Yoho, T Rep

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BEN TRICIA DHS CORRUPT 11 25

**GOP mass exodus** continues.U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho, a three-term Republican from Florida, has just announced he will retire at the end of his term and not seek re-election in 2020. He becomes the third Republican in less than a week to retire.

The extremist Tea Party Republican lawmaker has a horrific record, including suggesting the Second Amendment gives Americans the right to own the exact same weapons of war the U.S. Armed Forces have – which would include nuclear weapons. (It does not.)

disgusting, dangerous effing B word 7/20 ~ AOC

... If you want to understand just how extreme and conspiratorial many in the “mainstream” Republican party have become, look no further than a resolution on Agenda 21 passed quietly in January.

Agenda 21 is a completely non-binding international framework for sustainability passed in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit. The framework, which sets out very loose aspirational goals for making communities more efficient and less carbon-intensive, was signed by then President George H.W. Bush and later upheld by Presidents Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush.

Since the framework was adopted, right-wing conspiracy theorists have pushed bizarre theories about Agenda 21 being a central tool for the United Nations to create a one-world government and take away the rights of local property owners. In recent years, elevated by the megaphone of extreme pundits like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, these conspiracies made their way into mainstream politics. Today, Agenda 21ers — many affiliated with the Tea Party and the John Birch Society — are peddling fears about Agenda 21 in order to stop basic efficiency and renewable energy programs on the state level.

Conspiracy theorists active in politics have called Agenda 21 “socialism on steroids” that would cause Americans to be “herded into centers like the UN wants.”

And in an April presentation on Agenda 21, activist Victoria Baer had this to say about John McCain’s support of ethanol, which she also claimed was part of a UN plot: “We should have left him in Hanoi with Jane Fonda…he is a traitor, a pure traitor.”

Yes, Baer called John McCain — a decorated Vietnam War veteran who spent five and a half years as a prisoner of war — a traitor who should be “left in Hanoi” because he supported minimal increases in domestic ethanol production.

Baer also claims that the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. National Parks Service, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture — agencies founded more than 100 years before Agenda 21 — are “all out of the UN to have these wonderful little furry animal organizations to cut our land away from us.”

In fact, the Agenda 21 language explicitly states that countries and local communities have “the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own environmental and developmental policies.”

So what do these historically-challenged and completely inaccurate claims have to do with the Republican party? The Republican National Committee has officially adopted these conspiracy theories as its national platform. In January, the RNC adopted a resolution calling Agenda 21 “insidious” and “covert.”

The United Nations Agenda 21 is being covertly pushed into local communities throughout the United States of America through the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) through local “sustainable development” policies such as Smart Growth, Wildlands Project, Resilient Cities, Regional Visioning Projects, and other “Green” or “Alternative” projects

The Republican National Committee recognizes the destructive and insidious nature of United Nations Agenda 21 and hereby exposes to the public and public policy makers the dangerous intent of the plan.

Interestingly, Agenda 21 activist Victoria Baer is a big supporter of Florida Tea Partier Ted Yoho, a man who unseat Republican Representative Cliff Stearns in a major upset during a primary race yesterday. Along with supporting the Agenda 21 conspiracy, Yoho also believes we should abolish the Department of Energy — the agency tasked with protecting our nuclear waste and nuclear weapons arsenal.

WASHINGTON -- Ted Yoho stunned the political establishment this week when he beat Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) in the GOP primary for Florida's third congressional district. Yoho -- a political newcomer and self-described "large animal veterinarian" who had raised very little money -- took down Stearns, a 12-term incumbent who led high-profile investigations into conservative bogeymen like Solyndra and Planned Parenthood.

Stearns had the backing of prominent GOP lawmakers like Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Allen West (R-Fla.), while Yoho attacked career politicians as pigs feeding at a trough.

As a result, Yoho said he doesn't expect warm embraces from the establishment -- at least not right away.

"I don't listen to that," Yoho told The Huffington Post.

A GOP official told HuffPost on Wednesday that House leadership is not looking forward to dealing with "another tea partyer heading to D.C.," strapped with larger-than-life ideas and a plan to shake up the establishment.

"We're going to hear a lot of that," Yoho said. "I heard that when I got into this race. I focused on the problem, and what I saw as the problem of Washington is a lack of leadership. I came up with that four or five years ago, and I studied this. That's what I came up with."

The National Republican Congressional Committee signaled Thursday that it is not worried about Yoho's candidacy, especially as he gears up to run in a congressional district rated "Solid Republican" by the Cook Political Report.

"It's a Republican seat. It will continue to be a Republican seat," NRCC spokesman Nat Sillin said. "We congratulate Mr. Yoho on his victory."

Yoho said he received congratulatory calls from local GOP incumbents, including Florida Republican Reps. Allen West, Steve Southerland, Rich Nugent and Jeff Miller.

"They were just saying, 'we're just really watching this race developing, and you did a fantastic thing. It's hard to unseat an incumbent like that,'" Yoho said. "I can't say they were glad, but they were saying, 'congratulations, you guys did the work.'"

Yoho said he'd be more than happy to hear from presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney as well.

"I'd love [a call] from him, but I don't expect it," Yoho said, suppressing laughter. "He's got his plate full right now, but I sure would answer it."

With a campaign platform that includes slashing the Department of Energy from the federal budget, Yoho said he knows he cannot go it alone on Capitol Hill.

Yoho's campaign manager, Kat Cammack, said she believes Yoho will work across party lines as long as his Democratic colleagues share the same values.

"He's not interested in political parties," Cammack told HuffPost on Thursday. His ideas, however, seem to fall squarely on the conservative side, and he said he "sympathizes 100 percent" with the tea party.

And don't expect him to let Stearns' conservative crusades fall by the wayside. While he was critical of Congress for letting the administration give any money to Solyndra in the first place, Yoho said he plans on furthering such investigations into the failed solar company and Planned Parenthood.

"They need to be continued," Yoho said. "Whether it's me or not, somebody needs to pick up the ball and run with that."

Yoho will face Democrat J.R. Gaillot in the general election.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/16/who-is-ted-yoho_n_1783834.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

By Associated Press, Published: August 14 | Updated: Wednesday, August 15, 10:06 AM

WASHINGTON — While two veteran Republicans, former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson and Rep. John Mica of Florida, survived conservative challenges in Tuesday’s congressional primaries, a veterinarian and political novice named Ted Yoho stole much of the spotlight.

Florida tea party challenger Yoho won a major upset against 12-term GOP Rep. Cliff Stearns by slightly more than 800 votes, about 1 percentage point, as four states held primaries, including Connecticut and Minnesota. Stearns conceded the race on Wednesday.

Stearns had been a national Republican favorite after spearheading criticism of the Obama administration’s energy program and its funding of Planned Parenthood.

But Yoho criticized Stearns for being in office too long and pledged that he would leave the House after eight years. He ran a TV ad where actors dressed as politicians in suits ate from a trough alongside pigs and threw mud at each other.

In Wisconsin, Thompson turned back a trio of challengers to win the Republican Senate primary, setting up a general election race against Democratic Rep. Tammy Baldwin for retiring Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl’s seat, which the GOP hasn’t held since 1957.

Thompson’s win, as an establishment Republican derided by rivals as not conservative enough, was a disappointment for tea party forces and other conservative activists hoping to add to big wins earlier this year in the Indiana and Texas GOP Senate primaries. Tea party candidates scored major gains in the 2010 congressional races, but they’ve had mixed success since then.

The win marked the first step in a political comeback for Thompson, 70, a former Cabinet secretary who hasn’t been on the ballot since 1998.

He defeated former Rep. Mark Neumann; businessman and political newcomer Eric Hovde, who spent at least $4 million on the race; and state Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald. Neumann had support from tea party forces as well as the anti-tax group Club for Growth.

Thompson’s challengers cast themselves as closer to today’s more conservative GOP than him.

Wisconsin Republicans hope they can build momentum from GOP Gov. Scott Walker’s win in a recall election last June and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s decision to tap native son Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate.

The GOP sees the Senate race in Wisconsin as a pickup opportunity as they try to gain majority control from the Democrats. Republicans need to pick up four seats in the Senate to gain control of the chamber.

Thompson, a governor for 14 years who was first elected in 1966, enjoyed the most name recognition statewide.

He got a late boost from Ryan, who praised Thompson’s record as governor during a rally in Wisconsin on Sunday. Ryan did not mention Thompson’s rivals. Thompson aired a radio ad on Monday featuring Ryan’s comments.

In Florida, Mica, a 10-term congressman who wields considerable clout as chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is expected to win in November in his Republican-leaning district. Tea party freshman Rep. Sandy Adams fell short against Mica despite backing from 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

Mica and Adams landed in the same central Florida district due to redistricting, and the result was a nasty member-versus-member primary.

The Florida contest was a prime example of the sharp split in the Republican party this election season between grass-roots conservatives and the GOP’s establishment candidates.

Mica overcame criticism by Adams that the big-spending ways of longtime lawmakers and Washington insiders like him have fueled the nation’s soaring debt, a charge that echoes the deep divisions in the GOP. The two tangled over spending for pet projects and who’s more conservative.

Also in Florida, Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson will face Republican Connie Mack IV in November after each handily won his party primary.

In Connecticut, wealthy former wrestling executive Linda McMahon, the GOP’s endorsed candidate, defeated former Rep. Christopher Shays in the Senate primary. Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent, is retiring.

Shays, a moderate who had represented a district anchored by Greenwich and other wealthy suburbs outside New York City since 1987, lost his seat in 2008. He had hoped his Washington experience could blunt McMahon’s wealth and official party support.

McMahon spent about $50 million of her own money in her failed 2010 Senate race. It was the largest amount of money spent on any campaign in state history, as well as the largest amount per vote nationwide. She outspent Shays and criticized him as a career politician.

In Connecticut’s Democratic Senate primary, Rep. Chris Murphy, the party’s endorsed candidate, defeated former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz. Looking past Shays, McMahon has already aired a negative ad against Murphy.