Joni Ernst and the Kochs want to dismantle the Clean Water Act
Joni Ernst is preparing for a big debate, but before she takes the stage, let's take a look at who she would really represent in the Senate. According to audio released from the Kochs' secretive donor summit, Iowa Senate candidate Joni Ernst gushed that the Koch brothers' donor network is to thank for her political "trajectory." Ernst went on to attribute the Kochs' backing to her support for "rolling back... rules and regulations." It's an apt observation from Koch Crony Joni, who has gone so far as to oppose the Clean Water Act, a critical environmental protection that Koch Industries and its subsidiaries have run afoul of no less than 18 times in the Hawkeye State alone. Earlier this year, while campaigning for the Republican party nomination for Iowa's open Senate seat, Ernst said that she considers the Clean Water Act to be "damaging" to business and that she supports replacing it with "voluntary measures." The extreme remark even rankled members of her own party, with Republican operatives citing her opposition to the longstanding, successful environmental protection as proof positive that she had tacked too hard to the far right. Despite the push back it received from some establishment Republicans, Ernst's rant against the Clean Water Act is a perfect example of the type of anti-regulation rhetoric that, as she herself speculated, likely piqued the Kochs' attention.
Hello Ernst and Ryan; Goodbye Social Security and Medicare
Joni Ernst is in serious trouble in her Iowa senate race. Paul Ryan really wants to be president. So when Ryan comes to Iowa to campaign for Ernst tomorrow, everybody's a winner! Except Iowans. Paul Ryan pioneered plans to privatize Social Security and slash Medicare, and Joni Ernst was his number one cheerleader. Ernst said "Ryan is a do-er, especially on budget issues," and she gleefully voted to endorse his budget in the Iowa Senate. She's voiced her support for privatizing Social Security on the campaign while refusing to offer any details, and claimed that Medicaid recipients "have no personal responsibility for their health," another program that would be gutted by Ryan's budgets. Joni Ernst is a fringe candidate, and it shows in the company she keeps and the people she admires. She's thanked the Koch brothers for "starting her trajectory." She said she was flattered to be compared to Sarah Palin because Palin is the kind of politician she admires. She appeared with Ted Cruz, who said there was no candidate he was more excited about across the country than Ernst. And now she's campaigning with anti-retirement crusader, Paul Ryan, who she calls a "do-er." Joni Ernst doesn't want Iowans to believe that she's extreme. But facts are facts. Ernst and Ryan want to privatize Social Security and roll back Medicare. That's pretty extreme.
Are Those Palm Trees in Iowa, Joni?
Yesterday, right in the middle of prime campaign season with just 42 days to go until Election Day, Joni Ernst took a break from her usual rough and tumble schedule of pandering to the Koch brothers to pander instead to some wealthy donors in....sunny Florida. American Bridge was there to document Ernst's fun in the Sunshine State, including her arrival and departure in a fancy chauffeured SUV and cracking jokes with her wealthy new Floridian friends. How positively, um, Iowan, of her. Watch Ernst's trip to the Sunshine State here:
New Video — Joni Ernst: Trajectory
Newly released audio recordings from the Koch brothers' summit of billionaires and bought candidates this week reveals the extent to which candidates like Joni Ernst are inextricably tied to the oil lords and their anti-working families agenda. Ernst did not parse words in crediting the Kochs and their extensive network for getting her to where she is today. Now, the billionaire brothers are reaping the benefits of their investment, as Joni Ernst, the Republican nominee in a key senate race, sings the Koch gospel on issue after issue.
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.
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.
MEMO: Congratulations to Koch-crony Joni
To: Interested Parties From: Brad Woodhouse, President of American Bridge 21st Century Re: Congratulations to Koch-crony Joni Date: Wednesday, June 4, 2014 Congratulations to Joni Ernst. Last night she captured the Tea Party Senate nomination in Iowa, and all she had to do was oppose the minimum wage, “philosophically” oppose renewable fuel standards, and flatter the billionaire, out-of-state Koch brothers. Ernst faced a slew of conservative candidates in the Republican primary, but ultimately, her extreme record prevailed. You can't question her Tea Party bona fides--in addition to opposing a federal minimum wage altogether, she thinks shifting a greater tax burden onto the middle class is "a great way to go." She has made the case for privatizing Social Security, supported Paul Ryan's budget to gut Medicaid and voucherize Medicare, and called for the elimination of Renewable Fuel Standards along with all other taxpayer subsidies. Her position on every one of those issues is in lockstep with the Koch agenda, and she even co-sponsored a personhood amendment, which would make some forms of contraception illegal and take away a woman's right-to-choose even in the case of rape or incest. What more could a Tea Partier ask for? Now, general election voters in Iowa can enjoy five months of getting to know Koch-crony Joni and her anti-middle class agenda.
Romney and Ernst: Trying to Take The Wind Out of Iowa’s Economy
Mitt Romney, twice the loser of the Iowa presidential caucus, is visiting the Hawkeye state to lend a hand to extreme Tea Party Senate candidate Joni Ernst. While Romney may signify the face of the GOP establishment, he and Tea Partier Ernst share the extreme position of railing against the wind energy tax credits that are crucial to Iowa's economy. In 2012, Romney voiced his opposition to renewing wind energy tax credits, joking that they were unnecessary because "you can't drive a car with a windmill on it." An Iowa paper editorialized that Romney's stance was disappointing, and wind energy industry executives warned that letting the credits expire could kill 3000 Iowa jobs. Fast forward to the 2014 Senate race: Joni Ernst has similarly called for an end to wind energy subsidies. Unsurprisingly, Ernst's position is the same as the Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity, who have railed against the same wind subsidies in Iowa--and who she recently thanked on facebook for pouring money into the race. Romney, Ernst and the Koch brothers: partners in extreme ideology. Bad for Iowa.