Jim Slattery hits the nail on the head

Slattery hits Roberts on Buy American

The Slattery camp today hit Sen. Pat Roberts for his reactionary "leadership" on the matter of the controversial contract awarded by the USAF to a French company.

This is an issue that we here at LBK have been all over since the first days of our existence, and something our Republican counterparts on the Net have pretty much ignored (coal is so much more sexy).

“Roberts had two chances to fight for Boeing and Kansas,” Slattery said. “First as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and then as a member of the conference committee for the 2006 Defense Authorization bill. On both occasions, Roberts failed.”

The Roberts camp had contended that the provision wouldn't have prevented the deal because Northrop Grumman -- an American defense contractor -- is partnering with AirBus on the contract. According to Defense News, that's not the case.

“The [Buy American] provision aimed at Airbus, a subsidiary of European giant EADS, is a narrowly written amendment banning the defense secretary from buying goods or services from any foreign company that receives subsidies from a foreign government that is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The prohibition applies when the United States is engaged in an unresolved WTO dispute over the subsidies, or if the WTO has ruled that the subsidy is prohibited.

The language is tailor-made to keep Airbus from winning an Air Force tanker contract against its American rival, Boeing.”

NOTE: It is but a coincidence that the son of Pat Roberts, member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was a lobbyist for one of the biggest defense contractors in the country (Northrop) and he just worked on helicopters, so there is nothing unseemly going on there.

The Roberts camp is singing a different tune now. Now they're saying they voted against the Buy American Provision because it was "protectionist" and "irresponsible" and that it would have been vetoed by the President.

The problem is, if the provision was specifically tailored to prevent the very eventuality that happened -- AirBus winning the contract -- why is Roberts so outraged now? Does he no longer believe it's "protectionist" to prevent the outsourcing of military contracts to companies subsidized by foreign governments?

Also, don't forget the fight to kill the Buy American provision was championed by none other than Sen. John McCain.

Kudos to Slattery for holding Roberts' feet to the fire and saying what we've all been thinking since ol' Memory Pills started carrying the Bush Administration's water.

“It’s time Roberts put the best interests of Kansas ahead of old party politics,” Slattery said. “Roberts had an obligation to do his job and stand up to President Bush on behalf of Boeing and Wichita.”

...

Slattery said Roberts should be fired for failing to protect Kansas jobs. “It is time to replace Roberts with a senator who will care about Kansans and champions the issues important to them,” Slattery said.

I think Sen. Sam Brownback put it best.

"Thanks be to God and the GAO."

Someone had to make the right decision, because Brownback, Tiahrt, Roberts and McCain sure weren't in any mood to do it. Not if it meant standing up to George W. Bush and their EADS lobbyist buddies.

GAO tells us what we already know

Breaking news out of the Government Accountability Office -- the decision to grant a contract to the French company AirBus was a bad one.

Thanks captain obvious.

Turns out the Air Force just made a bunch of crap up about how much it was going to cost Boeing to build the thing.

Our friends at StayRed are prepared to knight Sen. Pat Roberts and Rep. Todd Tiahrt for their tireless work in getting GAO to tell us what we already knew.

Of course, if Sen. Roberts would've told John McCain and George Bush where to stick it and opposed stripping the Buy American provision from the 2006 Defense Authorization Bill, Boeing would already be building the damn plane, but we digress.

Wethinks there is something fishy going on, though, now that it appears the bid process was unduly influenced by invisible hands to favor Airbus. Both Sens. John McCain and Pat Roberts have extensive lobbying ties to Northrop Grumman, AirBus' American partner, and AirBus itself.

According to a press release from the Jim Slattery campaign, Pat Roberts' son David lobbied the Senate for AirBus on issues related to the very Defense Authorization bill that would pave the way for this decision.

And we already know about McCain's ties to AirBus lobbyists.

If Sen. Roberts and Rep. Tiahrt had anything to do with this, which is debatable since the decision seemed to be pretty obvious, well, it's about damn time. Next time, how about you fight for Kansas jobs BEFORE they get outsourced to France. Then we won't have to worry about all this mess.

BREAKING: Roberts downgraded by CQPolitics

We've been hammering on Pat Roberts lackluster polling data (see here and here) and his inability/unwillingness to protect American jobs (see here, here, here, here, here and here) and people are finally starting to realize that this race is going to be one worth watching. In a story released today by CQ Politics, the Roberts vs. Slattery/Jones race was downgraded (or upgraded, depending on your perspective) from "Safe Republican" to "Republican Favored."

The story had some interesting quotes from Kansas politicos, and even a GOP employee.

The GOP of course brought out their tired line about Slattery having worked in Washington, D.C. after getting caught up in the Republican Tidal Wave of 1994 and losing his gubernatorial election to Bill Graves.

“He abandoned the state 14 years ago for Washington’s special interests,” charged Corrie Kangas, political director at the Kansas Republican Party. “He’s a poster child for everything gone wrong in Washington.” She added her opinion that Roberts “has a strong record of achievements standing up for Kansans.”

Once you get over the initial shock of realizing the someone besides Christian Morgan works for the KS GOP, you can see the stupidity of this statement. Pat Roberts left Kansas in 1962 and has never looked back.

Pat Roberts is a Kansan like Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) is a Kansan.

Hell, Barack Obama's Kansas roots are practically deeper than Pat Roberts'.

But more than just having lived in Washington for the past, oh, four decades, Roberts is a lap-dog for the Bush Administration and presided over the Senate "intelligence" Committee during some of the worst atrocities committed by the United States since...ok, just since Ronald Reagan, but still.

“He’s been carrying the Bush administration’s water for seven years now,” Mike Gaughan, the executive director of the Kansas Democrats, said of Roberts. “He turned his back on middle-class Kansans. Kansans are tired of politicians who pledge allegiance to the Bush party. They’re looking for a uniting candidate.”

Finally, the piece highlights the most recent abysmal failure of Roberts' tenure in

Some observers also think Democrats may be able raise an issue about Roberts’ effectiveness in the wake of the awarding of a $40 billion contract for refueling tanker planes to a European company instead of Boeing Corporation. Boeing has factories that are major employers in Wichita, the largest city in Kansas.

“The tanker deal was a shocker, with Wichita so tied into aviation,” said Bob Beatty, an associate professor of political science at Washburn University in the state capital of Topeka. “There could be a lot of ads on this issue, not from Slattery but probably from issue groups. Especially in the Wichita area, they could come in and hammer hard and negative.”

But even that prospect left Beatty sanguine about Slattery’s chances for an upset of Roberts. “Certainly, the Republican is favored at this point. A lot of things have to happen for Slattery,” Beatty said.

It's time for a Senator who has the guts to stand up to the likes of John McCain when they want to ship Kansas jobs to France, and not do what George W. Bush tells them to.

BREAKING NEWS: REPUBLICAN BLOG MENTIONS BOEING

We've been on our friends at StayRedKansas and TheKansasRepublican a lot lately, trying to ascertain why, if they care so much about Kansas jobs, they haven't posted a single post regarding the disastrous decision to outsource a military contract to AirBus. You know, the one that John McCain tacitly endorsed while Sam Brownback, Pat Roberts and Todd Tiahrt twiddled their thumbs.

Well finally, after all of our efforts, TheKansasRepublican used the word Boeing in one of their posts. Fear not, they also talked about Holcomb and there were still plenty of sophomoric personal insults, so they're not ill or something.

While Tihart may have to fend off unwarranted accusations of the Boeing deal gone south, the facts will clearly prevent any of Betts’ mud from sticking. Few congressmen have delivered for their district the way Tihart has, and he maintains a large network of support throughout the 4th. The war in Iraq will certainly not ring the way it did against Republicans in 06, and Tihart has the warchest/ work ethic that will make the 4th nearly impossible to lose. Betts will need more than a few senate accomplishments and a kiss from "Kathy the cougar" to defeat "Todd the god."

Naturally, they didn't provide any evidence for why the accusations against Tiahrt are unfounded. It's possible they're just lazy, but our best guess is they don't have any. If you'd like so more intelligent analysis (with citations even!!!), see here, here, here and here. See also here.

More than just a weak defense of the Boeing deal, their argument for why Tiahrt will crush Sen. Donald Betts is that Tiahrt brings home the bacon from his powerful seat on the House Appropriations Committee.

This we cannot argue with. Todd Tiahrt loves him some earmarks. But this very same blog, in the post immediately prior to this one, criticizes Nancy Boyda for using earmarks for such wasteful things as equipment for local law enforcement and water treatment plants.

So Wyatt, Carrie, Doc, Custer, Wild Bill and all the rest, tell us, why is bringing home the bacon a reason to re-elect Todd Tiahrt in the 4th District, but grounds to toss out Nancy Boyda in the 2nd? Is there something about Todd Tiahrt's earmarks that is somehow more justifiable than Nancy Boyda's or even Dennis Moore's?

Readers, see for yourself. Here is a list of Nancy Boyda's earmark requests and here is the same list for Dennis Moore. You see, Reps. Moore and Boyda are some of the very few in Congress to make all of their earmark requests public on their web site. I would link to Rep. Tiahrt's, but....

Roberts continues Boeing hypocrisy

UPDATE: Despite voting for McCain's 2003 amendment which paved the way for this disastrous decision, Sen. Roberts still has the nerve to attack McCain over the decision. Roberts spoke while giving a lecture at Hutchinson Community College.

All six members of Kansas' delegation in Washington - four Republicans and two Democrats - are working together to reverse the Air Force's recent decision to award a $35 billion contract for air refueling tanker aircraft to a group including Airbus' manufacturer. The losing bidder was Boeing, with operations in Wichita.

"Unwise" and "unbelievable" Roberts said of the decision that will create jobs in France at the expense of the U.S.

The expected Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., successfully opposed an earlier tanker lease deal involving Boeing. That squelched project caused a scandal for both Boeing and the Air Force and paved the way for the competitive round that led to the Airbus victory.

Roberts observed that when McCain flew to Wichita for a quick campaign stop before the Kansas GOP presidential caucus in February, he landed in an Airbus plane.

"Now if that doesn't tell you something," Roberts said.

Make no mistake, we agree with what he's saying now, we just wish his epiphany would've come before his 2003 vote that allowed it to happen in the first place.

KS media catching up with LBK

If you're a regular LBK reader, you already know about Laissez Unfaire, that is, Sen. John McCain's active efforts to enable foreign companies to obtain military contracts and Sens. Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback's complacency in that endeavor. You've known for quite some time in fact (see here, here and here) Well, I have good news, the media has finally caught on.

A nationally syndicated story hit Kansas papers yesterday outlining how the actions and/or inactions of these men led directly to the devastating decision to award AirBus a contract won based on the merits of a hypothetical plane.

From Rob Hotakainen of McClatchy. (Kansas City Star, Wichita Eagle, Lawrence Journal-World)

McCain's opponents said he laid the groundwork for Airbus in 2003, when Congress approved his amendment that allowed the Pentagon to buy American military equipment from foreign companies. In 2006, McCain wrote letters to the Defense Department regarding the tanker project. Opponents said the senator was lobbying on Airbus' behalf, but McCain said he was merely calling for an open process that would not exclude Airbus from bidding.

The Star included a longer version of the story.

Others have noted that 2004 was about the time EADS North America tripled its contributions on Capitol Hill. In this election cycle, the Center for Responsive Politics called McCain the top individual recipient (about $14,000) from the company’s employees and PAC. Most Boeing-sourced donations went elsewhere.

Some look to his campaign staff as well.

McCain finance chairman Thomas G. Loeffler and Susan E. Nelson, his finance director, both were lobbying for EADS in the past. Former Navy secretary and current McCain adviser William L. Ball III and John Green, McCain’s legislative liaison, did as well. All say they are not working for Airbus now

.Moreover, the Star story includes specifics about Brownback and Roberts' support of the amendment, authored by John McCain, which paved the way for this decision.

But in 2003, when Congress approved his amendment that allowed the Pentagon to buy American military equipment from foreign companies. Sens. Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback, both Kansas Republicans, voted for the amendment along a largely party line.

And in 2006, McCain wrote letters to the Defense Department suggesting the criteria be broadened and the issue of European subsidies to Airbus not be a deal breaker. Opponents said the senator was lobbying on Airbus’ behalf, but McCain said he was merely calling for an open bidding process.

All the anger in the world out of Sens. Brownback and Roberts, as well as US Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Goddard) is a day late and a dollar short. Kansans need leaders who can be proactive and visionary, not leaders who's anger is reactionary and full of hindsight. Roberts, Tiahrt and Brownback should have been out in front of this from the very beginning.

It's as simple as this, John McCain's actions cost the people of Wichita thousands of jobs, and Sam Brownback, Pat Roberts and Todd Tiahrt did nothing about it. Kansans should make them pay at the polls.

I love this article...

...because it so clearly exposes John McCain for who he really is - a two-faced son of a gun who will gladly watch American jobs depart if it means getting even with old foes. (Boeing to be exact.)

And it also shows Tiahrt bumbling around, trying to sound like he cares about Kansans while simultaneously insisting that, as a Republican, it is his duty to love John McCain.

From the Wichita Eagle:

John McCain might be taking this maverick thing a bit far. I mean, sending good aviation jobs to France?

At least that's the charge from Boeing backers, who accuse the Arizona senator of helping Airbus get a $35 billion Air Force tanker contract at the expense of American jobs, including hundreds of them right here in the Air Capital.

Boeing supporters, looking for a villain in this economic defeat, have put McCain in their crosshairs.

"I hope the voters of this state remember what John McCain has done to them and their jobs," said Rep. Norm Dicks, a Washington Democrat.

Many Republicans, too, are unhappy with McCain's role.

Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, told The Eagle editorial board last week that he thought McCain was dead wrong on this issue.

"I'm going to learn to love him," Tiahrt said of his party's nominee, with as much conviction as he could muster.

But Tiahrt clearly wasn't feeling the love on this issue.

Take McCain's comment that creating jobs shouldn't be a factor in military procurement contracts.

Tiahrt begged to differ. "McCain needs to make a decision," he said. "I want him to come down on the side of American jobs."

For many Americans, it's that simple.

You can read the rest here.

But before you do, buzz on over to Betts for Congress and contribute to his effort to unseat that lovey dovey Todd Tiahrt.

If it looks like a Bush and quacks like a Bush....

It's starting to look like the "Straight-Talk Express" has a couple of flat tires.

We already knew most of McCain's campaign staff were lobbyists, but the Associated Press is reporting that two staff members and a volunteer on his campaign have worked or currently work as lobbyists for European Aeronautic Defense & Space, who's French subsidiary AirBus won a $35 Billion (with a B) contract to build airplanes for the United States Air Force.

Yes, the very same decision that will in all likelihood deal a crippling blow to the local economy in Wichita .

The AP story reports that:

Top current advisers to Senator John McCain's presidential campaign last
year lobbied for European Aeronautic Defense & Space bid that beat Boeing to a $35 billion Air Force tanker contract, taking sides in a bidding fight that McCain has tried to referee for more than five years.

Two of the advisers gave up their lobbying work when they joined McCain's
campaign. A third, the former Texas Representative Tom Loeffler, lobbied for
EADS while serving as McCain's national finance chairman.

This should come as no surprise coming from the guy who was endorsed by George W. Bush, who has proven time and time again that making his friends rich is more important than the welfare of the country.

Now, McCain's team is claiming that the lobby work these individuals did for the company is not related to the tanker deal.

Do they truely want us to believe that it is purely a coincidence that two people in high-ranking positions on his campaign team and one volunteer have significant financial ties to a company that just received a $35 billion deal made possible by an amendment he wrote in 2003?

I mean honestly, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a former EADS lobbyist. I actually have EADS lobbyists doing yardwork at my house as we speak. Who ISN'T a former EADS lobbyist?

Probably not anyone on Sens. Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama's staff.

Laissez Unfaire!!!

All of a sudden, Pat Roberts, Sam Brownback and Todd Tiahrt are crying foul. After the Department of Defense decided to give the contract to construct new Air Force tankers to Northrop Grumman, meaning the new planes will be built predominantly in France, all of a sudden these legislators have decided outsourcing isn't so great after all.

Sen. Roberts and Brownback, not to mention Sen. McCain, weren't concerned about this possibility in 2003, but now that it's hitting home in their state, Brownback and Roberts have decided maybe a completely unhindered free market isn't such a good thing. McCain still doesn't care.

But what of Todd Tiahrt, he wasn't involved in that 2003 Senate amendment, but is he without blame in this situation?

Rest assured, if the deal had gone to Boeing, Rep. Tiahrt would be the first in line to take credit for swaying the DOD. It cannot be mistaken, Todd Tiahrt is a very powerful member of the House of Representatives. In fact, he was even considered for leadership positions after the 2006 elections.

Moreover, I firmly believe you can tell more from what a politician doesn't say than you can from what he or she does say. If Todd Tiahrt had done anything whatsoever to attempt to influence this decision, you can bet the farm his staff would be tripping over themselves to hold a press conference outlining each and every little email he may have sent to the Pentagon.

Ultimately, I don't think it's fair to say that the situation is Todd Tiahrt's fault. Certainly, Brownback, Roberts and McCain deserve some blame for creating a regulatory environment in which such a deal is possible, but shouldn't Tiahrt have done SOMETHING.

This seems to happen a lot with Rep. Tiahrt. He doesn't do a lot of egregious things, but he doesn't do much good either.

Write Rep. Tiahrt and tell him to start using his power for more than just bringing home earmarks and start fighting for the average Kansan.

On second thought, just donate money and/or volunteer for state Sen. Donald Betts and kill two birds with one stone.