In the spirit of all politics being local, I thought I'd make sure that all of my fellow Wisconsinites had the full skinny on the various Mark Foley connections to be made. For those keeping score, we can slightly ding Mark Green (who is currently running for Governor), bother F. Jim Sensnenbrenner (running for re-election in the WI-05), and nail John Gard (running to replace Green in the WI-08). The connections and links to the good guys are all below the fold.
If you need to know more about the actual Foley scandal itself, well, where have you been, under a rock? Check the front page, why don't ya!
(This is condensed and edited from two posts done earlier today at my Milwaukee-based blog.)
- No Wisconsin Republicans are in the House leadership, which covered up Mark Foley's inappropriate and possibly illegal activity. The closest we get is F. Jim Sensenbrenner who, as Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, helped shepherd the Adam Walsh Act through Congress, and, in fact, stood near Foley as Bush signed the bill. Foley's House website has been deleted already, and apparently they're working fast to get his name off of everything. The Google search that led me to that link above named Foley in the caption to the picture, but the caption now does not name him! This is a screenshot of another photo that's been scrubbed, but the caption still indicates that Foley and Sensenbrenner were there together. I sent an email to Sensenbrenner's campaign asking about that day--and about whether Sensenbrenner's made a statement on the matter, since I couldn't find one--which has not yet been returned.
Sensenbrenner's opponent in the WI-05 this cycle is the lovable and thoroughly electable Bryan Kennedy, who, like all the Democratic candidates named in this post, is on my ActBlue page and could use your help.
- Mark Green, who is giving up his seat in Congress to run for governor, also has Foley connections. He's not released a statement (nothing here, here, or here) that I can see. But Green should be at least a little concerned, since a $1000 contribution from Foley's PAC helped Mark Green first win his seat in 1998. That may have been a long time ago, but given questions about Green's connections to Tom DeLay's PAC, and the recent State Elections Board ruling on transferring PAC money from his federal to state campaigns, this could just be another straw on that camel's back. Again, an email to Green's campaign about this has gone unreturned.
You can contribute to help incumbent Democratic Governor Jim Doyle through my ActBlue page.
- This third one is the biggie. John Gard, current Speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly, is running to replace Green in the WI-08. It's the only open seat in Wisconsin and consistently on pundits' lists of top 30 races around the country. As such, it's been getting a lot of attention, particularly from the Republican leadership--the same Republican leadership that protected Mark Foley and covered up his actions for almost a year. And Gard is rolling in their money:
- Gard received $10,000 from Republican Majority Leader John Boehner's Freedom Project PAC. Boehner not only knew about Foley's problems, but helped cover up fpr them. He also lied for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, retracting a statement originally claiming he'd told Hastert after the Speaker's office initially denied it. Now Hastert's office admits to knowing.
- Gard also took $5,000 from Hastert's Keep Our Majority PAC.
- Gard took another $10,000 from the Together for Our Majority PAC (TOMPAC), which is the PAC of Tom Reynolds--the Congressman from New York, not the nutty Wisconsin State Senator. Reynolds, who chairs the NRCC--the campigan committee for House Republicans--was the first elected official that was told of Foley's behavior almost a year ago. That's right--the first guy told was the political guy, not the Speaker of the House, the Majority Leader, or even the Republican on the House Page Board. Tells you where their priorities are, eh?
- Finally, Gard scored $2,000 from John Shimkus's John S Fund PAC. Shimkus is the Republican member of the House Page Board, the group that oversees the House Pages and makes sure everything goes okay with that program. Shimkus and the Board's clerk met, reviewed the allegations against Foley, and decided against doing an investigation or even informing the lone Democrat on the panel, Dale Kildee.
Gard needs to explain how and why he thinks it's a good idea to keep $27,000 in PAC money from men who knowing participated in the cover-up of crimes and inappropriate behavior. (An email to his campaign--you guessed it!--unreturned so far.)
And, hey, if 27,000 Daily Kos readers each chipped in to give Steve Kagen a dollar through my ActBlue page, then that would make a helluva story, wouldn't it?
There you have it--the Republicans here behind the Cheddar Curtain have the taint of Foley on them. The question is how much of an effect we can make it have by November 7.