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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Give Me a Nickel, Brother Can You Spare a Dime

Give Me a Nickel, Brother Can You Spare a Dime

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It takes a lot of doing to keep the poors down:

Republicans appear to have outmaneuvered Gov. Terry McAuliffe in a state budget standoff by persuading a Democratic senator to resign his seat, at least temporarily giving the GOP control of the chamber and possibly dooming the governor’s push to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

Sen. Phillip P. Puckett (D-Russell) will announce his resignation Monday, effective immediately, paving the way to appoint his daughter to a judgeship and Puckett to the job of deputy director of the state tobacco commission, three people familiar with the plan said Sunday. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter

The news prompted outrage among Democrats — and accusations that Republicans were trying to buy the Senate with job offers in order to thwart McAuliffe’s proposal to expand health coverage to 400,000 low-income Virginians.

Del. Scott A. Surovell (D-Fairfax) said Republicans were unable to win the policy argument about Medicaid expansion, so they have resorted to other means.

“It’s astounding to me. The House Republican caucus will do anything and everything to prevent low-income Virginians from getting health care. . . . They figure the only way they could win was to give a job to a state senator,” Surovell said. “At least they can’t offer Terry McAuliffe a job. I hope Terry continues to stand up to these bullies.”

How in the hell is this even remotely legal? Google quid pro quo and the wikipedia entry laboriously slaved over by OCD shut-ins for years just was deleted and replaced with that article.

Reader Interactions

87Comments

  2. 2.

    Suffern ACE

    So does this seat just stay vacant? Or is this one of those things where if republicans control the chamber they can refuse to set a date for a new election.

  4. 4.

    Hunter Gathers

    By the time anybody would actually go to trial over this, the Cooch will be balls deep in his campaign against McAuliffe in 2017, vowing to keeps the Clintons out of Obamacare.

  5. 5.

    scav

    Practically speaking, PPPuckett does lend itself to redefinition. Quisling and Santorum for alternative possibilities.

  6. 6.

    Crouchback

    It’s Virginia. Ethics rules can be pretty loose. Hell, it’s not clear McDonnell technically broke that many laws.

    At this point, my main hope is that when the rural hospitals start to shut down due to lack of money the right wing idiots (who are often from rural districts) will realize expanding medicaid might be the best way to stay in office.

  7. 7.

    ? Martin

    Tracy Morgan is more responsive. Sounding positive:

    Morgan suffered several injuries, including broken ribs, a broken nose, a broken leg and a broken femur. He underwent surgery on his leg on Sunday, Kay said, noting any road to recovery would be a long one.

    Thankfully no mention of head or organ damage. That’s a lot of broken bones, but they heal.

  8. 8.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    How in the hell is this even remotely legal?

    Lots of immoral and unethical shit is legal.

  11. 11.

    Morzer

    @Suffern ACE:

    There will need to be some sort of special election. Puckett’s district is pretty Republican, so the prospects are not good.

  12. 12.

    BBA

    This is related to how the Republicans have retained control of the NY and Washington State Senates for the last several years, even though Democrats hold a majority of seats – “Caucus with us and we’ll make you Majority Leader!”

    I’m surprised McConnell hasn’t tried it.

  13. 13.

    PaulW

    @Crouchback:

    At this point, my main hope is that when the rural hospitals start to shut down due to lack of money the right wing idiots (who are often from rural districts) will realize expanding medicaid might be the best way to stay in office.

    No, ’cause what they’ll do is blame those hospital closings on Obamacare’s stifling rules and failures rather than the lack of money, and they’ll convince enough of their base to where the outrage will be aimed at the Democrats and not the GOP.

  14. 14.

    Morzer

    @PaulW:

    She goes down to the lot, picks out one she likes and the kindly old Republican salesman arranges a discount because she has such a purty face.

  15. 15.

    Comrade Dread

    Well, they are certainly dedicated to being malevolent assholes who’d cross a minefield for the opportunity to fuck the poor, so I guess points for consistency.

  18. 18.

    FlipYrWhig

    Between the tobacco commission and opposing Medicaid expansion, I guess Phillip P. Puckett just enjoys contributing to the unnecessary deaths of poor people.

  19. 19.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    I wouldn’t be surprised if McAuliffe goes ahead with his “do it anyway’ plan.

  21. 21.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @Morzer: The more I see of McAuliffe, the greater the impression I get of a very good politician. He really does know what works and what does not. The fact that he floated the ‘do it anyway’ plan shows that he thinks he has support for it and that he won’t pay a price for it.

  22. 22.

    Ruckus

    Puckett will be 67 in a couple of months. Maybe he wants to semi retire and this allows him to get his daughter appointed for a full term and do that. And maybe the moon will shit gumdrops next month too.

  23. 23.

    WaterGirl

    @Ruckus: If my dad had wanted to give me something I wanted, on the backs of 400,000 people who need health care, I would have said “thanks, but no thanks”. And he would never have been willing to do it in the first place.

    President Obama was right. We They do have an empathy deficit.

  28. 28.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @Steeplejack: Burnsie is often right when he says it. Actually though, I don’t know enough about VA law to say whether this is or is not illegal. There are VA licensed lawyers who comment here who might be able to say. In the classes I teach, I make a point of emphasizing the the differences between legal, ethical, and moral. It requires Venn diagrams.

  30. 30.

    Steeplejack

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):

    I’m not saying he’s wrong. He just typically delivers his verdict in a condescending tone and then never stays around to offer any explanation or enlightenment to the plebes.

    ETA: Possible fine-tuning of your snarkometer recommended. I wasn’t criticizing you at all.

  33. 33.

    JaneE

    The Republican party appears to be run by people who believe that if you don’t agree with them then you shouldn’t be allowed to live. They accuse Democrats of wanting to put people in extermination camps, because that is what they would do if they had the chance. Until then they will settle for shortening the lifespan of the citizens in states under their governance by every means they can think of. Making access to medical care more difficult to get is just one of the ways.

  35. 35.

    Violet

    Any Democratic politician or strategist who doesn’t think the Republicans will do anything and everything they can to win, including lying, stealing and anything else immoral, unethical or illegal, is just plain stupid. This is just one more example of it.

  36. 36.

    sharl

    OT, but I sure hope that tomorrow’s NPR Morning Edition report on the Bergdahl story is going to be better than these late night teasers imply. I’m gonna want to hurt my radio otherwise, or, um, change stations. One of those…

  37. 37.

    Ruckus

    @JaneE:
    You are being too kind. They don’t appear to be, they are run by people who would and are trying to do all that. Their idea of compromise is to give them everything they want. They are no different than snotty 4 yr old children, except they have drivers licenses and will, OK I typed something very inappropriate here and thought better of it. Not that republicans would do any sort of thinking like that.

  39. 39.

    Ruckus

    @sharl:
    I normally have rather high blood pressure and so I don’t listen to or watch the MSM. Medication will only do so much and for some strange reason I’d like to live a while longer.

  40. 40.

    Morzer

    @Ruckus:

    I want to live long enough to see the GOP realize that their day is over. And I intend to do whatever I can to make that day come as soon as possible and be the worst day of their worthless, anti-human lives.

  41. 41.

    JGabriel

    @rikyrah:

    this is some lowdown, lowlife muthafuckin’ weasel shyt right here!!

    Rikyrah, the weasels called – they’re insulted that you compared them to Republicans.

    The CEO’s of Time Warner, Comcast, and Verizon also called though, to say they have a special VIP lounge for themselves in the 10th level of Hell and they’re inviting the GOP to join them there. Seems like they’re really into people who screw/kill their own customers/constituents.

  42. 42.

    sharl

    If someone is around here in the wee hours when raven shows up, please let him know there is some good news directly from the Nekkid-Mopping Blogmaster, in a comment in the previous post, regarding Pat Lang:

    I deleted him from the blog roll a couple days ago.

  44. 44.

    JGabriel

    @JaneE:

    The Republican party appears to be run by people who believe that if you don’t agree with them then you shouldn’t be allowed to live.

    That’s not fair. There are plenty of white poors who agree with them and vote for them, and the GOP doesn’t think they should be allowed to live either — because poor.

  45. 45.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @Anoniminous:

    Welcome to state politics. Where you swim with the bottom feeders.

    Seriously. It’s pretty remarkable how shit the US is at federal-subunit level politics, given that it came up with the concept. State politics gives you the worst of all worlds: surprisingly wide-ranging power in the hands of people who really shouldn’t have it, while the voters mostly don’t even know who they are.

  46. 46.

    ? Martin

    More on our Vegas assassins:

    Details are sketchy but Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department sources close to the investigation say the shooters shouted that “this is the start of a revolution” before opening fire on the officers, and draped their bodies with cloth showing a Revolutionary War-era flag. Investigators have also found paraphernalia associated with white supremacists.
    …
    The shooters then stripped the officers of their weapons and ammunition and badges, according to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation. They then covered the officers with something that featured the Gadsden flag, a yellow banner with a coiled snake above the words, “Don’t tread on Me.”

    So, obviously they were liberals.

  47. 47.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @? Martin: This bit too:

    The man told Monroe he had been kicked off Cliven Bundy’s ranch 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas while people from throughout the U.S. gathered there in protest of a Bureau of Land Management roundup of Bundy’s cattle.

    Now, given that the shooters here sound like generic sov-cit militia crazies, that could be bullshit and bluster, but there are far too many sov-cit militia crazies around.

  48. 48.

    ? Martin

    More from the Review-Journal piece:

    The man told Monroe he had been kicked off Cliven Bundy’s ranch 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas while people from throughout the U.S. gathered there in protest of a Bureau of Land Management roundup of Bundy’s cattle.

    I think I called that one from the outset…

  50. 50.

    JGabriel

    WaPo:

    Republicans appear to have outmaneuvered Gov. Terry McAuliffe in a state budget standoff by persuading a Democratic senator to resign his seat, at least temporarily giving the GOP control of the chamber and possibly dooming the governor’s push to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

    Sen. Phillip P. Puckett (D-Russell) will announce his resignation Monday, effective immediately, paving the way to appoint his daughter to a judgeship and Puckett to the job of deputy director of the state tobacco commission, three people familiar with the plan said Sunday.

    There must be a couple of Republicans McAuliffe can get to resign for similar deals. I mean, it’s not as if Republicans are incorruptible – I’m pretty sure you have to prove you’re corrupt before the GOP will even let you run in a primary.

  51. 51.

    Violet

    From an article on the shooting in Las Vegas today:

    Residents of the Bruce Street apartment complex gathered outside the building to talk about the couple whose unit was being searched.

    Several neighbors identified the man as Jared, while one called the woman Amanda.

    Like many of the neighbors contacted, Krista Koch said she didn’t know the couple’s last names. She described them as “militant.” They talked about planning to kill police officers, “going underground” and not coming out until the time was right to kill.

    Brandon Monroe, 22, has lived in the complex for about two weeks. He said the man who lived in the apartment that was being searched often rambled about conspiracy theories. He often wore camouflage or dressed as Peter Pan to work as a Fremont Street Experience street performer. A woman lived with him, Monroe said, but he didn’t see her as often.

    They were weird people, Monroe said, adding that he thought the couple used methamphetamines.

    The man told Monroe he had been kicked off Cliven Bundy’s ranch 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas while people from throughout the U.S. gathered there in protest of a Bureau of Land Management roundup of Bundy’s cattle.

    If that’s true, it doesn’t surprise me they were linked to the Bundy gang.

  53. 53.

    max

    @? Martin:

    The shooters then stripped the officers of their weapons and ammunition and badges, according to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation. They then covered the officers with something that featured the Gadsden flag, a yellow banner with a coiled snake above the words, “Don’t tread on Me.” […]Police are looking into their links to the white supremacy movement and found swastika symbols during their initial investigation.[…]They were weird people, Monroe said, adding that he thought the couple used methamphetamines.

    Ah. Workin’ the Turner Diaries angle. Spontaneous racewar, leaderless resistance, all that crud. Throw in some bonus militia action and the meth and there you go.

    (I imagine they figured if they yelled about revolution, killed some people and then died, a spontaneous racial revolution would erupt and the white people would reconquer America for white supremacy, and then these two nuts would be memorialized as martyrs to the revolution or some shit. A number of these post-2008 shooters seem to have operated with that direction in mind.

    They don’t seem to get the whole damp match on wet hay thing. After all, everyone – just *everyone* – is all Viva la honkey revolución, ain’t they?)

    max
    [‘They heard it on the radio, they even saw it on the liberal Fox News. Gotta happen.’]

  54. 54.

    KG

    @pseudonymous in nc: it’s not really all that surprising. There’s not much attention in the media about what happens at the state of local level (unless it happens in the NYC metropolitan area, because that’s where they all are). So people don’t think it’s important. The 11:00 news types don’t have the time/resources to report on it. And I’ve been hearing for 20 years now that newspapers are dying. It’s one of those “who’ll watch the watchers?” things

  55. 55.

    Morzer

    @Violet:

    She described them as “militant.” They talked about planning to kill police officers, “going underground” and not coming out until the time was right to kill.

    And did she think of …you know… doing something about this?

  56. 56.

    Mnemosyne

    @? Martin:

    From the stories G was reading, Morgan was calling for help after the accident, which ironically is a good sign that he didn’t have a serious head injury. IIRC, he’s a type 1 diabetic, so the physical recovery is going to be a little tricky.

  57. 57.

    ? Martin

    @Morzer: Well, given that much of right-wing radio talks like that, and parts of Fox News and Newsmax, and some of our elected officials, almost all of the NRA, etc. perhaps it didn’t strike her as unusual.

  59. 59.

    Mnemosyne

    @max:

    Every time I hear about these kinds of idiots, I think of Cartman.

    (And for those who haven’t seen the episode, the “race war” starts with Kyle and Token calmly talking and ends with Token walking away because it’s not worth a physical fight. Race war!)

  60. 60.

    Elizabelle

    @Violet:

    But who kicked him off Cliven Bundy’s ranch?

    If this guy was too crazy for those crazy ass welfare ranchers …

    Incidentally, re the Las Vegas Journal-Review stories: earliest reader comments were actual area residents, and ran heavily against guns in the hands of crazies.

    Then rightwingers and Drudgeheads swamped the comments; 2000+ full of ammosexuals and “libtards did this.”

    Take a page from the National Journal’s experience. Moderate your comments, even lightly, or shut ’em down. Don’t give these fools a sewer to make their stand.

  62. 62.

    MattR

    @Mnemosyne:

    IIRC, he’s a type 1 diabetic, so the physical recovery is going to be a little tricky.

    With a kidney transplant, which is why organ trauma was my first worry, If it was only broken bones, that is a very good sign. (Though the anti-rejection drugs may add to the trickiness of the recovery)

  63. 63.

    Mnemosyne

    @MattR:

    A femur break is very, very nasty, though. I knew someone in my 20s who was the same age and had broken her femur in a car accident. She was in a wheelchair for six months, and then on crutches for about a year before the doctors felt sure that the break was fully healed. And that’s not counting all of the physical therapy.

    ETA: “Same age” meaning same age as me, in her early 20s.

  64. 64.

    Ruckus

    @Mnemosyne:
    Had a friend who was in a motorcycle accident who severed his femur, femoral artery, hamstring, etc. IOW the only thing holding his leg on at all was a bit of his quadriceps and a little skin. They put in a titanium rod through his hip, put him in traction. Was in intensive care for over 2 months. After he was stable they told him he also had a broken back and they could fix it with a full body cast for 6-8 weeks or with the same length traction. He asked how long for the traction for his leg. Three months. He opted for traction for his back as well. A year later he walked well enough that he didn’t really need a cane anymore but he was used to it. But he spent a total of over 6 months in the hospital.

  65. 65.

    MattR

    @Mnemosyne: I don’t mean to minimize the recovery from broken bones, especially given the number of injuries he suffered. His transplant may actually be relevant to that because some anit-rejection drugs have osteoporosis as a common side effect, though I admit that I was initially thinking more about complications from damaging his transplanted kidney. (EDIT: I should mention that my initial reaction was definitely biased by the fact that my father had a kidney transplant)

  66. 66.

    max

    @Mnemosyne: Every time I hear about these kinds of idiots, I think of Cartman.

    Exactly. ‘Honey, let’s go out and pop a couple of cops and then kill ourselves in a Walmart! It’ll be the signal for the Revolution!’

    max
    [‘Just think: they could’ve gotten killed robbing some meth dealers, like yer regular, sane, run of the mill junkies.’]

  68. 68.

    James E. Powell

    Is there any indication that the good people of Virginia object to this? Because if they don’t, there isn’t much anyone else can do. Cf. Wisconsin.

  69. 69.

    TriassicSands

    Once again, the Democrats are their own worst enemies. When the GOP can’t beat the Dems, the Dems find a way to give the victory to the Republicans.

    It would be nice to have a left-leaning party in which more than a few elected officials could be counted on to stand up for principles. (The Republicans are more than willing to stick to their guns (literally as well as figuratively), it’s just that all their principles are barbaric and depraved, not to mention bat-shit crazy.)

    I really wish I could have a party that I am proud of on a regular basis.

  70. 70.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @James E. Powell: My wife J and I strenuously object. But we don’t live in the district he represents represented.

    More angry comments are at BlueVirginia.US – Benedict Puckett – along with some good information.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  71. 71.

    ohsuzanna

    Say whatever you want about the Republicans in the Virginia Senate, they didn’t do it and couldn’t have done it without the participation of the Democratic Senator Judas Puckett. Puckett is a bigger skunk than the rest of them.

  72. 72.

    SFAW

    @Morzer:

    I want to live long enough to see the GOP realize that their day is over.

    They already do, in a way. Otherwise why would they keep resorting to subterfuge to maintain control/power?

    That being said – re: living long enough:
    1) You’re either extremely young, or plan to live to about 200. Probably both
    2) I keep hoping the same thing, but the collective intelligence of the electorate makes me less sanguine about it

    I have this dream – a fantasy really – that some day, Reichtards like Limbaugh, Coulter, most of Faux News, Jim Hoft, McConnell, Cantor, Ryan, and the rest of those evil motherfuckers, have a Col. Nicholson moment, and end up blowing up the right-wing infrastructure/wingnut welfare system. And themselves with it. Unfortunately, being an old fart, and moderately sane, I doubt I will live to see it.

  73. 73.

    NonyNony

    @Morzer:

    And did she think of …you know… doing something about this?

    Well, there’s also this part:

    Brandon Monroe, 22, has lived in the complex for about two weeks. He said the man who lived in the apartment that was being searched often rambled about conspiracy theories. He often wore camouflage or dressed as Peter Pan to work as a Fremont Street Experience street performer. A woman lived with him, Monroe said, but he didn’t see her as often.

    If the reporting here isn’t garbled (and it may be – “breaking news” and all that), then what we have is a guy who was a militant right-wing extremist who ALSO worked as a street performer who dressed like Peter Pan. Even I have to admit that I’m not sure whether I’d take him seriously or not.

  74. 74.

    Matt

    @Crouchback:

    As if that’s ever stopped them before. It’ll be another round of “OMG TEH GHEYZ ARE COMING FER YER CHILDREN”, “THOSE PEOPLE WANT FREE STUFFZ” and “JEEBUS JEEBUS JEEBUS”. Any hospitals that close down will be “Obamacare’s fault”, and the beat goes on.

    Quite a racket the GOP has got going – they can be standing in front of a burning house with a can of gasoline and a box of matches and convince their voters “it was the other guy”.

  76. 76.

    Lurking Canadian

    @? Martin: definitely sound like a couple of non-political crazy people. It would be a Pants On Fire lie to suggest they were right wing!

  77. 77.

    Ruckus

    @Morzer:
    Given the truth you speak in the last line, worthless, anti-human lives , that’s going to be a herculean task.

  78. 78.

    J R in WV

    @efroh:
    …
    We can’t drum him out of the party, he already left.
    …
    Perhaps the Gov could appoint some new Dems to the “tobacco commission” who could help zero out the renumeration and make it a board where you serve for the prestige rather than the money? After all, it isn’t a 50 hour a week job, more like 80 hours a year.

    What a scum bucket! A real natural for the GOP!

    ETA: Now I have a better idea, indict all of them, so that the legal bills ruin them financially. After all, there’s the bribe lying there in full view!

  79. 79.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @PIGL:

    We have the same problem in Canada, except we call them Provinces.

    I honestly don’t think Canadian provinces are as terribly governed as American states, and there’s a bit more scrutiny and accountability. State government in the US is truly terrible.

  80. 80.

    Jack the Second

    Maybe this is some sort of 11-dimensional sting? A Democrat resigns, and a half dozen Republicans are convicted for corruption?

  83. 83.

    Patricia Kayden

    Sen. Phillip P. Puckett (D-Russell) is a weasel. This is just unbelievable.

  84. 84.

    Gail Hyder Wiley

    @efgoldman: How long has this Virginia Senate policy of not acting on district judgeship nominations been in place? Did she know (should she or he have known) before her candidacy was discussed?

  85. 85.

    Gail Hyder Wiley

    @efgoldman: How long has this Virginia Senate policy of not acting on district judgeship nominations been in place? Did she know (should she or he have known) before her candidacy was discussed?

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