Category: Congress

F%$# Me!

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Well, we may now have a reason as to why Bayh announced when he did, because he wanted the party to select his successor, which, my guess, he found preferable to the possibility someone who is not a right wing preening DINO (i.e. Blue Dog) getting the nod:

On a conference call with county Democratic Party chairs this afternoon, Sen. Evan Bayh and Indiana Democratic Party Chair Dan Parker declared that not having a Democratic primary to find a replacement for the retiring Bayh would have its upsides, according to a source who was on the call.

It appears that he wanted the party apparatus to select someone from their “deep bench,” which means, I guess, that he was looking at another right wing F%$#.

Unfortunately, no one thought about Tamyra d’Ippolito, who now appears likely to have the required signatures in time to get on the ballot, and it’s likely that the Republicans are helping:

Tamyra d’Ippolito, a cafe owner who has been seeking the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat currently held by Evan Bayh, just told TPMDC that she does have the minimum number of ballot-petition signatures need to get on the ballot for the Democratic primary. If her petitions do in fact work out, that would seriously complicate the efforts by the party to pick a new candidate to replace Bayh, the retiring incumbent Democrat, on the ballot this November.

……

I asked d’Ippolito about the possibility that Republicans may have given her a hand. Erick Erickson, for example, personally encouraged his Indiana readers to sign her petitions. “God bless him, because anybody can sign the petition,” said d’Ippolitio. “Republican, Democrat, independent, teabag person, any registered voter with a warm pulse can sign.”

D’Ippolito was not specifically aware of Republicans who signed her petitions in order to cause problems for the Democrats, but she didn’t have a problem with it: “I have no way to know that for sure, but I’m sure that is happening. It’s common sense, I think that would be realistic.”

Late Update: After telling TPM that she already had the necessary signatures collected, d’Ippolito is now denying to Greg Sargent that she has them yet, saying instead that she would have them in time.

This makes Bayh either incompetent or malevolent, you choose. He either tried to be cute about it, and got bitten, or he was just being a dick.

Here’s hoping that D’Ippolito has some problems with the signatures, because in addition to having worked for Lehman, her business, where she is also living illegally, is facing eviction.

Update on the Bayh Announcement

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I don’t like the idea of a yet another Blue Dog becoming the Senator from Indiana, but Tamyra D’Ippolito is a political horror show.

She’s not just a political neophyte, she is also a 20 year veteran of Wall Street, including time at Lehman brothers.

So, what she appears to be is someone who spent 20 years on Wall Street, some of it at one of the more infamous players in finance, and then retired and decided to play dilettante.

It’s a toxic combination of ties to the financial crisis and political inexperience.

I’ll stick with what I said earlier, I’m pulling for Evansville Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel, though I am going to hate spelling his name.

Bowing Out Like a Punk

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Yeah, like this will go over with Indiana voters

Evan Bayh will not stand for reelection.*

Yes, unlike Chris Dodd, who announced well in advance, and was frank about the reason, that he thought that he would lose, Evan Bayh’s announcement comes as a complete surprise to to everyone, with 1 day left to the primary filing deadline, and the only person close to having the signatures necessary being a protest candate, Tamyra d’Ippolito, a café owner in Bloomington.

If she gets the necessary signatures, 500 signatures in each Congressional district, it means that if any Democrat wants to run against her, they will have to do so as a write in candidate in the May primary.

If she gets the signatures, expect the Dem establishment to challenge every signature.

If she doesn’t get the signatures, then the Indiana Democrat Party appoints a nominee, with the likely suspects being, “Dem Reps Brad Ellsworth and Baron Hill, and Evansville mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel.”

I’m hoping for the mayor, because I don’t care about the municipal government of Evansville, but I do care about the composition of the United States House of Representatives, and both Ellsworth and Hill are Blue Dogs.

Mother Jones nailed it when they said, “Evan Bayh quits in a huff“, because the manner of his withdrawal makes it clear that he is doing this in a way most calculated to cause damage to the Democratic Party, either by leaving them without a viable candidate for the Senate, or by pulling in a candidate from one of the Democratic Congressmen, which leaves that seat open.

On the other hand, most of the potential big name Republican candidates have already elected not to run, which leaves former Senator Dan Coats, who, as Charles Lemos shows, moved out of the state, and has to rent a house to run. (See video)

Still I do not think that this is an attempt to jam up the Republicans, he did it out of pique.

Why else would he have waited until after the news was public to tell Harry Reid?

I agree with Mark Ambinder who nails it in a tweet, either 100 characters, or 81 if you don’t count spaces:

Why Bayh? He wanted to be POTUS and came to hate the Senate and liberal activists. He wanted no mas.

He not only voted for the Iraq invasion, he was a f%$#ing cosponsor for the bill, which means that he will never be president, and now he is pouting.

Joe Lieberman writ small.

*Like Evan Bayh ever stood for anything, except perhaps for the ambition of Evan Bayh.

Oh, This is Rich

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Bummer of a birth mark, Harold

You know that Harold Ford, chairman of the corporatist squish faux Democratic DLC and failed US Senate candidate in Tennessee is considering a Senate run in New York State.

Well, now it turns out that he’s never filed a New York state tax return, despite the fact that he has been employed at Merrill Lynch since 2007:

Ford claims to have moved to New York three years ago, and says paying “New York taxes” makes him a New Yorker. But his spokeswoman confirms to Gawker that he’s never filed a New York tax return — meaning that he’s never paid New York’s income tax, despite keeping an office and a residence in New York City as a vice chairman of Merrill Lynch since 2007: “He pays New York taxes and will file a New York tax return in April for the first time,” Ford’s spokeswoman Tammy Sun told Gawker. “He will file all necessary personal disclosure and tax forms that candidates are required to file if he chooses to run.” (According to Sun, Ford admitted to the tax dodge yesterday at a press availability in Albany, but we can’t find any news accounts mentioning the remarks.)

Now it appears that there has been some damage control from his PR folks, who are now saying that he will be filing a return for the first time in April, which means that he’s been breaking New York state law, which requires that out of state residents pay taxes on income earned in New York, and so file.

Someone has broken the law, and put his foot in it again.

Note: Tennessee, of course, has no personal income tax.

[on edit] Not completely true: There are no income taxes in Tennessee on wages and salaries, other forms of income, interest and dividends for example, are taxable.

Obama Fail

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OK, so Obama made some noises about recess appointments, and the Republicans let 27 nominees get an up or down vote, the ones that do not matter.

Well, that’s good.

What is not good is that Obama followed up with signals that there is no need for recess appointments (BTW, Clinton made about 150, and GWB made about 200).

No, when you have them down, you put your foot on their neck.

If they block your Transportation Security Administration (TSA) nominee, as they did. because they don’t like Barack Obama’s position on union rights for the employees, you don’t back down, you appoint Teamsters President James Hoffa as your TSA chief. Hell, if they were still alive, you appoint his dad, Jimmy Hoffa, or maybe Walter Ruther or Eugene V. Debs during the recess.

Unfortunately, as Ezra Klein notes, in getting this small concession, Obama stated that recess appointments are a, “rare but not unprecedented step,” which makes any attempt to do recess appointments in the future an invitation to your standard Republican sh%$ storm of phony outrage, and as Matthew Yglesias notes, the Obama administration really does not have time for this crap.

Stupid, really stupid.

Don’t Let the Door Hit Your Ass on the Way Out, Billy Boy

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So PhRMA (the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America) has just fired* Billy Tauzin, because the deal that he cut with the Obama administration, basically a few penniess in promised savings so as to forestall price controls and drug reimportation.

Now that the healthcare plan is in shambles, it’s likely that stuff will be passed piecemeal, and high on that list will be drug reimportation.

Tauzin got his $2 million a year job because he pushed through the Medicare drug benefit, which was basically sloppy anilingus to PhRMA, and the gig was his payoff.

Couldn’t happen to a more evil piece of sh%$.

*Yes, I know that the story says that a, “friend of Mr. Tauzin, speaking on condition of anonymity,” says that he is, “leaving the trade group job voluntarily to pursue other activities,” but seriously, don’t take us for idiots.

Speaking of Not Having Real Regulation in the United States

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It looks like one of the major changes in regulation of financial services firms, that they act in their clients best interest, a so-called fiduciary responsibility, as opposed to the current standard of “industry standard” behavior, which basically says that the only crime is to get caught.

Well, Tim Johnson, no doubt still suffering from the effects of his stroke 3 years ago, has decided to kill the fiduciary requirement, and send the idea to the SEC for a “study”:

Lobbying by insurers and banks including Morgan Stanley may result in the elimination of a proposed new standard that would make retail brokers more accountable to their clients.

Tim Johnson, the South Dakota Democrat in line to become the next chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, is circulating a proposal that would drop the so-called fiduciary standard for brokers from the panel’s reform package, according to a copy obtained by Bloomberg News. Johnson instead proposes that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission conduct an 18- month study to see if there’s need for a new broker standard.

Consumer advocates have pushed for the fiduciary standard, arguing that investors are misled by the adviser title used by thousands of brokers. Investors have difficulty distinguishing between investment advisers and brokers, and most see their brokers as advisers, according to a 2008 Rand Corp. study commissioned by the SEC. Without the fiduciary requirement, brokers don’t have the same accountability for their advice as investment advisers and have more leeway to sell financial products created by their own firms instead of seeking the best investment for the customer.

Not only is this bad policy, it’s bad politics.

Make the Republicans vote against a law that says, “Financial advisers must act in their client’s best interests,” if you push it, people will understand it.

Reid to Baucus, Drop Dead

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So, the Senate is working on a jobs program, and Max Baucus (DINO-MT), in a reprise of his disastrous negotiations with Republicans on healthcare, cuts a deal with Chuck Grassley (R-IA).

So, it includes all the goodies that the ‘Phants demand, mostly big tax cuts or extensions of tax cuts, about $31 billion, as well as a cut in the estate tax, which is currently 0%, but goes back up to its pre-Bush levels in 2011 (see Throw Mama from the Train).

Well, some Senate Democrats had a word with Harry Reid, and it appears that they made it clear that their support is by no means assured, and minority leader Mitch McConnell was unwilling to offer support, or even to support cloture, so Reid pulled out all of the tax cut goodies for Republicans. (also here)

Good for him.

Unless you get 5 Republicans swearing on a bible on video tape that they will vote for cloture, don’t give them anything, ever.

I’d also say, if Baucus wants a bill to go through his committee, you should say what Marcel Marceau said, “No.”

Ben Nelson and Blanch Lincoln Need to be Reminded What it Means to Be a Democrat

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It’s one thing to oppose a presidential appointee of your own party, but Ben Nelson Blanche Lincoln, just filibustered Craig Becker to serve on the National Labor Relations Board, and that crosses a line.

Their committee chairmanships should be in doubt, though that won’t happen with Harry “Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man” Reid leading the senate.

Note also that Nelson spoke out strongly against filibustering Bush appointees, but he’s with it when it involves Obama.

In either case, this is where a line should be drawn.

The reason for the filibuster? Because Craig Becker has represented labor unions as a lawyer. No problem with nominating union busting lawyers, but nominating a lawyer that supports workers’ rights? So Ben Nelson, and the Senator from WalMart filibustered him.

Needless to say, the AFL-CIO has blown a gasket over Nelson’s vote, I think that they understand that Lincoln is bought and paid for by WalMart.

Capitulation On Healthcare?

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So, Obama has announced a televised summit with the Dems and the ‘Phants on healthcare, where everything is on the table.

It appears that he’s pushing Dems to come on board for the idea, which appears to me to continue to be, “Just put ‘Healthcare’ on a piece of paper, and I’ll sign it.

Well, the response from the Republicans was that he must kill the House and Senate bills and forswear reconciliation before any such meeting, and the White House response to this, at least insofar is Press Secretary Robert Gibbs is concerned, is to say that they are willing to talk without preconditions.

One interesting twist to this is that John Boehner is also objecting to it being televised, because, I think that he realizes that “no” is not photogenic.

So, is this yet another misguided attempt by Obama to get Republicans to like him (my choice), or is it a bit of elventy dimensional chess where Obama gets Republicans to hang themselves on live TV? (What Boehner fears)

Shelby Backs Down

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Remember when I wrote that Richard Shelby had placed holds on every single Obama nominee because he wanted his pork?

Well, he’s backed down, a little at least:

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) has released his controversial “holds” on more than 70 pending presidential nominations, his office said Monday night.

Note that his holds directed at anyone, or anything that might have to do with the USAF tanker RFP, remain in place though.

News of the Unsurprising

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It turns out that almost all money donated by HP employees and HP related PACs in the California Senate race is going to Barbara Boxer, not Carly Fiorina.

In fact, more HP money has gone to her GOP challengers, most notably Chuck Devore, than has gone to Carly.

When Carly Fiorina was fired by Hewlett Packard*, employees at every level, spontaneously burst into song.

The song? Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead!

The idea that HP employees, and HP tied political institutions, view her with anything but unbelievably well justified disgust is not news.

*Sorry, HP, one of her innovations was to drop the “Hewlett” and “Packard” after they stood up to her disastrous policies.

Dodd Says that Financial Reform Has Stalled

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I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here!

There is probably an element of truth to Chris Dodd’s claim that he cannot come to an agreement with Senate Republicans on financial reform:

The chairman of the Senate banking committee said Friday that efforts to reach a bipartisan consensus on sweeping legislation to overhaul the nation’s financial regulatory system had “reached an impasse,” but he said he intends to move forward even without Republican support.

For the second time since November, talks have stalled between Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) said ranking Republican Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.). Both men have expressed interest in reaching a consensus on a wide-ranging bill that would revamp regulation of the financial services industry. But after months of negotiation, they have yet to overcome a key hurdle: the proposed creation of a consumer protection regulator to focus on mortgages, credit cards and other such financial products.

The part that is suspicious, and the reason that I’m inclined to believe that he has lost interest in reform now that he is no longer running for reelection, is that he is going all Claude Rains on the fact that Republicans are not negotiating in good faith.

We’ve seen this phenomenon over and over again: Republicans do not negotiate in good faith until you have something that would kill them politically to vote against.

First you jam them up, then you twist their arm, and then maybe, just maybe, they will agree to be cooperative as you move their head toward the toilet bowl.

Bipartisanship This!

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Richard Shelby is now placing holds on all Obama nominations he doesn’t think that the Obama administration is being friendly enough to Airbus/Northrop-Grumman on the tanker deal, and because they have not started constructed an FBI lab that he cut an earmark for in his district:

According to the report, Shelby is holding Obama’s nominees hostage until a pair of lucrative programs that would send billions in taxpayer dollars to his home state get back on track. The two programs Shelby wants to move forward or else:

– A $40 billion contract to build air-to-air refueling tankers. From CongressDaily: “Northrop/EADS team would build the planes in Mobile, Ala., but has threatened to pull out of the competition unless the Air Force makes changes to a draft request for proposals.” Federal Times offers more details on the tanker deal, and also confirms its connection to the hold.

– An improvised explosive device testing lab for the FBI. From CongressDaily: “[Shelby] is frustrated that the Obama administration won’t build” the center, which Shelby earmarked $45 million for in 2008. The center is due to be based “at the Army’s Redstone Arsenal.”

(emphasis mine)

Seriously, you cannot negotiate with these clowns.

Bipartisanship needs a plan B.

I would suggest stress positions, waterboarding, extreme sleep deprivation, and enforced nudity.

A ½ Step

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It looks like there is increased momentum in the Senate for raising the tax rate on big bonuses for bailed out firms

Senators Barbara Boxer and Jim Webb proposed a 50 percent tax on 2009 bonuses above $400,000 at any firm that has received more than $5 billion in government assistance.

The senators said they had not yet gathered broad support for the proposal, and neither sits on the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, which would likely have to take up the bill. A 35 percent tax on bonuses at bailed-out companies was proposed last year by the leaders of the Finance Committee, Democrat Max Baucus and Republican Charles Grassley, but it has not been acted on.

I call it a half step, because in order to fix this, it needs to apply to a lot more people than that, and to apply to all income.

The marginal tax rate for people earning more than about $5 million a year should be north of 75%.

I don’t care if it’s Lloyd Blankfein, A-Rod, or Lady Gaga, let’s raise their taxes.

Talk About Mixed Emotions

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Dan Coats will run against Evan Bayh for the US Senate in Indiana, and I have mixed emotions about this.

Coats is clearly a wingnut, he was screaming “wag the dog” about Clinton military activities in addition to being a fierce supporter of Harriet Miers, but he is running against Evan Bayh, and Evan Bayh really sucks.

I know that LBJ said that, “Better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside pissing in,” but Bayh is inside the tent pissing in.

What’s more, he’s corrupt, bought and paid for though his wife, who gets highly remunerative board positions by virtue of his pro-special interest votes.

Since he’s given up on being President, he’s moved very far to the right, and he’s more of a hurt than a help.

Don’t Give to the DNC

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Contributions to the DNC Paid This Man to Sabotage Healthcare Reform

Here’s a shocker, the DNC just spent nearly ½ a million dollars for the Nebraska State Democrats to run a campaign commercial for Ben Nelson’s obstructionism:

Turns out, though, that it’s [see attached video] not a Ben Nelson campaign ad. It’s hard to read the disclaimer, but the ad was paid for by the Nebraska Democratic Party. It’s one of a series of ad touting Nelson’s “courageous” effort to bring down real health care reform. More of the ads can be seen here and here.

So, one wonders, where did the Nebraska Democratic Party get the money to pay for these TV ads?

We already know that they are doing nothing about LGBT civil rights, now we know that since Howard Dean has left the chairmanship, they oppose meaningful healthcare reform too.

Find your candidates, and donate to them. The DNC, DCCC, the DSCC, and OFA are going to spend your money on people like Ben Nelson.