Michael Steele and Paul Singer Spend Some Money

Elliott Associates and Elliott Management, hedge funds, led by Paul Singer, [see this blog on Tuesday, March 1, http://thatsourgal.blogspot.com/2011/03/25th-congressional-district-tea.html ]  is the combined single largest contributor to Ann Marie Buerkle's campaign last year.

Here is a transcript of the Republic National Committee's Michael Steele and Elliott Associates' Paul Singer's telephone conversation last June, 2010.  Well, close...:

Paul: Hi Mike, thanks for getting back to us.

Mike: Thanks for returning my call. We appreciate it that we can call folks like you when we need some help.

                                                                                                                                                            

Paul: Hey, what's up Mike?

Mike: We've got a gal who won her House primary in upstate NY and can use a little help. She has a solid Tea 

Party base from some activism years ago, and her opponent is slipping. Bright guy but not a lot of charisma.

Gave Jim Walsh a good run for his money and won the seat when Walsh retired.

We think she can edge him out with a little boost from us

Paul: Any bumps?

Mike: A couple. The major one was a blackened fetus in a jar at a protest years ago. She says she's older 

now and her priorities are different.

Paul: (silence)

Mike: Also, she owes some commercial taxes to NYS and the town due to a little misunderstanding with the tenant. 

That's being resolved. Looks like it won't change much.

Paul: Everybody has one of those hanging around. Ha, ha. Right? How big is it?

Mike: Less than twenty.

Paul: OK, it probably won't be a problem. Anything else? 

Mike: She got a Palin endorsement and that is still in the positives.

Paul: So, what do you need right now?

Mike: Twenty will make a nice difference. We see a pretty big opening and plan to use it.

Paul: OK then, send Carole a memo re this conversation and we'll get it right out to you. Thanks for thinking of us.

Mike: You bet. Thanks so much. Have a good one.

Paul: No problem. Let us know if we can help you out later on.  Oh, by the way, what's her name?

Ann Marie Buerkle Not Interested in Saving National Grid Jobs?

Ann Marie Buerkle was all about jobs, jobs, jobs last summer. I well remember how she went on about 5 of her 6 kids leaving CNY in pursuit of jobs in greener pastures. 


Yet we haven't heard how she plans to try to avoid the 1200 layoffs at National Grid within the next month or two. How about a collaboration with other House members from the north east?  The cuts were announced at the end of January, and we fully expected that Buerkle would come up with a plan. And now she has had over a month to do so.


What's up with that, Ann Marie? What will you do for the many National Grid employees in the 25th Congressional District who are about to lose their jobs?

For your reference, from Syracuse.Com:

National Grid to cut 1,200 jobs in U.S.

Published: Monday, January 31, 2011, 11:35 AM     Updated: Monday, January 31, 2011, 11:39 AM

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- National Grid announced today that it will eliminate 1,200 positions from its U.S. work force under a restructuring plan designed to save $200 million a year. Company officials could not immediately say how many of those jobs will be cut from Central New York.

“The impact of these changes will be felt everywhere,” a company spokesman said. “However, we are too early in the process to pinpoint impact to any specific regions. The positions are in management and administrative roles.”

The British-owned utility also plans to install five new regional presidents to oversee portions of the U.S. business in hopes of improving relations with state regulators and with local customers. Kenneth Daly will be the regional president overseeing New York operations.

25th Congressional District Tea Partiers, Do You Feel Cuckolded Yet?

Ann Marie's New Friends, (continued) or What on Earth Would Paul Singer of Elliott Management and Elliott Associates Have in Common with Tea Partiers of Upstate New York?


Please meet Paul Singer who, along with several colleagues at hedge funders Elliott Management and Elliott Associates, contributed many thousands of dollars to AMB's 2010 campaign. Why? Does Singer originally come from Wayne County and have an earnest love for his home and roots?


Has he even heard of Wayne county, or Cayuga or Monroe (well, actually yes; he received his B.S. from UofR) or Onondaga counties?


Singer is a hedge fund trader, and this is from his bio in Wickipedia:

Some of Elliott’s distressed securities trading has been in sovereign debt, most recently those of Argentina and Congo-Brazzaville, through its association with the 'Kensington International' fund. In 1995, Elliott bought $20 million face value of defaulted Peruvian bank debt. After extensive litigation proceedings Elliott won a court award of $58 million for these debts, including past due interest. More recently Elliott bought $32.6 million in loan debt incurred by Congo-Brazzaville, allegedly for less than $2.3 million.^[4] In 2002 and 2003 a British Court awarded Elliott more than $100 million for these debts, $39 million of which was subsequently recouped by interception of proceeds of the sale of oil by the Congo to Glencore International, a Swiss commodities and raw materials supplier.^[5]


Singer's full Wikipedia bio:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Singer_(businessman)

Ann Marie's Very RIch New Friends

The following article from American Independent  http://www.americanindependent.com/171511/report-shows-links-between-house-oversight-committee-and-oversight-hostile-koch-brothers  summarizes the pernicious (to all ordinary people of any stripe) early links between home-grown NY Upstater Ann Marie Buerkle and the Texas-grown Koch brothers.  

AMB received a small enticement to get on board with the Koch brothers before the election.  As Chair Darrell Issa's newest briefcase carrier, there is no telling just how much she is getting now, on Issa's House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to help defeat new and renewing Environmental Protection Agency regulations. 

Children be damned; health be damned; environment be damned; children in utero be damned. Watch her march!

Report shows links between House Oversight committee and oversight-hostile Koch brothers

11 of the 23 committee Republicans received money from Koch Industries

By Kyle Daly | 02.28.11 | 4:03 pm

The Watchdog Institute, a nonprofit reporting center based out of San Diego State University, has released a report showing connections between a committee in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Koch brothers, Charles and David. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa, a San Diego Republican who also happens to be the richest member of Congress with a net worth of $451.1 million, according to a recent Mother Jones review.

This month, Issa’s Committee on Oversight and Government Reform published a report critical of federal regulatory practices that it considers “impediments to job creation.” The report several times singles out the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as an entity whose regulations create costs for small businesses that inhibit job growth. Given the committee’s Koch connections, it may come as little surprise that its report targets the EPA, as Koch Industries has come into repeated conflict with federal and state environmental protection agencies. The most recent flare-up between Koch Industries and environmental regulators comes in the form of a battle between Koch Industries-owned Georgia-Pacific Paper and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection over a wastewater pipeline Georgia-Pacific wants to route into Florida’s St. John’s River [in Rep Corrine Brown's district].

The Watchdog report demonstrates that the parallels between the House committee’s criticisms and Koch Industries’ clashes with federal and state regulators certainly may not be mere coincidence. At least six Republican staffers with the Committee on Oversight have demonstrable corporate lobbying connections, according to the Watchdog Institute. Additionally, 11 of the 23 Republican representatives in the committee received financial help from Koch Industries in the last election.

The largest recipient of Koch Industries contributions overall, with $12,500 since 2008, is Chairman Issa, though two other members of the House Committee have matched the $10,000 in campaign contributions from Koch Industries that Issa received prior to last year’s election: Dennis Ross of Florida and James Lankford of Oklahoma. John Mica, of Florida’s 7th district, which includes part of the St. John’s River (though not the site of Georgia-Pacific’s proposed wastewater pipeline), got $2,500 in campaign funds from Koch Industries. Connie Mack, a Florida representative who may be a potential 2012 Senate candidate (though he still refuses to confirm that he intends to run) received $7,500.

New York representative Ann Marie Buerkle received the smallest Koch donation, getting $250 from Catherine Haggett, Director of Federal Affairs for Koch Industries. Michigan’s Tim Walberg, New Hampshire’s Frank Guinta, South Carolina’s Trey Gowdy and Pennsylvania’s Mike Kelly and Patrick Meehan all received between $2,500 and $7,500 in Koch campaign money leading up to the 2010 election.

With the controversial Koch brothers making headlines lately, House Oversight representatives, especially those like Rep. Mack with a reported eye on higher office, may not be that happy to be tied to them. But as long as Issa and his fellow committee members continue to accept Koch money and advocate deregulation that would conveniently benefit Koch Industries and other energy, petroleum and chemical corporations, they may be stuck to Charles and David Koch. Representatives and staffers on the committee have declined to comment on any perceived conflict of interest.

The Historical Susan B. Anthony Had Real Values for Women in Mind When She Protested!

...from Swing State Project's  http://www.swingstateproject.com  savvy commentary:


• NY-25: The namejacking anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List is running an ad thanking Ann Marie Buerkle for her vote to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood. Kudos to Dave Catanese, who says the size of the buy (which includes online ads) is $75,000, and that the ad itself is expected to run 182 times. 


Wonder how much AMB profited from that marriage?


In 2010 Susan B. Anthony List contributed $10,000 to AMB's campaign. That is, by far, the top dollar amount they donated to any House of Representatives candidate last year.  
from Open Secrets,
http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cmte=C00332296&cycle=2010

Light Bulbs?!?

Goodness, if you Teabaggers could get half as worked up about the deadly, pointless and budget-busting war in Afghanistan as you are about light bulbs, I would gladly join you in reducing the size of government.


In case you don't remember, the one thing that toppled the Soviet Union more than anything else was the amount of money wasted on military build-up and fighting pointless wars.


Please try to get your priorities straight. We haven't much time!

Ann Marie Buerkle is Pro-Choice

From Syracuse Post-Standard, February 8, 2011:

Washington, D.C. -- When it comes to light bulbs, U.S. Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle says Americans should be free to choose.

“If we’re talking about creating jobs and getting our economy back on track, that’s a big piece,” Buerkle said. “Beyond that, I guess the question is whether you want the government telling you what kind of light bulb you can use.”

Ann Marie Buerkle: How About Re-instituting 12-Hour Workdays and Legalizing Child Labor?

Ann Marie's troop leader Darrell Issa and the rest of the Tea Baggers are looking to roll us back to pre-labor-rights days.                   
Some of the items they want to look at, all under the heading, The Government is Too Damn Big, showed up yesterday in the Washington Post and the Syracuse Post-Standard:

Reconsidering rules

Businesses have asked House Republicans to roll back or pre-empt more than 150 rules governing industries from Wall Street to those who make cleaning products for your bathroom, according to documents obtained by the Washington Post. The newspaper said Monday that the targeted regulations include:

Financial disclosures: Financial regulations that require companies to disclose how much the chief executive is paid compared to how much the typical worker is paid.

Worker rights: Rules that require mining companies to disclose information about mine safety and health information and labor regulations that require employers to post notices informing workers of their rights under federal labor law.

Limits on hours: Transportation regulations that limit the number of hours airline pilots can be on duty between rest periods.

Emissions: Environmental and energy regulations on greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy standards for cars, trucks and commercial vehicles; and limits on hazardous air pollution from trash incinerators.

Damn it! I want my pilots rested, and I want our miners to know their rights! If Ann Marie is so hot on choice for business, why isn't she hot on choice for women?

Ann Marie Buerkle: How Low Can You Go?

Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle calls for de-funding NPR to round of applause. #npr #house #ny25#conservatives

6:07 PM Jan 30th via Twitter for BlackBerry®Retweeted by 2 people

TUCapCon

Capitol Confidential

[This is a partial list of Buerkle's interviews on Oswego and Rochester Public Radio about her candidacy and positions past and present:

(WRVO-Oswego, WXXI-Rochester)

2010 April 23 WRVO Twitter on candidacy 

2010 September 17 WRVO Weekly Edition on post-primary

2010 September 17 WRVO interview with Grant Reeher, Campbell Connection, she explains run against Dan Maffei

2010 October 28 WXXI interview with Robert Smith

2010 October WXXI Radio Free Air Time

2010 November 2 WRVO Twitter on pre-election lead

2010 November 22 WRVO Innovation Trail on likelihood of winning election

2010 November 23 WRVO Twitter on winning election

2010 November WRVO Facebook 4 mentions by Grant Reeher, Campbell Connection 

2010 December 17 WRVO interview with Grant Reeher, Campbell Connection

2011 January 10 WRVO interview with Grant Reeher, Campbell Connection

2011 January 11 WRVO defends health care repeal

2011 January  PRX indexes 2010-11 interviews with Grant Reeher

2011 January 26 WRVO reacts to State of the Union

2011 January 28 WRVO Innovation Trail on tax on medical devices]

Ann Marie Buerkle: "Yes, Mr. Boehner, Sir; Thank you, Mr. Boehner, Sir"

Among the many signers of the recent House of Representatives bill, House Resolution 3, that, among other things, restricts abortions except in the case of "forcible rape," is 25th Congressional District Representative Ann Marie Buerkle.

How does AMB sleep at night?

Does she ever stop to wonder at the redundancy of "forcible rape"? Isn't "rape" clear language? Do some women, does Ann Marie Buerkle reason, agree to rape? Volunteer for rape? Invite rape?


From House Resolution 3:
"Prohibits the inclusion of abortion in any health care service furnished by a federal or District of Columbia health care facility or by any physician or other individual employed by the federal government or the District. Provides that such prohibitions shall not apply to an abortion if: (1) the pregnancy is the result of forcible rape or, if the pregnant woman is a minor, incest; or (2) the woman suffers from a physical disorder, injury, or illness, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself, that would place her in danger of death unless an abortion is performed, as certified by a physician."


Ann Marie is a woman. She has daughters. She worked with women during her years of service to Right to Life and other anti-choice organizations. She volunteered to work with women in crisis at Vera House. 

Her sponsorship of H. Res. 3 can only be characterized as cynicism* in the extreme.                                             


So, and we feared this, and some of us knew it all too well: As Ann Marie Buerkle moves into her term in Congress she has left her conscience behind. She is now serving not her constituents but her bosses. 

*cynical: showing contempt for accepted standards of honesty or morality by one's actions, especially by actions that exploit the scruples of others.

Hypocritical: Ann Marie Buerkle's Gold Plated Health Insurance Coverage

At her first public meeting (since winning office by a miniscule margin) last night in Wayne county, Ann Marie Buerkle expressed confusion about why people asked her about her current health insurance. The questions obviously were asked in the context of Ann Marie's support for repeal of the 2010 health insurance reform program.
She stated that she paid for her own health insurance.
She was corrected on this fact by one of her own staff members via a note.

from Syracuse.com, February 3, 2011:
Buerkle, who voted to repeal the health care reform act, was twice asked about the health insurance she receives as a government employee. At first she said she couldn’t understand why people were so interested in her health insurance, and that taxpayers didn’t pay anything for it. She later corrected herself after being handed a note from a staffer. Like most employees, she pays for a portion of her insurance and her employer, the government, pays the rest, she said.


Was she really unaware of her own health insurance coverage and that her employeers (you and I) pay 72% of her premium?
Is she really so dense as to not anticipate questions about her hypocrisy? 


Factcheck.org on health insurance for Federal Employees:
http://www.factcheck.org/2009/08/health-care-for-members-of-congress/


Summary of Federal and HR Health Insurance Coverage (PDF document):
http://mcmorris.house.gov/uploads/August2009HealthCareBenefitsforMembersofCongress.PDF

Ann Marie Buerkle: If You Want to Cut Government Spending, Work to End War

We live in a perpetual state of war.

The amount of money the US spends on wars past and present is obscene. 

I challenge Ann Marie Buerkle to step up and demand an end to war before she supports another dollar cut from education. 

U.S. Military Spending vs. The World
U.S. military spending – Dept. of Defense plus nuclear weapons (in $billions) – is equal to the military spending of the next 15 countries combined.

These numbers show military expenditures for each country. Some say that U.S. military spending will naturally be higher because it has the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of any country. The United States accounts for 47 percent of the world’s total military spending, however the U.S.’s share of the world's GDP is about 21 percent. Also note that of the top 15 countries shown, at least 12 are considered allies of the U.S. The U.S. outspends Iran and North Korea by a ratio of 72 to one.

Source: War Resisters League (thank you for all you do to bring sanity to our world)  www.warresisters.org

Ann Marie Buerkle: Feeding the Cat

With huge thanks to the ever brilliant Tom Toles.

Ann Marie Buerkle: Fodder for the Machine

The Tea Party-line, right wing and Conservative utterances of Ann Marie Buerkle could be said by anyone who is willing to keep a spot warm and vote with the Republicans. She happened to be at the right place at the right time to get a nod from monied interests who are using her, and the Tea Party and teabaggers in general, to promote their own aggressive agenda of profits-first, people-last values. 

Buerkle is but a foot soldier who will never rise above her tiny position as one vote among many who will vote 100% of the time with her bosses and against the common good. She is void of a public conscience.

Ann Marie doesn't give a damn about more jobs, finding compromises, building small businesses, the value of education, or anything having to do with bettering the circumstances of most people.

That the people who voted for her entirely voted against their own self interests is sad commentary on the lack of suspicion slightly over half of our voters had last November about power, influence and wealth.

Sunlight on Ann Marie Buerkle's Dark Support of Bills that Would Cut Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs

From The Washington Post this morning:

Posted at 6:00 AM ET, 01/31/2011

DCCC targets 19 with first media offensive

By Aaron Blake and Chris Cillizza

In the first major media salvo of its effort to reclaim the House in 2012, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is launching an advertising campaign against 19 targeted Republican incumbents.

The radio ads, web ads, phone calls and e-mails are aimed squarely at Republicans in mostly Democratic-leaning districts. The message is that these members want to cut spending at a time when it could lead to further job losses.

"But Congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle supports a plan in Congress that would cut education by 40 percent," says one radio ad. "And her plan would cut science and technology research by 40 percent, too. Research and development is how we get the new products that create new jobs."

The radio ads will begin running Monday and run through the week during drive time.

The targets are Buerkle and 18 of her colleagues: Reps. Lou Barletta(Pa.), Charlie Bass (N.H.), Steve Chabot (Ohio), Chip Cravaack(Minn.), Bob Dold (Ill.), Sean Duffy (Wis.), Blake Farenhold (Texas),Mike Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Nan Hayworth (N.Y.), Joe Heck (Nev.),Robert Hurt (Va.), Thaddeus McCotter (Mich.), Pat Meehan (Pa.),Dave Reichert (Wash.), David Rivera (Fla.), Jon Runyan (N.J.), Joe Walsh (Ill.), and Allen West (Fla.).

Almost all of these members come from districts that Obama won in 2008, and the DCCC appears to be doubling down on the president's popularity in those districts. The president has seen his approval ratings increase recently, as optimism about the economy returns.

The media blitz is a part of the DCCC's "Drive for 25" -- the slogan it chose for its attempted return to the majority. If Democrats are to win back the majority, they will need to win many of the 19 districts featured in this media campaign.