Ami Bera's Father Is Going To Jail For Campaign Finance Fraud-- What About Patrick Murphy's Parents?

Mastermind of DCCC corruption: Steve Israel... with the useful idiot

I'm in the middle of an intense investigation of how sleazy Republican Justin Fareed from Santa Barbara is funding his congressional campaign from just a few wealthy families with very special interests involving the healthcare industry. The investigation is still on-going but, basically, Fareed has taken in over $180,000 from eight families representing four healthcare 
companies, particularly the Kolodny family-- all of whose adult members have declared bankruptcy in the past as a way of escaping debts-- who are first-time political donors but have maxed out to Fareed for over $40,000. They run controversial nursing homes in Maywood and Oxnard. Fareed is a Republican with a distinct penchant towards corrupt practices but Republicans have by no means cornered the market on political corruption.

Just as I was researching the Fareed case, the Sacramento Bee reported on the outcome of a 2 year old campaign finance fraud case involving a bunch of crooked conservative Democrats, each one of them just as shady as Fareed. DWT started working on that case 2 years ago this week.

Denny Walsh and Sam Stanton reported yesterday that the father of crooked Congressman Ami Bera, a right-wing Democrat cut loose by unions, progressives and reformers, "has been charged with two counts of campaign finance violations and is scheduled to appear in federal court Tuesday to enter a plea in the case... as an 'arraignment and change of plea' hearing, which typically means a defendant has agreed to a guilty plea." And he did. The court in Sacramento and The Bee focused on Ami Bera, the crooked local congressman, although it appears that the Sacramento U.S. Attorney went nowhere near the case and it was handled out of the U.S. Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section, which indicates that Patrick Murphy and his parents could well be next. Bera insinuated he didn't know about how his father was gaming the system although it was a scheme hatched by Steve Israel at the DCCC and also involved the parents of several other corrupt right-wing Democrats, particularly Patrick Murphy (FL), Kevin Strauss (PA), Sean Patrick Maloney (NY) and Ann Callis (IL).

Babulal Bera, whose son faces a re-election battle against Republican Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, was charged with making excessive campaign contributions and making contributions in the name of another person.

...The charges filed Monday night allege that, beginning in 2009, Bera contributors gave at least $235,000 to a campaign committee in Elk Grove, and that Babulal Bera later caused the contributions to be illegally refunded.

Those contributors “received full or partial reimbursements for their contributions in the form of funds that originated from the defendant (Babulal Bera), either from the defendant directly or through third parties working at the defendant’s behest,” court documents state.

The charging document also alleges that Babulal Bera and his wife “directly and indirectly solicited relatives, friends and acquaintances to make the maximum allowable federal campaign contributions” to a campaign committee, “knowing that his personal money would be used to advance funds to, or reimburse these individuals for the contributions they made.”

This was designed, according to the charging document, to avoid limitations federal law imposes on the amount an individual is allowed to give a congressional candidate in a single election cycle.

The contributions came in between Jan. 31, 2011, and Dec. 5, 2011, and totaled about $43,400, the documents state.

From April 26, 2011, through June 9, 2012, “these contributors received full or partial reimbursements for their contributions in the form of funds that originated from the defendant” or from third parties working on his behalf, the documents state.

Babulal Bera faces up to five years on each of the two felony counts and fines of at least $250,000.

Ami Bera threw his dad under the bus, same way he threw his constituents under the bus

Babulal sent two checks to Patrick Murphy, totaling $5,000, dated June 27, 2015, all part of Steve Israel's ruse to have the wealthy parents of his right-wing, anti-progressive candidates avoid campaign finance laws by illegally trading contributions. Patrick's criminally-minded mother sent a check to Bera's campaign on March 5, 2013 for $5,200 while his crooked father Thomas Murphy (the Trump partner) sent two checks to Kevin Strouse on June 26, 2013 totaling $5,200-- all while Thomas and Leslie Murphy had been sending tens of thousands of dollars to Republican party organizations from Vermont and Massachusetts to Oklahoma and Idaho and to Republican candidates like George W. Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney.

The plea bargain seems to have guaranteed that Babulal would serve no more than 30 months in prison rather than the 46 to 57 months that would be normal under the Federal Sentencing Guideline for the 2 counts he plead guilty to. Israel hasn't been indicted but there have been rumors that he was forced to announce his retirement from Congress over this and other similar illegal schemes. And, so far, the Murphy family hasn't been investigated for their role in the same behavior Babulal Bera will soon be in prison for. They provided "a thing of value" (campaign contributions to Bera) in return for Babulal making a campaign contribution to Patrick Murphy. It would seem more fitting to go after the two corrupt politicians as well as their parents, but congressmen routinely get away with almost anything. Bera has no primary opponent but, fortunately, Murphy, does: Alan Grayson. You can help Grayson defeat Murphy and his family's sordid brand of corrupt politics by clicking on the thermometer:

Is Steve Israel Helping The CIA Infiltrate Congress With Its Own Agents?

I don't know the answer to the question posed in the title above. I've been trying to find out and I've been tracking down several leads. The names that come up most frequently are Kevin Strouse, who like all CIA spies bills himself as an "ex-CIA analyst" and is running against Mike Fitzpatrick in Bucks County (PA-08); Bobby McKenzie, another former CIA spy who glosses over that and calls himself an "ex-US State Dept. Counterterrorism Official" and is running in MI-11 against Michigan's least attractive politician, Dave Trott the state's foreclosure king; and Jerry Cannon the former comandante of the Guantánamo gulag/torture prison who is running against GOP sad sack Dan Benishek way up in the sparsely populated, desolate Upper Peninsula of Michigan, flush up against Canada.

I spoke to one Bucks County political expert this morning about Strouse's CIA connections and he told me Strouse has no chance to win and that the DCCC, after recruiting him and pushing him against a plausible grassroots Democrat, Shaughnessy Naughton, has abandoned Strouse entirely. "There is no way," he told me, "that Strouse wins this race unless the CIA arranges to kill Fitzpatrick. I'm hearing Strouse is down by 20 points." 20 points?!!?! This is an R+1 swing district that Obama won 53-46% in 2008 and then fought Romney to a 49-49% head heat 4 years later. How does a Democrat-- even a crappy Steve Israel Mystery Meat candidate like Kevin Strouse lose a district like that by 20 points.

Meanwhile, as of the June 30 FEC filing deadline, Strouse had only raised $1,016,010 to Fitzpatrick's $2,482,114 and only had $268,721 cash-on-hand to Fitzpatrick's $1,906,830. The DCCC hasn't spent a dime on Strouse's behalf so far. However, the DCCC as reserved $1.9 million on Philadelphia broadcast from Oct. 21 to Nov. 4, which could mean ads for Strouse or Manan Trivedi (PA-06) or Aimee Belgard (NJ-03). Their House Majority PAC has reserved another $1.2 million for unspecified candidates in the Philly area. Despite the rumors that the DCCC has kicked Strouse to the curb, unlike some of the candidates that they have dumped, he's still on the most current Red-to-Blue list soliciting money for their candidates. I guess if Michael Fitzpatrick turns up dead or suddenly resigns for some bizarre reason, we'll know the CIA plan is operational.

Jerry Cannon has also been seriously underperforming as a candidate. He and Benishek last reported on July 16 and Benishek had raised $1,497,655 and had $830,703 on hand while Canon only raised $647,734 and had $336,663 on hand. This unlikely red-to-blue district has a PVI of R+5 and would be a steep climb for even a good Democratic candidate. Obama, though, did beat McCain, 50-48%, although he lost to Romney four years later 54-45%. (Benishek barely fended off his last challenge by another bad Democratic recruit, Gary McDowell, 167,060 to 165,179.) What McDowell and Cannon have in common is that they're both conservatives from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. Is the CIA behind Cannon? I haven't found anything that would make me comfortable asserting as much, just rumors.

The DCCC has spent $237,304 in negative ads against Benishek so far, part of a $450,000 Traverse City broadcast from Sept. 2 to Sept. 22 they reserved. They have another $490,000 on hold for Oct. 14 through election day. Yesterday, Emily Cahn at Roll Call reported that the NRCC just reserved a million dollars worth of ad time in the district to defend Benishek and will start running them on Friday and not stop until November 4.

OK, now let's go back to MI-11, Kerry Bentivolio's mostly suburban district north and northwest of Detroit that includes parts of Oakland and Wayne Counties, an R+4 district but good hunting for a Democrat, especially with such an awful and indefensible candidate like Trott. But the CIA agent, or, supposedly, "ex"-CIA agent, McKenzie, just wasn't closing the deal. Trott, who wrote his campaign a casual $2,423,402 check for the primary, had $1,018,913 cash-on-hand on July 16. McKenzie only raised $375,432 and had $68,448 left after the primary, which shouldn't be enough to stay competitive. The DCCC hasn't spent any money in the district yet but they've reserved $850,000 in the Detroit broadcast market and $290,000 in the Lansing market between Oct. 21 to Nov. 4, money that could go to help McKenzie (who is no longer on their Red-to-Blue page at all) or Pam Byrnes (who the DCCC has reportedly given up on entirely). Strange. I suppose they could use the reservations to support Eric Schertzing against Mike Bishop in the district Mike Rogers is abandoning (MI-08, Ingham and Livingston counties, R+2 PVI) but there is no indication they are getting behind Schertzing or any other Michigan candidates.

And now the big "however" in this race. Someone (a CIA cutout, supposedly) persuaded Bentivolio to run as a write-in candidate and pull the extreme right away from Trott, who he really hates, so that McKenzie wins the seat. Yesterday, the Detroit Free Press reported that a very bitter Bentivolio just wants Trott to lose.

“Everywhere I went here at home or in D.C. I had a Trott tracker working for a self-serving, self-absorbed entitled bully,” Bentivolio said in an e-mail to the Free Press. “Now they want unity?”

In last month’s primary, Trott beat Bentivolio by nearly a 2-to-1 margin. In the race to represent a district widely considered to lean Republican, Trott faces Bobby McKenzie, a former U.S. State Department employee and the Democratic nominee, who Bentivolio said he also opposes.

Bentivolio told MIRS he was “pretty frustrated” by the loss and the amount of money Trott spent defeating him. He said he has been approached by “a lot of people out there” who want him to run as a write-in “because they don’t see much difference” between the two parties.

…[H]e e said that it’s difficult for him to listen to Republican Party calls for unity and support given that he was targeted for defeat by mainstream elements in the party when former U.S. Rep. Thad McCotter resigned abruptly in 2012 and left Bentivolio the only other GOP name on the ballot.

I'm trying to track down what Bentivolio meant exactly when he said he's being pushed to run by "a lot of people out there." It would mean a lot to the CIA and other intelligence entities to have one of their own-- or 3 of their own-- inside the branch of government charged with overseeing all the unconstitutional activities.

Crucial Primaries Mañana In Georgia, Kentucky And Pennsylvania

Let me save Pennsylvania for the end, since that's the one with Democrats. Georgia and Kentucky are Republican affairs, although who the GOP voters pick in each state may influence the outcome of the November elections-- and the control of the U.S. Senate. We'll start with Georgia's 7 dwarves running for the open red Senate seat that conservative Democrat, Sam Nunn's daughter, thinks she has a chance to win. She doesn't really have a chance-- although flawed and irrelevant polling consistently predicts she does. Greg Bluestein in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Michelle Nunn, the Democratic front-runner in the Senate race, has built leads against each of the five top GOP Senate contenders in a potential November matchup, though her lead against businessman David Perdue is particularly narrow… But it’s important to note that GOP candidates have yet to unleash the brunt of their considerable resources at Democratic rivals. Deal’s campaign has so far ignored Carter in its feel-good ad campaign, and Republican Senate candidates are busy battering each other ahead of the May 20 primary."

The most recent primary polling from Fox shows certain nuts and crackpots beating other nuts and crackpots:

• David Perdue 26%
• Karen Handel 18%
• Jack Kingston: 17%
• Paul Broun: 12%
• Phil Gingrey: 11%
• Other: 3%
• Undecided: 13%

The only real chance Nunn's daughter really has-- despite a lot of wasted energy from delusional Democrats-- would be if dangerous fascist/Bircher Paul Broun won tomorrow. But he won't. And neither will she. Her excruciatingly tepid, conservative campaign not going to motive enough Democratic base voters to bother turning out in November, despite the millions the DSCC and their allied organizations waste on the election. Lots of ugly Republican Civil War ads like this one up this week:



The video way up top shows the two front-runners flatly stating-- probably dishonestly-- that they will not vote for the repulsive GOP leader, Mitch McConnell if he's reelected and wants to be GOP Leader again. And, in all likelihood, McConnell will win his primary tomorrow. The most recent polling shows him beating teabagger Matt Bevin 55-35%.

Heading into the final weekend before the 05/20/14 Kentucky primary, incumbent GOP Senator Mitch McConnell soundly defeats more conservative Republican challenger Matt Bevin, according to the latest Bluegrass Poll, conducted by SurveyUSA for the Louisville Courier-Journal, WHAS-TV, The Lexington Herald Leader, and WKYT-TV. It's McConnell 55%, Bevin 35%.

50% of Republicans say Matt Bevin is too inexperienced and would harm KY's ability to get things from DC, compared to 38% who say that Matt Bevin is the fresh face needed to shake things up in Washington. 38% of Republicans say McConnell has been in office too long and it's time for him to go, compared to 55% of Republicans who say that McConnell's expertise and seniority are important for Kentucky to have in Washington DC. 51% of Republicans say McConnell has done too little to stop federal spending, 33% say he has done the right amount. 54% of Republicans say McConnell has done too little to stop the Affordable Care Act, 31% say he has done the right amount.

Assuming McConnell emerges triumphant from Tuesday's primary, and looking ahead to the 11/04/14 general election, the forecast is cloudy for the Senate Minority Leader, who stands to become Majority Leader should he hold his seat and should Republicans capture control of the Upper Chamber.

Today, it's even-steven, McConnell 42% vs 43% for his lesser known but well-financed Democratic challenger, Alison Lundergan Grimes. These results are a nominal 3 points more favorable to McConnell than the most recent Bluegrass Poll, released 02/04/14. That poll was conducted of registered voters; this poll is of likely voters. Today, Grimes has built a narrow coalition of Democrats (74% support) and moderates (60%). The rest of her support is below 50% (women 45%, greater Louisville 48%). McConnell holds on because he is backed by conservatives (68%), Republicans (69%), and because where he trails, it is narrowly, and by single digits, such as among Independents, where McConnell is down 38% to 32%. 6-months till votes are counted, even in the face of these poll numbers, McConnell cannot be underestimated. The national Republican Party is not prepared to lose his seat; every last dollar will be spent to keep it.

Among all registered voters:


• Grimes has a Plus 14 Job Approval as KY Secretary of State: 46% approve of the job she's doing, 32% disapprove.


• McConnell has a Minus 22 Job Approval as KY's senior Senator: 34% approve of the job he's doing, 56% disapprove.


• Grimes favorability is Plus 8 (35% view her favorably, 27% view her unfavorably).


• McConnell's favorability is Minus 20 (29% favorable, 49% unfavorable).


• Bevin's favorability is Minus 3 (22% favorable, 25% unfavorable).

So far, McConnell has spent $11,379,032 on this race and Bevin has spent $3,340,522. This week, the NRA spent $$99,073 bolstering McConnell. The Credit Union National Association, one of the nation's most corrupt Big Bucks players spent over $350,000 last week to push two slimy candidates who have proven records of selling out their constituents in favor of the banksters, McConnell ($156,394) and fake Democrat Pete Aguilar ($197,189). Americans for Tax Reform kicked in another $37,500 this week for McConnell. In contrast the Freedomworks fire-breathers spent $2,154 trying to prop up Bevin's disintegrating campaign. McConnell and his allies have unlimited millions to start deploying against Grimes on Wednesday.

Democratic voters in Pennsylvania seem well on the way to nominating Tom Wolf for governor tomorrow, the progressive alternative to EMILY's List's horribly flawed conservative shill Allyson Schwartz, despite the Beltway pundits having practically declared her the winner even before she declared her candidacy. The punditocracy also heavily backed Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky (the outrageously corrupt Clinton in-law) in PA-13 and Steve Israel's CIA spy/pro-fracker Kevin Strouse in PA-08. Both are poised to lose tomorrow, although both races are too close to call and will depend on robust progressive turnout.

DWT recommendations for tomorrow:

• PA-13- Daylin Leach
• PA-08- Shaughnessy Naughton
• PA Gov- Tom Wolf
• PA Lt. Gov- Mark Smith

Will Steve Israel's PA-08 CIA Agent, Kevin Strouse, Withdraw From His Congressional Race Over The Weekend?

I wondered why Steve Israel and his corrupt operatives at the DCCC didn't jump all over the story about Republican crooks Michael Grimm and Aaron Schock illegally trading maxed out donors to circumvent campaign finance regulations. Was Israel too busy chasing Pinellas County NAACP President Manuel Sykes out of the FL-13 Democratic primary so he could run a sleazy Republican crony instead? That wasn't it and now I do know why Israel ignored that scandal-- he was directing a nearly identical scheme among-- even more shady-- his own stable of worthless corrupt recruits. Pelosi is now countenancing criminal activities from her DCCC chief, It's not just about losing House seats-- an Israel forte-- but about unethical behavior that rivals the GOPs.

Let's start with a look at a widely sourced article in the Philadelphia Inquirer by Chris Palmer and Jonathan Tamari, who fingered Israel recruit and "ex"-CIA agent Kevin Strouse as the source of the scam.

As Kevin Strouse jumped into a high-profile congressional race in Bucks County, his parents sent $10,400 last June to the campaign of U.S. Rep. Ami Bera, a California Democrat in another closely contested district.

Two days later, Strouse's campaign got the same amount, $10,400, from Bera's parents.

The pattern was repeated at least three other times last year, campaign finance records show. In each, Strouse's parents-- who had never before donated to federal candidates beyond Pennsylvania-- sent money to Democrats in tight congressional races in Colorado, Florida, and Illinois.

Days before or after, those candidates' parents sent nearly identical contributions-- usually for the maximum allowed-- to Strouse's campaign.

What Palmer and Tamari have no way of knowing is that the candidates involved in the scam are all Israel New Dem "mystery meat" recruits, more of his fatally flawed, conservative candidates like Ed Jany and Kevin Strouse-- Patrick Murphy (FL), Andrew Romanoff (CO) and Ann Callis (IL). "Exactly how," the two reporters ask, "the parents of candidates in far-flung congressional races aimed nearly matching donations at one another's children is unclear." Maybe Pelosi should clear it up for us? Is this what she meant when she admiringly called him "reptilian" when she was truing to defend appointing such a corrupt character to a high position? Israel and his den of crooks at the DCCC are, needless to say, stonewalling.

Strouse, his campaign and his parents did not respond to multiple requests for interviews, including two left at Robert and Norma Strouse's home in Glenmoore. Parents of two other candidates-- one in Illinois and the other in California-- hung up when contacted by the Inquirer. Two others did not return calls left for comment.

The only clear link between the parents is that their children are each running in House districts deemed priorities by national Democrats.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Monday declined to discuss the contributions or say if the party had a role introducing the parents or directing their donations.

Instead, it released a two-line statement that said: "Our Red to Blue and Emerging candidates are on the vanguard of the fight to put solutions ahead of reckless brinkmanship and fight for middle-class families. As the top tier pickup opportunities in the country, these races generate tremendous enthusiasm from our allies and candidates' own networks."

Strouse, 34, a handpicked DCCC candidate who moved to the district from the District of Columbia last year, is locked in a fight with businesswoman Shaughnessy Naughton, 35, to be the party's nominee in the Eighth District.

…Strouse's parents have given $49,400 to eight Democrats running in priority House races this year - not counting $10,400 to their son. The parents of at least four of those candidates donated $28,400 to Strouse.

In almost every case, the donations were dated just days before the campaigns were scheduled to file finance reports to the FEC-- a time candidates and committees traditionally ramp up fund-raising so they can boast about swollen war chests.

In June, Robert Strouse sent $5,200 to the campaign of U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy (D., Fla.). (The Floridian is no relation to the former Bucks County congressman with the same name.) Four days later, Murphy's father, Thomas P. Murphy Jr., sent an identical campaign contribution to Kevin Strouse.

In September and December, Strouse's parents sent checks to the campaign of Ann Callis, a Democratic challenger in Illinois. Within days, Callis' parents sent nearly identical amounts back to Strouse's campaign.

Reached at home Sunday night, Lance Callis at first explained the donation by saying Strouse might have sent him political information he agreed with. But he declined to elaborate and hung up.

Robert Strouse also gave $5,200 - again the maximum-- to House candidate Andrew Romanoff of Colorado on Oct. 3. That was sent four days after Romanoff's mother had contributed $2,600 to the Strouse campaign.

For Romanoff's mother, Gayle Caplan, it was the first time she had given to a federal candidate other than her son and President Obama. When contacted at home in California on Sunday, Caplan said, "I don't talk to reporters," and hung up.

Bera's parents were not home and could not be reached. The Bera, Callis, and Romanoff campaigns did not respond to requests for comment Monday. Murphy's campaign declined to comment.

Strouse's parents have also donated to four other top-tier Democrats who, according to FEC records, do not appear to have given back to Kevin Strouse.

The other parents have also been generous. Like the Strouses, the Beras and Lance Callis have also given to multiple campaigns this cycle, usually helping candidates named as Democratic priorities for 2014. All three families, for example, gave to U.S. Rep. Raul Ruiz (D., Calif.).

The other gained candidates include Israel recruits Rocky Lara (NM), John Lewis (MT), and Sean Patrick Maloney (NY). The anti-fracking candidate in the Bucks County race whose campaign Israel is trying to sabotage, Shaughnessy Naughton, has asked Strouse to explain how these shady contributions were coordinated. "Was there a quid pro quo?" she asked. She also called on him to return the roughly $28,400 in parental contributions if they were part of a plan to get around donation limits. "Frankly," she said, "if it's not illegal, it certainly seems like it should be." And if it was unethical for Grimm and Schock, this looks 10 times worse. There were so many shady contributions from Strouse's parents-- one see why he became a spy now-- that I couldn't even capture them all on aq sceenshot. Here are a sample:

no progressives on this list

Democratic Congressional Opportunities In Southeast Pennsylvania-- IF Steve Israel Doesn't Blow It Again

Do these protesters need to show up at Steve Israel's house?

The suburbs north of Philadelphia look promising for Democrats this year. First and foremost, Wall Street-owned New Dem Allyson Schwartz (PA-13) is leaving Congress and is likely to be replaced by the state legislature's liberal lion, Montgomery County Senator Daylin Leach. Conservative Democrats have their own ridiculous candidates, a corrupt Clinton mother-in-law whose only compelling reason for running seems to be to institute chained CPI and reduce benefits to seniors (Hoyer's candidate), and Philly-boss backed anti-Choice hack Brendan Boyle. But that's a primary and a potential pick-up for progressives, but a red-to-blue seat.

Steve Israel has failed miserably to recruit winning candidates against vulnerable Republican incumbents but Democrats had great news yesterday when Jim Gerlach announced he wouldn't be running for reelection in PA-06 (after 6 terms). The district, which has a PVI of R+2 after partisan redistricting that made it slightly safer for a Republican to hold, contains parts of 4 counties: Chester, Berks, Montgomery and Lebanon. Montgomery and Chester are friendliest to Democrats and it wouldn't be a stretch to take back that seat with the right candidate. Look at this PPP survey showing how vulnerable Gerlach was. The DCCC ignored it:

Now it looks like either Bob Casey's brother, Chris Casey, or current gubernatorial candidate Katie McGinty, may want to jump into the open-seat race. This is a great pick-up opportunity and No doubt Israel is scrambling to find a corrupt conservative to run.

East of PA-06 and sharing a around the Green Lane Reservoir and Schwenksville, we have another vulnerable Republican-held seat, PA-08, Mike Fitzpatrick's seat, that extends east through Doylestown and down into Bensalem and Levittown. Basically, though, excluding a small piece of Montgomery County, this is the Bucks County district. This one has an R+1 PVI and was recently held by Blue Dog Patrick Murphy. The DCCC ran out and recruited another of their untrustworthy empty suits, ex-CIA agent, Kevin Strouse. This district could be won but Steve Israel is likely to muck it up in his relentless jihad against grassroots candidates. As we pointed out last September, Strouse is a pro-fracking candidate and, like most voters in Bucks County, Shaughnessy Naughton, is a scientist and an anti-fracking candidate. Environmentalists abhor Strouse, of course, and have largely been endorsing Naughton, who Israel has been bad-mouthing to Democratic donors. For example, Michael Mann, author of The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars and a Distinguished Professor at Penn State, gave Naughton the kind of fulsome backing scientists have been awarding her:

I don’t normally do this, but our country is at a crossroads and, in my view, science is under attack.

Our scientific community has been generally loath to delve into the political realm. Meanwhile we have elected officials that are science deniers; they cut funding for scientific research and seek to politicize basic facts.

I’ve seen this firsthand. In 2005, the Attorney General of Virginia opened a civil investigation against me because he didn’t agree with my scientific findings on climate change, threatening academic freedom for the sake of promoting anti-science bias.

But there is a bright spot. I recently met Shaughnessy Naughton, a chemist and businesswoman from Southeastern Pennsylvania who is running for Congress on a pro-science platform.  She understands the scientific evidence behind pressing issues like the environment and healthcare, and she promises to fight to invest in scientific research funding to promote discovery, help grow our economy, and create jobs.  And, she understands the importance of making sure that we have strong STEM education, from elementary school all the way up.

Unfortunately, some traditional campaign donors don’t understand why it is so important to restore and grow the budgets of the NIH, NSF, and other sources of federal funding for scientific research.

But, as scientists, we do. We know the difference science can make in shaping a positive future for our country, and for that reason I believe we have an obligation to support a candidate like Shaughnessy who shares our commitment to fact-driven decision making…Take a look at her science policy plan here.

Just as a report from the AP was released warning on the dangers of fracking to drinking water, Strouse reiterated his pro-fracking agenda. Earlier today, Naughton drew a firm line between her own science-based position and Strouse's corrupt vision for an end to the fracking moratorium in Bucks County. She again told voters that she wants to "permanently ban hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, on the Delaware River Basin."

She cited the newly released AP review of drilling-related complaints [linked above], which found that “Pennsylvania received 398 complaints in 2013 alleging that oil or natural gas drilling polluted or otherwise affected private water wells, compared with 499 in 2012. The Pennsylvania complaints can include allegations of short-term diminished water flow, as well as pollution from stray gas or other substances. More than 100 cases of pollution were confirmed over the past five years.”

What’s more, a new study undertaken by researchers from Princeton, Columbia, and MIT showed that in Pennsylvania the proximity to fracking sites increased the likelihood of low birth weight by more than half and doubled the chance of a low Apgar score. [Bloomberg 1/4/14]

“I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again, we need a permanent ban on fracking along the Delaware River Basin,” said Naughton, referring to the Delaware River, which runs along Bucks County. “We’re talking about potentially contaminating the source of drinking water for fifteen million people. On top of that we should be thinking about the impact on the local tourism economy. Who is going to want to stay at an inn on the historic Delaware River if it’s polluted? We’re talking about a $877.3 million industry that supports more than 11,600 jobs. This isn’t complicated. It’s common sense."

For some odd reason, the DCCC is sticking with a male CIA agent who backs fracking. Go figure!


UPDATE: Naughton Isn't Letting This Rest

This morning Shaughnessy Naughton sent out a press release demanding that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the administration of Governor Tom Corbett provide more transparency on fracking-related water contamination in Pennsylvania, and, in particular, the Delaware River Basin.

“It’s shocking to me that the one entity in the state that’s supposed to protect our environment is fighting efforts to learn about the impact of fracking,” said Naughton. “I’m calling on the DEP and the Corbett Administration to improve their transparency. We do not know enough about the effects of fracking, and the new information we are getting does not look good. We need more information, not less. The residents of Pennsylvania deserve better from their state government.”

By contrast, Naughton’s opponent in the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania’s Eighth Congressional District, Kevin Strouse, told Midweek Wire, “I support natural gas drilling.”

Another Ivy League Elitist, Kevin Strouse

But not good enough for Kevin Strouse???

It wasn't more than a couple weeks ago that people were snickering about Princeton alum Ted Cruz's elitist attacks on students from "lesser" Ivy League schools. GQ broke the story but it got pretty wide play considering how abruptly Cruz shoved himself into the national spotlight with his jihad to shut down the government. For instance, the NY Daily News was quick to label him an elitist

Ted Cruz might play a down-home Texan but turns out the firebrand Republican was an elitist Ivy Leaguer back in the day.

The Princeton grad held the bar high while a student at Harvard Law, refusing to study with pariahs who hadn’t done their underground at Harvard, Princeton or Yale, according to a GQ profile of the first-term Senator.

“He said he didn’t want anybody from ‘minor Ivies’ like Penn or Brown,” Damon Watson, a law school roommate of Cruz, told the magazine… It’s not clear if Cruz ever cozied up with McCain.

McCain attended the United States Naval Academy and has no Ivy League stripes to his name.

Of course, people can say that was a long, long, long time ago or that how could anyone expect Cruz to turn out differently considering his sociopathic father, Rafael (who was rushing around the country this week threatening to work on primaries against the 25 Senate Republicans-- i.e., most Senate Republicans-- who ignored or disdained his son's antics and voted against shutting down the government).

The ex-CIA analyst the DCCC dug up to run against Michael Fitzpatrick in Bucks County, Pennsylvania (PA-08), Kevin Strouse, isn't as old as Cruz but he's just as much an Ivy snob. Or maybe he just hates women? But he sure hated Barnard women when he was at Columbia University! I remember that some of the smartest and most accomplished women in my high school, including the valedictorian went to Barnard. This article that Strouse wrote for the student paper, the Spectator sounds host elitist and misogynistic to me, every bit as vile as Cruz. No wonder Steve Israel recruited him!

Student government has done some fine things lately. With the urging of many concerned-- and scared-- students, our elected representatives voted to keep Barnard out of our dorms. Phew.

I don't think we should stop there. I know plenty of Barnard people living in our dorms right now. I think we need to organize a vigilante squad and run them off campus, back to that school of theirs. When we've done that, we'll go to the classrooms and purge them from there, because we can't have them polluting our education. Finally, we'll lock all the gates and only give keys to Columbia students. Only then can Columbia ensure our safety.

I think what the council was trying to reaffirm was that we here at Columbia are a better breed. And some individuals in the student government let their actions illustrate that notion.

Barnard is the most selective women's college in the country and the most difficult of the Seven Sisters to get into. The average GPA of the class of 2013 was 94.6 on a 100-pt. scale and 3.84 on a 4.0 scale. I'm sure none of them are as brilliant and accomplished as Strouse but Barnard alumni include Laurie Anderson, Laura Flanders, Suzanne Vega, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Erica Jong, Christine Wang, Maria Hinojosa, Martha Stewart, Twyla Tharp… and Joan Rivers. In his quest to win a House seat, Strouse is running against… a woman, Shaughnessy Naughton, who Steve Israel is trying to knock out of the primary.

Will Steve Israel Muck Up Democratic Chances To Take Back PA-08 Again?

Shaughnessy Naughton

Although southeast Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district has a small chunk of northern Montgomery County, it is basically the Bucks County district. Along with the neighboring 7th CD, it is the wealthiest party of Pennsylvania, those two districts being the only two in the state with medium household incomes over $70,000. PA-08 is a genuine swing district with a PVI of R+1. Obama beat McCain, 53-46% in 2008 and he and Romney tied 49-49% last year, Romney edging him by a few votes. The incumbent, Mike Fitzpatrick, was elected in 2004, was defeated after one term by Patrick Murphy, who joined the Blue Dog caucus and was defeated-- in a rematch with Fitzpatrick-- in 2010 as part of the Great Blue Dog Apocalypse. Last year the DCCC refused to support the Democratic nominee, Kathy Boockvar and Fitzpatrick outspent her $2,586,004 to $1,443,331 and won 57-43%.

This year, Steve Israel rushed to recruit a more conservative and malleable Democrat for the DCCC, former CIA analyst Kevin Strouse. They failed to contend with the fact that a popular local businesswoman, Shaughnessy Naughton, is also running, breaking a Democratic rule about not interfering in viable primaries. She's a research scientist who has done breast cancer and infectious disease research, as well as drug discovery and is the owner and CEO of a small business, a publishing company located in the district. She tells people, reminiscent of congressional neighbor Rush Holt, that one of the main reasons she's running is because she thinks we need more scientists in politics. "As a chemist, it is incredibly important to me that our national policy is based on credible evidence-based research." I asked her to introduce herself to DWT readers with a guest post about one specific-- and very salient-- issue for her area of Pennsylvania: fracking.

Fitzpatrick hasn't been as conservative on environmental issues as most of his GOP colleagues. At one point he was even endorsed by the Sierra Club. That's good politics because Bucks County is a very environmentally sensitive area. Fracking is a big issue there but the DCCC candidate, Strouse finds himself the odd-man out, backing fracking. In his Master's Thesis, "Russian Natural Gas: Enabler Of Uncooperative Foreign Policy" he supports fracking and in particular the so-called Halliburton loophole technology in Cheney's highly controversial 2005 Energy Bill.

 

Basing National Policy On Credible Evidence-Based Research
-by Shaughnessy Naughton

When it comes to fracking, our policies on drilling ignore its potential public health and environmental risks. To me, that’s crazy! We should not be risking our community’s health just to make a profit. It’s simply wrong. There’s so much we don’t know, including whether or not gas and brine can make a path to the surface and what kind of seismic activity fracking causes.

This issue is particularly potent in my district, which has the Delaware River running along it. The River contributes to the entire region: at 330 miles it is the longest American river east of the Mississippi, providing drinking water for more than 15 million people, as well as water needed for industry, and irrigation for Pennsylvania’s important farming regions. Moreover, the Delaware River basin is prone to severe floods, so chemical storage near the source of so much drinking water is a serious hazard.

Fracking uses a toxic chemical cocktail called fracking fluid, but companies refuse to say what exact contaminants are in the fluid, claiming that the contents are proprietary information. The Marcellus Shale, Pennsylvania’s largest drilling site, has unknown levels of radon, a radioactive gas that causes lung cancer. Rather than allowing fracking companies to hide behind the cloak of “trade secrets,” I support full disclosure and transparency of the chemicals that drillers inject underground.

My primary opponent, who moved to Pennsylvania from DC earlier this year, doesn’t seem too concerned about fracking. When asked about his views on climate change, he recently told a local newspaper “I support natural gas drilling.”

Well, I don’t agree. It would be irresponsible to frack locally and even remotely threaten a source of drinking water for 15 million people. In fact, we already have a moratorium on fracking in Pennsylvania’s Bucks and Montgomery counties passed in 2012. The fracking ban in the two counties operates as both a state and federal moratorium; the federal moratorium came in 2009, when the administrators of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) determined they needed to ban fracking along the length of the River until guidelines were drawn up.

We need to keep the federal ban in place, and make sure that Obama doesn't succumb to the energy lobby's pressure to lift the moratorium. In fact, I support making the moratorium a permanent ban. My opponent, on the other hand, clearly seems to think that there is a “right way” to risk our public health.

We as a country need to stop taking short-term gains in exchange for long-term losses. We need to start investing seriously in research on clean energy alternatives like wind, solar, and rain energy.  Most importantly, we need to start basing our policies on scientific facts.

I contacted Strouse's campaign for this article as well and a friendly staffer promised to have him call back with his perspective. That hasn't happened. If you'd like to contribute to the candidate who will protect Bucks County from fracking, Shaughnessy's Act Blue page is here. In a district like PA-08, where independents, not base voters, determine who will win, a Democrat supporting fracking will never beat a Republican who opposes it. If Democrats hope to take back the district Shaughnessy Naughton is the candidate who can beat Fitzpatrick. Steve Israel should let district Democrats decide, not try to make that decision based on his own prejudices and preferences for conservative-leaning Democrats.

UPDATE: Israel Sends A Poison Pen Letter

Today Steve Israel, doubling down on parachuting into competitive primaries on behalf of more conservative candidates, sent out a fundraising letter for his handpicked patsy, Kevin Strouse:

As Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, it’s my job to find the best candidates to run for Congress.

One of our top races is Kevin Strouse in Pennsylvania’s 8th district-- this seat is CRITICAL to winning a Democratic majority.

National Republicans know it too. That’s why shady special interest groups will be targeting Kevin, ready to spend HUGE amounts of cash to buy this seat.

If we are going to win a Democratic majority against the right-wing establishment and all the cash that goes with it, Kevin needs to have a huge showing for Monday’s big FEC fundraising deadline. Will you help him do it?

Please help Kevin have a strong grassroots showing by giving $3 or more before Monday’s critical fundraising deadline.

Every dollar counts, so we need every one of you to step up and give whatever you can.

An outaged friend of mine in Doylestown, a significant (now former) DCCC contributor who got that letter, sent me a steely-eyed e-mail: "Not only are they fundraising for someone who isn't from here and is against the common-sense moratorium on fracking on the Delaware River, but the DCCC is campaigning against the only woman in the race. It's concerning that they are trying to hand pick another male candidate at a time when issues facing women and families are on the chopping block in our nation's capital. I'm convinced. I promise to contribute through Blue America from now on. I can't believe it took so long."

Corrupt, Corporately-Owned Pols Steve Israel And Joe Crowley Recruit Candidates Who Will Smile And Leave The Politics To Them

The ideal Steve Israel candidate-- against progressives on over 75% of roll calls

The Paul Kane investigative journalism DCCC press release in Sunday's Washington Post, Democrats push problem solvers in House races reflects a meme Steve Israel started massaging in 2011. It might have never crossed Kane's mind but it's how the corporate wing of the Democratic House caucus, the Blue Dogs and New Dems-- keep in mind that Israel is an "ex"-Blue Dog and his sidekick Crowley is an "ex"-New Dem-- have managed to grab power in the House. In 2012 the DCCC put virtually all their recruitment energy and, later, their money behind Blue Dogs and New Dems. The freshman class is significantly further right than the caucus as a whole. In fact most of the freshmen-- 27 of them-- have ProgressivePunch crucial vote scores even lower than the conservative Israel's 72.22: Denny Heck (NV- 66.67), Beto O'Rourke (TX-66.67), Dina Titus (NV- 66.67), Filemon Vela (TX- 66.67), Elizabeth Esty (CT- 64.71), Tulsi Gabbard (HI- 64.71), John Delaney (MD- 61.11), Suzan DelBene (WA- 55.56), Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-55.56), Julia Brownley (CA- 50.0), Pete Gallego (TX- 50.0), Joe Garcia (FL- 50.0), Gloria Negrete McLeod (CA- 47.06), Ami Bera (CA- 44.44), Bill Enyart (IL-44.44), Patrick Murphy (FL- 44.44), Brad Schneider (IL- 44.44), Cheri Bustos (IL- 38.89), Bill Foster (IL- 38.89), Annie Kuster (NH- 38.89), Dan Maffei (NY- 38.89), Sean Patrick Maloney (NY- 38.89), Scott Peters (CA- 38.89), Raul Ruiz (CA- 38.89), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ- 38.89), Ron Barber (AZ- 33.33), and, worst of any Democratic freshman, Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ- 23.53).

There are a couple ways to look at this. Before we take in the scope of the nonsense the DCCC has been pushing out to naive Beltway reporters like the Post's Kane, let's look at the reality, which was summed up over the weekend in a clear-eyed, if painful, OpEd in The Hill by Senator Bernie Sanders, Chained CPI: An economic, moral disaster. Bernie asks how many congressional candidates won last year by running on an Austerity Agenda and specifically, how many backed these three planks:

1. That Social Security cost-of-living adjustments are too generous. Social Security should be cut over the next two decades by more than $1,000 a year for 85-year-old widows living on $1,200 a month.

2. That benefits earned by disabled veterans as a result of losing their arms, legs or eyesight in Iraq and Afghanistan are too generous. Disabled veterans’ benefits should be cut over the next 15 years by more than $1,400 a year.

3. That working families and the middle class don’t pay enough in taxes. We need to enact an across-the-board tax increase that disproportionately hurts workers making between $30,000 and $40,000 a year.

Correctly, he says none did-- not even the single Blue Dog elected, Pete Gallego; not even lifelong Republican Patrick Murphy; not even the most aggressively anti-working family corporate shills like Ann Kirkpatrick, Scott Peters and Bill Foster. And yet these are the Democrats Israel and Crowley are counting on to back the Obama-Boehner "compromise" to begin the great unraveling of Social Security through Obama's catastrophic Chained CPI scheme.

Bernie concludes by reminding them that "There is a reason why every major organization representing senior citizens, working families, veterans and women is strongly opposed to the chained CPI. They understand, as do the vast majority of Americans, that working families have suffered enough during this recession, and that it is time for the large corporations and the wealthy to play a significant role in reducing the deficit." Will these organizations help primary Democrats who back Chained CPI. The Ann Kirpatricks and Annie Kusters of the world are counting on them not doing that.

Meanwhile the DCCC is trying to define this whole struggle in an entirely different way. Their candidates from 2012 and the garbage they're trying to recruit for 2014 are above politics; they're just good citizens, problem-solvers. And they just leave the grubby politics in the capable-- if greasy-- hands of party bosses like Israel, Crowley and Wasserman Schultz, all members of what Etzioni termed America's permanent conservative party and what we at DWT refer to as the Conservative Consensus.

When Kane interviewed one of the DCCC candidates they steered him to, he found the exact same thing I find when I talk with them-- and I talk to all of them-- namely that they don't know anything about anything. These days, when I talk to a candidate I can always tell they were recruited by the DCCC because they have no idea what Chained CPI is and little idea about any of the biggest political issues of the day-- and even less interest in discussing anything substantive outside of memorized generalities. They are pro-Choice and pro-marriage equality this year though. Kane got stuck with the guy defeated Blue Dog Patrick Murphy was hocking for his old PA House seat on twitter last week, Kevin Strouse.

He’s a smart, young former Army Ranger-- good qualities for any aspiring politician. But what party leaders really like is that Strouse doesn’t have particularly strong views on the country’s hottest issues.

Immigration? Tax policy? “Certainly I have a lot of research to do,” Strouse acknowledged in an interview Thursday as he announced his candidacy in a suburban Philadelphia House district.

Strouse’s candidacy reflects an emerging Democratic strategy for taking back the House from Republicans after the tea party takeover of 2010.

The best way to defeat the conservative, ideologically driven GOP, Democrats say, is to field non-ideological “problem solvers” who can profit from the fed-up-with-partisanship mood of some suburban areas. These districts will offer some of the few competitive House campaigns in the country.

“You pick your strategic high ground and force them to fight on it,” said Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), who as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has begun a particularly early effort at traveling the country and working the phones to lure Strouse and others like him into races.

Israel’s approach is a variation on the model used by then-Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), the campaign committee chairman in 2006 when Democrats took over the House in George W. Bush’s “six-year itch” midterm. Emanuel sought out centrists and conservatives to run in rural districts, particularly in the South.

It isn't part of the press outreach from the DCCC to explain that most of Rahm's recruits were quickly defeated after following DCCC advise to vote with the Republicans on key issues. That alienated the Democratic base that had elected them and brought on the Great Blue Dog Apocalypse of 2010. That is looking like the kind of fate that 2010 losers like Kirkpatrick, Maffei, Foster and Titus, who managed to get back into office in 2012, will face again in 2014. And Strouse, who I haven't talked with personally-- and already know there's no need to (thanks Mr. Kane)-- is headed right in that direction.

Strouse introduced himself last week as a candidate who knows how to “solve problems” and who “got the job done” protecting the nation.

“I’ve thrived in situations where there’s a fair amount of chaos,” Strouse, a graduate of Columbia University and Georgetown’s master’s program in security studies, said in a telephone interview.

Strouse only recently became a registered Democrat. “I took with pride that I was working in these nonpartisan organizations,” he said of the Army and CIA. Eventually, he became shocked by “the degree to which the Republican Party moved to the right” on social and fiscal issues.

He does not yet have deeply ingrained policy prescriptions. On gun control, he favors instituting a universal background check, but on taxes he said he is still studying what levels of higher revenue taxation he would support for a broad budget deal.

In his discussions with Democratic leaders, Strouse said they focused on his background. “They’ve just liked the bio,” he said.

...In his pitch to the candidate, Israel gave Strouse encouragement but also delivered some tough-minded warnings: how he would need to raise millions of dollars, how his opponents would come after him, how the father of two children under 3 would lose his privacy.

Israel has been busy finding other candidates with similar problem-solving appeal.

In a district stretching from the New York suburbs up past Albany, Democrats are backing Sean Eldridge, 26, an investor married to Chris Hughes, the co-founder of Facebook. Eldridge runs an investment fund in the Hudson Valley and his political background is limited to advocacy work on issues such as same-sex marriage.

In Tallahassee, Gwen Graham announced her bid this week for a northwest Florida district. The daughter of former senator and governor Bob Graham (D), Gwen Graham’s campaign presents her as a “consensus builder” with the “skills to solve complicated problems.” Her work as legal adviser for the local school board and school superintendent is her best credential in public service.

If you've been following along here at DWT, you may recall I talked with that one last week and came away thinking how perfect she was for Steve Israel. Israel admits his boneheaded strategy is dependent on "liberal mega-donors," most of whom have as little interest in issues like Chained CPI as Israel and his bozo recruits do. That's why Blue America is asking policy-driven candidates exactly where they stand on exactly that issue. Here's what they tell us.