Maybe I haven't been looking closely enough. Or maybe I'm overinterpereting the importance of this. Either way, it seems like it should be shared.
There is something called the Blue Dog Coalition. It is a group of Democratic Congressmen who are fiscally conservative and have urged the President to take actions similar to those being proposed by traditional Republican conservatives to address the country's economic needs. The coalition is co-chaired by four men: Rep. Heath Shuler, Rep. John Barrow, Rep. Mike Ross and Rep. Dan Boren. Rep. Dennis Cardoza and Rep. Jim Matheson are listed as non-chair leaders. Here is some background on the co-chairmen:
Heath Shuler, some of you may remember, was a quarterback for the Washington Redskins from 1994 through 1997. He sucked pretty bad after having a quite brilliant college career at Tennessee. Now he represents North Carolina and his website features a National Debt Clock.
John Barrow is a Georgian who supports natural gas for cars and is committed to "repairing the nation's piggybank."
Mike Ross, from Arkansas, serves on the House Energy & Commerce Committee, as Vice President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly as co-chair of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus and co-chair of the Second Amendment Task Force. He has come out in opposition to Big Oil subsidies.
Dan Boren, representing Oklahoma's 2nd District, has called President Obama "completely uninformed about the oil and gas industry." He has also decided not to seek re-election after this term.
So, these guys are a little bit all over the map but one thing they are all apparently OK with is taking money from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC is neck and neck with the Koch Brothers for most anti-union and, depending who you ask, most anti-worker among interest groups in the United States. Here's the skinny from the Because I Can blog:
Awhile ago I went to http://www.congress.org/ and pulled the PAC money for 5 of the companies on ALEC’s Private Enterprise Board. I pulled donations from the ALEC member PAC’s to candidates of more than $4,999, for the three election cycles of 2005 – 2010. My spreadsheet just with 5 companies and donations of over $4,999 is over 2000 rows long (I apologize – my research is incomplete, as I have not gone to the candidates page to see if they returned any of this money – someone else can do that).
And off of my handy dandy little spreadsheet here’s what I have for the “Blue Dog Coalition Leaders.”
Dennis Cardoza
$5,000 2005-2006 AT&T
$10,000 2007-2008 AT&T
$6,500 2009-2010 AT&T $21,500
Heath Schuler
$8,000 2007-2008 AT&T
$10,250 2007-2008 Pfizer
$10,000 2007-2008 Wal-Mart
$10,000 2009-2010 AT&T
$5,000 2009-2010 Wal-Mart $43,250
John Barrow
$5,000 2005-2006 AT&T
$8,500 2005-2006 Wal-Mart
$11,000 2007-2008 AT&T
$5,000 2007-2008 Koch
$7,750 2007-2008 Pfizer
$6,000 2007-2008 UPS
$10,000 2007-2008 Wal-Mart
$10,000 2009-2010 AT&T
$7,627 2009-2010 Pfizer
$6,500 2009-2010 UPS
$7,500 2009-2010 Wal-Mart $84,877
Mike Ross
$10,000 2005-2006 Wal-Mart
$10,000 2005-2006 Wal-Mart
$9,000 2007-2008 AT&T
$9,000 2007-2008 AT&T
$7,000 2007-2008 UPS
$7,000 2007-2008 UPS
$6,000 2007-2008 Wal-Mart
$6,000 2007-2008 Wal-Mart
$10,000 2009-2010 AT&T
$10,000 2009-2010 AT&T
$10,000 2009-2010 Koch
$10,000 2009-2010 Koch
$7,500 2009-2010 Wal-Mart
$7,500 2009-2010 Wal-Mart $119,000
Dan Boren – ALEC Alumni
$9,000 2005-2006 AT&T
$5,000 2005-2006 Koch
$6,000 2005-2006 UPS
$6,500 2007-2008 AT&T
$10,000 2007-2008 Koch
$10,000 2007-2008 UPS
$10,000 2007-2008 Wal-Mart
$10,000 2009-2010 AT&T
$8,500 2009-2010 Koch
$6,500 2009-2010 UPS
$10,000 2009-2010 Wal-Mart $91,500
Jim Matheson
$14,000 2005-2006 Koch
$14,000 2005-2006 Koch
$14,000 2005-2006 Koch
$10,500 2005-2006 Pfizer
$10,500 2005-2006 Pfizer
$10,500 2005-2006 Pfizer
$10,500 2005-2006 UPS
$10,500 2005-2006 UPS
$10,500 2005-2006 UPS
$10,000 2005-2006 Wal-Mart
$10,000 2005-2006 Wal-Mart
$10,000 2005-2006 Wal-Mart
$10,000 2007-2008 AT&T
$10,000 2007-2008 AT&T
$10,000 2007-2008 AT&T
$10,000 2007-2008 Koch
$10,000 2007-2008 Koch
$10,000 2007-2008 Koch
$10,252 2007-2008 Pfizer
$10,252 2007-2008 Pfizer
$10,252 2007-2008 Pfizer
$10,000 2007-2008 UPS
$10,000 2007-2008 UPS
$10,000 2007-2008 UPS
$8,000 2007-2008 Wal-Mart
$8,000 2007-2008 Wal-Mart
$8,000 2007-2008 Wal-Mart
$10,000 2009-2010 AT&T
$10,000 2009-2010 AT&T
$10,000 2009-2010 AT&T
$9,000 2009-2010 Pfizer
$9,000 2009-2010 Pfizer
$9,000 2009-2010 Pfizer
$10,000 2009-2010 UPS
$10,000 2009-2010 UPS
$10,000 2009-2010 UPS
$8,000 2009-2010 Wal-Mart
$8,000 2009-2010 Wal-Mart
$8,000 2009-2010 Wal-Mart $390,756
Not sure commenting on these numbers is necessary. Scary stuff when Dems are guzzling the high-priced Kool-Aid, too.
Because I Can is centrally focused on exposing ALEC. Visit the site if that's your cup of...um...tea.