Archive for the ‘Campaign Finance’ Category

I received a mail piece recently from State Senator Vi Simpson regarding how homeowners can avoid foreclosure. This mailer, sent to constituents across the 40th State Senate district, is not unusual. It just happened to arrive several weeks before Senator Simpson is up for re-election.

And there is the problem. In reality, these mailers are little more than taxpayer-financed campaign mailers for incumbent state legislators. In fairness to Senator Simpson, both parties in both houses take advantage of their ability to spend taxpayer dollars budget to send these “informational” mailers to their constituents. But the practice is still wrong, fiscally irresponsible and undemocratic. It needs to end.

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Believe it or not, there are a few other Congressional Races going on in Indiana…

Let’s take a look at the race involving my friend and Congressman, Steve Buyer.

You may remember that the slick D.C. Trial Lawyer Nels Ackerson who is running against Steve Buyer in the Fourth District had some problems a few weeks ago with attendance and general apathy about his campaign.

Remember the guy who held a press conference in Zionsville attacking Persian Gulf War Veteran Steve Buyer’s record of support for veterans despite the fact that only a half dozen supporters were in attendance and none of them were press?

Well, he continues to have these problems except this time it is much worse.
A “friend” has recently reported to me that Nels held a press conference on his pledge for government accountability that not only did no press show up but no supporters showed up as well.

Darn, that’s twice. Luck like that don’t come all that often Nels.

I was told that Nels held this press conference in the UAW hall across the street from Allison Transmissions and the only people sitting in the 50 empty chairs in the large union hall was him, former Congressman Andy Jacobs who was going to introduce Nels, three members of Nels’ staff, and an obviously embarrassed Nels Ackerson.

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Over the weekend, I blogged about Baron’s new-found opposition to oil price speculators.

Baron now says that there is a loophole in the law that needs to be closed, and this loophole is responsible for the rise in gas prices since Baron was elected (up about 75% as of this posting).

Baron, of course, promised when he ran in 2006 that he would reduce gas prices if sent back to Congress, something that quite clearly has not happened.

In fact, Baron has said that anyone that points out his campaign promise to lower gas prices is an “adversary.”

But anyway, I noted that such opposition to oil speculators was interesting, given that the speculator legislation Baron now denounces came before a committee Baron Hill sat on, and Baron voted for the legislation that created the very speculator loophole he now says he wants to close.

The creation of this loophole was sought by now-defunct energy giant Enron; heck, the loophole itself is frequently dubbed the “Enron loophole” for just that reason.

It turns out, after a bit of digging, that Enron was a contributor to Baron Hill’s reelection campaign.

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Earlier, I pointed out the differences between the Republican Governors Association giving money to Mitch Daniels (a small proportion of his total campaign war chest), and Jill Long Thompson receiving three quarters of her money from out of state (and from hyper-liberal special interests that are diametrically opposed to the beliefs of most Hoosiers, at that).

If you don’t see the difference between getting one dollar in eighteen of your campaign funding from a big out of state group, compared to three dollars out of every four, then you’ve really been spun.

Moreover, if you don’t understand the difference between the Republican Governors Association (whose only mission is to elect more Republican governors) and far left special interests like the pro-abortion group Emily’s List or the SEIU labor union, then you’ve also really been spun.

The RGA isn’t giving Mitch Daniels money to own him.

Emily’s List and SEIU pretty much now own Jill Long Thompson; they seem to be giving her unlimited money in clear expectation of a return on their investment in the form of the enactment of far left policies if she is actually elected (unlikely as that might seem).

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From the Courier-Journal:

WASHINGTON — Republican Mike Sodrel leads Indiana’s challengers for U.S. House seats in fundraising but still trails incumbent Democrat Baron Hill, according to the latest campaign finance reports.

Sodrel, who lost the seat to Hill in 2006, has raised $665,703, while Hill has raised nearly $1.8 million in the 9th District race.

Whether because of the political environment or because he’s not the incumbent, Sodrel is having more difficulty raising money than in the last election. At this point in 2006, he had raised $1.8 million compared with Hill’s $1.2 million.

The Hill-Sodrel race, however, is the only one in Indiana currently viewed as competitive by the Cook Political Report, although the newsletter that analyzes political contests says Hill has the advantage.

Mike Sodrel is never going to raise more money than Baron Hill unless or until he is willing to write a check.

This being said, Baron has effectively shot himself in the head by endorsing Barack Obama and enraged a goodly portion of his own party’s base.

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Besides the fact that all of her money is coming from outside of Indiana and from super-liberal groups like the pro-abortion Emily’s List, of course.

From the Journal-Gazette:

INDIANAPOLIS – Republicans last week pushed Democratic governor hopeful Jill Long Thompson to post her campaign donations online for public viewing as contributions come in – a la GOP Gov. Mitch Daniels.

“Hoosiers deserve to know who is funding campaigns, and any donations to Jill Long Thompson should be made accessible to voters without delay,” Indiana Republican Party Chairman Murray Clark said.

Daniels has a running list on his campaign Web site – www.mymanmitch.com – of 2008 donations. It isn’t always up-to-date – the latest donation reported is from June 30 – but voters can page through and see who is giving what.

I’m not thinking that voters in the heartland of the Hoosier state are going to buy anything Jill Long Thompson says, the more they hear about her liberal Congressional voting record and the leftist special interests that are financing her gubernatorial campaign.

No window-dressing by Dennie Ray Oxley II is going to conceal the essential truth that the candidate at the top of the state Democratic ticket is the most liberal major party nominee to ever seek the governorship in the entire history of the state of Indiana. (more…)