Conor Lamb Has Been As Terrible Since His Election As Anyone Might Have Assumed-- A Guest Post From Mike Elk

He got to the church on time

As you probably know-- or should know-- since his election, Conor Lamb, who now represents a purple swing district northwest of Pittsburgh (PA-17), has been one of the worst Democrats in Congress. His Trump adhesion score is a shocking 54.8%, even more in line with Trump than conservative Republican Walter Jones (NC) and less Trumpoid than only two Democrats still serving in the House, ultra-reactionary Blue Dogs Henry Cuellar (64.7%) and Collin Peterson (62.9%). Pittsburgh area labor leader Mike Elk sent us a piece he wrote for Payday Report this week, Conor Lamb Marries Lawyer at Anti-Union Jones Day. Last Friday Lamb, who voted for Joe Kennedy III as speaker, got married. Mike's post:

On Friday, Congressman Conor Lamb (D-PA) created a viral sensation when he tweeted a video of him singing “Get Me to the Church On Time” by Frank Sinatra as he hurriedly drove from D.C. back to Pittsburgh to get married on Saturday morning. The video garnered over 150,000 views and helped bolster the image of Conor Lamb as likable wonderboy of the Democratic Party.

However, Payday Report has learned that Lamb has married Hailey Haldeman, a controversial corporate lawyer at the notorious anti-union firm Jones Day.

Last March, Lamb credited labor for his stunning upset in high profile PA-18 Special Election last year.

“Organized labor built Western Pennsylvania... Tonight, they have reasserted their right to have a major part in our future” Lamb told a crowd of union supporters during his nationally televised victory speech last March in Cannonsburg, PA.

However, Lamb’s marriage to Haldeman, as well as previous statements Lamb made that a $15 an hour minimum wage is too high, have made many in organized labor questions his commitment to their values.

In Congress, Lamb has voted with Trump 56% of the time. He was one of only three Democrats to vote for extending the Trump tax cuts; helping the measure pass by only 2 votes. The Central Catholic graduate also was one of only 18 Democrats to vote for a resolution praising ICE and denouncing attempts to abolish it.

Lamb’s marriage to Haldeman has confirmed to some labor leaders that Lamb’s vote with Trump weren’t down out of political expediency, but more a reflection of his economic class and the elite corporate worlds in which he and his wife socialize.

“We never really trusted the guy in the first place, but then he goes and marries someone from Jones Day. You just can’t trust a guy who would do something like that,” says one senior labor leader, who declined to go on the record out of fear of retaliation against his membership from Lamb’s political patron Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald.

Among organized labor, Haldeman’s firm, Jones Day has garnered a reputation as one of the nastiest anti-union law firms in the country. Recently, the Columbia Journalism Review profiled how Jones Day held a secret summit, where they instructed media companies on how to stop the growing digital media unionization movement.

Currently, Jones Day is representing Slate as they push the Writers’ Guild union to accept “right-to-work” style open shop language as part of their contract talks. The union at Slate has refused to accept the provision and in December, workers at Slate voted to authorize a strike by a margin of 52 to 1 to resist management’s demands.

“Negotiations, where Jones Day is at the table, are uglier than anything else we see,” says Robert Struckman, president of the Washington-Baltimore News Guild told the Columbia Journalism Review. “Negotiations are always hard, but they’re not always ugly. Jones Day makes the process ugly.”

It’s unclear what involvement Haldeman has had in the firm’s anti-union practices. Haldeman did not return Payday’s request for comment.

However, Haldeman has bragged openly on Jones Day’s website about her role as the lead associate representing Sherwin Williams in a high-profile lead paint removal case brought by 11 municipalities in California. As a lawyer, Haldeman successfully worked to reduce Sherwin William’s responsibility to remove lead paint from over 4 million homes in California.

As a protegee of Jones Day partner Paul Pohl, who made his fortune representing big tobacco companies, Haldeman has also represented some of the most toxic polluters in the country including Transocean for their role in the BP Oil Spill.

In addition to her work at Jones Day, Haldeman also sits on the board of the Mattress Factory art museum, where she is the only lawyer on the board. In 2018, The Mattress Factory faced NLRB charges for illegally retaliating against a group of women, who reported sexual assault by a senior member of the museum’ staff.

At the time, the board, on which Haldeman is the sole legal counsel, was criticized by the women at the museum for failing to take appropriate legal action to remove the staffer accused of sexual assault for nearly a year. The board also was heavily criticized by the group of women for failing to take action to reverse the retaliation.

Only after facing the threat of having the museum’s funding pulled by the Allegheny County Regional Asset Control District Board, did the board finally agree to reach a settlement with the women in December. The terms of the settlement have not yet been released.

It’s unclear what role Haldeman has played in advising Lamb in political matters. However, Haldeman was a near-ubiquitous presence at Lamb’s side throughout his campaign and was regularly seen conferring with Lamb’s top aides.

Congressman Lamb’s office did not respond to request for comment when asked about what type of political influence his wife Jones Day’s Haldeman has played on Lamb. The campaign also did not respond to request for comment about what type of measures Lamb has made to prevent any conflicts of interests arise from his wife Haldeman’s work at Jones Day. Lamb’s refusal to answer press inquiries is not new. During his campaign, the former Marine once famously hide in the back of a barn at the Greene County Fairgrounds to avoid answering questions about immigration.

Donate to Payday to Help us Hold Democrats Accountable to Organized Labor.

Trump Is Proving To Be Absolutely Toxic For Republicans In Swing Districts Currently Held By Republicans

More Democrats need to run on this and NOT on Pelosi's insane idea of restoring PAY-GO

Two very different polls with interesting information came out this morning, one from Quinnipiac and one from Monmouth. Both carry very bad news for the GOP. I bet you haven't seen this before: American voters believe 55% to 28% that the allegations "anonymous" made-- and that were made by anonymous senior White House staffers in Fear that Trump's top aides work behind his back "to keep him from making what the aides believe are bad decisions"-- are true. Even 27% of Republicans believe it! Normal Americans seem much more certain than Republicans are. Among Democrats, 82% believe the assertions and among Independent voters 52% believe (and 33% don't believe). Asked if Trump is honest or not, 32% of Americans say he is and 60% understand that he's a congenital liar, incapable of opening his filthy mouth without lying. Among Republicans, only 17% understand he's a liar, but 92% of Democrats and 63% of Independents do. Nor is dishonesty the only trait polled that contributes to Trump's overall 38/54% approval/disapproval rating.

• Good leadership skills- No- 57%
• Cares about average Americans- No- 55%
• Level-headed- No- 65%
• Strong- Yes- 57%
• Intelligent- Yes- 51%
• Shares your values- No- 60%
• Mentally stable- Yes- 48% (42% say he's out of his mind)

The all-important fit to serve as president question- 41% say he is and 55% understand he isn't. By a 90-7% margin Republicans think he is fit to serve. 96% of Democrats say he isn't. Among independent votes, 42% say he's fit to serve and 53% say he isn't. That's a pretty bad hand Republicans are going into the midterms with. And that's what the Monmouth Poll dealt with-- but in just 8 key Republican-held battleground districts polled between June and August.

Unfortunately, Monmouth doesn't seem to be releasing the specific information by congressional district. I called them and tried, unsuccessfully, to get it out of them. These are the districts they polled: CA-48 (Rohrabacher), PA-01 (Brian Fitzpatrick), PA-17 (Keith Rothfus), NJ-03 (Tom MacArthur), NJ-11 (Rodney Frelinghuysen), OH-12 (Troy Balderson), VA-10 (Barbara Comstock), WV-03 (Evan Jenkins). Let me give you the information they reported (the average more or less of the 8 districts combined) and then I'll get into what I could find by scrounging around their site about the individual districts.

Among likely voters in the 8 districts, Democrats lead 47-43%. The two italicized incumbents are not running for reelection. The pollster reminds us that in all 8 districts Republican candidates won-- routinely-- by double digit margins in recent cycles. Findings:

• Where voters live has an impact on the margin of support. GOP House candidates are underperforming in Republican precincts relative to the Democrats’ performance in their base precincts. The Republican lead is between 4 and 13 percentage points in precincts that Romney/Trump carried, with the range depending on the size of the GOP presidential ticket’s margin. The Democratic lead is much stronger at 15 to 28 points in districts carried by Obama/Clinton.  In competitive districts – those where the average margin was less than 5 points for either party’s presidential ticket-- Democratic House candidates have a slim lead of 4 points. Also, the Democratic House candidate does better overall in precincts where Trump did worse than Romney even after controlling for the precinct’s partisan lean.
• Race, education and gender define key voting groups. Republicans’ core voting bloc is comprised of white men without a college degree, while Democrats can count on strong support from white female college graduates as a well as women of color regardless of educational attainment. White women without a degree and white male college graduates are more competitive groups, as are, to a lesser degree, men of color. White men without a degree who are registered Democrats and women of color who are registered Republicans are the most likely to cross party lines in their 2018 House vote.
• Partisan differences in election interest. High interest is more prevalent among voters supporting the Democratic candidates (62%) than it is among those supporting the Republicans (54%) in these eight races. The highest levels of interest come from college educated white men (75%) and women (72%) who are supporting a Democratic House candidate.
• Strongly held opinions of Trump lean negative. While voter opinion of Trump is evenly divided at 49% approve and 48% disapprove, there is a negative gap when looking only at strongly held opinions-- 33% strongly approve and 40% strongly disapprove in these eight districts.

Nw let's look at the district by district information I was able to cobble together within a reasonable time-frame relative to the above information.

• NJ-03- Trump's approval is 46% (33% strongly) and his disapproval is 49% (41% strongly). 48% of NJ-03 voters say they oppose Trump on "most issues" and 43% say they support him.

• PA-17- Trump's approval is 44% (28% strongly) and his disapproval is 51% (43% strongly). 49% of PA-17 voters say they oppose Trump on "most issues" and 46% say they support him.

• CA-48- Trump's approval is 46% (32% strongly) and his disapproval is 49% (39% strongly). 48% of CA-48 voters say they oppose Trump on "most issues" and 45% say they support him.

• NJ-11- Trump's approval is 47% (31% strongly) and his disapproval is 49% (43% strongly). 43% of NJ-11 voters say they oppose Trump on "most issues" and 49% say they support him.

• VA-10- Trump's approval is 42% (24% strongly) and his disapproval is 53% (47% strongly). 39% of VA-10 voters say they oppose Trump on "most issues" and 45% say they support him.

• PA-01- Trump's approval is 47% (31% strongly) and his disapproval is 49% (43% strongly). 49% of PA-01 voters say they oppose Trump on "most issues" and 44% say they support him.

• WV-03- Trump's approval is 66% (49% strongly) and his disapproval is 30% (23% strongly). 29% of WV-03 voters say they oppose Trump on "most issues" and 65% say they support him.

Wondering what this translates to nationally? It's impossible to be precise but it's a lot more than the 23 seats the Democrats need for a House Majority. In fact, it's more like something between two or three times more. There are always special circumstances in every race. In WV-03, as you can see, Trump has very high approvals. The PVI there is red, red, red-- R+23-- and Trump slaughtered Hillary, 72.5% to 22.5%. But you know who else slaughtered Hillary there? Bernie. And the colorful Democratic candidate in the district, state Senator Richard Ojeda, supported Bernie in the primary and Trump in the general-- just like so many WV-03 voters did. He's also created a unique brand for himself. That's likely to be the reddest district in the country won by a Democrat, but it's proof that if the DCCC keeps out of primaries, anything can happen.

And today's last poll-- this one from CNN-- was more bad news for Trumpanzee and his GOPzee. Over the last month, Señor T’s approval rating has dropped six points 36% from 42%. His disapproval is now 58%. And for Republicans running in the midterms, the worst part of this is that Trump's troubles are coming from... independent voters. "Among independents, the drop has been sharper, from 47% approval last month to 31% now. That's 4 points below his previous 2018 low of 35% approval among political independents in CNN polling, and 1 point below his previous all-time low among independents in CNN polling, reached in November 2017."sn't around messing up races and thwarting the wave, virtually anything can happen.

Going Into The Midterms, How Toxic Is Trump For Congressional Republicans?

Yesterday, Adam Smith quoted a Florida political insiders and operatives in a piece he did for the Tampa Bay Times about Señor Trumpanzee's impact on the Republican Party in the state. Democrats were jubilant and independents sounded like Democrats. One said, "The question is how has the Republican Party's silence on Donald Trump changed the party? Absolutely for the worse, unless you are his 30% base." But Republicans were split between glorying Trump and bemoaning his existence. Generally Smith found comments like these from Republicans:

• He has pushed the party right and into the position of nominating candidates who appear to be unelectable in the General Elections
• Energized the base…. alienated the moderates.
• it's the party of trump
• split the party
• He has ruined it.

But one GOP insider was especially cruel: "We've gone from being the party of Jeb Bush Republicans who can win everywhere and over perform in Democratic areas to the party of red hat Cletus the Slack-jawed Yokel and QAnon. Who thinks this is going to end well?"

Yesterday Trumpanzee was blithely tweeting away that "Tariffs are the greatest" while more and more Americans are feeling them in their pocketbooks in ways that are hardly "the greatest." And if that wasn't bad enough, vulnerable Republican congressman, Mike Coffman, who represents a ring of suburbs that surround Denver from the west to the south and up the east, told the media that Trump "absolutely" got played by Putin. "I think the first summit was a terrible mistake. The second summit would be equally as bad... I think he was strong in talking to our allies and weak when it came to Putin." More congressional Republicans are opening their eyes and seeing Trump as an albatross hung around their necks going into the midterms.

Of course, some GOP congressmen are their own albatrosses-- photo by Chip Proser

Around the same time that Trump was tweeting his nonsense, Chuck Todd and the crew at NBC's First Read were checking in with swing voters-- the 18% of voters who dislike both parties in the new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. 55% are breaking for Democrats and 25% for Republicans, significantly up from lat month when 50% were breaking for Democrats and 36% for Republicans. "What’s more in our current poll," wrote the authors, "these voters disproportionately are down on Trump (68 percent disapprove of his job, versus 52 percent of all voters), and they are enthusiastic about the upcoming midterms (63 percent of them have high interest, versus 55 percent of all voters who say this)." This isn't going to hurt Republicans in deep red districts in, say, Alabama where they don't need independent voters to win. But look at Arkansas, as a different kind of example. All 4 districts are held by Republicans:

• AR-01- R+17- east
• AR-02- R+7- Little Rock
• AR-03- R+19- northwest
• AR-04- R+17 west and south

An anti-red wave isn't going to hurt Rick Crawford, Steve Womack or Buce Westerman. But French Hill is in real trouble and could lose his seat to Blue Dog Democrat Clarke Tucker. Overly cautious--very overly cautious-- Larry Sabato just moved AR-02 from "likely Republican" to "leans Republican." Judging by how Sabato rates races, that means Tucker is close to winning. It'sworth noting that Hill, an especially corrupt member of the House Financial Services Committee and a complete Wall Street puppet, had raised $1,954,935 by the June 30 FEC reporting deadline, compared to Tucker's $975,268. It a swing year that difference doesn't matter. Tucker has enough to get his message out, build name recognition and operate a field campaign. So long as he isn't wasting his money on consultants the DCCC is directing him to, he has what he needs too beat Hill.

And Arkansas is far from unique when it comes to this dynamic. Pennsylvania's new 17th congressional district has a PVI of R+1. Under the new boundaries, Trump would have beaten Hillary there 49.4% to 46.8%. But the incumbent, Keith Rothfus, is in big trouble. Conor Lamb lives within the new boundaries and he decided to run there instead of in the red hellhole he now represents-- and has become even redder under the newly redrawn congressional boundaries. In a newly released Monmouth poll he's leading Rothfus 51-39% in the Beaver and Allegheny counties district northwest of Pittsburgh. Arkansas, Pennsylvania... where else? Short answer: everywhere that Trump is.

Will Lamb And Saccone Wind Up Both Serving In Congress Next Year?

The old gerrymandered map is on top and the new ungerrymandered map is below

When the Pennsylvania Supreme Court moved to ungerrymander the state, the Pittsburgh area changed considerably. The city itself, PA-14 didn't change too much other than being re-numbered from PA-14 to PA-18. The PVI went from D+17 to a still very safe D+13, extra Democrats going to the newly created PA-17 which was formerly Republican Keith Rothfus' safe red seat (PA-12). The old PVI was R+11 and the new PVI is a very competitive R+3. That leaves the sprawling PA-18 district Conor Lamb just won. It's been cut down quite a bit and one of the areas cut out of the district is Lamb's hometown, Mount Lebanon. So what was a blood red district with a PVI of R+11 is now... and even worse R+14 (re-numbered PA-14).

The incumbent in the new PA-18 (Pittsburg's old PA-14) is Democrat Mike Doyle and he should have zero problem being reelected. Technically the incumbent in the new redder PA-14 Is Lamb but no one thinks he'll run there again. And the incumbent in the very red old PA-12 (now the competitive PA-17) is Keith Rothfus, basically a dead man walking. And that's where Lamb's home in and where Lamb will run, even though very few few of Rothfus' constituents were part of the old PA-18 who just participated in the election that put Lamb into office.

Right now there are 4 Democrats campaigning against Rothfus in the new 17th,  Elizabeth Tarasi, Aaron Anthony, Raymond Linsenmayer and Erin McClelland. The district includes Beaver County, part of Cranberry Township in Butler County, and northern and western portions of Allegheny County; it would have gone for Trump by just 2.5 percentage points. Lamb filed papers Wednesday seeking the Beaver County Democratic Party's endorsement in the new 17th. The Beaver County Democratic Committee plans to endorse a candidate next Thursday.

Meanwhile, Rick Saccone-- despite being blamed for his own loss on Tuesday, despite being derided for his "porn mustache" and despite not living in the new district-- is already circulating petitions to run in PA-14 (which includes half, including all the reddest parts of the district, he just lost). Republican State Senator Guy Reschenthaler is also running there. Reschenthaler doesn't live in the district either. The Democrat with the best-- the only-- chance to win in that race is Tom Prigg, who had been running against Rothfus, but decided to switch to the district he grew up in (Washington) after the new boundaries were announced and after Lamb made it clear he would take on Rothfus. (Prigg and Lamb are both veterans and although Prigg is much more progressive than Lamb, he had put a lot of time and energy into campaigning for him over the last month.) The establishment Democrat in the race, if she can get enough signatures by Tuesday, is Bibiana Boerio.

Republicans Are Mostly Playing Defense In House Races-- Except For A Few Blue Districts That Trump Won

Matt Cartwright deserves reelection

Over the weekend, Politico ran an essay about how Republicans will try to make up for expected losses in the 2018 midterms by targeting Democrats in Trump districts. Reporter Elena Schneider kicked off her piece by focusing on progressive champion Matt Cartwright. Matt's district (PA-17) stretches from Carbondale to Scranton and Wilkes-Barre and the south to Pocono Summit, the Delaware Water Gap and Nazareth and as far south as Easton in the east and Freemansburg in the west. It was gerrymandered to shove as many traditional blue collar Democratic voters into one misshapen district as possible to protect 3 Republican-leaning seats-- PA-10 (Tom Marino), PA-11 (Lou Barletta) and PA-15 (Charlie Dent). Last year the PVI was D+4 and Cartwright was reelected 155,766 (53.9%) to 132,969 (42.7%). But Hillary's status quo message was the exact opposite of what voters there wanted and Trump creamed her 53.4% to 43.3%-- in a district Obama had taken 55.4% to 43.3% four years earlier. The swing was unique to Hillary and Trump and was unrelated to Matt Cartwright, a consistent and effective advocate for working families.

When Schneider writes that "Trump had painted Cartwright’s turf red beneath his feet" she was being overly dramatic and... basically incorrect, even if the numbers people at Cook now give the district an R+1 PVI. Still, the Republican Party is targeting Matt in a big way this cycle. They've recruited a self-funding Wall Street hack, John Chrin, a former managing director at JP Morgan Chase who lives on millionaires' row in swanky Short Hills, New Jersey-- a Wall Street company town. He claims he can run in PA-17 because his paternal grandfather owns a company that owns a landfill in Northampton County. Chrin's mansion is about a two hour drive--more if there's traffic on the I-80-- from Scranton and Wilkes-Barre in the district. He lives in Leonard Lance's district although I suppose he can move into his grandfather's company's landfill if the commute to PA-17 gets too arduous for him. Trump's tax scam is tailor-made for people exactly like John Chrin. On the right is the ActBlue "Trump District Progressives" thermometer. It's important; please take a look and contribute what you can. So far this cycle Cartwright has raised $894,267 to Chrin's $667,266, although, notably, $563,715 of what Chrin "raised" came from a check he wrote to his own campaign. Cartwright told Schneider that "the real question is: Why did I do well there too? Why did 30,000 Trump voters also vote for Matt Cartwright? I think the reason is that I focus on jobs and wages, better jobs and better wages." Progressive Punch awarded Cartwright an "A" rating. He's the caucus whip for the Congressional Progressive Caucus and vice chair of the Sustainable Energy and Environmental Coalition Caucus.

Some of the other Democrats the GOP is targeting aren't worth the effort to defend. Nationally, Democrats would be better off without Blue Dog Cheri Bustos who is looking to rise in the party leadership where she can spread her repulsive Republican-lite approach to policy. Bustos is one of the worst Democrats in the House. Her lifetime crucial vote score is 50%, indicating she votes as much against important progressive legislation as for it. ProgressivePunch gave her an "F." Her district is in the northwest corner of the state and pretty blue. Obama beat McCain 60-39% and beat Romney 57-41%. Clinton was too much to swallow and Trump eked out a narrow win, 47.4% to 46.7%. The PVI dropped from D+7 to D+3. Bustos won reelection with 60% and-- despite trying to gin up contributions by whining how endangered she is, she has no serious competition. The NRCC candidate, Mark Kleine has raised $508,150 ($135,000 self-funded) to Bustos' $1,273,349. She has $2,363,367 cash on hand. Don't waste your money giving her any contributions-- unless you like Democrats from the Republican wing of the party and want to see her build power.

Another crap Democrat, Wisconsin New Dem Ron Kind, is also in the NRCC's sights. His district borders on Bustos'; he was first elected in 1996 and has been a pretty dependably bad vote, although not as bad as she is, but also with an "F" from ProgressivePunch. The district voted for Obama both times he ran-- 59-39% against McCain and 55-44% against Romney. Again, a blue collar district that was all wrong for Hillary. Trump beat her 49.3% to 44.8% and 2015's D+5 PVI is now even. Republicans are usually happy enough with Kind's conservatism to not even run candidates against him. He doesn't have a serious challenger this year. He had no opponent at all in 2016.

"Republicans are mostly on defense in the House of Representatives ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, with Democrats looking to erase the GOP’s 24-seat advantage and take back the majority," wrote Schneirder. "But Republicans are also confident they can pad their margin by picking off some Democrats in heavily white, blue-collar districts next fall, despite the political winds blowing against them elsewhere in the U.S.-- and Democrats are relying on those members to learn the lessons of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 loss to avoid 2018 surprises." The districts the GOP is going after, besides Cartwright's, Bustos' and Kind's, include, NH-01, where Carol Shea-Porter is retiring, NV-03, where right-wing imbecile Jacky Rosen is running for the U.S. Senate, Rick Nolan's district in northern Minnesota and the last remaining Iowa Democratic seat, Dave Loebsack's and the southern Minnesota seat Tim Walz is abandoning to run for governor-- and that's likely the only one they'll win.

Trump Tax Cuts For Multi-millionaires Will Be Paid For By Painful Cuts To Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Education

On Tuesday we asked half a dozen of the Blue America candidates how eager they are to go on the offensive over the GOP tax agenda. All of them are very eager to do just that. For example, James Thompson, the candidate for the Kansas congressional district centered around Wichita, thinks if the 2018 election iOS decided on tax policies, he'll be the next congressman from KS-04. "If you want to know what will happen to the rest of the United States as a result of Trump's tax reform," Thompson told us Tuesday morning, "just look at Kansas. The so called 'tax reform' being pushed by President Trump and Ron Estes is the nationalization of the same failed trickle down tax experiments of Sam Brownback in Kansas. Our schools and hospitals are underfunded and closing. Our infrastructure, especially in rural areas, is collapsing. Our businesses are leaving our state. Our guards in the prison system are underpaid and overworked in overcrowded prisons. Our police departments don't have the money for proper training and are short staffed. Our mental health care facilities, formerly number one in the country, are now ranked at the bottom. More and more people are falling below the poverty line. These are just a few of the examples of what 'tax reform' did to Kansas. The filthy rich got the tax break goldmine, and the working people of Kansas got the shaft. Supply side economics do not work. Businesses do not hire new employees because of tax breaks. Demand drives business. Rather than trying to get a bigger piece of the pie, how about increasing the size of the pie? Paying a living wage will circulate more money into the economy and create a larger tax base. Finally expanding Medicaid will allow 100,000 additional Kansans to get medical care, again pumping more money into our local economy. We have lost more than 2 billion dollars in the last couple of years as a result of failing to expand Medicaid. Using targeted trade agreements to allow farmers to sell their products internationally while also protecting the wages of our working class people at home will bring more money into our state. Republicans don't want to do this though, they want the pie all for themselves. In Kansas, we say 'pigs get fat, and hogs get slaughtered.' The Republicans are all greedy hogs lined up at the 2018 trough gorging themselves on the slop Trump is feeding them."

The next day, Tumpanzee was in Springfield, Missouri promoting his tax plan-- with one lie after another-- at a closed-to-the-public event behind the closed doors of one of his rich campaign donors. Just before Trump spoke, Frank Clemente, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness, warned the media to “Make no mistake; what Trump and Republican leaders in Congress are proposing is not tax reform. They simply want massive tax cuts for millionaires, billionaires, and big corporations, at the expense of everyone else. And those tax giveaways will be paid for by cuts to Social Security, healthcare, education and other programs that maintain living standards for working families. It’s Trumpcare all over again, and it must be blocked.”

When Señor Trumpanzee says he will enact historic tax reform, as he always brags he will, all he's talking about is a fairly standard conservative $5 trillion tax giveaway benefitting the wealthy and big corporations. What there is of a Trump budget shows tax cuts being paid for by $4.3 trillion in cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, education, and other services that help working families get by in the GOP law of the jungle society they envision. He claims his plan will help the middle class but his revisions to the tax code primarily benefit the top 1% of income earners, no one's definition of the middle class. Everyone in the top 1% gets, on average, a nice $175,000 tax cut. Something like 25% of middle-class families would actually pay higher taxes under the Trumpanzee/Paul Ryan plan. Even worse, Trump would pay for his tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations by cutting public services working families rely on, such as Social Security, Medicaid, education, infrastructure, nutrition programs and other vital services.

Likewise, his bullshit claims that his plan helps small businesses are nothing but a hoax-- another boon for the wealthy. Trump says he's going to lower small business' taxes to 15% but most small businesses already pay taxes at a 15% rate or lower, so less than 7% of business owners would get any tax cut. More than three-quarters of the tax cuts would go to the richest 1% of business owners, who would get an average tax cut of $75,000 each year. These are not Main Street shopkeepers, but hedge fund managers, Wall Street lawyers and real estate developers like Trump, who would lower his own tax rate from roughly 40% to 15%.

And Trump was braying in Springfield, as Republicans always do, that corporate and individual tax rates need to be reduced because we have the highest taxes in the world-- a flat out lie Republicans love to recite endlessly. As Americans for Tax Fairness has shown, Americans are not taxed higher than other countries and, as a percentage of the overall economy, Americans pay less in taxes than 30 of 35 other similarly developed countries. And although the official corporate tax rate is 35%, most corporations pay much less because of loopholes. In fact, the Government Accountability Office found that profitable U.S. corporations paid an effective tax rate of only 14% from 2008 to 2012.

And when Trump boasted that his plan making deep cuts to the tax rate on accumulated offshore corporate profits will “bring that cash home” to be “reinvested” in the American economy, it's a complete conservative fantasy. The GOP's proposal to tax those offshore earnings at just 10%, instead of the 35% they currently owe, amounts to a $600 billion tax cut for tax-dodging corporations-- a huge loss of revenue that could be used for economy-boosting public investments. When Congress provided a similar tax giveaway in 2004, corporations that brought home their profits cut tens of thousands of jobs and gave 90%-- so 90 cents of every dollar-- in earnings brought home to rich shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends.

Americans For Tax Fairness: "Recent experience and academic research both show that tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations are a poor way to stimulate the economy and create jobs. And Trump’s proposed deep budget cuts to infrastructure, healthcare, medical research and education won’t help create jobs, either... Only the richest one of every 500 estates currently pays the estate tax-- the estate must be worth $5.5 million or more to be affected. The only effect abolishing the estate tax will have on American workers is to deprive them of over $20 billion in annual revenue, which pays for public services used by those who haven’t inherited a fortune... Big corporations don’t need a tax cut-- what they need is to start paying their fair share of taxes again.

As Sam Jammal, the progressive opponent challenging Wall Street shill Ed Royce-- Royce has taken an astronomical $7,303,507 in bribes from the Financial Sector since coming to Congress in 1993-- told us earlier in the week, he finds "this whole tax reform conversation to represent everything wrong with Washington. Right now, thousands of lobbyists are lining up with their own 'fixes' to our tax system. Everything is centered on how the most wealthy will benefit. None of the conversation is about how we help working families... Tax reform should be about making sure the middle class is still a reality for our community. We should scrap corporate tax reform and focus on reforms that help regular people. This includes increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit, expanding deductions on child care, student loans and home ownership, and promoting job creation by entrepreneurs and small business-- not paybacks to the uber wealthy. We can't continue to have an economy where so few can get ahead and so many are falling behind. Everything we are hearing on Trump's tax reform looks like a bad deal for our families. We need to stop this 'reform.'"

Matt Cartwright is one of a small handful of progressive Democrats reelected last year in district that Trump won (click on the thermometer on the right for the list). Trump beat Hillary in Matt's largely blue collar Pennsylvania district 53.4% (10 points better than Romney had done) to 43.3% (12 points worse than President Obama had done in 2012). Meanwhile, Cartwright, an assertive and skillfiul champion for working families, was reelected 53.8% to 46.2%, a margin of over 20,000 votes. But the Republican Party is targeting Matt in a big way this cycle. They've recruited a self-funding Wall Street hack, John Chrin, a former managing director at JP Morgan Chase who lives on millionaires' row in swanky Short Hills, New Jersey-- a Wall Street company town. He claims he can run in PA-17 because his paternal grandfather owns a company that owns a landfill in Northampton County. Chrin's mansion is about a two hour drive--more if there's traffic on the I-80-- from Scranton and Wilkes-Barre in the district. He lives in Leonard Lance's district although I suppose he can move into his grandfather's company's landfill if the commute to PA-17 gets too arduous for him. Trump's tax plan is tailor-made for people exactly like John Chrin. Above is the new ActBlue "Trump District Progressives" thermometer. It's important; please take a look.

Yesterday, Matt, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, told us that his "own impression is that in all likelihood, the GOP tax plan will follow the 2017 playbook for major Republican legislation:  it will be introduced with much fanfare and loudly ballyhooed by the president. Then, people will read it. These people will include the diligent accountants and analysis at the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The CBO will score it and reveal it to be an unabashed giveaway to the wealthiest people in America, an actual tax increase to many middle-income earners, and a drain on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The ensuing public outcry will stun even the most insensate GOP members of Congress, and result in the president blaming GOP congressional leaders and claiming he never had anything to do with it. Then the president will send out an astonishing tweet, on a different subject, so outrageous as to be incapable of being ignored, attempting to get everyone to forget about his festival of legislative failures and broken promises. How long Americans continue to fall for this nonsense is anybody’s guess."

Ro Khanna represents a big chunk of white collar Silicon Valley. He also represents the solidly middle and working class blue collar areas in the South and East Bay like Newark and Fremont. He's no more a fan of Trump's tax plan than Matt Cartwright is. He told us that "Trump's $5 trillion giveaway to the speculator class is not just morally wrong but also hurts our economic growth. If we really want to grow the economy at 3 percent, we should use that money instead to give tax credits to working families, to have Medicare for all, to invest in research and development, to provide debt free college and to support apprenticeships, tech courses, and vocational education. The democrats need to make the case that our policies are pro growth and pro American competitiveness.  We also shouldn't be afraid to provide a bold $5 trillion plan for investing in our economy as a counter to Trump."

Meanwhile, in the alternative universe on the fringes of American society, this is not a parody of the Bannon-Mercer neo-Nazi website, Bretbart. This is an actual Breitbart page from yesterday. This is what the neo-Nazis across America are reading today. And remember, we're talking about people with 2-digit IQs incapable of intellectual discernment beyond that of a slow-witted 8 or 9 year old. And they're armed.

Better Know A District-- Or, Better Yet, A Top Notch Congressman: Matt Cartwright (PA-17)

When Blue America first got behind Matt Cartwright's lonely and "impossible" challenge to Blue Dog Tim Holden last year, no one expected him to beat the very entrenched dean of the Pennsylvania delegation, and very well-funded one at that. Steny Hoyer called some of our biggest donors and told them we're insane and that we were wasting their money and that Holden would win by a landslide. Hoyer, in fact-- lobbyists in tow-- was all over PA-17 trying to make sure he was correct about that. Blue America, on the other hand, felt that Matt Cartwright had what it took to beat Holden and, more important, has what it takes to be a great congressman and represent northeastern Pennsylvania's working families in a way they haven't been represented in a very long time.

We expected Matt to go on to be one of the most outstanding Members of Congress. Right out of the gate, his freshman colleagues elected him freshman class president. OK, OK... I know what that means too. BUT, how about this? So far this session, only two Members of Congress have 100% vote scores on crucial roll calls from ProgressivePunch: Mark Pocan and... Matt Cartwright. "I have signed onto the Grayson-Takano No Cuts letter," Matt told us today, "because we are not going to balance the budget on our seniors and those who can least afford it. We must find a balanced approach, but let's start with the oil and gas companies making millions out of tax loopholes, not grandma and grandpa."

Now what we didn't expect when we were putting up all those Holden Is A Friend Of Fracking billboards everywhere in NEPA is that Matt Cartwright would ever be on the Stephen Colbert Show. But he was... Thursday night. And he taught Stephen how to... well watch it:

The DCCC-- Not A Friend Of Working Families... Not By A Longshot

The DCCC added a shitload of shit to their Red-to-Blue program today-- a greenlight for big donors and idiots who take their financial walking orders from pimped-up hustlers and con artists like Steve Israel, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Steny Hoyer, Joseph Crowley and Allyson Schwartz. The list is a nightmare, not only for all the good progressives it leaves off-- like Rob Zerban, who exceeded the gargantuan goals the DCCC gave him to get on it, only to be left off anyway, Chris Donovan, the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives, and David Gill, who beat their corrupt Machine in Illinois only to be left in the cold while the DCCC endorsed corrupt conservative hacks like Tammy Duckworth, Cheri Bustos, Bill Foster and Brad Schneider, all of whom won the same night-- but also because they once again broke their own pledge not to endorse in active primaries. But they did-- and they always picked the corrupt conservative.

Great example of their ultimate lameness-- Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-1) was defeated in 2010 because she was one of the worst, most useless Members of Congress and Democrats didn't turn out to vote for her and let a teabagger get in. In 2008 when she first won election, for an open seat she got 155,791 votes (56%) against the Republican's 109,924, tying him in the biggest county and winning in 6 of the remaining 7. After one term of voting like a Republican, Democrats stayed home in droves and in 2010 all she managed was 99,233 votes (44%) against 112,816 for the Republican. This time she lost by a landslide in Yavapai, the biggest county, and of the remaining 7 only won 3. A far better choice would be strong, independent progressive, Wenona Baldenegro, but the DCCC decided to not leave anything to chance-- or the Democrats in the area-- and moved this week to bolster the pathetic candidacy of sure loser, Kirkpatrick. The progressive in the race, Wenona, told me publicly what dozens of candidates are telling me off the record-- that Steve Israel and his cronies are a bunch of flat-out liars.

"Across the country, the self-appointed kingmakers in Washington are trying to tell the American people who should represent them in Congress. We will not let them anoint candidates for us; the people will decide who they want to represent them. I am truly humbled by the immense support that I have received from the people of my district, and I am proud to be running a grassroots campaign that is not in the pocket of corporate money and ALEC lobbyists. I will continue my campaign to give the people of Arizona the type of representation that they deserve, and to be the first Native American woman to ever serve in the U.S. Congress."

Please consider sending the DCCC thugs a message here... today.
Since taking over the DCCC with his band of cutthroats, "ex"-Blue Dog Steve Israel has turned over a hefty chunk of recruiting to the most hated part of the Democratic Party, the anti-Choice, anti-gay, anti-working family Blue Dogs. So far this year the Blue Dogs have endorsed 8 pasty-faced bigots (aside from their hideous gaggle of incumbents): Leonard Bembry (FL-2, DCC "Emerging Race"), Clark Hall (AR-1, DCCC "Emerging Race"), Nick Lampson (TX-14, "Red to Blue"), Brendan Mullen (IN-2, "Red to Blue), Hayden Rogers (NC-11, DCCC's "Emerging Races"), ALEC leader Ted Vick (SC-7, "Emerging Race District"), Rob Wallace (OK-2, DCCC Emerging Race), Charlie Wilson (OH-6, "Red to Blue"). Yes, every single Blue Dog has been embraced by the DCCC, even though many of them-- best example being NC-11 where Cecil Bothwell is going to hand Israel's corporate shill his ass on a platter on May 8-- have active primaries against progressives, where the DCCC has given their worthless word that they would remain neutral and let them play out.

Almost none of their picks are progressives-- Miklosi, Kuster and Takano being the exceptions-- and one is an actual Mitt Romney supporting Republican gussied up to look like a semi-Democrat, Patrick Murphy. My favorite DCCC story so far this year is how badly Wasserman Schultz and Israel fucked up the "#1 sure-thing district," FL-26, seat of breathtakingly corrupt freshman David Rivera. We've been over that a couple times before, but they've been recruiting the worst set of candidates imaginable-- so bad that they eventually are forced into unrecruiting them. And this week they found another one, Gloria Romero Roses, some typical unions-suck/taxes-are-too-high entitled rich asshole from Broward County. They managed to infuriate every Democratic official in Miami-Dade-- and every labor union by not even consulting them and shoving her right onto their "Emerging Races" list. And they did this, completely aware that the immensely popular (and populist) Joe Garcia is jumping in next week!

I bet Miami-Dade Democratic Party chair Richard Lydecker isn't going to take it lying down either. The DCCC thinks they have Miami-Dade all sewn up because of Debbie. Debbie's a joke and just another out-of-touch DC hack who works for the Fanjul brothers. It wouldn't surprise me if she's sabotaging Democratic chances in FL-26 on behalf of the Fanjuls, who want desperately to keep a pliable crook like Rivera in place. Meanwhile, Debbie and Israel and Crowley have a full scale rebellion on their hands from labor. Roses was illegally targeting and firing SEIU members when she was in HR... and it's payback time. Watch Wasserman Schultz lose Florida for Obama with her clueless shenanigans!

When Democrat Gloria Romero Roses runs for Congress this fall, her biggest opponent may not be incumbent Republican Rep. David Rivera, but her own résumé.

For nearly three years, Roses worked for a Hollywood-based condo management company that fought a nasty battle against one of the Democratic Party’s biggest contributors: the Service Employees International Union.

Roses headed the employee relations department and later became director of communications and community relations for The Continental Group, which manages condo properties across South Florida. Beginning in 2004, a local SEIU chapter tried unsuccessfully to unionize Continental’s condo workers, mostly in Miami Beach. The union accused the company of interfering with the union effort... From the union’s end, hard feelings remain toward the company and its directors, including Roses and her husband, Tom, who at the time headed the company’s property management division.

...Eric Brakken, director of the SEIU Local 32BJ, said he is troubled by Roses’ congressional run.

“We have deep concerns about her candidacy,” said Brakken, who directed the campaign to unionize Continental workers. “She’s going to have to come and explain to a lot of workers who have been through the same experience as Continental workers went through why she’s the best choice.”

Roses said she has already called several unions to introduce herself. “I’m making those overtures so that I can talk to them-- absolutely,” she said.

The SEIU tried to unionize Continental condo workers such as janitors, housekeepers, pool cleaners, valets and front-desk concierges. Brakken, who has never met Roses, said Continental mounted a serious anti-union effort, holding work-site meetings with managers who spoke against unionization and issuing written communications that made it clear the company opposed a union.

Roses said she was not involved in any of those tactics. [She's lying.]

The National Labor Relations Board found that the company wrongfully terminated one employee for his union activities. In its investigation, the board found Continental distributed “anti-union literature”-- including a bulletin to managers saying the company was “100% against a Union getting in here”-- and violated labor rules by photographing workers holding a mock election to reinstate a colleague.

“They clearly heard the message,” Brakken said of the workers. “Continental ran a pretty sophisticated campaign to stop their employees from forming a union.”

Roses and her husband, Brakken added, “were clearly central to that.”

One well connected Miami Democratic leader laughed at the cluelessness of the DCCC. "They went for Gloria who? From Broward that no one knows except the unions because of her past trying to bust them and is supposedly a business woman but somehow doesn't even have a website for her business as Roll Call and Politico pointed out. Ugh! I will support Joe. So will everyone else."

Tonight Democrats in Pennsylvania told Hoyer and Israel and Wasserman Schultz to go take a flying leap as they defeated their hackish corrupt Blue Dog, Tim Holden, and replaced him with progressive Matt Cartwright. With 447 of 449 precincts reporting, Cartwright beat Hoyer's corrupt Blue Dog 33,102 (57%) to 24,871 (43%). Holden lost all the big population centers. Cartwright ran up solid majorities in Lackawanna (78%). Luzerne (71%), Northampton (55%) and Monroe (64%). Grassroots Democrats in other states should take up the banner. Don't trust anyone endorsed by the DCCC. Check them out carefully first. Most will be worthless shills like the majority of the people on the Red-to-Blue List of Shame.

Tomorrow Is Election Day In Pennsylvania

Easily, tomorrow's most important race, at least for progressives, is the primary in the heavily blue new 17th congressional district in the northeastern part of the state that pits progressive Matt Cartwright against the Machine-backed corrupt Blue Dog Tim Holden, who represented the old-- relatively red-- 17th district south and west of the new district. We've been making the case for Cartwright and why Holden is too corrupt and too conservative to be given another term in Congress. But for anyone who lives in the area-- or who has friends or relatives who live in the area-- I want to ask you to remember one final thought before voting. and it isn't even my own. This thought comes from Eugene Kiely and Ben Finley of FactCheck.org who make the point that Tim Holden is a lying sack of shit who, in his desperation, has resorted to smearing Matt Cartwright with the hundreds of thousands of dollars in corporate bribes being sent his way by Democratic congressional corruptionist-in-chief Steny Hoyer. Their startling and horrifying report:

Rep. Tim Holden falsely claimed in a recent TV ad that his opponent won a multimillion-dollar lawsuit in exchange for campaign contributions to a corrupt judge. In fact, a jury-- not the judge-- awarded $3 million to lawyer Matt Cartwright’s client in that case. The Holden campaign told us it had no evidence to prove the donation had any influence over the judge during that trial. The campaign pulled the ad after just one day on the air.

This is not the first time that the veteran Democratic congressman has accused his primary opponent, Cartwright, of making improper campaign contributions. In an earlier TV ad, Holden sought to link Cartwright to the infamous “kids-for-cash” scandal that sent two Pennsylvania judges to prison. In that ad, Holden criticized Cartwright for contributions he and his law firm made to judges who accepted kickbacks for sending juveniles to for-profit juvenile detention facilities. Again, the campaign contributions from Cartwright and his law firm were unrelated to the corruption case. It was merely a case of guilt by association.

In their own words, Holden's smear campaign against Cartwright-- who has tried to run a strictly positive campaign based on the issues and on what he can offer to Democrats in northeastern Pennsylvania-- "is the most savage example of what has been a bruising primary."

If Cartwright wins tomorrow-- and a third poll was completed last week showing him 6 points ahead among likely voters-- it will be a huge victory for grassroots Democrats sick and tired of the corruption and lying in Washington. It's time to take our party back. There's already one party dedicated to the conservatism and sleazy corrupt practices of people like Tim Holden-- we can't let them own both.



Yesterday the biggest newspaper in the district, the Scranton Times-Tribune endorsed Matt Cartwright against the supposed incumbent. ("Supposed" because Holden never represented anyone in Lackawanna, Monroe, Luzerne, Nothampton or Carbon counties.)

The Times-Tribune editorial board usually does not endorse in primary elections. But because the Democratic primary will pick the ultimate winners in several races, the board has decided to endorse in those races.

17th Congressional District: Matt Cartwright

Due to egregious gerrymandering, the 17th Congressional District has been redrawn along a convoluted route that includes Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Easton and Pottsville.

The 10-term incumbent is Rep. Tim Holden of Schuylkill County, dean of the state congressional delegation. But Mr. Holden never has represented more than 70 percent of the people in the redrawn district. It is clear from his record, and from his astonishingly dirty campaign, that he is out of step with the redrawn district.

The editorial board endorses Scranton lawyer Matt Cartwright.

Mr. Holden has voted against progressive initiatives such as the most sweeping housing finance reforms, greater consumer protections, energy reform and health care reform.

In an interview, Mr. Holden declared that he always had heeded the advice of the late Rep. John Murtha, who had told him to keep his mouth shut and make friends. In keeping with that approach, Mr. Holden refused to debate Mr. Cartwright while visiting county Democratic committees in search of endorsements.

Mr. Holden's campaign was an affront to voters. Some of his ads attempted to tie Mr. Cartwright to judicial corruption, in the process smearing jurors and a woman who had suffered due to an incorrect cancer diagnosis.

There were negative elements to Mr. Cartwright's campaign, but they focused on Mr. Holden's record rather than his personal integrity.

Overall, Mr. Cartwright focused on tax reform, health care and education reforms.

Mr. Cartwright would be a vocal and active representative. He needs to temper his lawyer's adversarial mind-set, however, to recognize that progress in Washington requires compromise.

Cartwright spent the weekend barnstorming up and down the large, sprawling district, including appearances with former Congressman Joe Sestak, who endorsed him last week. The biggest newspaper in Luzerne County, the Citizens Voice, endorsed him over the weekend, stating bluntly that "Judging by Cartwright’s campaign and Holden’s record, Cartwright would be a stronger advocate for working families in our region." Highly respected Wilkes-Barre columnist and ex-state Rep., Kevin Blaum ("The Arena"), writing for the Times Leader explained on Sunday why he's voting for Cartwright tomorrow, in what he recognizes as "this year’s most important congressional primary in Pennsylvania."

Lately we seem to be awash in officials who labor strenuously at elevating ineffectiveness to an art form capable even of bringing about their re-elections.

They and the party leaders with whom they cavort have gone out of their way to support Cartwright’s opponent, who so often follows his finger headlong into every-which-way the wind blows.

Cartwright’s opponent, U.S. Rep. Tim Holden, voted against the 2010 health insurance reform law, its coverage of pre-existing conditions and its provision extending coverage to your son or daughter in their early 20s unable to find affordable health insurance on their own.

Cartwright’s opponent also voted to exempt natural gas drillers from the Safe Drinking Water Act requirement that they list those chemicals forced underground in the drilling process. This travesty, known as the “Halliburton Loophole,” is now in our national Safe Drinking Water Act.

What has become of the Congress when elected representatives go out of their way to oppose common-sense insurance reforms while voting to keep under wraps the dangerous chemicals that gas drillers pump underground?

Can’t you just hear the crisp snap of insurance industry fingers and the crackle of chemical drillers as congressmen pop out of their seats to do their bidding?

Matt Cartwright wants to put a stop to such behavior and go to Washington to re-establish a strong voice for Northeastern Pennsylvania within the halls of Congress.

It is a daunting task for sure, but Cartwright possesses the necessary skill set to lead the way and make a difference.

...When the new 17th Congressional District was drawn by the cartographers in Harrisburg so as to weaken Northeastern Pennsylvania by dividing our population centers and diluting our influence, Matt Cartwright leaped into the race to unite and strengthen the entire region.

Throughout this campaign Matt Cartwright has demonstrated an extraordinary energy, intelligence and the natural leadership that the job requires and that the Pennsylvania congressional delegation so desperately needs.

Cartwright has all the tools. He is the most promising congressional candidate I’ve seen from this region in more than three decades.

On Tuesday vote Matt Cartwright for Congress …. and for Northeastern Pennsylvania.

The Republican Wing Of The Democratic Party-- Meet Tim Holden

Steny Hoyer, the quintessential corrupt old machine Democrat, jockeying to be Speaker, is running around the country bolstering the kinds of corrupt, transactional political hacks he feels most comfortable with. Tim Holden is his exact cup of tea. Policy-wise Holden is far to the right of Hoyer. Holden votes with the Republicans on most important roll call votes-- more than almost any Democrat in Congress. But Hoyer doesn't care about things like that. So he's virulently anti-Choice and votes for the corporate agenda on every issue... who cares? What Hoyer wants is personal fealty to his career aspirations. Period. So he looked the cameras straight in the face and said, "Tim Holden is a real Democrat. There is zero doubt." And if Hoyer's world of backroom corruption, he's correct. Holden is part of that room. Never mind that his definition of "Democrat" includes taking cash from Big Energy in return for helping them pass their agenda in Congress. Never you mind that this is his execrable voting record on women's Choice or that he has consistently voted with the Republicans against contraception. Nevermind that he's an unrepentant warmonger or that he has one of the worst records in Congress on civil liberties, equal justice, healthcare and the environment. He takes money from lobbyists and votes for whatever they want. And he's personally committed to Steny Hoyer getting his paws on the Speakership. As Joshua Grossman of Progressive Kick said yesterday, “Holden’s vote in Congress may not be for sale, but it’s certainly for rent."

“He’s rented his vote in the United States Congress to the energy industry, subjecting his constituents to the prospect of polluted water in exchange for campaign contributions when he voted for the Halliburton Amendment. He’s rented his vote to Wall Street in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions. And he’s rented his vote to the banking industry and stood against his own constituents whose homes are being foreclosed upon.”

Healthcare reform advocates in Pennsylvania certainly know Marc Stier. He headed up HCAN in that state while Holden was conspiring with the Republicans and his corporate donors to derail it. He explains why Matt Cartwright's campaign to replace Holden is "the most important Democratic congressional primary in the country."

Voters in the 17th Congressional District in Pennsylvania have an opportunity to do something really important, not just for themselves, but for the entire country: defeat Congressman Tim Holden, who represents the Republican wing of the Democratic party.

It is obviously important to the 17th District to have a member of Congress who actually supports their interests, not those of the corporate rich. And it’s important to the Democratic Party and the country as a whole to rid ourselves of members of Congress who fail to do the minimal in standing up for the ideals of our party. Defeating such members will send a critical message throughout the Democratic Caucus: Democratic members of Congress are accountable to us.

And, as I explain below, defeating Tim Holden will remove from office a whining, gutless, dishonest example of the American politician at his worst.

Let me be clear: I’m not a wild eyed leftist. I’m a slightly left of center Democrat. I’m not naïve about political strategy either. In endorsing Allyson Schwartz, I pointed out that members of Congress sometimes have to stand apart from progressive ideals in order to be reelected. And I said that they have a “moral responsibility” to do that because control of the House is important for the party and the country-- so long as they don’t vote the wrong way when progressive legislation is at stake and their vote is absolutely necessary.

But Tim Holden’s opponent, Matt Cartwright, is not only a much more progressive Democrat than Holden, he is someone who can definitely win and hold the 17th Congressional District this year and in years to come.

Moreover, Tim Holden is not just a member of Congress who votes with Republicans now and then in order to preserve his seat. He votes with Republicans much of the time, and what’s worse, and on the issues that are most important to us, without making any attempt to persuade his district, and when his voted is definitely needed. And, on top of that he repeats Republican lies to justify his vote.

I’m talking, of course, about the Affordable Care Act. I met with Congressman Holden a few times, and until they cut us off, talked to his staff many times when I ran Health Care for America Now in our state. In all those conversations, I never once heard Congressman Holden show any serious concern about the tens of thousands of uninsured and underinsured in his district or the even larger group of people whose health insurance were going up far faster than their wages. Instead he whined about how health care reform (and cap and trade) were creating political problems for him.

Even his chief health care staff person was disappointing. She repeated Blue Dog talking points to me whenever I met with her.

And let me point out that even the old 17th district had a Democratic majority and supported Obama, unlike a lot of other districts held by Democratic members of Congress who voted for the ACA.

When members of Congress like Kathy Dahlkemper and Chris Carey were out in their districts, facing the tea party, and working with citizen and labor activists to defend what became the ACA, Tim Holden was hiding under his desk. He only came out to attend a private event hosted by an insurance company.

And, after the vote and since, Holden defended his stance by repeating the totally false Republican claim that the ACA cuts Medicare and Medicaid benefits. I called him on that two years ago in the Patriot-News. His constituents need to call him on it now.

What kind of Democratic member of Congress not only votes against his party on the most important legislation in his career but undermines the other members of Congress from his own party as well as a Democratic President by repeating Republican lies?

I hope that on Tuesday the answer will be Democratic Congressman who goes down to a well-deserved defeat in a Democratic primary.