, I am also making a bet on the future and declaring it exists right here in southeastern Michigan with our world class workforce, technology hubs, and our overwhelming ability to innovate. Something my opponent, two term Republican incumbent Dave Trott who has profited off his peculiar and disappointing foreclosure business does not know much about.

“Detroit hustles harder” is the saying that emerged in the throes of the Great Recession, and today that note continues to ring throughout our region. And that’s because in Michigan we know the value and meaning of hard-work, it is in our blood and we don’t stop.