GOP FRONT THREE FLIP-FLOP; RETURN OF GALLEGLY & BLANCO; RENZI RUMORS GROW; HALL FACES TX PRIMARY.
Continue Reading April 29th, 2007
MONDAY NEWS UPDATE.
GOP FRONT THREE FLIP-FLOP; RETURN OF GALLEGLY & BLANCO; RENZI RUMORS GROW; HALL FACES TX PRIMARY.
CIVIL UNIONS: When it comes to state civil union legislation for same-sex couples, you could say Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney were each for it before they were against it. For years Giuliani was a vocal supporter of gay rights. He marched in gay pride parades each year, appointed out gay persons to prominent positions, supported hate crimes and domestic partner legislation, and even lived with a gay couple during his last divorce when his wife kicked him out of NYC’s mayoral mansion. That didn’t stop Giuliani from doing a total reversal, announcing his opposition this weekend to New Hampshire’s new civil union law which will give same sex couples the same legal rights under state law as those accorded to married couples. “Mayor Giuliani believes marriage is between one man and one woman. Domestic partnerships are the appropriate way to ensure that people are treated fairly. In this specific case the law states same sex civil unions are the equivalent of marriage and recognizes same sex unions from outside states. This goes too far and Mayor Giuliani does not support it,” said a written statement given to the New York Sun in response to questions. Compare this week’s statement to what Giuliani told FOX News in February 2004: “I’m in favor of … civil unions … That’s why you have civil partnerships. So now you have a civil partnership, domestic partnership, civil union, whatever you want to call it, and that takes care of the imbalance, the discrimination, which we shouldn’t have.” And, FYI, McCain likewise flip-flopped on the civil union issue this weekend. In November 2006, McCain told ABC News he was not in general against civil union legislation. On Friday, McCain tried dodging the issue entirely, saying he was a “federalist … [and] recognizes the right of the state of New Hampshire to regulate the institution of marriage and to pass civil union laws.” By Sunday, in a conference call with political bloggers, McCain jettisoned his former position of support. “I am opposed to that legislation … If I were a citizen of New Hampshire, I would oppose it. … Anything that impinges or impacts the sanctity of the marriage between men and women, I’m opposed to it.” Romney, as a candidate for Massachusetts Governor and US Senate, supported civil union legislation. He shifted his social positions sharply to the right as Governor, once he decided to run for President. “Governor Romney opposes the New Hampshire bill. He is a champion of traditional marriage. As Governor of Massachusetts, he has a clear record opposing same sex marriage and civil unions,” explained Romney’s campaign spokesperson to the Sun.
LOUISIANA: With former US Senator John Breaux (D) no longer looking at this year’s gubernatorial race, rumors are afoot that Governor Kathleen Blanco (D) may jump back into the contest. It was believed she exited the race a month ago to pave the way for Breaux to run. But, since Breaux ran into legal obstacles which blocked him from running, the picture has changed. Congressman Bobby Jindal (R) remains the solid frontrunner. The overt support the Louisiana Republican Party gave to Jindal prompted State Senator Walter Boasso last week to switch parties to continue his run for Governor as a Democrat. State Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell is also running, and is currently the leading Democratic candidate. When WAFB-TV asked Blanco about the rumors she was reconsidering her retirement decision, Blanco offered some very cryptic comments. “This is Louisiana and lots of exciting things can happen between now and the election. But, I’m certainly enjoying my current status and expect it to be the same … This is Louisiana and there are no written scripts before play day,” said Blanco. Candidate filing closes September 6.
TEXAS: Former Frisco Mayor Kathy Seei announced last week she will challenge Congressman Ralph Hall in next year’s GOP primary. “I have a very strong sense this is the year I’m supposed to run … This is more about me and my desire to serve than anything about Congressman Hall,” she explained to the Dallas Morning News. “She’s a nice lady, and she was a good mayor,” responded Hall, who said he doesn’t understand why Seei is challenging him as he believes she agrees with him on most issues. Hall, 83, says he intends to seek re-election to a 15th term in 2008. “I like what I’m doing. I want to go ahead and finish it,” said Hall. A conservative Democrat, Hall switched to Republican on the last day of candidate filing in 2004. Some speculate that Hall was planning to retire and Seei wants to get a jump on what will likely be a crowded field. However, Seei’s early start — and stepping on Hall’s toes in the process — may just force Hall to seek one more term.
ARIZONA: Despite a tidal wave of rumors to the contrary, Congressman Rick Renzi (R) says he will not resign his seat. Renzi and his family are the target of an FBI corruption probe that raided his home two weeks ago in search of evidence. The probe is related to allegation Renzi accepted an unreported $200,000 payment from a business partner and political supporter, possibly because it related to other improper conduct required in exchange for the cash. The Phoenix Business Journal reported US Senator Jon Kyl (R) and other leading Arizona Republicans are holding regular meetings to plan for holding the seat in the special election they also believe will follow the rapidly approaching resignation. According to the newspaper, Kyl and others are also pressuring Renzi to resign sooner rather than later. A large number of Democrats and Republicans are already positioning themselves to run in the special election.
CALIFORNIA: Congressman Elton Gallegly (R) totally botched his attempted retirement in 2006. In an effort to block GOP political rival Tony Strickland from jumping into his open seat race, Gallegly waited until just after filing closed to announce to the media he was going retire due to “health reasons” and quit the race immediately. Gallegly mistakenly thought he was unopposed in the primary and state law would allow the local party to pick an ally as his replacement on the ballot. Unfortunately, a little-known lawyer also filed in the GOP primary at the last minute, meaning the lawyer would have become the nominee if Gallegly quit. After several embarrassing days of attempting to stage the most inept retirement in Congressional history, Gallegly announced his doctors told him he had “recovered” and was now healthy enough to run again. Thus, Gallegly announced he’d run “one more time” before retiring — and won an easy re-election victory. Miracle of miracles, the mystery illness must now be in completely gone as Gallegly announced last week he now plans to seek re-election in 2008. Unless, of course, he’s really planning to quit again at the last minute. Fortunately, Gallegly now knows the correct way to choreograph the surprise switch: withdraw his papers and file someone else’s qualifying papers just before the filing deadline. Of course, it won’t be so much of a surprise to his Republican rivals if he tries it again this time.
Posted by Ron Gunzburger - 04.30.07 | Permalink | postCount(’043007a’);
FREE SPEECH ZONE.
The daily open thread.
Posted by Ron Gunzburger - 04.30.07 | Permalink | postCount(’043007b’);
FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE.
DEMS DEBATE; McCAIN DISSES GONZO; DEAN THREATENS FL DEMS; GEORGIA CD-10 SPECIAL.
P2008 DEM DEBATE: Talk about tame. The first Democratic Presidential Debate in South Carolina on Thursday evening was an overly polite, friendly exchange that probably changed very few minds. Some observations: (1) Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both easily held their places as the top tier candidates; (2) John Edwards’ safe performance was fine, but won’t do much to help keep him keep pace with Clinton and Obama; (3) Joe Biden sounded pretty good, pretty Presidential, but didn’t do enough yet to break himself out of the second tier; (4) Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd failed to make themselves stand apart from their second tier rivals; and (5) Dennis Kucinich will face a real fight in the third tier with Mike Gravel for the votes of the more leftist party activists.
GONZALES: John McCain became the latest Republican Senator to call for embattled Attorney General Al Gonzales to resign. “I am very disappointed in his performance. I think loyalty to the President should enter into his calculations,” he said to CNN. He is the first GOP Presidential hopeful to call for Gonzales to step down.
FLORIDA: RNC Chair Mel Martinez failed last month at pressuring his fellow Florida Republicans to back down from their support for the bipartisan legislation to bust the official Presidential primary schedule and move Florida forward to the whichever Tuesday follows the New Hampshire primary (January 29, based upon NH’s current intended date). Now the DNC is attempting the same threats against the Florida Dems. DNC Chair Howard Dean on Thursday told the Mortgage Bankers Association that it looks like Florida is the state most likely to break the official DNC/RNC sanctioned schedule. “If they do, our rules are so strict that not only will those states not collect any delegates, but anybody that campaigns in that state will be ineligible for any delegates from that state. We will reapportion their delegates to all the other candidates if they show up in a state that jumps ahead of February 5,” threatened Dean. According to the AP, leaders of both the Florida Republican Party and Florida Democratic Party say “losing delegates is less important than having more influence in the nation’s leadership” by holding a pre-February 5 primary. Governor Charlie Crist (R) has also endorsed the legislation.
GEORGIA: Candidate filing closed Thursday for the CD-10 special election to replace the late Congressman Charlie Norwood (R). Ten filed to run, including State Senator Jim Whitehead (R), physician Paul Broun Jr. (R), political consultant Bill Greene (R), wealthy former Yahoo executive Jim Marlow (D), psychotherapist Jim Sendelbach (Libertarian), plus three more Republicans and two more Democrats. Whitehead is the favorite to win, although Marlow has the personal financial resources to possibly the make the open primary race somewhat competitive. All ten candidates will appear on the June 19 primary ballot in alphabetical order. The election is a non-partisan contest, although each candidate’s party affiliation will be listed on the ballot. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, the top two will advance to a run-off election on July 17. Click here to view the Georgia page to see the entire list of candidates and links to their websites.
Posted by Ron Gunzburger - 04.27.07 | Permalink | postCount(’042707a’);
FREE SPEECH ZONE.
I got some complaints for not writing about McCain’s candidacy “announcement” on Wednesday. Well, it wasn’t really news. I’m tired of all these candidates — D and R alike — announcing and re-announcing their candidacies in these staged events devoid of real news … Also, congrats to the New Hampshire Legislature for passing civil union legislation for same-sex couples. Governor John Lynch (D) has promised to sign the bill into law.
Posted by Ron Gunzburger - 04.27.07 | Permalink | postCount(’042707b’);
THURSDAY NEWS UPDATE.
BLOOMBERG SORTA SAYS NO (YET AGAIN); NEW SC POLL NUMBERS.
BLOOMBERG: New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg (R) gave yet another of non-denial denial of his interest in running for President as an Independent in 2008. “I do not anticipate being a candidate this time or any other time … I plan to spend the next 984 days being mayor of what I think is the greatest city in the world. I have the best job in the world,” said the billionaire to Reuters during a trip to Mexico. Doesn’t “anticipate”? You see, every few months Bloomberg issues one of these statements that continues to leave the door open for a run.
SOUTH CAROLINA: New independent polls out for Presidential primary. This poll — conducted for the League of Conservation Voters by Ayers McHenry & Associates (R) and Hamilton Beattie & Staff (D) — places Hillary Clinton and John McCain in the lead. On the Dem side, Hillary Clinton was first with 31%, Barack Obama was next with 27%, followed by John Edwards at 16%. On the GOP side, John McCain led with 24%, Rudy Giuliani was second with 15%, Newt Gingrich was third with 12%, Fred Thompson was next with 11%, and Mitt Romney was fifth with 10%.
Posted by Ron Gunzburger - 04.26.07 | Permalink | postCount(’042607a’);
FREE SPEECH ZONE.
Why is today’s posting so short? I was in hearings all afternoon, then went rollerblading and swimming at the beach after work … so I’m just too tired to write more. Sorry.
Posted by Ron Gunzburger - 04.26.07 | Permalink | postCount(’042607b’);
WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE.
CULTURE OF CORRUPTION PROBES FOCUS ON FEENEY, RENZI, ROVE; DEMS SNUB KUCINICH IMPEACHMENT BILL.
ABRAMOFF CORRUPTION PROBE: Add Congressman Tom Feeney (R-FL) to the list of possibly corrupt federal legislators in the FBI’s crosshairs. The St. Petersburg Times reported that the FBI this week requested further information from Feeney about his ties to Abramoff. Former House committee staffer Mark Zachares — who was a pampered guest on Abramoff’s infamous luxury golf trips to Scotland (along with Bob Ney, Tom DeLay and Feeney) — pled guilty Monday to felony corruption charges for accepting over $30,000 in gifts in exchange for inside information about legislative action and homeland security contracts. Zachares is reported to be cooperating with the FBI in exchange for a lighter sentence. Zachares’ attorney told reporters his client is “fully cooperating” with the investigators in order to get a reduced sentence. Zachares is the 11th person to plead guilty in the Abramoff scandal. Feeney was identified as the previously unnamed “Representative #3″ in Justice Department indictment documents filed this week in the Zachares case. For those of you who have already forgotten, imprisoned former Congressman Bob Ney (R-OH) was the unnamed “Representative #1″ in other Abramoff case affidavits. Feeney told The Hill on Tuesday he is “not worried” and had “no relationship” with Abramoff. “The Scooter Libby case showed that you must be careful when dealing with the [Department of Justice, but] we’re giving them everything they need and more,” said Feeney. In news that may also be related, former Feeney Chief of Staff Jason Roe abruptly resigned Tuesday as Deputy Campaign Manager for Mitt Romney’s Presidential campaign. Roe, who was responsible for day-to-day operation of the Romney campaign, claimed “family obligations” as the reason for his sudden departure. Hmm … John Doolittle, Bill Jefferson, Jerry Lewis, Gary Miller, Rick Renzi, and now Tom Feeney. The list of House members under FBI investigation rapidly continues to grow.
CORRUPTION #2: In a sign of the seriousness of his growing FBI problems, Congressman Rick Renzi (R-AZ) on Tuesday resigned from all of his committee assignments. After the FBI raided his wife’s insurance business last week — reportedly seeking information related to Renzi and his wife’s involvement in some questionable business deals — Renzi quit his post on one committee. He quit the other two this week.
CORRUPTION #3: The Los Angeles Times and MSNBC reported Tuesday evening that the US Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is launching a potentially explosive and broad criminal investigation into the White House’s political operations. Presidential political strategist Karl Rove is believed to be the central target of the probe, with the initial focus being the allegedly improper role he may have played in the firing of US Attorney David Iglesias of New Mexico. The White House first tried to imply they initiated the probe in order to clear the air of all allegations of improper conduct. However, Iglesias quickly debunked the story and confirmed Tuesday evening for MSNBC that he was the person who filed a formal Hatch Act complaint with the OSC charging Karl Rove and others with possibly having violated federal law by firing him over his failure to initiate partisan-motivated prosecutions. Iglesias, who was appointed as US Attorney by President Bush in 2001, was the GOP nominee for NM Attorney General in 1998. The investigation could also cause electoral complications for US Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Congresswoman Heather Wilson (R-NM), who Iglesias believes pressured the White House to fire him for failing to rush politically charged case to produce indictments just before the November 2006 elections. Both Domenici and Wilson are up for re-election next year.
KUCINICH: Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D) is trying to garner some much-needed media attention for his underdog Presidential campaign. On Tuesday, Kucinich announced he was filing a bill of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney. The articles of impeachment include allegations of knowingly providing false intelligence information in public appearances before the Iraq War in order to mislead Congress, made false statements about ties between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi government, and is endangering national security by making his recent public threats of military action against Iran. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer was immediately dismissive of Kucinich’s impeachment resolution, telling the Washington Post that “I don’t have any thought about it” and that he and Speaker Pelosi planned to keep the House “focus[ed] on the substance of the issues at hand, and that’s what we’re going to do.” Translation: Kucinich will get no committee hearings and no House floor time to debate his resolution.
Posted by Ron Gunzburger - 04.25.07 | Permalink | postCount(’042507a’);
FREE SPEECH ZONE.
Just my two cents of editorializing here — and everyone here certainly knows I think Vice President Cheney is a manipulative liar advancing a malevolent political agenda of greed and war — but Kucinich’s impeachment resolution is a joke (sincere, perhaps, but ridiculous all the same). It’s a total waste of time, and a distraction from the real issues before Congress. Kucinich has filed it and held his press conference. Now it’s time to move on. In the words beloved by many cops: “Move on folks, there’s nothing to see here.”
Posted by Ron Gunzburger - 04.25.07 | Permalink | postCount(’042507b’);
TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE.
FORMER RUSSIAN PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, DEAD AT AGE 76.
While not US politics, the death of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin deserves to be the lead story because of the pivotal role he played in the downfall of Soviet communism. A dedicated communist, he rose through the Communist Party ranks by showing a rare populist streak. The charismatic regional leader saw his career quickly skyrocket once he was brought to Moscow, winning a spot on the powerful Politburo. Although some of his initial patrons were hardliners like Yegor Ligachev, Yeltsin soon broke free and showed an independent streak that troubled his colleagues.
While once a key ally in Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika reforms, the two men split when Gorbachev was pressured by hardliners to slow reforms and dump the troublesome Siberian. Yeltsin — a flawed man who readily acknowledged he drank too much and suffered from serious bouts of depression — was rousted from a hospital bed after a breakdown to be publicly humiliated and expelled from all his party posts at an open meeting. While Gorbachev may have started a sincere drive to truly reform the moribund Soviet Union, Gorbachev always intended — like the doomed Czech leader Dubcek in 1968 — merely to fix the system and make Marxism work in a positive way for the people. Gorbachev’s start-and-stop timidity, however, undermined his reformist drive to failure.
Yeltsin’s expulsion from the CPSU leadership was the best thing that could have happened to his career, as it made him a people’s hero. Despite active KGB and CPSU efforts to scuttle Yeltsin’s comeback, he first won a seat in the newly created Congress of People’s Deputies with his frequent anti-Gorbachev speeches. He was then named by the Congress to a seat on the Supreme Soviet, a position he used to be elected chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR in 1990 over Gorbachev’s open opposition. During this period, the George HW Bush Administration totally shunned Yeltsin, mistakenly tying US policy entirely to hopes for Gorbachev’s survival. In June 1991, Yeltsin impressively won 57% of the vote over Gorbachev’s endorsed candidate in Russia’s first democratic Presidential election. Yeltsin took office in July 1991, right as Gorbachev’s USSR was on the verge of a dangerous precipice.
Yeltsin, former Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze, and former Gorbachev reform ally Alexander Yakovlev all openly and correctly warned in speeches of a coming “dictatorship,” warning that Gorbachev had made too many concessions to hardliners in a Faustian bargain to maintain his shaky hold on power. In August 1991, the hardliners struck with an overnight coup that deposed Gorbachev and tried to reclaim control of the USSR. It was at this dark moment that Yeltsin rose to greatness, bravely using his personal popularity to resist the coup. At the risk of his life, Yeltsin drove in the early morning from his dacha outside the city to the government complex at the center of Moscow. Working to rally the pro-democracy demonstrators, he empowered them when he boldly climbed atop a Soviet tank and convinced the crew to turn their guns away from the building. He then addressed the crowds from atop the tank, rallying the democracy forces. From that moment forward, he guaranteed the strong resistance of the people and the swift collapse of the coup. That moment brought the collapse of not only the coup but of Soviet communism entirely. Within months, the Soviet Union itself was consigned to the dustbin of history, Gorbachev was out of power, the CPSU was outlawed, and Yeltsin was the most powerful man in the nation.
Yeltsin had to use military tanks to turn back a coup attempt against his government in 1993, led by his own Vice President and a key secret conspirator from the failed 1991 hardliner coup. This time, Yeltsin had the tanks open fire on the Congress, killing many rebels and arresting the surviving conspirators.
Yeltsin’s Presidency was marked by ups and downs, including a rise of widespread corruption, a messy transition to a market economy, and the emergence of the Mafia-state. The economy languished, he was largely passive due to bad health in his second term, and he ultimately tapped the despotic former KGB leader Vladimir Putin as his successor. Putin today is turning Russia back into an authoritarian nation, albeit a capitalist one. Still, despite all his flaws, it was Yeltsin — possibly even more than Gorbachev — who ensured the collapse of the feared Soviet Union and freed millions of people from state tyranny. The cause of freedom owes Boris Yeltsin a debt of gratitude.
Posted by Ron Gunzburger - 04.24.07 | Permalink | postCount(’042407a’);
CLINTON, McCAIN LEAD IN S.C.; CALIFORNIA SPECIAL ELECTION CANDIDATES EMERGE.
SOUTH CAROLINA: A new WPDE-TV/Zogby poll of South Carolina voters shows Senators Hillary Clinton and John McCain leading their respective primary fields. On the Democratic side, Clinton had 33%, followed by Barack Obama at 26%, John Edwards at 21%, and all others at less than 1% each. On the GOP side, McCain led with 22%, Rudy Giuliani was next with 19%, Fred Thompson was third with 11%, and Mitt Romney had 10%. South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford (R) — who has said repeatedly he will not run — was next with 8%, possibly as a sign of Republican dissatisfaction with the current field.
CALIFORNIA: Several names are already floating of candidates likely to run in the special election to replace the late Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald (D), who died Sunday. The names (all Democrats): State Senators Jenny Oropeza and Alan Lowenthal, State Assemblywomen Karen Bass and Laura Richardson, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, Carson Mayor Jim Dear, and Compton City Councilman Isadore Hall III. A big enough turnout by any single ethnic or racial group could determine the outcome of a traditionally low turnout race this like this one.
Posted by Ron Gunzburger - 04.24.07 | Permalink | postCount(’042407C’);
FREE SPEECH ZONE.
The daily open thread.
Posted by Ron Gunzburger - 04.24.07 | Permalink | postCount(’042407b’);
WANNA TRADE?
I’m interested in building up my collection of Canadian campaign buttons. If you’ve got Canadian political buttons to trade (both federal and provincial), I’m interesting in swapping with you (and will also trade your Canadian buttons for some of my great US pins). Please drop me a note! Also interested in buying Canadian pins, if you’re not interested in trading.