Democrats: The "D" Stands for Dishonest

According to Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Sen. Robert Menendez, the Democratic strategy for this fall is to run away from the Democrats' legislative record and try to make the election a choice between political parties. In support of this strategy, President Obama offered up a cutesy little metaphor:

"I do want to point out, when you get in your car, when you go forward, what do you do? You put it in 'D.' When you want to go back, what do you do? You put it in 'R.' We don't want to go into reverse back in the ditch."

Effectively, the strategy is to run against George W. Bush.

"Blame Bush" is hardly a new strategy. One might even say it's a worn-out dogma that has, for far too long, strangled our politics. It's like President Obama's mind is stuck in reverse. And it's because of this brand of childishness that the president's once-soaring popularity has declined, by the way.

Far worse, however, is that it's dishonest. The groundwork for the financial crisis was laid before George W. Bush took office. In the last month of his presidency, President Bill Clinton signed the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which exempted the toxic mortgage-backed securities from government regulation. And before that Clinton signed the Financial Services Modernization Act which allowed the creation of the mega-banks, the banks that were "too big to fail".

So by the time President Bush (43) took office big banks were getting bigger and had been equipped with the financial instruments that Warren Buffett described as "weapons of financial mass destruction". The car was already in overdrive when George W. Bush first sat in the driver's seat.

But blaming President Clinton is overly simplistic; it's the sort of thing the Democrats would do, and I most certainly will not stoop to their level. The global financial crisis was a complex occurrence, and the guilty parties are many. (Besides, the former president has had the decency to admit his error in creating the climate for the collapse.) However, when doling out blame, there are some very guilty people who mustn't escape notice: former Clinton advisers who now, coincidentally, are Obama's advisers.

As it turns out, we can't put the car in reverse because we've already gone backward.

Liberal columnist Paul Krugman asserts, dejectedly, that all of Obama's economic advisers are "proteges of [Clinton Treasury Secretary] Robert Rubin, the apostle of financial deregulation". And Krugman is right to do so. Beyond being mere proteges, Obama's economic advisers were in the room with Rubin as he pushed for the Financial Services Modernization Act before bailing government service for a $15-million-a-year job at Citigroup. (Citigroup itself having been created in a merger made legal by the Financial Services Modernization Act--it's dealings like that which earned Rubin a spot on Market Watch's 10 most unethical people in business.)

Let's take a look at the Rubin proteges who shape Obama's thinking:

• Larry Summers, Rubin's Deputy Treasury Secretary and successor, is now Obama's Director of the National Economic Council. Summers pushed Congress to deregulate the derivatives market on the basis that financial institutions are "eminently capable of protecting themselves from fraud and counterparty insolvencies"--financial speak for "they can police themselves". As it turns out, they couldn't.

• Timothy Geithner was Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs in the Clinton Treasury Department and is now Obama's Secretary of the Treasury. According to a Wall Street Journal bio, Geithner "learned from Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers". As previously reported in this blog, Geithner was in the room with Lehman Brothers as they engaged in fraud, knew it, and failed to take commensurate action. What a stand-up guy.

• Gary Gensler's official biography as Obama's Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission states that, as Under Secretary of the Treasury, "Chairman Gensler was the principal advisor to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and later to Secretary Lawrence Summers on all aspects of domestic finance." Ah, so he was Rubin's Rubin. According to The New York Times, Gensler also played a "significant role in shepherding through Congress deregulation measures that led to the explosive growth of the over-the-counter derivatives market."

And, of course, there are more, lower-profile Clinton era (read as: deregulation era) economic advisers surrounding President Obama. Not quite the "Change" we were promised.

President Obama has oft-repeated a line about Republicans driving the country into a ditch. He ought to level with us and mention that the car had faulty steering and brake lines, and that they were installed by his own economic team. That doesn't make for a very rousing stump speech, however.

Sadly, our local trial lawyer won't press our case and demand restitution from the negligent technicians who put us here. Apparently, the Democratic cause has already paid her a hefty retainer for her services.

We can take heart that the tow truck is coming this November.

Since You Asked...The Answer is HELL YES: Mary Jo is Anti-Israel

In a desperate attempt to convince voters that Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy is not an opponent of the strong, friendly relationship that exists between the United States and Israel the Congresswoman's campaign recently launched a new website, http://ismaryjoantiisrael.com/. The dull and uninspired website, which is un-sourced and provides veritably no useful information to voters, poses a solid white background with the question "Is Mary Jo Anti-Israel?" in black lettering, and then in large, bold-faced type: "NO" with a link to contribute to the Congresswoman's campaign. (However you needn't worry about contributing even if you are so misguided as to support her; she's already supplemented her campaign with your tax dollars.)

Kilroy's denial is very adamant, and I think the lady doth protest too much. An examination of the Congresswoman's record demonstrates that she has not been a "100%" supporter of Israel as she claims. In fact, Mary Jo Kilroy is one of the most anti-Israel Members of Congress. Period.

Congresswoman Kilroy's record of disregard for the U.S.-Israel alliance predates her tenure in the United States Congress. In 2002, during the height of the second Palestinian intifada, then-Franklin County Commissioner Kilroy was the lone vote against a three-part resolution expressing determination to 1) stand behind the efforts of the president in support of the government and the people of Israel in their time of crisis; 2) stand behind the State of Israel in its campaign against terrorism; and 3) support the State of Israel in its efforts to live in peace and security.

It is unclear to which innocuous provision(s) Ms. Kilroy objected: standing behind the president, supporting the people of Israel in a bloody conflict that cost them the lives of 1,063 of their countrymen, or supporting our ally in its quest to live in peace and security. Regardless of from which provision her objections stemmed, in dissenting to any she expressed disdain and disrespect for the people of Israel.

After being elected to Congress, Kilroy continued to exhibit her disdain for Israel. Congresswoman Kilroy was one of only 54 representatives to sign a letter urging President Obama to pressure Israel into easing blockade restrictions on the HAMAS-controlled Gaza Strip. Additionally, Kilroy was one of only six representatives to sign a letter asking Attorney General Eric Holder to hold a meeting with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy group the FBI has found to be linked to the terrorist group HAMAS, the primary goal of which is to "obliterate" Israel.

Now, why would Mary Jo take such positions so far out of the mainstream? Gosh, surely this can't possibly be another example of Kilroy being bought and paid for by disreputable characters....

Yep. It's that again. She's sold herself so many times you'd think she was on the other end of the Craigslist scandal.

As it turns out, Mary Jo Kilroy has a long-standing donor/puppet relationship with the Council on American-Islamic Relations. When then-Commissioner Kilroy voted against the resolution supporting Israel in 2002 CAIR was there to praise her for her "responsible stand by abstaining from voting on this very disturbing resolution." And then, in four years time, when Kilroy decided to make her first run for Congress, CAIR National Vice Chairman Ahmad Al-Akhras rewarded Kilroy for her anti-Israel sentiments with the first of many campaign donations.

If Kilroy's collection of bizarre out-of-state and out-of-the-mainstream donors can be likened to a compost heap, Ahmad Al-Akhras might well be the biggest weed growing out of it. Check out the picture of him below pressing the flesh with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's predecessor, Mohammad Khatami.

(Picture originally from CAIR's 2006 Annual Report)

Beyond being the No. 2 man at a front group for HAMAS, Al-Akhras has been known to serve as a character reference for convicted terrorists. Take, for example, Christopher Paul, an Ohio man who was charged and later plead guilty to "conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, namely explosives to be used as bombs" against U.S. citizens and property outside the United States as part of an al-Qaeda plot. Al-Akhras, who claimed to know Paul, said of him: "From the things I know, he is a loving husband and he has a wife and parents in town. They are a good family together." Paul was such a fine family man and father that investigators seized a letter from his apartment instructing his wife to raise "little mujahideen," or holy warriors. (The children are our future--even for jihadis!)

Kilroy donor Al-Akhras vouched for another suspected terrorist when he asserted that Nuradin Abdi, a Somali national accused of plotting to blow up a shopping mall, was "unlike how he [was being] portrayed" by the FBI. Al-Akhras went on to predict a dismissal of the charges, "This may be one of the cases also that may not have enough evidence or there's no evidence at all." Abdi later plead guilty to providing material support to terrorists.

With Congresswoman Kilroy sitting on the House Homeland Security Committee, it's deeply disturbing that she's accepting money from a guy who, at best, associates with terrorists and, more likely, is one.

It's equally disturbing to consider that she's so mentally warped as to make an argument that she supports Israel while palling around with folks who are nothing more than front men for a terrorist organization that's sole purpose is to destroy Israel.

The national Democrats want to make this election a choice, not a referendum on the legislative overhauls passed by the sitting Congress. In the case of Ohio's 15th Congressional District, the choice could not be clearer: Lt. Colonel Steve Stivers, who has worn the uniform of his country in the fight against terrorists, or Mary Jo Kilroy, a politician funded by terrorists.

Mary Jo, Nancy, and The Pimp

Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy gets her money from some disreputable places. As previously reported in this blog, Kilroy has received money from the man who modernized the prostitution industry, Craigslist Founder Craig Newmark. Yesterday, Third Base Politics highlighted a CNN investigation into the role of Craigslist in the underage sex trade and suggested Congresswoman Kilroy should donate the money she received from Craig Newmark to charity. When you think about the flow of cash used to make this particular donation, it's impossible not to agree.

Craigslist makes nearly one third of its $122 million in revenues from "adult services" ads--that's more than $36 million of revenues earned from what are, essentially, pimping fees. With his company raking in pimping revenues hand over fist, it's safe to say a good chunk of Craig Newmark's net worth came in the form of sweaty, fluid-encrusted cash from the hands of gratified johns.

According to the CNN investigation, "A 20-year-old identified only as 'Jessica' works out of low-rent hotels on Washington's busy Interstate 95 corridor. She posts [Craigslist] ads mid-morning for $10 and says she earns up to $250 from each man who answers and shows up."

$250--that's the exact amount of money Craig Newmark has donated to Congresswoman Kilroy so far this election cycle. It's almost as though the john was paying Kilroy directly. Sleazy. And it's all happening right there in our nation's capital, right under Kilroy's nose.... I thought they were going to drain the swamp?

Over the course of the Congresswoman's career Newmark has basted her with $2,000 in direct donations. Indirectly, Newmark has furnished Kilroy with even more money by donating $15,500 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Barack Obama's Hopefund, Inc., Al Franken's Midwest Values PAC, and Howard Dean's Democracy for America, all of which have given sizable donations to Kilroy over the course of her career as a politician.

I don't know how many sex acts that all translates into, but I'm sure it's more than enough to have crushed the spirits of more than a few young women. The flow of money is sickening:

Sweaty, gratified palms of a john --> involuntary prostitute --> Craigslist/Craig Newmark --> Mary Jo Kilroy

What's particularly disgusting is Mary Jo Kilroy's hypocrisy. The Congresswoman has accepted a lot of money from well-meaning "Women's Issues" groups. She has two daughters; we've seen them in her ads. Congresswoman Kilroy should be out front showing some leadership to stop sex trafficking. Instead, she and her party are all but supporting it by accepting donations from the world's most notorious pimp.

Of course, as in everything, Mary Jo Kilroy is just following the example of her mentor, Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi has also accepted graft from Newmark. Together they're making a mockery of women's empowerment by abandoning the truly helpless to a cruel fate. Apparently, the Pelosi-Kilroy bond is strengthened by a mutual willingness to be blind to anything so long as it helps them gain the cash they need to stay in power.

Birds of a Feather
(Original photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/speakerpelosi/3748460352/in/photostream/)

The issue shows a stark and meaningful contrast between Congresswoman Kilroy and her opponent, Lt. Colonel Steve Stivers. Stivers, while a State Senator, voted to strengthen anti-human trafficking laws by mandating prison terms for persons found guilty of human trafficking and payment of restitution to victims.

Steve Stivers knows what is right, and he does it.

Mary Jo Kilroy doesn't care what is right. She cares about cash for her re-election, and she'll accept it from anyone--even a pimp.

Kilroy Keelhauls Economy with Sweetheart Deal

As Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy updates her resume for her post-November job hunt she can add a new achievement: causing economic chaos by bringing a $1.4 trillion market to a grinding, painful halt. As the result of a Kilroy-authored provision of the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law, the world's three largest bond rating agencies said their credit ratings could no longer be used in documentation for new bond sales. Because many types of bonds are required by law to include credit ratings in their official documentation, the bond market was completely shut down with no asset-backed bonds put on sale this week. 

I'm not sure how many jobs the collapse of a $1.4 trillion market destroys or fails to save, but I'm sure it's a lot. And beyond the killed jobs, the ramifications for consumer credit will be devastating: Ford Motor Co. has already been forced to scuttle a debt deal to finance auto loans.

[For a good discussion of Kilroy's blunder, watch the video here with Ford Motor Company CEO Alan Mulally. It gets relevant around 4:21.]

Think about it: Nobody can get a loan to buy a car because Congresswoman Kilroy just killed the bond market. If nobody can get financing then there aren't going to be many cars rolling off the lot. If nobody is buying cars, there's no need to make cars (or car parts). If there's no need to make cars or car parts, there's no need for workers to be employed at Honda Marysville (Congratulations to them on cranking out their 10 millionth vehicle earlier this week!). Worthington Industries would likely have to make cutbacks too as the demand for automobile steel tanks. So where does that leave us? Car dealers, car manufacturers, steel workers, the drivers who deliver the cars, the workers who make the car parts, and all the support personnel at all the previously mentioned entities left without work. Of course, you can't turn on the TV without seeing a commercial for a car dealership so there are going to be some cutbacks at the TV stations too from the loss of advertising revenues... but I'm sure, by now, you see the pattern: it's all connected. It's not so much a financial overhaul as an economic keelhaul. No bond sales = no consumer financing = no consumption = no jobs. 

And why'd Kilroy do it? To make the financial system more accountable? To right horrific wrongs?

Nope. She did it to excite the erogenous zones of one of her key constituencies: the trial lawyers! This is an election year, and she needs cash.

The Kilroy provision (or Kiljobs provision, if you prefer) renders ratings agencies "expert", and thus, exposes them to a new liability similar to that held by auditors. A major difference, of course, is that auditors are liable for their examination of what is and bond raters are now liable for predictions of what may be. In effect, bond raters now face a level of liability greater than anyone else in all of business: in order to avoid being sued into oblivion bond raters must predict the future accurately every time at bat.

Congresswoman Kilroy knows full well that no one bats a thousand. Just look at her own political party and the "Summer of Recovery".

The impossibility of bond raters getting it right 100% of the time is exactly why Kilroy authored the provision making them legally liable for not having the foresight of Nostradamus: it's food on the table and Benzes in the driveway for her trial lawyer donors.

When they thrive, she thrives.

But we don't:

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Kilroy provision "has done the exact opposite of the bill’s intended efforts at creating more transparency and openness. It is forcing more deals underground, where there will be less access to capital and less opportunity for public scrutiny." Where only people who have the cash and the connections can have access and reap the benefits.

Congresswoman Kilroy has sold us up the river again, pretending to pass Wall Street reform legislation while rewarding her donor base. Let's hold her liable in November.

Kilroy for Congress: Paid for by the U.S. Taxpayer

What do you do when you're a member of an incredibly unpopular Congress and your big union, big trial lawyer, and Washington insider donors aren't giving you enough money to buy a fighting chance against your vastly more likable combat veteran opponent? The answer for Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy is to subsidize her campaign with your tax dollars.

Congresswoman Kilroy recently hired a communications director for her campaign who will also work part time in her congressional office. As an employee of her congressional office this campaign staffer will draw a federal salary. While Kilroy is hardly the first member of Congress to realize the ability to use tax dollars to pay for a campaign, precedent doesn't make her unprincipled conduct right.

According to the House Ethics Manual congressional staffers are permitted to engage in campaign activities on their "own time" as long as they do not do so in congressional offices or facilities, or otherwise use official resources. (Interestingly, executive branch personnel are subject to much greater restrictions on partisan political activity under the Hatch Act. It would seem the Congress saw fit to exempt itself from ethical standards the rest of the government must follow--part of a pattern of behavior that must be stopped.)

So, in the case of Ms. Kilroy's dual campaign and congressional office staffer, who is policing when he's on his "own time" and when he's on government time? The answer will disturb you.

From the House Ethics Manual:

"What constitutes a staff member's 'own time' is determined by the personnel policies that are in place in the employing office.... [D]ue to the irregular time frames in which the Congress operates, it is unrealistic to impose conventional work hours and rules on congressional employees." (Emphasis added.)

So the only standard for when government time ends and campaign time begins is set by Mary Jo Kilroy, the very woman whose whole future depends on the success of the campaign. Given her history of abusing her authority, I do not find that reassuring.

But surely her tax dollar-subsidized campaign staffer is required to keep a log of how he spends his time, right?

No? Oh, that is bad. One would expect the House of Representatives to, at the very least, have requirements for how congressional staffers who moonlight in their employers' re-election efforts document their time. (Heck, even the lobbying firms Kilroy oh-so-publicly decries have their employees keep time sheets of billable hours!) While the House Ethics Manual states staffers who do campaign work "should" keep records, "[t]here is no set format for maintaining such time records." So we're just supposed to trust Congresswoman Kilroy and her staff. I'd sooner trust Wall Street investment bankers to police themselves.

Between Congresswoman Kilroy's extravagant use of the franking privilege to disseminate what is, essentially, campaign propaganda (It even has the same color scheme.) and this new scandal of putting her campaign communications director on the federal payroll, Mary Jo Kilroy has effectively compelled us into footing the bill for her quenchless ambition. She should be required to change the FEC-mandated disclaimer displayed on all of her official campaign materials from "Paid for by Kilroy for Congress" to "Paid for by You, the U.S. Taxpayer, Sucker!"

Kilroy for Congress: Paid for by the U.S Taxpayer

"$teve $tivers" is Catching On (But Not How Mary Jo Kilroy Intended)

Just in case you missed the weekend coverage: Steve Stivers's work ethic lead to his second quarter fundraising efforts overwhelming those of slumberous Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy. Stivers raised $532,687 in the three month period preceding June 30--more than double Congresswoman Kilroy's $229,955. According to a press release from his campaign, Stivers enjoyed the support of 1,227 new individual donors this quarter. It would seem the spirit of civic engagement that lead to record voter turnout in 2008 is alive and well--except this time it favors Mr. Stivers.

Stivers also has more cash in the bank than Kilroy with $1.24 million to her $933,626. Now we know why Congresswoman Kilroy's campaign refers to Lt. Colonel Stivers as $teve $tivers: JEALOUSY! (Though it could just be that as a multi-millionaire trial lawyer she sees dollar signs everywhere.)

Stivers's fundraising success and accelerating momentum is exceedingly good news for you and me, the people who live in Ohio's 15th Congressional District. For too long we've lacked a representative who holds our interests in mind. Congresswoman Kilroy has raised only a paltry 63% of her money in-state. She's bought and paid for by Washington special interests and out-of-state liberal activists including George Soros, Susan Sarandon, Barbara Streisand, Carl Reiner, and internet regulation-pushing Craig's List founder Craig Newmark.

Steve Stivers, on the other hand, has raised 91% of his money from inside the State of Ohio. He will represent Ohio's working families because he's not beholden to anyone else. The erosion of our interests in favor of those of the Washington insiders and left coast liberals that has occurred on Kilroy's watch will be turned back by Mr. Stivers.

We'll have our own representative in Washington, D.C. again--just like the Framers of the Constitution intended. Imagine that!

It feels particularly good--particularly patriotic even--that, as Ohioans, we were able to scrape together more money than the Washington insiders and liberal activists to give to our candidate so that he now has more cash in the bank than theirs. It's David beats Goliath. (Though we have to keep throwing stones to keep Goliath down.)

By gosh, I actually pity Mary Jo Kilroy right now. I really do. Her fundraising efforts are faltering (the only method that she understands to get money from Ohio's working families is to tax it away from them), and she has the natural charisma of a doorstop. Without any coattails to ride this is going to be a rough election for her. And if she loses this job... well, you've seen the economy she created. It's rough out there.

Speaker Pelosi Knows So Much That Isn't So

Well, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shoveled some more coal into the engine of the Democrat crazy train yesterday. In a news conference Pelosi claimed federally funded unemployment benefits spur job creation faster than any other initiative. According to Pelosi unemployment benefits inject demand into the economy.



Uh... What? The four-week average for unemployment claims now stands at its highest point since March. By Pelosi logic that means we should be seeing commensurately high levels of job creation--and yet employers are projected to have cut a net total of 110,000 jobs in the month of June. And all that demand being injected into the economy by unemployment benefits? Well, check out the Financial Times article "Fears Mount Over Slowing Global Demand" for the stark reality on that.

Pelosi's absurd pronouncements remind me of Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf--better known as "Comical Ali" or "Baghdad Bob"--the former Iraqi Information Minister who entertained the world with his wacky and undeniably bogus claims about the progress of the American-led coalition forces during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Pelosi is one more sloshed night at a ritzy fundraiser away from putting on a beret and proclaiming “We are at peak employment. There are no Americans without jobs in the United States! There is, in fact, by the grace of Obama a job surplus!”

Just because the Democrats have decided that the laws of the land no longer apply and that they don’t need to pass a budget doesn’t mean the laws of reality no longer apply. Unemployment benefits do not create jobs, and they do not spur economic growth. Our distressed economy is a case in point.

A parting thought on Speaker Pelosi and her toadies in the House like Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy who votes in tandem with Pelosi 98.4% of the time: Who’s more foolish the fool or the fools who follow her?