Rep. Johnny could only sing one note, and the note that he sang was Earmarks
Poor Johnny one-note
sang out with "gusto"
And just overlorded the place
Poor Johnny one-note
yelled willy nilly
Until he was blue in the face
For holding one note was his ace
- Lorenz Hart, from Babes In Arms
I, and many other bloggers, have talked about Rep. One Note Johnny Kline's obsession-bordering-on-fetish with earmarks. In fact, I had written a diary several weeks about Kline's Visual Masterpiece of a website Stop The Pork. (FYI - I was being facetious about the Visual Masterpiece part, so please don't visit it and question my eyesight.) I had commented in the diary that he had yet to author a single piece of legislation that even mentioned earmarks. I was surprised and delighted to find an April 22nd Press Release touting H.Res.1289. Surprised because I thought his modus operandi was to issue talking points disguised as terse Press Releases, and delighted because clearly he and his contingent had been reading my diaries.
(Hello Congresspeople! FYI, if you're ever bored and looking for legislation to write to throw on the suspension list, it would be kind of cool to name a Aircraft Carrier after me, or maybe a Post Office.)
Congressman John Kline joined colleagues today to introduce a year-long ban on earmarks. The legislation, authored by Congressman Bob Goodlatte (Va.), will implement an earmark moratorium and direct savings toward reducing the federal deficit. It also will establish a bipartisan, bicameral committee to review and reform the earmarking process.
In an effort to clean up a wasteful Washington spending system abused by Democrats and Republicans, Congressman Kline took a stand four years ago by refusing to request earmarks. Instead, he has pushed for a system that establishes spending priorities based on a project's merit rather than a Member's seniority, party affiliation, or the committees on which they serve. Earlier this year, One Note Johnny's Republican colleagues joined him by imposing a conference-wide, one-year ban on earmarks.
"Washington needs to earn back the trust of the American people, and a bipartisan ban on earmarks is a step in the right direction," said Kline. "I encourage my colleagues in the majority party to join House Republicans in showing our constituents we are serious about reducing wasteful pork-barrel spending and restoring order to America's fractured fiscal house."
This one is pretty straightforward, and I didn't break it down chunk by chunk like I usually do. It doesn't lend itself well to a point-by-point discussion. Curiously, he feels earmarks should be doled out based on their merit, yet by refusing to accept earmarks he is denying funding to projects that do have merit. Kline's "stand" of refusing to request earmarks only started 4 years ago, which was when he was suddenly pushed into the minority party in the House. Interesting, then, that he would say in his Press Release that projects should be based on their merit, and not (among other things) party affiliation. When his party affiliation was his strength, he took earmarks, but when it was a weakness, he suddenly developed principles.
Rep. John Kline (R-MN) isn't well known for much of anything. That's because up until this year, he's been a do-nothing back-bencher. Simply because he was the highest ranking Republican without scandals hanging over him, he was promoted to ranking minority on the House's Health, Education and Labor Committee. I guess this makes him a do-nothing, ranking committee memeber?
His do-nothing-ness has come to this -- Rep. Betty McCollum is doing his job for him. A little back story first.
Kline rubberstamped every Bush budget and supplementary spending request. Now that Obama is in the White House, Kline wants to reinvent himself as a deficit hawk, hoping everyone will forget all those prior votes.
One way Kline insists we can balance the budget and rid all evil from Washington DC is by eliminating what he calls "pork." Pork = earmarks. Earmarks = 0.05% of the federal budget.
Earmarks are the primary way that Congresscritters can get dollars into their districts to do things like ... hmmm ... lemme think ... a minute ... help rebuild the Hastings bridge before it falls into the Mississippi.
But Kline has sworn off pork as proof of how serious of a deficit hawk he is.
All of Minnesota's members of Congress have released their earmark requests - except for Reps. Michele Bachmann, John Kline and Erik Paulsen, who have joined the Republican ban on such funding measures. But in one case, district needs are being met through a neighboring representative's efforts: DFL Rep. Betty McCollum has made several earmark requests on behalf of projects inside Kline's district.
Dakota County is requesting $500,000 for a program called the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative. The program helps low-risk juvenile offenders by diverting them from lockup by offering home monitoring, mental health services and "restorative justice programs."
It was requested by Dakota County administration in Hastings, a city within Kline's district. In fact, the majority of Dakota County is within the 2nd Congressional District, with the exception of a sliver of the county near the Mississippi River, which is in McCollum's district.
McCollum also requested a $650,000 earmark for the city of Eagan, which is also in Kline's district, to purchase energy-efficient fire trucks for use in Eagan and Inver Grove Heights.
McCollum requested the earmarks because they will benefit residents in her district, even if the money is going to Kline's, said spokesperson Maria Reppas.
After running across John Kline's Stop The Pork website, with its "Virtual County Fair of Horrors" theme (complete with his family's own Pulled Pork recipe, but only if you give them your email address) and awful, horrible truths about the way our money is being spent (Dave Mindeman dissects the latest here far better than I could), I realized Kline was serious about the earmark process in Congress. I mean, I got his multi-page full color glossy flyers in the mail sent at taxpayer expense talking about how he didn't like wasting money, but he put up a whole website, which means he must be Very Serious.
So, I decided I wanted to look up the bills he has proposed to combat the Threat of the appropriations process. Maybe he wanted to eliminate it. Maybe he wanted to cap it. Maybe he just wanted more transparency. Other than saying "its bad", I was curious what he had in mind.
After a comprehensive search of thomas.loc.gov, I found nothing. No bills at all related to appropriations. I figured for all his talk that he'd have some bill stuck in some committee somewhere.
I did find the usual double-speak of HR 1176, which is to "ensure rights for employees" by limiting their rights. I found a very specific HR 1566 that keeps Minnesota safe by not allowing detainees at Guantanamo to be moved to Minnesota (although looking at the record, he was hardly at the forefront of this "not in my state" movement). I even found my favorite, HAmdt 136, which would change the title of HR2187 from the "21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act" to "A bill to saddle future generations with billions in debt, and for other purposes."
Dan Powers wants your support to become the DFL candidate to face Rep. John Kline in the MN-02 race. Powers is a small business owner who has become sick of politicians who don't listen. Kline is one of those politicians who doesn't have to listen because he's easily won reelection year after year.
Powers is building a grassroots campaign based upon healthcare reform, building a green economy and fiscal responsibility. He's started by hiring Mary Breitenstein ("MaryB"), a veteran of countless campaigns including Franken, and told me he will soon have a Finance Director.
"The deal is that I was a project manager for construction companies," Powers told me. "My job with those companies, and then running my own, was to listen and do what's best for the customer." An attitude like this would be drastically different than the rude and indifferent Kline. Read more about Power's background here
Powers supports a public option, wants to lure companies to build wind turbines and solar panels in his district and work hard for the people of his district. In contrast, Kline always toes the Republican party line.
Kline's main campaign theme is to ban "pork." Pork is earmarks. Earmarks are federal money to build local projects. Kline has repeatedly stated that fixing earmarks is his top priority. Kline neglects to mention that earmarks are less then 0.5% of the federal budget.
"I think that fixing the bridge in Hastings is really important," Powers said. "What Kline is doing is raising taxes locally because he won't work hard for his district. Somebody's got to pay for this so we don't have another bridge fall down. Since Kline won't even try to help, local taxpayers foot more of the bill."
Generally, 2012 Republican Presidential candidate and lame-duck Governor of MN Tim Pawlenty is a pretty savvy politician. Bland but savvy. But lately, it has become apparent that he's quite clueless on farm issues and international trade.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty has asked federal authorities to help the pork industry, mostly encouraging them to work out better international trade deals.
The Minnesota Republican stopped short of what nine of his colleagues, including those from Iowa and Wisconsin, asked: increasing spending on pork for federal community programs. His office said he preferred to send his own letter, so he turned down an invitation to sign their letter.
Pawlenty told U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack that pork is a $4 billion industry to Minnesota, supporting more than 55,000 jobs. Pork producers say they lose more than $30 a hog because of high feed costs and a drop in demand caused by the recession and a fear from "swine flu."
Our problem is that NAFTA and GATT have opened up American markets to products from farmers that can drastically undercut American farmers' prices. Of course, Pawlenty cannot admit that international trade agreements are the root cause of so many of our economic problems.
Somehow he's got it into his head that to show his presidential credibility he's got to go and beg the top beef producing countries like Brazil to let our beef into their markets. Then he begs the federal government for hand-outs for our farmers. And finally, he pleads for Obama to make some magical trade agreements that will force other countries to buy our pork. Duh?
The title of the post, back on February 15th of this year, was: RNC's Michael Steele: "You have absolutely no reason - none - to trust our words or our actions at this point."
And that was BEFORE the crazy "birther" stuff, and a whole bunch of other bogus stuff slung by the GOPers nationally. Well, and locally too, by FEC Tony and MudSlingerMike. So, since some things never change, here that post is again - Michael Steele telling the world there is no reason - NONE - to trust what the GOP has to say.
Yep - that's the RNC's Michael Steele talking; talking to Glenn Beck. Beck was saying conservatives can't trust today's GreedOverPrinciples party; I submit NO ONE can trust today's GreedOverPrinciples party. Let's watch, and then - below the fold - I'll elaborate:
Rep. John Kline (R-MN) simply doesn't care what his constituents want or what's best for them. Instead he prefers tilting at imaginary windmills. He thinks that one of the US's biggest problems is earmarks. Despite the fact that earmarks make up less than 2% of spending, he has somehow reached the conclusion that eliminating earmarks will solve our budget problems.
Ironically, he used to rake in "pork" for his friends and donors prior to needing a new campaign slogan. He can't exactly campaign on standing up for polluters, large agri-business and how strong of a supporter of President Bush he was.
This latest exemplifies how out-of-touch and useless he is to his district. He recently met with a few mayors from his district.
Rep. John Kline (R-MN) wants his constituents to think that he's fiscally responsible. According to Kline the most important fiscal issue is earmarks or as Kline characterizes it, pork. He always fails to mention that earmarks are less than 2% of government spending. Ironically, he delivered plenty of pork for his friends and corporate donors before he needed a new bumper sticker slogan.
Of course, he's also hoping his constituents will forget that he voted for every irresponsible tax cut for the wealthy, that it is under his watch that a Clinton surplus was turned into a mind-bogglingly huge Bush deficit.
Kline also wants to his constituents to pretend that he's taking care of his district's business.
He's hoping they don't think our roads and bridges are important. Kline has repeatedly voted to slash the budgets to improve and maintain our infrastructure. After the I-35W bridge collapsed, complaints that the Hastings bridge across the Mississippi was about to collapse were taken seriously. The economic collapse has made it difficult to find the funding for the rebuilding effort, though.
Obviously, John Kline is unwilling to help obtain an earmark to make sure this important project could begin. So it will get done without him. Sen. Amy Klobuchar is helping obtain right of way money, but there is a $66 million shortfall, according to the Hastings Star Gazette. Officials claim the project is merely delayed.
Kline's constituents will have to be grateful that our lone Senator, Amy Klobuchar, will be working to get this project done as Kline is MIA.
Rep. John Kline's (R-MN) "no pork" pledge is damaging his district. He refuses to help get money from the federal government to help build bus rapid transit on Cedar Avenue. Cedar Ave. runs from southern suburbs like Kline's own Lakeville towards the downtowns of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Kline used to be gung-ho for pork. He brought home the bacon for his friends, allies and campaign donors until he realized that he needed a bumper sticker campaign slogan. Earmarks, or "pork" as Kline likes to call it, makes up less than 2% of our federal government spending. Yet, Republicans like Kline think it is the way to financial soundness in this country.
But Kline has recently become a very principled man.
The Lakeville Republican's refusal to go after earmarks, in which federal legislation sets aside money for projects in legislators' home districts, has caused consternation locally as county officials try to secure the remaining $11.9 million needed for the BRT line, as well as other road and transit projects. With a six-year federal transportation bill in the works, Dakota County officials are afraid their projects will be left out.
"How do we position ourselves in this congressional session or the next in terms of making sure the money keeps coming to us to help finish this project?" board chairwoman Kathleen Gaylord asked Kline during the roughly 30 minute meeting on Tuesday.
(Star Tribune)
But let's get to another root problem. Kline has consistently done the wrong thing for his district in regards to our roads and bridges as well as transportation issues generally. He supported budget cut after budget cut to our transportation infrastructure maintenance. He even opposed funding rebuilding the crumbling Hastings bridge.
His wrong-headed attitude toward transportation combined with his "no pork" pledge makes him simply wrong for his district.
(With the revelations that The Party Of Abramoff spent donor dough at Voyeur West Hollywood, a bondage-themed nightclub featuring topless women dancers imitating lesbian sex, I thought it was appropriate to revisit this one - because you couldn't trust GOPers then and NOTHING has changed. - promoted by TwoPuttTommy)
"...or our actions at this point."
Yep - that's the RNC's Michael Steele talking; talking to Glenn Beck. Beck was saying conservatives can't trust today's GreedOverPrinciples party; I submit NO ONE can trust today's GreedOverPrinciples party. Let's watch, and then - below the fold - I'll elaborate:
And the focus is on Minnesota's Norm Coleman, whose latest ad focuses on the incumbent's bacon-bringing record.
Coleman, the former mayor of Saint Paul, is widely remembered both in the city and statewide for his aggressive advocacy to bring a National Hockey League team to the city. The Minnesota Wild arrived in the city in 2000 and have been an untempered success in the eight years since then.
...
In a political environment like this one, these sorts of transactional appeals may be the only way for a Republican incumbent to win. It may not be enough, but it's all endangered GOPers have at the moment in terms of a positive message.
Watch for lots more Republican incumbents to follow Coleman's lead in the very near future.
It's a reasonable enough strategy, and Coleman's advertising tactics seem to have gone in a different direction since his deceptive, snow-on-the-ground-even-though-it's-June debacle. Pandering to your electorate's sports preference is a wise idea as well -- it's tough to get elected in Pittsburgh if you're not a loud-and-proud Steelers fan. But I'm curious to see the effect of this ad -- given some pretty widespread dissatisfaction with Coleman among the most conservative elements of his base, one has to wonder whether the pander factor won't back back to bite him toward the bottom of his hockey sweater.
