Archive for big money
Thank you for the most excellent link and tweet, John Dean:
In addition to the main house, which boasts seven bedrooms and a view of Lake Winnipesaukee, the property also features a stable “with living quarters,” a boat house, a beach volleyball court, and a giant trampoline — every grandchild’s dream, and the Romneys have 16 to keep happy. According to Town of Wolfeboro records, the stable house, which was valued at $250,000 when the Romneys purchased the property in 1997, is now worth $2.1 million. The lot where the stable is located alone is valued at $1.3 million, according to local tax records.
But hey, he’s “unemployed” just like us! A real 99%er! Not.
Meet Texas Insurance Commissioner Eleanor Kitzman:
The Texas Observer: Kitzman, a 54-year-old Houston native, is a close friend of [South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley]. Kitzman formerly directed the South Carolina Department of Insurance, but former Gov. Mark Sanford forced her out of that post. She ran for lieutenant governor in 2010, raising the majority of her campaign cash from the insurance industry, but lost the race. When Haley entered the governor’s office this year, she appointed Kitzman to a coveted position leading South Carolina’s budget board. Kitzman held the $173,000 post for six months before bolting for Texas this summer to regulate the insurance industry under Perry.
Looky here! Kitzman has had that job for about three months, and she’s already good at the pay-for-play game. In September, she headlined a political fundraising event where she had her hand out and Big Insurance filled it… for her BFF Nikki.
This would be the very same Big Insurance that she’s paid by Rick Perry to regulate.
When asked to comment, Kitzman’s assistant said she was out of state and when asked where out of state, her assistant’s witty retort was, “I’d rather not say.”
So much for that.
So why would Kitzman go to Texas to raise insurance money?
South Carolina voters have accurately predicted the eventual GOP presidential nominee since 1980; and a recent Winthrop University poll found that 70 percent of Republicans in the state approve of the job Haley is doing.
Meanwhile, the fresh-faced Tea Party governor has been sharpening her national profile and spending much time on FOX News, ramping up talk that she’s angling for a placement on 2012 vice presidential shortlists.
Kitzman’s Texas fundraising for Haley could be aimed at currying favor for Perry with the governor of a state with a January primary that could make or break Perry’s presidential run.
Both Perry and Haley have had their fair share of criticism for their pay-to-play antics. Here are two posts that go into Perry’s donors and their mutual love fests.
Alex Winslow, director of Texas Watch, a consumer protection watchdog group that has advocated for tighter regulation on the insurance industry in Texas, sums it up:
“There’s all kinds of speculation that Perry made this decision as a way to court Haley.”
What a handsome couple.
H/t: @PaigeCoop and @CoreyHutchins wrote the piece in the Observer.
Earlier, Paddy posted about Rick Perry’s SuperPAC, “Make Us Great Again”:
Washington (CNN) – A new super political action committee backing Texas Gov. Rick Perry is aiming to spend $55 million through next spring to help him gain the Republican presidential nomination, a source familiar with the group’s plans confirmed.
So who’s donating? Who’s supplying the big bucks? TPM has the details, but here are some teasers:
Bob Perry: Provided the seed money for the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth ads that went after John Kerry in 2004.
James Leininger: Called “the most influential Republican in Texas” in 2002, hosted a meeting between Perry and evangelical leaders at his ranch last month.
AT&T: Yes, the AT&T that the Justice Department is suing to block the merger with T-Mobile. And guess who Perry sent a letter to? The FCC, urging them to approve that merger.
Harold Simmons: I wrote about his donations here, where I reported that Simmons has forked out $1.12 million for GW Perry over the past few years. He got his money’s worth. His firm is building a new “low-level radioactive waste disposal site”… with Perry’s backing, of course. And not coincidentally, Perry signed a controversial law that allowed private companies to build facilities like that in Texas:
Simmons said, “We first had to change the law to where a private company can own a license, and we did that. Then we got another law passed that said they can only issue one license. Of course, we were the only ones that applied.”
Billy Joe “Red” McCombs: “[H]e’s looking to bring Formula One racing to the state with the help of $25 million in taxpayer-funded subsidies per year. He denies any connection between the funding and his donations…”
Aren’t they precious? Please read more about them here. Once again, welcome to Citizens United States of America.
Any sane person can take a look at these numbers and see Citizens United is a travesty.
Washington (CNN) – A new super political action committee backing Texas Gov. Rick Perry is aiming to spend $55 million through next spring to help him gain the Republican presidential nomination, a source familiar with the group’s plans confirmed.
That amount will probably eclipse what the Perry campaign itself is able to spend in that period, the source said.
The SuperPAC, called “Make Us Great Again,” is being run by one of Perry’s former key aides.
Concerning the group’s spending goal, a spokesman for “Make Us Great Again” told CNN that figure was in an “early planning document” that he said is now outdated.
An e-mail from Alan Grayson that addresses something I wrote about earlier, Big Money (some bolding mine, some his):
Here is a short, and very relevant, history lesson.
The Roman Senate governed Ancient Rome for five centuries. It looked much like the Congress today. The purpose of the Roman Senate was to rule in accordance with the wishes of the Roman People. The building in which the Roman Senate met, the “Curia Julia,” still stands in Rome today.
In 27 B.C., Augustus Caesar formally took control of Rome, and established the Roman Empire. But the Roman Emperors didn’t abolish the Senate. Instead, the Roman Senate continued to meet, for five more centuries, doing pretty much nothing.
Sound familiar?
During the Roman Empire, the Emperor held all the power. The Senate was simply a debating society, chosen by the Emperor, and serving at his pleasure. To prove this point, in 39 A.D., Emperor Caligula appointed his horse, Incitatus, to the Roman Senate.
What we are heading for, here in America, is something very much like that. The way things are going, Big Money will choose our “leaders” in Congress, and they will serve at Big Money’s pleasure.
Big Money doesn’t put horses in Congress. Just the hind-quarters of horses.
For the past few weeks, we have shown how Big Money is trying to select – not elect, select — the Congressman from my district. Big Money has now spent three times as much in lying TV attack ads as all of the money that my Republican opponent has raised. Big Money is going all out to replace me in Congress, because I can’t be bought.
Big Money doesn’t care who replaces me, as long as he’s pliant. It might as well be Caligula’s horse.
We are at a turning point in our own history. What will we be? A government of the people, by the people, and for the people? Or a dictatorship, ruled by the Empire of Money?
Truth,
Alan Grayson
P.S. To the 2000 supporters who have contributed to our campaign since this corporate firebombing began, from my heart, thank you.
H/t: Luci
God forbid the unwashed masses would hear the truth. Via Heather.
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