The Daily Change

Alan Grayson must defeat one far-right radio host before he returns to Congress

Bold progressive Alan Grayson is currently campaigning to return to Congress as a member of the House of Representatives. His opponent in the race is right-wing radio host Todd Long.

At a debate with his Republican primary opponents this past summer, Long revealed just how extreme he is. He told the audience that he would work to replace Speaker of the House John Boehner Ai??with either Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) or fellow right-wing extremist Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN):

LONG:Ai??I’ll fight passionately for a Paul Ryan, a thoughtful conservative, Michelle Bachmann or someone that has ideas and solutions based on the founders principles [to be Speaker of the House.]

Watch his remarks at around 03:42 in the following YouTube video:

This makes the choice between Long and Grayson clear. Long wants either an Ayn Rand acolyteAi??in Paul Ryan or fellow right-wing extremist in Bachmann to replace his party’s leader.

To refresh your memory, Bachmann has demanded a McCarythist witch hunt of Muslims in the federal government, has said stopping gay marriage is the biggest issue over the next thirty years, said that global warming is a “hoax” and based on “voodoo,” and has accused Obama of holding “anti-American views.”

So the good voters of Florida should know that a vote for Long is a vote for Ryan and Bachmann by proxy.

Pitch in a few dollars to help Grayson defeat Long.

Veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder would likely benefit from the use of medicinal marijuana. (Photo credit: Flickr user Fort Rucker)

The fight over medical marijuana is heating up in Colorado, as police associations, corrupt drug rehab centers, and hospitality industry moguls have pledged hundreds of thousands of dollars to defeat Amendment 64, which would legalize the adult possession of small amounts of marijuana.

But Amendment 64’s backers received a boost late last week, as a new group of military veterans announced their support for the measure.

Earlier this year, veterans petitioned the Colorado Department of Health to include post-traumatic stress disorder as an allowable condition to purchase medical marijuana in the state. The state failed to act, so now veterans are organizing to pass Amendment 64 under the banner of “Veterans for 64.”

“The state’s failure to act is an effective denial of this compassionate petition,” said group founder and Vietnam vet Bob Wiley. “Our only option is to support Amendment 64, which will ensure that Coloradans 21 and older who suffer from PTSD will no longer be subject to arrest and prosecution for using marijuana to alleviate their suffering.”

One Wisconsin protester’s sign against the Kochs. (Photo credit: Flickr user Sue Peacock)

Americans For Prosperity (AFP), the group founded and funded by the right-wing billionaires the Koch Brothers, has its sights set on Arkansas.

Having just spent big in Kansas to unseat some of the state’s last moderate Republicans, AFP is now looking to swing both the House and Senate in Arkansas to the Republican Party.

The Washington Post reports today that the organization has pledged to spend a million dollars on state races there, and is already organizing astroturf events to entice voters, including free barbecues and bus tours.

Let’s put that million dollars into perspective. The Institute for Money In State Politics estimates that the average House race in the state cost $30,723 during the previous 2009-2010 cycle. The average Senate race cost a bit more at $95,626.

Arkansas Republicans only need to win three seats in the Senate and five seats in the House in order to win control of the state’s legislature. That means that if the average cost was similar to the previous cycle, the Kochs’ AFP could afford to fully subsidize each winning race through outside expenditures (which are not subject to strict limits like donating directly to a candidate).

It doesn’t have to be this way. We can kick Big Money out of our politics. Click here to join PCCC’s Take Back Democracy campaign and help kick Big Money out of our politics.

Growing income inequality help set off Occupy Wall Street last year.

Reuters today has a great articleupAi??about income inequality in the United States. One of the most pressing facts in the piece is how the richest Americans have been able to get the vast majority of income growth — meaning that most Americans have their incomes stagnating, declining, or growing only very slowly.

Reuters points to a March paper by UC Berkeley economistAi??Emmanuel Saez, who found that the top 1 percent of Americans received 93 percent of the nation’s income growth in 2010 (as the country was struggling to get out of a recession).

Income inequality has grown so severe that even some of the 1 percent themselves are starting to revolt against it. Reuters interviews former American Airlines CEO Bob Crandall, who started a blog last year to expound on various political ideas. “Income inequality of the scale we have today is destroying our democracy,” the former chief executive told the news service.

(Photo credit: Flickr user DonkeyHotey)

During tonight’sAi??MassachusettsAi??Senate debate, moderator David Gregory asked the candidates who their “model” Supreme Court Justice is. Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) replied by saying that his model was far-right justice Antonin Scalia.

The crowd began booing, which prompted Brown to start naming off other justices he also favored, most of them conservatives. Watch it:

It’s incredibly telling that Scalia is the first one to come to Brown’s mind. Here’s a primer on Scalia’s views:

He Loves Money In Politics: Scalia was the deciding voteAi??in the Citizens United case to open new floodgates of corporate money in our elections. In a television appearance discussing the case, he compared billionaire spending in our elections to free speech. Brown helped kill the DISCLOSE Act, which would’ve exposed some of the corporations and billionaires buying our elections.
He Has Extreme Views On Immigration: Scalia was a huge backer of Arizona’s draconian anti-immigration law, and even cited Southern slavery laws in his court defense of Arizona’s measure. Perhaps Brown was taking after Scalia when he voted to kill the DREAM Act.
He Is Stridently Against Ai??Womens Rights: Scalia voted with the court’s conservative justices in the Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. case to limit discrimination suits over equal pay. He is also tirelessly opposed to abortion rights. Keep in mind that Brown voted against women and with lobbyistsAi??by voting against the anti-discrimination Paycheck Fairness Act.
He’s An Apologist For Torture:Ai??During a 2008 radio interview, Scalia said it’s “absurd” to say the government can’t hit prisoners “in the face.”
He’s Anti-Gay: Scalia was the dissenting opinion in Lawrence v. Texas,Ai??which invalidated America’s last sodomy laws (focusing on Texas). Remember that Brown has refused to endorse …

A smile paid for by Big Oil.

The fossil fuel industry — oil, coal, gas and other dirty energy sources — are expected to get $113 billion in taxpayer subsidies over the next decade. These subsidies are bought by the industry’s lobbyists and public relations campaigns, which succeed in getting Congress in their pockets.

At a recent public event, an activist from the environmental group 350.org attempted to ask Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO) about his votes for these subsidies. But he refused to answer her question and soon fled, with his staff in tow. Watch Gardener obfuscate and flee:

The oil and gas industry is Gardener’s top donor, and he constantly advocates for the industry’s interests from his perch on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

We don’t have to let Big Oil’s campaign cash run our government. Click here to join PCCC’s Take Back Democracy campaign and help kick Big Money out of our politics.

Late last night, Governor Jerry Brown (D-CA) vetoed the “Domestic Worker Bill Of Rights,” which would’ve expanded sorely-needed protections to domestic workers in his state of California.

In rejecting it, Brown said that the bill “raises a number of unanswered questions,” and that he’d be unable to approve it.

The United Farm Workers (UFW)Ai??reacted harshlyAi??to Brown’s veto with the following statement:

The UFW is appalled at the governor’s decision to deny farm workers the basic legal tools to protect themselves from employers who intentionally put their lives at risk by refusing to provide them with adequate water and shade despite the dangerously high temperatures. By vetoing AB 2676, the governor continues the policy of giving animals more protections than those currently offered to farm workers.

Ironically, Brown also on the same night approved funding for a Ronald Reagan statue in the capitol building, saying that the former president and California governor had “courage and unique leadership ability.”Ai??Keep in mind that Reagan was actually the governor who ended free college tuition at all of the state’s universities, in a huge blow to progressivism.

Jerry Brown needs to take a good look at his values and decide whether he wants to walk in the shoes of Reagan or that of the Democrats.

It turns out that higher taxes aren’t sending the rich fleeing. (Photo credit: Flickr user Molly DG)

Right-wing dogma preaches that hiking taxes on the wealthy will lead the rich to simply move away to find lower tax rates elsewhere. But a new analysis shows that this isn’t necessarily the case.

The San Jose Mercury News conducted an analysis of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data and found that states with higher taxes actually have the highest number of rich individuals, and that lower-tax states don’t necessarily have as many wealthy people:

An analysis by this newspaper of IRS tax-return data shows that states that charge high income taxes — from California to New York to New Jersey — are home to the highest number of rich people per capita. And two-thirds of the states that don’t charge any income taxes actually have fewer numbers of millionaire residents per capita, the analysis shows.

Consider Florida and Texas, which are often cited as havens for rich movie stars, CEOs and athletes because they are income-tax free. California, on the other hand, has the nation’s second-highest income tax rate.

So in those three states, how many people earn at least $1 million a year for every 100,000 taxpayers?

Florida: 202. Texas: 217. California: 252.

The data seems to debunk the myth that lower tax rates will draw the presence of rich people and that higher tax rates will send them fleeing.

Kids are being tested more and more, and lobbyists pushing big for these policies are part of the reason why.

Corporate special interests get their way not only by spending big to buy off legislators, but by working to influence public opinion behind the scenes.

On Saturday, the Austin American-Statesman published an education op-ed by Sandy Kress. Kress offered an impassioned argument in favor of neoliberal education policy, starting with a defense of the use of high-stakes standardized testing.

But what the op-ed did not see fit to mention was Kress’s own lobbying work on behalf of testing companies and other education interests. Here’s some education-related interests that Kress works for as a lobbyist. This data is drawn from the Texas Ethics Commission:

Edvance Research Inc.
9901 IH-10 West, Suite 1000 San Antonio, TX 78230
Type of Compensation: Prospective
Less Than $10,000.00
Client Start Date: 01/20/2012
Client Term Date: 02/09/2012

Pearson Education
1 Lake Street Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458
Type of Compensation: Prospective
$50,000 – $99,999.99
Client Start Date: 01/20/2012
Client Term Date: 12/31/2012

Teach For America
315 West 36th Street, 7th Floor New York, NY 10018
Type of Compensation: Prospective
$10,000 – $24,999.99
Client Start Date: 01/20/2012
Client Term Date: 12/31/2012

The paper should make every effort to disclose these …

This anti-union movie bombed at the box office.

Earlier this week, we educated you about the right-wing billionaire who producedAi??Won’t Back Down, a film that premiered on Friday that demonizes teachers unions. Since then, critics trashed the movie, over the objections of astroturf groups that are promoting it.

Now it appears that movie audiences agree that the film isn’t worth watching. Box Office Mojo reports that the film debuted in eigth place, which it says is one of the worst debuts ever for a wide-release movie:

In eight place,Ai??Won’t Back DownAi??debuted to an atrocious $921,000 from 2,515 locations. It will earn around $3 million this weekend, which will be one of the worst debuts ever for a movie inAi??2,500 or more theaters.

The anti-teachers union documentary Waiting For Superman — also produced by the same right-wing billionaire — also performed poorly at the box office. It appears that Americans are starting to tire of simplistic propaganda designed to demonize teachers but propose no constructive solutions for the American education system.

Coming to airspace near you soon? (Photo credit: Flickr user sancho_panza)

Drones are the latest tool in the ever-expanding security state, and part of the reason why is because they represent a huge new booming industry for defense contractors.

Earlier this year, I attended a Washington, D.C. conference of theAi??Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems InternationalAi??(AUVSI), the primary lobbying group for drone makers. While there, Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA), who gets the vast majority of his campaign cash from arms manufacturers, was praised for his role in getting Congress to authorize the widespread use of drones in American airspace for surveillance and other purposes. Read all about this conference in a report I filed at Republic Report.

Now that AUVSI succeeded in getting Congress to authorize the use of drones in American airspace, the lobbyists are now setting their sights on incentivizing government officials to use these robotic machines on Americans.

AUVSI will be hosting another conference this February in the D.C. suburb of McLean, Virginia. They have yet to announce their slot of speakers, but are promising to have the support of Members of Congress. One thing they have announced is that they intend to hold a program discussing the use of drones for domestic “law enforcement and security applications.”

The coming rapid expansion of the use of robotic drones — particularly the use of these machines to spy on Americans here on our shores — has Ai??spawned a bipartisan backlash. Earlier this year, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) warned that drone lobbyists were seducing Congress, and bold progressive Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) spoke out against their reckless use abroad as early as 2010.

But it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to properly regulate the use of drones or ever …

Who’s funding these kids’ smiles?

This November, Colorado’s voters will have the chance to take a historic vote by approving a ballot amendment — Amendment 64 — that would legalize the adult possession of small amounts of marijuana.

There’s a well-funded campaign being waged to convince voters to oppose this amendment. Calling itself Smart Colorado, this group claims that passing Amendment 64 would “harm” the state’s children and generally cause havoc.

Smart Colorado is not upfront about who is funding its campaign. But its recently filed disclosure with the secretary of state makes one thing shockingly clear: the campaign is largely being funded by individuals and organizations who profit from the drug war status quo.

Let’s take a look at some of the campaign’s biggest funders:

Police And Police Associations: The police profit off of the drug war because they gain access to drug enforcement grants that allow them to hire additional staff and purchase more equipment. The Colorado Drug Investigators Association gave $1,000 on September 10th. The Association of Colorado State Patrol Professionals gave $500 to the campaign on September 7th. Patrick Crouch, an agent with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, gave $50 on the same date. Regina Marinelli, another police officer, gave $100 on the same date, as did Kevin Burke, another law enforcement official. Police commander Jerry Peters has chipped in $220. These are just a few of the donations from police officers.
Drug Rehab Centers:Ai??The single largest donation to Smart Colorado comes from an organization called Save Our Society from Drugs based in Florida. It gave a whopping $126,497.21 to the campaign. The organization, as The Nation’s Lee Fang documents, runs abusive drug rehab centers that have been compared to “torture.”
The Hospitality Industry: The hospitality …

This anti-union movie premieres today.

On Wednesday, we exposed the right-wing billionaire behind the new anti-union movieAi??Won’t Back Down that’s releasing today in theaters. It seems like the critics are on to his game too — the movie has a pitiful 33 percent rating on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.

So the film’s promoters have taken a new route to try to boost the film: astroturf reviews. Ai?? Education blogger Jersey Jazzman and advocate Leonie Haimson has discovered that Matthew David, a staffer with Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst — which is working with right-wing groups to promote the movie — actually wrote a review of the film on the Rotten Tomatoes site in an attempt to boost its rating.

Here’s a screenshot of David’s review:

A few other StudentsFirst staffers also wrote reviews on the site, but they at least did identify themselves as members of the organization, unlike David. David is actually a former McCain rapid response staffer and Bush-Cheney campaign operative.

Interestingly, one of the other Rhee staffers who posted a review, Catherine Durkin Robinson, was previously caught offering the chance to win a gift card to individuals who would promise to post comments in favor of Rhee’s agenda.

What all of this means is that Big Money groups are doing everything to try to make their education agenda — one of disempowering unions and empowering private schools — popular. Unfortunately for them, the facts just aren’t on their side.

Billionaire Honeywell CEO David Cote joined former Senator Sam Nunn to advocate for cutting Social Security. (Photo credit: Flickr user Policy Network)

Former Senator Sam Nunn has a new gig. He’s a Steering Committee memberfor the “Campaign to Fix The Debt,” which is advocating for economy-killing austerity.

This week he appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box as a guest host. He was joined by fellow Campaign to Fix The Debt committee member David Cote, a billionaire CEO who has said he wants a zero percent corporate tax rate. Nunn laid out his case for cutting Social Security benefits by raising the retirement age:

COTE: When you recommend something like that you raise the retirement age by a year 75 years from now when my grandchildren will already be retired — and the outcry begins — say this is ridiculous […]

NUNN: When we passed Social Security and we passed Medicare the life expectancy was somewhere in the mid-60’s. Today the life expectancy is somewhere betwen 78 and 82, somewhere in that range. We basically haven’t made the adjustment. You can’t live with that!

Cote then heartily agreed. Watch Cote and Nunn’s remarks (they begin at around 11:50):

The problem with Cote and Nunn’s justification for raising the retirement age — the idea that we’re all living longer — is that it simply isn’t true. Life expectancy has shot up — but only for white collar workers like lawyers. Life expectancy for blue collar workers has stayed fairly constant over the past few decades. Here’s a chart from the Center for Economic and Policy Research demonstrating this inequality in life expectancy:

So if we were to raise the retirement age, we’d essentially be …

An anti-ALEC protest in Minnesota last March. (Photo credit: Flickr user Fibonacci Blue)

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is the most powerful corporate front group most Americans have never heard of. ALEC works with lawmakers to secretly pass pro-corporate legislation in state legislatures nationwide.

Journalist Bill Moyers premiered his new mini-documentary on the group: “The United States of ALEC” during this morning’s broadcast of Democracy Now! ” Watch the documentary, which explores how the group has successfully passed corporate-written bills in states like Scott Walker’s Wisconsin:

Take action with PCCC and call on Democrats to dump ALEC.

Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY) is a Big Coal ally.

Americans expect our government to safeguard our health and well-being. But when lobbyists and Big Money get involved, our government often fails to do that.

Last week, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) offered an amendment to an anti-EPA bill that would’ve required a study of the impacts of transporting coal by rail. This study would’ve informed Americans about the potential hazardous health effects of coal dust.

But the House, led by Rep. Ed Whitfield (KY), killed the amendment. Whitfield is from a major coal state (Kentucky), and mining and electricity interests are his top donors this cycle, together giving him at least $381,000.

Almost all Republicans voted to kill the DeFazio amendment (seven supported it), and twenty-one Democrats joined them. Some of the Democrats who worked to kill DeFazio’s amendment are from coal states and count mining interests as significant donors, like Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV), but there were also a number of retiring Members like Reps. Dan Boren (OK) and Heath Shuler (NC) who voted against the amendment.

One has to wonder if these votes by these retiring legislators were made to court upcoming jobs as lobbyists for the industry.

Help us fight the influence of money in politics. Join PCCC’s Take Back Democracy campaign by clicking here.

During one of the final debates before his election, Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) Ai??told Massachusetts voters that the seat he was running for was “not the Kennedy’s seat, it’s not the Democrats’ seat, it’s the people’s seat.” Watch it:

But one would imagine that if it’s really the “people’s seat,” that the people of the state would have a chance to actually interact with their senator. But Brown has yet to hold a single public town hall where any constituents are free to come and ask him questions. Instead, he’s opted for highly-controlled, often invitation-only events.

Yet while he’s avoided taking open meetings with his constituents, there’s one sort of event he has never shied away from: Washington, D.C. fundraisers.

Since he’s been elected Brown has had at least thirty fundraisers in the city (including two today), according to the Sunlight Foundation’s Political Party Time database. Many of these fundraisers feature elite lobbyists from various lobbying firms and corporations. Here’s a sampling:

Patton Boggs: Brown was in office for less than a month before he appeared at Patton Boggs, a massive D.C. lobbying firm with around 600 employees. Its clients range from weapons makers like Northrop Grumman to oil companies like Shell Oil to for-profit colleges.
The Washington Tax Group: When corporations want special favors and tax treatment, they go to this lobbying outfit, which brags on its website that it specializes “in the development and implementation of legislative and regulatory solutions” for corporations. In May of last year, Brown attended a fundraiserAi??hosted in part by Jan Fowler, its director. The lobbying group has powerful clients including Pfizer and Monsanto.
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB): The NAB — a notoriously powerful lobby of broadcasters that has …

One of many satirical renditions of the pepper spraying incident. (Photo credit: Flickr user maryatexitzero)

One of the most infamous moments from the Occupy protests occurred when a campus police officer at UC Davis pepper sprayed a group of students who were refusing to leave the sidewalk. The incident was captured on YouTube and soon became a source of global outrage. Watch it:

Today it was announced that the students involved won a $1 million settlement from the University of California system:

The University of CaliforniaAi??has agreedAi??to make payments of tens of thousands of dollars each to the two dozen studentsAi??hit with pepper sprayAi??at UC Davis last November, and to provide the students with individual written apologies from Davis chancellor Linda Katehi.

The settlement, filed in federal court this morning, provides for $30,000 payments to each of 21 named defendants, and a pool of $100,000 to be divided among other students who may come forward. Attorneys for the students will receive $250,000, and the ACLU will be given $20,000 to conduct a review of university policies on demonstrations.

The settlement should serve as a warning to other police departments and government officials who would be tempted to use abusive and heavy-handed force to disperse protests.

This Friday, the film Won’t Back Down will premiere in theaters nationwide. Starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis, the movie is about a group of parents who feud with what are portrayed as uncaring unionized teachers. The parents, led by Gyllenhaal, succeed in enacting a “parent trigger,” a policy tool advocated for by corporate front group ALEC, that allows for a public school to be turned into to a privately-managed charter school.

But the movie is already being blasted in early reviewsAi??and many education advocates are questioning its unfair portrayal of teachers unions and dogmatic advocacy for charter schools.

But the film was never meant to be an honest portrayal of America’s education system. It is being produced and promoted by Walden Media, an entertainment company owned by right-wing billionaire Phil Anschutz. Here are a few facts you should know about Anschutz and his long history of advocacy for the far-right.

He’s Anti-Gay:Anschutz spent $10,000 in 1992 to promote Colorado’s Proposition 2, which let private property owners discriminate against gays and lesbians. He also gave $150,000 to the Mission America Foundation, which condemns homosexuality as “deviance.”
He’s Anti-Science:Ai??In 2003, Anschutz’s foundation gave $70,000 to the Discovery Institute, which attacks evolutionary theory and proclaims that “Darwinism is false.”
He’s Anti-Union:Ai??His foundation has donated at least $210,000 to the National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation, which works to undermine labor rights.
He Owns Some Of The Most Influential Right-Wing Media Outlets: Anschutz owns both The Washington Examiner and The Weekly Standard, two of the most prominent right-wing tabloids and magazines that regularly demonize progressives and their beliefs.

When Americans see advertisements and other promotional material forAi??Won’t Back Down, they should know that this isn’t just another …

California State Senator Kevin De Leon (D) has had enough of corporate tax dodging in his state.

If you have a dollar in your wallet, you have more money than Bank of America paid in taxes in 2010. That’s because a variety of corporations have bought off politicians and rigged the tax code so that they pay little to nothing at all in taxes, with some even getting generous tax benefits.

One California state senator is trying to put an end to one form of this tax-dodging. California state senator Kevin de Leon (D) is backing Proposition 39, which would “close a $1 billion corporate tax loophole” that allows corporations who have employees outside the state but who sell heavily in the state to take advantage of special tax breaks to keep their rates super-low.

Asking corporations to pay their fair share has raised the hackles of Big Business, and a number of corporations have started spending big against the measure, doing everything they can to turn voters against it.

De Leon is throwing down the gauntlet against these companies. He has requested a televised debate with the CEOs of General Motors, International Paper, and Kimberly-Clark — three corporations overtly opposing Prop. 39.

“The loophole allows you to sell products and services to the largest consumer market in the country while paying very little in taxes ai??i?? and considerably less in taxes than California companies must pay.Ai?? It makes perfect sense for out-of-state companies that are padding their profits, but for California taxpayers and businesses, it makes absolutely no sense at all,” he wrote in his open letter to the three CEOs. “I am prepared to explain to Californians why we believe eliminating the loophole and leveling the …

As charter schools expand, are children getting the short end of the stick?

Last week, we reported on a new study released by UCLA that found that American schools are being quietly re-segregated, partly due to the rapid expansion of charter schools.

In Georgia, a coalition of for-profit education companies is pushing for a new ballot amendment that would let the state expand these segregation-friendly charter schools over the objection of local school boards.

Now, a coalition of civil rights groups in the state has come together to oppose the ballot amendment:

Black lawmakers, civil rights groups and several associations of educators have formed a coalition against a proposed constitutional amendment on charterAi??schools.

The amendment would allow a new state body to select private operators to run taxpayer financed schools. Backed by Gov. Nathan Deal, the measure is on the Nov. 6Ai??ballot.

The opposition coalition announced Tuesday includes associations of teachers, parents, superintendents and local school board members, along with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the NAACPAi??and other civil rightsAi??organizations.

This coalition of groups represent a significant challenge to the prevailing wisdom that the rapid expansion of poorly regulated and untested charter schools are essential to closing the racial education gap.

Last night, prominent Republican Rep. Dan Lungren (CA) debunked presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s lie that 47 percent of Americans don’t pay taxes and are simply demanding favors from the government.

During a debate with progressive Ami Bera, Lungren was asked about Romney’s comments and offered a strong rebuke of his infamous statement:

MODERATOR: Mitt Romney’s been trying to explain a lot lately what he meant at a fundraiser. What he said, ’47 percent of Americans,’ and I quote him, ‘Dependent upon government believe that they are victims, whoAi??believeAi??the government is responsible for them, who believe they are entitled to health care, food, housing. Is that how you see the country? And if not, can you tell me how you differ from Governor Romney?

LUNGREN: Ai??I think he made a major mistake in calling people victims, saying that they want to be victims. I do think he pointed that there are approximately 47, 49 percent of the people who don’t pay income taxes at the present time. But there are different categories of folks. Some don’t because they’re retired, they paid all their lives! I wouldn’t call them trying to be victimized. Others because they have a low income, don’t qualify for tax — paying taxes at the federal level. […]

Watch Lungren’s response (the relevant section starts at 09:25):

It’s telling that a Republican as senior as Lungren — who was his party’s gubernatorial candidate in 2004 and is the chairman of the House Committee on Administration — is debunking and distancing himself from Romney’s now-infamous statements. Romney’s fumbling candidacy has become so inept and extreme that Republicans down the ticket are scrambling to get away from it.

During the “Education Nation” forum today on NBC, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney addressed the issue of teachers unions. He said that he wouldn’t necessarily ban teacher strikes but that he thinks it’s a problem that unions donate to politicians who are responsible for negotiating with them:

Speaking inAi??New YorkAi??City at Education Nation, a forum sponsored by NBC, Romney told interviewer Brian Williams that he is not necessarily against a right to strike. ai???I donai??i??t know that I would prevent teachers from being able to strike,ai??? he said, adding later that ai???allowing teachers to strike on matters such as compensation I think is a right that exists in this country.ai???

The bigger problem, Romney said, is that ai???the person sitting across the table from them should not have received the largest campaign contribution from the teachers’ union themselves…. [Itai??i??s] an extraordinary conflict of interest and something that should be addressed.ai???

So Romney thinks that it unfairly tips the scales when a group that a politician is supposed to be negotiating with and regulating donates to that very same politician. That is a fair criticism. But let’s take a look at his top eight donors. They’re all banks:

Romney has made repealing the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reform bill one of his key campaign promises. If he fails to succeed in repealing the entire bill, he is expected to leave in the most bank-friendly provisions.

It looks like Romney should apply his criticism about teachers to himself. Why is he taking so much money from banks when he is campainging for the job of overseeing those same institutions?

Teachers and other unionized workers have to donate …

Last night’s Seahawks-Packers game enraged many football fans and led to widespread criticism of scab replacement referees brought in thanks to a lockout of the NFL’s unionized referees.

One group that has surprisingly come to the side of the unionized referees is prominent Republicans. Here’s four prominent Republicans who have suddenly realized the virtues of union workers thanks to the NFL lockout:

The Republican National Committee’s Communications Director: The RNC’s Sean Spicer said that the NFL should give the unionized referees “what they want” because the replacement referees are “horrible.” [9/23]
Senate Candidate Pete Hoekstra: Hoekstra just released an ad poking fun at his Democratic opponent by bashing “replacement refs.” [9/25]
Union-Busting Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker: Walker tweeted that we need to “returntherealrefs.” [9/25]
Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan: Ryan Ai??said it’s “time to get the real refs” during a campaign stop. [9/25]

It’s great that all these Republicans are backing the NFL referees, who are simply asking for a more fair agreement from their employers. But one has to wonder if they realize there’s a huge disconnect between backing these unionized employees in their labor fight while simultaneously throwing teachers, firefighters, cops, and other union workers under the bus.

Help PCCC fight for a progressive America that includes strong unions.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is out this week with a new ad claiming that he will “stand up to China” and its trade and intellectual property practices. Watch it:

But Romney doesn’t have to wait until after the presidential election to “stand up to China.” He can stand up to unfair trade right now by condemning the outsourcing practices of Ai??his old company Bain Capital.

Bain recently acquired Sensata Technologies. After the acquisition, Sensata announced that it will be closing a plant in Freeport, Illinois and moving its 170 jobs to China. Workers at this plant will even be required to train their new Chinese replacements.

Frustrated, the workers set up the “Bainport” protest to call attention to the outsourcing and to get Romney to address their plight.

If the Republican presidential nominee is truly serious about taking on China, he would be speaking out against his old company’s outsourcing to the country. But instead, Romney’s campaign has done everything it can to ignore the Bainport workers.