"Franked" Mailing from Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO)

Surprisingly, three of the freshmen Tea Party members were among the ten biggest spenders on taxpayer-funded mailings of the 444 people who served in the House over the last nine months of 2011, according to a new report by USA Today. They were:

#4 Rep. David McKinley (R-WV), $263,083

#8 Rep.Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), $253,156

#10 Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL), $237,355

Members of Congress may send non-campaign materials to constituents by placing their signature in lieu of a postage stamp — a process known as “franking.” The mailings must be approved by a bipartisan commission.

McKinley hilariously listed on his now-offline 2010 campaign website that he would “End Taxpayer-funded Campaigning.” His issues page said “David McKinley believes that it’s wrong to abuse taxpayer money by funding campaign-style ‘constituent’ mailings and phone calls during re-election years.”

Joe Walsh promised in his 2010 campaign to “go to Congress to put a huge ‘STOP’ sign up in front of this runaway train of government spending.”

On her campaign website, Hertzler calls for an “immediate end to the wasteful and inefficient pork-barrel spending” and “a freeze on discretionary spending except for our national defense, including veterans, Medicare, and Social Security.”

But Hertzler defended her mailings, telling USA Today, “After 34 years of leadership by [the district's previous Congressman, Rep. Ike Skelton (D)], we feel like it’s important for me people to get to know me and for me to hear from them. It’s part of serving the people that you represent is to communicate with them, and that’s always been a priority of mine.”

But considering that these three are part of the group that has been most vocal in opposing government spending on unnecessary items, it says a lot that they are more than happy to use public funds to boost their standing with voters.

In the rare instances that Fox News feels the need for a patina of bipartisan credibility, it turns to “Democratic” pollster Pat Caddell.

Caddell, who worked in the Jimmy Carter administration, has become a regular guest on the network. Though Fox News identifies him as a “former Democratic pollster”, Caddell rarely offers anything approaching a spirited defense of Democrats and/or liberals, choosing instead to reinforce conservative views on issues ranging from health care to the environment to national security.

On Friday night, Caddell was at it again, ripping the Democrats’ recall efforts in Wisconsin on a Tea Party Patriots tele-town hall. As detailed in the group’s Twitter feed, Caddell was on a tirade against “the left”, telling listeners to “stop the anarchy before it spreads.” He called the recall election “senseless” and told listeners to “organize, go door2door now” in order to “defeat the left in WI:”

Caddell claims he’s “still a Democrat,” but he spent much of the last few elections attacking Democratic presidential and congressional nominees, as well as progressive legislative priorities. In 2004, he claimed Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry had “raised more money from financial and special interests and telecommunications special interests, and done their bidding, than anybody in the Senate.” On President Obama, Caddell asked last year, “does this guy have any idea what he is doing?” Of environmentalists, Caddell said their mission is to “basically deconstruct capitalism.”

In other words, Cadell is the perfect Fox News Democrat. As a “Democrat,” he seemingly has the credibility to assure viewers that, yes, all their conservative views are actually correct.

Pat Caddell is no Democrat, he just plays one on TV.

Pittsburgh Tea Party Chair Patti Weaver (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review photo)

An earlier version of this post repeated those claims — along with Weaver’s denial.

Today, the paper posted this correction:

In a Butler Eagle article published April 28 on a Tea Party Express event in Cranberry Township, Patti Weaver, organizer and head of the Pittsburgh Tea Party, was quoted comparing President Barack Obama to the Nazi reign in Germany during World War II.
– Weaver did not make that statement.
– At the event in North Boundary Park, Weaver said that George Soros, a billionaire supporter of Obama, had, as a youth, collaborated with Nazis and stole items left behind by Jews.
– Weaver said that Soros’ activities at that time were evil. She suggested that people are judged by their friends and supporters, noting Soros’ support for Obama.

Weaver’s comments about Soros reference claims by some on the right that Soros was a Nazi collaborator.

Weaver is an elected representative for Allegheny County on the Pennsylvania’s Republican state committee and mounted an aborted campaign for Allegheny County Controller in 2011.

Speaking along with Republican U.S. Senate nominee Tom Smith, a former coal mining CEO, Weaver also told the audience of about 100 people that Obama “wants the country to fail.”

Another report from the rally noted that she said Obama “wants our country to follow Europe into bankruptcy” and to “demonize prosperity.” In a 2010 video, she warned that “we’re moving from a Republic to really a Socialist country.”

Missouri Senate Candidate Sarah Steelman

“There was nothing violent about what he said…no one perceived it as a threat,” Steeleman told KZRG in Joplin. No one, that is, except for the FBI, which reportedly interviewed the activist who made the comment, Scott Boston, and the Capitol Police, which assigned McCaskill extra protection. Boston later said he did not intend the comment to be a threat.

Steelman, did say that the “kill” comment was a poor choice of words and “a bad joke,” but dismissed the controversy and defended Boston:

STEELMAN: Are we just we just going to abandon all common sense in this country and anytime anybody says anything, the government is just going to come down and send FBI agents to knock on your door? Are we going to have thought and speech police? [...]

This is part of the problem in Washington…and people jump on somebody like Scott Boston, an individual, and they can put the whole force of the federal government on this guy.

The liberal research organization American Bridge recorded the interview:

Steeleman was at the rally with her son, who applauded Boston’s comment. Steelman’s Republican primary opponent John Brunner issued a strong rebuke of Boston’s comment, saying, “This type of rhetoric is unconscionable and I reject this kind of politics.” “Comments like these have no place in this U.S. Senate campaign, or any other campaign in this country, because they don’t represent American values,” the Republican said.

Sam Steelman

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the comment was met with “mild applause” from the audience, including, according to a video provided to ThinkProgress by the liberal research group American Bridge, Steelman’s son, Sam. Sam Steelman also serves as his mother’s “deputy [campaign] manager” and acts as a “campaign spokesman.”

In the tracking video, Sam, chatting with his mother, can be clearly seen applauding after activist Scott Boston says, “We have to kill the Claire Bear ladies and gentlemen.” Watch it:

The Missouri Democratic Party hit Steelman for not immediately denouncing Boston’s comments, and the video suggests she heard it. Later, Steelman told the Huffington Post, “I may disagree with the words Mr. Boston chose in his statement, but I understand his frustration and I emphatically support his right to express his views.”

Last night, Richard Mourdock (R) upset Sen. Dick Lugar (R) in Indiana’s Republican Senate primary. Mourdock, who currently serves as State Treasurer, trounced the 36-year Senate veteran by 22 points, 61-39, due in no small part to his support from Tea Party groups.

Mourdock won by positioning himself well to the right of Lugar. Now, as he enters the limelight as the biggest Tea Party victory of 2012, let’s take a look at the top five things everyone should know about Mourdock.

- (1) Mourdock believes that President Obama deserves the blame for a bad economy, but no credit for its improvement: In an interview with ThinkProgress earlier this year, we asked Mourdock about the economy and who deserves credit in bad times and good. He pinned the blame on President Obama for “killing our economy,” despite the fact that the financial collapse occurred under George W. Bush’s watch. We asked Mourdock whether Obama would deserve credit if the economic recovery continues. “It won’t be because of President Obama when we see recovery,” Mourdock explained. “It will be in spite of President Obama.” [ThinkProgress]

- (2) Mourdock’s take on bipartisanship: it “ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view”: Appearing on MSNBC following his primary victory, Mourdock offered his own unique take on how bipartisanship should work in Washington DC, telling Chuck Todd, “I certainly think bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view.” In other words, the solution for Washington’s ills is not less partisanship and polarization, but more. Dick Lugar had earned a reputation for finding some areas of bipartisan consensus with Democrats, particularly on foreign policy. That is a reputation that Mourdock appears unlikely to uphold. [ThinkProgress]

- (3) His campaign was investigated for accessing voter data: Mourdock’s campaign manager, Jim Holden, “likely violated a user agreement with the state party when he shared a logon to the database with an outside vendor.” In a March 14 email, Holden told staffers that they should “start pillaging email addresses” from the voter database, prompting the state Republican Party to revoke the Mourdock campaign’s access privileges.[AP]

- (4) Mourdock’s model Supreme Court Justice is anti-woman Judge Robert Bork: Asked on MSNBC about how he would approach Supreme Court nomination votes as senator, Mourdock promised to obstruct nominees who didn’t resemble Robert Bork. Bork’s views are so far outside the mainstream they cannot be fully enumerated here, but a few highlights include his description of a federal ban on employment discrimination and whites-only lunch counters as “unsurpassed ugliness,” his belief that it is “silly” to think that women are discriminated against, and that it’s “utterly specious” to suggest that women have a constitutional right to use contraception. [ThinkProgress]

- (5) His candidacy is fueled by dirty energy money and outside spending groups: It is unlikely Mourdock would have won the primary without an infusion of $1.6 million in spending from the pro-Wall Street Club for Growth, as well as over half a million from FreedomWorks, an astroturf Tea Party group. In addition, Mourdock enjoyed a maxed out contribution from Murray Energy’s PAC, which represents the nation’s largest privately-owned coal company. Mourdock, a former coal company executive, received an additional $18,000 in contributions elsewhere from the coal, oil, and gas industries. [ThinkProgress]

Sen. Clarie McCaskill (D-MO)

Scott Boston, a St. Louis Tea Party activist, said, “She walks around like she’s some sort of Rainbow Brite Care Bear or something but really she’s an evil monster.” “We have to kill the Claire Bear,” he added.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that local police are performing more patrols around the senator’s house at the request of the Capitol Police, and that she now has extra security at public events.

Steelman has not made a public comment condemning Boston’s comments, despite being present at the event supporting her, and neither have McCaskill’s other GOP challengers, Rep. Tod Akin (R-MO) or John Brunner. Boston later said he did not intend the comment to be a threat.

In a statement provided to ThinkProgress, Missouri Democratic Party spokesperson Caitlin Legacki, said, “The kind of language in this threat is totally unacceptable and needs to be immediately renounced by Todd Akin, John Brunner and Sarah Steelman.”

“What makes America different from the rest of the world is that we settle our political disagreements without threats of violence. Akin, Brunner and Steelman need to make it crystal clear to their supporters that this kind of language will not be tolerated in any venue under any circumstances. If they refuse to do so, these three candidates are sending a clear message that they endorse the kind of inflammatory language that could lead to violence, or something worse,” Legacki said.