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Stories tagged with “Election 2012”

Climate Progress

Three-Quarters Of Money Raised By Top Romney Bundlers Come From Lobbyists For Big Energy, Financial Services

By Josh Israel on Apr 24, 2012 at 5:20 pm

New disclosures filed Friday show that the Romney campaign has now received about $3 million in “bundled” contributions collected by registered lobbyists. And about three-quarters of that total was collected by lobbyists who represent either polluter interests (oil, gas, and coal — or the energy companies that burn them), financial sector interests, or both.

Though Romney has not voluntarily disclosed any campaign bundlers who are not lobbyists, federal law requires that he identify major bundlers who are. To date, the campaign has identified 22 lobbyist bundlers who each raised $17,000 or more.

A ThinkProgress analysis of the data shows that 13 represent Big Energy and Big Finance — and between them, they collected more than $2.2 million in donations. They are:

  • Patrick Durkin Sr. ($927,160), a lobbyist for British banking giant Barclays.
  • Wayne Berman ($424,825), a lobbyist for Ogilvy Government Relations. His polluter clients include Chevron, Hess, and Kosmos Energy and his finance clients include Visa, Marwood Group, and The Travelers Companies.
  • T. Martin Fioerentino Jr. ($325,045), a lobbyist for The Fiorentino Group. He represents Lender Processing Services, a prominent mortgage and consumer loan processing company.
  • Austin Barbour ($210,700), a recent Romney campaign hire who, in 2011, worked as a lobbyist for Capitol Resources LLC. His clients included polluter Gulf LNG Energy. Barbour is the nephew of former Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS).
  • Paul Mattera ($64,200), a lobbyist for Liberty Mutual Insurance.
  • Drew Maloney ($56,750), a lobbyist for Ogilvy Government Relations. His polluter clients include GenOn Energy, Exelon Business Services, and Sempra Energy and he represents National Bank of Canada.
  • Joseph Wall ($47,437), a lobbyist for Wall Street behemoth Goldman Sachs.
  • David Tamasi ($39,785), a lobbyist for Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communication. His polluter clients include GDF Suez and his financial clients include Next Street Financial and the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association.
  • Michael McSherry ($30,200), a lobbyist for Mercury Public Affairs. He represents Peabody Energy and Stifel Financial Corp.
  • Kent Burton ($26,510), a lobbyist for National Environmental Strategies. His polluter clients include Murray Energy, Marathon Oil, Pacific Gas & Electric, and, as of recently, Shell Oil.
  • Tom Boyd ($26,350), a lobbyist for DLA Piper. His financial sector clients include Experian Group, Charles Schwab & Co., and Discover Financial Services.
  • Andrew Wheeler ($17,000), a lobbyist for Faegre Baker Daniels. His polluter clients include Murray Energy.
  • Mark Isakowitz ($17,000), a lobbyist for Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock. His polluter clients include Noble Energy and BP America and his many finance clients include Hartford Financial Services Group, JPMorgan Chase, the Managed Funds Association, Mutual of Omaha, and Zurich Financial.

Romney’s strong support from powerful Wall Street and energy lobbyists is unsurprising given his proposals to repeal the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and undo environmental protections — and his support for continuing subsidies for Big Oil.

As ThinkProgress previously reported, Romney’s lobbyist-bundler list also includes Ignacio E. Sanchez ($86,700) of DLA Piper, a registered foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates and a birther presidential candidate in the Dominican Republic.

President Obama does not accept campaign contributions donated or bundled by federal lobbyists or foreign agents. His campaign voluntarily discloses all of its major bundlers, as did Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and President George W. Bush (R) in their 2000, 2004, and 2008 races.

Election

9 Reasons Why Mitt Romney Is More Right Wing Than George W. Bush

By Judd Legum and Alex Seitz-Wald on Apr 24, 2012 at 4:30 pm

During the primary season, Mitt Romney was frequently derided by his Republican opponents as a “Massachusetts Moderate.” This isn’t true.

Last week, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee suggested the policies advanced this year by Mitt Romney and the Republicans would be like the “policies of the Bush administration…just updated.”

A close review of Romney’s positions shows that Romney has “updated” George W. Bush’s positions by moving substantially to the right in a number of key areas. As detailed below, compared to this year’s presumptive Republican nominee, Bush looks moderate:

1. Bush passed a huge tax cut plan, mostly benefiting the wealthy. Romney’s tax cut plan is four times larger, more heavily weighted to benefit ultra wealthy.

GEORGE W. BUSH: Passed $2.5 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years, 12.5% benefiting the top 1/10 of 1%. [ThinkProgress, 2/22/12; David Cay Johnston. 3/1/12]

MITT ROMNEY: Proposing $10.7 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years, 33% benefiting the top 1/10 of 1%. [ThinkProgress, 2/22/12; David Cay Johnston. 3/1/12]

2. Bush signed the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. Romney supports repealing virtually all campaign finance laws.

GEORGE W. BUSH: Signed into law the landmark McCain–Feingold campaign finance reform, which put restrictions on “soft money” and limitations on spending from outside groups. [White House, 03/27/02]

MITT ROMNEY: Strongly defended the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which overturned key provisions McCain–Feingold. Supports repealing virtually all campaign finance laws. [Mitt Romney, 2/18/10; ThinkProgress, 12/21/11]

3. Bush supported comprehesive immigration reform, a path to citizenship for 12 million undocumented immigrants and provisions of the DREAM Act. Romney opposes all of it.

GEORGE W. BUSH: Supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship for 12 million undocumented immigrants and provisions of the DREAM Act. [Reuters, 6/29/07; White House, 10/24/07]

MITT ROMNEY: Opposes comprehensive immigration reform and opposes providing a path to citizenship to undocumented immigrants and the DREAM Act. [Fox News, 04/03/12; ABC, 12/31/12]

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Justice

Man Behind Arizona Immigration Law: Romney ‘Absolutely’ Called SB-1070 A National ‘Model’

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Apr 24, 2012 at 3:00 pm

Russell Pearce

Mitt Romney had the most conservative immigration policy of any Republican presidential candidate during most of the primary, but now that’s he trying to appeal to Hispanic voters as he pivots to general election, the presumed GOP nominee has been shifting back towards the center. Yesterday, he opened to door to a Republican alternative to the DREAM Act — a law he vowed to veto during the primary — and earlier, he said that he never called for making Arizona’s harsh immigration law a “model” for the nation.

But that’s not how one of the key people behind that law, former Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, sees it. The former Republican lawmaker, who was ousted in a recall election, was the key force behind turning SB-1070, authored by Romney adviser Kris Kobach, into law.

He told reporters today that he “absolutely” believed Mitt Romney had endorsed the law as a model for the country. The Huffington Post’s Elise Foley reports:

“The folks that he’s said [are] his advisers on this, I have worked with for years and have great confidence and trust in them,” Pearce told reporters after a Senate subcommittee hearing on the immigration law. “I know Romney is a compassionate man, most of us, I’d like to think, are. But I think he also understands the crisis and the damage to this republic and the need to enforce our law.” [...]

Romney also has advocated for what he called “self-deportation,” or making things difficult for undocumented immigrants until they decide to leave, one of the central tenets of the Arizona law. [...] “[Self-deportation] is in SB 1070,” Pearce said.

Previously, Pearce has said that Romney’s “immigration policy is identical to mine.”

Romney has tried to distance himself from Kobach, who also helped author the controversial immigration crackdowns in Alabama, South Carolina, and other states. But Kobach quickly contradicted him, saying he regularly advises senior members of Romney’s staff.

NEWS FLASH

Republican Congressman Calls Female Senator A ‘Gal’ | Rep. Todd Akin (R) is one of three Republicans vying for the chance to run against Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) in the fall. At a GOP candidate forum yesterday, the congressman referred to the senator as “this gal,” a title that some might consider demeaning for a sitting U.S. senator. Missouri News Horizons reports:

“Everybody always says, ‘if you don’t elect me, we can’t beat the Democrats.’ I’m not as pessimistic as John [Brunner, another Republican candidate], I think any of the three of us could beat this gal,” Akin said.

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Apr 24, 2012 at 2:29 pm

Education

Romney Holds Conference Call On What He Has To Offer Youth; Has Nothing To Offer Youth

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Apr 24, 2012 at 11:55 am

In its effort to reach out to young voters, Mitt Rommney’s campaign held a conference call with reporters today to discuss what the presumed GOP nominee thinks of President Obama’s record on the youth (not much) and what they have to offer young Americans (also not much).

“President Obama gets an ‘F’ for failing our youth,” said surrogate Hank Brown, a 72-year-old former Republican senator from Colorado who also served as the president of the University of Colorado. Obama was merely “able to fool” the two-thirds of people under 30 who voted for him in 2008, Brown added, before promising, “You’re going to see a dramatic turnaround on the campuses this year, with much stronger support for the Republican ticket.”

So, if Obama was so bad, what would a Romney presidency do instead? The septuagenarian Brown, joined on the call by Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) and College Republican National Committee Chairman Alex Schriver, didn’t really have much to offer.

First, Romney’s surrogates downplayed the importance of issues that directly affect young people. Schock criticized Obama for his “focus on student loan and student debt,” saying the real issue young people care about is jobs. Brown, meanwhile, attacked Obama for not reforming entitlement programs, saying young people should worry about their solvency in the future.

And, while Romney and Obama agree that Congress should extend a provision currently before Congress to extend lower interest rates on some student loans, Schock was not optimistic about his Republican colleagues’ willingness to pass it. The congressman repeatedly called the issue a distraction, saying, “In the grand scheme of things, it’s not what we ought to be — we shouldn’t allow issues like this to bog down the bigger agenda, which is how do create jobs in this country.” He added: “In the meantime, we need to be focused on the bigger issues.”

Meanwhile, Schriver suggested the reason tuition costs are going up is because “this president decided to take over the student loan market.” Schriver is referring to a provision passed along with the Affordable Care Act, that removed Wall Street middlemen from the student loan process. Tuition costs were rising long before the law passed in 2010, and the reform actually saves taxpayers money, so Schriver’s claim rings hollow. But Romney himself has suggested that he would roll back this provision, and insert banks once again in the student loan system, where the money comes from taxpayers and the middlemen merely add costs with profit.

In all, the call mentioned not a single positive program to help young people directly, offering only attacks on Obama and generalized prescriptions for the entire economy.

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Election

GOP Congressman: Wisconsin Recall Elections Are ‘Voter Theft’

By Annie-Rose Strasser on Apr 24, 2012 at 10:42 am

Wisconsin’s recall elections this year give Wisconsinites a chance to vote and hold their elected officials accountable. But to Rep. Reid Ribble (R-WI), the recall efforts are the best example of “voter theft,” not democracy.

At a town hall last week, Ribble argued that a recall election is “trying to undo your vote:”

RIBBLE: Beyond the $9 million cost of holding another election, I want you to know that this is trying to undo your vote. This is trying to steal from you your vote. You talk about voter ID? This is true voter theft.

Watch it:

In fact, everyone who is registered to vote in Wisconsin is able to vote in a recall election, so it is no different than a regular election. If anything, the recall should only serve as an affirmation of one’s vote, not an affront to it.

Election

Ann Romney: ‘I Love The Fact That There Are Women Out There Who Don’t Have A Choice’ And ‘Must Go To Work’

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Apr 24, 2012 at 9:49 am

In an emotional speech about the difficulty of motherhood and life on the campaign trail, Ann Romney used an odd choice of words to discuss mothers who are forced to work while raising their children.

Ann Romney was at the center of a national discussion recently after a Democratic consultant charged that the would-be future first lady couldn’t possibly understand the plight of working mothers because she had the luxury to stay home and devote herself full time to raising her kids. The Romney campaign fired back, accusing Democrats of lacking respect for stay at home moms.

The issue was largely dismissed after a few days as a ginned-up “silly season” controversy, but Ann Romney’s comments last night at the Connecticut Republican Party’s Prescott Bush Awards Dinner could potentially reignite the issue. After discussing how she understands the challenges mothers face, Romney said, according to BuzzFeed:

Romney alluded to the fact that not all women can stay at home saying, “I love the fact that there are women out there who don’t have a choice and they must go to work and they still have to raise the kids. Thank goodness that we value those people too. And sometimes life isn’t easy for any of us.”

It seems Romney was trying to express empathy for women who don’t have the option to stay at home, as she did. But the comment that she “love[s]” that some women “don’t have a choice” and must work is unusual, to say the least, and could lead to a new round of charges that the Romneys don’t understand average Americans, given their enormous wealth.

Nearly two-thirds of women are the breadwinner or co-bread winner in their households. Nonetheless, the gender pay gap remains. And while Mitt Romney has broken with most Republicans to support the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, he has still not yet taken a position on the Paycheck Fairness Act.

Climate Progress

Romney’s Earth Day Guru: Sarah Palin

By Brad Johnson, Guest Blogger on Apr 24, 2012 at 9:11 am

Sarah Palin, John McCain’s “energy expert” in 2008, now appears to be setting the agenda for Mitt Romney. On Earth Day, Palin bashed the “holiest of days for EcoLiberals,” saying in a National Review blogpost that it should be celebrated with “drill, baby, drill.” On Monday, Romney followed Sarah Palin’s lead, telling an audience at a major coal company that he too opposes environmental regulations for drilling of coal, oil, and natural gas.

Romney even adopted Palin’s language in his speech at a Consol Energy research facility:

PALIN: “It’s time for the greatest nation on earth to tap into its full potential, and one surefire way to do so is to tap into what is beneath this earth.”

ROMNEY: “The course that I will put us on is to take advantage of what comes from above the ground as well as what comes from below the ground so that America can finally become energy-secure and independent of the oil cartel.”

“Romney’s energy and environmental platform calls for stripping EPA’s power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and expanding oil-and-gas leasing to include areas that are currently off limits, including the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, among other measures,” The Hill’s Ben Geman writes.

Romney denied that global warming is caused by burning fossil fuels at a Consol Energy facility last year. Consol has given $5000 to the Romney campaign and $150,000 to the Romney SuperPAC.

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