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Economy

Four GOP Senate Candidates Who Lost The Argument On Taxes

By Travis Waldron on Nov 7, 2012 at 11:00 am

Swing states across the American electoral map repudiated Republican candidates for the United States Senate Tuesday, sending many to defeat and allowing Democrats to strengthen their hold on the nation’s upper legislative chamber. One of the major arguments across key races was over the future of America’s tax code and whether the wealthy needed to pay their fair share or, in some instances, if they should instead receive another tax cut.

Here are four GOP Senate candidates who lost the argument over taxes last night:

1. Sen. Scott Brown — Massachusetts: Massachusetts’ junior senator lost his race to Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren (D) after being repeatedly hit for his opposition to raising taxes on millionaires and for his opposition to a payroll tax cut extension that would have largely benefited the middle class. Taxes were the “sharpest difference” between the two, according to the Boston Globe, and Warren ran ads against Brown’s filibuster of the payroll tax cut extension and in debates tied him to Grover Norquist, the anti-tax activist who authored a radical no-taxes pledge. While Brown opposed raising taxes on the wealthy, that policy was a “central plank” of the victorious Warren’s campaign.

2. Linda McMahon — Connecticut: McMahon, a former professional wrestling executive, released a tax plan that was virtually identical to presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s. And like Romney, McMahon pitched her plan as a tax cut for the middle class even as it provided massive tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations. McMahon often misrepresented the details of that plan, particularly when her opponent, Rep. Chris Murphy (D), challenged her in debates.

3. Tommy Thompson — Wisconsin: Thomspon also faced criticism from his opponent, Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D), for his support of Norquist’s tax pledge, which he seemed to misunderstand in one debate when he stated that it did not prohibit increasing taxes on the wealthy. While Baldwin was a sponsor of the Buffett Rule, President Obama’s plan to institute a minimum tax on millionaires, Thompson supported new tax cuts for the rich.

4. Josh Mandel — Ohio: Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) repeatedly hit Mandel for his support of Norquist’s tax pledge. “Signing a pledge to a fat-cat lobbyist like Grover Norquist is essentially giving away your right to think,” Brown said to Mandel during one of their debates. Mandel called for the elimination of the estate tax and reductions in investment and corporate tax rates, both giveaways to the rich. Mandel also called for a “flatter, fairer” tax code, the type of change that would almost surely raise taxes on low- and middle-income voters while giving the rich a huge tax cut.

Health

U.S. Senate Candidate Can’t Detail New Medicare Plan Until He Uses ‘The Computers’ In Congress

By Igor Volsky on Oct 20, 2012 at 1:16 pm

Tommy Thompson

U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Thompson unveiled a new Medicare reform plan during an interview with the Wisconsin State Journal editorial board on Friday, though he didn’t know if the proposal would reduce federal spending or substantially lower costs for beneficiaries.

Thompson’s idea, which he said has been already introduced and advanced “by somebody else,” barrows from Paul Ryan’s premium support model, and would allow seniors to find private coverage. But rather than building a new exchange of private plans, as Ryan has proposed, Thompson would give future retirees access to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan (FEHB) — a program through which private insurers market health plans to federal employees.

Pressed for more specifics, the former governor and Health and Human Services Secretary grew agitated and admitted that he couldn’t be sure that the proposal would reduce spending. He promised to “use the computers” in Congress to run the numbers, adding, “It’s a plan that I believe more than likely will work”:

Q: So either CBO has scored it out and you haven’t, or you…

THOMPSON: I haven’t scored it out, I have no capabilities…

Q: You’re saying that CBO has looked at your plan….

THOMPSON: They have not looked at my plan. They have looked at a plan similar to this that was put in by…Dee, I’m telling you, I have not scored it. I’m laying the plan out to save Medicare….This is a plan by Paul Ryan, I’ve modified it. I think my plan is better…. When I’m elected to the United States Senate, I have a chance to use the computers and have the access to CBO and I’ll be able to make the necessary things. I’m talking conceptually, about an idea out there that has been advanced by somebody else and I think it makes a lot of sense.

Q: So if you haven’t scored it and you don’t know how much it’s going to save, how do you know it’s going to be a big advance?

THOMPSON: Because Medicare is going broke and we have to do something about it. It’s a plan, Dee. It’s a plan that I believe more than likely will work.

Watch it:

Thompson’s idea shares some similarities with Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) recently introduced Congressional Health Care For Seniors Act, but closely resembles Ryan’s proposal. Ryan’s plan is estimated to significantly increase costs for existing seniors and future enrollees.

Though Thompson claimed that FEHBP could save money, traditional Medicare has done a better job of controlling costs, spending just 2 percent on administrative costs, while private plans in the FEHBP devote 7 to 12 percent to overhead. Medicare’s spending per beneficiary has also increased at a slower rate than the FEHBP’s.

Economy

Wisconsin GOP Senate Candidate Doesn’t Understand Radical Anti-Tax Pledge He Signed

By Travis Waldron on Oct 19, 2012 at 10:45 am

Former Gov. Tommy Thompson (R-WI)

Former Gov. Tommy Thompson (R-WI)

Anti-tax lobbyist Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform and author of a radical anti-tax pledge that hundreds of Republican lawmakers have signed, was again the subject of a heated exchange at a Senate debate Thursday night, when Wisconsin GOP Senate candidate Tommy Thompson denied that his support for the Norquist pledge means he can’t support tax increases on the wealthy.

Thompson’s Democratic opponent, Rep. Tammy Baldwin, challenged Thompson for signing the pledge during the debate. Thompson called Baldwin’s claim that the pledge opposes tax increases on the wealthy “a plain falsehood,” and said that Baldwin had “misstated” the pledge in her description:

BALDWIN: Too many members of Congress, and my opponent is included in this, have taken a pledge to a Washington DC lobbyist by the name of Grover Norquist whereby they’ve sworn that they will not ever ask those with the most privilege to do more, to do their fair share –

THOMPSON: That’s just, that’s just plain falsehood.

BALDWIN: You signed the Grover Norquist pledge.

THOMPSON: That’s just a falsehood. You just misstated it.

BALDWIN: You signed the Grover Norquist pledge.

THOMPSON: And you signed the progressive tax bill.

Watch it:

Thompson has indeed signed the pledge, according to Americans for Tax Reform’s web site, and it is hardly a falsehood that Norquist’s pledge prohibits raising taxes on the wealthy. The pledge states clearly that its signers should “oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rate for individuals and business,” and that “any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits” should also be opposed unless they are matched by further reductions in tax rates. Norquist has been clear that pledge-signers should oppose tax increases for anyone, the wealthy included.

Thompson isn’t the first Republican to get challenged on the pledge during Senate debates. Arizona Rep. Jeff Flake (R), a candidate for his state’s open Senate seat, promised not to sign the Norquist pledge during his debate, even though he has already signed it.

Election

GOP Senate Candidate Admits To Owning Stock In Companies That Do Business With Iran

By Igor Volsky on Oct 18, 2012 at 10:06 pm

Wisconsin U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Thompson (R) acknowledged during a debate on Thursday that he recently sold stock in a company that did business with Iran, only after news reports highlighted his interests in the companies. The admission came as the former governor accused challenger Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) of being soft on the regime and voting against sanctions.

“I was so disturbed after having heard some of your rhetoric around my position on Iran to have read a report just hours before taking this stage that you have tens of thousands of dollars in investments in companies that do business with Iran, including a company that teams up with Iran doing Uranium mining in Africa,” Baldwin said in reaction to Thompson’s attacks. “I find that shocking. And, if you want to be tough on Iran, we have to isolate Iran. We have to make sure that companies don’t do business, to make sure that they are isolated in the world stage.”

Thompson responded by accusing Baldwin of opposing international sanctions and accepting $60,000 from Council for a Livable World — a group that supports “a negotiated solution to Iran’s nuclear program” and opposes military force:

THOMPSON: She also received a $60,000 in campaign funds, $60,000, ladies and gentleman, for a campaign from a company that believes and supports no sanctions in Iran. I heard about this stock…

BALDWIN: Who are you talking about?

THOMPSON: I heard about this stock. Wait a minute, let me finish. Let me finish, you had two minutes, let me finish. You want to interrupt me, Joe Biden, just give me a chance. The other thing is, ladies and gentlemen, is that she is talking about stock. I did not know about the fact that my stockbroker had purchased two shares, two company stocks. I sold it. I sold it today. I found out today and I sold it today. I do not tolerate, I do not agree with anybody doing business with Iran, none whatsoever. And I think you should turn back the $60,000 you got from that company that supports no sanctions for Iran.

Watch it:

Thompson’s personal financial disclosure show that he owns up $50,000 worth of stock in multiple firms that are owned by China and Russia and do business in Iran. As the Huffington Post’s Michael McAuliff reports, Thompson has “up to $1,000 in the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Gazprom and the China National Petroleum Corporation, which were all cited in a recent Government Accountability Office study as having done business with Iran.” He also “owns up to $17,000 worth of stock in Royal Dutch Shell, which the GAO also named, and between $1,000 and $15,000 worth of stock in oil services firm Schlumberger, which has been probed by the Justice Department over its Iran work.” Finally, Thompson maintained “between $1,000 and $15,000 worth of stock in the mining operation Rio Tinto, which is partners with Iran in mining uranium. Iran owns 15 percent of a uranium mining operation in Namibia with Rio Tinto.”

Security

GOP Senate Candidate Calls Opponent ‘Anti-Jewish’

By Ben Armbruster on Oct 15, 2012 at 1:23 pm

Tommy Thompson

Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Wisconsin Tommy Thompson on Sunday said his opponent, Democratic congresswoman Tammy Baldwin is “anti-Jewish” and “anti-Israel.”

“Tammy Baldwin, her whole record is anti-Israel,” Thompson said at a press conference in Wauwatosa. “She voted for the first time for the sanctions three months ago because she knew she was running for the U.S. Senate. That is the lamest excuse I’ve ever heard.

“She’s anti-Israel, she’s anti-Jewish and she’s trying to now somehow obfuscate her views and her intentions,” the former governor added.

Thompson’s comments come on the heels of an attack ad released last week by the right-wing Emergency Committee for Israel, claiming Baldwin accused Israel of “war crimes” and said “terrorists who attacked Israel” are “innocent victims.”

Thompson didn’t provide any evidence to Baldwin’s purported anti-Semitism (her campaign pointed out that she recently spoke before a the Jewish Community Center in Whitefish Bay, WI). However, Thompson himself has a history with anti-Jewish rhetoric. In 2007 he was forced to apologize after saying that making money “is part of the Jewish tradition.”

“I just want to clarify something because I didn’t [by] any means want to infer or imply anything about Jews and finances and things,” he said, making his apology. “What I was referring to, ladies and gentlemen, is the accomplishments of the Jewish religion. You’ve been outstanding business people and I compliment you for that.”

Health

Republican Senate Candidate Can’t Decide If He’ll Repeal Obamacare

By Igor Volsky on Sep 29, 2012 at 11:16 am

Tommy Thompson, the Republican senate candidate in Wisconsin, couldn’t decide if he supports maintaing provisions of the Affordable Care Act, during a debate against challenger Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D) on Friday. Responding to a question about health care reform, the former governor and Health and Human Services secretary insisted that the entire law should be gutted, but seconds later admitted that certain provisions “absolutely need to be maintained”:

QUESTION: Governor, just so we’re clear. There is nothing in the Affordable Care Act right now that’s worth maintaining?

THOMPSON: No, no. Right now, the Affordable Care Act has 20 taxes increases. We got to do away with the Affordable Care Act and then we can put in things like making sure that individuals could be covered … But there are things in there like wellness and prevention, Bob, that I drafted when I was Secretary that are in the Affordable Care Act that absolutely need to be maintained. Chronic illnesses is something I started when I was Secretary of Health. That’s got to be maintained and be able to continue.

Watch it:

Thompson’s contradictory views on reform have haunted his campaign. As a lobbyist for health care interests, Thompson “was very helpful in implementation,” to the Obama administration and even urged Republican governors to adopt the law’s health insurance exchanges.

Last April, he lauded Obamacare’s payment reform provisions, saying they give “great discretion” for exermination with “alternative payment systems.” He even tried to dissuade the GOP from repealing the measure, telling CNBC in November 2010, “When it’s all said and done, you’re not going to be able to repeal health care because President Obama is not going to sign it… And they don’t have enough votes to override a veto, so why push a cart uphill when you know it’s not going to be able to get to the top?”

Thompson’s senate campaign website now lists “repealing Obamacare and replacing it with market-based solutions” among his top legislative priorities.

Health

GOP Senate Candidate Tommy Thompson: ‘Who Better Than Me… To Do Away With Medicaid and Medicare?’

By Ian Millhiser on Sep 23, 2012 at 6:34 pm

Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson

Republicans and their defenders have claimed that the GOP’s massive proposed cuts to the nation’s health care safety net will not eliminate Medicare or Medicaid. The Romney campaign even released talking points claiming GOP proposals would “strengthen Medicare” shortly after they announced that Paul Ryan, the author of a 2011 plan to phase out Medicare, would be the vice presidential candidate. Yet, in a speech last May to a conservative group, former Bush Secretary of Health and Human Services and U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Thompson (R-WI) appeared to admit that the GOP’s proposals have a far more nefarious purpose:

[W]ho better than me, who’s already finished one of the entitlement programs, to come up with programs to do away with Medicaid and Medicare? Let’s block-grant what the state has, and allow the states to determine what’s going to go into Medicaid. And Medicare, let’s wait until everyone that right now is under 55 reaches 55 by age [sic] 2020, and give them a choice whether they want to purchase health insurance with a subsidy from the federal government, or stay on Medicare.

Watch it:

LGBT

VIDEO: Tommy Thompson Actually Shrugged Off Top Adviser’s Gay-Baiting, Kept Him On Staff

By Zack Ford on Sep 12, 2012 at 10:20 am

ThinkProgress reported Tuesday evening that former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson (R) apologized for the gay-baiting email and tweet sent by his political director Brian Nemoir targeting his Senate opponent Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D). But video of Thompson addressing the situation suggests that his concern over the incident is minimal, and he apparently feels he has to take no responsibility for Nemoir’s comments:

REPORTER: Does [Nemoir] remain with the campaign?

THOMPSON: Uhhh… yes, but in sort of a different role.

REPORTER: What is the change for Brian?

THOMPSON: Somebody else has taken over communications with the press.

Watch it:

Even though Thompson says he was “very upset,” he apparently was not upset enough to actually remove Nemoir from his campaign team, instead keeping him on for strategy. Thompson also claimed that Nemoir has apologized, but he hasn’t; in fact, Nemoir said he has no regrets, suggesting Baldwin’s sexual orientation is one of many “significant issues” in the campaign.

Baldwin spokesperson John Kraus reacted that “this was a test and Tommy Thompson failed the test,” referring to the five days it took him to respond and his apparent attempt to cover up the incident without holding Nemoir accountable.

NEWS FLASH

Tommy Thompson Apologizes For Campaign’s Gay-Baiting ‘Mistake’ | Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson (R) has apologized for the gay-baiting email and tweets sent by his campaign spokesperson sent out to demonize senate opponent Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D). Explaining that he was “very upset” when he heard what Brian Nemoir had distributed to conservative bloggers, Thompson said, “I thought it was a mistake, I’m sorry, and he’s apologized, I believe. He shouldn’t have done it.” Nemoir will remain on the campaign, but no longer serve as a spokesperson for it.

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