Mark Kirk and Peter Roskam Ties to Notorious Criminal Organization Exposed

On September 28, 2009, in Economic Justice, Friends of Peter Roskam, Mark Kirk, Organized Labor, Peter Roskam, Peter Roskam's Corporate Agenda, by RSR
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Anti-labor Republican Representatives Mark Kirk and Peter Roskam addressed the media today calling for the U.S. Census to sever its partnership with the  Service Employees International Union (SEIU) because of SEIU’s alleged ties to the community organization ACORN.  ACORN has been the subject of a right-wing smear campaign of late because of its advocacy work on behalf of low- and moderate-income people and particularly because of its efforts to mobilize voters. Kirk and Roskam, who use their offices to advance the interests of corporate contributors and economic elites and thus hate unions almost as much they hate poor voters, have identified an opportunity to damage SEIU by association and to distract the public from their attempts to block healthcare reform, financial industry regulation, and meaningful legislation to address the threat of global climate change.

The U.S. Census Partners are government, non-profit, corporate or community organizations that have formally pledged their commitment to share the 2010 Census message and mobilize their constituents in support of the Census Bureau’s goal of achieving a complete count. SEIU is just one of many diverse partners. Others include American Baptist Churches of the South, American Library Association, U.S. Conference of Mayors, United Way of America, University of Texas, Meals On Wheels Association of America, Marathon Oil Corporation, Monsanto Company, Boy Scouts of America, Home Depot, General Mills, United Methodist Women, to name just a few.  Roskam and Kirk’s assertion that SEIU somehow presents a threat to the “integrity of the Census” is patently ridiculous.

Meanwhile, in a related development, RSR has learned of Peter Roskam’s and Mark Kirk’s shocking ties to to an actual criminal organization, whose members in recent years have been indicted and/or convicted on a variety of serious criminal charges and have been involved in all manner of sexual impropriety. Members of that organization, the Republican Party, also known as the GOP, have been implicated in numerous implicated of bribery, tax evasion, conspiracy, money laundering, fraud, and obstruction of justice and have engaged in voter suppression, frequented prostitutes, solicited sex in mens rooms and conducted inappropriate sexual chit chat with under-aged Congressional pages. Both Roskam and Kirk have maintained close personal ties with members of the GOP and it is believed that money may have been transferred between the GOP and the Roskam and Kirk campaigns.

While it is yet to be determined whether Roskam and Kirk will be forced to relinquish their offices due to their connections to this corrupt organization, it is clear that the integrity of the Census demands that Roskam, Kirk, and their associates in the GOP be banned from any participation in its conduct.

Here are just a few of the more outrageous examples of Republican impropriety from recent years:

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Jack Abramoff:  A former Republican lobbyist and influence-peddler currently incarcerated at the Federal Correction institute in Cumberland, Maryland.  Abramoff was convicted in 2006 and 2008  of multiple felony counts related to his defrauding several Indian tribes of millions of dollars in gaming revenues and his trading of epensive gifts and trips with Republican legislators in exchange for political favors for his clients.

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Bob Ney:  A former Republican Representative from Ohio’s 18th Congressional district, Ney was convicted in 2006 on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, falsifying financial disclosure forms, in connection with actions he took on behalf of an Abramoff client and a foreign businessman. Ney served 17 months in federal prison. He was released in 2008. Mark Kirk received a campaign contribution from Ney, which he later returned.

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Randy “Duke” Cunningham:  Former Republican Congressman who represented California’s 50th district. Cunningham was convicted in 2005 of federal charges of conspiracy to  commit bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion. Cunningham used his position on the defense appropriations subcommittee to award contracts to defense contractors in exchange for bribes.  He is currently incarcerated in the United States Penitentiary in Tucson, Arizona.

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J. Steven Griles: A former coal industry lobbyist who served as Deputy Secretary of the Interior during the Bush administration. Griles was convicted of obstruction of justice in 2007 after making false statements in the Abramoff investigation. Griles pledged to Abramoff that he would use his authority to block an Indian casino that Abramoff was lobbying against. Griles was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment.

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I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby: Aide to President George W. Bush and Chief of Staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, Libby was convicted of federal charges of obstruction of justice, perjury, and making false statements to federal investigators in connection with the investigation of the Bush administration’s suspected  “outing” of CIA operative Valerie Plame in retaliation for her husband’s criticism of the Iraq war. Libby was sentenced to 30 months in prison but his sentence was ultimately commuted by President Bush.

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James Tobin: Chairman of George W. Bush’s New England campaign, Tobin was convicted in 2005 of telephone harrassment in connection with a 2002 Republican plot to jam Democratic Party phone lines and frustrate get-out-the vote efforts. That conviction was overturned by a federal appeals court on a technical issue. Tobin was indicted again in 2008, for making false statements to the FBI in connection with the case.

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Tom DeLay: Late of “Dancing with the Stars”,  DeLay is an ex-exterminator from Texas who served as Republican House Majority Leader until 2005.  DeLay, an associate of Jack Abramoff and recipient of numerous Abramoff gifts, is presently under indictment in Travis County, Texas for conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws.  DeLay was lobbied by Abramoff to stop legislation banning sweatshops in the U.S.’s Northern Mariana Islands.  After traveling with Abramoff to the islands, Delay block a bill from consideration that would have granted wage and hour protections to workers there. No criminal charges have yet been filed related to DeLay’s relationship with Abramoff. Peter Roskam is an ex-employee of Tom DeLay. Mark Kirk’s campaign has received funding from Tom deLay’s PAC, Americans for a Republican Majority.

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Larry Craig:  The former Republican Senator from Idaho, Craig was arrested for lewd conduct in a men’s room at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport in 2007, after attempting a sexual liason with an undercover police officer. Craig plead guilty, then unsuccessfully tried to retract his initial plea.

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David “Diaper Dave” Vitter: The Republican sitting junior Senator from Louisiana, Vitter confessed in 2007 to having committed “a very serious sin”. That was shortly after his phone number was found to be included in the published list of clientele of the famous “D.C. Madam” , Deborah Jean Palfrey.  He was also alleged to have been a regular customer of New Orleans’ “C anal Street Madam”. Vitter is running for re-election to his Senate seat in 2010.

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Mark Foley: Former Republican Representative from Florida’s 16th District. Foley resigned his seat in 2006 after it became public knowledge that Foley had sent sexually explicit text messages and suggestive emails to under-aged males then serving as, or who formerly served as, pages in the House. During the subsequent investigation, it became clear that Foley had been previously been warned about his conduct by the Republican leadership but that nothing had been done to remove him from contact with the pages.

And that’s just the short list.

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Roskam’s Medi-Fraud Alert Highlights Obama’s Vigorous Efforts to Combat Medicare Fraud

On July 1, 2009, in Barack Obama, Economic Justice, Healthcare, Peter Roskam, by RSR
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In his address to a joint session of Congress on February 24, 2009, President Obama, at the very outset of his administration, promised to “root out the waste, fraud, and abuse in our Medicare program that doesn’t make our seniors any healthier.” In recent days, we have begun to see the President’s promise become a reality.

Obama’s  F.Y. 2010 budget proposal, released on May 10, included a $1.7 billion increase over five years to the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program. That program, under the joint direction of the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services, was established in 1996 by The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), under President Clinton.

On May 20, new Attorney General Eric Holder and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a new interagency effort, the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), to combat Medicare fraud. HEAT will build on efforts begun with significant success under the Bush administration:

The HEAT team will include senior officials from DOJ and HHS who will build upon and strengthen existing programs to combat fraud while also investing new resources and technology to prevent fraud, waste and abuse before it happens. Efforts will include the expansion of joint DOJ-HHS Medicare Fraud Strike Force teams that have been successfully fighting fraud in South Florida and Los Angeles. Established in 2007, these teams have a proven record of success using a “data-driven” approach to identify unexplainable billing patterns and investigating these providers for possible fraudulent activity. The Medicare Fraud Strike Force team operating in South Florida has already convicted 146 defendants and secured $186 million in criminal fines and civil recoveries. After the success of operations in South Florida, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force expanded in May 2008 to phase two in Los Angeles, where 37 defendants have been charged with criminal health care fraud offenses. To date in the Los Angeles cases, more than $55 million has been ordered in restitution to the Medicare program.

“We know these strike forces work. I believe a targeted civil and criminal enforcement strategy in these locations will have a substantial impact on deterring fraud and abuse, protecting patients and the elderly from scams, and ensuring that taxpayer funds are not stolen,” said Attorney General Holder.

Republican Congressman Peter Roskam recently established his “Medi-FraudAlert” blog on his Congressional web site as a “forum to discuss the massive waste, fraud and abuse in the current Medicare and Medicaid systems”. Roskam absurdly states these costs could reach $500 billion annually. (The total cost of Medicare is only about $450 billion.) But the costs of fraud are significant – 3% or more of total health expenditures, 10.5% of federal Medicaid expenditures by one estimate. Roskam’s blog does a good job of highlighting some of the Obama administration’s early successes in combating fraud:

June 25:  A day after a $100 million fraud was exposed, yesterday, 53 people were indicted in a $50 million Medicare fraud scheme spanning from Detroit to Miami. The scheme involving patients, doctors, medical assistants and company owners, focused on Medicare claims submitted for unnecessary or never delivered treatments mostly for HIV-related drugs and physical therapy treatments.

June 29: Friday, eight Miami-area residents were arrested and charged with attempting to defraud Medicare for $22 million – having already paid out $15.3 million of those claims from Medicare. The Miami Herald reports that this was the prosecutors’ “first crackdown on home healthcare offenders in a decade.” In this case, two firms were raided, had their bank accounts frozen, and stand accused of filing bogus claims mostly for homebound diabetic services. ABC Home Health Care submitted $17 million in false claims since January 2006, and has already been paid $11.3 million in taxpayer money. Florida Home Health Care Providers filed $5.5 million in false claims since October 2007, being compensated with $4 million of taxpayer money.

June 30: Yesterday, a Miami doctor was sentenced to eight years in prison and ordered to pay more than $9 million in restitution for his part in a Medicare fraud scheme where he ultimately filed $20 million in false claims. The physician, Roberto Rodriguez, billed for fake HIV infusion services at six Miami-area HIV infusion clinics.

But Roskam, of course, has not created this blog because he wants the public to know how effective the administration has been so early in combatting fraud. Rather, Peter Roskam is using the existence of Medicare/Medicaid fraud as an excuse to subvert Democratic efforts to make quality healthcare coverage available to all American citizens, something to which he is ideologically opposed.

Roskam appeared this morning on WBIG 1280 AM this morning promoting his blog. He bemoaned the fact that physicians are reimbursed at such a low rate by Medicare and Medicaid due to the excessive expenditures on fraud and abuse and reiterated that he thought it unwise to pursue universal coverage with fraud so rampant. Roskam offered no solutions however for the 45 million Americans who have no health coverage. He did not even acknowledge them. Under the Roskam plan, they are on their own. You can listen to Roskam here:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I think Roskam’s focus on Medicare fraud is a lame excuse for not doing what basic justice and decency require – that we provide healthcare to every American. If you agree with me, I encourage you give Peter Roskam a call and demand universal coverage now.  Tell him we’ve got blogs aplenty, we need a health plan. (You can attempt to post a comment on his blog but I expect that will be a waste of time as they are screening out unfavorable comments).  You can reach Peter Roskam at (202) 225-4561 in Washington or at (630) 893-9670 in Bloomingdale.

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Peter Roskam Votes Against Key Measure to Defeat Al Quaeda & Taliban

On June 19, 2009, in Foreign Policy, National Security, Organized Labor, Peter Roskam, Terrorism, by RSR
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On Thursday, June 11th, while I was vacationing in secessionist Texas, our Republican Congressman Peter Roskam voted against H.R. 1886: Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2009, choosing to play political games at the expense of national security and the fight against terrorist groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The bill, introduced by Democrat Howard Berman of California, provides increased military aid to Pakistan designed to improve its ability to conduct counter-terrorism efforts aimed at defeating Al Quaeda. It also increases economic aid with a focus on strengthening Pakistan’s democratic institutions and offering opportunities to its citizens to counteract recruiting efforts by extremist groups.

The measure provides for rigorous oversight and auditing (an anathema to Roskam and his Republican colleagues who generally disdain Congressional oversight and prefer a blank check approach – remember the pallets of cash being dumped in Iraq during the Bush years). This oversight allergy is probably related to Republicans’  longstanding coziness with defense contractors. The bill also requires that military aid be directed through the democratically elected government of Pakistan, that it be used for counter-terrorism  purposes, and that Pakistan make demonstrable progress in counter-terrorism efforts as a condition to continuation.

H.R. 1886 also creates Reconstruction Opportunity Zones in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Goods produced in these areas could be exported duty-free to the United States. The idea is to promote work alternatives to hamper recruitment by the Taliban and Al Quaeda. A condition for producers to participate is their cooperation with a labor monitoring program to protect worker rights and maintain acceptable working conditions. This condition caused widespread fits amongst Roskam and his fellow anti-labor Republicans. God forbid we should do anything to protect workers. Why that’s Communism!

H.R. 1886 passed by a vote of 234-185.  If I understand this correctly, the bill was incorporated as passed into H.R. 2410, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, which will now have to be reconciled with a Senate version that is lighter on oversight.

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Peter Roskam’s Ex-Campaign Manager Launches New Firm to Lie to Latino Voters

On June 5, 2009, in Congressional Elections, Friends of Peter Roskam, Gay Rights, Latino Voters, Lobbyists, Peter Roskam, by RSR
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RSR notes with interest this item from Politico yesterday. Jason Cabel Roe, Peter Roskam’s former, campaign manager, has launched a new consulting firm, Revolvis Consulting. The firm “will focus on strategies to bring Latino voters into the Republican fold”. Revolvis’ initial focus is on a number of races in California.

Jason Roe’s bio on the Revolvis web site indicates that he was Chief of Staff for Republican Congressman Tom Feeney of Florida from 2003 to 2007. It fails to mention that Roe left Feeney in 2007 to work for Mitt Romney’s Presidential campaign, then abruptly resigned in April 2007, citing family obligations, after the FBI started questioning Feeney regarding his ties to lobbyist and felon Jack Abramoff. Feeney had accompanied Abramoff on that famous golf outing to Scotland. Roe memorably defended Feeney in an email message stating “Any assertion that this office knew Abramoff paid for the Scotland trip is a g–d—– lie.”

Roe previously founded Federal Strategy Group, a Washington lobbying firm that advertised its access to to politicians like Roskam.

Roe managed Peter Roskam’s famously dirty Congressional campaign against Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth 2006.  That campaign attacked Duckworth as wanting to give “handouts to illegal aliens”:

You may recall that Jason Roe & Peter Roskam made Keith Olberman’s “Worst Person in the World” list for Roskam’s infamous remark that Duckworth wanted to “cut and run” from Iraq (Duckworth, of course, lost both of her legs while serving In Iraq) and Roe’s subsequent distortion of what was actually said.

So anyway, now Roe wants to help bring Latino’s into the fold. The Revolvis web site actualy has a “Latino Services” page. That’s impressive. The Latino Services page states that “an effective Latino program is a vital component to any public policy and/or candidate campaign”.  (Isn’t that warm and fuzzy – a “Latino program”). But Roe is right, the current Republican “Latino program” – smearing the first Latina Supreme Court nominee as a racist and calling the National Council of La Raza a Latino “KKK” – is not proving to be working, if you believe the polls. (We wonder though whether this handiwork from the Revolvis portfolio will be typical of a Revolvis “latino program”.)

How does Revolvis plan to sway Latino voters, then? Wedge issues!:

Latinos, like other voters groups are not single issue voters. While immigration is an important issue, Latinos have consistently ranked national security, the environment, education, healthcare, and the economy as issues of greater importance to them. The Democrats do not hold sway over the Latino community on all of these issues. In California, we saw Latinos overwhelmingly supporting both Obama and the gay marriage initiative (Proposition 8). Avenues exist for Republicans to make inroads into these communities.

California’s Proposition 8 (Gay Marriage Ban), and additional survey data, illustrates that Republicans don’t have to change their principles, we just need to communicate with all voters, year-round.

Charming. Roe plans to win over Latinos by demonizing gay people.

These pricks, Roskam and Roe, and Limbaugh and all their kind , they just don’t get it. Until they do, the Republican Party will sink further and further into oblivion. Their program of lying to middle class people about caring for their needs while demonizing outsiders and sowing fear is bankrupt. It won’t work anymore.

Latinos aren’t stupid. If Republicans truly want to win Latino voters, and midldle class working people in general, then they need to start viewing them as people and not just votes -  they have to learn to start doing the right thing by ordinary people and not just for big business and the very wealthy:

  • Ensuring that workers are paid just wages, have safe working conditions, and their right to organize is protected
  • Ensuring that everyone has access to affordable quality health care
  • Ceasing to demonize immigrant workers and gay people
  • Supporting policies that give consumers a fair shake against giant corporations
  • Providing services for our returning servicemen who are strugling with health problems and unemployment

Until Republicans catch on, the party is going to continue to dwindle into a southern regional coalition of religious extremists and hate groups.

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Hyper-partisan Peter Roskam Whines About Dysfunctional Congress

On June 2, 2008, in Congressional Elections, Energy, Peter Roskam, Peter Roskam's Corporate Agenda, by RSR
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Peter Roskam was on NBC 5′s City Desk this past Sunday morning for a softball interview with host Mary Ann Ahern. Roskam opened with his usual complaints about a dysfunctional (read that as Democratic) Congress. He wants you to believe that he’s a reasonable guy who just wants to get thing s done for you but he’s stymied at every turn by less responsible members who are only interested in partisan politics and serving the needs of special interests.

Roskam is not telling you the truth. He is not only one of the most partisan members of Congress but also one of the most slavishly devoted to special interests.

During the current Congress, Peter Roskam has voted with his party 93.2% of the time. There are only 17 out of a total of 435 members, Republican or Democrat, who have voted more consistently with their party than Roskam. They are:

  1. Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA), 93.9%
  2. Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), 93.8%
  3. Rep. David Davis (R-TN), 93.8%
  4. Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA), 93.8%
  5. Rep. Stevan Pearce (R-NM), 93.8%
  6. Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH), 93.8%
  7. Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR), 93.7%
  8. Rep. David Dreier (R-CA), 93.6%
  9. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), 93.6%
  10. Rep. Jim McCrery (R-LA), 93.6%
  11. Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA), 93.6%
  12. Rep. Zachary Wamp (R-TN), 93.6%
  13. Rep. John Mica (R-FL), 93.5%
  14. Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL), 93.4%
  15. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT), 93.3%
  16. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD), 93.3%
  17. Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA), 93.3%

It should be noted that only 4 out of 17 of these are Democrats. So Roskam is among the most hyper-partisan representatives and a member of the most hyper-partisan party. He is upset, not because of partisanship, but because his party is in the minority. He should be reminded that this is the case because his party proved to be massively corrupt in the previous Congresses and because it launched a preemptive aggressive war against a sovereign power which posed no real threat, sent a few thousand brave American men and women to their graves in that cause, and mortgaged our children’s future to pay for it all.

As for special interests, Roskam has compiled an impressive record, voting the position of the National Association of Manufacturers 100% of the time during his first term. Doing this has meant voting against the interests of the residents who live in his district on issues like equal pay for equal work, Medicare prescription drug price negotiation, and parity in mental health benefits for members of group health plans.

Roskam also spent a good deal of time on the show talking about high gasoline prices and the need for alternative energy sources. Roskam’s record however is one of obstructing Democratic efforts in this regard and voting instead in favor of protecting the big oil companies who are currently gouging us, all the while accepting substantial campaign contributions from the energy sector.

So 6th District residents, it is not Congress that is dysfunctional. It’s your Congressman. But don’t worry, we’re going to replace him this fall.

[Progress Illinois has a post today about Roskam's attempt to justify his vote against the new GI bill on the same program]

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Peter Roskam’s Legislative Beauty Pageant Insulting to Constituents’ Intelligence

On May 7, 2008, in George Bush, Iran, Iraq, Peter Roskam, by RSR
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What do you do if you are a cocky, first-term Republican Congressman who has hitched his wagon securely to the most unpopular President in American history, and now, as the time for re-election draws near, you realize you are in trouble?

What do you do if you have spent your first term in office ignoring the real needs of your constituents in order to cater to the wishes of the fat cats who paid for your campaign?

Well, if you are Peter Roskam, you come up with some lame gimmick to try and convince the residents of your district that you give a damn.

Roskam recently announced, in front of an auditorium virtually devoid of an audience, his “There Ought to Be a Law” competition, asking his constituents to go to his website and submit their legislative ideas. Roskam will then pick the top five ideas and allow his constituents to vote on which should be drafted into a bill by Roskam.

Roskam rationalizes the contest this way:

“As a new member of Congress, I have learned first-hand what most 6th District residents already know, Washington is broken. Partisan politics have hamstrung Congress’ ability to find solutions to the most pressing problems our nation faces.

“The constituents I represent are reasonable folks with sound ideas – and it’s time to send a little more 6th District solutions to Washington.

This, of course, is ridiculous. What is broken, what isn’t working, is Roskam. Roskam has been presented with a wealth of good ideas during his first term:

  • A fair minimum wage
  • Equal pay for equal work
  • Non discrimination in employment
  • Help for homeowners struggling with out of control mortgage payments
  • Tougher standards to prevent workplace injuries
  • Development of alternative energy sources
  • Ending the practice of torture
  • Providing health coverage to uninsured Illinois children
  • Congressional ethics reform
  • Health and employment services for returning veterans

To name just a few. Democrats in Congress, working for change, have proposed them all. Roskam has opposed them all for partisan reasons and to please those who lavish campaign contributions upon him. Roskam has a lot of nerve complaining about partisanship.

Nevertheless, I shall humor my Congressman. Here are my 5 modest ideas for your consideration, Peter:

  1. De-fund the present occupation of Iraq and provide for an orderly withdrawal of American troops from that country.
  2. Reclaim Congressional war powers and act to prevent the President from initiating a new military conflict with Iraq.
  3. Draft articles of impeachment against the President and Vice President for their illegal use of domestic surveillance, their illegal practice of torture and rendition to torture, for their politicization of the justice department, for outing an inteligence officer, etc. etc. etc.
  4. Definitively outlaw the practice of torture and of warrant-less domestic surveillance.
  5. Sign on in support of the new GI bill to help the men and women who have put their lives in jeopardy in Iraq and Afghanistan for the good of us all and are returning to face unemployment and economic and medical hardships.

So that’s my entry, Peter. I’m afraid that if I enter them on your web site they won’t see the light of day. So I’m challenging you here, publicly, to take them up. I know from my logs that your office reads this blog.

You will probably label my ideas as extreme or nutty. But I know that I am not alone among your constituents in thinking this way. I encourage my fellow residents of the 6th to really speak their minds and see if you are for real.

For my part, if you do these 5 things, I promise I’ll vote for you in November.

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