“Crude Coats”
June 4th, 2010James Carville on Dan Coats: Indiana can’t afford this lobbyist
June 3rd, 2010For those of you who are not on the Indiana Democratic Party’s mailing list, you missed an excellent missive from Ragin’ Cajun’ James Carville. Carville, who certainly hasn’t shied away from vigorously defending his cherished Gulf coast during this most recent environmental crisis, had some tough words for lobbyist Dan Coats….
Being from Louisiana, it really chaps my hide that BP’s callous irresponsibility has allowed Gulf Coast communities to be devastated by this catastrophic oil spill. This disaster will have long term consequences for the Gulf Coast ecosystem and economy for years to come.
What makes this whole situation worse is knowing that special interest money from big oil is still gushing into Washington faster than crude into the Gulf. Major corporations like BP are represented in Washington by an army of lawyers and paid professional lobbyists, whose job it is to fend off efforts to make their clients follow the rules and act responsibly. These big corporate lobbyists actually help write the laws that are meant to govern their clients’ activities. It’s the same old story - again and again.
And now, Dan Coats, one of those lobbyists, is trying to run for the U.S. Senate in Indiana. As absurd as this sounds, sometimes these lobbyists actually get elected to Congress!! After taking millions of dollars in lobbying fees from special interests, they use their big corporate connections to win a seat in Congress where they can continue fighting for the interests of the corporations that made them rich.
Dan Coats, the Republican nominee for Senate is a lobbyist for big corporate special interests like chemical companies, oil companies, and insurance companies. And get this: Coats’ lobbying and law firm counts among its clients the two corporations directly involved in the Gulf oil disaster: BP and Halliburton.
BP is the most irresponsible - and most often fined - major oil company in the world … by a wide margin. How could such an irresponsible company be allowed to jeopardize the health and economic livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of families along our Gulf Coast?
Let me say it again. Two companies share the responsibility for the Gulf catastrophe. They are: BP and Halliburton - they are both clients of Dan Coats’ law and lobbying firm, King and Spalding.
If Dan Coats gets elected to the U.S. Senate, whose interests do you think he’s going to represent? The citizens of Indiana - a state which he moved out of ten years ago? … Or the big oil companies and other corporate interests that have helped pay his salary for years?
After eight years of a Bush administration run by oil company executives, the last thing America needs is a Senator who made his millions lobbying for them. We need to make sure the oil companies don’t get their lackey, Dan Coats, elected to the Senate.
Lobbyists already have too much power in Washington. We can’t afford to be electing them to the United States Senate.
James Carville: Indiana can’t afford to elect a lobbyist to the Senate
June 3rd, 2010Strong words from Democratic legend James Carville, who sent a message to Hoosier Democrats today warning of the cozy big oil relationships that Dan Coats would bring with him to the Senate.
Dan Coats, the Republican nominee for Senate is a lobbyist for big corporate special interests like chemical companies, oil companies, and insurance companies. And get this: Coats’ lobbying and law firm counts among its clients the two corporations directly involved in the Gulf oil disaster: BP and Halliburton.BP is the most irresponsible - and most often fined - major oil company in the world … by a wide margin. How could such an irresponsible company be allowed to jeopardize the health and economic livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of families along our Gulf Coast?
Let me say it again. Two companies share the responsibility for the Gulf catastrophe. They are: BP and Halliburton - they are both clients of Dan Coats’ law and lobbying firm, King and Spalding.
James Carville made it clear that Hoosiers just can’t afford to send a lobbyist (back) to Washington.
After eight years of a Bush administration run by oil company executives, the last thing America needs is a Senator who made his millions lobbying for them. We need to make sure the oil companies don’t get their lackey, Dan Coats, elected to the Senate.Lobbyists already have too much power in Washington. We can’t afford to be electing them to the United States Senate.
Sylvia A. Smith: “Republican brand” is tainted by Souder
May 24th, 2010The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette’s political columnist has some tough words for Republicans looking to hold on to the seat vacated by the embattled Rep. Mark Souder. Specifically, don’t expect voters to forgive and forget.
When a popular lawmaker dies in office, the candidate most closely associated with him or her has a huge advantage. Think of the special election won by Andre Carson, the nephew of the Indianapolis congresswoman who died in 2007. In Pennsylvania last week, the protégé of the late Rep. John Murtha won a special election despite the anti-Washington atmosphere.
In both cases, voters were motivated more by whether they liked the lawmakers who died in office than by what they thought of the potential successors.
An admitted affair from a conservative “family values” pol taints the Republican brand. Some Republican voters would just stay home in disgust with ’em all. Republican-leaning independents would be much more open to a Democrat. And Democrats would vote with glee. That’s a recipe for Democratic victory.
So from the Republican perspective, it’s best to put as much distance as possible between the memory of a tear-stained Souder reading his mea culpa from a podium and the special election to replace him.
Senator Amy Klobuchar at the JJ Dinner
May 18th, 2010Mitch Daniels’ Fine Mess
May 17th, 2010Governor Mitch Daniels has sure put the state of Indiana in a fine mess.
As you recall, back in December of 2006, ignoring a loud chorus of critics and failing to learn from other states (Texas and Florida) where similar efforts had failed, Mitch Daniels stubbornly decided to forge forward with an enormous, 10-year, $1.16 billion deal with IBM Corp. to upgrade the state’s paper-based welfare application system to a system using a statewide call center and online document processing.
Part of this new plan was to shift 1,500 of the agency’s 2,200 caseworkers to the private sector, and in doing so, the Governor ignored the numerous critics who argued that outsourcing such a critical government function was a mistake.
Turns out, the critics were right all along. The supposed new and improved system was fraught with errors and riddled with problems from the beginning.
The list of headaches were lengthy and included issues with the processing of food stamps, bugs that repeatedly wreaked havoc with the system, and a lawsuit filed by The American Civil Liberties Union alleging that disabled Hoosiers were being denied benefits improperly.
Here’s more from the AP, via The Republic -
In its lawsuit, the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration is seeking to recover $437.6 million it paid IBM through Jan. 31, plus the costs of any third-party lawsuits, federal penalties and state employee overtime incurred as a result of the deal. The state is seeking triple damages, or more than $1.3 billion.
Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM countered with its own lawsuit, asking for $52.8 million in deferred payments and equipment costs that it said the state still owes. IBM said it followed the state’s instructions, but the contract designed by the Daniels administration didn’t allow for the economic downturn that created tens of thousands of new welfare applications.
Both lawsuits were filed in Marion County courts last Thursday.
But the lawsuits are not the first to result from the IBM contract. Carmel attorney Scott Severns has a federal class-action lawsuit pending in Indianapolis seeking to bar the state from cutting off aid to people while they appeal the decisions to deny them benefits.
“It’s certainly refreshing to see the state stating clearly what happened. If we had had that kind of transparency three years ago we could have avoided a lot of this,” Severns said, noting that only one public hearing was held just days before Daniels signed the deal. “It was tragic for the people who were affected by it.”
What a fine mess you’ve created, Governor Daniels.
It is clear that that both IBM and the State of Indiana have made mistakes in this nightmare of a deal. The greatest of which was how the Governor repeatedly refused to listen to critics and heed warnings signs which showed that this was a terrible deal to begin with.
“Deny, Deny, Deny”
May 14th, 2010Dan Coats: Lobbyist for Them
May 10th, 2010After being paid millions by special interests, Washington lobbyist Dan Coats wants Hoosiers to send him back to the U.S. Senate. But who’s he kidding? He’s already made clear that he’s not going to turn his back on the special interests that made him rich. He’s going to continue to do their bidding. So, instead of sending him to the Senate, let’s let Dan Coats go back to his big Washington lobbying firm. We need to elect someone who’ll stand up for Indiana.
Learn about the real Dan Coats: www.LobbyistDanCoats.com.
Our Recovering Economy
May 7th, 2010
Today we are seeing some very positive signs that our economy is getting back on track and moving in the right direction.
In the month of April the U.S. economy added 290,000 jobs, including 231,000 private sector jobs and marked the fourth month in a row that our economy added jobs. This is the largest job growth in four years.
It’s important to look back to where we were just a year ago - when the economy was shedding on average 750,000 jobs a month. In contrast, we’ve added almost 500,000 private sector jobs in the first few months of this year.
What we are witnessing is that the economic initiatives from the Obama Administration are working. And while too many Hoosiers are still out of work, we are seeing signs that our economy is improving.
That’s why the President is committed above all else to creating job growth:
Recently, the President signed a jobs bill that encourages small businesses to hire folks who are unemployed, in addition to encouraging small business growth and investment.
The President has asked Congress to do a number of additional things to support small businesses, like expand tax credits for clean energy manufacturing and create a fund for lending to small businesses totaling $30 billion.
And let’s not forget the significance of The Recovery Act which was a critical step in bringing our economy back from the brink and investing in new jobs, having cut taxes for 95 percent of working families and investing in our nation’s infrastructure.
It is important to note that we are moving forwards, not backgrounds. Jobs will continue to be the Administration’s top priority, as the President and Democrats in Congress look to rebuild the economy with America’s middle class in mind.
We appreciate the support of the President, the Indiana Democratic Congressional delegation and Senator Evan Bayh. As we move forward to November, the condition of our economy and the progress we’ve made rebuilding it will be issue #1.
