Huffington Post: Another Rick Perry Staffer Ensnared In Teacher Death Bond Scheme
On August 26, 2011, the Huffington Post reported:
"Texas Governor Rick Perry's ties to Swiss banking giant UBS go beyond his relationship with former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas). Perry's current chief of staff and top press person for his campaign, Ray Sullivan, spent five years as a lobbyist for UBS in Texas -- a tenure that began the same year Gramm made his macabre pitch for Perry to enable Wall Street gambling on the deaths of Texas teachers. Sullivan reaped between $300,000 and $600,000 lobbying for UBS between 2003 and 2008, according to data compiled by Texans for Public Justice, a nonpartisan government transparency group. Disclosure forms only require lobbyists to indicate a salary range, not a specific salary. Sullivan had several other lobbying clients during those same years. He has been described in the local Texas press as a member of Perry's trusted inner circle. Sullivan worked for Perry both in the governor's mansion and in the late 1990s when Perry was then lieutenant governor. Sullivan started working for UBS in May 2003. That November, Perry aggressively pushed the Texas teacher pension fund and state teacher associations to sign off on a UBS plan to take out life insurance policies and annuities on retired Texas teachers -- an elaborate scheme in which the state of Texas would serve as a something of a bookie, setting up Wall Street bets on how long those teachers would live..."
Omaha World-Herald: Bruning attained wealth in office
On August 25, 2011, the Omaha World-Herald reported:
In a little over a decade, Attorney General Jon Bruning has amassed a burgeoning business portfolio that puts him squarely in the multimillionaires' club. He has done it all while serving in office and earning $95,000 a year.
Boston Globe: Brown links to ‘CrazyKhazei’ Twitter feed
On August 24, 2011, the Boston Globe reported: For nearly a month, Democratic Senate candidate Alan Khazei has been mocked…
Washington Times: Ties to coal industry rise as issue for Allen
On August 24, 2011 The Washington Times reported: When the Environmental Protection Agency announced new smokestack standards for coal-burning…
Dick Lugar: Big Spender
It is no secret that there is no love lost between Indiana Senator Dick Lugar and the Tea Party. Along with his colleagues Olympia Snowe and Orrin Hatch, Lugar represents one of the top Republican Senate primary targets for the Tea Party. But unlike Snowe and Hatch, Lugar has chosen to take a confrontational approach to this element of his party. Regarding the START Treaty, he told Tea Partiers to “get real,” and his spokesman has said that they “reject the premise” that conservative must “kowtow to the Tea Party.”
Explaining his distaste for the Tea Party, Lugar told reporters in January that Tea Party supporters are motivated by anger, complaining “we want this or that stopped or there is spending, big government—these are all, we would say, sort of large cliché titles, but they are not able to articulate all the specifics.”
If Lugar is concerned that Tea Party is having trouble articulating specific spending or “big government” policies, perhaps he will offer up cuts to the Farm Bill and agricultural subsidies. But, this is unlikely because a close look at Lugar’s record, shows he is a big fan of government spending.
As a look at his record shows, Lugar is a big spender, after the jump.
Plain Dealer: GOP U.S. Senate Candidate Kevin Coughlin Calls Global Warming Science 'Sketchy'
On August 22, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported:
A Democratic super PAC called American Bridge 21st Century sent a videographer to an Aug. 18 appearance that Coughlin made before a Strongsville tea party group called Strong Ohio. It filmed Coughlin calling the science behind global warming "sketchy," and rhetorically declaring: "I would ask the people in Pompeii who are frozen like this if an act of Congress could change their situation."
PolitiFact Virginia: Allen says he reined in state spending as governor
On August 22, 2011 PolitiFact Virginia reported: Republican George Allen is promising his unrelenting effort to curb federal spending…
Rick Perry Compares Civil Rights Movement To Lower Taxes And Deregulation
At an August 20, 2011 meet and greet at the Old Town Bistro in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Gov. Rick Perry seemingly likened the struggles of the civil rights movement to fighting for lower taxes and deregulation. As AMERICAblog's Kombiz Lavasany wrote, "The statement is historically inaccurate, Martin Luther King Jr. fought for unions and regulations."
Think Progress: Olympia Snowe Urges Constituents To Thank Court For Ruling Against The Individual Mandate She Voted For
On August 22, 2011, Think Progress wrote: Politico’s Pulse reports that Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) “is inviting people to…
MEMO: Rick Perry: The Great Campaigner?
Last week, Texas Governor Rick Perry burst onto the GOP Presidential scene, managing to step all over the Ames straw poll by making his official announcement the same day.
By waiting until after the straw poll to enter the race, Perry avoided answering the tough questions that voters care about. Rather than use his first week in the race to show Americans where he stands on today's most pressing issues, he upstaged himself with a series of gaffes and extreme statements, revealing that he's just not ready for prime time.