Conventional Wisdom... And Meet Ilya Sheyman

I was just a teenager-- and a huge Dostoevsky fan-- when I got my first indication of the worth of conventional wisdom. I was mesmerized by Dylan's lyrics on his new single "Subterranean Homesick Blues," released a couple weeks later on Bringing It All Back Home, but it took a few years before I connected all the dots. That happened when I sold a bunch of hash so I could buy a new VW camper at the Volkswagen factory in Wiesbaden, Germany ($2,500) and drive to India.

The first leg of the trip was from London to Istanbul. Yugoslavia was still a country but now I consider myself having driven through Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro. I just loved it, especially driving along the Dalmatian Coast. After that came a quick jaunt through Bulgaria to the European sliver of Turkey and down into Istanbul which straddles both continents. Here's where the conventional wisdom started-- the conventional wisdom of the Hippie Trail. "Everybody" knew Bulgaria just sucked and the way to do it was to drive straight from Nis, through gray, Communist Sofia and then 300 miles down the main highway through Plovdiv and right into Istanbul. Do not stop; do not even look out the window. The Bulgarians are Stalinist creeps and the country should be avoided except that it's on the way to Istanbul and Asia (and, the real crux, as I soon learned, hashish). That was the conventional wisdom.

I didn't mean to rebel or anything but I had a feeling I wasn't going to get another chance to wander around Bulgaria and I was in no rush. So I stopped in Sofia, explored the city, didn't find it forbidding at all and then decided to head due east to the Black Sea instead of southeast to Edirne and Istanbul. I had hardly parked my van at the seaside at Burgas before I had two new best friends. They couldn't wait to show me their country and I wound up spending two weeks driving around Bulgaria, staying on communal farms, seeing towns that never got any Hippie Trail traffic, like Varna, Novi Pazar, Targoviste. It was amazing but it still didn't dawn on my that conventional wisdom was worthless, especially not that conventional wisdom from groups you identified with was worthless. Months later in Afghanistan I was still eating delicious fruits and veggies and kefir farmers had given me in Bulgaria. (I had kefir for breakfast today, over 40 years later.)

Istanbul is where I finally got it. The conventional wisdom was that the Turks, like the Bulgarians were assholes to be avoided. The only way to enjoy Turkey was to hole up in the hippie enclave around the Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet). So I did. I was actually in the pudding shop when the real Midnight Express was going down!



The Turks were assholes? All seventy million of them? It was then that I started watching my parking meters instead of following leaders. Sure, the cops and robbers drawn to Sultanahmet to pray on drugged out hippies were assholes-- cops and robbers are assholes everywhere. But you didn't have to drive far to meet the greatest people in the world: Turks. It was there that I realized how worthless conventional wisdom is. I've tried to studiously ignore it ever since-- in all aspects of my life.

The hippies-- relatively much more open-minded than your average Joe-- only liked people they could do drugs with: Afs, Nepalis, Indians... Everyone else was an asshole. I thought the Turks were among the most amazing, hospitable, empathic people I had ever met and I lingered for months in Anatolia-- and have been back a dozen times since then-- something "everyone" knows is a waste of time. And, like I said, I learned the worth of conventional wisdom. I guess that's why I hate the Republican Party and have nothing but contempt for Inside-the-Beltway Democrats.

The above paragraphs could be an introduction for almost anything we post here at DWT. Let's make it... about our evil foes at the DCCC. The political consultant class in DC has been trying to recruit a hackish state legislator, Susan Garrett of Lake Forest, or-- worse-- recently defeated corporate shill Melissa Bean (from the 8th CD)-- to run against Republican freshman Robert Dold. Inside-the-Beltway conventional wisdom is that only a professional politician is worthy of their support. Meanwhile, grassroots activists in Illinois and hoping to persuade Ilya Sheyman, former Field Director for Democracy for America and, more recently, National Mobilization Director at MoveOn, to run for the seat.

Conventional wisdom always comes down on the side of money, never on the side of people power. The DCCC will claim neutrality, of course (they usually do) and then attempt to undermine the grassroots candidate in favor of the worst Chamber of Commerce shill in the Democratic Party (Bean) if she makes a try for the seat, or else state Senator Garrett if she's the Establishment candidate. And Ilya? Let's hear what he has to say about himself. Is this the kind of guy you'd like to see Blue America endorse and work for?

I believe in a simple idea at the heart of progressive politics-- an idea best articulated by the late Senator Paul Wellstone:

“Politics is not just about power and money games, politics can be about the improvement of peoples lives, about lessening human suffering in our world and bringing about more peace and more justice.”

As I travel around the 10th Congressional District, I look forward to listening to you and learning from your stories about the issues and values that are important in your lives. Here are a few of my thoughts on critical issues to start off our conversation:

Jobs:

It is time to invest in our shared prosperity by passing a new jobs bill that would provide a life vest of unemployment assistance to those drowning without work, that would guarantee state aid, so that communities wouldn’t have to continue letting go of cops, firefighters or teachers, and that would stimulate public and private sector job creation through direct hiring for infrastructure projects and the creation of a national green jobs bank that will provide loans directly to small businesses.

Investment:

I support a fixed timetable to extricate ourselves from the quagmire in Afghanistan and to finally bring every brave man and woman home from Iraq-- so that we can start building bridges and roads, schools and hospitals, mass transit and a green economy right here in Buffalo Grove and North Chicago instead of Kabul and Baghdad.

Security:

I will defend our commitment to Health and Retirement Security with a plan that asks the wealthy to pay their fair share into Social Security, keeping its promise to future generations. And I support gradually expanding Medicare to cover every single American, and stand behind the promise that quality, affordable health care should in fact be a birthright of every single American.

Opportunity:

I will fight for real immigration reform that finally takes 12 million of our neighbors out of the shadows and gives them a pathway to citizenship and an ability to realize their dreams and aspirations right here in the United States of America.

Equality:

I will work with allies in our community and in Congress to introduce a Civil Rights Act for the 21st Century that guarantees the full spectrum of over one thousand rights, responsibilities and privileges that come with equal citizenship to all our LGBTQ brothers and sisters.

It Isn't Only Republicans Opposing Regulations On Banksters-- Plenty Of Corrupt Blue Dogs & "New Dems" Are Just As Bad

Melissa Bean, a Democrat of convenience-- the stench of corruption

After quite the unseemly kerfuffle from fully-owned bank subsidiary Melissa Bean-- with several of the most anti-working family Blue Dogs in tow (think Walt Minnick, for example)-- late last night the House finally agreed to H Res 956, providing for debate on H.R. 4173 which reform-minded Democrats have designed to "provide for financial regulatory reform, to protect consumers and investors, to enhance Federal understanding of insurance issues, to regulate the over-the-counter derivatives, markets," etc. Bean said she would lead New Dem opposition to the rule (956) if her anti-regulatory, lobbyist-written crap didn't get included. Between a compromise and enough New Dems telling the leadership that she was off her rocker and to ignore her, the vote came and the resolution passed 235-177, only 7 Democrats (a disgruntled progressive and half a dozen GOP-voting Blue Dogs, abandoning the party). [UPDATE: Some reports are circulating that the compromise was a bigger victory for the corrupt New Dems than originally thought.]

So what's driving the bankster-owned ConservaDems into the arms of the Republicans now? Their patrons are hysterical about Elizabeth Warren's Consumer Financial Protection Agency, as well as their usual mania against state laws that are tougher than lax federal regulations. Melissa Bean, one of the only House members in history to have passed the two-million dollar mark in thinly-veiled bribes from Wall Street, is pushing a pre-emption amendment that disallows aggressive state attorneys-general to go after Wall Street banks, regardless of the degree of criminality. It failed in committee but she feels a bankster-greased axis of evil between the GOP, the Blue Dogs and the New Dems can triumph on the House floor. Freshman Walt Minnick (Blue Dog-ID) has, with just half a term under his belt, already scooped up an eye-popping $170,453 in legalistic bribes from Wall Street and is demanding that the CFPA be aborted, something he pushed, unsuccessfully, in committee.





UPDATE: Banksters Get What They Want From A Bipartisan Coalition Of Corrupt Conservatives

The vote on the final bill will be tomorrow but a coalition of Republicans and the worst of the Blue Dogs and New Dems defeated many of the most important regulations in the bill in a series of disastrous floor battles this evening. According to AP "a bipartisan coalition in the House voted late Thursday to make it easier for corporations to engage in complex derivatives trades without government restrictions, eroding the reach of proposed regulations to govern Wall Street. Democratic attempts to toughen the legislation failed."

Tomorrow Minnick and his bankster-owned allies will try again to kill an independent Consumer Finance Protection Agency. Progressives are being encouraged to defeat the overall bill if it is gutted by the conservatives. I might add that defeating Blue Dogs like Walt Minnick should also be a priority. Keep in mind that every dollar you donate to the DCCC goes to prop up unpopular reactionaries like Minnick, Bright, Childers, Shuler, Griffith, etc. Every dollar you give at Bad Dogs goes to defeating them.


UPDATE: Walt Minnick's Amendment To Gut Reform Fails

Republicans and their Blue Dog allies barked up a storm in their froth to kill Elizabeth Warren's Consumer Financial Protection Agency to protect ordinary consumers against financial predators. But to no avail, In the end, progressives won the day and Minnick's horrible amendment failed 208-223. Thirty-three disgraceful excuses for Democrats crossed the aisle, their pockets bulging with bankster bribes, to vote with the Republicans against American families struggling against powerful Wall Street predators. A couple of outliers and all the regular suspects who we've come to expect to vote with the GOP did just that:

John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA)
Marion Berry (Blue Dog-AR)
Sanford Bishop (Blue Dog-GA)
Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK)
Rick Boucher (VA)
Allen Boyd (Blue Dog-FL)
Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL)
Ben Chandler (Blue Dog-KY)
Travis Childers (Blue Dog-MS)
Jim Costa (Blue Dog-CA)
Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)
Lincoln Davis (Blue Dog-TN)
Parker Griffith (Blue Dog-AL)
Baron Hill (Blue Dog-IN)
Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ)
Frank Kratovil (Blue Dog-MD)
Betsy Markey (CO)
Jim Marshall (Blue Dog-GA)
Eric Massa (NY)
Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT)
Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC)
Charlie Melancon (Blue Dog-LA)
Walt Minnick (Blue Dog-ID)
Harry Mitchell (Blue Dog-AZ)
Solomon Ortiz (TX)
Ciro Rodriguez (TX)
Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR)
Heath Shuler (Blue Dog-NC)
Ike Skelton (MO)
Zack Space (Blue Dog-OH)
Gene Taylor (Blue Dog-MS)
Harry Teague (NM)

In the end the reform bill, somewhat watered down by Wall Street lobbyists and their bought-off shills (the whole GOP and most Blue Dogs), passed 223-202, twenty-four ConservaDems (+ Marcy Kaptur, Eric Massa and Dennis Kucinich who said the bill isn't strong enough) voted with the entire GOP against reform. Looks like Perriello voted against it for the "right" reasons as well. This is a statement his office just issued. The title, "In Break from Party, Perriello Opposes Financial 'Regulation' Bill," is suspicious and makes one wonder if he wants it both ways politically. "This bill doesn't do enough to protect community banks that provide crucial credit to our small businesses, while still allowing loopholes for the biggest players that are large enough to drive the next economic meltdown through. While this started as a genuine effort, once again, both parties allowed the Wall Street-Washington alliance to keep Main Street at risk and out of the game. It’s time for common-sense accountability and a refocus on our Virginia businesses.”

Bankster Shills Making Their Move To Wreck Financial Regulation In Committee

That tweet above from this morning refers to a post by Mike Elk regarding, Melissa Bean's mania to weaken any and all legislation that allows states to regulate banksters, her patrons and the financiers of her disgraceful political career. Unfortunately she has a seat on the House Financial Services Committee, where she is constantly working with Republican obstructionists to undermine progressive reformers.

In layman's terms, Bean's amendment guts the current regulatory framework in which states play the role of the local cops on the beat. It's like moving all of the country's fire departments to Washington. We need regulators out on the front line who can respond quickly to problems before someone's house is burned down by a liar's loan or an entire economy is burned by risky investments... We need states to be cops on the beat watching the banks. So why in the world is Bean trying to disarm the police so necessary for protecting Main Street from Wall Street? It's because the three-term Illinois congresswoman and leader in the New Democrat Coalition has pocketed almost $2.2 million since she's been in Congress from the banking and financial services interests she oversees as a member of the House Financial Services Committee, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, including $338,125 so far this year.

Wall Street Democrats like Bean are currently flooding the House floor with amendments favorable to Wall Street to the House financial reform bill.

Also important to read today is a piece by Damian Paletta at the Wall Street Journal, Financial Bill Hits Big Banks Hardest, which goes a long way towards clarifying an important aspect of the current financial legislation being discussed in the Financial Services Committee.

Lawmakers, responding to popular anger against banks and bailouts, voted repeatedly during hours of committee debate in recent months to add amendments that police large financial companies in ways not envisioned by a White House proposal in June... The shift could have major implications for larger financial companies, particularly if the public mood crystallizes around the notion that too big to fail means too big at all. New fees devised by the House for large financial companies could top $150 billion, industry experts said... The populist bent could alienate moderate lawmakers and make it harder for legislation to pass. But it could also mean more dramatic changes for banks if the package eventually becomes law.

...The House of Representatives could vote as soon as Friday on a plan to overhaul financial-sector regulation. The legislation has several measures aimed at policing big banks:

1) Regulators would be able to block a healthy bank from certain business practices or mergers, even order it to shrink, if its size, interconnectedness or other variables were deemed to pose a risk to the U.S. economy.

2) Financial companies with more than $50 billion of assets would have to pay into a $150 billion fund to deal with future collapses of large financial companies.

3) The government would be able to order certain large banks to split off their commercial bank from their investment bank if regulators identify specific concerns.

4) Large banks would have to submit to consumer compliance exams from a new federal agency, while many small banks would be exempt.

Smaller institutions are supporting the bill, like the members of the Independent Community Bankers of America and the Council of Institutional Investors (a non-profit which represents pension funds for unions, public employees and companies.) As Barney Frank, Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, said the other day, "Sometimes you are best defined by your opponents-- and this is one of those cases." Barney, meet Melissa; she's as bad as Spencer Bachus (R-AL), Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Tom Price (R-GA), Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and the other bankster lackeys on the committee.


UPDATE: GOP Will Not Take This Attempt By Progressives To Protect The Public Laying Down

In fact, according to Roll Call, Boehner, Cantor, Kevin McCarthy, Garrett and Hensarling "met with more than a 100 lobbyists at the Capitol Visitors Center on Tuesday afternoon to try to fight back against financial regulatory overhaul legislation."

“The message was [House Financial Services Chairman Barney] Frank and the Democratic majority are ruining America, ruining capitalism, and stand up for yourselves,” said a lobbyist who attended the meeting. “They said, ‘Look, you all oppose this bill, but only a few of you have come out publicly.’”

In addition to asking trade associations to get their members in Congressional districts to write letters opposing the legislation, Republicans asked for companies and trade associations to use their Democratic consultants to gather intelligence on where members of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Blue Dog Coalition are in supporting the legislation.

Melissa Bean Draws A Democratic Primary Challenger... Sort Of

That's Jonathan Farnick on the right

Melissa Bean never joined the Blue Dog caucus; she's too smart for painting that kind of a target on his back. But her record in Congress has been just as bad-- and in some cases worse-- than most Blue Dogs. The Democratic darling of the Chamber of Commerce, Bean is a quintessential corporate Dem, representing IL-08, suburbs northwest of Chicago, including Schaumburg, a city of corporate headquarters. Gore and Kerry both lost badly to Bush there but Obama defeated McCain 56-43%. This year Bean's ProgressivePunch score on crucial, substantive votes, 49.02, is tied with conservatives Jerry Costello and Dan Lipinski, as second most wretched, beaten only by Bill Foster (35.29), among Illinois Democrats. Last week the Daily Herald took an early look at her race for re-election, pointing out the danger from disaffected Democrats. There are already 8 challengers for her seat, 6 of whom are Republicans (who will face off in a primary February 2).

Progressive, anti-war candidate Bill Scheurer is running as the Green Party nominee and Jonathan Farnick is opposing Bean in the Democratic primary. Yesterday Farnick sent DWT a copy of a rather strange letter, politically speaking, he sent to Bean:

Dear Representative Bean,
 
I am writing to you as I have no other recourse at this time. I am a constituent in your district and have tried to get on the primary ballot to be the lone challenger for a race in the upcoming Democratic election.
 
On November 9th, 2009, a local Democratic committeeman from Zion, Gregory Ferritto, challenged my petitions. Should he prevail, there will be no challenger in the Democratic primary.
 
I have a 100% assurance that I will not be able to overturn the challenge to my petitions: I needed eight hundred ninety and collected eight hundred ninety. The only way the voters will have a choice in the primary is that Mr. Ferritto withdraws his challenge.
 
To be clear, Mr. Ferritto has every right to challenge, that's not being debated, it's just that, here in Illinois, election law allows for one person to be the deciding vote in a choice that the district’s residents should have.
 
As the Florida Supreme Court has previously said regarding votes in elections: "We consistently have adhered to the principle that the will of the people is the paramount consideration…The laws are intended to facilitate and safeguard the right of each voter to express his or her will in the context of our representative democracy. Technical statutory requirements must not be exalted over the substance of this right."
 
I'm asking for your help to try to persuade him into dropping his objection, as I said, I have no other option, other than to withdraw my petitions, and the result is Democratic voters of having no choice in the primary.
 
There is a hearing about the matter tentatively set for Tuesday, November 17, 2009, so seeing to this quickly would be appreciated. I only received the notice on Friday the 13th, sorry for the short notice.
 
Thank you for your time and consideration of this matter.

Good luck with that. Jonathan, whose publishes the blog TOFUBO says he doesn't consider himself the best possible person for the congressional seat. "I’m not 20 years old with 20 years of experience. I’ve never held elective office. I’m not part of the local democratic machine... I have no name recognition and no money. I just know that there are a number of people in this district not happy with Rep. Bean and do want to see her replaced, but not by a Republican.

If Obama Wants To Get Serious About Rescuing The Country Nationalizing Failed Banks Looks Like The ONLY Option

A huge error that must be corrected, quickly

Last week we wrote quite a bit about Alan Grayson's Pay for Performance Act of 2009, a law that means to end the Republican "no strings attached" bailouts of big corporations. Under Grayson's bill, the Treasure Department has oversight of compensation for companies taking taxpayer money so that there will be no more instance like $3.5 billion (of $10 billion in bailout money) going directly into the pockets of the banksters (in the form of unjustifiable "bonuses"), as happened under Bush's bailout "plan." Grayson's bill was supported by every single Democrat, including the Blue Dogs, in the House Financial Services Committee-- and two Republicans broke with the obstructionists and voted for it as well.

With Republicans screaming bloody murder-- and calling for their smelling salts-- Grayson reminded the American people that "This bill will show which Republicans are so much on the take from the financial services industry that they're willing to actually bless compensation that has no bearing on performance and is excessive and unreasonable. We'll find out who are the people who understand that the public's money needs to be protected, and who are the people who simply want to suck up to their patrons on Wall Street."

Grayson's bill passed by a wide margin, 247-171, 10 Republicans abandoning their party's corporate maters to vote "yes" and, shamefully, 8 Democrats voting with the GOP, mostly reactionaries who habitually vote with Republicans on core issues-- the Walt Minnicks (Blue Dog-ID) and Harry Mitchells (Blue Dog-AZ).

But before Grayson's vote came to the floor on April 1, another Blue Dog corporate whore, Melissa Bean (IL), offered an amendment meant to water down the bill for her Big Business campaign contributors. Her amendment, which was opposed by most Grayson and by the vast majority of Democrats (190)-- but, naturally enough, embraced by Republicans-- is meant "to allow institutions that enter into a payment schedule with Treasury on terms set by Treasury to no longer be subject to the bonus and compensation restrictions created by the Act." It passed 228-198.

Even with the public so angry about the banksters blatantly ripping off the public and holding the economy for ransom until their self-entitled greed is sated, virtually all Republicans plus reactionary Democrats like Bean and her ilk, are still counting on everyone forgetting or just getting over it by the 2010 midterms. Bean doesn't represent, in the true sense of the word, the working families of Lake and McHenry counties. She represents the special interests who have lavished immense sums of money on her. The sector which would be most salubriously effected by her sneaky amendment-- finance/insurance.real estate-- has funneled $1,725,806 into her political career, far more that the average House member. And they know they can always count on her to sell out her constituents and lead like-minded Democrats across the aisle to vote with Republican shills serving the same corporate masters.

Yesterday at Salon Glenn Greenwald pointed out why we can't even turn to the executive branch for relief from Wall Street and their minions in Congress. Obama's two top economic advisors, Tim Geithner and Larry Summers are as in the pockets of Wall Street as you;d expect any Republican bucket of slime to be.

Lawrence H. Summers, one of President Obama's top economic advisers, collected roughly $5.2 million in compensation from hedge fund D.E. Shaw over the past year and was paid more than $2.7 million in speaking fees by several troubled Wall Street firms and other organizations....

Financial institutions including JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch paid Summers for speaking appearances in 2008. Fees ranged from $45,000 for a Nov. 12 Merrill Lynch appearance to $135,000 for an April 16 visit to Goldman Sachs, according to his disclosure form.

Glenn accuses Summers of taking "advance bribes" from Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch and it would be impossible for anyone to look at the evidence and interpret it any other way. "And," Glenn reminds us, "it's paying off in spades."

People like Rubin, Summers and Gensler shuffle back and forth from the public to the private sector and back again, repeatedly switching places with their GOP counterparts in this endless public/private sector looting.  When in government, they ensure that the laws and regulations are written to redound directly to the benefit of a handful of Wall St. firms, literally abolishing all safeguards and allowing them to pillage and steal.  Then, when out of government, they return to those very firms and collect millions upon millions of dollars, profits made possible by the laws and regulations they implemented when in government.  Then, when their party returns to power, they return back to government, where they continue to use their influence to ensure that the oligarchical circle that rewards them so massively is protected and advanced.  This corruption is so tawdry and transparent-- and it has fueled and continues to fuel a fraud so enormous and destructive as to be unprecedented in both size and audacity-- that it is mystifying that it is not provoking more mass public rage.

And it wasn't just Glenn writing about this yesterday. The Washington Post didn't miss very clear signals from the Obama Administration that they plan to protect the banksters-- not just from angry mobs with pitchforks, but from any attempt by Congress to recoup the stolen money. They're giving in to demands from the banksters that they won't cooperate with Obama's rescue package, not even if it plunges the country into a decade of Depression, unless they get all the money they decide they are entitled to. And Openwheel in Michigan makes the point that the auto industry bondholders and investors won't budge an inch until they get theirs-- regardless of the fact that the government already funneled billions of taxpayer dollars their way-- the no strings attached kind. Apparently they believe that money is their due and not something meant to help rescue the nation.

Nationalization should have been the answer months ago. It will save us a lot of money and misery if Obama makes the move tomorrow morning. The Sunday Guardian has some shocking news-- and it makes more sense than most of what we've been hearing from Obama's economic team. Elizabeth Warren works for Congress, not for the Obama banksters, and as the TARP watchdog she's about to demand the removal of the nation's top failed banksters!

Warren, a Harvard law professor and chair of the congressional oversight committee monitoring the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program (Tarp), is also set to call for shareholders in those institutions to be "wiped out". "It is crucial for these things to happen," she said. "Japan tried to avoid them and just offered subsidy with little or no consequences for management or equity investors, and this is why Japan suffered a lost decade." She declined to give more detail but confirmed that she would refer to insurance group AIG, which has received $173bn in bailout money, and banking giant Citigroup, which has had $45bn in funds and more than $316bn of loan guarantees.

Warren also believes there are "dangers inherent" in the approach taken by treasury secretary Tim Geithner, who she says has offered "open-ended subsidies" to some of the world's biggest financial institutions without adequately weighing potential pitfalls. "We want to ensure that the treasury gives the public an alternative approach," she said, adding that she was worried that banks would not recover while they were being fed subsidies. "When are they going to say, enough?" she said.

BIPAC Rears Its Ugly Head Again-- Endorses Reactionary Democrats

BIPAC buys a stake in the Democratic Party

Last July when Blue America was trying to help Georgia state Senator Regina Thomas challenge right-wing Democrat John Barrow in the primary, we found ourselves being undercut from the left. The main culprit, who did the most damage to Regina's chances was Obama, who, for his own electoral strategies, endorsed a congressman who will vote against Obama's agenda of change if Obama makes it to the White House. But there were also a number of clueless and dysfunctional labor unions who were endorsing and donating to Barrow because they are, first and foremost pawns in the Democratic Party incumbent protection game.

We were able to stop one major union from endorsing Barrow by breaking the story that Barrow had accepted the endorsement of BIPAC, the Business Industry Political Action Committee. BIPAC is generally thought of as a Republican front group funded by executives of special interest corporations like Exxon Mobil, Caterpillar, Halliburton, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Verizon, W.R. Grace, the National Beer Wholesalers Association, Goodyear Tire, Southern Co, Rolls Royce, Occidental, Data Recognition Corp., HSBC, Kinsey, Intel, Weyerhaeuser, Boeing, General Motors, Devon Energy, Blessing Petroleum, Sun Microsystems, etc. In 2006 85% of their donations went to Republicans. The only exception in the Senate being the most conservative Democrat in that body, Ben Nelson (D-NE). Every single one of their Republican Senate candidates lost.

BIPAC found it awkward that all their Republican Senate endorsees-- James Talent, Rick Santoum, Tom Keane, Mark Kennedy, Michael McGavick, and Michael Steele-- were defeated, as were most of the House picks. They found their influence severely diminished in the new Congress. So this year the anti-union PAC has been endorsing Blue Dogs and other nominal Democrats from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. Aside from Obama's pal Barrow, a Democrat who votes more frequently with the GOP on crucial contested matters than with the Democrats, BIPAC has picked out a rogues gallery of far right House Democrats in difficult races: Melissa Bean (IL), Nick Lampson (TX), Jim Marshall (GA), Ciro Rodriguez (TX), Bobby Bright (AL), Kurt Schrader (OR). They had previously endorsed Mark Warner in the Virginia Senate race, Barrow and Adam Cote, who was decisively defeated in the Maine Democratic primary by a progressive, Chellie Pingree.

Today BIPAC also announced that it would help fund campaigns against Democrats who have been friendly to unions and working families, particularly Jerry McNerney (D-CA) and Dina Titus (D-NV).

This puts unions is an awkward position in several races. Melissa Bean, for example, a virulent Blue Dog, and no friend of working families by any stretch of the imagination, has collected over a million dollars from some of the worst union-busting PACs even before her endorsement from BIPAC. Although the bulk of her money comes from Republican-leaning PACs, she rakes in the dough from non-strategic thinking outfits like Human Rights Campaign (HRC), Emily's List, the League of Conservation Voters, and Planned Parenthood. 9% of her PAC contributions ($126,750) come from labor unions, money they would actually be better off flushing down the toilet. It's funny to see $10,000 contributions from Phil Gramm's Credit Suisse PAC next to $10,000 donations from the Plumbers/Pipefitters Union and from the Sheet Metal Workers Union. And now BIPAC. Her voting record in Congress reflects her devotion to business interests, especially on trade policy, where she's been a gung ho advocate for the most destruction positions that have resulted in shipping American jobs overseas. Good to know labor union executives pay close attention when they squander their members' dues on candidates who vote against their basic interests.

And it's not just Bean. Nick Lampson's PAC money has come from business ($339,925) and labor ($209,500) and so has Jim Marshall's, $392,515 from business and $170,000 from labor. Alabama "Democrat" Bobby Bright was plucked right out of the deepest bowels of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. He's against virtually everything Democrats stand for-- other than having more Democrats in the House. If Democratic activists have adopted "More and Better Democrats" as a slogan, Bright's would be "More and Worse-- Much Worse-- Democrats." And yet, his bid for the open seat is being financed more by labor ($47,000) than by business ($26,500), mostly because business is still hoping to get Jay Love, a far right reactionary Republican elected (and his donated $77,750 in PAC money towards that effort). They know that if Bright wins, he'll vote how they want him to anyway.

This might be a good time to mention that you will never find an anti-union Democrat on the Blue America endorsed candidates list and that the day will never come when BIPAC and Blue America are canceling out each other's contributions by donating to the same candidate. This Saturday we'll begin a one week promotional competition for our five progressive candidates running for the U.S. Senate, Tom Allen (D-ME), Mark Begich (D-AK), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Rick Noriega (D-TX) and Andrew Rice (D-OK). One thing all five of these Democrats have in common is that they are all champions of working families and will not ever be putting special interests above the interests of ordinary American families. BIPAC isn't supporting any of them. It sure would have been nice to see all those union dues that have been wasted on the Melissa Beans and Nick Lampsons have gone to real friends of labor like the five candidates above.

RANDI SCHEURER TAKES ON ILLINOIS BUSH DOG MELISSA BEAN

Randi's family-- next stop: Congress

One of the highpoints-- albeit a very short-lived one (literally the time it took for an e-mail and a response)-- was when West Virginia bloggers told me they were going to convince Christy Hardin Smith to run for Congress. Can you imagine working on that campaign? Not to mention how the average IQ of the congressional caucuses would rise! Or imagine the Jane campaign? Or Teddy, Marcy, Digby, Scarecrow, Pach, Egregious... None of these are professional politicians; they're sharp, concerned citizen activists. Speaking this week with Randi Scheurer, the progressive running against Bush Dog Melissa Bean, I couldn't help but think how Congress needs far fewer professional politicians and far more concerned citizen activists like Randi-- or Christy.

I can't imagine the Inside the Beltway Democrats ever getting behind Randi. She is so not them! She doesn't favor civil unions for same sex couples; she can't see why their shouldn't be total equality-- in marriage, in health care and in every other issue used to discriminate against gay men and women. Ask her when the war should end; she doesn't hesitate and she doesn't equivocate: "Tomorrow." Health care: guaranteed and single-payer. You get the picture.

Now what about the district? Illinois' 8th CD is in the extreme northeast corner of the state. It shares Lake County with Dan Seals' future district, McHenry County with John Laesch's future district, and a long border with Wisconsin. It leans Republican-- Bush took 56% of the vote in 2000 and 2004-- and when conservative Democrat Melissa Bean first won the seat from Phil Crane in 2004 she beat him by 9,000 votes out of 270,000 cast. Randi tells me that she's lived in IL-08 for 30 years and she's seen the demographics changing. "Less people identify themselves as Republicans now; they think of themselves as independents. The voters in this district are sitting on the face and waiting to see who addresses the issues best." And the voters in the district aren't happy with Bush's policies-- policies largely supported by their putative Democratic congresswoman, a Blue Dog, a member of Ellen Tauscher's reactionary New Democratic Caucus, and a vile pro-war Bush Dog.

I asked Randi if residents-- just the average folks, not the activists-- know about Bean's support for Bush and his corporatist policies. "Yes," she told me. "I've been to thousands of homes already and I've been to events in various parts of the district and close to 98% of the people who sign my petitions and who I speak with say they do not like her and are very disappointed in her. People say they are disappointed in her voting record. They expected her to represent us better than she has. And she hasn't responded to members of the community. She never seems to be part of the community."

Randi joins us today for a couple hours of blogging at Firedoglake, 1pm, Central Time (11am on the West Coast). If you agree with me that we have enough professional politicians concerned primarily with special interests and you'd like to see someone just like us in Congress, please consider helping Randi's grassroots campaign at our Blue America page.

MY ENEMIES' ENEMY-- ANOTHER WAY TO DEAL WITH BLUE DOGS?

Last night I interviewed Dr. Steven Porter, the former two-time Democratic candidate for the congressional seat now held by rubber stamp Republican Phil English (PA-03). Steve will be the Blue America guest at Firedoglake tomorrow at 2pm (EDT). He's running for Congress again-- although not as a Democrat. Steve quit the Democratic Party in disgust and re-registered as an independent. And he's running on a platform based on integrity and progressive values-- as an independent. Steve doesn't believe in the Democratic House leadership. "From the moment Pelosi took impeachment off the table," he told me, "I knew there was no difference between the parties and that the Democrats would only posture and feign opposition which they knew would never amount to anything. In the end they gave George Bush absolutely everything he's asked for... [It] is a calculated strategy to win greater gains in 2008... using the lives of our kids in Iraq-- and the lives of innocent Iraqi civilians-- for political purposes."

I also spent some time on the phone today with progressive, grassroots anti-war candidate Randi Scheuer who is primarying Blue Dog Melissa Bean. Randi will be the Blue America guest October 13. Bean's voting record isn't progressive; it's kind of moderate on some issues and reactionary on others. She tends to support corporate power over the interests of workers and consumers. She could easily be a moderate Republican. In fact on Iraq, she could easily be described as a Bush rubber stamp. While taking significant contributions from lobbyists and Republican-leaning corporate front groups, she has been an aggressive supporter of Bush's hideous trade agreements which have been devastating for ordinary Americans and for our country. She cast the deciding vote on CAFTA, reason enough to vote her out of office. She has also supported the Bush agenda in many other ways:

* for the credit industry's Republican bankruptcy bill
* for Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy
* for repealing the estate tax
* against net neutrality
* for the Patriot Act
* for the Military Commissions Act (pro-torture.anti habeas corpus)
* for the Republican Terri Schiavo bill
* for a Flag Desecration Amendment
* huge supporter of wasting taxpayer dollars on Big Oil subsidies

You get the picture? Whether it comes to insurance companies, medical care, immigration, the military-industrial complex, Melissa Bean almost always votes with the Republicans. Randi's positions are the polar opposite of Bean's on every single issue above.

Now, there are few Republicans left in Congress as loathsome as their House Whip, Roy Blunt (MO). I noticed yesterday that Blunt was launching some kind of an offensive against Blue Dogs. I don't kid myself about what Blunt is or what his motives are-- and I certainly prefer to take out reactionary Democrats in primaries, as we are trying to do with Al Wynn in Maryland and Dan Lipinski in Illinois. Still I won't weep if Blunt is successful in some of the cases where Blue Dogs and DLC freaks are voting with the Republicans. Blunt claims that 30 of the 48 Blue Dogs have voted for all the legislation that would increase the federal deficit, a joke coming from a big spending Republican like Blunt.

When you look at the list of the 25 Democrats who vote most frequently with Republicans on substantive issues, you find almost all Blue Dogs. Here's a list of Blue Dogs among those 25 worst Democrats in order of most supportive of Bush/Cheney (members in bold are also DLC members):
Gene Taylor (MS)
Bud Cramer (AL)
Collin Peterson (MN)
Dan Boren (OK)
Allen Boyd (FL)
Mike McIntyre (NC)
John Tanner (TN)
Jim Marshall (GA)
Jim Matheson (UT)
Tim Holden (PA)
John Barrow (GA)
Lincoln Davis (TN)
Charlie Melancon (LA)
Bart Gordon (TN)
Leonard Boswell (IA)
Marion Berry (AR)
Heath Shuler (NC)
Jim Cooper (TN)
Jason Altmire (PA)
Mike Ross (AR)
Sanford Bishop (GA)
Joe Donnelly (IN)
Brad Ellsworth (IN)
Baron Hill (IN)
Earl Pomeroy (ND)


UPDATE: MELISSA BEAN MADE THE PAPERS TODAY-- SOME SAY SHE'S THE WORST DEMOCRAT IN THE WHOLE CONGRESS AND THAT IS SAYING A LOT!

Peter Cohn covered Melissa Bean's rampant treachery in CongressDaily today. Bean routinely votes with the GOP but she took practically everyone by surprise last month when she was the only Democrat to vote against the $607 billion 2008 Labor-HHS appropriations bill, legislation important to the House leadership as an example of the Democrats' traditional commitment to the poor, sick and elderly.

Now Bean is under fire from labor and progressive advocacy groups. "We're profoundly disappointed, to put it mildly," said Chuck Loveless, legislative director for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. "It was a stupid vote on her part."

...Bush threatened to veto the Labor-HHS bill because it is $12 billion above his request. It passed 276-140-- the precise number of 'no' votes necessary to sustain a veto, based on the requirement that two-thirds of those present and voting are needed to override-- meaning Bean's vote could be decisive. Activists have lined up meetings with Bean during the recess to "register their extreme displeasure," said a spokesman for USAction, a network of progressive advocacy groups. USAction president William McNary, who also heads up the group's Illinois affiliate, said he was meeting with Bean next week. He said the group only focused on moderate Republicans, never expecting Bean to be a problem.

"Everyone we targeted voted right," he said, noting that Bean's vote put her in the same camp as conservatives such as former House Speaker Hastert, whereas Illinois GOP Reps. Mark Kirk, Jerry Weller, Judy Biggert, Ray LaHood, and Tim Johnson all voted for the bill. McNary said he is now focused on changing Bean's mind should a veto-override be necessary. "Rather than throw stones at Melissa Bean, she has another chance to stand up and do what's right. You don't get many second chances in life," he said.

Bean not only angered interest groups but also House Appropriations Chairman Obey, according to sources, who also invested a lot of effort wooing GOP moderates to support the bill. A senior Democratic aide said "he disagreed with her" but that Bean informed Obey beforehand so as not to take him by surprise. Bean's spokesman said she is "looking forward to seeing what comes out of conference" and that if overall spending is lower, she might support the final bill. Loveless noted that Bean announced she had received earmarks in the bill, including for a workforce training program at a local community college; an obesity prevention project aimed at elementary school children; and a therapy program for families with children at risk of being placed in foster homes. "Next time around we'll see how many earmarks she gets," he said. Bean's spokesman said it is her policy to post earmarks in a bill on her Web site before it goes to the floor, as part of her "efforts to maintain and encourage transparency."

AS BAD AS MELISSA BEAN IS, IT COULD BE WORSE-- MEET STEVE GREENBERG

Yesterday we covered a couple of races in northern Illinois including the 8th CD where reactionary, pro-corporate Democrat Melissa Bean holds sway, albeit tenuously. She came up again this morning in our look at the escapades of the right wing Blue Dogs, almost all of whom, like her, voted to give Bush a blank check to continue the catastrophic occupation of Iraq. The excitement about a primary challenge and a third party challenge to get rid of Bean was welcome. But an exceptionally lame Republican has his eyes on that seat as well. Steve Greenberg has a reputation: poor little rich boy. He's a college dropout who wants to prove anybody, no matter how stupid, can buy a House seat if he's rich enough. (If he's so dumb, how did he earn all that money? He didn't. It's all about DADDY!-- just like Paris Hilton.)

Steve Greenberg's glory days were as a hockey player for a minor league affiliate of the Washington Capitols. He's like to return to DC as a senator or a congressman. He was rumored to be the Republican sacrificial lamb next year on the alter of Dick Durbin but someone pointed out what one of them there senate races cost and he scaled back to challenging conservative Democrat Melissa Bean.

I'm not making this up. He said "I very much want to be part of their locker room," referring to House Republicans he's met including freshman Congressman Peter Roskam (whose voting record is the most reactionary of any member from the state of Illinois). Presumably Greenberg hasn't met and doesn't want to share a locker room with Patrick McHenry (R-NC), David Dreier (R-CA), and Jim McCrery (R-LA).

Greenberg's platform can best be summed up with two words: "rubber stamp." Yesterday he told the Daily Herald that he opposes gun control, woman's right to choice, gay marriage (which he feels calls for a constitutional amendment) and that he wants to make the Bush tax cuts to the richest Americans permanent. As far as Iraq... he wants to wait and see. Worse than Bean? Hard to imagine but no question about it. One has to wonder about how hard up the party of Everett Dirksen has become that they are actually encouraging a pip-squeak like Greenberg to run for anything! I guess they're just happy it won't cost them anything. And , Lord knows, after Alan Keys, what's a little more egg on the face?

IRAQ OCCUPATION BECOMES THE BIG ISSUE IN TWO ILLINOIS CONGRESSIONAL RACES-- ONE DEMOCRAT AND ONE REPUBLICAN

Manzullo using false GOP talking points to bankrupt America

By now DWT readers should be very familiar with at least one aspect of electoral politics in Illinois, the grassroots movement to defeat ex-House Speaker Denny Hastert who represents IL-14. Blue America strongly endorsed John Laesch (D) last year and has endorsed him again this year. (Take a look at the archived vlog session from 2 weeks ago over inside the lifeguard station on the right.) But adjacent to IL-14 there are two other corporate shills who also have been big Bush backers when it comes to the Iraq occupation-- and to his reactionary agenda. Between Laesch's district and the Wisconsin border is IL-16, home of 8-term right-wing loon Don Manzullo, whose voting record reads like a definition of the worst kind of lapdog rubber stampism anywhere in the country. And just east of Manzullo's district, in the extreme northeastern corner of the state is CD-08, home to the of one the most reactionary Democrats in the House, Melissa Bean whose reord in Congress, while not nearly as disgusting as Manzullo's, is far from what people expect from a Democrat interested in the values and principles of a party purporting the represent the interests of ordinary people. Both Bean and Manzullo will get challenges next year from activists who are eager to end the disastrous occupation of Iraq.

The Northwest Herald is reporting that a husband-and-wife team and a village president are planning to challenge the 2 congressmembers from the area.

Barrington Hills Village President Robert Abboud says he is “fairly certain” that he will run as a Democrat against 16th District incumbent Don Manzullo, R-Egan. And while third-party candidate Bill Scheurer, of Lindenhurst, plans once again to run against 8th District incumbent Melissa Bean, D-Barrington, his wife, Randi, plans to run against Bean in the Democratic primary.

All three challengers said they were running because the nation needed a change in direction, particularly regarding the Iraq war.

“I’m concerned that we’re not going in the right direction as a country, and I’m at a point in my life that I can no longer sit back, throw things at the TV and complain,” Abboud said.

Abboud’s stances share similarities with the Scheurers, such as opposition to the Iraq war and eliminating the national debt. Abboud, a nuclear engineer who co-owns RGA Labs Inc., also wants to pursue alternate energy, because he said  dependence on foreign oil was dominating foreign policy.

Last year Manzullo won re-election (67- 33%) in a low profile, under-financed challenge from Richard Auman. Bean had a closer call against a right-wing Republican nutcase, David McSweeney, who managed to garner 44% of the vote in a high profile election and after outspending Bean $5,058,734 to $4,293,167. Scheurer, who ran as a third-party candidate, spent less than $50,000 and took 5% of the vote.

Bill Scheurer, who ran as a third-party candidate against Bean last year, plans to run again, while his wife, Randi, is preparing to run against Bean in the primary. They have a joint website, Honk for Peace.org