Bruce Rauner: Refusing To Take Responsibility (VIDEO)
Bruce Rauner touts his experience as the CEO of a business as evidence he deserves to be governor. And yet when a subsidiary of said business is embroiled in scandal, Rauner takes precisely zero responsibility for their actions. Executives at ConvergEx, owned by Rauner's former firm, GTCR, have been indicted for defrauding stock investors and have already agreed to pay over $150 million in restitution. Rauner has tried to write off the executives at ConvergEx as a couple of "rogue employees" and absolve himself of any connection.
Happy Birthday!
Seventy-nine years ago today President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law, marking a new page in our nation's history that attempted to rid the widespread problem of Americans spending their golden years trapped in poverty. Fast forward forty five years later. David Koch runs for Vice President on a Libertarian ticket that calls Social Security - already at that time a wildly successful program that has helped millions - "the most serious threat to the future stability of our society next to the threat of nuclear war." Today? The Republican Party, fully embracing a hard right, extreme Tea Party, Koch-fueled agenda, runs a docket of Senate candidates who would make cuts to or have otherwise attacked Social Security. While Americans old and young continue to cherish the promise of retiring with some stability, Republican Senate candidates have made their priorities clear -- and protecting their Koch cash-flow comes long before protecting your retirement. These GOPers are coming at it from every angle. Some, like Tom Cotton and Cory Gardner, have voted to raise the eligibility age from 65 to 70, because what's five more years of work when you're sitting pretty in your taxpayer-funded job? Some candidates, like David Perdue, Mike McFadden and Monica Wehby, have offered nebulous support for cuts, because plans and details are hard (and voters clearly might not like to hear what they really think). Terri Lynn Land and Joni Ernst haven't spent time in Congress yet, but they sure are keen on privatizing the program. Mainstream? Not hardly.
Meet Glenn Grothman And The *New* GOP
After an embarrassing cycle for the GOP in 2012 -- from a clown show of a presidential primary season that…
Putting the "Fib" in NFIB
The National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) presents itself as a do-good nonpartisan group that fights for the best interests of small businesses and stays out of politics. It isn't. Dig a litter deeper and you'll quickly learn that NFIB is another group with Koch-funding working to push their anti-working family agenda and elect politicians who embody it. They purport to lobby for small business, but fight tooth and nail for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans -- tax cuts that help people like the Kochs and not people like the local hardware store owner.
How Dare Dairy Queen (Pay Its Workers A Living Wage)
Texas Congressman Blake Farenthold has always been ahead of the curve. First, it was the duckie pajamas. Then, last summer, it was talk of impeaching the president. Now, at a town hall this week in Corpus Christie, Rep. Farenthold has gone even further than just doubling down on his opposition to raising the minimum wage: he has actively mocked a local Texas business (in this case, Dairy Queen) for paying its workers $18/hour. Right on, Congressman. How dare Dairy Queen pay its workers a living wage?
Oh Look, Rick Scott Is An Environmentalist Now! (VIDEO)
Rick Scott is traversing the state this week, attempting to convince Floridians that his sudden interest in environmental protection is something more than election-year pandering. It won't work. As rising sea levels associated with climate change pose greater and greater threat to the Florida coastline, Rick Scott has only doubled and tripled down on his "I'm not a scientist" buffoonery. But you don't have to be a scientist to listen to scientific consensus. And you certainly don't need a science-believing governor to suffer from increased flooding in your hometown.
Illinois Loves Rich Guys With Tax Shelters, Right?
A political candidate worth hundreds of millions of dollars is coming under fire for channeling part of his fortune to…
Joni Ernst: Ted Cruz's Favorite Candidate
Joni Ernst was asked about her extreme agenda recently, and she responded with an exasperated, "Oh for heaven's sake. I am not extreme, I'll tell you that." Well Joni can tell us whatever she wants, but her positions speak for themselves. She wants to abolish the Department of Education and the EPA. She wants to get rid of the federal minimum wage altogether. In her perfect world, just like Ted Cruz, she would eliminate the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) that are crucial to Iowa's economy. She's floated impeaching President Obama, supported state nullification of federal laws, and endorsed Ted Cruz's government shutdown, which cost the economy $24 billion. For heaven's sake, that sounds pretty extreme now, doesn't it? It's even extreme enough for Ted Cruz. In fact, he finds Ernst's extreme positions so inspiring that he told Radio Iowa this weekend, "there is no senate candidate I am more excited about across the country than Joni Ernst." Joni Ernst and Ted Cruz are two peas in a pod. And their agenda would be disastrous for working families in Iowa.
Rand Paul Can Run Away From His Burger, But Not From His Record On Immigration
On issue after issue, Rand Paul tries to have it both ways. He has lauded himself as a champion for "minority rights" while opposing parts of the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act and Fair Housing Act. He has proclaimed on national television his desire to end all foreign aid, including for Israel, only to then claim he has never proposed such a thing. And when it comes to immigration, for months, Paul has been trying to have his cake and eat it too. He has repeatedly claimed to be supportive of immigration reform, trying to appear as though his 2016 candidacy could broaden the GOP base, but his record tells a different story. Paul voted against the Senate's bipartisan comprehensive immigration bill -- a bill that allocated significant resources to border security -- in addition to attacking DACA, effectively supporting a return to deporting DREAMers. Since the Senate passed its bill, the GOP has only moved backwards on the issue, cowering to the extreme anti-immigrant wing of the party driven by Steve King and all of his men. Rand Paul hasn't done a single thing to distance himself from this position, and now he's fundraising with King himself. And still, Paul wants to dissociate himself with the anti-immigrant crowd and avoid any tough questions about immigration policy. So much so that when a DREAMer introduced herself to Steve King at lunch, Rand literally dropped his burger and ran away from the table.
Bruce Rauner: The Everyman with the Cayman Islands Account
In last month's edition of Bruce Rauner: The Everyman, we brought you to his $100,000 parking spot in Chicago. This month,…