Ever Wonder What Happened To GOP Boy Wonder Tom Reynolds?

At one time he and Pataki pretty much ran the Republican Party in New York State. And in the 2006 election cycle he certainly ran the NRCC, the Republican version of the DCCC and was a big deal member of the Republican House leadership. In fact, in 2000, no less personages than Dick Cheney and Tom DeLay went to the New York state legislature and pressured them to give Reynolds a district so ridiculously safe that he could "vote like a Southern conservative" without ever having to fear being seriously challenged by a moderate-- from either party. It worked-- and he did.

But then the Mark Foley scandal broke and Reynolds' "Democratic" opponent, Jack Davis (a very rich right-wing Republican with a grudge who the Democrats allowed to run on their pretty worthless line), made sure everyone from Buffalo to Rochester was aware that Reynolds not only participated in the coverup-- while Foley was still actively raping texting young boys-- but that when Foley begged the House leadership let him retire before something disastrous happened, it was Reynolds who literally forced Foley to buck up and run again. And then something disastrous happened.

It was disastrous for Reynolds too. He was on the defensive from the day the scandal broke and not only never left his district to campaign for other Republicans-- part of his job as NRCC chair-- but he syphoned a couple of million dollars from money meant to protect marginal GOP seats to his own super-safe (vote like a Southern conservative) district. The Republicans lost dozens of those marginal seats and Reynolds... well he lost his sheen. And almost lost his seat. An early snowstorm saved him but Cheney and DeLay didn't help create the district they did so Reynolds could spend millions of dollars and nearly lose anyway.

He soldiered on-- for a while. And then the shit really hit the fan... except no one outside of Buffalo political junkies ever heard about this part. Ever hear of Judge Ronald H. Tills? Of course not-- but he was Reynolds' mentor. In fact Reynolds gave ole Judge Tills quite the greatest-man-since-Jesus-walked-the-eath encomium in the Congressional Record at the very end of 2005. The occasion was Tills' retirement from the bench and Reynolds went beyond just calling him "a valued mentor." He brought up how crucial to Tills were the Masons and the Shriners and a much lesser known organization that flows out of being high up in both those secret societies, the Royal Order of Jesters.

One of his great loves is the largest and oldest fraternal organization in the world. As a Mason, Ron Tills has held numerous responsibilities within the Masons and the organizations within it, including Proctor of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York, Potentate of the Ismalia Shrine Temple, Director and President of the Shrine Oasis and Director of the Buffalo Court 22 of Jesters.

Never heard of the Jesters? I hadn't either. They're not the kind of group Members of Congress should be talking about too loudly. A month before Judge Tills was arrested-- he went to prison-- and a month before Reynolds suddenly announced his retirement from that super-safe seat DeLay and Cheney helped create for him (not a coincidence, as you'll soon see), the Dallas Morning News ran a story about "death threats, drug use, cutthroat competition and middle-age Americans paying 13-year-old Brazilian villagers for sex." The Jesters weren't clowning around when it came to sex tourism.

The Jesters, an offshoot of the Shriners and the Masons, is a fraternal organization devoted to having fun. Their slogan is "Mirth is King."

With chapters nationwide, the group is headquartered in Indiana but registered as a not-for-profit corporation in Texas.

Poking through federal court filings, Marsteller learned that in September 2008, a New York state judge who was also a Jester agreed to plead guilty to procuring prostitutes for Jesters' parties in Kentucky.

Nothing in the records made any connection between the New York case and the alleged activities in Brazil. However, the judge's lawyer said in a pre-sentence memorandum that partying with prostitutes "was pervasive throughout the organization" and "was reported to have occurred at Jester meetings across the country."

The lawyer added: "The group's practice of inviting women, called 'Jester girls,' to meetings for sexual activities was ... a long-standing tradition."

Garcia da Silva, in his deposition for the slander suit, said Wet-A-Line clients from "the mason group" had been involved in orgies on their trips to Brazil.

Alex Rogers, business administrator at the Jesters national office, told The News that the New York case was not indicative of normal Jester behavior. "This organization doesn't partake of any of that activity," Rogers said.

And that brings us back to Reynolds' mentor, Judge Tills, the Jester. Tills plea agreement-- they let him off easy-- was a doozy: "The defendant agrees to waive indictment and to plead guilty to 1 count Information charging a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2421 (transportation of an individual in interstate commerce with intent that the individual engage in prostitution), for which the maximum possible sentence is a term of imprisonment of 10 years, a fine of $250,000..." Tills was procuring prostitutes and bringing them for Jester parties in Kentucky-- over state lines. He wasn't just Reynolds' mentor; they owned property together as well.

This story got covered up with a story about how hundreds of thousands of dollars were embezzled from the NRCC while Reynolds was in charge. That looked like something the GOP could handle more easily than the Jesters' and Tills' human trafficking and prostitution scandal coming right on top of Reynolds' connection to Foley and his boy pages. Within 2 weeks of Tills' arrest, Reynolds hoisted the white flag and said it was time to take up new challenges. He's a K Street lobbyist, one of the slimiest out there.

This is about the retired Erie County Deputy Sheriff who recently pleaded guilty to knowing about the felony of transporting prostitutes from the Buffalo International Airport to a national Royal Order of Jesters (ROJ) national convention in Ontario, Canada and hiding the crimes by not reporting them.

This is part of the case involving three Jesters who got caught in an FBI human trafficking sting out of Buffalo, NY. These include a retired police captain, a former New York State Supreme Court judge and his law clerk. All three pleaded guilty to violating the Mann Act after confessing to driving an illegal alien prostitute from Buffalo to a weekend Jester party in Ashland, Kentucky.

The ROJ is a secret sub-group of the Shriners, best known for operating a network of 22 hospitals that used to provide free care to burned and crippled children but now takes insurance. One must first be a Master Mason before joining groups like the Scottish Rite, the Knights Templar and the Shriners... Ronald Tills is the former New York State Supreme Court Judge who was caught w/his law clerk, Michael Stebick and retired police captain John Trowbridge in an FBI human trafficking sting last October, 2007.

...“The Royal Order of Jesters (ROJ) is a world wide fraternal organization whose membership is limited to individuals invited to join by other members. The motto of the ROJ is ‘mirth is king.’ The ROJ has local chapters or ‘courts.’ On occasion, a local court or group of local courts in the same geographical location sponsor social gatherings known as ‘books of the play’ or ‘books.' The sponsoring courts organize the ‘books’ and arrange for food, lodging, and entertainment at the ‘book.’ Jesters from all over the country may attend the local ‘books.’ The ROJ also sponsors a yearly national ‘book,’ the equivalent of a national convention. In April, 2005, the Jester's national ‘book’ was held in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. As set forth below, a typical feature of a ‘book of the play’ is the presence of prostitutes (‘Jester Girls’) who engage in commercial sex acts with members of the ROJ. Arrangements for the prostitutes are generally made by the organizer of the ‘books,’ or the region hosting the national ‘book.’ On occasion, individual Jesters may make arrangements to transport prostitutes to ‘books.’”

...Tills was in charge of getting the prostitutes to the Jesters’ national “book” across the border in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. According to his plea agreement, Tills admitted to coordinating the prostitutes’ travel with national Jester officers, in or about spring, 2006.

Trowbridge then stated that Tills asked Michael Lesinski, a deputy sheriff with the Erie County Sheriff’s Department, to take care of it. Trowbridge then disclosed that Lesinski rented a limousine to transport about a dozen prostitutes from Buffalo to Canada.
The complaint then includes co-conspirator Michael Stebick’s description of how Jester “books” are typically held in hotel hospitality rooms where members can pick from a list of Jester Girls.

It continues that in April, 2008, Trowbridge provided investigators with contact information for the 13 prostitutes as he’d spoken with each of them as they gathered at the Buffalo airport though there were other prostitutes he’d not spoken with.
In June 2008 Tills told investigators that there were about 30 women at the national book and “described a network of members who had the ability to supply such women.” It was then that he identified Lesinski’s renting of two limousines that took the prostitutes to Canada.

Tills got off very light-- 18 months in prison. And his lovely encomium by Reynolds still stands in the Congressional Record. Anyway, that's why-- unless you're a DC insider (or a fracker) who engages Nixon Peabody LLP for their lobbying activities-- you never hear about former up-and-comer Thomas Reynolds any longer.

YES, ANOTHER ONE! TOM REYNOLDS RETIRING FROM CONGRESS

Tom Reynolds was at the pinnacle of the House GOP hierarchy in 2005. He was their Rahm Emanuel. He was even able to persuade Mark Foley (R-FL) not to resign, even though they both knew it was just a matter of time before it all came out that Foley was molesting young boys. Reynolds told him he had to hang in there for the good of the party. Oops! It was for the good of the other party! And that kind of sealed Reynolds' fate. Even against a self-financing vanity candidate, Jack Davis, he barely managed 52% of the vote-- in a district where Bush had taken 55% two years earlier. This year, facing an energetic, accomplished and charismatic young Iraq War vet, Jon Powers, Reynolds realized he didn't have a chance.

His rubber stamp voting record might play well in parts of suburban Texas or Tennessee, but not suburban New York. Take Iraq, for example. Reynolds participated in 61 roll call votes involving the war. Starting with the 4 bills authorizing the use of force, Reynolds has never once seen fit to question the Bush-Cheney agenda. There aren't that may rubber stamps as pure as Tom Reynolds. He's 61 for 61, the most disgraceful record of abdication of responsibility of any congressman in the Northeast United States! And across the board you simply can't find an issue where his record is in synch with the moderate nature of his western New York district.

If the Foley scandal didn't get him in 2006, the systematic theft of around a million dollars from the NRCC-- which he headed-- probably wasn't going to help in November. Fiscal responsibility begins at home.

Let me recommend you read the live blog session with Jon Powers at FDL last July. I think you'll get a better idea why Tom Reynolds hoisted the white flag and ran for his life than you will from the official press statement he makes. And if you'd like to help Jon out against whichever hack the GOP decides to start fresh with, the Blue America page is open.

And this little clip of Queen's classic song is the Tom Reynolds edition:




UPDATE: REYNOLDS' STORY IS THE STORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

Today's Washington Post recounts the sad public career of an ambitious rubber stamp who dreamed he would be the next Speaker after Hastert.

Reynolds' impending departure means that five of the six elected Republican leaders from the start of the 109th Congress are now gone or going -- Hastert, DeLay, Reynolds and retiring Reps. Deborah Pryce (Ohio) and John Doolittle (Calif.). Only Blunt is still around, and all five of those seats have either flipped or are in danger of doing so; DeLay's seat went Democratic in 2006, Democrats captured Hastert's seat in a special election earlier this month and Reynolds' and Pryce's districts are high on Democratic target lists. Doolittle's seat looks relatively safe for the GOP, but only because the scandal-tarred incumbent is retiring.

So given the circumstances in both Washington and New York, Reynolds' announcement today is not surprising. Republicans have a long road ahead before they can hope to regain power, and even many of the most senior and previously powerful members of the party are no longer interested in going along for the ride.

UPDATE: GOP BETTER OFF WITHOUT REYNOLDS?

According to Larry Sabato, Reynolds isn't "the strongest Republican for that district. They may be able to hold that district better with him gone, oddly enough." Reynolds, during his retirement announcement yesterday, says he is certain he could win if he wanted to.

He said that as a politician, he expected opponents to throw “a little bric and brac” about scandals “versus talking about the issues,” but added that he didn’t think those controversies would have affected his re-election campaign.

“Even in the worst political environment in a generation, the voters of this community returned me to office for a fifth term,” said Reynolds of his 2006 campaign, “which leaves me no doubt that had I broken with tradition and sought another term, I would have succeeded.” The tradition to which 57-year-old Reynolds referred was his own track record of never staying in an office for more than 10 years during a career that began in 1974 with his election to the Concord town council and later took him to the Erie County legislature, the state Assembly and Congress.

...The vagaries of the newly open-seat race raise the importance of candidate recruiting efforts by Republican officials. State Sen. George Maziarz was widely mentioned Thursday as a top contender for the Republican nomination, but it is not certain at this early point that he will run.

...The Democrats, meanwhile, face a likely primary that party officials expect to produce a nominee well-suited to make a run at capturing the seat. Iraq war veteran Jon Powers, a substitute teacher, has entered the race and sewn up the endorsement of five of the seven county Democratic committees. Also definitely running is Buffalo lawyer [Republican-lite] Alice Kryzan.

Former nominee [vanity candidate] Davis also is mulling this race and has promised to use $3 million of his own money-- if he decides to run.

Davis’ losses to Reynolds in 2004 and 2006 have caused some Democrats to question whether he should step aside to let a new candidate try the race. In a recent interview, Davis said he knew some people opposed his candidacy. “There’s people who think that somebody who’s a 75-year-old guy is too old to do it, but I don’t. I have a passion in my belly for the working-class people and I think I can represent them better than a young guy like Powers,” he said.

When asked whether his ability to self-fund his campaign created an uneven playing field for the Democratic primary, Davis responded: “Let’s see, it’s unfair to work hard and make money and to spend it for a good cause? ... If [Powers] worked hard like I did, then he would have money. He’s never had a real job.”

Powers struck back against that characterization. “I’ll challenge anyone that thinks that our soldiers don’t have real jobs. ... If you don’t think that teaching and being a soldier is a real job, then I think we’ve got some concerns."

WHAT DO TOM REYNOLDS, CHARLIE DENT AND DAVE REICHERT HAVE IN COMMON?

Well, several things actually. All three represent moderate suburban congressional districts and all three make concerted efforts to pass themselves off as moderates. But all three have a similar problem-- voting records don't lie and Tom Reynolds (R-NY), Dave Reichert (R-WA) and Charlie Dent (R-PA) all have extreme right-wing voting records, not moderate voting records. Each one has been a classic rubber stamp for all of the Bush-Cheney agenda, domestically and internationally. Let's look at each of their records on Iraq, for example. Each claims he's a moderate.

Charlie Dent voted 30 times on legislation relating to the Iraq war. Would you like to guess how many times he voted against Bush and Cheney? If you guessed zero, give yourself a pat on the back. Charlie Dent, despite representing a moderate, reasonable district (Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley), rubber stamped every single hideous proposal Bush and Cheney made regarding Iraq. Of course Dent's blind support for Bush goes way beyond Iraq. Whenever Bush needs a reliable lap dog, he knows Charlie's number. Dent is always stingy when it comes to giving a helping hand to ordinary Americans, but when it comes to subsidies for Big Corporations, Charlie Dent is the king of welfare. Since getting into Congress he's voted, for example, on 10 pieces of legislation involving corporate subsidies for big oil and gas-- and, again, he backed the Bush position (lots of taxpayers' dollars transferred to Big Oil) every single time.

Dave Reichert was apparently cut from the same mold as Dent. His moderate suburban district east of Seattle wants to see the occupation of Iraq ended. Reichert had had 30 opportunities since getting into Congress to express that for them. He didn't; not once. He voted the Bush-Cheney line 30 times out of 30 roll calls. He tells the media he's a moderate and the media duly repeats it without ever checking to see how he actually votes. And, like Dent, it goes beyond Iraq. Let's look at the question  of choice. The residents of WA-08, like most Americans, support privacy and are what you would call pro-choice. Their congressman isn't. He doesn't believe in privacy or in women making their own health choices. There have been 6 roll call votes regarding choice since Reichert has gotten into Congress and 6 times he voted with the extreme right against choice.

And Tom Reynolds? Want t guess? He's been in Congress longer than Reichert and Dent so he had more opportunities to vote on Iraq. In fact, he voted 61 times on Iraq war matters and, as you can probably guess, he voted with Bush and Cheney all 61 times. Reynolds-- like Reichert and Dent-- have been far more dedicated rubber stamps than the average Republican. And on choice? Reynolds voted against choice every time he had the chance-- and he had 25 chances. A moderate? No, a radical, like the other two. But the similarities don't stop there.

Today, each of these assclowns endorsed another fake moderate, John McCain. Dent and Reichert had been Giuliani supporters. Reynolds, being from New York knew better than to support Giuliani but he has been waiting to see who would win before throwing his lighter-than-a-feature weight behind him. Since all claim, despite their voting records, that they agree with their constituents on ending the war in Iraq, I was wondering if anyone would ask them if their support for McCain extends to his notion of another 100 years in Iraq. Or is there another part of the McCain agenda-- basically the Bush agenda without Bush-- that they admire?

Oh, and one more thing about the three stooges. Each one has an outstanding progressive opponent who has been endorsed by Blue America (see pictures above). Please consider supporting our three candidates against these 3 horsemen of the apocalypse as a way of showing you don't think electing McCain, and congressmen who agree with him, would be a good idea. A $5 donation to each of the three outstanding candidates-- Darcy Burner (WA-08), Sam Bennett (PA-10) and Jon Powers (NY-26)-- would be very much appreciated. You can do it right here-- and we're open 24/7.


UPDATE: WORST OF ALL-- DAVID DREIER

Having headed up Republican closet queens for Rudy, California gay congressman David Dreier also switched his allegiance to McCain today. The difference between Dreier and the other 3 is that he doesn't even make the attempt to call himself a moderate. Like the 3 other clowns, he's congressman from a moderate suburban district, but his voting record is even further right than any of them, one of the most radical right in the Congress. Of course, like them, he has been the perfect 100% rubber stamp on Iraq. But what it comes to choice, corporate subsidies, taxation... the entire Bush-McCain agenda, Dreier is always on the wrong side-- ALWAYS. He also has an outstanding Blue America backed opponent in Russ Warner, so when you're putting in those $5 donations for Darcy, Sam and Jon, don't forget Russ.

NOW ONLY ONE DEMOCRAT OPPOSES HEALTH CARE FOR CHILDREN

STOP! Is that sick baby an illegal or too rich?

Earlier we mentioned the House leadership was bringing up S-CHIP again. They did. And it passed again-- with 43 Republicans joining all but one Democrat. We'll get to that in a second. But first I want to share with you some of the responses from our GOP congressmember who refused to vote for children's health care. Please bear in mind that all of their families are covered by far more sumptuous healthcare (at taxpayer expense):

First from the scumbag whose concern for the welfare of children made him cover-up his colleague Mark Foley's serial molestation of underage male pages for years so as not to endanger a GOP-held seat in Florida: Tom Reynolds, one of the most vile and despicable creatures to crawl around the halls of the Capitol-- "The bill puts lipstick on a sow. Today is raw politics-- trotting out a vote just for the sake of a vote." If you'd like to help put an end to the disgrace of this pile of vomit's career, the name of his opponent is Jon Powers, someone who very much cares about children and, in fact, started an organization to care for war orphans after returning from the war in Iraq. Please consider helping him at his Blue America page.

Last year we mentioned that rubber stamp Republican Ginny Brown-Waite was certifiably insane after she demanded that the U.S. dig up all the bodies of American fighting men buried in France and return them home. Her embarrassed Republican colleagues just ignored her. Her consciously false reason for voting again children's health care today was because she said it will be a "magnet for illegal aliens." As she is-- assuming she is vaguely literate-- aware, the bill specifically excludes undocumented immigrants in order to address Republican xenophobic hysteria. But she voted no anyway-- and then lied about it to her constituents.

But no deception rises to the level of Michigan crook Mike Rogers. In a convoluted excuse for his anti-family vote he "said that rich children could still qualify for benefits because states, in determining eligibility, could ignore or disregard part of a family’s income." Mike Rogers, whose entire career has been one championing the prerogatives of the rich and powerful over ordinary Americans, whose entire career has been 100% dedicated to serving, slavishly, special interests-- basically his campaign contributors, is afraid states will bend the rules to cater to the children of the rich? Give me a break! Does anyone listen to this stuff with a straight face?

And of course Georgia's Tom Price (KKK) is still whining that it's a "massive tax increase" because it would increase the cost of cigarettes. Another blatant liar: Pete Sessions (R-TX) "said that under the new bill, as under the original, two million people would lose private health insurance coverage and enroll in the expanded government program." These people have no shame whatsoever. The bill will be vetoed by Bush again and his veto will be sustained again.

Reactionary Mississippi "Democrat" Gene Taylor, voted for the bill today. He had been one of the two to vote to sustain Bush's veto last week. So of the 5 Democratic reactionaries who voted against children's health care-- Taylor, Baron Hill (IN), Mike McIntyre (NC), Bob Etheridge (NC) and the execrable Jim Marshall (GA)-- only the execrable Jim Marshall is still standing with the Republicans. He's still on the DCCC Front Line page as well, so that Democrats contributing to that organization can fund a candidate who votes against all Democratic principals and values-- and for endless war in Iraq.

HOLDING ANTI-FAMILY CONGRESSMEMBERS OF BOTH PARTIES ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR VOTES AGAINST CHILDREN'S HEALTHCARE

Tom Reynolds probably won't feed them to Mark Foley but will he protect them?

Sometimes political targeting is more an art than a science and rarely can even the best thought-out campaign satisfy everyone, even beyond those being targeted, who, obviously, are never thrilled. Overall, the DCCC has been doing a stellar job in targeting districts with rubber stamp Republican incumbents-- with e-mails, telephone campaigns, radio spots, etc.-- who have voted against children's health insurance. Pond-scum like Steve Chabot (R-OH), Thelma Drake (R-VA), Tom Feeney (R-FL), Sam Graves (R-MO), Jim Saxton (R-NJ), Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), Tim Walberg (R-MI), and Randy Kuhl (R-NY), are all threatening to vote to sustain Bush's S-CHIP veto and the DCCC can't do enough to turn up the pressure and make sure that their constituents are aware of the sorts of monsters they have sent to Congress to represent them, in these cases all men and women who have rubber stamped all of Bush's catastrophic war agenda and his disastrous domestic policies but who have drawn the line in spending when it comes to health care... for needy children.

The vote comes October 18 and DWT was proud to band together with other bloggers-- Crooks & Liars, Firedoglake, Digby, and OpenLeft (with special help from Tondee's Tavern, The Seminal, Steve Audio and Georgia Women Vote)-- to take a cue from our pals at the DCCC and remind the constituents of the 5 Democrats-- all reactionary renegades-- who had voted with Bush to prevent SCHIP and have promised to vote against overriding his heinous veto. We were overjoyed when Indiana's Baron Hill decided the telephone campaign was enough and he would take a pass on the newspaper ads, instead saying he had changed his mind and would vote to override just like a real Democrat. One down, four to go. We're especially working hard on Jim Marshall, the worst of the lot-- and you should feel free to lend a hand here at Marshall Plan World Headquarters. And join our Facebook group.

But I was thrilled last night when John Amato alerted me that we're getting some help from the faith-based community! Catholics United may not be our allies when it comes to the issue of Women's Choice but... well read their self-description:

Catholics United is a national online community of Catholics who believe strongly in our faith's call to build a society for justice and the common good.

We take seriously all our Church's social and political teachings, and refuse to water down our faith in service of partisan politics.

The social and political teachings they're talking about have led them to opposing Bush's occupation of Iraq, to opposing Bush's reactionary stand on climate change and to supporting initiatives that improve the lives of working people, issues like health care for needy children. They are running radio ads starting Monday that will basically do exactly what the DCCC and Blue America are doing: informing constituents of the anti-family congressmembers that their representative is against health insurance for needy children. These will be run primarily on Christian radio and on popular talk radio stations. The ads feature a mother telling listeners that voting to sustain Bush's veto of SCHIP is a vote against pro-life and pro-family values. Catholics United are targeting 10 members of Congress who are especially bad on family issues: Gene Taylor (D-MS), mentally-disturbed Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL), Steve Chabot (R-OH), Thelma Drake (R-VA), Sam Graves (R-MO), Tim Walberg (R-MI), Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) and John Peterson (R-PA).

All good. But there seem so many miscreants who have been left out. Today's NY Times points out that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is campaigning for S-CHIP in the congressional districts held by two radical right upstate Republican congressmen, Randy Kuhl and Tom Reynolds. (Almost every governor, including most Republican governors are begging their congressmen to override Bush's veto.) “I will be trying to get Kuhl and Reynolds to change their perspectives. I am disappointed in their votes,” Governor Spitzer told the Times.

One of the architects of the Republican plan to deny health care to needy children is Ohio's far right John Boehner, whose own children are, of course, covered by taxpayer-funded health care. Boehner's office issued a crowing statement about how the Republicans were winning their obstructionist game again. “The Democrats’ efforts to pressure members to switch their votes has been a complete and total failure. Our members are resolved to sustain the president’s veto, while working toward a bill that puts low-income children first.”

I know we succeeded in at least one case of turning a reactionary around, Democrat Baron Hill. Meanwhile right-wing Republican Jim Walsh voted for the bill originally and said he would vote to override Bush. The district next door is Tom Reynolds' and he has a serious problem when it comes to children that almost lost him his seat in 2006. At the time, Reynolds was the head of the RNCC, and he was caught covering up-- big time-- for child sex predator Mark Foley (R-FL). Even though Reynolds and the rest of the Republican leadership were completely aware that Foley had a long record of molesting young men and even though he was apprehended, drunk, trying to break into the male pages' dormitory, when he tried to retire and seek treatment for his alcoholism, it was Reynolds who persuaded him to run for Congress again so that the GOP could keep the seat (which would have allowed Reynolds to keep his fancy office and primo parking spot). That's how much Tom Reynolds cares about children's welfare. So it should surprise no one at all that he voted against S-CHIP and that he plans to vote to sustain Bush's veto. I sure wish the Catholics and the DCCC were targeting Tom Reynolds.

I especially wish they were doing that because of the incredible contrast between him and the Democrat running against him-- particularly when it comes to children. Jon Powers is a friend of mine so maybe I'm a little biased about this, but I can't imagine a better advocate for American children than Jon Powers. Please take a look at the post about him last July. He sent me the photo of himself in Baghdad where he served as an Army Captain. Take a look at it. Do you think that's a guy that would convince a serial child molester to stay in Congress so he could have a better parking spot? No, that's a guy who came back from fighting in Iraq and founded War Kids Relief, an organization dedicated to helping save Iraqi children whose families were killed in the war. The mission statement is simple: "War Kids Relief cares for the children of war-torn nations, combating recruitment by terrorists and extremist groups through education, training, employment and other programs." Jon Powers supports S-CHIP and working families in America. Tom Reynolds supports Bush. Period. Neither the DCCC nor Catholics United are holding Reynolds accountable this week. But Jon Powers will. Help him do it.

BRINGING RAW FOOD TO CONGRESS, ONE CANDIDATE AT A TIME

Jon Powers, the Blue America-endorsed candidate from western New York (NY-26), was in Los Angeles today and Irwing and I took him to dinner. I didn't ask him if he wanted Buffalo wings; instead we took him to Juliano's Raw for his first raw vegan dinner. He says he loved it and he sure cleaned his plate as well as the rest of us. Irwing has been thinking about enlisting in the French Foreign Legion and Jon gave him a good talk about that and recommended a couple of books to read a movie or two to watch before he does anything precipitous.

Jon is running against a classic rubber stamp Republican, Tom Reynolds, a professional politician and the walking, quacking definition of an Inside the Beltway hack. Reynolds has tried to tout himself as "an independent voice" but he can't seem to make that label stick. Maybe that's because of the 56 roll call votes he participated in relating to Iraq, he voted with Bush and Cheney 56 times. That doesn't exactly sound like an independent voice to me. I mean he couldn't even find one disagreement with the catastrophic Bush Iraq agenda? I guess if anyone loves the war and hates the troops they have the perfect candidate in Tom Reynolds.

Smelling very much like another Inside-the-Beltway candidate, former Reynolds supporter Alice Kryzan-- she donated $250 to his campaign on November 2, 2000-- has jumped into the race as well-- but as a Democrat challenging Jon in the primary! Most Democrats in the district who know her, and that isn't many, know her as the attorney for Occidental Petroleum who called the citizen uproar over the toxic disaster known as Love Canal "hysteria."

I hope when Jon's in Congress after January, 2009, he gets the cafeteria there to serve raw food. If you want to see the kind of guy he is, watch this shorts video clip. And if it so moves you, give him a hand in making America a better place.

BLUE AMERICA WELCOMES AN AMERICAN HERO: JON POWERS

It was a few days after his 29th birthday that I did the phone interview with an exuberant and focused Jonathan Powers, a newly declared congressional candidate for a competitive seat in Western New York, currently held by egregious rubber stamp Republican Tom Reynolds. A few upstate New York bloggers had first tipped me off to Jon last winter when he was running War Kids Relief and when I talked to him back then he was weighing the possibility of jumping into the race in his hometown against Reynolds, who had nearly lost (52-48%) last November after being exposed as a key cover-up artist in the Mark Foley scandal.

Even more than his maniacal devotion to music, Jon Powers is like the biggest booster you ever heard for Buffalo and the surrounding area. He was born and raised in NY-26 and he sounds like someone who wants to dedicate his life to seeing Buffalo come back as the thriving and vibrant regional hub it once was. The 26th actually is east of Buffalo proper-- all the way to the Rochester suburbs-- and has a slight Republican lean. Bush won there twice; he wouldn't fare nearly as well today.

Three-quarters of the way through my chat with Jon, I interrupted to tell him how much he reminded me of another Blue America candidate, Illinois' John Laesch. And it wasn't just because they are both young veterans of the War in Iraq or even that they are dedicated progressives who were fighting in Iraq. I had asked Jon why he thought the voters would embrace him when they haven't embraced Reynolds' past opponents. His fervent answer could have come right out of Leasch's mouth: "I'm embracing them." Jon Powers thrives at the picnics and parades and small town meetings that encompass campaining in his district-- and in listening to what his neighbors have to say about the way they would like America to change. "Tom Reynolds has demonstrated a blind loyalty to his party over what's right for the country-- or even over competence. That's not the America I grew up believing in and it's not the America I went to war for. But the America of extended family and community exists and it exists in places like western New York."

Jon, who was an Army captain in Iraq, has a wealth of experience from his time there, but his campaign for Congress goes way beyond his frustrations with how badly mishandled the Iraq war and occupation have been. For his hometown, Clarence, and for all the small towns that make up NY-26, he believes what people crave is clear-eyed, honest leadership. "People want to be part of the solution. The problem with the current leadership is that they haven't asked people to become invested-- not just in the war but in economic and social solutions. What made our country so great was our leaders getting everyone invested in community and solving our problems together."

Jon has been in the spotlight of the public forum before. His was the unit profiled in the film Gunner Palace and Jon was one of the most articulate voices in Trish Woods' gripping book What Was Asked Of Us-- An Oral History of the Iraq War by the Soldiers Who Fought It. And, perhaps most important, Jon got used to the spotlight as the founder and CEO of a nonprofit organization called War Kids Relief. Their mission statement:

War Kids Relief cares for the children of war-torn nations, combating recruitment by terrorists and extremist groups through education, training, employment and other programs.

It's brought him back to Baghdad a lot, as a different kind of warrior fighting a different kind of war. "Our military is supposed to be a tool in our national security, not the tool. From my work as a platoon leader in Baghdad and my work at War Kids Relief I learned about economic and social programs and how they are sometimes even more effective in adding to our security than the all-military approach." Jon ran a sector of Baghdad inhabited by 50,000 people. Cheney and Rumsfeld had contemptuously rejected the 12,000 page reconstruction plan for Iraq-- a bureaucratic turf war in many ways with the "do-gooders" from the State Department. Jon and his men did what they could for the area. "The relationship," he told me, "was a good one. My men were eating in the homes of Iraqis and patrolling the streets in vehicles without doors." It didn't last. Eventually they were fighting the same people in the streets. Why? Jon told me the story of the piles of garbage and pools of sewage collected on the streets and how the U.S. authorities turned down a budget of $40 a week for cleanup, instead awarding a contract to Bush-friendly war profiteers, probably Halliburton subsidiary KBR, who just never showed up.

I know Jon, who describes himself as a "social liberal," wants to talk with us today about the two most crucial issues in his district: jobs and healthcare. But before I turn it over to him, I want to ask you to join me at our Blue America page to help replace a veritable Bush clone with someone who wants nothing more than to fight for the interests of his extended family and for the country he loves. While doing my research on Jon I wound up talking with author (and blogger) Trish Woods. Greatly impressed with Jon, she generously offered to donate 10 autographed copies of her book, What Was Asked Of Us as a thank you gift to the first 10 people who contribute $30 or more towards Jon's campaign. People who contribute $5 today will get something else-- the satisfaction of knowing that I was so impressed with Jon that I will match every $5 contribution personally.

Live discussion with Jon today at 2pm (EST) at Firedoglake. Maybe you want to watch this first:

MIGHT AS WELL GO WITH THE FLOW: FOLEY, FOLEY, FOLEY

I know you don't know anyone but me who's lived in Afghanistan, one of the most exotic places on earth. And we have young Americans being killed over there and we're losing a war there. I thought about the story I wrote for two days. But all anyone wants to talk about is Foley and the cover-up. The day the cover-up broke Jane linked to 79 stories on DWT mentioning Foley over the last year; there are a lot more now. My natural tendency is to move on. But a few things keep me on the story: it's all anyone wants to read about-- scary considering the leak of the National Intelligence Estimate proving Bush and his crew systematically lied to us for years about Iraq-- as well as Woodward's shocking book and the individual campaigns in 400-plus House districts, etc. Another is that we're trying to raise the money to put our "Have You Had Enough?" radio spots on the air and every time I write another piece about the Foley cover-up, people contribute. That's a huge incentive. (An aside: I just heard from someone in Oregon that Carol Voisin's campaign against her extreme right wing rubber stamp opponent, Gary Walden, is making their own TV spots to run with our song.) And then there's my old boss Abby at KSAN. I'll never forget her warning to the djs that by the time we were absolutely sick of a song, having played it so many times, that that was the very first time anyone in our audience had actually caught it. For us it was the end; for them it was the beginning. Yesterday Fox "News" ran pictures of Foley several times saying he was a Democrat. The kind of low-information viewers of Fox, rubes who believe it when their pastor tells them that you go to hell if you vote for a Democrat, will either believe it or get confused and think: "A pox on both their houses; politicians of both parties are perverts." That's part of the GOP strategy.


The GOP have a strategy? Oh yes. And it goes beyond just throwing Foley (or even Hastert) to the dogs. First and foremost, they want to make absolutely certain-- and their mass media allies are helping them here-- that this is strictly about The Internets and all them new fangled tubes. No one is talking about what Foley was actually up to: grooming young boys for the future, groping young boys, bring them over for alcohol and sex parties, sleeping with them; all this stuff is in the e-mails and IMs. That is stuff the Republican Party would not soon recover from in terms of their jittery churchy base.

Already today endangered GOP Congressman Tom Reynolds fired Kirk Fordham, his closeted gay Chief of Staff-- who he had lent back to Foley to help engineer the cover-up when this thing started breaking. The Republicans hope to use the gay schnooks among them as scapegoats-- and there are plenty to use. But, in the end, the guilty parties are Hastert, Reynolds, Boehner, Shimcus, probably DeLay (but who cares?) and, most important, the pervasive Republican Culture of Corruption that makes these people think they can get away with anything. But the GOP will do their best (worst) to turn this into an anti-gay jihad. It's already started out on the fringes of the Jesus Camp Republican mob.


This scandal-- as well as the unmasking of Bush as a serial liar-- has sent Republican chances of holding on to power in Congress into an unprecedented downward spiral. I've been predicting all along that the Democrats would pick up between 30 and 50 House seats. The 50 number is looking more and more realistic by the day.

The religionist part of the coalition is trying to save the day by turning the scandal and cover-up into an anti-gay thing and blame it on... Democrats for being tolerant. The fake pastors employed by the GOP to confuse Christians have been busy as little beavers this week. "Homosexuality, like abortion and contraception, denigrates the intrinsic dignity of and respect for human life... Foley's actions were that of homosexual predator, not a pedophile. Homosexuals reproduce sexually by molesting children. This creates a cycle of violence and disordered behavior that creates future generations of abusers and predators," brays Jason Jones of Human Life International, a Republican front group.

Meanwhile, on October 3 Wayne Madsen reports that among the Republicans who knew Foley had an active hankering for young males and covered for him anyway was none other than the First-Brother, eager to protect Republican seats in November (instead of children whose parents entrusted the government to protect).

And it isn't only Madsen that has been reporting some bizarre goings-on among Republicans trying to protect their electoral asses instead of the young boys'. Republican propagandist Robert Novak reported this morning that even after House GOP leaders knew that Foley had been writing sexual e-mails to teenage boy pages, they were still urging him to run for re-election. "A member of the House leadership told me that Foley, under continuous political pressure because of his sexual orientation, was considering not seeking a seventh term this year but that Rep. Tom Reynolds, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), talked him into running." I wonder if Reynolds will run in 2008 and try to get his seat back.


UPDATE: HASTERT IS DEAD MEAT

The most blatantly and aggressively homophobic member of the House Republican leadership team, Roy Blunt, has launched a campaign to throw Hastert under the bus and replace him with... Roy Blunt. Blunt, who had earlier this year thrown an hysterical temper tantrum when Hastert tried to appoint another Republican closet case to take over for DeLay (David Dreier, who no one has ever accused of being a child predator, just a self-loathing homosexual Republican), is trying to round up the votes he needs to catapult over Boehner. Boehner had beaten him for the Majority Leader job and is next in line but has been tarred by the Foley scandal as well. Meanwhile the new MSNBC poll is asking Should Dennis Hastert Resign?. I don't know if Blunt is just clogging the Internet tubes with his votes but last time I looked 68% said he should resign. 18% didn't agree. One of that 18% is Pus Limbaugh, who says it was all a set-up; totally lost his mind that one.

Longtime Hastert ally and bumbling somewhat senile idiot, Ray LaHood (R-IL), didn't do his pal Hastert any good today on CNN, admitting that it's "obvious" congressmen can't be trusted around 16 year old pages!

But the worst news of all came just a few minutes ago when Tom Reynold's now fired (and now out of the closet) chief of staff, Kirk Fordham, admits that he personally told Hastert that Foley was up to no good. Let's see... Hastert denied remembering that Boehner and Reynolds each told him on different occasions... I bet he won't remember that Fordham told him too!