Mack, C Sen
===
now dci hack lobbyist 9i'm guessing on puerto rico, but argentina)
lost to nelson how?
booster shill for singer vulture on argentina
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2012/11/28/paul-singer-connie-mack-bono-mack/1732343/
And according to the Center on Responsive Politics, the Koch network has sunk at least $200,000 into the Oversight Committee. More than 87% has gone to committee Republicans, including more than $100,000 in support of Republicans currently on the committee. The list includes Chairman Issa and five subcommittee chairs (starred):
Rep. Darrell E. Issa (CA-49) – $12,500
Rep. John L. Mica (FL-07) – $7,500
Rep. Patrick T. McHenry* (NC-10) – $2,500
Rep. Jason Chaffetz* (UT-03) – $2,500
Rep. Connie Mack (FL-14) – $15,000
==
The Huffington Post | By Nick Wing Posted: 10/24/2012 2:06 pm EDT Updated: 10/25/2012 3:12 pm EDT
Greg Abbott, the Republican Attorney General of Texas, issued a stern warning this week to members of an international delegation expected to be on hand to monitor voting at polling places around the country on Election Day.
In a letter to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which works to ensure the integrity of elections, among other tasks, Abbott warned the diplomatic poll-watchers that their involvement in U.S. elections could have strong legal repercussions.
"It may be a criminal offense for OSCE's representatives to maintain a presence within 100 feet of a polling place's entrance," he writes. "Failure to comply with these requirements could subject the OSCE's representatives to criminal prosecution for violating state law." Such a restriction makes election monitoring highly difficult.
The OSCE announced earlier this month that it would send 44 observers to polling places around the country on Election Day in order to monitor possible disputes that could arise in the voting process. The move came in response to a petition from liberal-leaning voting rights groups, including the NAACP and ACLU, that suggested the OSCE's presence could help combat what they fear will be a concerted effort to suppress votes from supporters of President Barack Obama.
Concerns among Democrats have mounted in the wake of reports that right-leaning groups, such as the Tea Party-aligned True The Vote, had plans to dispatch armies of poll-watchers seeking to root out invalid votes. Opponents warn that the volunteer "poll challengers" will engage in intimidation of legitimate minority voters who tend to vote Democratic.
In his letter, Abbott takes issue with the OSCE's supposed opposition to voter ID laws, which won't be in place in Texas after being rejected by a federal court, and adds that the group's efforts at polling places are neither needed nor acceptable.
"If OSCE members want to learn more about our election processes so they can improve their own democratic systems, we welcome the opportunity to discuss the measures Texas has implemented to protect the integrity of elections," he writes. "However, groups and individuals from outside the United States are not allowed to influence or interfere with the election process in Texas. This State has robust election laws that were carefully crafted to protect the integrity of our election system. All persons -- including persons connected with OSCE -- are required to comply with these laws."
Abbott's opposition is consistent with a growing trend of conservative distrust toward the United Nations and other international organizations. On Tuesday, Florida GOP Senate candidate **Connie Mack** said that the U.N. should be defunded and "kicked off of American soil." In a statement, Mack appeared to suggest that the broader U.N., and therefore presumably the OSCE as well, was driven by nefarious motives.
“The very idea that the United Nations -- the world body dedicated to diminishing America’s role in the world -- would be allowed, if not encouraged, to install foreigners sympathetic to the likes of Castro, Chavez, Ahmadinejad and Putin to oversee our elections is nothing short of disgusting," he said.
wiki
Cornelius Harvey McGillicuddy IV[2] (born August 12, 1967), popularly known as Connie Mack, is the former U.S. Representative for Florida's 14th congressional district, serving from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Republican Party, he was the Republican nominee for Senate in 2012, but lost to Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson.[3]
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Early life, education, and family
Mack was born in Fort Myers, Florida, the son of cancer prevention advocate Ludie Priscilla (née Hobbs) and former U.S. Senator Connie Mack III.[4][5] His father represented the district from 1983 to 1989 (when it was numbered as the 13th District), before serving two terms in the U.S. Senate.
Through his father, Mack is the great-grandson of Connie Mack, the manager and owner of baseball's Philadelphia Athletics and member of the Baseball Hall of Fame; the great-grandson of Morris Sheppard, U.S. Senator and Representative from Texas; and the great-great-grandson of John Levi Sheppard, a U.S. Representative from Texas.[6]
In 1993, Mack earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Florida. After college Mack became a marketing executive, working as a consultant to promote the restaurant chain Hooters.[7]
Florida House of Representatives
In 2000, incumbent Republican State Representative Debby Sanderson decided to retire to run for a seat in the Florida Senate. Mack decided to run for the open seat in the Fort Lauderdale based-91st House District. He defeated Democratic nominee Kevin Rader 56%-44%.[8] In 2002, he won re-election with 79% of the vote.[9]
Mack was Chairman of the Committee on State Administration,[10] and in his second term he became the Deputy Majority Leader.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
In 2003, incumbent Republican Congressman Porter Goss, who had succeeded Connie III in Congress, announced his intention to retire in order to serve as Director of the CIA. That October, Mack resigned from his seat in the State Legislature and moved back to his hometown of Fort Myers to run for the open seat.[11] Had he not resigned his state house seat, he would have been unable to vote for himself in the primary or general election in the 14th District, as the Florida Constitution requires state legislators to be residents of the district they represent. Mack stated "The people of the 14th District deserve to be represented in Washington by someone who shares our mainstream conservative Republican values in the mold of my father and Congressman Porter Goss."[12] He narrowly won a four-way Republican primary--the real contest in this heavily Republican district--with a plurality of 36% of the vote, defeating more experienced challengers State Representative Carole Green and Lee County Commissioner Andy Coy.[13] He won the general election with 68% of the vote.[14]
Mack consistently won re-election with high margins, with his closest bid in 2008, when he won 59% in a three-way election.[15][16][17]
Tenure
Mack is a vocal supporter of cutting federal spending and lower taxes. He is a signer of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Additionally, he is a co-sponsor of a constitutional amendment to require a balanced federal budget and was one of the most outspoken opponents of federal bailouts. Mack was also been a prominent advocate for greater congressional oversight of government activities related to surveillance. He voted against George W. Bush's domestic eavesdropping program in 2006 and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Reform in 2007.[18]
Mack is an outspoken critic of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez,[19] and was one of the most vocal critics of the creation of the pan-Latin American TV network teleSUR.[20] He is also a member of the Congressional Cuba Democracy Caucus. As a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Mack helped secure over $81 million to expand Interstate 75 in Southwest Florida, a project of significant concern to the region.
Unlike many members of Congress, Mack was been a vigorous and outspoken defender of the whistle-blowing site WikiLeaks.[21] Mack said that although Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange "are no heroes," he believes there needs to be more transparency in government, and that he opposes any "attempt to suppress information from the general public."[22]
Committee assignments
2012 U.S. Senate election
Main article: United States Senate election in Florida, 2012
Early in the election cycle, Mack was considered a potential candidate against incumbent Democratic Senator Bill Nelson in the 2012 Senate election. However, he declined to run on March 25, 2011, citing family and his work in the House of Representatives.[23] On October 26, 2011, it was announced Mack had changed his mind regarding a challenge to Bill Nelson and that he would seek the Republican nomination. Mack's spokesman cited the fact that he felt no one in the current field was able to defeat Nelson.[24] His opponent in the Primary was former Representative Dave Weldon, whom Mack defeated in the primary, winning 58% of the vote. Mack was then defeated by Nelson by over one million votes.
7/13
ep. Connie Mack has about a month left in hisCongressional tenure. But before he leaves, the Florida Republican has scheduled a vote Thursday in the lame-duck session on a bill that would benefit a New York mogul whose firm was one of the biggest financial supporters of Mack's failed Senate campaign and there-election campaign of his wife, Rep. Mary Bono Mack.
The "Judgment Evading Foreign StatesAccountability Act" is a bill that Mack, chairman of a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee, has proposed to force Argentina to pay U.S. investors more than $3.5 billion worth of principal and interest. Argentina sold the bonds to raise capital and then defaulted on them in 2001. The bill bars defaulting nations from U.S. capital markets and requires the U.S. government to take default status into account when providing foreign aid. It would be the first bill the chairman has moved through the subcommittee this year.
A leading figure in the pursuit of payment from Argentina is New Yorkventure capitalist Paul Singer (no relation to this reporter). Singer has battled in U.S. courts for years over the repayment of the debt, and court records show Argentina owes Singer's companies more than a billion dollars. He isn't the only one pursuing repayment by Argentina: Several large investors have formed a coalition called American Task Force Argentina seeking repayment of the debt.
President Obama earlier this year suspended trade preferences for Argentina over the bond dispute.
Last week, a federal judge in New York ordered Argentina to pay U.S. bondholders and scolded Argentine officials, including President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, for repeatedly stating that they will not payoff the bonds and will not be bound by U.S. court rulings ordering the country to do so.
According to a briefing paper prepared by the subcommittee, Argentina defaulted on its debts in 2001 and in 2005 "unilaterally offered lenders approximately 27 cents on the dollar." Singer's initial filings with the New York court indicate that he bought significant chunks of the contested bonds several years later.
Singer is a major source of campaign financing for Republican candidates. Last year, he gave $1 million to Restore our Future, the super PAC supporting GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney. He used another million dollars to create American Unity, a PAC that supported pro-gay Republicans.
American Unity paid for ads in support of eight congressional candidates for the 2012 election, including Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif. The PAC spent just over $423,000 on ads attacking Bono Mack's opponent, according to campaign-finance records compiled by the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.
Employees of Singer's investment firm, Elliott Management, also donated $39,000 to Connie Mack's Senate campaign, more than any other single company contributing to his campaign.
Singer and Elliott Management declined to comment for this story.
Mack's office brushed aside questions about the connection between the legislation and Singer's campaign support.
Kristin Jackson, the subcommittee staff director, said in an e-mail: "Congress has a fundamental responsibility to stand up for the interest of Americans everywhere. Let's be clear — U.S. courts have ruled numerous times, including last week, against Argentina. Yet Argentina's leaders continue to ignore our courts."
The bill Mack plans to mark up is unlikely to become law anytime soon. There is no plan to move it on the House floor or in the Senate, where a similar bill was introduced by Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.
Wicker received just over $31,000 in campaign donations from employees of Elliott Management, making the firm one of the top five contributors to his successful re-election campaign. Wicker spokesman Rick Curtsinger said the senator had received requests from Mississippians to look into the issue of Argentine debt and believes the bill is important because "countries have to honor their commitments to international agreements."