Trump And The Republicans Are Far From The Only Candidates Taking Big Money With Plenty Of Strings Attached-- Let's Look At Raja Krishnamoorthi

Kim Davis and Ro Khanna-- kind of "Democrats"

Hopefully Steve Israel won't figure out that Kim Davis, the crackpot religionist fanatic clerk in Kentucky's Rowan County, is a Democrat. No doubt, if he did, he'd want to recruit her to run her against Hal Rogers. Something attracts Israel to Democrats from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. And there are lots of them, although fewer and fewer as unhinged as Davis, who is on her fourth marriage. Most of these Republican-lite Democrats are just economic Republicans, like the New Dems and Blue Dogs-- from Patrick Murphy (FL), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), Sean Maloney (NY), Dan Lipinski (IL) and Jim Costa (CA) to Gwen Graham (FL), Henry Cuellar (TX), Cheri Bustos (IL) and Scott Peters (CA).

Last cycle, Democrats from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- with the help of outright Republicans-- tried defeating California progressive icon Mike Honda. Ro Khanna spent $4,427,101 smearing Honda, and his SuperPAC, Californians for Innovation, spent another $662,259 on the race. Honda beat the atrocious crooked corporate Dem Khanna 68,001 (51.8%) to 63,293 (48.2%). And this cycle Khanna is back for another try. (You can help defend Mike Honda here.)

Meanwhile, there's a very similar shady character, another corporate Dem with a Republican perspective, running for the open seat in IL-08, west of Chicago. Raja Krishnamoorthi is running against progressive state Senator Mike Noland, and many of the same people who spent lavishly to defeat Mike Honda are funding Krishnamoorthi. Over 20 of Khanna's biggest donors have already given tens of thousands of dollars to Krishnamoorthi's campaign, in just the first three months of fundraising. 

John Rogers, founder and CEO of Ariel Capital Management/Ariel Investments in Chicago maxed out ($5,400) to defeat Honda last year. His first contribution to Krishnamoorthi is $1,000. Another maxed-out Khanna donor, Navin Thukkaram, founder and CEO of NT Capital Partners (who reports to the FEC as a resident of Park City, Utah; Seattle; Northbrook, Illinois; and New York City) was a Romney donor as well as a Ro Khanna donor and has already given several contributions to Krishnamoorthi-- as well as to the Republican National Committee. Same pattern again and again. Mark Ferguson, an attorney with Barlit Beck Herman Palenchar and Scott, generally gives to conservative Democrats like Cheri Bustos, Bill Foster, Ann Callis, Brad Schneider, Evan Bayh, Jim Webb. He contributed $2,600 to Khanna and now $2,600 to Krishnamoorthi. Without exerting too much effort we found 15 other Khanna donors who together have given over $50,000 to Krishnamoorthi in the past three months. Like Ann and Kanwal Rekhi of Monte Sereno, a small, very wealthy bedroom community for Silicon Valley executives. Kanwal is a managing director and partner at Inventus Capital Partners, a venture capital firm. The Rekhis have given many thousands of dollars to conservatives in both parties and maxed out to  Khanna ($10,800), the same amount they just gave Krishnamoorthi.

Noland is a working-class union guy who doesn't have these kinds of strings-attached multimillionaire donors. He's always depended on working men and women who want to elect progressives to help him out in the fundraising department. If you'd like to help, you can find a slot for Mike Noland here. And look who else is backing Krishnamoorthi, predictably:

Inevitably, Steve and Raja found each other

DCCC Up To Their Old, Failed Tricks In IL-08

The other day, a Member of Congress asked me if there's ever been a good DCCC chairman. My memory doesn't stretch all the way back to 1868, although the first chairman, James Rood Doolittle (WI), was a Democrat and then a Republican and then a Democrat again. He was a fanatic opponent of the 15th Amendment, which granted citizenship-- and the right to vote-- to the freed slaves after the Civil War. He did such a terrible job as DCCC chair that they operated without one for the next decade.

The congressman who turned the DCCC into an arm of Wall Street and Big Business was Tony Coelho (D-CA). He ran the committee from 1981 to 1987, after which he was elected House Majority Whip, a position he held until he resigned in a financial corruption scandal with a crooked bankster.

The DCCC gained a great deal of influence in 2004 when campaign finance reform gave party committees immense power over campaign cash. Since then, they have never had a good chairman. Rahm Emanuel set the authoritarian tone but stuck closely to Coelho's posture of scraping and bowing before Wall Street. Emanuel helped elect a lot of corporate whores from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party in 2006, as did Chris Van Hollen in 2008, almost all of whom were defeated in 2010. Democratic voters, having caught on to the bait-and-switch tactics, have been refusing to come out to vote for these conservative incumbents calling themselves Democrats. Steve Israel was the culmination of that policy, the worst DCCC chairman since Doolittle. He's training the latest disaster, Ben Ray Luján, basically an Israeli sock puppet who is setting the DCCC up for another cycle in loserville.

The congressmemeber who asked me about the chairmen also told me that the DCCC had been pressuring him-- or twisting his arm-- to endorse wealthy corporate Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi over progressive state Senator Mike Noland in IL-08. Progressives who are asked by the DCCC to endorse Krishnamoorthi need to be aware that, despite his willingness to say what anyone wants to hear, he is not, has never been and never will be a progressive. A DINO, Krishnamoorthi is a job outsourcer who was one of the authors of a white paper, The Pros and Cons of Privatization, for Government Finance Review (June 2011) in which it's literally impossible to recognize the voice of a Democrat at all. 

First off, he praised privatization under Ronald Reagan. The paper states:

The present wave of privatizations can also be viewed in the context of the broader liberalization programs ushered in with Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s and to a lesser degree by Ronald Reagan in the United States... Poorly run private businesses must fix themselves or perish; state-run enterprises face no such constraint... Reagan similarly made privatization a theme of his presidency, describing the 1987 divestment of Conrail, a large freight railroad, for $1,575 billion as "the flagship of privatization and the first of what we hope will be many government functions returned to their rightful place in the private sector."... Today, much empirical evidence supports the claim that private companies are generally more efficient operators than government entities. The reasons for this are various and include management incentives tied to performance, a better capacity to fund capital investments, greater operating leverage, the introduction of proprietary technology, and the de-politicization of pricing and other operational decisions (e.g., raising tolls or cutting money-losing routes).

Yeah, that's the candidate the DCCC is boosting. I wonder if Luján read the paper, which says:

Private operators can do things that politicians are unwilling or unable to do, such as raise tolls or parking fees. This can actually work to the public's advantage because the price of a privatization deal reflects these additional revenues that will be recovered by the private operators." That's a perfectly Republican perspective and Raja continued that "The less obvious reality is that in the absence of those revenues-- if a privatization deal is not done-- a government must implicitly choose a different course... If the goal is to finance some level of spending, then whatever revenue does not come from privatization must come from somewhere else. One likely source of 'somewhere else' is higher taxes, which is both politically unpopular and can have adverse economic consequences in the long run... At bottom, [privatization] is just math.

Yeah, math that Grover Norquist would just love.

If you'd like to prevent the DCCC from bum's-rushing Raja Krishnamoorthi into the nomination over Mike Noland, please consider giving Mike's grassroots campaign a hand here on our Blue America ActBlue page.

Clear Choice For Democrats In The Open IL-08 Seat

State Senator Mike Noland, progressive Democrat

Now that Tom Cullerton has dropped out of the race to replace Tammy Duckworth as Representative from Illinois's 8th Congressional District-- Chicago's northwest suburbs, Elgin and Schaumburg-- there is a clear two-man choice. On the one hand you have corporate Dem Raja Krishnamoorthi, and on the other you have proven progressive state Senator Mike Noland, who Blue America endorsed in April.

Krishnamoorthi is the kind of guy who says anything he thinks his listener wants to hear. His actions, though, speak louder than his recent pandering to progressives. In his 2010 losing campaign for state comptroller, Krishnamoorthi took nearly $75,000 worth of support from Spry Solutions, a company that specializes in outsourcing jobs to India. In fact, he ran his campaign from their office.

Krishnamoorthi hasn't fooled Blue America and, hopefully, won't fool voters in IL-08, where 64% of likely Democratic primary voters identify themselves as liberal while only 11% identify as conservative. A poll that was taken before Cullerton dropped out showed the primary wide open. A plurality of likely voters were undecided; it was Noland 22%, Krishnamoorthi 18%, undecided 32%. After only positive messaging about each of the candidates, Mike Noland pulled ahead among likely primary voters with 35% of the vote, to 22% for Krishnamoorthi and just 13% undecided.

IL-08 is a progressive district that is looking to support a pro-union, progressive candidate. Mike Noland’s record and biography fit this district, and he starts this race with a solid base of support in his state Senate district. With the resources to communicate his message and the ability to turn out targeted voters, he can win this competitive Democratic primary in March.

Noland is the lead sponsor of a bill in the Illinois General Assembly to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Here's what he told us about this issue at the end of May:

The time has come to allow patients to gain access to medical marijuana. Too many people are unnecessarily suffering when there is a natural alternative that can provide much relief from pain and other debilitating symptoms.

The medical community provides more than enough justification to legalize marijuana for medical purposes.

The American Medical Association has long supported research on medical marijuana.

What is known is that the ‘high’ experienced by those who use marijuana is from only one component: Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.  What’s more, our bodies contain a natural cannabinoid that regulates health and wellness.  Indeed, our systems are pre-programmed to work with the active ingredient in marijuana, THC, which may be superior to narcotic painkillers for neuropathy, or nerve pain. Moreover, marijuana can decrease the amount of narcotics needed for pain relief. Yet the science is unequivocal, unlike narcotic painkillers, marijuana has only the same addictive potential as caffeine.

Marijuana’s main side effect is euphoria, and is often used as a sedative for cancer patients. In fact, it is currently being studied as a treatment for various forms of cancer itself.

The medical use of marijuana has also been shown to relieve the affects of both symptoms and the pain associated with AIDS/HIV, Arthritis, Asthma, Chronic Pain, Crohn’s Disease, Epilepsy, Glaucoma and Multiple Sclerosis. So, many people are suffering unnecessarily when there is a real possibility for hope and relief.

I am proud of my past support of this cause in the Illinois Senate and plan to continue to support the science-based policy of legalized medical marijuana.

His bill passed 62-53 in the House and 37-19 in the Senate. Mike's been great on TPP as well.

Having served in the Illinois General Assembly for the past eight years now, I know that budget sweeps are among the most undisciplined and unprincipled actions a legislator can take. Funds earmarked for designated programs must be protected. Medicare is a sacred program that provides millions of seniors with the health care services they need. Demanding that funds for job training come from Medicare is just another example of Tea Party Republicans' attempt to dismantle any form of a social safety net.

Here's what he told us on his platform:

If elected to Congress I hope to carry on the work that I have started in the state legislature. As a progressive member of Congress I would continue to (1) be a leader on campaign finance reform, (2) be a fighter for universal health care (which could include single payer), and (3) help ensure that we find solutions to stem the effects of climate change.

I’ve been a keen leader on campaign finance reform throughout my time in the state Senate. In 2009 I was a lead co-sponsor of IL SB 1466, which for the first time introduced campaign contribution limits for candidates running in Illinois. Not only did this legislation introduce limiting the amount individuals and PACs could donate to campaigns, it also created greater transparency by requiring all contributions over $1,000 be reported (and posted publicly) within 5 days, and required candidates to disclose their contributions each quarter (instead of only twice a year). In 2013 I helped pass a joint-resolution that urged Congress to adopt a constitutional amendment to reverse the Citizens United decision and clearly define that CORPORATIONS ARE NOT INDVIDUALS. During the current legislative session I am carrying a bill that will create a first of its kind system of public financing campaigns in Illinois. I hope to go to Congress and work with members of the progressive caucus to pass campaign finance reform legislation that can curb the influence of money in our electoral process.

Even before the ACA was passed, it came under constant assault from the Tea Party and Republicans who were unhappy with its goals and accomplishments. I believe that we must stand up and protect the ACA, while continuing to expand its reach and create greater access to quality healthcare for more Americans. As an IL State Senator, I worked on legislation that could start the process of creating a Single Payer system in Illinois.

Finally, while deniers exist, we have to accept the damage that our environment has suffered as we live with the affects of climate change. I’ve served on the IL Senate Energy Committee and have worked to find practical solutions that allow for the expansion of renewable sources of energy. I’ve been very proud of my work with a local manufacturer of wind turbines in my district. Finding more sources of renewable energy is good for consumers, business, and our environment.

The choice is clear: Mike has been a stalwart and effective progressive in the state legislature; Krishnamoorthi is a corporate Democrat with different priorities. If you'd like to help Mike Noland win the seat... here's the place.

Mr. Noland Goes to Washington: To Fight for the Middle Class

Last month we met Elgin-based Illinois state Senator Mike Noland as he weighed the notion of running for the IL-08 congressional seat that Tammy Duckworth is giving up to run for the U.S. Senate. Nolan is far more progressive, not just than anyone the GOP would ever put up, but than the professional class of political hack the DCCC is likely to rally around. This is every reason to believe that in Congress Mike would continue working on the issues that have moved him in the state legislature: economic recovery, ethics reform, and fighting for universal health care.

Mike's bio sounds a lot more like most of us than it does like the bio of a member of the ruling elite. "Growing up," he wrote, "it was common for my family to be struggling to make ends meet."

By the age of 8, I began shining shoes to help make some extra money rather than rely on an allowance. Later, as a teenager in high school, I would wash dishes, bus tables and worked at hotels and restaurants to help support my family. After graduating high school, I joined the Navy and served as a hospital corpsman. During my time in the Navy I began my higher education by attending community college at night. Following the Navy, I knew that I needed to continue my education so I began studying at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Like many college students, I had to support myself while attending classes and did so by working as a chauffeur. I eventually earned a BA and MBA from UIC, and a JD from John Marshall Law School. As an attorney I’ve worked as a public defender, and later in private practice where I defended hundreds of clients, many of which pro-bono.

He makes a clear case for why he should have our support in his bid for Congress:

If elected to Congress I hope to carry on the work that I have started in the state legislature. As a progressive member of Congress I would continue to (1) be a leader on campaign finance reform, (2) be a fighter for universal health care (which could include single payer), and (3) help ensure that we find solutions to stem the effects of climate change.

I’ve been a keen leader on campaign finance reform throughout my time in the state Senate. In 2009 I was a lead co-sponsor of IL SB 1466, which for the first time introduced campaign contribution limits for candidates running in Illinois. Not only did this legislation introduce limiting the amount individuals and PACs could donate to campaigns, it also created greater transparency by requiring all contributions over $1,000 be reported (and posted publicly) within 5 days, and required candidates to disclose their contributions each quarter (instead of only twice a year). In 2013 I helped pass a joint-resolution that urged Congress to adopt a constitutional amendment to reverse the Citizens United decision and clearly define that CORPORATIONS ARE NOT INDVIDUALS. During the current legislative session I am carrying a bill that will create a first of its kind system of public financing campaigns in Illinois. I hope to go to Congress and work with members of the progressive caucus to pass campaign finance reform legislation that can curb the influence of money in our electoral process.

Even before the ACA was passed, it came under constant assault from the Tea Party and Republicans who were unhappy with its goals and accomplishments. I believe that we must stand up and protect the ACA, while continuing to expand its reach and create greater access to quality healthcare for more Americans. As an IL State Senator, I worked on legislation that could start the process of creating a Single Payer system in Illinois.

Finally, while deniers exist, we have to accept the damage that our environment has suffered as we live with the affects of climate change. I’ve served on the IL Senate Energy Committee and have worked to find practical solutions that allow for the expansion of renewable sources of energy. I’ve been very proud of my work with a local manufacturer of wind turbines in my district. Finding more sources of renewable energy is good for consumers, business, and our environment.

This morning Noland did another guest post for us, this one to make clear his opposition to the TPP, opposition he sees as part of the epic battle to revitalize the middle class. We added Mike to our list of House candidates for 2016 who are being backed by Blue America. You can see that whole list of progressive candidates here. Take a look at Mike's guest post below and think about whether you'd like to support him as well.

Guest Post by Sen. Mike Noland

There are many factors weighing on my mind as I consider a run for Congress. One of the biggest is that too many members of Congress have become bought and sold by corporate titans, Wall Street bankers and the rest of the 1%.

I want to go to Washington to fight for the middle class and stand up for working families. That is why I am standing in strong opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

The TPP is bad deal! It will put thousands of American jobs at risk, encourage slave labor working conditions across the globe, and do irreversible damage to the environment.

Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was enacted, we’ve seen a mass exodus of jobs to countries that do not respect workers’ rights and allow for corporations to pay near slave wages. The TPP will only continue this trend. It will destroy thousands of middle class American jobs. The TPP will benefit companies that decide to move jobs overseas to countries that have no respect for workers’ rights.

The TPP engages too many bad actors as “trade partners.” It is a reckless policy to engage with countries that refuse to respect workers and attack those who organize for better working conditions and wages. If the United States is going to give preferential trade treatment to some countries, we must do so with partners who respect workers and allow for union organizing.

We all recognize that climate change is a man-made disaster and something that, collectively, the global community needs to work together to stem. The TPP will undoubtedly create irreversible damage to our environment. This agreement will create an unmitigated risk to natural treasures and wildlife. Under the TPP, we will only see increased stress on resources, habitats, and wildlife across the globe. That is why all leading environmental groups are opposed to this proposal.

Finally, the most concerning part of the TPP is the reckless and hidden manner in which the administration has tried to pass this agreement: by hiding many key sections of the agreement from Congress and the American people. If there is going to be a vote on this proposal, it must be presented and debated in an open manner that allows for the consequences to be weighed and debated by our representatives in Congress.

Illinois State Sen. Mike Noland On Campaign Finance-- The Strings Attached

With Tammy Duckworth running for Mark Kirk's Senate seat, in the IL-08 district just northwest of Chicago (Schaumburg, Elgin, Carpentersville, Carol Stream, Hoffman Estates, Elk Grove Village, Bloomingdale)-- PVI D+8-- there's a rare opportunity to replace a careerist-centrist with a populist activist. State Senator Mike Noland, first elected in 2006, has been one of the most progressive members of Illinois's Senate and is likely to run for Congress next year, and to run on his progressive record focused on economic recovery, ethics reform, and fighting for universal health care. Mike penned a guest post for us today:

Continuing the Fight for Campaign Finance Reform


by Illinois State Senator Mike Noland

Our Congress is deadlocked; Washington is in a constant rut unable to pass even the smallest pieces of meaningful legislation. I believe that the root cause of this gridlock is our unregulated system of campaign financing. This current system makes candidates work for the highest bidder who can support their next campaign and not the voters who send them to Washington.

When I was first elected to the Illinois State Senate in 2006 there were NO LIMITS on how much could be donated to a candidate running for office.

My first campaign for the State Senate was one of the most expensive contests during that cycle. As the race heated up, both sides began to dump hundreds-of-thousands of dollars worth of mail, television advertising, and unregulated cash into my race. While I was happy to accept the cash from the Senate President, I knew that there would be strings attached, down the road.

It did not take me long to, realize how damaging Illinois’ unregulated campaign finance system was to our elected representatives, so I stood up and began to work to fix it.

In 2009 I was a lead co-sponsor of SB 1466, which for the first time introduced campaign contribution limits for candidates running in Illinois. Not only did this legislation introduce limiting the amount individuals and PACs could donate to campaigns it also created greater transparency by requiring all contributions over $1,000 be reported (and posted publicly) within 5 days, and required candidates to disclose their contributions each quarter (instead of only twice a year).

The legislation that we passed in 2009 was a great step forward, but it still left much to be done. Our system of funding campaigns is not just broken in Illinois but it is broken on the federal level and it must be fixed if we want to have a Congress that will get to work.

In 2013 I helped pass a joint-resolution that would urge Congress to adopt a constitutional amendment to reverse the Citizens United decision and clearly define that CORPORATIONS ARE NOT INDIVIDUALS. While this legislation was mainly symbolic I believe it was an important step to demonstrate to Congress how obvious it is that we must reform the current system.

Right now, I am very seriously exploring a run for Congress in the suburbs of Chicago. The most daunting part of this campaign is the money it will take to win. I am not saying that to complain about all the calls I will have to make. I am saying it because candidates for elected office should get to spend their time talking to voters, studying the issues, and getting to know the communities they want to represent. Instead of doing those things candidates are forced to spend hours cold calling donors and making the donors the center of their campaigns and not the voters.

I hope that I can go to Congress and be an advocate for reform and sunshine. I recognize that (until we see a different set of Supreme Court Justices) our chances for campaign finance reform are limited. But I will not let that stop me from trying. I plan on working with members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus to help pass meaningful solutions and offer new ideas that can support greater transparency and accountability on how we fund campaigns in this country.

In addition to my support for campaign finance reform I have also stood up on a handful of other reform minded issues including; passed a constitutional amendment that allows for recalling our governor, supported a ballot referendum that would create a non-partisan redistricting commission, and supported legislation that created day of voter registration in Illinois.