Obey's FEC

We're starting to take a look at Obey's FEC report. We were going to wait till all the other candidates had posted, but we wanted to offer a bottom line analysis.

Dave Obey only increased his Cash on Hand position by $20,000 over the previous quarter. We know he gave a lot of money away to other candidates/political party organizations, but it says to us that he doesn't believe he's going to have to spend a lot of money in this race. While $857,000 is a lot of campaign cash, we're hoping one of the candidates proves his assumption about what he's going to have to spend wrong.

Check in with the Candidates

Nick Reid reports on his upcoming events here.

Jeff Tyberg's events are listed here.

Robinson - nothing new to report at his website.

Stating the Obvious

According to Joe Wineke, Wisconsin Democrat Party Chairman, Democrats think they should be in charge. Big shock. That's right, according to Wineke, "It is time to give the Democrats a chance."

Wineke takes the typical liberal Democrat line of "a chicken in every pot." Yes, if you have a problem, it looks like Wineke is promising the Democrats will solve it. Need a job, we'll give you one if you vote for us. Need health care, the government will provide it. Just vote for us.

That's really the fundamental difference between Democrats and Republicans. Republicans believe that every time the government tries to solve your problems, they create a bigger problem for you. Take jobs for instance. During the 40 years the Democrats were in control of Congress, unemployment was higher on average than the last 11 years of Republican control. During that time, Democrats supported higher taxes and more regulations on our economy. Apparently Wineke and the Democrats want you to "give them a chance" to do that again.

Democrats also want a chance to allow Social Security to go bankrupt, to drive health insurance costs through the roof with more regulations and unlimited lawsuits, and to allow family-friendly tax relief to expire.

The funniest thing to us at Obey Out is that Wineke is claiming the moral high ground on ethics. Not only were there corrupt Democrats in 1994, the Democrats today are guilty of many of the same ethics violations they accuse Republicans of. When Democrats do it, they are "mistakes" and "reporting oversights." How can Dave Obey take 2/3rds of his campaign contributions from DC-based lobbyists and special interests and that be ok, but when Republicans do it, they are too beholden to special interests? How can the Minority Whip, Steny Hoyer, have his own K-Street Project (just like Tom DeLay's) and that be ok when it was evidence of DeLay being corrupt? Wineke is quick to point out Duke Cunningham's bribery charges, but conveniently forgets that Rep. William Jefferson, a DEMOCRAT, is under indictment on similar charges and former Rep. Ballance is sitting in jail for directing public resources for private gain. What a joke Wineke.

Oh, and by the way Wineke, Obey is leading the charge on a bill that makes virtually NO changes of substance to the system. Why? Because Obey knows he's completely beholden to special interests and he is trying to cover it up. He knows that Democrats intend to bottle up reform legislation so they can run on the issue this fall. He knows that this is all politics, and after 37 years, if there's one thing he can do, it's play politics.

What does Obey have to say?

Today is the March for Life in Washington, DC - a protest of Roe v. Wade. We at Obey Out don't believe elections should be run solely on social or moral issues, but we do want to throw out the topic for discussion. Obey is Catholic and says he is pro-life (his record is mixed at best on this issue). We were wondering if Dave Obey will attend or speak at the March or if he will issue a pro-life statement today?

Looking At Washington - Republican Leadership

We at Obey Out like to dedicate most of our time to the proposition of defeating Dave Obey. It's not only a worthwhile goal, it's necessary if we ever want to have a Representative in Washington who actually reflects the people he represents. We do feel though, that the House Republican Leadership races caused by the indictment of Tom DeLay and his subequent standing down from his Majority Leader position will have a tremendous impact on the national atmosphere for Republicans.

According to the www.diageohotlinepoll.com, 49% of Americans believe it is likely that their Member of Congress has been involved in some kind of illegal activity. While we think that is ridiculous, 71% of Americans think it is likely that Republican Members of Congress have been involved in illegal activities and 63% of Americans feel the same about Democrats.

Now, Republican leaders have come out with an ethics reform package as have the Democrats. You can bet with almost absolute certainty, that Democrats will do everything they can to bottle up the Republican bill because Democrats don't want to solve any problems, they want the issue for the November elections. [as an aside, we don't believe any set of rules will stop rule breakers from breaking them. some simple reforms like full and timely disclosure of all lobbying expenditures and accountability for pork projects inserted into bills at the last minute would probably shed a little much needed light on Washington. otherwise, money is like water, if you shut it off in one place, it will find somewhere else to flow.]

In fact, Democrats don't really want the rules changed at all. Of all the privately-funded trips taken over the last several years, Democrats took 49% of them (Obey has been all over the world through trips paid for by a so-called foundation made up of big business donors who go along on the trips to curry favor with Members like Obey). Democrats put earmarks in appropriations bills whenever they can (in fact, Dave Obey gets a certain allocation from the Republican Chairman, and can dole those out as favors to Democrats in the House). You will also find that Democrats (see Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi) squeeze PACs and lobbyists for campaign contributions just as hard as they can. Remember that Pelosi got in trouble for setting up two leadership PACs so she could double-dip for contributions.

That leads us back to the point. If Democrats won't let any real reforms pass because they want to campaign on the issue while still taking the free steaks and trips (which we don't have a problem with so long as they're disclosed to the people they represent), then how can Republicans climb back on to the high ground when it comes to ethics in Washington? Simple, change the leadership. Tom DeLay hand-picked Roy Blunt and Deborah Pryce to be the Majority Whip and Conference Chairman. Roy Blunt hand-picked Eric Cantor to be the Chief Deputy Whip. The worst position Republicans can put themselves in is to become the "more of the same" Party.

Hopefully, when Republicans reconvene in two weeks, they will first, call for a full slate of elections for leadership.

Then, they should elect John Shadegg (we would prefer Boehner to Blunt as well, but Boehner had his shot in Leadership before) for Majority Leader.

They should elect Todd Tiahrt as Majority Whip (this was a close call for us as we really like Zach Wamp and believe Mike Rogers is a nice guy too. However, Wamp tends to go off the reservation at times, and Rogers is conservative out of convenience. Yet, any of these three must be put in over Eric Cantor.)

Finally, in a surprise move, the Conference should elect Jack Kingston as the new Conference Chairman. (Deborah Pryce was a puppet of DeLay and adds no value to the team, in addition to being an activist pro-choice supporter.)

If Republicans show the courage of their convictions to put a truly new team in place to show the American people they are serious about change, that they just aren't playing "more of the same" politics, we can have a more positive atmosphere here in Wisconsin. Then we can focus on the Obey DC-lobbyist funded campaign and travel, which is apparently ok if he does it (as well as the rest of his bad record for Wisconsin).

Calling All Reporters

In this Journal Sentinel article, it strikes us that Dave Obey is trying really hard to explain himself on what money he can and can't take. Will any reporters in Wisconsin call him to the carpet for taking 2/3rds of his campaign contributions from DC Special Interests and DC-based Lobbyists, or are they just going to let him slide?

It looks like

Nick Reid is campaigning full time.

Jeff Tyberg is making a lap of the district.

Dave Robinson has no events to report.

What Will Democrats Say About This?

This ABC News story and others seem to confirm that Rep. William Jefferson, a Democrat, may soon be indicted for bribery. Seems he demanded a share of a company in exchange for promoting its international business ventures. How sad.

Democrats jumped up and down on Duke Cunningham, a Republican, for taking bribes. Further evidence, they claimed of Republican corruption.

This story about Jefferson (and see Rep. Ballance, former Democrat Congressman from North Carolina sentenced to prison last year) goes to prove that it doesn't matter what your party affiliation is, you can become corrupt.

Dave Obey says his legislation will reform Washington. We disagree. All he is doing is changing the rules. There are COUNTLESS rules and regulations governing conduct by Members of Congress now. Some people just feel like rules were made to be broken and those individuals who knowingly and purposefully violated those rules should be prosecuted. New rules won't change their behavior.

For us, it's a matter of trust. Do you trust someone who's lived and worked in Washington for 37 years? Do you believe someone who has taken 2/3rds of his campaign contributions from DC special interests and lobbyists will actually work to clean up the system, especially someone whose primary committee assignment involves doling out pork projects?

Obey Out believes we should hire a new Representative in Washington.

Upon Further Review

We at Obey Out believe that if you didn't do anything wrong, you shouldn't be required to give back legal campaign contributions.

That said, this Malkin post talks about how when Clinton was in the White House, Democrats received more Indian tribe money connected to gambling. Presumably to help curry favor with a Democrat Administration. Jack Abramoff got in trouble primarily for charging huge fees to these tribes and then directing them to give contributions to "helpful" lawmakers. Presumably, to help curry favor with a Republican Administration. Dave Obey says it was a Democrat who represented the tribes that gave him money when he got it. According to Obey, that's ok. However, when Abramoff, a Republican, gets Indian tribal money to Republicans, it's not ok. It's a culture of corruption.

Obey Out wonders if anyone at the Justice Department is looking into how the tribes' lobbyists pre-Abramoff directed contributions?

Obey Comments

A little late, but Obey comments on Abramoff tribe money. As we've consistently said, we think this whole hysteria about giving back legal, fully disclosed campaign contributions is ridiculous. Legal campaign contributions are not bribes. It's not stopping Obey and his cohorts from saying Republicans are engaged in a culture of corruption though. Anyway, Obey says Abramoff wasn't the lobbyist for the tribes at the time, so he doesn't have to give it back. Fine with us.

We must note that Obey gets 2/3rds of his money from special interests in DC. We bet he wouldn't have given this money back even if Abramoff would have been the lobbyist. I guess we'll never know.

Obey Took Abramoff Tribe Money

According to this graphic in this story, Dave Obey took $3000 from Indian tribes represented by Jack Abramoff who plead guilty to criminal charges related to influence peddling. We at Obey Out do not buy into the hysteria of having to return legal campaign contributions from someone you believed to be on the up and up when you received the contribution. However, Obey and other Democrats have made a big deal about Republicans taking such contributions, with Obey even proposing a reform bill. We find it interesting that Obey's office wouldn't even return a call for comment on these contributions. One would think someone who pretended to be so concerned about ethics when introducing his own bill would be on the front lines of this story. Obey wasn't.

Tyberg Article

here's the link

There's a lot in the article, here are some excerpts:

He didn't consider running for public office until one day, while working at a coffee shop in Grantsburg and talking politics, a customer said that the country needed 'good men in Congress' and that Tyberg should run.

Three security issues play into Tyberg's philosophy and create the backbone of his campaign: "national security, economic security and family security."

On Federal Powers:

Tyberg said the national government's powers should be limited to fixing inter-state disputes and maintaining the nation's borders.

On Social Security:

Removing the $100,000 cap from income taxable for Social Security purposes, imposing a maximum income limit for Social Security beneficiaries and investing at least some Social Security monies in the stock market are three reform ideas that the Grantsburg candidate supports.

On Education:

Taking a plank from the late President Reagan's platform, Tyberg said dissolving the Department of Education could reduce federal government spending.

We're back . . . almost

As we mentioned before Christmas, we wouldn't post much till the New Year. Well, we're back (particularly our administrator) from our travels. Once we dig out from mail and e-mail, we will get back to the business of retiring Dave Obey.