Thursday, April 21, 2011

Maverick freshman Republicans, including Billy Long, hit up special interests for campaign cash

In an article published this morning, the Washington Post notes that freshman Republicans, who rode into office on white chargers claiming that government is bad and it would not be business as usual under their watch, are raking in campaign cash from special interest PACS:

Many of the Republican freshmen in the House won election vowing to shake up Washington, so it’s a little surprising that many of them seem to be playing an old Washington game: raising much of their campaign money from corporate political action committees.

More than 50 members of the class of 87 GOP freshmen took in more than $50,000 from PACs during the first quarter of 2011, according to new campaign disclosure reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Eighteen of the lawmakers took in more than $100,000.
 Among the Republican freshman who fought business as usual all the way to Washington and then settled into that same familiar routine is Seventh District Congressman Billy Long.

As noted in the April 12 Turner Report:

It did not take Long much time to get acclimated to the pace of Washington, according to his quarterly report, filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission.

Long received $78,517 during the last three months, with more than $40,000 of it that coming from either special interest PACS or lobbyists.

Among the contributions:

$1,000- Action Committee for Rural Electrification
$1,000- Allied Pilots Association
$1,000- Ameren Federal PAC
$1,000- American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry
$1,000- American Airlines PAC
$1,000- American Bus Association PAC
$1,000- American Hospital Association PAC
$5,000- Anheuser-Busch PAC
$1,000- Arch Coal PAC
$3,000- Boeing Company PAC
$500- CoalPAC
$1,000- Dairy Farmers of America PAC
$2,000- Emerson Electric
$2,000- FedEx PAC
$2.000- Free and Strong America PAC
$2,000- Honeywell International PAC
$500- MinePAC
$1,000- National Air Traffic Controllers PAC
$2,000- National Association of Convenience Stores PAC
$1.000- National Association of Realtors PAC
$1,000- National Rural Letter Carriers PAC
$1,000- Outdoor Advertising Association of America
$2,000- PriceWaterhouseCoopers PAC
$2,000- Raytheon Company PAC
$2,000- Southwest Airlines Pilots Association
$1,000- United Technologies Corporation PAC
 Long's reliance on those special interests continues as noted in the April 17 Turner Report:

Four Washington lobbyists are serving as hosts for a May 31 dinner honoring the freshman legislator at Hill Country Barbecue in our nation's capital.

The group includes Gregg Hartley, former chief of staff to Roy Blunt, who represents AT&T, as well as numerous other clients, Tim McGivern, also an AT&T lobbyist, National Rifle Association lobbyist Liz Williams, and Jeffrey Hogg, who represents Reynolds American.

If you want to be one of those honoring Billy Long, be prepared to pay dearly for the privilege. The event has a "suggested contribution" of $1,000 per PAC or $500 per individual.

The Washington  fundraiser will be the ninth for Billy Long since he took office in January. Six of those, including one on March 30, were held at the exclusive Capitol Hill Club. As noted in the April 13 Turner Report, Long spent $1,133 from his campaign account to the club for initiation and dues to the club.

9 comments:

  1. I hope you will consider voting for Billy Long for Congress. The way I see it is we need someone who is not part of the political establishment. We need someone who loves his country and is willing to put his country before himself; before his party; before politics as usual; before special interest groups; before lobbyists; and before his colleagues in Congress. We need someone who will put YOU before money and power and influence.--Sarah Steelman July 28, 2010

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  2. Anonymous6:36 AM

    Billy is what used to be referred to as a "sellout". We all know that power corrupts. Billy just sold out much faster than most. You have to believe that or that you were lied to from the first time he opened his mouth. I believe all the above.

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  3. Anonymous10:35 AM

    Mr. Long always had his fingers crossed when he made all of those promises during the campaign.

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  4. Anonymous12:13 PM

    Looks like those who voted for big Billy may have got burned! Next time be a little more informed.

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  5. Anonymous12:56 PM

    12:13, How naive. This money being raised will package Billy so that the uninformed will think he is what saved the country, regardless how far in the pooper we actually are. The uninformed run this country by voting for what they want instead of what we need.

    What do we need? Tax everyone a reasonable amount and determine how much tax revenue will be raised. Then let Bozo argue what the money should go for and then vote for a resulting budget.

    Billy understands this. I think?

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  6. Anonymous2:16 PM

    much cheaper than the $35,000 a plate for obama..of course congressmen have to raise money (ALL congressmen) get all you need- elections are only two years away

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  7. Anonymous4:42 PM

    This is how this deal works. If you don't have any campaign money, you have to tell the truth. When you have hundreds of thousands of dollars, you hire Jeth Rows to package your lies and hit the airways with them. The man with the money wins. You and me? We get screwed.

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  8. Anonymous6:41 PM

    Billy, Billy, Billy, Billy,

    Thus far you have talked about auctioneers and golfers and held fundraisers to shake down lobbyists for campaign contributions and treated yourself to two nights at one of the most expensive hotels in Washington. All this while drawing about $200K in salary and spending part of your $3 million annual allotment to pay for helpers who are helping you.......do what?

    Is this a great country or what?

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  9. Anonymous4:20 PM

    You people that voted for him...Fed Up yet? A laugh every time I see him and how stupid people lined up to kiss him.

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