FOSSELLA MESS JUST KEEPS GETTING MESSIER AND MESSIER

Will Fossella be an excuse in Mississippi tomorrow?

Inside the Beltway Republican leaders, desperate to get Fossella and the image of drunken and hypocritical Republican congressmen with multiple wives out of the news as fast as possible, are threatening Fossella with serious criminal actions if he doesn't resign and making sure he knows there will be no financial support for him from the GOP. (Over the weekend he floated trial balloons about continuing on as a member of Congress and of even running again in November, trial balloons that were bolstered by a SUSA poll that shows Staten Island constituents still support him. Democrats are praying that he stays in the race as well.) This morning CREW called for Fossella to resign; wow, they agree with Boehner!

The serious criminal action alluded to above involves Fossella's boondoggle trips to Europe with his mistress-- at taxpayer expense. This morning's NY Daily News is all over it.

Democratic and GOP congressional officials are scrutinizing Rep. Vito Fossella's mysterious and pricey January 2003 trip to France, the Daily News has learned.

He was the sole lawmaker authorized to go-- and his mistress is suspected of joining him.

The Staten Island Republican visited La Hague, France, supposedly on a "fact-finding" mission.

Lawmakers commonly visit La Hague to tour its nuclear fuel reprocessing plants, which have 6,000 people on its payroll, making it the largest employer in the region.

But "it's highly unusual for a member to go on the France trip alone, as he did," said a committee source.

Now the question is whether Fossella was less interested in nuclear power than in fueling a relationship with retired Air Force Col. Laura Fay: Last week he admitted fathering Fay's 3-year-old daughter.

...House leaders are also eying Fossella's other overseas jaunts, since Fay is known to have traveled with him on official business more than once.

Fossella could be ordered to repay taxpayers for his whopping travel expenses if they conclude he mingled pleasure with business, sources said.

Team Fossella has refused to answer questions about the France trip, despite discrepancies in his official records.

Not that Fossella is the first Republican elected official in NY with multiple families. Way back in 1987 the Republican Party County chairman of the Bronx, state Senator Guy Velella, admitted he had two families, a legal wife and 4 children in NYC and a girlfriend and child in Albany, more conveniently situated. He was re-elected several times but was finally defeated after an unrelated criminal episode came out regarding fixed contracts and other typically GOP shenanigans.

Perhaps more damaging to Fossella's determination to rescue his political career are the reports that his wife (the legal wife, Mary Pat) is going to divorce him for adultry. The longtime "family values" Republican has been living a double lie, telling each woman that she was the only one.

A close family friend said Fossella's wife was considering divorce - and if so, planned to go after the house and custody of the couple's three children.

"She's mad," said the source, who asked not to be identified. "She wants to move on."

Fossella's court appearance for his drunken driving charges, originally scheduled for today, has been postponed.


UPDATE: VITO DOESN'T LOVE ALL WOMEN-- HE HATES HIS GAY SISTER

Self-righteous prig that he is, Mr. Two-Family Values Fossella "shuns his gay sister, Victoria Fossella refusing to go to family events if she and her partner attend." A vicious homophobe bordering on mental illness, Fossella "demanded housing funds be held back from San Francisco unless it repealed its domestic partnership law" and he "voted for the Marriage Protection Amendment, a federal prohibition on gay marriage." Most repulsive of all-- and despite his sister and her partner having adopted twins-- Fossella "voted to prohibit any funding for joint adoptions by gay couples."

CAN THE INSIDERS-- RAHM EMANUEL ON ONE SIDE AND THE GOP ON THE OTHERS SIDE OF THE SAME COIN-- BE BEATEN BACK IN OHIO ON DECEMBER 11?

Today Ohio Governor Ted Strickland is in northwestern Ohio (OH-05) campaigning with the overwhelming winner (like in 97% I think) of the Democratic primary for the congressional seat that opened up when Paul Gillmor died last month. As I've been saying, the DCCC has been inactive in this race, leaving it to Robin Weirauch and the state party to do what they can on their own. Emanuel, who isn't eager to see another Democrat elected who opposes his venal trade policies-- one of the key issues in Robin's campaign; she's with the American working people and her right-wing Republican opponent, Bob Latta, stands firmly with Emanuel-- and who wants to bring out troops back from Iraq. Strickland can attest to the fact that OH-05, despite Emanuel's insistence to the contrary, is a very winnable district. After all, he was elected governor last year and Sherrod Brown was elected senator and both racked up majorities in OH-05, despite the conventional wisdom stupidity.

This has led to a low key civil war inside the DCCC between the holdovers from the Emanuel regime and the new comers the new Chair, Chris Van Hollen brought in, who are all eager to help Robin win the race. On top of that Tim Ryan, Sherrod Brown and the rest of the Ohio delegation are lobbying the DCCC to let loose with some of that huge war chest they're always bragging about.

The DCCC's reticence-- or Emanuel's deliberate sabotage-- hasn't held the RNCC back, not a bit. They sense Robin can win and they're stepping up to help their stepford candidate. Thursday the Swing State Project pointed out that as broke as the NRCC is, they're rushing money to the special elections in VA-01 and OH-05, spending their meager resources to defend 2 seats they would normally be able to take for granted. The Republicans have spent over $9,000 on making a TV ad for Latta and they will shovel some real money into putting it on the air next week. Wes Clark is trying to help raise some cash for Robin but Emanuel would rather see a reactionary like Latta win than a grassroots Democrat like Robin who will oppose him and Bush on their NAFTA-like trade agenda. If you want to help Robin win a Republican seat, there are a dozen ActBlue pages, like this one, collecting secure donations.


UPDATE: THE MONEY

According to prespecial election filings with the F.E.C., those who want to see the Bush agenda extended indefinitely contributed $246,173 to Latta's campaign. People who feel we need a change donated $138,152 to Robin's campaign. According to today's Toledo Blade

The content of the race largely corresponds to the sources of cash. Mr. Latta promotes open global markets, while Mrs. Weirauch says she will protect manufacturing jobs from low-cost foreign competitors.

Mr. Latta (R., Bowling Green) has $132,488 on hand. However, the campaign also has $118,609 in outstanding debts, which include printing costs, advertising, and a $50,000 loan Mr. Latta gave his campaign from personal savings.

About $106,000 came from an inside-the-beltway fundraising event. Mr. Latta relied on his future possible colleagues, receiving donations from 26 congressional campaigns.

Executives from ProMedica Health System and real estate developer Dillin Corp. were among the Ohio residents donating to Mr. Latta's campaign, which has a distinct corporate backing with additional contributions from accounting firms, auto dealers, AT&T, MasterCard, and Ohio-based fast-food restaurant Wendy's.

"It shows that he's got a lot of support, not just in Ohio but from the business community," said Matt Parker, the Latta campaign manager. "They know he's the pro-business candidate."

So it's all about Big Pharma, big developers, big banking and credit card interests and AT&T, desperate to elect rubber stamp Republicans who will protect their lawbreaking executives from prosecution for having spied for the Bush Regime. Those are the folks in Latta's camp and they know he will support them at the expense of his constituents. "The last thing northwest Ohioans needs is another career politician in Washington who will be beholden to corporate special interests instead of Ohio's working families," said Doug Kelly, Ohio's Democratic Party Executive Director.

Robin's money is coming primarily from middle and working class Americans. Labor unions have backed her, as has Emily's List. Inside the Beltway Democrats gave her a small amount of perfunctory help. Pelosi, for example, tossed in $2,000, nothing like the $100,000 she raised for corporate shill Al Wynn in Maryland.


THE GOOD GUYS WON THIS ROUND-- NOW WE HAVE A REAL RACE

Although arguments raged within the DCCC that OH-05 was unwinnable and that spending real money there was useless, more DCCC employees agreed with the Ohio Democratic Party and with the entire Ohio Democratic congressional delegation that Robin Weirauch, with some real help, could beat the Republican rubber stamp, Bob Latta. The DCCC just dropped $150,000 into the Special Election to make and run TV ads. Congratulations to the DCCC employees who fought so hard against the bad guys.


UPDATE: THE DCCC AD FOR ROBIN

I just read that the RNCC, which really can not afford the money, has plunked down almost double what the DCCC put down. Here's the Dem's ad:

REPUBLICANS HAVE NO REASON FOR POLITICAL OPTIMISM-- THE TIME HAS COME TO PAY THE PIPER

Dirty Dick Pombo isn't in prison or on trial and, rather miraculously, he hasn't even been indicted yet. But-- to the disappointment of many Democrats-- he's not running for his old seat in northern California either. Instead two local Republican pols are getting ready to battle each other to face straight-arrow new-comer Rep. Jerry McNerney. One, Guy Houston, defines the word hack. He's been in one office or another for well over a decade and he's about to be termed out of his Assembly seat. Many constituents of McNerney's, especially in the western part of the 11th CD, are also residents of Houston's 15th Assembly District. As an Assemblyman he's been a garden variety wingnut. His Republican opponent, Dean Andal, a former Assemblyman, has been even more of an extremist and now works for a developer.

A few days ago, Tom Cole (R-OK), the hapless head of the NRCC-- their version of the DCCC-- laid out his plan for how the GOP could take control of the House next year. (Most more realistic and more honest Republicans are looking for ways to minimize expected losses, losses likely to be as catastrophic as last year's. But Cole painted a rosy, if highly dubious, picture in May 9th's Roll Call. "Almost 20 of the 30 seats Democrats picked up on their way to winning the House majority sit in Republican districts where ambitious GOP pols have been waiting years for the rare opportunity to run for Congress... Many well-established Republican incumbents went down to defeat in November, some of whom were ethically scarred. Given the bent of the districts-- 18 Democratic freshmen represent areas that President Bush carried in 2004 with anywhere from 51 percent of the vote to 62 percent-- local officials who have been waiting their turn are eager to run against those new Democratic Congressmen, Cole said."

In light of Cole's optimism, let's look at CA-11. Bush took the district with 53% against Gore and with 54% against Kerry. On the other hand not only did Dianne Feinstein win in the 11th CD, so did the far more progressive Barbara Boxer. And McNerney beat Pombo convincingly-- by over 10,000 votes, 53%- 47%. There are districts around the country where Republicans may have a realistic shot, CA-11, while not solidly blue yet, won't be one of them. In fact, in California, the GOP is going to have to put their resources into defense, where a slew of ethically-challenged Republican incumbents-- from Jerry Lewis, Ken Calvert, Brian Billbray, Gary Miller in the southern part of the state to John Doolittle in the northern part of the state-- are under investigation for one thing or another or, in some cases, for many things.

In fact, Doolittle's case has moved into high gear. The House leadership has kicked him off his committees, indictment seems imminent, a plea bargain likely, and it's a real stretch to imagine that he will run again-- even if he isn't in prison. Right-wing radio talk show host/nutcase Tom Sullivan says the vultures are circling. He's one of them. A pack of right-wingers are salivating at the prospect of Doolittle's political demise, particularly Assemblyman Ted Gaines, former State Senator Rico Oller, and the very ambitious Mr. Sullivan, whose remarks on radio over the year, nicely compiled, will be all Charlie Brown needs as ammo against him.


The RNCC seems to be putting forth quite a few self-financing vanity candidates with little chance of winning but who will at least be defeated on their own dimes. Examples of Republicans with virtually no chance to win are former New York Republican State Committee Chairman Sandy Treadwell, a wealthy dilettante who wants to run against Kirsten Gillibrand in NY-20. An even better challenger for Gillibrand would be John Faso, an also-ran in the NY gubernatorial contest. He couldn't even crack 30%. Gillibrand's solid moderate stances are very much in sync with her new district and she has nothing to worry about from either of these clowns. Even more secure is John Hall (NY-19) who will probably face a fashion exec, Andrew Saul, who has always dreamed of running for office and can buy his way into the GOP nomination. The other New York seat they lost, the 24th, is now firmly held by Mike Arcuri and the Republicans haven't been able to find an even modestly credible opponent for him and will probably be stuck with a disastrous re-run of 2004 with Ray Meier, who was thrashed by Arcuri last time and should absolutely bury him next year if he's foolish enough to try again. There's some rich construction company owner, Richard Hanna, who fancies himself a congressman and a minor state senator, James Seward, who would like a shot. None of them would have one.

Observers thought the GOP might have a better chance to pick up Mark Foley's old seat, but credible Republican candidates the RNCC sought to recruit-- particularly state Rep. Joe Negron who ran last time-- have turned them down. Tim Mahoney, a recent convert from countryclub Republicanism himself, has plenty of his own money and hasn't made any of the kinds of waves that might cause constituents to kick out an incumbent. Among possible opponents are an extraordinarily lackluster bunch: state Rep. Gayle Harrell, Palm Beach City councilman Hal Valeche and Tom Rooney, the grandson of Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney. 


A handful of defeated Republicans are probably going to try again, a likely recipe for disaster. Mike Sodrel has a shot against Baron Hill in Indiana's 9th CD since the GOP registration advantage will come into play in a presidential year. Republicans are less certain about over-the-cliff extremist Jim Ryun in Kansas' second district being able to successfully challenge Nancy Boyda who beat him 51-47% last time out and has shown herself to be a moderate, independent voice that fits her district to a "t." It might be more of a contest if state Treasurer Lynn Jenkins is the Republican nominee instead, since she is generally considered sane. Carol Shea-Porter will face Jeb Bradley again, in a district that has been trending more and more blue.

My guess is that the three most endangered Democrats are Nick Lampson in TX-22 (Tom DeLay's old seat), Jason Altmire in PA-04 and Chris Carney in PA-10. Carney won his very Republican district because the incumbent beat and choked his young mistress. The Republicans don't have an opponent yet, but they will. Carney has chosen to play Republican-lite, completely alienating activists and the Democratic base. If the Republicans don't find a credible opponent, he might have a chance to hold on. Altmire has taken a similar Republican-lite approach, though not as radically or as off-puttingly as Carney's. On the other hand, he already has strong opposition, including the rubber stamp ex-congresswoman he beat (Melissa Hart) and popular Pittsburgh football player Lynn Swann (who was swamped when he ran for governor but managed to eke out a modest victory in PA-04). TX-22 is warming to Lampson and I would say he's favored to be re-elected at this point. Expect a bloody and damaging Republican primary, probably between 3 far right extremists, Sugarland Mayor David Wallace, Harris County Tax Assessor Paul Bettencourt and that kooky woman whose name no one can pronounce who he beat last time.

In his NY Times column this morning Frank Rich went a long way towards explaining the precipitous decline in the value of the Republican brand, a decline that dooms all of Cole's efforts and masks a pervasive panic that is settling in among GOP officeholders.

It could be argued that the Iraq fiasco, disastrous to American interests as it is, actually masks the magnitude of the destruction this presidency has visited both on the country in general and the G.O.P. in particular.

By my rough, conservative calculation-- feel free to add-- there have been corruption, incompetence, and contracting or cronyism scandals in these cabinet departments: Defense, Education, Justice, Interior, Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development. I am not counting State, whose deputy secretary, a champion of abstinence-based international AIDS funding, resigned last month in a prostitution scandal, or the General Services Administration, now being investigated for possibly steering federal favors to Republican Congressional candidates in 2006. Or the Office of Management and Budget, whose chief procurement officer was sentenced to prison in the Abramoff fallout. I will, however, toss in a figure that reveals the sheer depth of the overall malfeasance: no fewer than four inspectors general, the official watchdogs charged with investigating improprieties in each department, are themselves under investigation simultaneously-- an all-time record.

Wrongdoing of this magnitude does not happen by accident, but it is not necessarily instigated by a Watergate-style criminal conspiracy. When corruption is this pervasive, it can also be a byproduct of a governing philosophy. That’s the case here. That Bush-Rove style of governance, the common denominator of all the administration scandals, is the Frankenstein creature that stalks the G.O.P. as it faces 2008. It has become the Republican brand and will remain so, even after this president goes, until courageous Republicans disown it and eradicate it.

LOSING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES HAVE FIGURED OUT WHY THEY LOST AND THEY'RE PISSED OFF-- AT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

A story in today's Boston Globe explores why Republican candidates defeated in November are angry at the GOP. "Now, four months after Republicans lost control of Congress, many of their former candidates are calling for major changes at the NRCC. They depict the committee as a rogue attack-ad shop that shielded party leaders from having to account for the claims in their ads-- encouraging over-the-top accusations that often hurt GOP candidates."

Well-publicized-- and obviously misleading negative ads, millions of dollars worth of 'em, that were rejected by the electorate-- damaged many of the Republicans they were meant to help. You remember the vicious-- and deceitful-- sex phone ad made by the GOP against Michael Arcuri? Or the talk about Democrats being Taliban or Communist candidates? Even after the GOP candidates tried to get the ads pulled, the NRCC refused. And the candidacies of the Republicans were flushed down the toilet in disgust.

Among the defeated Republicans who felt the NRCC's efforts caused more harm than good are Charles Taylor (NC), Michael Whalen (IA), Ray Meier (NY) and John Hostettler (IN). Meier, the wingnut who ran against Mike Arcuri (D-NY) whined that the NRCC wasn't "just attacking my opponent-- they were, bit by bit, destroying a reputation that I had spent years and years building," when they wrongly accused Arcuri of making adult fantasy calls. Well, lay down with dogs...

And although the DCCC, under ethicless sleazebag Rahm Emanuel, went in a more Republican direction in terms of tactics that play fast and loose with standards, "the NRCC was by far the biggest spender last year, spreading around $20 million more than its Democratic counterpart. And watchdog groups have tagged the Republicans-- and the NRCC in particular-- as the worst offenders in stretching the truth. Annenberg Political Fact Check, a nonpartisan group that studies campaign advertisements, called the NRCC's ads 'the very definition of political mudslinging.'"

"The National Republican [Congressional] Committee's work stands out this year for the sheer volume of assaults on the personal character of Democratic House challengers," stated the Fact Check report, which also cited one Democratic ad as based on "flimsy evidence at best."

Chris Shays (R-CT), who managed to eke out a bare victory, claims the GOP damaged his campaign and almost caused him to lose. He's introducing legislation that would prohibit the national parties from buying ads for candidates. "I would have been better off if they didn't spend one penny on my race. The least we should do is give a candidate the ability to say no." Tom Reynolds, the GOP version of Emanuel, although not as dirty or as effective-- defends the much-loathed ads and claims without them the Republicans would have lost another 10-20 seats.

Perhaps this is part of the reason the NRCC is having trouble retaining incumbents and trouble recruiting viable challengers. At the same time, the DCCC are basking in a glow that makes them look like winners and is a great recruiting tool for top tier candidates to take on rubber-stampy Republicans. Although the DCCC's recruitment committee is firmly under the control of ex-DCCC chair Rahm Emanuel, one of his puppets, Alabama Rep. Artur Davis, is the public spokesperson for the committee now. He told CongressDaily that the DCCC already has close to 10 major challengers for '08 already. I hope they learned enough of a lesson from the victories of newly elected congressmen like Carol Shea-Porter, John Hall, Jerry McNerney, Dave Loesback, and most of the other victors, to not shut out the grassroots in candidate selection.

The DCCC expects pickups in Michigan, Ohio, New York, Illinois and Connecticut and there are certainly seats ready for a change in California, North Carolina, Washington, and Nevada as well. 2008 should certainly be the end of the line for pathetic rubber stamp Republican Robin Hayes (NC), who will be taken on again by progressive grassroots Democrat Larry Kissell who came within 329 votes of beating him last November. There are also high expectations that strong '06 challengers like Eric Massa and Dan Maffei in New York, Charlie Brown in California and Angie Paccione in Colorado will run again.

Some of the new hot prospects for the Democrats include Michigan Lottery Commissioner Gary Peters, a former Democratic state senator, who is looking at a run against Rep. Joseph Knollenberg, in Michigan; Siobhan (Sam) Bennett, who may challenge Rep. Charles Dent in Pennsylvania; and former New York Rangers star Mike Richter who is being courted to challenge Christopher Shays in Connecticut.

The NRCC has talked several of their '06 losers into running for the seats they lost in November, including Jeb Bradley (NH), Jim Ryun (KS), Melissa Hart (PA), John Sweeney (NY), and Mike Sodrel (IN). None are likely to regain their old seats. Right now, looking out at the political horizon, it really sucks to be a Republican.


UPDATE: AND SPEAKING OF THE NRCC, THEY FINANCE THIS GARBAGE BY WHORING THEMSELVES OUT TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE... EVEN A KNOWN TERRORIST. GIVE BACK THE BLOOD MONEY, TOM COLE

Both Inside-the-Beltway Republican campaign committees, the NRCC and NRSC, took campaign contributions from a donor who was just indicted for financing terrorists. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is giving back the cash but the National Republican Congressional Committee has adamantly refuses to do likewise. Maybe they're so strapped for cash that they'd even take dough from bin-Laden. Maybe they didn't know that when Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari started giving them money he might be a terrorist. OK, fair enough. But once he was indicted, they still refuse to give up the dough. How come the NRSC donated the money they got from this character to charity but Cole still wants to hold onto it?

Oh, and in case you're wondering which Republicans are being financed by terrorists this is the list of the GOP slime who have taken money from the NRCC since Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari started financing them:
Rick Renzi (AZ-01)
Marilyn Musgrave (CO-04)
Tom Latham (IA-04)
Bill Sali (ID-01)
Peter Roskam (IL-06)
Charles Boustany (LA-07)
Mike Rogers (MI-08)
Joe Knollenberg (MI-09)
Thaddeus McCotter (MI-11)
Michele Bachmann (MN-06)
Sam Graves (MO-06)
Robin Hayes (NC-08)
Heather Wilson (NM-01)
Jon Porter (NV-03)
Steve Chabot (OH-01)
Jim Gerlach (PA-06)
Charlie Dent (PA-15)
Tim Murphy (PA-18)
Thelma Drake (VA-02)
Cathy McMorris-Rogers (WA-05)
Dave Reichert (WA-08)
Barbara Cubin (WY-AL)

Not a decent American in the whole lot! Not one has called for the NRCC to get rid of the money and not one has returned their own share of the loot to the NRCC. DCCC Communications Director Jennifer Crider asks a simple, straight-forward question: "Are these representatives going to keep NRCC money received from someone who may have supported terrorists? These representatives talk tough on terrorism so why aren't they calling on Republican leadership and the NRCC to immediately return its contributions from an accused terrorist?"