Campaign Finance

Campaign Finance - Chicago - Congress - Elections - GOP - Republicans - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

John McCain in Town to Stump for Kirk — Are We Grateful?

August 31, 2009 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Former GOP candidate for president and highest profile Republican Senator, John McCain (R, AZ), appeared in town this weekend to stump for Mark Kirk’s Senatorial campaign.

McCain appeared side-by-side with Representative Kirk in Glenview on Sunday.

Now, I suppose that if you want to make a wild guess, you can feel sanguine that the national party has decided who it is going to endorse in this upcoming GOP primary here in the Land of Lincoln. This, of course, is a boon for Mark Kirk, but not very good for the Illinois GOP that should have been given more space to feel out its own candidates for its own representation in the fight to fill Senator Roland Burris’ ill-gotten seat.

There is a plethora of candidates coming forward to face the Democrats in 2010. Kirk is not the only one. But, if the bigwigs in Washington have their way, it seems that the others aren’t even going to be given a chance to make a dent before the national folks stampede for Kirk.
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John McCain in Town to Stump for Kirk — Are We Grateful?”

Campaign Finance - Congress - Conservatives - Elections - GOP - Republicans - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

NRSC in Colorado: Hey, Let’s Endorse a Tax Raiser!

August 31, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Nationally, Americans are beginning to again trust Republicans over Democrats on taxes and the economy. The overreach in spending and the constant Democratic drum beat of wanting to raise taxes on “the rich” to pay for a massive enlargement — and engorgement, really — of big government has dug into the high approval rates that Democrats had enjoyed for well over a year. So, what does the National Republican Senatorial Committee want to do in Colorado? You guessed it, they want to endorse a tax raising, squishy moderate for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate for the 2010 race.

My friend Ben DeGrow of the Mount Virtus blog has discerned the rumblings beginning to come out of the NRSC and it looks like that wayward group is about to land four-square behind former Lt. Governor Jane Norton as the GOP race for the Senate gets rolling in the Centennial State.

So, what is Norton known for? Raising taxes. Great, huh? I’ll let my Colorado friend tells us more:
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NRSC in Colorado: Hey, Let’s Endorse a Tax Raiser!”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Campaign Finance - Communism - Congress - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Society/Culture - Thomas Brewton

The Long, Agonizing Decline of the United States

July 27, 2009 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

We are following the downward path of Great Britain, one of the two greatest of Western history’s empires.

We can draw several cautionary lessons from the history of our British cousins. Of all the world’s nations we and the UK are most similar, both in our rise and in our decline.

In addition to sharing the English language, our whole constitutional ethos and legal system derive from the British constitution and from the common law. Ours are the principal nations that made the sovereign’s right to taxation subject to the will of the people expressed in Parliament and our state and national legislatures.

Most especially, ours were the only nations that arose upon the primacy of private property rights. It was this fundamental element of natural law that, more than anything else, accounted for English and American individualism. It was an ethos that the German Empire’s Iron Chancellor Bismarck contemptuously dismissed as a society of shopkeepers, as opposed to the Prussian landed aristocracy. It was, however, an ethos that twice bested the statist collectivism of Continental Europe in world wars.
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The Long, Agonizing Decline of the United States”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Business - California - Campaign Finance - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Jobs - Liberals - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Union President Stern the Hand in Obama’s Puppet?

July 1, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The L.A. Times had a very interesting piece last week on the unusually close relationship between Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern and President Obama. The story revealed how Stern “enjoys unusual access to the White House,” and how often Stern is invited to attend meetings the administration holds on policy even as other union heads are left out of the loop.

The piece does cast some doubt on just how much clout Stern might have with Obama as several of the initiatives he has pushed hard for have yet to come to fruition — but it should also be remembered that this administration is only 6 months old. There is plenty of time, here.

Though it does not develop the theme, here is where the Times piece shows the danger that Andy Stern’s close connection with Obama presents to the country and its various governments, federal and state both.

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Union President Stern the Hand in Obama’s Puppet?”

Budget - Business - California - Campaign Finance - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Liberals - Republicans - State Government - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Will the Real Republican Please Stand Up?

June 18, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

“I am not beholden to any party.”
California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, candidate for governor

That must be true given Steve Poizner’s history of political donations. Poizner has given, and generously at that, to both Republican and Democrat candidates for office in addition to several Democrat controlled committees, this based on he and his wife’s publicly reported accounts, anyway. Oddly, Poizner’s wife happens to be a registered Democrat who Poizner has “blamed” for many of the Democrat contributions that have his signature affixed. Such donations include: a $10,000 contribution to the Democratic National Committee on 10/02/00; $1,000 to John Forbes Kerry on 02/15/01; and a $10,000 donation he made to the ’00 Gore/Lieberman Recount Committee.

In fact, there is quite a lot of chatter out there that seems to point to Poizner’s less than stellar Republican credentials. He has been termed everything but a conservative for the last 5 years.

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Will the Real Republican Please Stand Up?”

Barack Obama - Campaign Finance - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s Own ‘Firing’ Gate

June 12, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Remember the hue and cry that went up when President Bush fired some U.S. attorneys in 2006? Oh, the left was beside itself about how eeeevil it was that Bush was to fire so many U.S. Attorneys… even though he had the authority to do so. Charges that the firings were made for “political reasons” were thrown about and Congressional Democrats clamored for new laws and the head of Bush’s Attorney General on a pike.

Well, last night, clearly for political reasons, Barack Obama tried to fire AmeriCorps inspector general, Gerald Walpin. Not only is it for strictly political reasons (Short take: “the AmeriCorps IG accuses prominent Obama supporter of misusing AmeriCorps grant money. Prominent Obama supporter has to pay back more than $400,000 of that grant money. Obama fires AmeriCorps IG.”) but Obama does not have the authority to summarily dismiss an IG as he tried to do last night.

Will the left ring the claxon clang of how illegitimate the president’s actions are this time? Should we hold our breath?

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Obama’s Own ‘Firing’ Gate”

Campaign Finance - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - GOP - Liberals - Media Bias - Republicans - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Why Did Calif. Republican Poizner Donate To Gore/Lieberman Recount Fund?

June 11, 2009 by 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

California’s gubernatorial race is widening on the Republican side with one famous name from the business world, ebay’s Meg Whitman, one former congressman, the 15th District’s Tom Campbell, and current State Insurance Commissioner, Steve Poizner all ready to hit the ground running. But as each candidate is vetted, some are wondering if Steve Poizner is a Ronnie(Reagan)-come-lately to the Republican Party as it has been discovered that Poizner donated money to the Gore/Leiberman Recount Committee in 2000.

IRS records* confirm that Mr. Poizner gave the hefty sum of $10,000 to the recount effort, a fund to which Jane Fonda is also listed as having donated $100,000. Records also show that Poizner donated $1,000 to Al Gore’s run for president as well as $2,000 to John Kerry’s.
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Why Did Calif. Republican Poizner Donate To Gore/Lieberman Recount Fund?”