4th District numbers: Tiahrt surprisingly low, Betts surprisingly high

The numbers out of the 4th District were quite surprising. Though he still has a very substantial warchest, Todd Tiahrt brought in a lackluster $170,236.82 since April 1. He didn't spend much though, dishing out only $55,850.16 and leaving his campaign with a healthy $1,256,651.59 warchest with which to slander Donald Betts.

Betts on the other hand, after posting a disappointing 2nd quarter, brought in a respectable (but still lower than we'd like to see) $81,413.20. After spending $41,209.72 (more than Garth McGinn raised in all of 2006), Betts was left with $62,814.89.

NOTE: Tiahrt's numbers are "pre-primary" and thus run through July 16. Betts' numbers are 3rd quarter and only run through June 30.

Betts has a tall task ahead of him, but his numbers are up substantially from the 1st quarter and with a strong third quarter and the expected Democratic surge, Betts is not out of this race. We encourage you to utilize the ActBlue widget on this page and help make sure that happens.

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.

Obstructionist Todd Tiahrt

A hilarious story came out in the Washington Post the other day highlightin Todd Tiahrt's leadership in the obstruction of important legislation to help Americans (including 23,000 Kansans) in danger of losing their homes.

The Republicans decided to rush a resolution honoring America's mothers. Obviously, this resolution passed unanimously. Who votes against mothers? The problem was, it didn't waste enough time, which was the point to begin with. Enter Obstructionist Todd.



After Tiahrt's temper tantrum, an open vote was cast (lasting 28 more precious minutes) and 178 Republicans (0 Democrats) voted no. Were they voting against mothers? Probably not, as Tiahrt's staff explained afterwards. It was a vote on whether to table the resolution.

Now, we don't hear such a motion in the above video, but we also don't care. Obviously, no one thinks Todd Tiahrt or any other member of Congress is anti-mother. The problem is the games they're playing.

Instead of getting meaningful work done, Todd Tiahrt and his pals are more concerned petty maneuvers to block Democratic bills out of spite rather than a legitimate policy dispute.

Todd sure was a bulldog in his fight to get that open vote. Too bad he couldn't have fought that hard to keep the tanker contract in the US. Guess you have to have priorities.

Email Congressman Tiahrt and ask him why he fought harder to obstruct debate on the housing crisis than he did for Kansas jobs. When you're done, donate to Sen. Donald Betts so we don't have to deal with Obstructionist Todd any longer.

Record Prices a the Pump = Record Profits for Big Oil

Big Oil has been announcing staggering first-quarter oil profits this week:

• Exxon Mobil: $10.9 billion
• Shell: $9.1 billion
• BP: $7.62 billion
• ConocoPhillips: $4.12 billion
• Chevron: announces tomorrow

And while these record profits help to line the pockets of Big Oil CEO's, those same CEO's line the pockets of rotten politicians like Pat Roberts and Todd Tiahrt.

And what are our pockets lined with? Well, mine feel about $50.00 lighter every time I fill up my gas tank. How about yours?

Wait...wait...what's this? I just found some complete bullshit in my pocket. I wonder who put that there?

“Any tax increase that Congress imposes on the oil companies would only be paid for by consumers through boosted prices at the gas pump.”

Thanks, Tiahrt. But a study by the Consumer Federation of America begs to differ:

The oil industry’s response to increased demand and higher prices suggests market manipulation. Rather than investing in additional refining and storage capacity to avoid shortfalls, the industry has systematically underinvested and there is thus a shortfall of over 3 million barrels per day in refining capacity. This is not the behavior of ordinary market participants in absence of collusion.

Thanks to Pat Roberts and Todd Tiahrt - who have been taking money from Big Oil for years and repaying them by voting for billions in tax breaks and incentives - we are stuck with empty pockets and no plans for a summer vacation.