Asheville-- Great Town In A miserable Political Situation

By December 31, the end of the last FEC reporting period, Patrick McHenry already had just over $2 million in his Wall Street-funded campaign war chest. He had spent over a million dollars already and raised another $1.7 million. He had 2 Democratic rivals, Kenneth Queen, who raised $8,130 and David Brown, who raised $6,229. And his two primary rivals, Seth Blankenship and Ira Roberts raised $4,961 and $1,325 respectively. Last cycle Democrat Andy Millard raised $295,850 to McHenry's $3,192,579. McHenry beat Millard 220,825 (63.1%) to 128,919 (36.9%), slightly better for McHenry than Trump did against Clinton. Although it includes the progressive stronghold of Asheville, in all this is a safe Republican district with a PVI of R+12. Of the 7 counties in the district, Democrats only win one: Buncombe (Asheville). McHenry easily balances that out with predictable lopsided wins in red hellholes like Catawba, Gaston, Cleveland and Lincoln counties.

In actuality McHenry is an extremely unattractive candidate-- an icon of Wall Street corruption serving on the House Financial Services Committee (he took $4,660,742 since being elected in 2004 and serves the interests of the banksters without hesitation) and Congress' most scandal-wracked closet case-- but hasn't had a problem with reelection once.

This year though there are some in the district eager to see the end of McHenry looking past the weak, disorganized Democrats towards a moderate Republican who is challenging him in a primary. #NeverTrump activist Gina Collias spoke at the Asheville woman's march last month and is loudly refusing to take corporate money for her campaign. In some ways she sounds like many DCCC-type Democratic candidates, eager to reform Obamacare, protect the environment, protect the country from Climate Change, simplify the path to citizenship and oppose nationalistic isolationism. Her website states she "sees potential Russian interference with the 2016 election as a national security issue" and makes the point that "No hardworking American should go broke trying to keep their families healthy. Gina supports reform of the ACA that is bipartisan, reduces the costs to American families, preserves protection for pre-existing conditions, protects essential benefits, and preserves the elimination of life-time caps." When you look closely, she sounds like a typical Blue Dog Democrat and has more in common with the last Democrat who represented Asheville-- Blue Dog Heath Shuler-- than with fellow-Republican Patrick McHenry. She's begging Democrats to switch to unaffiliated so they can vote for her against McHenry in the primary.

David Wilson Brown has a much better platform than Collias-- going beyond just fixing Obamacare, for example, and working towards Medicare for All. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to be strong or aggressive and likely won't be going anywhere. Sad. The other Democrat, Kenneth Queen has dropped out-- I guess one queen in enough in that district. Meanwhile, Seth Blankenship is trying to campaign to the right of McHenry! He calls himself "a strong, conservative Christian" and he seems to define "GOP crackpot" perfectly. On healthcare for example: "While many believe that the federal government should control your healthcare coverage, the choice should be up to the American people. We know what is best for us and our families, not bureaucrats in D.C. Obamacare has taken the choice away from us-American families." He's also virulently anti-Choice: "We have seen the tragedy of millions of babies being aborted across the United States. Together we must stand for LIFE and say no to abortions. With your help we can pass legislation to stop abortions." Basically, he's McHenry without the corruption and the closet case thing. His approach to most issues seems doctrinaire and extremely simpleminded and uninformed. Asheville is one of the most progressive cities in the South; its hard to believe this is what they're stuck with. Maybe no one heard there's a wave coming?

Who in western North Carolina can possibly resist McHenry?

Wall Street Loses A Top Congressional Ally As Jeb Hensarling Announces His Retirement

Yesterday, Jeb Hensarling announced he is retiring after the current term. It matters because he's been a major player in Wall Street congressional politics. Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee-- he's quitting Congress because this is his last term as chair-- he's taken $7,956,248 from the bankster sector since first being elected in 2002. The only current members of the House who's taken more in bribes from Wall Street are Paul Ryan ($11,479,082) and... no one. Ryan and Hensarling are the two most corrupt, although Ed Royce (R-CA) is close at $7,520,376 and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy does ok with the banksters as well ($6,942,617). These 4 have been working their hands to the bones to make sure Wall Street can return to the good ole (pre-Dodd-Frank) days of ripping off their customers with impunity... and legal immunity.

Hensarling's district has a PVI of R+16. Obama lost with 37% in 2008 and with 34% in 2012. Hillary-- who won Dallas County (which is about a third of Hensarling's district) with a huge 61-35% landslide-- lost to Trump district-wide by an even bigger landslide in the other direction, 62.7-34.3%. Democrats don't even run against Hensarling. The last Democrat who ran, Linda Mrosko, didn't even get a third of the vote and since then Hensarling's only opposition has been a libertarian with no money at all. Before he announced his retirement there was no Republican challenging him and the Democrat in the race, attorney and former Terrell City Council member Dan Wood, has raised only $27,737. Hensarling ended the 2016 cycle with $648,063 in his campaign account. He's been raising prodigiously since then, having spent nearly $400,000 and sitting on a $1,165,568 campaign warchest today.

War criminal and former Florida congressman Allen West lives in the Dallas area now and he's asking for backers from the far right to push him to get back into Congress. Unfortunately for West, though, there's a homegrown psychopath, state Senator Bryan Hughes of Mineola, who plans on running and is beloved of anyone and everyone to the right of the Tea Party.

Bartlett Naylor, the financial policy expert from Public Citizen’s Congress Watch Division, seemed delighted to see Hensarling retiring. "In the face of extensive Wall Street fraud, abuses and misconduct," he said, "Hensarling has conducted almost no investigative hearings. His sole hearing with failed Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf only presaged a wasteful probe of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency that brought the case against the bank for fake accounts. While his own party platform calls for the restoration of the Glass-Steagall separation of lending and speculation, Hensarling has defended the vision of his mentor, former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX), who authored the repeal of this law. With Hensarling’s departure from Congress, lawmakers should reject Wall Street’s agenda in favor of one that puts Main Street first. Polls show that clear majorities, including Independents and Republicans, want tough financial rules that hold Wall Street accountable for its crimes and abuses. Public Citizen’s message to Hensarling: Don’t let the revolving door hit you on the way out."

So... more important than another right-wing dog from Texas finally retiring, who's taking over as head of the House Financial Services Committee? Probably a Democrat because the likelihood of a Democratic House flip is gigantic and growing with every passing tweet. The Republican ranking member will probably be Patrick McHenry (R-NC). Boehner had two things to say about the whacked out North Carolina closet case in the infamous interviews over the summer-- one was that he laughed about telling the porcine little McHenry to stop sneaking into the cloak room to gobble down ice cream bars or he'd become a "fat ass." The other was that McHenry, who he likes, would one day become Speaker of the House. McHenry has taken a hefty $4,634,742 since being elected in 2004, but as he's risen in influence on the committee, Wall Street has been stepping up to the plate for him more and more aggressively. When you look at who the banksters bribed most last cycle, among current House members, only Paul Ryan ($4,434,364), Kevin McCarthy ($2,150,229), and Ed Royce ($1,408,949) took in more in bribes than McHenry's $1,381,400. And so far this cycle McHenry is number two on the Wall Street gravy train, after Ryan and McCarthy. The only possible challengers to head the Republicans on the committee would be Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO), Frank Lucas (R-OK) and Ed Royce (R-CA), but the GOP will let the banksters and lobbyists make the decision and they'll go with the most corrupt, as they always do, and-- hands down-- that means McHenry. (Closet queens are always the easiest to control too; a sweet bonus for the lobbyists.)

Denny Hastert Was Screwing 10 Year Old Boys & House Republicans Protected Him The Same Way They Protect Trump Today

Most of the pages and other boys Mark Foley was having sex with were in their late teens. He was careful to bring them to states where whatever age they were was the legal age of consent. Mark's smart. And, exerting some kind of power over a 17 year old doesn't seem nearly as big a deal as what the guy who was protecting Foley was doing. The guy who was protecting Foley was then-Speaker Denny Hastert (R-IL) and what Mr. Republican was doing that was so much worse was screwing 9 or 10 year olds. Over the weekend, the Chicago Tribune painted quite a picture, just as former Hastert aide, Randy Hultgren, who now represents a chunk of Hastert's old district, is about to get into a fight for his political life.

Less than three months before Dennis Hastert's scheduled release from prison, a new accuser has come forward with allegations saying he was sodomized by Hastert decades ago, according to a lawsuit filed in Kendall County on Friday.

The lawsuit comes nearly two years after an explosive indictment into secret hush-money payments brought down Hastert, a local coaching legend who became one of the country's most powerful politicians. Federal prosecutors said the former U.S. House speaker touched at least five male students when he was a Yorkville High School coach from 1965 to 1981.

Hastert, 75, did not face sex-related charges because prosecutors said the statute of limitations had long expired. He instead admitted to committing a financial crime-- withdrawing more than $950,000 from banks in a way that would avoid detection, in an effort to keep the victim quiet.

That victim, known as Individual A, is now a middle-age married man whom Hastert coached decades ago at Yorkville High School. He said Hastert agreed in 2010 to pay him $3.5 million if he didn't speak out about Hastert molesting him in the 1970s, when he was 14, while the two stayed overnight in a hotel room as part of a wrestling trip. The boy was not yet in high school at the time, but Hastert was close friends with his parents.

The new accuser, referred to in the lawsuit as Illinois resident "Richard Doe," is seeking $50,000 in damages from Hastert and Yorkville Community Unit School District 115 for charges including battery, negligent infliction of emotional distress and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The accuser said that during the spring or summer of 1973 or 1974, he stopped by the Game Farm Building, now the Yorkville High School parking lot, to use the bathroom after riding his bike along Game Farm Road. He was 9 or 10 at the time, in fourth grade, the lawsuit alleges.

The accuser entered the bathroom and, while sitting on the toilet in a stall, heard a male voice mutter something outside the stall door, according to the lawsuit. The stall door opened, and he alleges he was sodomized.

When the assault was over, the attacker left. The accuser said he saw the man's face, but didn't recognize him.

Several weeks later, when the boy was in gym class at Yorkville Grade School, he saw a large man enter and walk diagonally across the gym toward the teacher. The boy recognized the man and, upon seeing him, began to shake and cry, according to the lawsuit.

The man spoke with the gym teacher and then approached the boy, taking him by the neck into the hallway, according to the lawsuit. The man dropped to his knees and asked the boy if he told anyone about the sexual assault. The boy, crying, said he hadn't. The man warned the accuser against reporting the attack and threatened that since his father was the sheriff, he could put the boy's parents in jail if he said anything.

The incident caused the accuser severe mental and emotional distress, which was only exacerbated by his fear of talking to someone about the attack, according to the lawsuit.

In 1984 or 1985, about a decade after the attack, the accuser visited the Kendall County State's Attorney's office to report the crime. He was 20 or 21 at the time, according to the lawsuit. He spoke with a longtime friend and political mentor to Hastert.

Upon hearing the accuser's story, a man there allegedly threatened to charge the accuser with a crime and accused him of slandering Hastert's name, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit argues that the threats were intended to benefit Hastert, whose political career was just taking off.

As Hastert rose to political prominence, the accuser attempted to suppress memories of the assault. But when Hastert was indicted in 2015, and as news stories began to circulate about Hastert's abuse of male students, the accuser realized he may have a claim against Hastert for his injuries, according to the lawsuit.

Most House Republicans knew about Foley and Hastert molesting underage boys and closed ranks to protect them-- just like they've closed ranks today to protect Patrick McHenry (R-NC) from similar adventures and just like they've closed ranks today to protect Señor Trumpanzee from far more serious and existentially threatening charges. The law and order party indeed!

North Carolina Has OutLawed Payday Lenders-- But Patrick McHenry Is The Industry's Champion Even More So Than Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Patrick McHenry got into Congress just as DWT was getting started in 2005-- and we've watched for over decade as he built a career based on blatant and unaccountable corruption, using his position on the House Financial Services Committee to raise $3,717,511 from the Finance Sector he's supposed to be protecting the public from. This year alone, the Finance Sector has given McHenry $1,176,225 in legalistic bribes, the 4th most of any member of Congress other than Speaker Paul Ryan, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Wall Street's favorite Senate errand boy Patrick Murphy. It's almost unfathomable that a reform-minded good government city like Asheville would be represented in Congress by someone as corrupt as McHenry. Unfortunately, though, the Republican legislature has drawn NC-10 to negate Buncombe County's voice with Hate Talk Radio listeners in Catawba, Lincoln, Gaston, Cleveland and Rutherford counties.

This year the Democratic Party has gotten behind Andy Millard, a first time candidate from Polk County who is a financial planner, author, former teacher, principal and small business owner. You can learn more about Andy and the issues he's highlighting in his campaign here on his official website or on his Facebook page. We asked Andy to help us understand the eye-popping relationship between McHenry and the predatory Pay Day Lending Industry which we've been through the actions of corrupt Democrats like Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Patrick Murphy but is one of those areas of Congress where guilt is shared equally on both sides of the aisle. As you read his guest post, please consider contributing to his grassroots campaign by tapping the thermometer on the right.


Here’s Why People are Fed Up with Congress
By Andy Millard



Want to see a microcosm of everything that’s wrong with Congress in 2016? Just look at my opponent, six-term incumbent Rep. Patrick McHenry. He is a career politician whose influence in Congress comes in part from the immense amount of money he raises from unsavory institutions. And he pays them back by doing their bidding. His relationship with the payday lending industry is a perfect example.

Payday lenders are illegal in my home state of North Carolina. Their customers-- everyday folks living paycheck-to-paycheck-- take out short-term loans with interest rates as high as 400% or more. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), four out of five borrowers are unable to repay the loan on time (usually two weeks), so they roll it into a new loan with even more interest and fees. The majority of borrowers end up paying more in fees than they borrowed to begin with. Bottom line: the industry makes big profits by driving struggling families into a downward cycle of debt.

Numerous groups, including a broad coalition of religious groups, have condemned payday lenders and their usurious practices. So you would assume a Congressman representing North Carolina would never support the payday lending industry.

You would be wrong. Patrick McHenry is one of payday lending’s best friends in Congress. He has spoken against proposed tighter regulations on the House floor as recently as last month.

Why? Follow the money. Payday lenders are very profitable-- and they use some of those profits to support members of Congress who support them, including Mr. McHenry. The following is a litany of his entanglements with payday lenders:

In January 2011, McHenry was the keynote speaker at the Community Financial Services Association conference at the plush Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa in Hollywood, Florida. The CFSA is a trade group created by payday lenders to fight laws that might hinder them from taking advantage of those in need. Their biggest enemy is the afore-mentioned CFPB, which is a government agency created to help consumers avoid being ripped off in financial transactions.

According to the CFSA conference brochure, the gathering would answer such burning questions as, “Are there ways that I can maximize long-term profits and minimize regulatory risk?”; “What can I do to avoid getting sued?"; and, “What’s next for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?”

Apparently, McHenry paid close attention to that last question--  that March, he co-sponsored a bill to cripple the CFPB’s ability to protect Americans from payday lenders, and was promptly rewarded with over $30,000 in contributions from the payday lending industry a few days later. Perhaps coincidentally, a few weeks later, McHenry very publicly antagonized Elizabeth Warren, the then-leader of the CFPB, accusing her of lying as part of his campaign to undermine the agency.

On August 22, 2013, McHenry signed a letter criticizing the Department of Justice’s efforts to punish payday lenders. The payday loan industry had donated almost $13,000 to McHenry the previous month, and they gave him another $2,600 after the letter was sent.

In October of 2014, McHenry again spoke at a conference for payday lenders. This time, he was the keynote speaker at the FiSCA Conference and Exposition at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas. Similar to the CFSA, the Financial Service Centers of America (FiSCA) is another group that regularly works to minimize regulation of the payday loan industry.

McHenry gave his FiSCA Conference address on October 10. According to disclosure forms his PAC, the McHenry Leadership Fund, filed with the FEC, McHenry received $50,000 from FiSCA and its affiliated companies on October 17-- just one week after he spoke at their conference. On November 17, those same forms show, he received ten donations from FiSCA board members in one day. Those donations added up to $9,500. That’s almost $60,000 from FiSCA, within a month of speaking at their conference. When you add it to the $15,000 McHenry also received from CFSA board member Dan Adams on November 17, that total amount that McHenry accepted from payday lenders in one month becomes $75,000.

In January of 2015, McHenry was named Vice Chairman of the House Financial Committee, where he found himself in an even better position to antagonize the CFPB. Just one month later, he voted against protecting veterans from predatory lending practices. In March, he co-sponsored one bill that would abolish the CFPB, and co-sponsored another that would slow it down while limiting its funding. He received a $5,000 check from the National Installment Lenders Association at the end of March, and then another $2,500 from the Online Lenders Alliance at the end of April.

That June, McHenry signed a letter criticizing the CFPB director, while voting for legislation that would decrease government scrutiny of the payday lending industry. Two weeks later, McHenry received $2,000 from the American Financial Services Association, which lobbies against the CFPB on behalf of installment loans, which are similar to payday loans. Then in July, he co-sponsored yet another bill attempting to abolish the CFPB. On September 14, he received a total of $4,500 from the American Financial Services Association.

Last October, the nonpartisan Campaign for Accountability called for an ethics probe of McHenry due to the amount of money he’s accepted from the payday loan industries in proximity to acting in their favor.

Payday loans are illegal in Patrick McHenry’s home state, and he knows it. Yet the payday loan industry has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaigns and PACs. He speaks at their conferences, and argues on behalf of their interests in Congress. As Patrick McHenry’s opponent in North Carolina’s 10th Congressional District, I have called for him to return any and all contributions he has received from payday lenders and their employees, as well as the PACs who have donated to him on their behalf.

No wonder Congress’ approval rating is in the cellar. It’s a rotten system that results in rotten legislators. We can change this mess, but it’s going to take a new group of clean politicians. Despite what some might have you believe, the VOTERS alone can fix it.

Steve Scalise Admires Patrick McHenry's "Judgment"

The House Republicans' new odd couple-- with whips, no less

One of the all-time silliest congressional debuts was made by bombastic little North Carolina closet case Patrick McHenry in 2005. He went to school at a Benedictine monastery that doubles as a religionist "college," Belmont Abbey. He was president of the Young Republican Club there and made a name for himself by dressing up like Abe Lincoln and waving a sign that read "Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?" somewhere near a Bill Clinton appearance. A couple years later he started and ran a website called notHillary.com, for which Bush rewarded him with a sinecure at the Department of Labor. McHenry had previously worked for Karl Rove on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign and he was eager to get to Washington and make a name for himself. An unimpressive and diminutive figure he started bragging that he would be the model for how Republicans should vote and vowed to never vote with the Democrats. Although his 1.86 lifetime ProgressivePunch crucial vote score is pretty horrible, there are now several dozen Republicans with even more right wing voting records, including Eric Cantor (1.41), who was just disowned by the party for not being right-wing enough.

McHenry took a more garden variety conservative approach after several career threatening scandals. He seems to have made a deal with the devil and was given a seat on the very lucrative HouseFinancial Services Committee, which he has used to further his ambitions by taking $2,068,336 in legalistic bribes from the finance sector he's supposed to be overseeing.

Yesterday at this time, Steve Scalise, the new GOP Whip-designee, appointed the clownish, bowtie-wearing McHenry his chief deputy-dawg. Under Scalise and McHenry, the senior whip team is made up of Kristi Noem (SD), Dennis Ross (FL), Aaron Schock (IL), Steve Stivers (OH) and Ann Wagner (MO), a lackluster team of hawkish right-wingers. Like McHenry, Schock is also a closet case and Stivers' normally quiescent office was shaken up by a scandal involving photos of his chief of staff's penis. Schock was widely expected to get the Chief Deputy Whip job but he's a "confirmed bachelor" and McHenry found a beard and married her.

When Chad Pergram, a reliable reporter who covers Congress for Fox News, tweeted out the news before it hit the transom, I took the opportunity to share a couple of good-natured laughs at McHenry's expense, especially when he mentioned how Scalise, seeking to calm Schock down, mentioned that McHenry's role as Deputy Whip "gibes him the invaluable experience, insight and judgment to help me lead." Wow! Where does he think he's leading the crackpot House Republicans to? It wasn't long after McHenry was elected that he was implicated in a string of Republican gay murders. That's what happens when you get too involved with gay escort service, I guess.

The murdered gay Republicans include Ralph Reed's purported ex-lover, Ralph Gonzalez (former head of the rabidly homophobic Georgia Republican Party), David Abrami and McHenry guy-pal Robert Drake, the shooter. All three were found last week in a murder-suicide in an Orlando apartment. According to right-wing website, the North Carolina Conservative "All three men were active in Republican politics." They mention that Drake is "an associate" of McHenry's but don't define that. McHenry is alleged to be an associate of quite a few younger men, some of whom are gay and some of whom are just gay-for-pay.

Gonzalez was an influential political consultant, who owned Strategum Group, and managed Congressman Tom Feeney’s 2002 campaign. The house was owned by Gonzalez; Abrami lived with Gonzalez. Newspapers and political websites have been abuzz with posts from friends and associates of Gonzalez, who speculate the motive for the murder-suicide as being a gay love triangle gone wrong.

...Another, more sinister motive has been put forth by several sources, including CrimeBlog.us. Reports there say that Drake was associated with the owner of a gay escort service in the Virginia Beach area. The owners of that escort service are facing charges that they murdered the owner of a rival company catering to the gay community. A source for the Crime Blog reporter states:

“My solid, but unconfirmed, sources say that Drake was trying to hit Gonzalez up for cash to raise money to defend a kid (Harlow Cuadra) who is on trial for murder up in Pennsylvania. The 26 year old “kid” ran a gay escort and porn business in Virginia Beach and may have had several Republican clients–Drake being one. (See www.norfolkmaleescorts.com and www.boybatter.com). . . My sources say Drake may have approached Gonzalez for funds for Cuadra’s defense, threatening to blow the lid off everything by MAKING THE REPUBLICAN CLIENT LIST OF THE GAY ESCORT BUSINESS PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE.”

There are jailed Republicans, dead Republicans, outed Republicans... And McHenry's office... well, when I called McHenry's congressional office, the guy who answered the phone confirmed that Drake "worked" there but said he didn't know what his duties were. When I asked to speak to the congressman or someone who would know, he put me on hold, then came back, audibly upset, and said he was mistaken and that he didn't know anything and no one else was in the office and then quickly hung up on me. The murder was completely covered up by the Orlando police department and everything about it pretty much disappeared.

In 2012, McHenry's primary opponent, newspaper publisher Ken Fortenberry, showed up at a McHenry town hall and started peppering him with questions about McHenry's overt corruption on the House Financial Services Committee. Nothing phased the smug little McHenry until the end of the meeting when Fortenberry pulled out the photo of McHenry's murdered love, Jason Robert Drake (below). He asked the startled McHenry if he could deny any knowledge of the murdered ex-Marine. McHenry, looking like a rainbow flag, stammered and stuttered, said nothing intelligible and the meeting came to a screeching halt. I guess Scalise didn't look into it-- or didn't care.

McHenry is fond of rough trade

Teabaggers, Their Tiny Brains Filled With Hate Talk Radio Nonsense, Are Now Coming After Republican Congressmen

From the beginning of the Republic, the kind of conservative assholes who now call themselves Tea Partiers-- but were originally known as Loyalists or Tories and took up arms against the Patriots who fought the Revolutionary War-- were not just willing, but eager to see democratic government die. And they still are today. In the video above between mainstream conservative Aaron Schock and his constituents, including more than a few brainless teabaggers, the 'baggers demand that Schock commit to voting against any bill that includes funding for the Affordable Care Act. They insist Schock vote to close down the government rather than vote to fund Obamacare. "If you’re going to take a hostage," Schock says, "you gotta be willing to shoot it.” One of the 'baggers quickly demanded, "that's ok, kill it." But Schock isn't willing to make the commitment and to bow to the threats being hurled at him.

Far right Republican Party front groups like FreedomWorks, Club For Growth and DeMint's Heritage Action PAC are already threatening Republicans who aren't towing the line-- including shutting down the government. Schock implies that they're all a bunch of Fox News and Hate Talk Radio zombies without the intellect to understand anything that hasn't been drummed into their heads by Limbaugh and Hannity.

Club for Growth has already announced they are looking for a Tea Party candidate to primary Schock. Why Schock? It isn't because he's a closeted gay or even because he's supporting comprehensive immigration reform (including a pathway to citizenship).

Aaron Schock likes to portray himself as a defender of economic freedom, but his record is not consistent with that portrayal. His website claims that he’s focused on “fighting the massive expansion of government spending and debt.” However, one of the first votes Schock took in the House was against cutting all of the spending projects from Obama’s failed $800 billion stimulus bill, joining only 43 Republicans. He voted for the August 2011 debt limit deal that gave Obama a $2.1 trillion increase in the national debt, and he’s been a consistent supporter of keeping Davis-Bacon wage requirements for federal projects, nothing but an anti-free market giveaway to big labor.


CHECK THE RECORD:

• Voted to increase the debt ceiling by $2.1 trillion. 
• Voted for a budget extension that funded ObamaCare
• Voted to keep all of the spending in Obama’s stimulus
• Voted for the "fiscal cliff" deal that raised tax rates and delayed automatic spending cuts
• Repeated votes against the budget proposed by House conservatives.
• One of only 13 Republicans to vote against blocking funding for a National Labor Relations Board lawsuit that would have infringed on a worker’s right to a secret ballot in union elections.
• One of only 41 Republicans to vote against cutting $1.2 million from the Botanic Gardens.
• Repeated votes for Davis-Bacon wages on government projects, which are nothing but giveaways to Big Labor.
• Voted against numerous spending cuts that would have reduced the size of government (Link)

Lucky for Schock, Nancy Pelosi reappointed the least competent DCCC chair in that body's history, Steve Israel, who isn't even bothering to recruit a candidate to run against Schock.

Funny, another Republican-- also a closet case-- North Carolina's Patrick McHenry, was also given a hard time by the 'baggers at a town hall meeting he called this week. And across the state another conservative Republican was being pummeled by 'baggers who demanded he get behind the concept of shutting down the government. They brought them on themselves and they certainly deserve it. The only thing that would make it sweeter is if 'baggers started bringing guns to the meetings and shooting these Republicans who voted against sane gun control policies.

Nature Of Addiction And Republican Party Politics

The music business has had a very long and storied history in terms of drug use-- and not just among artists. But by the end of the '80s, the drug lifestyle among music executives was being frowned on. I worked at a very humane company and addicts were given so many opportunities to recover and rehabilitate that it took years for anyone to actually get fired. I remember two on my team who were still using massive amounts of drugs long after everyone around them had cut it out-- or had at least cut back to mere recreational weekend use. One guy's drug abuse impaired his ability to function effectively and releases and even artists' careers were ruined because of his inability to do his (key) job. He was eventually fired-- although not before endless interventions. The other guy actually did great work on coke; it was like high octane fuel for him and his department functioned flawlessly. Every now and then-- though not often-- he'd end up at the bottom of a dark hole... and that was bad. He too was given an ultimatum: straighten up or look for a new job. So he kicked his drug use-- completely.

I was so proud of him. And he continued doing an amazing job and his department continued outperforming in terms of profitability. And then one day it all collapsed. He had traded in one addiction-- drugs-- for another. And the other caught up with him with devastating consequences for everyone around him. And no one suffered more than he did, of course... his career and his personal life shattered and ruined. I thought about both these guys I used to work with last night when I was reading the Tom DeLay chapters in Max Blumenthal's book, Republican Gomorrah.

DeLay's grimy political career had two overarching premises: on the one hand a rebel's crusade against regulations and on the other, a raw, naked lust for unprecedented authoritarian power. DeLay's father was an alcoholic who beat young Tom and his two brothers mercilessly when he was bingeing, leaving them "with physical and psychic scars." Like most right-wing politicians who are the product of that kind of abusive upbringing, he fell right into the same patterns himself, getting expelled from school and earning himself the nickname "Hot Tub Tommy for his bawdy, drunken behavior and his disrespect for women. He was easy prey for a charlatan snake oil salesman like Jim Dobson, whose poison is proselytized on Capitol Hill by Virginia reactionary and religionist kook Frank Wolf.

But DeLay's born-again experience had only transformed his alcoholism into another addiction. "The convert maintains the same addictive thinking as before," University of Kansas professor of religious studies Robert Minor wrote of alcoholics who trade liquor for evangelical religion. "There's a similar level of intensity in their dependence religion as [in] their dependence upon the previous addiction. And the substitution will remain successful as the religion continues to produce a more fulfilling high than the substance or process they abandoned."

With his conversion, DeLay gained loyalty of the evangelical grassroots. Writing in 2001, when DeLay's influence was at its zenith, Peter Perl, observed that "DeLay's faith has solidified his political base and fundraising with the Christian Coalition and other religious and socially conservative groups. They love him, because DeLay's America would stop gun control, outlaw abortion, limit the rights of homosexuals, curb contraception, end the constitutional separation of church and state, and adopt the Ten Commandments as guiding principles for public schools."

Instead, it led to one of the ugliest political scandals in contemporary politics with DeLay forced to resign from Congress and eventually sentenced to prison for a wide range of corruption. The way he and his sleazy cadre of allies played the religious right reinforced the stereotype that "evangelicals are easily manipulated and that evangelical leaders are using moral issues to line their own pockets." Some of the fake religionists DeLay had in his pocket-- particularly Ralph Reed, who was on the cover of Time ("The Right Hand of God"), like Marco Rubio was last week ("The Republican Savior")-- were disgraced and shunned by the movement. Reed went from being the Savior to losing a Republican primary in Georgia for Lt. Governor by 12 points and then having his ex-lover, Rafael "Ralph" Gonzalez murdered in a love triangle by Jason Drake, a staffer-- and lover-- of Patrick McHenry. Will Rubio fall as hard and fast? Probably. Here's something to ponder about Reed and his circle from a 2011 article in Salon, 4 years after my post (linked above at "lover"):

Ralph Gonzalez had served as the executive director of the Georgia Republican Party at a time when Ralph Reed was that Chair of that organization as well as the executive director of the Christian Coalition. In his role as executive director, Gonzalez helped orchestrate the smear campaign against Vietnam Veteran Max Cleland that contributed to his defeat at the hands of Saxby Chambliss. Gonzales worked as campaign chair for Tom Feeney, Jeb Bush’s running mate in his first, unsuccessful, run for Florida’s governorship, when Feeney was running for Speaker of the Florida House. Feeney was later accused of ordering a prototype of a system to hack electronic votes while working for a Chinese company whose Quality Control Manager, Hai Lin Nee, was let off with a suspiciously soft slap on the wrist for selling protected electronic components of a radio-frequency guidance system to the People’s Republic of China, a scandal connected to the purported suicide of an investigator linked to that case. Gonzalez, who reportedly did not hide his homosexuality from those who knew him, was also president of the Strategum Group, a political consulting firm that was paid $3,144.06 by the Alabama Republican Legislative Committee to produce a anti-gay pamphlet that depicted two men sitting on a porch swing holding hands with the caption, “God Created Adam and Eve; Not Adam and Steve.”

David Abrami kept a lower profile. An attorney, Mr. Abrami was described as a “long-term” friend of Gonzales’s. The two lived together and vacationed together, once taking a trip to Amsterdam, although Abrami was reported to have a girlfriend. Abrami was a former business partner of convicted criminal and Fox Radio host, Doug Guetzloe. Guetzloe also acted as attorney for Tom Feeney. Abrami did have one additional moment of infamy in 1992 when as the 22-year-old Vice President of the Central Florida Young Republican Club he garnered attention from the Secret service after holding a fundraiser at the University of Central Florida where participants were charged two-dollars to fire a shotgun at enlarged photographs of President Bill Clinton in what he dubbed a “Turkey Shoot.”

Patrick McHenry started his political career as a protégé of Karl Rove as the National Coalition Director for George W. Bush’s 2000 Presidential campaign and later briefly worked for Secretary of Labor Elaine Chou, wife of house minority whip Mitch McConnell. It is reported that Jason Drake worked as a campaign volunteer for Patrick McHenry while Drake was stationed in North Carolina. After initial denials, McHenry’s staff confirmed that they knew Drake though they would not comment of the nature of McHenry’s relationship with the man though it has been reported that it was both, “intimate and business/political.”

...The murders of Gonzalez and Abrami were first believed to be “a lover’s quarrel,” as reported by police at the scene. However, that term was later scrubbed from news reports and in a final disposition of the case police refused to release a timeline of events or speculate on a motive in the case.

“What prompted him to go in and commit that crime remains undetermined and may never be known,” stated a complacent Joe Picanzo, a Commander with the Orange County Sheriff’s department, “We have so many different and conflicting statements from people.”

At the time of the murders rumors swirled that there was a link to that crime and another murder in Virginia involving homosexual pornography and a male escort service employing ex-marines. Those rumors were never substantiated though with Karl Rove in the mix images of Jeff Gannon and his extraordinary, and still unexplained, access to the White House leap to mind.

“All three associated socially and professionally to some degree,” confirmed Officer Picanzo back in 2007, as he picked up a broom to sweep all of this back into the closet.

What's in Rubio's closet? Plenty.

Another Full Blown Scandal Enveloping Deranged North Carolina Closet Case Patrick McHenry

These days, when someone is looking for congressional scandals, they usually go to GOP criminal types like Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm (R-NY), David "The Gangster" Rivera (R-FL) and Howard "Buck" McKeon (R-CA), all of whom are barely avoiding indictments. But scandal has dodged diminutive little closet case Patrick McHenry for his entire career-- and not just the regular legalistic bribe taking that he and so many of his colleagues use to finance their careers-- and this year is no different.

McHenry started in politics working as a sleazy operative for Karl Rove in 2000 and it's been all downhill ever since. He only won the GOP congressional primary by using out of state college students, at least one of whom he was having a homosexual relationship with, some of whom voted in the primary illegally. After winning that first primary amid a voter fraud scandal there was the little matter of a gay triple homicide that involved one of his lovers and then matters like insulting American fighting men in Iraq and taking bribes from Countrywide in the midst of the mortgage scandal to help them cover-up their criminal activities. He's generally considered one of Congress' most corrupt and untrustworthy characters-- and that's saying a lot!

Like so many of the dubious characters that float in and out of McHenry's life, his close pal and confidant Wesley Clayton Golden is hardly a household name. He's a conservative activist and former Cherryville city councilman from McHenry's home town and he was arrested by the FBI yesterday as part of a massive bribery and extortion ring.

Police in Cherryville took bribes, helped transport stolen goods and extorted money in a multi-state operation that raked in at least $750,000, according to federal indictments unsealed Wednesday.

FBI agents flocked to the Cherryville Police Department and several homes in Cherryville Wednesday morning, loading up boxes of evidence and making arrests.

Six Cherryville men were arrested, four currently working in Gaston County law enforcement.

One of those charged, Wesley Clayton Golden, 39, is a former captain in the Gaston County Sheriff’s Office who left the force earlier this year but continued to serve as a reserve officer. Golden also once served on Cherryville City Council and served on U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry’s 2010 Gaston campaign steering committee, which reads like a who’s who of the county’s most powerful Republicans. ...Beginning in August, Dellinger, Golden and Hoyle conspired with undercover law enforcement agents to provide "protection" for tractor trailers transporting through Gaston County what all three believed to be stolen merchandise, according to the indictments filed Aug. 21 but only unsealed on Wednesday. ... On multiple occasions, "Dellinger, Golden, Crawford and Mauney used their credentials and legal authority to assist with the transfer of stolen goods and/or cash proceeds from the sale of stolen goods, in exchange for monetary bribes," according to the release. Hendricks's role in the scheme was to assist Crawford and Mauney by acting as a lookout. Hoyle represented himself as a law enforcement officer, according to the release.

In several instances Dellinger, Golden and Hoyle provided armed escorts for undercover agents when they took cash to a safety deposit box at a Charlotte bank, indictments say.

In February Golden started a local branch of Prodigy Payment Systems [aka- Encore Payment Systems, a shady operation], a credit card processing firm, with offices at 1422 Burtonwood Drive in Gastonia. He was active in local politics and also was a licensed firearms trainer, according to his Facebook page.

Blue America is backing progressive Democrat and state Rep. Patsy Keever in the congressional contest. Her campaign put out this statement yesterday:

You may not remember, but Congressman Patrick McHenry was one of only twenty House Republicans to vote against reinstating House ethics rules after they suspended them to protect Majority Leader Tom DeLay. He not only knowingly protected a felon in Congress, but he voted against reinstating rules that punished those who broke the law in Washington.

He voted against key legislation on ethics issues too like the DISCLOSE Act, which helps eliminate corporate and anonymous money in our politics, and he opposed a stronger STOCK Act, which makes it illegal for member of Congress to commit insider trading. He opposed them both!

That is a pattern, folks. Plain and simple-- and we have a chance to do something about it.

If you'd like to contribute to Patsy's campaign, you can do it here.

Blue America Welcomes Back Patsy Keever (D-NC)

The last time Patsy joined us for a chat she was going up against a conservative Democrat Steve Israel had recruited in the North Carolina primary. Patsy won-- and by a lot (Israel's candidate wound up with 26% of the vote)-- not just in her own Buncombe County but in every one of the district's seven counties.

Since then she's been running a grassroots campaign for a seat held by one of the banksters' favorite patsies, Wall Street shill Patrick McHenry who represents part of the district in the current Congress. The video above is a TV ad-- except it's not on TV. Patsy Keever has been one of the most consistently independent and progressive voices in the North Carolina legislature but that hasn't endeared her to the big money special interests she's been taking on on behalf on ordinary North Carolina working families. Meanwhile, as of June 30, McHenry had taken in over a million dollars-- only 2% of it from small grassroots contributions. He sits on the House Financial Services Committee and immense sums of money have flowed into his campaign from special interests with business before his committee. Wells Fargo, sleazy payday lenders Advance America Cash Advance Centers, American Bankers Association, Goldman Sachs, Koch Industries, and Moneytree, Inc. are among his biggest donors. They've been financing his scurrilous political career and counted on him to stab his own neighbors in the backs on their account. He adamantly opposes all regulations to keep banksters from ripping off consumers. And up against his million-plus haul, Patsy's grassroots campaign has raised $482,279. She doesn't have the money she needs to put that ad up on TV and she's going to be pushing it online. Blue America wants her to get it up on television in the 10th district.

Although cable TV is a lot less expensive and we can probably help her get the ad on Anderson Cooper's show in Gastonia, Rachel Maddow's in Asheville and Real Housewives of Atlanta in Hickory, because of the hard fought presidential campaign in North Carolina, broadcast TV rates have gone sky high. In Patsy's part of North Carolina it costs $322 per point. You have to buy 100 points at a time, and 100 points will guarantee that your ad will be seen once by your target audience in the space of a week. So we can say we want to target high-information voters... then 100 points will get us one ad seen by high information voters (during the news) in the space of a week. Would you like to help us try?

This afternoon (2pm, EST, 11am on the West Coast), Patsy will be joining us for a live chat at Crooks and Liars. There are no races in the country where the difference between the two candidates is clearer and more stark. his week Patsy told us that "Patrick McHenry wants to end Medicare and replace it with a voucher system that would cost seniors at minimum an additional $6,000 a year for their health care. I want to keep America’s promise to its seniors and protect the current Medicare benefits that they have earned by paying into the program throughout their lives. I would never support any effort to voucherize Medicare." And that's hardly the only difference between the two candidates. "Patrick McHenry voted to allow taxpayer money to be spent on companies that have outsourced our jobs to China, India and Mexico," she reminded us. "I will vote to support companies that keep our jobs right here in America... I think the flood of money pouring into campaigns from special interests is turning voters off and threatening our democracy. During this election cycle alone, PACs have contributed more than $500,000 to Patrick McHenry’s campaign, with Koch Industries’, Goldman Sachs’ and Morgan Stanley’s PACs contributing $10,000 each. To date, I have received an average donation of $138 from more than 2,700 people, showing I have strong grassroots support from voters who live in the 10th Congressional District."

Here's the page where you can watch the ad and contribute to Patsy's campaign at the same time. Do you have any friends you could send the link to? If they ask you why they should care about a district way out in North Carolina, remind them that, as Patsy told us, "McHenry voted to cut student loan assistance to middle and working class families. As a former public school teacher, I know that every child deserves the opportunity for a quality education–from early childhood through technical school or college. When elected, I will do everything in my power to see that they get it."

Very stark difference

Want To Help Patsy Keever Get An Ad Up On TV?

[Last Chance Announcement: Monday morning we'll pick the winner of the B-52's COSMIC THING platinum award. If you're still interested-- get the horse in gear now. All the info is right here.]

That video above is a TV ad-- except it's not on TV. Rep. Patsy Keever, one of the most consistently independent and progressive voices in the North Carolina legislature, is running for Congress in the newly redrawn 10th district. Her opponent is Wall Street shill Patrick McHenry and as of June 30, he had taken in $950,120. Of that money, 54% was from PACs, 44% was from large donors and only 2% came from small grassroots contributions. He sits on the House Financial Services Committee, so it may offend you, but shouldn't surprise you to know that he gets most of his money from special interests with business before his committee:

His half dozen single biggest contributors were Wells Fargo, sleazy payday lenders Advance America Cash Advance Centers, American Bankers Association, Goldman Sachs, Koch Industries, and Moneytree, Inc. These are all interests who count on McHenry to screw over his own constituents on behalf of predator banksters. They have financed his career and he has stabbed his own neighbors in the backs on their account. Up against his million dollars-plus, Patsy's grassroots campaign has raised $482,279.15. She doesn't have the money she needs to put that ad up on TV and she's going to be pushing it online. Blue America wants her to get it up on television in the 10th district.

Although cable TV is a lot less expensive and we can probably help her get the ad on Anderson Cooper's show in Gastonia, Rachel Maddow's in Asheville and Real Housewives of Atlanta in Hickory, broadcast TV in Patsy's part of North Carolina costs $322 per point. You have to buy 100 points at a time, and 100 points will guarantee that your ad will be seen once by your target audience in the space of a week. So we can say we want to target high-information voters... then 100 points will get us one ad seen by high information voters (during the news) in the space of a week. Would you like to help us try?

Tuesday afternoon (2pm, EST), Patsy, who we haven't talked with since she beat her ConservaDem opponent in the primary, will be joining us for a live chat at Crooks and Liars. She's been focused like a laser on making sure folks in western North Carolina know just who Patrick McHenry is and that "he voted to allow taxpayer money to be spent on companies that have outsourced our jobs to China, India and Mexico. I will vote," she told voters, "to support companies that keep our jobs right here in America."

Here's the page where you can watch the ad and contribute to Patsy's campaign at the same time. Do you have any friends you could send the link to?

The CFPB Is Protecting Consumers From Financial Predators-- So The GOP Wants To Kill It

The campaign ad above is from Wayne Powell, the intrepid Democrat Steve Israel refuses to allow the DCCC to help take on Eric Cantor. Luckily we have men and women like Powell who are undaunted by corrupt Beltway Insiders-- like Cantor and Israel-- and work to  represent the interests of ordinary working families anyway. DCCC or not, Powell is hammering Cantor mercilessly. Cantor and his cronies, especially his cronies on the House Financial Services Committee, opposed the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Board, opposed the appointment of, first Elizabeth Warren and then Rich Cordray to head it, and have worked hard to make sure it would be unfunded, unmanned and ineffective. But Cantor and his fellow bankster shills in Congress have failed.

Yesterday the Bureau announced that it had ordered American Express to refund $85 million it had bilked from consumers with illegal credit card practices. American Express has its own PAC and spends massive amounts of money bribing Members of Congress, mostly Republicans (59%) but corrupt conservatives on both sides of the aisle. So far this cycle they have given federal candidates $436,700 and they sure hone right in on the Members of Congress with the sleaziest sense of ethics. The largest reported bribes ($10,000 each) went to powerful members who always put the banksters first and the consumers last:

• Spencer Bachus (R-AL), Chairman, Financial Services Committee 

• John Boehner (R-OH), Speaker

• Joe Crowley (New Dem chairman-NY), shadiest Democrat on the Ways & Means Committee

• Ron Kind (New Dem vice-chair-WI), second shadiest Democrat on the Ways & Means Committee

• Gregory Meeks (New Dem-NY), member of the Financial Services Committee; just named by CREW one of Congress' most corrupt members for 2011-12

• Mel Watt (D-NC), member of the House Financial Services Committee

Other members known throughout Washington for being for sale who have received inordinately large sums of money from American Express include:

• Dave Camp (R-MI)- $5,000

• Eric Cantor (R-VA)- $6,000 (In 2010 Cantor got $10,000)

• Scott Garrett (R-NJ)- $6,500

• Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)- $7,500

• Steny Hoyer (D-MS)- $5,000

• Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT)- $8,000

• Ed Royce (R-CA)- $7,000

• Aaron Schock (R-IL)- $5,000

• Debbie Wasserman Schultz (New Dem-FL)- $7,500

Just in the past 4 years American Express has discovered Patrick McHenry, one of the sleaziest members of the House Financial Services Committee and known throughout Washington as a complete lackey for the banking industry. Since he does their bidding anyway, they just give him a thousand here and a thousand there. McHenry's in a tough reelection campaign this year, being challenged by a reform-oriented straight-shooter, Rep. Patsy Keever who told us that she was "not surprised to see that the American Express PAC contributed to Patrick McHenry during this election cycle. In fact, PACs have contributed more than $500,000 to his campaign so far.”

Right after the ruling former (and future) Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter told us she was delighted: "I am thrilled to hear that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has once again done its job of protecting Americans from illegal financial practices. As a member of Congress, I was proud to vote for the CFPB's creation under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.

My opponent voted to weaken the CFPB (H.R. 1315) and opposes Dodd-Frank. His new position on the Financial Services Committee means he has more power than ever to support Big Finance at the expense of his constituents. I look forward to his removal from this committee, and to protecting middle class families once again when I am elected to Congress this November."

Ed Royce takes far more than McHenry and Guinta do and his opponent, Jay Chen, has been focused like a laser on consumer protection.

"The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proven its importance by obtaining $85 million in refunds for mistreated consumers. Unfortunately, representatives like Ed Royce have opposed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from the very beginning, after taking millions in campaign contributions from the entities that the Bureau is supposed to monitor. We need leaders who will look out for consumers and the middle class, not just the financial institutions who are profiting off of them."

Hammer, meet nail; nail meet head. And basically that just what happened yesterday. The CFPB announced an enforcement action with orders requiring three American Express subsidiaries to refund an estimated $85 million to approximately 250,000 customers for illegal card practices. This action is the result of a multi-part federal investigation which found that at every stage of the consumer experience, from marketing, to enrollment, to payment, to debt collection, American Express violated consumer protection laws. That's why Republicans and conservative New Dems want to kill the bureau. It messes with their lucrative sources of bribery. The bill originally pass the House at the end of 2009 223-202, every single Republican voting NO, along with 27 Democrats, mostly corrupt Blue Dogs and New Dems, but a few progressives who felt the bill didn't go far enough to protect consumers. Among the Democrats who sold out to the banks (who are running for reelection in November) were Ben Chandler (Blue Dog-KY), Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX), Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ), Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog/New Dem-NC), and Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog/New Dem-OR). Most of the Democrats who voted against the Consumer Protection Bureau were defeated in 2010 or are retiring, many to become lobbyists.

This is from a press statement by the CFPB: "Several American Express companies violated consumer protection laws and those laws were violated at all stages of the game-- from the moment a consumer shopped for a card to the moment the consumer got a phone call about long overdue debt," said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “Today's orders require the American Express companies to fully refund about $85 million to consumers and it requires them to make specific changes in their business practices. The American Express companies will identify the harmed customers, notify them, and make sure they get back their money.” 

  

 •         Deceived consumers who signed up for the American Express “Blue Sky” credit card program: Consumers were sometimes led to believe they would receive $300 in addition to bonus points if they signed up for this American Express Centurion Bank program. But consumers who met the qualifications did not receive the $300. This violates federal laws prohibiting deceptive practices.

 •         Charged unlawful late fees: American Express Centurion Bank and American Express Bank, FSB billed late fees on certain cards based on a percentage of the debt in violation of the Credit CARD Act.

 •         Unlawfully discriminated against new account applicants on the basis of age:  American Express Centurion Bank used a credit scoring system that treated charge card applicants differently on the basis of age. For a period of time, the bank did not fully implement the system for applicants over the age of 35. This violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act because it requires credit scoring systems that take age into account to be properly designed and implemented.

 •         Failed to report consumer disputes to consumer reporting agencies: American Express Centurion Bank and American Express Bank, FSB failed to report the existence of certain customer disputes to credit bureaus, which is a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

 •         Misled consumers about debt collection: All three of the American Express subsidiaries deceived consumers into believing there were certain benefits to paying off old debt. Consumers were wrongly told that if they paid off the old debt, the payment would be reported to credit bureaus and could improve their credit scores. In fact, American Express was not reporting the payments and the debts were so old that even if they had tried to report them, many of the payments would not have appeared on these consumers’ credit reports or affected their credit scores. American Express also told some consumers that a portion of their debt would be waived or forgiven if they accepted certain settlement offers.  But for customers who applied for a new American Express card, the company was not really forgiving or waiving the debt.

  

Aside from a $25.7 million fine, American Express has to pay restitution to consumers who were misled into paying old debt because they thought it would be reported to the credit bureaus. They'll reimbursed all the money American Express tricked out of them, plus interest. One of my favorite parts of the ruling is that consumers who were falsely promised their debt would be forgiven and who were denied new credit cards because the debt was not really forgiven, will receive $100 and a pre-approved offer for a new card with terms the CFPB and the FDIC find acceptable. If the consumer already paid the waived or forgiven amount in order to get a new card, they will be refunded that amount plus interest. Consumers who were tricked into paying illegal "late fees" are getting their money back as well (with interest) and American Express so-called Blue Sky customers who were promised $300 for signing up-- and then never got it-- will each now get the $300. 

Next time you ask yourself about how much of a difference there is between Democrats and Republicans, remember-- there are some really bad Democrats (and sleazy powermongers like Steve Israel, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Joe Crowley are working overtime to recruit more) but legislation like this could only have been enacted by progressive Democrats. And only Democrats would have ever enforced it. Does that mean we should back Blue Dogs and New Dems? Of course not. They may not always be as bad as Republicans, but they are always bad. Whenever possible, they should be replaced with progressives. That's why Beto O'Rourke's win against Silvestre Reyes in TX-16 (El Paso) was one of the most significant events of this election cycle. It's important to support reformers like Patsy Keever, Carol Shea-Porter, Beto O'Rourke and Jay Chen.