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Health

EXCLUSIVE: As State Rep, Scott Brown Voted For Contraception Mandate Stronger Than Obama’s

By Igor Volsky on Feb 14, 2012 at 10:42 am

Last week, responding to an outcry from Catholic leaders and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, the Obama administration modified regulations requiring insurers and employers to provide contraception as part of their health care plans without additional co-payments. Under the new rule, religiously affiliated colleges, universities, and hospitals that raise religious objections to birth control can decline the benefit and their employees will still receive contraception coverage directly from the insurer.

Most Republicans are not satisfied with the modification, however, and are co-sponsoring legislation that would significantly broaden the conscience exclusion. On Monday night, Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) joined the pack, with a spokesperson telling the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent that the senator “appreciates President Obama’s willingness to revisit this issue, but believes it needs to be clarified through legislation” that would permit any employer or insurance plan to exclude any health service, no matter how essential, from coverage if they morally object to it.

But Massachusetts already requires insurers to carry contraceptive coverage for women and Brown voted for the provision as a member of the Massachusetts House on Jan. 30, 2002, ThinkProgress has learned. At the time, the Catholic Conference of Massachusetts, lobbied against the measure and urged lawmakers to adopt an amendment exempting organizations that are affiliated with the Catholic church or have a moral objection to contraception. Brown supported that provision, but once it failed in a vote of 106 to 49, he voted ‘YES’ on the underlying bill, which only exempted “an employer that is a church or qualified church-controlled organization” from offering birth control:

Since Obama’s new federal standard would allow church-affiliated nonprofits to eschew birth control coverage, it could offer greater conscience protections to Massachusetts’ Catholic colleges, universities, and hospitals. For instance, if Boston College is required to provide birth control under the Brown-approved law, it could drop the coverage — and leave the matter to its insurer — under Obama’s regulation.

Interestingly, Brown also voted for a 2005 bill mandating hospitals to offer emergency contraception to rape victims, even after lawmakers defeated his amendment to allow religious hospitals to opt out of the requirement. Brown split with then-Gov. Mitt Romney on the matter and joined the legislature in overriding his veto.

Brown’s office did not immediately respond to ThinkProgress’ request for comment.

Justice

‘Independent’ Scott Brown Receives $178K From GOP Establishment

By Josh Israel on Feb 14, 2012 at 10:30 am

Scott Brown meets with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (Credit: AP)

Sen. Scott Brown’s (R-MA) entire re-election campaign messaging is centered around his alleged independence — trying to sell him to Massachusetts voters as being for them and not a creature of his party. Given that Democrats enjoy about a 20-point advantage over Republicans in party leanings in the Bay State, Brown’s only hope for victory against Democrat Elizabeth Warren this November is successfully distancing himself from the unpopular national GOP establishment. But revelations about his coordination with the national party and a ThinkProgress examination of his campaign fundraising suggest the freshman Republican’s record does not match his rhetoric.

In his campaign kickoff last month, Brown boasted:

Once again I won’t have the political establishment behind me – not the one on Beacon Hill, and certainly not the one on Capitol Hill. All I will have going for me is my independent record as your United States Senator, and the independent spirit of the Massachusetts voter. I’ll take those advantages any day over the political machine, and with your help in this campaign we will beat the odds again together.

Brown has attempted to solidify his independence by taking credit for an agreement in which he and Warren agreed try toprevent outside groups from spending their money on independent expenditure advertisements. But according to a Huffington Post report, even that non-coordination agreement was a product of Brown campaign coordination with the top lawyer for the National Republican Senatorial Campaign (NRSC), the Washington, DC-based party committee charged with electing Republican candidates to the Senate. The Microsoft Word document files sent to reporters by the Brown campaign indicated that the NRSC counsel authored both the original version of the agreement and the cover letter.

This coordination between candidates and the national party committees is nothing unusual, but is hardly the benchmark of a candidate without the political establishment behind him.

Beyond just the logistical aid, the Brown campaign has received significant financial backing from the Republican establishment. The NRSC has already given Brown $43,100 — the legal maximum.

And it’s not the just party committee opening its wallet to back Brown; his campaign has received $134,500 from the leadership PACs of former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) and 20 of his Senate Republican colleagues. That total includes $10,000 from Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (KY) Bluegrass Committee, $5,000 from Sen. Minority Whip Jon Kyl’s (AZ) Senate Majority Fund, and $10,000 from NRSC Chairman John Cornyn’s (TX) Alamo PAC.

Again–this sort of national party support is typical for a vulnerable member of either party. But, given Brown’s instance that he belongs not to the national GOP but to the Massachusetts voters, that level of “typical” is precisely the problem.

NEWS FLASH

In Op-Ed, Elizabeth Warren Hits Scott Brown and Mitt Romney For Opposing The Buffett Rule | Massachusetts Senate Candidate Elizabeth Warren (D) published an op-ed today criticizing her opponent, Sen. Scott Brown (R), for his opposition to the Buffett Rule, a proposal by the Obama administration to implement a 30 percent minimum tax on millionaires. She also took a swipe at GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, calling his ability to pay a lower tax rate than many middle-class working families wrong and unfair. “Just last week, Scott Brown said in an interview that he thinks Mitt Romney and Warren Buffett should get special tax breaks that are not available to most Americans. I don’t think that’s fair,” wrote Warren. Brown, who now trails Warren in most polling, told The Sun Chronicle last weekend that he opposes Obama’s plan.

NEWS FLASH

Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Scott Brown Sign A Ban On Super PAC Campaign Ads In Their Massachusetts Race | The 2012 elections will undoubtedly see an unprecedented injection of third-party influence, thanks to the Citizens United ruling and the subsequent advent of super PACs, and now, “super super PACS” — groups that “not only raise mega cash to promote candidates, but give money to candidates’ campaigns” directly. Attempting to stem the tide of undue influence, Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren (D) and her opponent Sen. Scott Brown (R) signed a ban on third-party ads. Brown had sent Warren two previous proposals but Warren objected to “some of the loopholes” that remained. Warren sent back a signed proposals with “clarifications to make it stronger.” The ad ban is “designed to control what is already prodigious outside spending on the race. By some projections, the campaign could cost at least $60 million” with at least “$20 million being spent by special interest groups with an interest in the outcome.”

By Tanya Somanader on Jan 23, 2012 at 12:00 pm

NEWS FLASH

Scott Brown: Romney Is From ‘A Different World,’ He Should Release His Tax Returns | In a fairly stunning departure from his political ally, Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown called on Mitt Romney to release his tax returns, and said the multi-millionaire presidential candidate is in “a different world from me.” Speaking on a local radio show, Brown said of Romney, “He’s in a category, a lot of those folks are in categories that we don’t really understand. “And certainly he has to release his returns. I understand he’s going to do that like everybody else when they become ready and available in April,” he added. Romney and Brown share a top aide, Eric Fehrnstrom, and Romney aggressively campaigned for his fellow Massachusetts Republican in 2009.

NEWS FLASH

Sen. Scott Brown Slams Newt Gingrich For His ‘Disturbing’ Attacks On The Judiciary That ‘Pander To The Right-Wing Extreme’ | In an op-ed for the Boston Globe, Republican Sen. Scott Brown (MA) blasted GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich over his “disturbing” positions on the judiciary, including his desire to “abolish courts that displease him, ignore Supreme Court decisions he doesn’t approve of, and order U.S. marshals to arrest judges to force them to explain their decisions to Congress.” Noting that judges would make judgments while in constant fear of retaliation from politicians under Gingrich’s “scheme,” Brown pointed out that “public confidence in the impartiality of the courts would be shattered.” “Gingrich styles himself a historian, but he is either blissfully unaware that the Founding Fathers deliberately established our government with three co-equal branches of government, or he is fully aware of that elementary fact and yet is pandering to the right-wing extreme element in our own party,” said Brown, adding “I don’t know which is worse.”

By Tanya Somanader on Jan 5, 2012 at 11:00 am

NEWS FLASH

Scott Brown Reluctantly Backs Cordray Recess Appointment | Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), facing a tough reelection battle against the person who helped set up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, came out in support of President Obama’s recess appointment today of Richard Cordray to head the agency. “I would have strongly preferred…[a] normal confirmation process,” Brown told the Huffington Post’s Michael McAuliff, but the “system is completely broken.” Brown was the only Republican senator to support Cordray’s nomination.

NEWS FLASH

Sen. Scott Brown: House GOP’s Refusal To Pass Payroll Tax Compromise Is ‘Irresponsible And Wrong’ | In another nod to the strength of his Senate opponent, consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) blasted Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and House Republicans for jeopardizing the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits, saying the House GOP’s stand is “irresponsible and wrong.” “[A] two-month extension is a good deal when it means we avoid jeopardizing the livelihoods of millions of American families. The refusal to compromise now threatens to increase taxes on hard-working Americans and stop unemployment benefits for those out of work,” he said. “We cannot allow rigid partisan ideology and unwillingness to compromise stand in the way of working together for the good of the American people.” Brown’s first piece of legislation as a senator was a push to reduce the payroll tax, but he wanted to siphon off Recovery Act funds to do it.

Update

Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) joined Brown in urging the House to pass the compromise. “I’m hopeful — maybe without basis — that the House of Representatives will pass the bill the Senate passed and they will do so tonight,” he told MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell. “”Speaker Boehner is under enormous pressure. He’s obviously gotten a lot of feedback from many Republicans who say we simply don’t like it….But I’m hopeful that our majority, Republicans and Democrats, today will proceed, because, it seems to me this is best for the country as well as for all the individuals who are affected.” Watch it:

Update

Politico’s Manu Raju reports that GOP Sen. Dean Heller (NV) expressed similar impatience with the House GOP: “There is no reason to hold up the short-term extension.”

Update

GOP Sen. Olympia Snowe (ME) joined in: “I spoke out against this unprecedented two-month policymaking experiment on Saturday. That said, there wasn’t an indication that the House would be in disagreement with the Senate’s action. Nonetheless, what is paramount at this point is that this tax benefit for hardworking Americans not be allowed to lapse.”

By Tanya Somanader on Dec 19, 2011 at 12:29 pm

LGBT

Elizabeth Warren Comes Out For Full Equality For LGBT People

By Igor Volsky on Dec 15, 2011 at 4:37 pm

Elizabeth Warren — who is challenging Scott Brown’s (R-MA) senate seat in Massachusetts — is reiterating her support for same-sex marriage and greater equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the workplace. Warren also joined the growing list of lawmakers calling for the repeal of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which prevents the federal government from recognizing married gay couples and offering them federal benefits:

I’m deeply proud to be from Massachusetts because the Commonwealth has been the nation’s leader in protecting and promoting equality – from marriage equality to the recently passed Transgender Equal Rights Bill. Congress and the President have also recently taken historic steps forward in promoting the cause of fairness and equality: the passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hates Crimes Prevention Act and – after years of effort – the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” [...]

As other states grapple with whether to support marriage equality, I’m ready to move to the next step: End the two-tiered system created by the Defense of Marriage Act. Our federal government should not be in the business of selecting which married couples it supports and which it treats with contempt. States define marriage among couples, and, once married, all those couples and their families should have the same protections, the same benefits, and the same tax treatments. Fairness and equality are foundational values in our country, and nowhere is that more important than in our families.

In the workplace, people should be hired for what they can do and evaluated on their performance – period. I strongly support the fully inclusive Employee Non-Discrimination Act. Particularly in these uncertain times, people must have confidence that they will be judged on the merits. Again, this speaks to the fairness and equality that mark us as a people.

Brown, who has been playing up his LGBT record ahead of the election has little to be proud off. While the Senator ultimately vote to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, he had initially opposed the process of attaching an amendment to the defense authorization bill. Brown also opposes marriage equality, the right of gays and lesbians to adopt children, federal protections for LGBT people in the workplace, and has even refused to participate in an “It Gets Better” video with the rest of the Massachusetts congressional delegation.

Green

Bay State Climate Hawks Give Scott Brown A Keystone XL Ultimatum

By Brad Johnson on Dec 13, 2011 at 4:47 pm

A group of Massachusetts voters are giving Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) until this Thursday at noon to publicly announce his intention to vote against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline poison-pill provision attached to the payroll tax cut bill currently working its way through Congress. If he does not do so, they will hold a march from Senator Brown’s office to the nearby National Guard Recruiting Office, led by a former National Guardsman in uniform, to highlight the need for the National Guard to accelerate its recruitment efforts in anticipation of climate disasters in the years ahead. Craig S. Altemose, one of the climate activists and a state appointee to the Massachusetts Climate Protection and Green Economy Advisory Committee, wants Brown to choose a clean energy future:

At this very moment, we have the technology and knowledge we need to rapidly and responsibly transition our economy away from the fossil fuels which are threatening our very lives. Rather than playing around with outdated 20th century pipelines like other Republicans, we hope Senator Brown will support the tax cut without the pipeline, and further support investments in 21st century renewable energy like wind, solar, and geothermal that will make our people safer, healthier, and happier.

Brown has avoided taking a stance on the tar sands pipeline, and has explained away global warming as an “ebb and flow.” Most notably, perhaps, Brown is one of the Koch brothers’ favorite politicians, receiving massive donations in return for his allegiance to their polluter politics:

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