Tea Party Congressman Paul Broun (R. GA) is known to say a lot of crazy shit. But where does he get his talking points from? Tax payer money
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/...
U.S. Rep. Paul Broun has spent $33,000 of his congressional office budget over the last two years on a specialist in rhetorical skills, according to the above clip from Justin Gray of Channel 2 Action News.
The video focuses on the expenditure of taxpayer dollars. We’ll focus on where the money went – to Brett O’Donnell, the former Liberty University debate coach was Michele Bachmann’s top aide when she ran for president in 2012. O’Donnell has also served as a debate coach for George W. Bush and Mitt Romney.
Broun’s office identifies O’Donnell as a vetted staffer:
“In compliance with all House rules, Brett O’Donnell has been a contract member of Congressman Broun’s official communications team since early 2012. He provides training, as he does with several other Members of Congress, with public speaking, on-camera interviews, and media appearances so that Dr. Broun can best communicate his legislative priorities, issues, and message with his constituents. As stated by the House Administration Committee, O’Donnell’s communications training is in compliance with all House rules.” - Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 3/18/14
Channel 2's Justin Gray tracked down Broun to get more info about this but didn't have the best of luck getting a response:
http://www.wsbtv.com/...
When Gray went to Broun’s office to talk about the expenses, Broun shut the door in his face.
Broun is running for U.S. Senate and is spending your tax dollars. Specifically, Gray has learned Broun has been giving monthly payments to a company called O'Donnell and Associates.
O’Donnell and Associates advertises on its own website that it specializes in campaign communications and campaign debate preparation.
Gray looked deeper and discovered Broun has paid the self-described campaign consultant more than $33,000 from his office budget the past two years. The money is taxpayer dollars.
“If somebody is advertising themselves as a campaign consultant, what are they doing on the taxpayer dime?” asked Kathy Keily with the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit agency aimed at creating greater government openness and transparency.
Gray wanted to ask Broun about the expenses, but his office didn't return his calls or emails.
Gray went to a hearing of a House science subcommittee which Broun serves on, but he was a no-show. Gray finally tracked Broun down after a vote.
“Can we ask you why you're spending all this money on a debate coach?” Gray asked Broun.
“I’m sorry, I don't have time to talk,” Broun said, heading into his office.
“Can't we talk to you for just one minute please sir?” Gray asked as Broun shut the door. - Atlanta Channel 2, 3/17/14
This new story could give Broun's primary opponents new ammunition to take him down:
http://www.rawstory.com/...
Broun is known to many for his 2012 statement to a group of Baptist Republicans that — in spite of his medical degree — he does not believe in the science of evolution or the Big Bang theory, but rather views them as “lies straight from the pit of Hell.”
He is now the leading Republican in the running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss. Among his competitors in the primary are Reps. Phil Gingrey (R) and Jack Kingston (R).
Long speculated that Broun’s primary competitors are going to attack him for the spending in the potentially bruising primary race in Georgia this spring.
“I would be surprised if they don’t line up to attack him on this,” he said. “It’s a hypocritical position that he’s taken. He says he’s mindful of taxpayer money, but then he spends it for his own self-enrichment.”
“Not that his debate coach doesn’t seem to have been very useful to him,” Long said, indicating Broun’s record of gaffes in addition to the “pit of Hell” remarks. Earlier this year, he said that the only way Democrats can win in Georgia is to recruit “illegal aliens” to vote.
At a GOP primary debate in February, Broun said that the U.S. must unconditionally support Israel, not because of any strategic advantage, but “because of a promise God made to Abraham. He said, ‘I’ll bless those that bless you and I’ll curse those who curse you.’ America must support Israel to continue to be blessed.”
Broun was quoting Chapter 12, verse 3 of the Christian Bible’s opening book, Genesis. - Raw Story, 3/18/14
One also has to wonder if Broun's favorite punching bag, Rep. Jack Kingston (R. GA), is using office budget money to help him spew his rhetoric:
http://www.examiner.com/...
U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga) talked to FOX News' Eric Shawn this Sunday on "America's NEWS Headquarters" about a plan by the Obama Administration to financially prop up health care insurance companies faced with higher costs due to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare).
President Barack Obama allocated billions of dollars in his 2015 budget proposal for insurance companies that lose money under Obamacare.
The plan called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires insurance companies that record at least a 3-percent profit from Obamacare to direct some of that profit into a government-controlled fund. In turn, insurers who record at least a 3-percent loss would be able to access those funds.
"This latest scheme is designed to really redistribute profits and losses," said Kingston. "So if you obtain insurance through one of the state-run plans and your insurance company has too many losses they will assess another insurance company that has had too much profit and move the money around. So it is absolutely a bailout, it is absolutely more government interference, and it is absolutely a socialistic approach to the marketplace."
The Obama Administration decided on the new approach after millions of insured Americans received cancellation notices from their insurance companies. The plans that were cancelled were less expensive than the Obamacare plans because they didn't cover as many services. - Examiner, 3/17/14
We'll see where Broun is in the polls after few weeks of being hit for this. But this race is shaping up to be more and more of a pick up opportunity, especially with Michelle Nunn (D. GA) as the frontrunner. Nunn might be our best shot at holding onto the Senate:
http://www.latimes.com/...
Seen as Democrats' best hope to pick up a Senate seat in the midterm election, the daughter of former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn is counting on her Republican opponents to alienate voters with their far-right platforms, as has occurred elsewhere in recent races.
But her campaign also hinges on whether she can take advantage of the Peach State's rapidly changing demographics.
Once a Democratic stronghold, Georgia turned red over the last 20 years as white voters embraced Republican candidates. Fewer than 1 in 4 white Georgians voted for President Obama in 2008.
But a swift rise in Georgia's African American and minority population is tilting the political landscape back.
Much rides on how far that tilt has gone. Democrats face strong Republican challengers in at least half a dozen Senate races — enough to potentially undo the Democratic majority in the chamber. That would leave Obama facing an entirely Republican-controlled Congress for the remaining two years of his term.
But if Nunn wins the seat here, where the incumbent Republican is retiring, Democratic hopes of holding on to the Senate would be significantly improved.
So the day after the Atlanta debate, Nunn, 47, headed to Georgia's Civil War-era capital of Milledgeville, a picturesque place of white-columned buildings and country roads.
"This is exactly the table I want to be at," the former nonprofit director told a group of mostly black seniors who were transforming an abandoned elementary school site into a community garden.
Later at a luncheon of tea sandwiches and homemade cheese straws — a traditional Georgia snack — Nunn tried to charm the moderate white voters that her team sees as equally vital to victory.
Her courting of this often-neglected voter bloc may prove to be smart.
An influx of African Americans moving from other states has made metropolitan Atlanta's black population the nation's second largest after New York, demographers say. New black families are snapping up roomy houses in suburbs that were once predominantly white and filling trendy restaurants downtown.
White voters, meanwhile, have shrunk from 75% of the electorate in 2000 to 61% in 2012. And the trend is expected to accelerate. About 59% of Georgians under age 1 are minorities, census figures show.
Outside Atlanta's popular Sunday brunch spot Mary Mac Tea House, Robert Hawkins, an African American business owner, said the migration of blacks and other minorities was slowly loosening the dominance that GOP-leaning white voters have had in Georgia, creating an opening for Nunn.
"That influence that was here before, it's kind of diluted," he said. "The time is ripe for her." - Los Angeles Times, 3/13/14
And with State Senator Jason Carter (D. GA) on the same ticket running against vulnerable Governor Nathan Deal, Georgia has a great shot at going blue:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/...
As Wendy Davis’s campaign for Texas governor flounders, Democrats in Washington have begun to cast their eyes elsewhere for a good news story in the solid-red South.
They believe they may have found that in Georgia, where a combination of demographic trends and a slate full of famous political names is giving Democrats in the state an unfamiliar feeling: Hope.
Topping the ticket (which Republicans have tagged as "Downton Abbey Democrats" for children seeking their ancestors' titles) is Jason Carter, the 38 year-old state senator and grandson of former president Jimmy Carter, who is challenging Republican Gov. Nathan Deal.
Along with Michelle Nunn, the daughter of former senator Sam Nunn, and Chris Irvin, the grandson of a four-decade occupant of the state’s powerful Agriculture Commissioner post, Carter is part of the strongest statewide ticket Georgia Democrats have fielded in years.
Add some numbers to those names and you’ll see why Democrats think they could soon see a governor or senator come out of Georgia, even though Republicans hold every statewide office, the state House and the state Senate.
Of the state's 1.5 million new residents between 2000 and 2010, 81 percent were non-white, including 1.2 million African Americans. Since 1990, the state's Hispanic population has increased eight-fold, while the Asian-American population has quadrupled.
Democrats point to those population changes as the reason behind President Barack Obama’s performance there in 2012, when his campaign spent no money but still managed to keep Mitt Romney to his second narrowest victory of any state in the country.
Beyond that, Georgia was the second largest single source of electoral votes for Romney behind, yes, Texas. - Daily Beast, 3/14/14
I say lets let the Republicans tear each other a part and lets make sure our candidates have what well financed campaigns in order to win. If you want to donate or get involved with Nunn and/or Carter's campaigns, you can do so here:
http://www.michellenunn.com/
http://carterforgovernor.com/