Congress' Most Corrupt Member, Jerry Lewis (R-CA), Finally Retiring

California working families had good political news this week with the announced retirements of reactionary congressmen Elton Gallegly and the even more heinous Mormon fanatic Wally Herger. And then there are the rumors, which grow louder by the day, that either David Dreier or Darrell Issa will forego another run for the House in order to challenge Dianne Feinstein, a suicidal mission even for the richest Member of Congress (career criminal Issa). But there's even better news. Last week we mentioned the rumors that Jerry Lewis, the most corrupt man in Congress, was considering cashing in his chips. Confirmation arrived yesterday when Lewis contributors confirmed that their puppet in DC has told them he won't run again.

We have confirmed that longtime Republican Congressman Jerry Lewis of the Inland Empire has been making phone calls to supporters today indicating that he is not running for re-election. We are not prepared to say this means he actually is retiring, since he has been rumored to be retiring before, and he keeps running again, and again.

Lewis of course is known as the “Minority Maker” as he was dubbed by the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board for being a prolific proponent of egregious pork-barrel spending in Washington, D.C. The Journal credited Lewis with bearing some of the burden for the 2006 epic loss of the House by Republicans, because of GOP over-spending.

Lewis’ current seat was divvied up in redistricting and there were questions about which seat he would actually chose to run in. If Lewis does retire, this could set the state for moderate San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos to run. Ramos was a proponent of Governor Brown’s tax increase proposal last year, which was controversial in GOP circles. Also possibly running could be State Senator Bob Dutton, and also there is rumor that if Lewis doesn’t run, Congressman Gary Miller might slide over and run for one of the two “Lewis” seats. Also Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt and Assemblyman Paul Cook… Lots of potential candidates in this area.

Again, we can confirm that Lewis is telling people he will retire this year. We can only cross our fingers and hope it’s true. Don’t miss this video below as a reminder of the big spending ways of the “Minority Maker”…

Why Is Mary Bono Mack Opposing A Health Care Reform Bill That Would Benefit People In Riverside County?

La dolce vita with Connie and Mary

Even if you had never heard of Northern California wingnut Wally Herger before, you probably heard of him last week when he was validating right-wing extremism at a small, townshirt bund rally in his district. But, as crazy and dangerous as Herger may be, he isn't the only California Republican who has signed on to the mindless obstructionism the Republican Party is holding to in regard to health care reform. Mary Bono Mack, for example, has tried, from time to time, to distance herself from the borderline insane Republicans who dominate her party's caucus-- except that she married one of the worst, but let's leave that alone.

Bono Mack represents a southern California Inland Empire district whose residents stand to benefit gigantically if real health care reform passes. There are glitzy parts of the district around Palm Springs, Palm Desert and Rancho Mirage, but many of the residents are barely getting by and, like 1 in 7 Californians, many are in debt because of medical expenses. "[M]ore than 2.2 million California adults-- almost one in seven working-age Californians-- say they have medical debt. And two-thirds of those said they incurred the debt despite having health insurance."

Statewide the median income is $47,493. Bono-Mack's district is considerably poorer. Despite the pockets of great wealth, the median income is only $40,468. Although it is Bono-Mack's spouse Connie who represents the worst hit district in the country based on foreclosures (116,979 projected over the next 4 years), the wife's district is one of the 4 most disastrous in California with 51,033 projected foreclosures. (Only Dan Lungren's, Tom McClintock's and Ken Calvert's districts are faring worse in California.) That said, it is simple to conclude that if 1 in 7 Californians are in financial distress over medical bills, it's worse in Riverside County. And yet, Bono is an adamant opponent of meaningful health care reform. She's taken $61,345 from the Insurance Industry and $421,588 from the Medical-Industrial Complex and she's sticking strictly to their corporate, anti-family playbook. And yet, an official report released last week by the House Energy and Commerce Committee shows conclusively that few other districts in the country have as much to gain from passage of the health care legislation as CA-45-- especially small businesses, senior citizens, and the staggering 174,000 uninsured people in the district.

• Help for small businesses. Under the legislation, small businesses with 25 employees or less and average wages of less than $40,000 qualify for tax credits of up to 50% of the costs of providing health insurance. There are up to 12,300 small businesses in the district that could qualify for these credits.

• Help for seniors with drug costs in the Part D donut hole. Each year, 13,400 seniors in the district hit the donut hole and are forced to pay their full drug costs, despite having Part D drug coverage. The legislation would provide them with immediate relief, cutting brand name drug costs in the donut hole by 50%, and ultimately eliminate the donut hole.

• Health care and financial security. There were 2,400 health care-related bankruptcies in the district in 2008, caused primarily by the health care costs not covered by insurance. The bill provides health insurance for almost every American and caps annual out-of-pocket costs at $10,000 per year, ensuring that no citizen will have to face financial ruin because of high health care costs.

• Relieving the burden of uncompensated care for hospitals and health care providers. In 2008, health care providers in the district provided $174 million worth of uncompensated care, care that was provided to individuals who lacked insurance coverage and were unable to pay their bills. Under the legislation, these costs of uncompensated care would be virtually eliminated.

• Coverage of the uninsured. There are 174,000 uninsured individuals in the district, 20% of the district. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that nationwide, 97% of all Americans will have insurance coverage when the bill takes effect. If this benchmark is reached in the district, 149,000 people who currently do not have health insurance will receive coverage.

• No deficit spending. The cost of health care reform under the legislation is fully paid for: half through making the Medicare and Medicaid program more efficient and half through a surtax on the income of the wealthiest individuals. This surtax would affect only 3,450 households in the district. The surtax would not affect 99.0% of taxpayers in the district.

174,000 uninsured people in CA-45... and last year Obama won the district 52-47%. Bono Mack's margin of victory was 44,000.

No, Republican Townshirts Don't Want To Debate The Issues

In fact, debating the issues is the very last thing they want to do. As they've announced, they want to disrupt the meetings and prevent the truth about health care reform from coming to the fore. Watch the video of Jim Moran's Town Hall meeting in Reston, Virginia, where a small, noisy, deranged minority prevented Moran's constituents from hearing what he and Howard Dean had to say about health care reform, reform that 79% of Americans favor. Watch the police escorting Republican Party sociopath and terrorist Randall Terry out of the meeting:



Now, if you want to see more, watch a Republican congressman, GOP fringe loon Wally Herger, coddling a self-proclaimed "right-wing terrorrist" at his own mini-bund meeting. Stay 'til the very end so you can hear Herger's 8 word response to the freak who seems to have forgotten how the American Indians got the Pilgrims through their first winter in the New World.

And all those drooling imbeciles at Herger's little bund-rally? Very whiteof course, but is it so prosperous a district that doesn't need health care reform? The median income is $33,559, considerably less than the whole state's ($47,493). And, ironically, the health care reform legislation that Herger is working with Big Insurance to sabotage would actually do more for his own constituents than it would for most of the country. Here's a report that explains how CA-02 residents would benefit if Herger would stop trying to kill reform:

America’s Affordable Health Choices Act would provide significant benefits in the 2nd Congressional District of California: up to 14,000 small businesses could receive tax credits to provide coverage to their employees; 9,900 seniors would avoid the donut hole in Medicare Part D; 1,300 families could escape bankruptcy each year due to unaffordable health care costs; health care providers would receive payment for $107 million in uncompensated care each year; and 128,000 uninsured individuals would gain access to high-quality, affordable health insurance. Congressman Wally Herger represents the district.

• Help for small businesses. Under the legislation, small businesses with 25 employees or less and average wages of less than $40,000 qualify for tax credits of up to 50% of the costs of providing health insurance. There are up to 14,000 small businesses in the district that could qualify for these credits.

• Help for seniors with drug costs in the Part D donut hole. Each year, 9,900 seniors in the district hit the donut hole and are forced to pay their full drug costs, despite having Part D drug coverage. The legislation would provide them with immediate relief, cutting brand name drug costs in the donut hole by 50%, and ultimately eliminate the donut hole.

• Health care and financial security. There were 1,300 health care-related bankruptcies in the district in 2008, caused primarily by the health care costs not covered by insurance. The bill provides health insurance for almost every American and caps annual out-of-pocket costs at $10,000 per year, ensuring that no citizen will have to face financial ruin because of high health care costs.

• Relieving the burden of uncompensated care for hospitals and health care providers. In 2008, health care providers in the district provided $107 million worth of uncompensated care, care that was provided to individuals who lacked insurance coverage and were unable to pay their bills. Under the legislation, these costs of uncompensated care would be virtually eliminated.

• Coverage of the uninsured. There are 149,000 uninsured individuals in the district, 21% of the district. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that nationwide, 97% of all Americans will have insurance coverage when the bill takes effect. If this benchmark is reached in the district, 128,000 people who currently do not have health insurance will receive coverage.

• No deficit spending. The cost of health care reform under the legislation is fully paid for: half through making the Medicare and Medicaid program more efficient and half through a surtax on the income of the wealthiest individuals. This surtax would affect only 1,820 households in the district. The surtax would not affect 99.4% of taxpayers in the district.

Of Ganders, Geese And Unspeakable Corruption In Congress

Did you read this editorial about the ongoing culture of corruption in DC in today's NY Times?

More questions are being raised about the doubtful ethics of Representative Wally Herger of California, who, after the retirement of GOP closet case Jim McCrery, is scheduled to take over as ranking minority member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. The latest sniff of scandal-- a breakfast meeting with a donor seeking tax protection-- provides more grist for the House ethics inquiry that’s supposed to be under way into Mr. Herger’s tangled affairs.

According to a report in the Times on Tuesday, Mr. Herger, a far right nut case on the lunatic fringe of his party, breakfasted last year with a major donor to his pet legacy: a school of marriage counseling at the Mormon Bible College in Yuba City that will bear Mr. Herger’s name. The donor, an oil-drilling executive, says he then escorted the NRA fanatic across the dining room of the Carlyle Hotel to meet his company’s waiting lobbyist-- a special pleader intent on protecting an off-shore tax loophole.

As events progressed, the loophole was protected, the donor pledged $1 million to the Herger school and the principals deny that there was any quid pro quo.

Are you ready to sign a petition to have Herger expelled from the House-- or at least investigated. Look at this fanatic, extremist right-wing voting record. The country would be so much better off without him. And this is hardly his first or only brush with ethical improprieties. I even had one with him myself when he came closer than comfortable to soliciting a bribe!

Oh, I didn't mean Herger. I actually meant the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee-- and so did the Times.

Mr. Rangel also says he has no recollection of the lobbyist breakfast encounter, while company officials say it involved only a few minutes and ended with Mr. Rangel restating his opposition to closing the loophole.

Nevermind that the congressman had earlier denounced the boondoggle for costing taxpayers tens of millions annually. He maintains he since concluded that a change would amount to an unfair retroactive tax increase. The Times’s David Kocieniewski reports that congressional colleagues were shocked by the reversal.

We hope that Speaker Nancy Pelosi is shocked into action. She should insist that the ethics investigation move forward-- and that Mr. Rangel relinquish his chairmanship during the inquiry. If Mr. Rangel continues to resist, the speaker should permanently reassign the gavel. In a deep economic crisis, the committee, and the country, cannot afford the distraction.

And Pete Stark, one of the most forward-thinking and progressive members of Congress-- and far, far more progressive than Rangel, I might add-- would take over running the committee. Rangel's ethics problems are getting in the way of the important work that Ways and Means is doing-- some of it by Rangel-- and it is giving the Republicans plenty of ammunition to paint the Democratic Party with the same brush that has been so effectively used on corrupt Republicans.

Melanie Sloan, executive director of the nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said that Democratic House leaders were eroding their credibility by failing to address Mr. Rangel’s behavior.

“Representative Rangel’s ethics problems continue to mount, yet the ethics committee and the Democratic leadership remain silent,” she said. “Members of Congress often seem to believe that rules are for other people, and sadly, the ethics committee does nothing to correct that assumption,” she said. “It is long past time for Representative Rangel to be called to account for his repeated ethics violations.”

Rangel will be 80 in 2010 and he's been representing NY-15 since 1971. Despite his shameful record on corporate trade policies, he's given this country a great deal of valuable service. He should start thinking about retiring. Pelosi claims she wants to read the Ethics Committee report first and that it will be in her hands by January 3.