Former Obey Staffer Speaks Out - Liberal Obey Working for Special Interests, Not Us
On David Sirota's, former Obey staffer, blog he makes two very interesting statements.
He calls Obey one of the "true progressive champions" in Congress. For the politically uninitiated, progressive means liberal. So Obey isn't just a liberal, he is a champion of all liberal causes. OK, we all knew that, but it never hurts to remind ourselves how far to the left of the people of the Seventh District Dave Obey really is.
Here's what Sirota said about the Appropriations Committee:
The panel certainly does get things done, but not for the people who elected its members. It gets things done almost exclusively for those lobbyists and corporate interests that buy influence through campaign contributions. The committee has become, in short, the breeding ground of congressional corruption.
Dave Obey cannot run away from this charge - that he does not get things done for the people who elected him - because it's from one of his former staffers. As the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, he is responsible for doling out a certain percentage of all "earmarks" - special interest projects. That's good news for his special interest buddies who contribute to his campaign.
As we have pointed out, this year 68% of Obey's campaign contributions have come from DC special interests and lobbyists. This is not a one year blip either, this is historically how Dave Obey raises the campaign contributions to scare off potential challengers in the 7th District.
Obey has opposed legislation that would require members of Congress to put their names on the earmarks they get. Obey says he wants to get private money out of the system so he can require taxpayers to pay for his campaign, but he knows it will never see the light of day in Congress, so he doesn't have to worry about it. He better not have to worry about it either after the pathetically low amount of money he actually raises inside Wisconsin. In fact, we believe Nick Reid will have outraised Dave Obey from individuals inside of Wisconsin. Maybe Nick should challenge Obey to limit his spending to money he raises from inside Wisconsin. Obey's also refused to accept a challenge from Nick Reid to voluntarily limit his campaign spending at all.
Let's spread the word about who Dave Obey is working for in Washington through letters to the editor, radio show call ins, etc.
He calls Obey one of the "true progressive champions" in Congress. For the politically uninitiated, progressive means liberal. So Obey isn't just a liberal, he is a champion of all liberal causes. OK, we all knew that, but it never hurts to remind ourselves how far to the left of the people of the Seventh District Dave Obey really is.
Here's what Sirota said about the Appropriations Committee:
The panel certainly does get things done, but not for the people who elected its members. It gets things done almost exclusively for those lobbyists and corporate interests that buy influence through campaign contributions. The committee has become, in short, the breeding ground of congressional corruption.
Dave Obey cannot run away from this charge - that he does not get things done for the people who elected him - because it's from one of his former staffers. As the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, he is responsible for doling out a certain percentage of all "earmarks" - special interest projects. That's good news for his special interest buddies who contribute to his campaign.
As we have pointed out, this year 68% of Obey's campaign contributions have come from DC special interests and lobbyists. This is not a one year blip either, this is historically how Dave Obey raises the campaign contributions to scare off potential challengers in the 7th District.
Obey has opposed legislation that would require members of Congress to put their names on the earmarks they get. Obey says he wants to get private money out of the system so he can require taxpayers to pay for his campaign, but he knows it will never see the light of day in Congress, so he doesn't have to worry about it. He better not have to worry about it either after the pathetically low amount of money he actually raises inside Wisconsin. In fact, we believe Nick Reid will have outraised Dave Obey from individuals inside of Wisconsin. Maybe Nick should challenge Obey to limit his spending to money he raises from inside Wisconsin. Obey's also refused to accept a challenge from Nick Reid to voluntarily limit his campaign spending at all.
Let's spread the word about who Dave Obey is working for in Washington through letters to the editor, radio show call ins, etc.
posted by ObeyOut2006 at 12:59 PM
6 Comments:
Nice try, did you even read the article?
"As chief spokesman for Democrats on this committee, I had a firsthand view of how this panel has been abused by the Republicans. Tens of millions of dollars move from one district to another for purely political reasons—all with the quick stroke of a pen behind closed doors."
Or this one:
"The next logical step is for Congress to embrace a public financing system of elections—a concept being aggressively pushed by Rep. David Obey (D-Wisc.), the House Democrats’ senior appropriator."
http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2698/
David Sirota is certainly not making Dave Obey out to be a bad guy...in fact, the reverse is true. The Appropriations Committee is being "abused by the Republicans".
I hate to burst your bubble, but the Democrats are just as guilty of this as Republicans. Sirota may try to play it off in the article as a Republican problem, but he gives himself away. Sirota didn't intend to make Obey out to be the bad guy, but he does it anyway because Obey is they guy with his hands on the purse strings when it comes to Democrats. Anyone who has worked in and around Washington knows that the ranking Democrat (that's Obey) gets a share of the pie to dole out to districts for purely political reasons. It's true. It's a fact. And facts are stubborn things.
Hey 12:38, do you even have a clue? Ask anyone who's ever worked on Capitol Hill and they'll tell you that the Democrats have a deal with Republicans. They get a certain amount of the money to dole out for political favors in exchange for not causing too much friction in getting the bills passed. Sirota may not have intended to burn his former boss, but he did.
And how do you defend Obey taking so much of his money from special interests and lobbyists? Why doesn't he accept the offer from Reid to voluntarily limit his spending if he's such a firm believer in it? The answer is, he isn't. He wants things to continue just the way they are so he can keep his job and his $1 million house. You Obey defenders really have drunk the Kool-aid.
See Alan Mollohan, long time appropriator and DEMOCRAT, who is in all kinds of trouble for where he doled out money to his political contributors and business partners. I agree with the Kool-aid comment.
Did you read Obey Out's former post about Obey going ballistic when Republican leadership undid the deal he made with the former Chairman of the Appropriations Committee in the middle of the night over a bottle of merlot?
Get a grasp on reality buddy.
If you think Obey doesn't dole out money to campaign contributors and to his colleagues for political reasons, I have some swamp land south of New Orleans to sell you.
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