Jim Brown, former Louisiana Secretary of State and Commissioner of Insurance, hosts a daily talk show on FM 99.5 in the New Orleans market.
He was generous enough to have me on the program on Friday morning where we discussed the Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority (LCRM).
The show is archived and available for listening as a podcast of MP3 file. Recent broadcasts are available here.
The audio for the segment I took part in is available here.
Jim mentioned that he'd had the LCRM's executive director John Diez on the show. I suggested that Jim bring Mr. Diez and I on together to debate what I believe to be the harmful impact the group he fronts is having on Louisiana politics.
I'll let you know if they take up the challenge.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Letter to The Advocate: La. GOP panel has suspect roots
The following letter appeared in the Wednesday, September 26, 2007 edition of Baton Rouge's The Advocate.
• • • •
In an article in Friday’s paper, John Diez of the Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority tried to dismiss my charges about the sinister nature of the organization by declaring that Bob Perry does not attend LCRM board meetings.
My suspicions about LCRM are not based on who is attending meetings; they’re based on the organization’s roots. The LCRM modeled itself after a criminal enterprise — Tom DeLay’s Texans for a Republican Majority PAC — at a time when leaders of that Texas group had already been indicted and convicted for violations of Texas election laws.
TRMPAC was indicted by a grand jury in Austin, Texas, on Sept. 8, 2005. Tom DeLay was indicted for his role in those alleged violations by that same grand jury on Sept. 28, 2005.
Once indicted, DeLay resigned his position as Republican majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives. James W. Ellis, who also ran DeLay’s older national version of the franchise, ARMPAC (Americans for a Republican Majority), was indicted along with him. ARMPAC was recently terminated after paying off its last fines and court judgments.
This is the sort of business that LCRM modeled itself on. These events took place in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which may account for why many in Louisiana may not be familiar with the timeline.
Texan Bob Perry gave $165,000 to Texans for a Republican Majority in that scandal-ridden 2002 Texas election cycle. According to Texas Monthly magazine, Perry has given upward of $10 million to that and other 527 attack-themed PACs. In November 2006, he gave LCRM $100,000.
Louisiana campaign finance reports filed by the LCRM show that the enterprise got rolling on Jan. 20, 2006. DeLay’s legal troubles were well known by that time, as were those of both the Americans for a Republican Majority and its Texas franchise. DeLay had stepped down as majority leader.
If the LCRM does not intend to use its franchise’s business model, why would it name itself after that criminal enterprise, and why would it seek funding from Bob Perry, a donor who personifies that enterprise? And if the LCRM is so benign, why (according to its most recent campaign finance report) has it not endorsed any candidates, thus setting itself up to spend all of its money attacking Democratic candidates.
Smear campaigns are the modus operandi of political organizations that receive Bob Perry’s money. The founders of LCRM created an operation that they modeled after a corrupt enterprise. That was not an accident. That was not an oversight. It was a deliberate choice.
That’s why the LCRM’s actions are suspect, Mr. Diez.
Mike Stagg
IT consultant
Lafayette
• • • •
In an article in Friday’s paper, John Diez of the Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority tried to dismiss my charges about the sinister nature of the organization by declaring that Bob Perry does not attend LCRM board meetings.
My suspicions about LCRM are not based on who is attending meetings; they’re based on the organization’s roots. The LCRM modeled itself after a criminal enterprise — Tom DeLay’s Texans for a Republican Majority PAC — at a time when leaders of that Texas group had already been indicted and convicted for violations of Texas election laws.
TRMPAC was indicted by a grand jury in Austin, Texas, on Sept. 8, 2005. Tom DeLay was indicted for his role in those alleged violations by that same grand jury on Sept. 28, 2005.
Once indicted, DeLay resigned his position as Republican majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives. James W. Ellis, who also ran DeLay’s older national version of the franchise, ARMPAC (Americans for a Republican Majority), was indicted along with him. ARMPAC was recently terminated after paying off its last fines and court judgments.
This is the sort of business that LCRM modeled itself on. These events took place in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which may account for why many in Louisiana may not be familiar with the timeline.
Texan Bob Perry gave $165,000 to Texans for a Republican Majority in that scandal-ridden 2002 Texas election cycle. According to Texas Monthly magazine, Perry has given upward of $10 million to that and other 527 attack-themed PACs. In November 2006, he gave LCRM $100,000.
Louisiana campaign finance reports filed by the LCRM show that the enterprise got rolling on Jan. 20, 2006. DeLay’s legal troubles were well known by that time, as were those of both the Americans for a Republican Majority and its Texas franchise. DeLay had stepped down as majority leader.
If the LCRM does not intend to use its franchise’s business model, why would it name itself after that criminal enterprise, and why would it seek funding from Bob Perry, a donor who personifies that enterprise? And if the LCRM is so benign, why (according to its most recent campaign finance report) has it not endorsed any candidates, thus setting itself up to spend all of its money attacking Democratic candidates.
Smear campaigns are the modus operandi of political organizations that receive Bob Perry’s money. The founders of LCRM created an operation that they modeled after a corrupt enterprise. That was not an accident. That was not an oversight. It was a deliberate choice.
That’s why the LCRM’s actions are suspect, Mr. Diez.
Mike Stagg
IT consultant
Lafayette
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
LCRM Latest Iteration of Destructive Strain in Louisiana Politics
This piece was written for The Daily Advertiser's Left Blog, to which Stephen Handwerk generously provided me access. Click the title for a link to that original post.
The Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority (LCRM) is a very small, deeply-pocketed special interest group that was convened by Senator David Vitter and his wife Wendy in late 2005. The group's roots, means and methods position it to be a formidable and destructive force in the upcoming election.
The declared objective of the group is to establish Republican rule in Louisiana, starting with control of the Legislature in this year's election.
The leaders of the group committed themselves to raising $2.5 million to accomplish this goal. Until this summer's sex scandal involving Senator Vitter, the organization's core membership group of about 25 individuals and companies were on track to raise more than $2 million on their own. In the campaign finance report filed last week, it is apparent that the Vitter scandal has forced the LCRM to look outside of Louisiana for financial support. Still, the organization has $700,000 cash on hand.
More ominously, the latest report indicates that the organization has endorsed no candidates for office, meaning it will be able to spend the money it has without regard to spending limits imposed on organizations that contribute funds to candidates' campaigns.
Texas homebuilder Bob Perry's involvement in the group via a $100,000 contribution added to the fact that the LCRM has made no endorsements, makes it clear that the LCRM will use its money to wage war on Democrats. This is the preferred method of doing business for organizations to which Perry contributes — and he's contributed a lot of money to campaigns of this sort.
Regardless of anyone's party affiliation, the LCRM's super partisan, attack-style politics should sound alarms. We've seen how it has distorted politics on the national level — politics at the federal level has become so poisoned that Congress can't even stop a war that 70 percent of the people oppose.
We have experience in Louisiana with the impact of this narrowly focused, negative-only politics. It was in the 1991 governor's race when Jack Kent, owner of Marine Shale Processing, decided he wanted to settle a score with then-Governor Buddy Roemer who was running for re-election.
Marine Shale Processing had been shut down by the Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency, but Kent blamed Roemer.
In that 1991 election cycle, Kent spent $500,000 of his own money on ads that blanketed the state attacking Roemer.
Kent succeeded in preventing Roemer from making the run-off, so he was satisfied with the results. But, what about the rest of us?
As a result of Kent's efforts, the rest of us were confronted with the stark choice in the run-off of voting for Edwin Edwards or David Duke. Did Kent's attacks serve the state well?
The LCRM is poised to act as a similarly negative force. They have no platform or agenda, other than electing Republicans. There is no program. No plan.
We already have evidence about how the LCMR will go about its work. Earlier this year, in a special election to fill the vacancy in House District 94, the LCRM did not endorse a candidate, but spent in excess of $6,000 in postage on direct mail pieces that smeared the Democratic candidate in that race who was poised to make the run-off there. Those pieces hit on the last two days before the election when there was not time to respond. It also fell within the window when the news media would not cover campaign stories for fear of being manipulated by the charges and counter-charges that frequently fly in those final, heated days leading up to elections.
This is, again, consistent with the kind of campaigns that Bob Perry has either financed or helped finance in other states in recent years.
The LCRM can avoid spending caps by acting as an independent agent, attacking Democrats. That might, in fact, help it achieve its objective because late influxes of money can have a big influence in campaigns based in small districts like House or Senate districts.
But, the effect of LCRM's deceptive campaign tactics will be to mislead voters into poor choices based on bad information at a time when our state needs voters to be making informed choices based on the best information available.
Throughout the recovery effort in the wake of the storms of 2005, the mantra has been to keep the recovery non-partisan. It's a startling even to cynics to find that Senator Vitter and other Republicans who have championed this alleged non-partisanship so loudly have, at the same time, interjected this new, hyper-partisanship into our state's politics at a time when it is needed the least.
Whose interests are served by this? Maybe the interests of Senator Vitter and his rich allies? But, certainly not the rest of us — those Louisiana citizens who are trying to sort through the campaign rhetoric in order to make good choices in this election that is so important to our future.
LCRM's brand of politics is exactly what Louisiana does not need now. We already know what this destructive politics does to our state. Reject this group and their message when it arrives in your mail box.
For more on LCRM please visit :http://www.louisianad2d.us/
More coverage on LCRM can be found:
http://www.dailykingfish.com
The Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority (LCRM) is a very small, deeply-pocketed special interest group that was convened by Senator David Vitter and his wife Wendy in late 2005. The group's roots, means and methods position it to be a formidable and destructive force in the upcoming election.
The declared objective of the group is to establish Republican rule in Louisiana, starting with control of the Legislature in this year's election.
The leaders of the group committed themselves to raising $2.5 million to accomplish this goal. Until this summer's sex scandal involving Senator Vitter, the organization's core membership group of about 25 individuals and companies were on track to raise more than $2 million on their own. In the campaign finance report filed last week, it is apparent that the Vitter scandal has forced the LCRM to look outside of Louisiana for financial support. Still, the organization has $700,000 cash on hand.
More ominously, the latest report indicates that the organization has endorsed no candidates for office, meaning it will be able to spend the money it has without regard to spending limits imposed on organizations that contribute funds to candidates' campaigns.
Texas homebuilder Bob Perry's involvement in the group via a $100,000 contribution added to the fact that the LCRM has made no endorsements, makes it clear that the LCRM will use its money to wage war on Democrats. This is the preferred method of doing business for organizations to which Perry contributes — and he's contributed a lot of money to campaigns of this sort.
Regardless of anyone's party affiliation, the LCRM's super partisan, attack-style politics should sound alarms. We've seen how it has distorted politics on the national level — politics at the federal level has become so poisoned that Congress can't even stop a war that 70 percent of the people oppose.
We have experience in Louisiana with the impact of this narrowly focused, negative-only politics. It was in the 1991 governor's race when Jack Kent, owner of Marine Shale Processing, decided he wanted to settle a score with then-Governor Buddy Roemer who was running for re-election.
Marine Shale Processing had been shut down by the Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency, but Kent blamed Roemer.
In that 1991 election cycle, Kent spent $500,000 of his own money on ads that blanketed the state attacking Roemer.
Kent succeeded in preventing Roemer from making the run-off, so he was satisfied with the results. But, what about the rest of us?
As a result of Kent's efforts, the rest of us were confronted with the stark choice in the run-off of voting for Edwin Edwards or David Duke. Did Kent's attacks serve the state well?
The LCRM is poised to act as a similarly negative force. They have no platform or agenda, other than electing Republicans. There is no program. No plan.
We already have evidence about how the LCMR will go about its work. Earlier this year, in a special election to fill the vacancy in House District 94, the LCRM did not endorse a candidate, but spent in excess of $6,000 in postage on direct mail pieces that smeared the Democratic candidate in that race who was poised to make the run-off there. Those pieces hit on the last two days before the election when there was not time to respond. It also fell within the window when the news media would not cover campaign stories for fear of being manipulated by the charges and counter-charges that frequently fly in those final, heated days leading up to elections.
This is, again, consistent with the kind of campaigns that Bob Perry has either financed or helped finance in other states in recent years.
The LCRM can avoid spending caps by acting as an independent agent, attacking Democrats. That might, in fact, help it achieve its objective because late influxes of money can have a big influence in campaigns based in small districts like House or Senate districts.
But, the effect of LCRM's deceptive campaign tactics will be to mislead voters into poor choices based on bad information at a time when our state needs voters to be making informed choices based on the best information available.
Throughout the recovery effort in the wake of the storms of 2005, the mantra has been to keep the recovery non-partisan. It's a startling even to cynics to find that Senator Vitter and other Republicans who have championed this alleged non-partisanship so loudly have, at the same time, interjected this new, hyper-partisanship into our state's politics at a time when it is needed the least.
Whose interests are served by this? Maybe the interests of Senator Vitter and his rich allies? But, certainly not the rest of us — those Louisiana citizens who are trying to sort through the campaign rhetoric in order to make good choices in this election that is so important to our future.
LCRM's brand of politics is exactly what Louisiana does not need now. We already know what this destructive politics does to our state. Reject this group and their message when it arrives in your mail box.
For more on LCRM please visit :http://www.louisianad2d.us/
More coverage on LCRM can be found:
http://www.dailykingfish.com
Sunday, September 23, 2007
LCRM: Modeled after a corrupt enterprise
In an article in Friday's Baton Rouge Advocate, John Diez of the Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority (LCRM) tried to dismiss my charges about the sinister nature of the LCRM by declaring that Bob Perry does not attend LCRM board meetings. (See Diez's full comments to The Advocate's at the end of this post.)
Nice try, John. But, this is not about whether Bob Perry is spending any time hangin' with Joe, Boysie, Phyllis and the gang; it's the business model, stupid!
The problem, John, is that LCRM modeled itself after a criminal enterprise — Tom DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority — at a time when leaders of that Texas group had already been indicted and convicted for violations of Texas election laws.
Texans for a Republican Majority PAC was itself indicted by a grand jury in Austin, Texas, on September 8, 2005, less than two weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit Southeast Louisiana and the levees collapsed in New Orleans.
Tom DeLay was indicted for his role in those violations by that same grand jury in Austin on September 28, 2005, four days after Hurricane Rita made landfall — which may account for why that action may have escaped the notice of many Louisianians. Upon the announcement of the indictment, DeLay resigned his position as Republican Majority Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives.
James W. Ellis, who ran DeLay's national version of that PAC (Americans for a Republican Majority), was also indicted in the DeLay indictment, according to the Washington Post.
Bob Perry gave $165,000 to Texans for a Republican Majority in that fateful 2002 Texas election cycle. He has given LCRM $100,000. At least he lives in Texas.
Louisiana campaign finance reports filed by the LCRM show that the enterprise got rolling on January 20, 2006, when its treasurer William Vanderbrook of Metairie deposited $50 to open a bank account. So, DeLay's legal troubles were well known by that time, as were those of both the Americans for a Republican Majority and its Texas franchise. He'd stepped down as majority leader.
So, one question is this: if the LCRM has such benign intentions, why would it name itself after a criminal enterprise and why would it seek funding from a donor linked to that enterprise?
Another question is this: If the LCRM is so benign, why has it not endorsed any candidates, thus setting itself up to spend all of its money attacking Democratic candidates. This is, as I explained here , the Bob Perry modus operandi.
LCRM, its founders and funders have created an operation that they are proud to model after a corrupt enterprise. That was not an accident. That was not an oversight. It was a deliberate choice.
That's why the LCRM's actions are suspect, John.
• • • • •
Here is the full text of Diez's comments to The Advocate before they get locked in the paper's archives:
Nice try, John. But, this is not about whether Bob Perry is spending any time hangin' with Joe, Boysie, Phyllis and the gang; it's the business model, stupid!
The problem, John, is that LCRM modeled itself after a criminal enterprise — Tom DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority — at a time when leaders of that Texas group had already been indicted and convicted for violations of Texas election laws.
Texans for a Republican Majority PAC was itself indicted by a grand jury in Austin, Texas, on September 8, 2005, less than two weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit Southeast Louisiana and the levees collapsed in New Orleans.
Tom DeLay was indicted for his role in those violations by that same grand jury in Austin on September 28, 2005, four days after Hurricane Rita made landfall — which may account for why that action may have escaped the notice of many Louisianians. Upon the announcement of the indictment, DeLay resigned his position as Republican Majority Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives.
James W. Ellis, who ran DeLay's national version of that PAC (Americans for a Republican Majority), was also indicted in the DeLay indictment, according to the Washington Post.
Bob Perry gave $165,000 to Texans for a Republican Majority in that fateful 2002 Texas election cycle. He has given LCRM $100,000. At least he lives in Texas.
Louisiana campaign finance reports filed by the LCRM show that the enterprise got rolling on January 20, 2006, when its treasurer William Vanderbrook of Metairie deposited $50 to open a bank account. So, DeLay's legal troubles were well known by that time, as were those of both the Americans for a Republican Majority and its Texas franchise. He'd stepped down as majority leader.
So, one question is this: if the LCRM has such benign intentions, why would it name itself after a criminal enterprise and why would it seek funding from a donor linked to that enterprise?
Another question is this: If the LCRM is so benign, why has it not endorsed any candidates, thus setting itself up to spend all of its money attacking Democratic candidates. This is, as I explained here , the Bob Perry modus operandi.
LCRM, its founders and funders have created an operation that they are proud to model after a corrupt enterprise. That was not an accident. That was not an oversight. It was a deliberate choice.
That's why the LCRM's actions are suspect, John.
• • • • •
Here is the full text of Diez's comments to The Advocate before they get locked in the paper's archives:
John Diez, executive director of the Committee for a Republican Majority, said he does not see where his group’s party aims and donors are significantly different from those of the state Democratic Party.
He said that both parties receive money from wealthy donors and support their respective causes.
“Our donors give for the same reasons a lot of Democratic donors give, they don’t like what’s going on in Louisiana government,” Diez said.
He said the committee is not ashamed of its donor list, and discounted any idea that Perry’s involvement goes beyond donating money.
“Bob Perry has never been to a single one of our board meetings. I think, through the grapevine, he heard about our group and made a contribution,” Diez said. “To think that Bob Perry is directing our tactics is foolish.”
Larry Defratis
I attended a memorial service for Larry Defratis on Saturday in Shreveport.
Larry was a Democratic activist who worked tirelessly to invigorate the party in northwest Louisiana. He had helped Craig Kraemer and I in 2004 bring a delegation from the organization Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change to Louisiana to speak against the war in Iraq and the re-election of Bush/Cheney.
We also corresponded and talked from time to time about things happening (or not happening) in the Louisiana Democratic Party.
Larry was one of those great Democrats whose first question was always "how can I help."
It came as a shock early this summer to learn that he'd died.
There was a nice turnout of regular and insurgent Democrats at the event. A flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol in his honor was presented to his family by the event's host, Ted Brown.
Larry is sorely missed by friends across the state.
Larry was a Democratic activist who worked tirelessly to invigorate the party in northwest Louisiana. He had helped Craig Kraemer and I in 2004 bring a delegation from the organization Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change to Louisiana to speak against the war in Iraq and the re-election of Bush/Cheney.
We also corresponded and talked from time to time about things happening (or not happening) in the Louisiana Democratic Party.
Larry was one of those great Democrats whose first question was always "how can I help."
It came as a shock early this summer to learn that he'd died.
There was a nice turnout of regular and insurgent Democrats at the event. A flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol in his honor was presented to his family by the event's host, Ted Brown.
Larry is sorely missed by friends across the state.
What the Bush/Cheney War in Iraq Costs
According to the American Friends Service Committee, U.S. taxpayers have spent close to $1 Trillion (that's 1,000,000,000,000.00) on the war and occupation of Iraq.The study says the war is costing us $720,000,000 (that's $720 million) per day.
President Bush is threatening to veto an expansion of the States Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) which has broad support among Democrats and Republicans in the Congress.
One of the reason he cites is the cost of the program as proposed by Congress.
The notion that this guy gives a whit about fiscal responsibility is beyond belief. Consider this information from the American Friends Service Committee statement about the cost of the war to Americans:
While tax dollars were poured into the first four years of the war, vital services and infrastructure at home have suffered the effects of a dwindling drip of federal funding. Soaring Pentagon expenditures and “supplemental” war funding of hundreds of billions each year have emptied U.S. coffers and doubled the national debt, paving the way for an assault on human services in the name of fiscal “restraint.” Between 2002 and 2006, dozens of federal programs have been cut, including Head Start, the Community Food and Nutrition program, youth job training, affordable housing, and maternal and child health programs. The official U.S. poverty rate grew from 34.6 to 37 million between 2002 and 2005, and1.5 million people joined the ranks of those living without health insurance. For $720 million – the cost of one day of occupation of Iraq – the U.S. could provide over 400,000 children with health care, or over a million children with free school lunches for a year.Republicans and Democrats have made a lot of noise about standing up to Bush/Cheney on a range of issues. It has not worked out that way on the matter of the war.
Let's see if they find their backbones on this issue.
As for Bush: How do you sleep?
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