Refudiate the broccoli mandate.
Archives for March 2011
Mystery Solved
We’ve had a good discussion in the comments on why union members vote for Republicans, because a lot of union members do, in fact, vote for Republicans.
We had complicated theories on why they might do that.
We may have given Republicans too much credit and union members not enough credit.
Turns out, in Ohio, some union members voted for Republicans because Republicans assured those union members that they supported collective bargaining:
An Ohio Senate panel approved the 99-page amendment to Senate Bill 5 on Wednesday. The committee began the hearing without one of its most vocal critics: state Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati. Seitz was replaced on the 12-member committee by Hite, R-Findlay.
Hite was one of eight Republican senators called out in a newspaper ad this week paid for by Ohio cops and firefighters as a lawmaker who told the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police that he supports collective bargaining.
Here’s what the Republican Senator who just voted “yes” on an amendment to end collective bargaining wrote to cops and firefighters when he was running:
“Collective bargaining has come under attack by some of my colleagues. However, I do believe when it comes to those who protect and defend us without the ability to go on strike, collective bargaining becomes a vital and important aspect of the negotiating process,” Hite wrote in a FOP questionnaire. “Therefore, in your particular case, I defend the collective bargaining process.”
Not so complicated after all. They were asked, specifically, about collective bargaining on candidate questionnaires and they simply lied.
Dodd to K-Street
So a few months after swearing he would not become a lobbyist, Chris Dodd has announced he will become a lobbyist:
Over the last two years — particularly during the debate over the financial reform bill — Sen. Chris Dodd served on multiple occasions as chief spokesman for, and defender of, the interests of Wall Street and corporate America. That led to widespread speculation that the five-term Connecticut Senator, who announced that he would not seek re-election in 2010 in the wake of allegations of improper benefits from Countrywide Financial, was positioning himself for a lucrative post-Senate lobbying job — i.e., peddling the influence and contacts he compiled over five decades in “public service.”
Dodd responded to those suggestions by repeatedly and categorically insisting that he would not work as a lobbyist. In March of last year, he told The Hartford Courant that “he will not lobby, but, like [former Senators Chuck] Hagel and [Sam] Nunn, he may teach.” In an August article headlined “Dodd forswears a lobbying career,” The Connecticut Mirror quoted him as saying: “No lobbying, no lobbying.” That vow earned this praise from Public Citizen’s Craig Holman: “That’s excellent on Senator Dodd’s part.”
Here’s what Chris Dodd’s word and integrity are worth, from The Hill yesterday:
Dodd to be Hollywood’s top man in Washington
Former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) will be Hollywood’s leading man in Washington, taking the most prestigious job on K Street.
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) named Dodd chairman and CEO on Tuesday. But heading Hollywood’s lobbying arm could be problematic for the former senator, who accepted the kind of job he pledged not to take. . . .
Dodd’s hiring, which had been rumored for weeks, ends months of media speculation regarding who would take one of the most glamorous jobs on K Street, whose perks include a $1.2 million-a-year salary and getting to attend the Academy Awards ceremony.
Dodd is barred from formally working himself as a lobbyist for two years after leaving the Senate, but the core purpose of his new job is to oversee lobbying activities and to convert his influence and inside knowledge of Washington into favorable legislation and desired regulatory action (or inaction) for the MPAA. Dodd is replacing another long-time DC official paid to peddle his influence: Dan Glickman — the former 9-term Democratic Congressman from Kansas and Clinton administration Agriculture Secretary. Leaving no doubt about what the MPAA seeks in this position — a politician willing to sell his connections to the highest bidder — the association chose Dodd only after it was unsuccessful in recruiting former Sen. Bob Kerrey.
Hoocoodanode!
This shouldn’t surprise anyone, and in fairness, what actual skill set do any of these clowns have? After thirty years of doing nothing but schmoozing, eating finger food, and bullshitting, lobbying might be all most of them are able to do…
You’ll Never Make It In This Town Alone
Jack Shafer has a piece up claiming Frank Rich will get “lost in the ether” when he leaves the NY Times and is unaware how much the Times masthead helps his exposure. He cites Howard Kurtz as an example, but I can’t judge this because I go out of my way to ignore Howie. I do think that Dan Froomkin, who I used to read daily, is much harder to keep track of at the HuffPo, in part because of my desire not to give them any traffic.
Your thoughts?
Then they came for the pranksters
Although representatives deny any connection to the recent prank call on the governor, two legislators began circulating a bill Monday that would ban making trick calls masking the caller’s true identity.
Sen. Mary Lazich, R-Waukesha, and Rep. Mark Honadel, R-Milwaukee, authored a bill that would prohibit tricking the call’s recipient into believing the caller is someone they are not for malicious purposes.
“While use of spoofing is said to have some legitimate uses, it can also be used to frighten, harass and potentially defraud,” Lazich and Honadel said in an e-mail to legislators.
But as long as it’s still legal for Republicans to dress as pimps and plot the rape of CNN reporters, This Republic remains free!
Open Thread
You all are wonderful people, you really are. Evelyn at Charlies Angels informs me that there were 40 donations totalling $1200, enough to pay for Lady’s surgery.
Thank you.
The queen is dead, long live the queen
“We have people pull up at the pharmacy window in a BMW and say they can’t afford their co-payment.”
–Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, Feb. 27, 2011Haley Barbour’s colorful remark, made to The Washington Post while attending a National Governors Association meeting in Washington this week, recalls Ronald Reagan’s description of a “welfare queen” living high on government largess, driving a Cadillac. In Reagan’s telling, she bilked the government out of $150,000, when the actual case involved $8,000.
Next it’ll be strapping young bucks buying Kobe beef.