Mike's Not One of Us
Jesse Cornett
I think this is the quote of the election -- from Jeff Mapes Oregonian article about the teabagger Koch brothers contribution to Mike Schaufler yesterday:
"These are the people who create jobs" in Oregon, he said, noting that it's a major producer of paper products here. "If people think that's bad, they should just stop using toilet paper," he said.
"He" quoted is of course Mike Schaufler.
If you don't like the major supporters of the tea party, you should stop using toilet paper? Huh? I've never seen such ridiculous rhetoric in Oregon politics. There have been many moments where I thought Mike Schaufler may have jumped the shark, but I think this takes the cake.
After the acceptance and then under pressure return of money from the Koch brothers, I thought I’d do a bit more Research into Schaufler’s C&E’s. It’s pretty clear they’ll show you he’s no longer one of us. There is nothing liberal or progressive about him. If he wins re-election, he will be even more clearly in the pocket of the right wing Republicans. He's taken money from the worst possible donors while living a lavish lifestyle out of his campaign coffers, though that’s been covered so I won’t get into that again.
I’d like to offer a list of other contributions Mike should return....
Let’s start in the past -- in his last election, when he faced no opposition, he took $500 from the NRA! I think accepting a donation from a group that doesn’t even support banning assault rifles from our streets to keep kids safe is just is unconscionable. Further the NRA is pulling out all the stops to unelect President Barack Obama. Where do you really stand on gun control, Mike?
Next we go to Pacific Seafood. Mike took a whopping $10,000 from them! A case was recently settled but Schaufler had no concerns with Pacific Seafood keeping their boots on the throats of Oregon’s hard working fishers. You stand up for the workers? If voters believe that I’ve got some Oceanside property in Kansas to sell them.
Next up is Associated Oregon Industries, which is an anti-worker organization. AOI opposes paid family leave among other anti-worker policies. Oh and by the way the Koch brothers just funneled $5,000 through them.
Then there’s big tobacco. “RAI” is a cute way to try to pull the wool over your eyes. It’s Reynolds American, America's second largest tobacco company who saw fit to give Mike $4000. Wow.
Next is a favorite of mine: the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association. ORLA donated $5000 to Schaufler. What does ORLA care about? Thwarting the will of the voters and lowering the minimum wage for Oregon’s hard working service staff an issue the Oregon AFL-CIO worked hard to pass. That’s ORLA's top issue.
Next we get into Mike’s “cut baby cut” mantra.” Oregon Forest Industries Council which is big timber and funded by among other companies, Georgia Pacific, which per Schaufler is a Koch Brothers owned company. Mike is a rare registered Democrat to take money from them. This was a small one, it was only a grand which is what about 50 times what the average voter could contribute to a campaign? By the way, in noting that Georgia Pacific was owned by Koch, which is why he got the contribution, why didn't he just get a GP check directly? They seem to write them pretty freely. The Oregon Loggers PAC, who give almost exclusively to Republicans gave $5000 to Mike also.
Ballots will be out within hours of my posting this. Mike is running against a fine American. He's having a huge canvass event this weekend. Won't you join us to help unelect Oregon's only Republican registered as a Democrat?
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10:44 p.m.
Apr 26, '12
Jefferson Smith took money from the gun lobby, too. Does that mean you will throw him under a "bus" too?
Hilarity ensues when Dems start criticizing on contribution and expenditure reports.
Maybe if they enforced Measure 47 the Koch issue would be moot.
11:28 p.m.
Apr 26, '12
Isolated incidents v. patterns behavior.
9:18 a.m.
Apr 27, '12
Would one of the 100% Jefferson people explain whether/why this is true, about him taking $ from the NRA?
10:11 a.m.
Apr 27, '12
This is a post about Mike Schaufler. I'm going to stick with that topic.
9:32 a.m.
Apr 28, '12
A quick search of ORESTAR found this:
https://secure.sos.state.or.us/orestar/gotoPublicTransactionDetail.do?tranRsn=937536
It's also linked to in this article, with commentary on how donations like these affect his voting record:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/portlandcityhall/2011/09/portland_mayoral_candidates_je.html
article quote:
Jefferson Smith, a state representative for east Portland since 2009, has a voting record in Salem that suggests he's willing to break with Democrats on gun issues.
In 2009, he co-sponsored the unsuccessful House Bill 2645, which aimed to destroy the records on criminal-background checks within 24 hours for qualified firearms buyers. Other Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee with Smith did not co-sponsor the bill, which died in committee.
In 2011, Smith voted for House Bill 2787, which prohibits public agencies from releasing names of Oregonians with concealed handgun licenses. Smith was the only Portland legislator to do so. Brady took issue with that. "Concealed handgun permits should be part of the public record," she said.
Smith said Thursday that the two bills had more to do with privacy and that law-abiding gun owners had a legitimate right to shield personal information.
In October 2010, Smith accepted a $500 contribution from the Oregon Gun Owners PAC. Both Brady and Hales have said they will not accept campaign money from gun-rights groups.
article end quote
As a concealed handgun permit holder, I requested my records not be made public since there were (as I understood) no restrictions on some of the truly private information in there for the background check. However, a bill that allowed the non-private information to be public that merely indicated that one was a concealed handgun permit holder makes sense. Smith voted to keep who was a permit holder secret unnecessarily.
After I heard Republicans claiming you couldn't easily get all sorts of licenses I went to the Oregon Department of Licensing and in a few months got a plethora of hobbyist licenses that I essentially never use, like this, ATV, boater, etc. I do not believe security is created by secrecy/obscurity:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerckhoffs%27s_principle
Keeping the keys (social security numbers, etc.) secret while releasing the pertinent facts is consistent with Kerckhoffs' Principle.
12:03 p.m.
Apr 29, '12
Funny, this is still a post about Mike Schaufler. Get off my lawn;-)
9:14 a.m.
Apr 28, '12
Jesse, Nice work on this article.
10:10 a.m.
Apr 28, '12
Here's your 100%er gun owning Jefferson Smith supporter. I mostly agree with Jesse's various takes on Schaufler, but disagree with him on the utility and necessity for banning ...er...assault rifles, as second amendment opponents like to call semi-automatic rifles. Jefferson, like me and like the Democratic Party gun caucus, is mindful of the entire bill of rights including the second amendment. There's a huge difference between that stance and supporting the crazies at the NRA, an organization built upon and sustained by fear driven propaganda produced by the weapons and ammunition manufacturers. Even anti gun zealots should be able to understand the distinction.
9:32 a.m.
Apr 30, '12
Although inventories of campaign contributions can indicate the politics of an elected official, it's a rough indicator. The way we fund political campaigns is fundamentally corrupt and becoming more so with each election cycle. Candidates need huge amounts of cash to compete for voter awareness. Progressive donors just don't have enough cash to fund progressive candidates, so most candidates we like will have funders we do not like. Our concern should be how contributions affect the behavior of the recipient, and ultimately, how can we rescue the political process from the undue influence of big donors.
Some day we my have a national discussion on gun rights that makes sense. If the Second Amendment gives US citizens the right to bear arms, then assault weapons have more legitimacy than do guns for hunting rabbits and ducks. What after all, is the function of a "well regulated militia"? We might also question what a concealed handgun has to do with a well regulated militia. An RPG launcher would be more to the point.
7:39 p.m.
May 7, '12
The Oregon Resturant and Lodging Association also is the main force behind the repeated efforts to institute a "subminium wage" for youth and new employees, thus undercutting the actual minimum wage established in law..AND for reinstituting the old Tip credit law so that employers of "tipped employees" (yeah..mostly ORLA folk)could count the employees tips toward the employer's obligation to pay minimum wage..so that employers could only be required to pay..even less! YIKES. They also fought against many child labor laws. But they like MIKE!!