Buerkle Meets the Gays

Update: Homophobe KSE heatedly commented here that gay conservative Republican group, Log Cabin Republicans, was not a sponsor for this fundraising event for Buerkle. Blueskygirl's blog post made him blister.

Beep beep ... last minute scramble! Apparently Buerkle was able to get the Auburn blog, auburnpub.com, to print a retraction on the day of the event, Feb. 9. She correctly anticipated having a tough go of it with phobe phans.

Blueskygirl begs to differ as she continues to find evidence on February 27 to the contrary. Also, Blueskygirl doesn't buy that syr.com fabricated the quotes in its article from Mr. Berle. Dear commenter: u mad.


Update: Blueskygirl posted a slightly different version of this post on Daily Kos and has received some terrific comments there. Thanks everyone!
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The original article:

Teapartiers, do your know where your US Representative Ann Marie Buerkle, NY 25, is?

Buerkle will be honored tonight in Washington by Log Cabin Republicans for her conservative agenda. Log Cabin Republicans share many values with moderates and progressives. In this case they are, if nothing else, utilitarian, and Blueskygirl thinks they are caught in an awkward position. 

Buerkle personally gets super high points for cynicism on this one.

Buerkle's history on gay issues is anything but stellar. Please read Blueskygirl's article from last year about Buerkle's very short tenure on the Syracuse Common Council eighteen years ago.

From the article earlier this week in syr.com: 

[Christian] Berle [Deputy ED of Log Cabin Republicans] said he understands that Buerkle is a "strong social conservative" but added, "We, of course, look to engage with legislators at every opportunity to discuss our agenda. We have met with members of Congress who have done a complete 180 on gay rights issues." 

Good luck with Buerkle, Mr Berle. How we in Syracuse would love to see a shift.

But folks, don't be offended if she wears surgical gloves tonight. Her belief system is pretty fixed.

See syr.com's article from February 7, reprinted at bottom of this page, for more details.

Side note, of interest: The LCR event tonight is sponsored by One Nation PAC. Its website has almost no content. It actually did endorse Nevada's racist losing Senate candidate Sharron Angle and our own Adirondacker Doug Hoffman in 2010. No new news since then. Languishing, waiting for just that right moment to endorse more nonsense Tea Partiers in the coming election, no doubt. One Nation PAC's mission statement:

One Nation PAC is a conservative political action committee dedicated to limited government, economic prosperity, and traditional values.  We fight for lower taxes, strong national defense, the 2nd Amendment, common sense healthcare, superior education, and right to life.

syr.com article from February 7, 2010 announcing Log Cabin Republicans' honoring of Ann Marie Buerkle tonight, Thursday, February 9, 2012:

Republican gay rights advocates to honor U.S. Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle

Published: Tuesday, February 07, 2012 Mark Weiner

Washington -- As an unwavering conservative, Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle has never supported same-sex marriage or other equality initiatives proposed by the gay community. But that won't stop Washington, D.C.'s largest gay Republican group from honoring her on Thursday.

The Log Cabin Republicans, the only national GOP organization dedicated to representing the interests of gays and lesbians, will honor Buerkle and three other House Republicans at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

The fundraising reception hosted by the Log Cabin Republicans and One Nation PAC will include a keynote speech by former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich and special guest Grover Norquist, the anti-tax crusader.

Christian Berle, the deputy executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, said in an interview that he is aware that Buerkle, R-Onondaga Hill, is not a supporter on gay rights issues.

"We're recognizing members of Congress for their positions on fiscal issues, and she has been a hawk on the Balanced Budget Amendment and fiscal matters," Berle said of Thursday's event. "We find ourselves working with many different organizations on fiscal matters."

Berle said he understands that Buerkle is a "strong social conservative" but added, "We, of course, look to engage with legislators at every opportunity to discuss our agenda. We have met with members of Congress who have done a complete 180 on gay rights issues."

The Log Cabin Republicans prominently feature a photo on their Web site of U.S. Rep. Richard Hanna, R-Barneveld, Buerkle's neighbor in the 24th Congressional District. Hanna, a supporter of gay rights issues, is featured as one of the "Republican Champions of Liberty."

Tickets to the fundraising event, billed as a "Scotch and Cigars" reception range from $20 to $1,000 per person.

This Just Slays Blueskygirl!

...that Buerkle has the nerve to show up at the Syracuse Center of Excellence to offer her congratulations to recipients for receiving grants from the EPA to support various projects.  It wouldn't be because she did anything to help the process...that's for sure. She wouldn't know "cutting edge" if it bit her. Or "collaborative atmosphere" either. 


Here is the announcement from Syracuse University:

SyracuseCoE announces $200,000 in TAD [EPA] awards to four Upstate companies

May 17, 2011 

Kelly Horman Rdoski

The Syracuse Center of Excellence (SyracuseCoE) today announced that four Upstate New York companies have received a total of $200,000 in the fourth round of Technology Application and Demonstration (TAD 2011) awards. These demonstration projects are designed to improve air quality and water systems.

The awards are made possible through funding to SyracuseCoE from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The announcement was made at SyracuseCoE headquarters, and recipients were congratulated by U.S. Rep Ann Marie Buerkle (NY-25); Edward Bogucz, executive director of the SyracuseCoE; Eric F. Spina, vice chancellor and provost of Syracuse University; Pete King, managing partner of King & King Architects LLP and chairman of the SyracuseCoE; and Rob Simpson, president of CenterState CEO.

The TAD 2011 awards will push the total EPA funding to date for SyracuseCoE technology demonstration projects to more than $1.9 million, a subset of a larger portfolio of demonstration projects funded by the SyracuseCoE in the past. TAD projects are a crucial part of SyracuseCoE’s “innovation ecosystem,” which seeks to fund product and service innovations in clean and renewable energy, indoor environmental quality and water resources through research, demonstration and commercialization phases.

“Small businesses, such as those receiving this round of Technology Application and Development (TAD) awards, are the engines for economic growth in our region. I want to congratulate those receiving TAD awards today for their cutting-edge work that holds the promise for generating jobs here in Central New York,” says Buerkle. “I also want to thank the Center of Excellence for providing a collaborative atmosphere where new technologies can be researched, nurtured, commercialized."   

Syracuse University   http://www.syr.edu/news/articles/2011/coe-tad-awards-05-11.html

Meanwhile back in DC, the Republicans, wholeheartedly including Ms. Buerkle, have been doing the following:

House GOP Readies Severe New Restrictions On EPA

February 2011 In a sharp challenge to the Obama administration, House Republicans intend to unveil legislation Wednesday to ban the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act and expect to advance the bill quickly, officials disclosed Tuesday night.

The officials said the bill would nullify all of the steps the EPA has taken to date on the issue, including a threshold finding that greenhouse gases constitute a danger to the public health and welfare.

In addition, it seeks to strip the agency of its authority to use the law in any future attempts to crack down on the emissions from factories, utilities and other stationary sources.  

Huffington Post   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/01/house-gop-epa-restrictions_n_817277.html

The GOP's EPA Ambush

March 2011 Can the 112th Congress officially claim the mantle of "most anti-science" ever? So says Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), a 36-year veteran of congressional wrangling over environmental matters. Even the contentious fights over issues like the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments pale in comparison to the environmental battles of the current Congress, the 71-year-old lawmaker noted earlier this week: "I've never been in a Congress where there was such an overwhelming disconnect between science and public policy."

It's not just that the House GOP is pushing—and will likely pass—a bill that would bar the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating planet-warming emissions and nullify the agency's scientific finding that those gases endanger human health. Congressional Republicans have mounted an all-out assault on the EPA, pushing a lengthy list of measures to handcuff the agency from exercising its regulatory authority. For good measure, they are also trying to slash the agency's budget by a third. 

The continuing resolution—the seven-month measure to fund the federal government, which the House passed on February 19—included 19 separate riders that have almost nothing to do with cutting the deficit and everything to do with derailing the EPA's regulatory clout. These provisions would block the agency from issuing regulations on particulate pollution, emissions from cement plants, and emissions of mercury, arsenic, and other toxic pollutants from coal-fired power plants. The riders would also restrict oversight of mountaintop-removal coal mining, block pending regulations on coal-ash disposal, and bar the EPA from moving forward with its plan to clean up the Chesapeake Bay and other national waterways. 

Mother Jones    http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/03/republican-epa-ambush

In Its Crusade Against EPA Climate Rules, Has the GOP Gone Too Far?

March 2011  Though she sometimes cracks a knowing smile from the witness chair, [EPA Administrator Lisa P.] Jackson is always her gracious, measured and down-to-earth self when she patiently explains to one committee or another that the Environmental Protection Agency does not now — and will not in the future — regulate cow flatulence, farm dust or milk spilled on dairy farms.

Those familiar with the hearing room-as-theater scenario in the nation's capital are accustomed to these sorts of ploys. But even hardened veterans are questioning why Republicans are persisting with this sideshow act when they have created a serious firestorm on center stage by trying to slash EPA's budget by one-third for the remainder of the fiscal year and threatening to prevent Jackson from deploying the Clean Air Act to curb emissions from heat-trapping gases. 

Reuters   http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/17/idUS94228031720110317

Barton denies any ‘medical negative’ from mercury, smog, or soot pollution

[You remember Joe Barton, don't you? He did the following, all in one day back in June of '10:  Texas Rep. Joe Barton apologizes for apologizing to BP CEO Tony Hayward over '$20B shakedown']

April 2011  At a congressional hearing on Friday designed to lay the groundwork for an effort to delay critical EPA toxic pollution standards, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) claimed that reducing emissions of toxic mercury, sulfur dioxide, and soot would not bring health benefits. Though conceding he is "not a medical doctor," Barton offered the "hypothesis" that EPA estimates of the benefits of its proposed air toxics rule are "pulled out of the thin air" because there is no "medical negative" to the pollution:

To actually cause poisoning or a premature death you have to get a large concentration of mercury into the body. I'm not a medical doctor, but my hypothesis is that's not going to happen! You're not going to get enough mercury exposure or SO2 exposure or even particulate matter exposure! I think the EPA numbers are pulled out of the thin air!  

Grist   http://www.grist.org/pollution/2011-04-20-barton-denies-any-medical-negative-from-mercury-smog-or-soot

GOP Would Shut Down Government Over EPA, Planned Parenthood

April 2011  A deal to prevent a government shutdown has yet to be reached, and the clock is ticking ominously toward a shutdown on Friday. After a late-night meeting between President Obama, Harry Reid and John Boehner, sources said a tentative agreement was reached to cut around $34.5 billion in fiscal year 2011–12, according to the Huffington Post (the specifics of the cuts remain secret). But the sticking point concerns GOP 'riders" focused on hot-button issues unrelated to the deficit, such as defunding family planning services at Planned Parenthood and preventing the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions—two highlights of the budget passed by House Republicans in February. 

The Nation   http://www.thenation.com/blog/159761/gop-would-shut-down-government-over-epa-planned-parenthood

GOP's Burr tries backdoor approach to whacking EPA

May 2011 For decades, Republicans have sought to weaken or eliminate government departments and agencies. They're at it again. This time the target is the 40-year-old Environmental Protection Agency. And the 34-year-old Department of Energy. The scheme: Merge them.

The sponsor of the bill that would do this is North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr. So far, he's picked up 15 co-sponsors for a plan that he claims would save $3 billion a year by getting rid of waste and duplication. 

The EPA has been under siege for some time, but never more so than now, with the likes of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and his fossil fuel-funded American Solutions for Winning the Future having proposed the complete abolition of the agency earlier this year. Not that Gingrich isn't serious. But, like many of his and other proposals from the right, this one gives Republicans the chance to put forth plans look moderate in comparison because they only take few steps in the same extremist direction even though they have the same ultimate destination.

A decade and a half ago, Gingrich sought to get rid of the Department of Energy. Then and now, Republicans have fought to remove renewable-energy programs from DOE, or failing that, to slash their spending. In the House Republican-passed budget, they axed $438 million in such spending while leaving fossil-fuel subsidies untouched. When temporarily stymied in their ultimate goal, Republican extremists don't go on a despairing drinking binge, they try an end run or another approach. Eventually, they find a position that will get enough votes to ensure passage. And when they've passed that, they'll begin chipping away. Check out abortion legislation for examples. 

Daily Kos  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/06/973708/-GOPs-Burr-tries-backdoor-approach-to-whacking-EPA