Tuesday Mashup (10/19/10)

(I might have a little posting luck today after all.)

It takes a lot for me to put up a post where I’m asking for people to contribute money to a group or candidate, but when it comes to doing so on behalf of Matt Campbell running in Iowa to defeat the beyond-odious Steve King, I’m only too happy to do so…

In the middle of a competitive 2002 Republican primary, Steve King cheated his own Party!

Newly uncovered information details how Steve King benefited from $140,000 worth of illegal campaign expenditures on his behalf by the Club for Growth.

Please make a LEGAL $10, $50, $100 or more contribution today to help me beat Rep. King.

In September of 2005, the United States government through the FEC sued the Club for Growth in federal court asserting it failed to register as a political committee, despite soliciting and spending millions of dollars illegally on federal campaign activity from 2000 to 2004. Included in the expenditures: $140,000 to create and run a television commercial for King in Iowa's 5th district.

Please help me raise the funds to LEGALLY beat Steve King. Please make a LEGAL $10, $50, $100 or more contribution today.

In a September 2007 decision - the FEC contended and the federal court agreed that the combination of the large expenditure and the specific mention of King in the commercial constituted a gross violation of Federal election laws.

Send Rep. King a message: contribute $10, $50, $100 or more LEGALLY to help boot Rep. King.

King's victory was a surprise at the time for many and it's now shown to be tainted by the revelation that King benefited improperly from illegal expenditures on his behalf.

Please help me run LEGAL commercials by contributing $10, $50, $100 or more today.

Steve King has stolen a public right by refusing to debate and now we see he originally got elected by benefiting from illegal expenditures. Moderate Republicans and independents have had it with King and are just looking for one more straw to tilt the race. This is it, folks.

Thanks for your support,
Matt

To learn more about Matt Campbell, click here.

Also, the Philadelphia Inquirer was just full of only good things to say about Mikey Fitzpatrick here; I’ll acknowledge their right to run a “puff” piece like this, but I wanted to call attention to this particular excerpt…

…(as Bucks County Commissioner Fitzpatrick) worked to end no-bid contracts, back the county's first enterprise zone, and design an open-space program that preserved more than 10,000 acres and 100 farms.

(Congressman Patrick) Murphy notes that property taxes went up in seven of Fitzpatrick's 10 years. Two of those increases were voter-approved, Fitzpatrick said, and the others helped the county keep its debt low and its bond rating high.

"It couldn't have been so bad, because Patrick Murphy moved here," he said. "It's called pay as you go."

Ha ha, Mikey. And yeah, we sure are paying. And our kids and their kids too.

And the reason why is because every time Bucks County wants to preserve open space, it issues another bond to do it (part of Mikey’s brilliant plan). And as one-time commissioner candidate and current PA-31 House rep Steve Santarsiero tells us here…

…(it’s cheaper to draw) up a regional plan in coordination with other Bucks municipalities…”the county doesn’t have enough money to (issue a bond) for every piece of property that needs (an open space) designation.”

And Santarsiero is an environmental lawyer, by the way (as noted in the post).

Also, the article ends with Fitzpatrick saying that his loss in 2006 “had less to do with him and Murphy than with Bush and Iraq.”

Let’s send Mikey a message that, no, it’s really all about him by clicking here to support Patrick Murphy.

And speaking of Steve, his Guest Opinion appeared today in the Courier Times (here)…

Since taking office in January 2009, I have worked hard to bring jobs to our community, cut spending and reform Harrisburg. I am running for re-election to the Pennsylvania House to continue that work.

Jobs

Earlier this year I was able to convince a marketing firm to relocate to Lower Makefield. It will bring over 200 jobs to the area. At the same time, I fought against a proposal by New Jersey to require all of its public employees to live in the Garden State. In the end, I was able to convince New Jersey lawmakers to amend the proposal so that it did not apply to existing employees. As a result, over 3,000 residents of the Newtown-Yardley area who work in New Jersey's public sector - including my opponent in this race, ironically - will not have to choose between their homes and their jobs.

In a second term I will work to create a system of tax credits to small businesses to help them expand and create more jobs. Those credits will complement the bill that I proposed this year - and which was passed and signed into law in July - that will make more credit available to small businesses as they grow. I also push for targeted tax incentives to attract biotech and alternative energy companies to Pennsylvania. These incentives will include the creation of "Green Enterprise Zones" designed to offer tax abatements to companies in the alternative energy and green technology sectors who pledge to stay in Pennsylvania for the long haul and create jobs for Pennsylvanians.

Cutting Spending

Faced with an historic budget deficit in 2009 of $3.2 billion, I voted with a majority of the Legislature to make cuts across the board. We did the same thing this year. Overall, total state spending has gone down since I took office. As a result, we were able to balance the budget in each of the last two years without raising the sales or income tax. Despite those cuts, we were able to preserve funding for important services and even increase funding for basic education, helping our local school districts.

I also voted for a pension reform bill that will save taxpayers over $25 billion and will avoid a spike in property taxes in the next few years.

Reforming Harrisburg

I am the only representative from Bucks County who does not take the $163 per diem, the check that lawmakers get for just showing up to work at the Capitol each day. Most legislators use it for additional, non-taxable income each year. It's wrong and I don't accept it. I also am one of the few representatives who pay toward the cost of health care and proposed a bill last year that would require all representatives to do the same. I also refuse to take a cost of living increase in my salary and don't take a state car. Put simply, public servants should serve the public, not the other way around.

I also support term limits for the Legislature and believe that we should cut the size of the Legislature in half. Doing so will reduce costs and make the legislature more efficient.

We also need real campaign finance reform. I am a sponsor of legislation that would impose federal-style limits on the amount of contributions that can be made to candidates. I also have introduced a joint resolution of the Pennsylvania House and Senate proposing a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would allow Congress and the states to impose limits on both contributions and campaign spending. It would overturn the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case that held that corporations and unions can contribute unlimited amounts to influence elections.

I am honored to have received the endorsement of the Sierra Club for my work to protect our environment and the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police for my dedication to public safety.

It's easy to make promises as a candidate. The real test is whether an elected official actually follows those promises up with action. As my record shows, that is exactly what I have done and what I will continue to do if re-elected. I ask for your support on Nov. 2.

To help re-elect Steve, click here.