Charles Taylor is the crooked congressman most people are unaware of across the country. While he is losing to Heath Shuler in the polls, he is tossing millions upon millions of his own money into the race, and for good reason. He is making much more for his private businesses while as a member of congress. He takes congresssional dockets to Russia on your dime, where he happens to own a bank with a former KGB officer. He requests road widening projects right next to tracks of land he owns, he puts in earmarks for public parks right in front of his flagstone bank in Asheville. You name it, he does it. It really pays for him to be a member of Congress.
There is alot in the news about Chuck Taylor. "Chainsaw" to friends, since he wants to clear a road through the largest pristine forest land East of the Mississippi.
News round-up on the flip.
From the Asheville Citizen times
we learn:
Republican Congressman Charles Taylor has outspent his opponent, Democrat Heath Shuler, by a three-to-one margin.
Both candidates filed their latest campaign spending disclosures with the Federal Election Commission Sunday, and Taylor's forms show total disbursements for the election cycle of $3 million.
Taylor's campaign spent $2.1 million in 2004 and $1.8 million in 2002.
Carl Pope at Huffington Post chimes in
On the political side there is Congressman Charles Taylor, from Western North Carolina, who, according to the Wall Street Journal, routinely obtained federal funding for projects that benefited his business interests: "Last year, Mr. Taylor added $11.4 million to a big federal transportation bill to widen U.S. Highway 19, the main road through Maggie Valley.... His companies own thousands of acres near the highway there and had already developed a subdivision called Maggie Valley Leisure Estates. Mr. Taylor also got $3.8 million in federal funds for a park now being built in downtown Asheville .... directly in front of the Blue Ridge Savings Bank, flagship of his financial empire."
The Tryon Daily Bulletin reports:
According to the Wall St. Journal article, Taylor, his family and various holding companies and partnerships he's involved in own more than 14,337 acres in six counties, making him one of the state's largest landholders.
Last year he added $11.4 million to a federal transportation bill to widen Hwy. 19 through Maggie Valley, where his companies own thousands of acres near the highway and have already developed a subdivision called Maggie Valley Leisure Estates. He also steered $4.8 million to widen parts of Hwy. 64, which runs near tracts of timberland that Taylor owns in Transylvania County.
The Wall St. Journal article says Taylor obtained $3.8 million in federal funds for a park in downtown Asheville, directly in front of the Blue Ridge Savings Bank, the flagship of his financial empire. The article says Taylor is one of the richest congressmen with assets of at least $72 million.
WRAL reports that the President is visiting North Carolina today.
North Carolina State University political science professor Andy Taylor said that Greensboro is generally a hotbed of Republican support. Local congressman Howard Coble and congresswoman Virginia Foxx are predicted to retain their seats easily.
But if Bush ventured outside those districts, the story changes. Don't expect the president to be glad-handing with Republicans Robin Hayes or Charles Taylor. Taylor is in an especially tight race in western North Carolina.
"The president isn't going to really help them very much," said Taylor. "He might be a hindrance more than a help."
Also, the AP Reports:
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - An Asheville television station complained Thursday that a campaign advertisement run by GOP Rep. Charles Taylor uses copyrighted material from one of the station's newscasts without permission.
The ad is airing on WLOS-TV because Federal Communications Commission rules do not allow the station to alter or refuse to air candidate advertising, the station said in a statement.
The ad includes a portion of a WLOS newscast that scrutinized an ad by Taylor's opponent, Democratic nominee Heath Shuler. The station said the "Truth Check" segment reviewed the facts of ads from both the Shuler and Taylor campaigns, but that Taylor's new ad did not acknowledge the balance of the report
Charles Taylor is about to have to actually hire a lobbyist come November. He can then grease a congress member the old fashioned way to win pork for his businesses instead of cutting out the middle man and doing it for himself as he has done for 8 terms. The money isn't working. I suspect he will throw a lot more in though. Being in congress has been a very lucrative business choice for Chainsaw Chuckie. Get out there and vote folks.