While we've all been busy watching the "oil spill live cam", a similar uncontrolled discharge has been taking place in Washington, DC
In this case, however, it's lobbyists that are spilling all over the landscape as the House and Senate attempt to merge their two visions of financial reform.
They're trying desperately to influence the outcome of the conference in which House and Senate negotiators have been engaged; this to craft the exact language of the reconciled legislation.
There's an additional element of drama hovering over the events as eight House members, including one of the most vocal of the Republican negotiators, face ethics questions related to this very bill.
The best part: if you're enough of a political geek, you can actually watch the events unfold, unedited and unfiltered, from the comfort of your very own computer.
So far, it's been amazing political theater, and if you follow along I'll tell you how you can get in on the fun, too.
The district is ripe for the picking but Tracy Emblem is the fresh democratic face the district needs. Francine Busby has proven that she doesn't have the support of the entire district behind her and is out of touch with inland voters. Tracy is an attorney based out of Escondido and understands the needs of the entire district, coastal and inland, it's demographics and what is needed to win. Her winning message of strongly supporting working families and Labor Unions, creating new jobs, rebuilding our economy, supporting public education, fixing healthcare, protecting our environment, and supporting President Barack Obama’s economic recovery program will resonate with Progressive voters in the district.
Nota Bene: This is an open letter to Charlie Brown, Democratic candidate for CA-04's open seat. I have notified the Brown campaign of this diary by email. It is also crossposted at Daily Kos.
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Dear Charlie,
I supported you in your race against John Doolittle back in 2006. This year I would like to support you again in your open seat race against Tom McClintock. While I would never under any circumstances vote for Tom McClintock, as things stand right now I cannot in good conscience vote for you. I do not currently intend to cast a vote in the CA-04 House race.
Almost one year ago I decided to write to you because I wanted assurance from you on a matter that became very important to me after the 2006 elections. After a few brief formalities, I wrote the following:
Last Saturday, I headed up to the Roseville/Rocklin area - Sacramento suburbs off Highway 80 on the way up to Tahoe – to volunteer for Charlie Brown’s campaign for U.S. Congress. I arrived on the heels of some fantastic news for the campaign, a poll commissioned by Daily Kos revealing a five point lead for Brown. It’s hard to understate the significance of this considering the extremely conservative nature of CA-04 (take, for example, 2004, when Bush buried Kerry by 24 points here). After a day of canvassing in the district and speaking with the people that live there, the reasons for Brown’s success so far make a lot of sense to me. The place seems full of disaffected Republicans and Independents open to Brown’s positions and not wild about his challenger, Tom McClintock. While the day wasn’t all wine and roses, I’m convinced that CA-04 represents an enormous chance for Democrats to pick up a seat in Congress, and that activists should continue to focus on this race to ensure Brown makes his way to victory.
4 Star Democratic Club, Dems for Israel, bloggers such as Dante Atkins (Hekebolos), Todd Beeton and California's new Democratic National Committeeman Andrew Lachman have come together to organize a grassroots fundraiser for Alaska's Democratic Congressional nominee Ethan Berkowitz in Los Angeles on Friday, September 19th at 6:30pm at 3077 Earlmar Ave., Los Angeles 90064. You can RSVP via Act Blue, on Facebook or by calling Anna at (907)947-1628.
Berkowitz, a San Francisco native, worked as a fisherman, Alaska state prosecutor, and minority leader of the Alaska House of Representatives. The Alaksa At-Large House race is part of the "Red to Blue" program of the most watched races in the country as his opponent, Representative Don Young, barely survived the Republican primary, winning by less than 300 votes. Young is also under investigation by the FBI for his dealings with the same oil company involved in the indictment of Alaska's Senator Ted Stevens.
While Steven's opponent, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich is in a very close race, Berkowitz has pulled ahead to a 14 point lead in the recent Anchorage Press/Ivan Moore poll. This looks like it could be a Democratic pickup. Also, Berkowitz has debated Sarah Palin before, so he should have some great stories!
Warning: If you intend to click on the link to Calvert's site you might want to start the shower.
Are you afraid? You should be. But brace yourself - Dick Cheney is coming to do a high-dollar fundraiser for Calvert today in San Clemente. There will be a protest but I have no word of a citizen arrest.
In today's Sacramento Bee newspaper Dr. Bill Durston finally got some press coverage about his race against one of the most well-known California Republicans, Dan Lungren. You can decide whether it was a positive article or not, but one thing is for sure: Bill Durston is putting up a fight for this seat.
Part of Durston's fight to "take back our government from the special interests that control it, and to restore government of, by, and for the people" is online. He has recently created a video that pieces together clips from a debate he had with Lungren in 2006 about corruption and a more recent ABC News segment in which Lungren is found to be taking luxury vacations paid for by special interests, despite House ethics laws which prohibit such trips. If that video gets you riled up about Lungren, please consider sending Durston some love on his ActBlue page.
Speaking of ethics issues and abuse of power, one of the reasons Durston is having to fight such an uphill battle against Lungren, who refuses to debate him this year, is the fact that Lungren is paying for much of his campaigning with taxpayer money. Lungren has three "town hall meetings" coming up in the district next week and he is promoting them with color advertisements in the Sacramento Bee (a quarter-page full-color ad appeared Aug. 4), automated mass phone calls, and a fancy color mailer touting his "energy plan" that went out to residents of the 3rd congressional district. In tiny text on the mailer is: "This mailing was prepared, published and mailed at taxpayer expense." These town hall meetings are nothing more than campaign stops. It's outrageous that Lungren's campaign for re-election is being funded by taxpayers like you, me, and Bill Durston himself.
Republicans Vote Against Moms; No Word Yet on Puppies, Kittens
By Dana Milbank
Friday, May 9, 2008; A03
It was already shaping up to be a difficult year for congressional Republicans. Now, on the cusp of Mother's Day, comes this: A majority of the House GOP has voted against motherhood.
On Wednesday afternoon, the House had just voted, 412 to 0, to pass H. Res. 1113, "Celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother's Day," when Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), rose in protest.
"Mr. Speaker, I move to reconsider the vote," he announced.
Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who has two young daughters, moved to table Tiahrt's request, setting up a revote. This time, 178 Republicans cast their votes against mothers.
It has long been the custom to compare a popular piece of legislation to motherhood and apple pie. Evidently, that is no longer the standard. Worse, Republicans are now confronted with a John Kerry-esque predicament: They actually voted for motherhood before they voted against it.
Republicans, unhappy with the Democratic majority, have been using such procedural tactics as this all week to bring the House to a standstill, but the assault on mothers may have gone too far. House Minority Leader John Boehner, asked yesterday to explain why he and 177 of his colleagues switched their votes, answered: "Oh, we just wanted to make sure that everyone was on record in support of Mother's Day."
By voting against it?
If Boehner's explanation doesn't make much sense, he's been under a great deal of stress lately.
OMG! Can you imagine if Democrats did that?
First vote here; second vote here. (Click on party name to see invividual members).
If you think he's been under a lot of stress, you ain't seen nothin' yet!
Voting against motherhood!
Well, I'll give them this: at least they were honest for once.
And yes, since one of those voting against was Dana ("Taliban") Rohrabacher, a small portion of whose district falls into the Random Lengths News circulation area, I do feel honor bound to see that this runs in our paper. His district is R+6, and Debbie Cook is gunning for him.
Calitics Bonus! California Republicans voting against Mothers Day:
Brian Bilbray Mary Bono Ken Calvert John Doolittle
David Dreier Elton Gallegly Wally Herger Duncan Hunter
Darrell Issa Jerry Lewis Daniel Lungren Kevin McCarthy
Buck McKeon Gary Miller Devin Nunes George Radanovich
From the beginning, this campaign has been about the netroots taking the next step to becoming the mainstream. You've been fantastic, but we need more if we are to win the primary. If we implement the plan below we will win and set the stage to win in November. We need to make a lot of noise and talk to a lot of people. Not enough people know about us and even fewer understand why we are doing this.
Without the money, there is no campaign - so I'm not going to beat around the bush. We need money; we need it now. We need your help. If you believe in candidates emerging from the netroots, like I know you do, then please contribute.
Click on this button to go to ActBlue.
Jump below for a story and some details on how your money will be spent.
It's offical, Jackie Speier is in according to the San Francisco Examiner. Following the announced retirement of Tom Lantos, she will make her announcement Sunday to represent the solid blue CA-12.
Cross posted from Sunlight Foundation "We can never understand [a House member's] Washington activity without also understating his perception of his various constituencies and the home style he uses to cultivate their support..." states Richard Fenno in Home Style: House Members in Their Districts. Fenno understands that the work of members of Congress is more than committee meetings and votes but is also people they meet with from the district. The work in the district builds trust constituents need to send them to Washington and to accept the decisions they make there. Fenno's makes the point that the work of lawmakers done in the district is not an exhibition but the yang to Washington's Ying.
This trust that lawmakers create in the district extends to who they meet with in Washington. The Punch Clock motto has always been "Members of Congress work for us, and we should know what they do every day." Fenno made this point a different way, "Trust is, however, a fragile relationship. It is not an overnight or one-time thing. It is hard to win; and it must be constantly renewed and rewon. "
In this spirit, Sunlight has decided to help out by creating a trust-building tool. This tool, the Punch Clock Map, is a Google map mashup with corresponding RSS feeds that lets citizens see for themselves just how elected officials spend their time and how they serve their district's needs.
Punch Clock Map provides a visual representation of the meetings detailed by the eight members of Congress who post their daily schedules online. Currently, that includes: Sen. Max Baucus,? Rep. Kathy Castor,? Rep. John Doolittle,? Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand,? Sen. Bill Nelson,? Rep. Denny Rehberg,? Rep. Jan Schakowsky? and Sen. Jon Tester.? (As Rep. Alcee Hastings? posts an abridged weekly schedule, his is not included.)
To let citizens monitor how their elected officials address their district's needs, the maps mark the home-base location of the organization or individual who met with the lawmaker, not where the meeting occurred. If the lawmaker's schedule provides a location, organization or individual (who can be easily identified), those meetings are plotted on the map. (The map does not include internal business meetings, committee hearings, meetings with constituents without easily identifiable addresses or location and meetings with other current members of Congress.)
The Punch Clock Map is an extension of the Punch Clock Campaign, an initiative the Sunlight Foundation began in 2006, which asked all candidates for congressional office - challengers and incumbents - to promise, if elected, to post their daily schedules on the Internet. Inspired by the 60 percent of Americans who 'punch a clock' to account for their time at work, Sunlight asked why members of Congress should not also account for their time to their employers: the citizens they represent.
Building trust is an essential part of the representative - constituent relationship. Posting a schedule helps maintain the trust that lawmakers go through such efforts to maintain and it also helps instill trust in the constituents who are always looking for ways to not trust their lawmakers.
Disclaimer: I am the outreach coordinator for the Sunlight Foundation
he will go before the U.S. House of Representatives on a point of personal privilege to move the impeachment of Dick Cheney. Mr. Kucinich stated he will bring the impeachment forward before Thanksgiving.
This is part of a series of diaries rolling out the Congressional campaign of Ron Shepston -- the veteran, aerospace engineer, athlete, and grandfather whom you may know as CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream. For anyone who doesn't yet know, Ron is running against the ethically-challenged Rep. Gary Miller, who apparently believes that his role in Congress is to make money for his out-of-district friends, in CA-42. I'm running his campaign full-time.
Something significant to our campaign happened yesterday. We met with a representative of the DCCC. More below.
This is a premature, possibly morbid diary, but should we start thing about a future without Nancy Pelosi? Sooner or later, we Democrats will have a bad election. That is just a fact of American history. We also know that speakers who lose their gavels due to scandal or election losses do not last much longer in Congress, the risk of holding such a lofty post. When that day comes (hopefully no time soon), San Francisco will have a Congressional vacancy for the first time since 1987. The City's Central Democratic Committee has a very strong "wait your turn" attitude and the Burton Machine still lives, BUT no one is going to want to wait another 20+ for the seat to be open again, so the question is: Who will run when Madame Speaker retires? Here is my short list of possibilities.
In what I expect to be the first of possibly three Republican retirements in California, Robert Novak is reporting that Jerry Lewis will not seek reelection.
The upcoming special election to replace the late Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald is getting nasty. There are 19 people who have filed already, but there are just three front runners, State Assemblymember Laura Richardson, State Senator Jenny Oropeza and the daughter of the late Congresswoman Valerie McDonald. Power-brokers down in SoCal are taking sides. Yesterday, Senator Sheila Kuehl blasted Richardson for being "homophobic" in a letter and started fundraising for Orepeza.
The charges stem from an incident ten years ago when Richardson ran and lost to openly lay Gerrie Schipske for a State Assembly seat in Long Beach. Kuehl's letter yesterday charged that Richardson's campaign mailers during that race "were filled with homophobic hate speech so shocking that many of her biggest supporters withdrew their endorsements of her candidacy." Capitol Weekly:
Here we are at Labor Day weekend. Two months to go before Election Day and we just MIGHT be poised to take the U.S. House of Representatives. So, at this point in the election cycle, I would like to ponder this question:
What would it mean for San Francisco, and the people of the Eight Congressional District if Nancy Pelosi becomes Speaker?
Other than the symbolic prestige, would it mean more money to upgrades the streets? Perhaps the city can upgrade and improve our transit system? Could BART get enough funding to expand further into the South Bay and consider providing service to the North Bay?
Who would benefit the most politically? Gavin Newson? Fiona Ma? Mark Leno? The local unions?
When I lived in Michigan, John Dingell was my Congressman, and Christmas came year-round while he was Oversight Chairman. Hopefully now, California, especially the Bay Area, can get its fair share.
From Stu Rothenberg's lips to God's ears. It looks like official Washington is accepting the frame of a likely Democratic takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives.
