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8/13/2007
Kagen scams the system
Vote every time against “anti-pork” or earmark reform amendments. Then, use lots of earmarks yourself. And then, hide one of those earmarks, almost deviously, in the SCHIPS bill meant to help low-income children.
The Club for Growth RePORK card is a good read. Another one of those news pieces that makes you hearken back to the days of Senator William Proxmire’s Golden Fleece Awards. Great stuff.
And interesting stuff too. Sixteen congressmen – all Republicans – scored 100%, voting FOR all 50 earmark reform amendments. The average Republican score was 43%; the average Democratic score, 2%.
105 representatives, including Baldwin, Kagen and Obey, scored 0% - voting AGAINST all 50 reform amendments. Representative Obey didn’t even vote for his own amendment which would have eliminated all earmarks from the Labor/HHS appropriations bill. What’s that about? Representatives Kind and Moore scored not quite zeroes, eking out one positive vote each.
Ok. So Rep. Kagen votes against earmark reform. And then this from yesterday’s New York Times.
Bay Area Medical Center will get special treatment (now will be receiving increased Medicare payments, paid at Chicago rates) in the bill passed to expand the Children’s Health Insurance Program. And Bay Area Medical gets this kind of treatment by not even being named in the bill. What a deal. Here’s how the NY Times explained the verbage:
"For the purpose of Medicare, the bill said, 'any hospital that is co-located in Marinette, Wis., and Menominee, Mich., is deemed to be located in Chicago.' Bay Area Medical Center is the only hospital fitting that description."
(Bay Area Medical Center also just happens to be a recipient of one of Kagen’s publicly acclaimed earmarks in the Energy and Water Development Appropriation Act.)
The NY Times article also says most of the provisions for millions of dollars to be “quietly funneled … to specific hospitals and health care providers” were “added to the bill at the request of Democratic lawmakers.”
Ok. Marinette, WI is in Rep. Kagen’s district. Menominee, MI is in Rep. Bart Stupak’s district. Both are Democrats. So, was it one of them that added the stealth earmark? Someone else? Either way, if it wasn’t a Kagen earmark, his district surely is involved – and I don’t see that he tried to stop the dark-of-night activity.
Update, 8/14/07: The Journal Sentinel reports earmark is Stupak's - and reports Stupak's defense of the earmark.And a bit of irony. A Kagen press release in early August, hailing the passage of an “ethics reform” package, included the following, much of which appears regularly in Kagen campaign literature and ads. (An "ethics reform" bill that nixes earmark reform - see today's Wall Street Journal.)
“You sent me to Washington to fight for positive change and a new direction, and to bring an end to the dishonest ways of doing business in Congress.
“Promise made - promise delivered.
“….Today, Congress is continuing to free our government from the influence of political insiders and special interests.
“….The American people need to know their government is serving the public interest, not vested interests."
Give me a break.
COMMENTS
Well, forgive me for not taking much seriously past "the Club for Growth." Shocking - it gave a bunch of Republicans 100% scores, and none to Democrats. It's a private-interest group so conservative it will back efforts to dethrone Republicans it considers too moderate. Seriously.
To flip the script, how seriously would you take a "repork card" put together by MoveOn.org?
I'm not defending Kagen. Just saying that a fiercely conservative organization's criticism of a vulnerable freshman Democrat isn't exactly groundbreaking, mind-swaying material.
Ok Matt, have it your way. Be offended about votes counted by a conservative organization and then just close your eyes to a stealth earmark placed in the SCHIPS bill for gosh sakes - a bill ostensibly passed to provide more health care to more little ones around the country. And masked in a riddle of words in the middle of the bill, is a Medicare payment adjustment for Bay Area Medical Center. Is that mind-swaying material in your guidebook?
And while you're defending platitudes and principles, do you defend Dr. Kagen's bragging about the ethics bill that actually mitigates previous earmark reforms? Is the Wall Street Journal article on congress pulling that fast one, too biased for you as well? JE
Matt Neistein (Mon Aug 13 14:33:01 2007)
I have coined the term 'government by impunity' to describe the lack of faith displayed across the board by by the 110th Congress.
But a Rolling Stone cover story before the election called the 109th The Worst Congress Ever and with statistics to back it up.
I'm not looking backward to the good ol' days of a John Gard candidacy. I want to see a new challenger and keep the 8th District seat the Hot Seat.
Lon Ponschock (Mon Aug 13 14:36:58 2007)
Rolling Stones is always the first place I turn to for my political news! At least Lon, you recognize this current congress is not shaping up to be any better.
Mark A Framness (Tue Aug 14 07:46:35 2007)
Jo, you misunderstand me. I made it very clear I wasn't defending Kagen or the earmarks. I just said some of the evidence you cited, to me, is a non-issue. Saying the Club for Growth criticized a Democrat, so that Democrat is obviously out of bounds, is no different than citing Al Franken's call for George Bush to be impeached as evidence that it should happen. Some things you just automatically expect from certain people/groups. "And in other news, the sun rose today." Well, yeah, and?
Ok Matt, point made. How about this? The Club for Growth criticized Dr. Kagen for his lack of support of earmark reform and I agree with the point they made. JE
Matt N. (Tue Aug 14 08:23:10 2007)
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