mcconnellbak

mcconnell619

capt 619 chao 3x corrupution

not that much info here? capt 4/18.

see Mcc2 and chao

tag McConn 12/16

green grade 7 of 100

McConnell has attended at least one Koch network donor summit, the June 2014 retreat in California, where he spoke alongside Koch operative [Gentry] and Koch Industries general counsel Mark Holden on a panel titled "Free Speech: Defending First Amendment Rights."[2] A recording of his remarks was obtained by The Nationand The Undercurrent. He began, "I want to start by thanking you, Charles and David for the important work you’re doing. I don’t know where we’d be without you," referring to Charles and David Koch.

The recording also included McConnell's statements on a key Koch issue: fighting campaign finance limits and disclosure rules. Speaking to a room of wealthy donors, McConnell said, "All Citizens United did was to level the playing field for corporate speech…. We now have, I think, the most free and open system we've had in modern times. The Supreme Court allowed all of you to participate in the process in a variety of different ways. You can give to the candidate of your choice. You can give to Americans for Prosperity, or something else, a variety of different ways to push back against the party of government."[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitch_McConnell

Addison Mitchell McConnell Jr. (born February 20, 1942) is an American politician who has served as the senior United States Senator from Kentucky since 1985. A member of the Republican Party, he has additionally served as the Senate Majority Leader since January 3, 2015. He previously served as Minority Leader from 2007 to 2015. He is the second Kentuckian to lead his party in the Senate.[2] McConnell is the longest-serving U.S. Senator in Kentucky history.[3]

During the administration of President Barack Obama, McConnell was characterized by opponents as being an obstructionist,[4] while opinion on the right was sharply divided. Some on the right praised him for tenacity and courage,[5] while others criticized him for being part of the political establishment and not keeping his promises to conservatives.[6] McConnell has gained a reputation as a skilled political strategist and tactician.[7][8] However, this reputation dimmed after Republicans failed to pass a replacement for the Affordable Care Act in 2017.[9][10]

From early 2016, McConnell refused to schedule Senate hearings for Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland, to replace Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February 2016. Garland's nomination remained before the Senate for 294 days, from March 16, 2016, until it expired on January 3, 2017, more than double the time of any other Supreme Court nomination.[11] Later, McConnell used the so-called "nuclear option" to lower the threshold for overriding filibusters for Supreme Court nominees to a simple majority, with the aim of confirming Neil Gorsuch to the Court.[12]

1 Early life and education

2 Early career

3 U.S. Senate

3.1 Elections

3.2 Leadership

3.3 Tenure

3.3.1 Reputation

3.3.2 Foreign policy

3.3.3 Campaign finance

3.3.4 Flag Desecration Amendment

3.3.5 Health policy

3.3.6 Economy

3.3.7 Immigration

3.3.8 Environment

3.3.9 Gun rights

3.3.10 Iraq War

3.3.11 Fundraising

3.3.12 2016 Supreme Court vacancy

3.3.13 2016 presidential election

3.3.14 Russian interference in the 2016 election

3.4 Committee assignments

4 Electoral history

5 Personal life

6 In popular culture

7 References

8 Further reading

9 External links

Early life and education

McConnell is of Scots-Irish and English descent, the son of Addison Mitchell McConnell, and his wife, Julia (née Shockley). McConnell was born on February 20, 1942, in Sheffield, Alabama, and raised as a young child in nearby Athens.[13]

As a youth, McConnell overcame polio,[14] which he was struck with at age 2.[15] He received treatment at the Warm Springs Institute in Georgia, which potentially saved him from being disabled for the rest of his life.[16] In 1990, McConnell said that his family "almost went broke" because of costs related to his illness.[17]

When he was eight, McConnell's family moved to Georgia.[18] When he was a teenager, his family moved to Louisville, where he attended duPont Manual High School. He graduated with honors from the University of Louisville with a B.A. in political science in 1964. McConnell was president of the Student Council of the College of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity. He has maintained strong ties to his alma mater and "remains a rabid fan of its sports teams."[19] In 1967, McConnell graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Law, where he was president of the Student Bar Association.

In March 1967, shortly before graduating from law school, McConnell enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve at Louisville, Kentucky. In August 1967, after five weeks of military training at Fort Knox, he received an honorable discharge for medical reasons (optic neuritis).[20][21]

...

Environment

McConnell expressed skepticism that climate change is a problem, telling the Cincinnati Enquirer editorial board in 2014, "I'm not a scientist, I am interested in protecting Kentucky's economy, I'm interested in having low cost electricity." [91][92][93]

McConnell was one of 22 senators to sign a letter[94] to President Donald Trump urging the President to have the United States withdraw from the Paris Agreement. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, McConnell has received over $1.5 million from the oil and gas industry since 2012.[95]

Gun rights

On the weekend of January 19–21, 2013, the McConnell for Senate campaign emailed and robo-called gun-rights supporters telling them that "President Obama and his team are doing everything in their power to restrict your constitutional right to keep and bear arms." McConnell also said, "I'm doing everything in my power to protect your 2nd Amendment rights."[96] On April 17, 2013, McConnell voted against expanding background checks for gun purchases.[97]

Iraq War

In October 2002, McConnell voted for the Iraq Resolution, which authorized military action against Iraq.[98] McConnell supported the Iraq War troop surge of 2007.[99] In 2010, McConnell "accused the White House of being more concerned about a messaging strategy than prosecuting a war against terrorism."[100]

In 2006, McConnell publicly criticized Senate Democrats for urging that troops be brought back from Iraq.[101] According to Bush's Decision Points memoir, however, McConnell was privately urging the then President to "bring some troops home from Iraq" to lessen the political risks. McConnell's hometown paper, the Louisville Courier-Journal, in an editorial titled "McConnell's True Colors", criticized McConnell for his actions and asked him to "explain why the fortunes of the Republican Party are of greater importance than the safety of the United States."[102]

Regarding the failure of the Iraqi government to make reforms, McConnell said the following on Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer: "The Iraqi government is a huge disappointment. Republicans overwhelmingly feel disappointed about the Iraqi government. I read just this week that a significant number of the Iraqi parliament want to vote to ask us to leave. I want to assure you, Wolf, if they vote to ask us to leave, we'll be glad to comply with their request."[103]

On April 21, 2009, McConnell delivered a speech to the Senate criticizing President Obama's plans to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba, and questioned the additional 81 million dollar White House request for funds to transfer prisoners to the United States.[104][105]

Fundraising

Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland

From 2003 to 2008, the list of McConnell's top 20 donors included five financial/investment firms: UBS, FMR Corporation (Fidelity Investments), Citigroup, Bank of New York, and Merrill Lynch.[106]

In April 2010, while Congress was considering financial reform legislation, a reporter asked McConnell if he was "doing the bidding of the large banks." McConnell has received more money in donations from the "Finance, Insurance and Real Estate" sector than any other sector according to the Center for Responsive Politics.[106][107] McConnell responded "I'd say that that's inaccurate. You could talk to the community bankers in Kentucky." The Democratic Party's plan for financial reform is actually a way to institute "endless taxpayer funded bailouts for big Wall Street banks", said McConnell. He expressed concern that the proposed $50 billion, bank-funded fund that would be used to liquidate financial firms that could collapse "would of course immediately signal to everyone that the government is ready to bail out large banks".[106][107] In McConnell's home state of Kentucky, the Lexington Herald-Leader ran an editorial saying: "We have read that the Republicans have a plan for financial reform, but McConnell isn't talking up any solutions, just trashing the other side's ideas with no respect for the truth."[108] According to one tally, McConnell's largest donor from the period from January 1, 2009, to September 30, 2015, was Bob McNair, contributing $1,502,500.[109]

2016 Supreme Court vacancy

==In an August 2016 speech in Kentucky, McConnell, speaking of President Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court (to fill the vacancy caused by Antonin Scalia's death in February 2016) said, "One of my proudest moments was when I looked Barack Obama in the eye and I said, 'Mr. President, you will not fill the Supreme Court vacancy.'"[110][111][112] In April 2018, McConnell said it was "the most consequential decision I’ve made in my entire public career

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/13/us/mitch-mcconnell-fast-facts/

Birth date: February 20, 1942

Birth place: Colbert County, Alabama

Birth name: Addison Mitchell McConnell, Jr.

Father: Addison Mitchell McConnell

Mother: Julia (Shockley) McConnell

Marriage: Elaine Chao (1993-present); Sherrill Redmon (1968-1980, divorced)

Children: with Sherrill Redmon: Porter; Claire; Eleanor

Education: University of Louisville, B.A., 1964; University of Kentucky, J.D., 1967

Religion: Baptist

Other Facts:

Contracted polio at age two and was not allowed to walk for two years while completing physical therapy.

His wife, Elaine Chao, served as secretary of the Department of Labor underPresident George W. Bush and deputy secretary of the Department of Transportation under President George H.W. Bush.

Timeline:

1968-1970 - Chief legislative assistant to Senator Marlow Cook.

1974-1975 - Deputy Assistant United States Attorney for Legislative Affairs.

1975 - Acting Assistant Attorney General.

1978-1985 - Judge-Executive of Jefferson County, Kentucky.

1984 - Elected to the U.S. Senate to represent Kentucky.

1990 - Re-elected to the U.S. Senate.

1996 - Re-elected to the U.S. Senate.

2002 - Re-elected to the U.S. Senate.

2003-2007 - Senate Republican Whip.

November 16, 2006 - Elected Senate Republican leader. McConnell replaces Bill Frist.

2008 - Re-elected to the U.S. Senate.

October 23, 2010 - During an interview with the National Journal, McConnell says, "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obamato be a one-term president."

November 4, 2014 - Re-elected to the U.S. Senate.

November 13, 2014 - McConnell is re-elected leader of the Republican party in the Senate. When Congress reconvenes in January 2015, McConnell will take over as Senate Majority Leader from Harry Reid.

January 6, 2015-present - Senate Majority Leader.

Current funding in the federal Highway Trust Fund expires tomorrow, so it was reassuring to see lawmakers reach an agreement earlier this week on a $305 billion package to fund infrastructure projects over the next five years. But as it turns out, what’s missing from the bill is, for many, every bit as important as what’s in it.

The new highway bill, expected to pass ahead of tomorrow night’s deadline, is already a bit of a mess. Because Republicans refuse to consider raising the gas tax that pays for so much of the nation’s transportation projects, Congress is financing this bill through some one-time measures, including selling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and taking funds from a Federal Reserve surplus account. It’s a bizarre approach to making necessary public investments.

But for many lawmakers, who are surprised when anything meaningful gets done in Congress, the fact that a highway bill came together at all is a minor miracle, and it’s expected to pass fairly easily.

There is, however, one important wrinkle. The New York Daily News reported yesterday:

Reauthorization for the Zadroga Act is being left out of a must-pass piece of legislation, advocates for the program tell the Daily News, leaving supporters howling that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is blocking crucial funding for 9/11 survivors.

Zadroga Act backers were hoping to get it permanently reauthorized in the bipartisan Highway Bill, a piece of legislation that’s expected to be released Tuesday evening. But funding for the program for 9/11 first responders and other victims of the terror attacks’ aftermath, which officially expired last fall and will run out of money early next year, was left out during negotiations between the House and Senate in spite of expectations that it would be added.

As omissions go, this is a big one.

For those unfamiliar with the fight, let’s recap. In 2010, there was a surprisingly bitter fight over a bill called the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. The point of the measure was to provide “medical coverage and financial assistance to members of the civilian army who rallied to serve their country and city in the dark days after” 9/11. Many of these first responders and civilians breathed the toxic air at Ground Zero, “and suffered severe illnesses, including cancers, because of their service.”

Congressional Republicans tried to derail the bill, and theynearly succeeded, before the then-Democratic majoritymanaged to overcome GOP opposition, pass the Zadroga 9/11 bill, and send it to the White House for President Obama’s signature.

Five years later, the law needs to be reauthorized, and Democrats believed the Zadroga bill would be included in the must-pass highway bill, resolving both issues at once. NBC News reported, however, that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) stripped the Zadroga provisions from the larger package.

[A]ides familiar with the negotiations say that Sen. McConnell asked that the highway bill also lift the U.S. ban on oil exports, and when that was not agreed to he stopped the Zadroga Act from being included in the five-year highway legislation.

“I believe that Senator McConnell was using this as a negotiating position – give us something, we’ll give you help for the 9/11 rescue workers,” Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told reporters on Tuesday, “And in the end he was the one, Senator (Charles) Schumer and (Kirsten) Gillibrand ticked off every box of every potential opponent, Democrat, Republican, House and Senate, and it all came down to one box at the bottom: Mitch McConnell. He stopped it.”

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) added the Zadroga bill has been “done” for a while. “It was supposed to be in the highway bill, quite frankly I was surprised yesterday when I was told by Senator McConnell that it wasn’t going to be in the highway bill, I was really quite surprised,” the Democratic leader added.

For its part, McConnell’s office insists the Zadroga measure isn’t yet done, and “questions of duration and pay-fors are still being worked out.”

In other words, the policy isn’t necessarily dead, so proponents still have reason to hope.

That said, the expectation was that the issue would be resolved this week, and as of now, it appears that will not happen.

Postscript: It’s worth noting for context that McConnell opposed the Zadroga bill when it came up in 2010. Of the senators (and former senators) running for president, Bernie Sanders voted for the measure, Lindsey Graham voted against it, and Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Rand Paul had not yet taken office.

Time for Krugman's analysis of why voters would give this group such a victory. It's not pretty, and none too flattering to voters.

Part of the answer is that leading Republicans managed to mask their true positions. Perhaps most notably, Senator Mitch McConnell, the incoming majority leader, managed to convey the completely false impression that Kentucky [7] could retain its impressive gains in health coverage even if Obamacare were repealed.

http://www.alternet.org/election-2014/mitch-mcconnell-sends-out-voter-intimidation-mailer-prompting-democratic-challenger

http://convio.motherjones.com/site/R?i=IYnEfAAqCLI4_GC9piBS0w

There may be no Washington lawmaker cozier with K Street than Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). DC law firms and lobbying shops are stuffed with ex-McConnell staffers and pals. And he uses them well to preserve his power and position. As the conservative National Review reported, "McConnell has often exercised power in DC by pressuring major donors to withhold donations from a given lawmaker or organization. His allies on K Street are often the people who deliver this message and 'enforce' it." The stats below show just how close McConnell is with the well-heeled lobbyists of Washington, DC—a relationship that no doubt will serve both sides well, should the GOP win the Senate and McConnell become its majority leader. [READ MORE]

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/363459/mitch-mcconnell-war-jonathan-strong 2 front fight w/ scf demint

8/27/14 kpfa koch talk audio scary

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/08/mcconnell-disses-student-loans-minimum

also audio:

attention, moochers!

Mitch McConnell has some promises for you, and you and you over there. He's not making them to just anyone, either. No, here we have Mitch unbound, just like Mittens was in 2012, while speaking to his Billionaire Bucks at the recent Koch summit.

Among his promises:

To duck the filibuster on the granny-starving budget bill by using - GASP - reconciliation.

To add riders to the bill limiting that uppity black guy's ability to spend money. So you know, he can have no discretion. What were the exact words he used? Oh yeah. "No money can be spent to do this or do that. We're going to go after them on health care, on financial services, on the Environmental Protection Agency..."

Also, he wants all of us bleeding heart liberals to know we believe in all the wrong things. Doggone it, he's not going to debate it anymore when he's in charge. Like helping college students get a degree so they can form a more educated workforce. And extending unemployment is out of the question. No way, no how. Let them all eat cake. Or something.

The content isn't what makes this remarkable. We all know on some level that he thinks this. The remarkable (and damning part) is that he just got caught sharing his true feelings about Americans with his billionaires. And there were lots of them at that Koch meeting. Listen to his tone.

It wasn't just Mitt. It's all of them. We just believe in the wrong things. That's all. Uncle Mitch will fix it.

The Nation:

Just days before he addressed the Koch brothers’ billionaire donor summit, McConnell was instrumental in blocking Senator Elizabeth Warren’s proposal to help Americans refinance their growing student loan debt. Warren’s plan would have been funded by a new minimum tax on America’s wealthiest. After McConnell’s filibuster, Warren began campaigning for Grimes in Kentucky saying, “Mitch McConnell is there for millionaires and billionaires. He is not there for people who are working hard playing by the rules and trying to build a future for themselves.” On the campaign stump, McConnell has said that “not everybody needs to go to Yale” and that cash-strapped students should look into for-profit colleges.

The main thrust of McConnell’s remarks to the Koch conference were about his pet issue,campaign finance, which he regards as a matter of free speech. (A full transcript of McConnell’s remarks is available here). The senator recounted the history of campaign finance reform in America from the twentieth century through today, sharing opinions and personal anecdotes along the way.

Republicans are a joke and if we don't toss their asses out of office in November it's our own damn fault, because WE outnumber THEM.

vulnerable ( scion, ad with grandma?; no record to hit her w/ A Grimes) low poll numbers, TP does not like him;

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/16/mcconnell-epa-coal_n_4611810.html?view=print

Sheppard

kate.sheppard@huffingtonpost.com

Mitch McConnell Aims To Torpedo EPA Carbon Rules With Obscure Legislative Tool

Posted: 01/16/2014 4:31 pm EST | Updated: 01/17/2014 11:01 am EST

WASHINGTON -- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is seeking to block new rules from the Environmental Protection Agency regarding carbon emission limits for coal-fired power plants before the rules are even finalized.

On Thursday, McConnell announced that he is filing a "resolution of disapproval" to stop the EPA "from imposing its anti-coal regulation."

The senator wants to employ the little-used Congressional Review Act of 1996, or CRA, which sets up an expedited process for Congress to overturn regulations from the executive branch. The only time the law has been wielded successfully was in 2001, when Republicans used it to block new ergonomics rules from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued during the Clinton years. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) tried to employ the law in 2010 to block the EPA's finding that greenhouse gases pose a threat to human health, but the measure failed (despite drawing yes votes from six Democrats).

Still, there is one definite advantage for McConnell in turning to the law: A CRA resolution requires only a simple majority to pass.

McConnell said that his Kentucky colleague Sen. Rand Paul is a co-sponsor of the current measure, along with 39 other Senate Republicans.

"The majority leader and his Washington Democrat caucus now have a choice," McConnell said in a floor speech Thursday. "Are they going to stand with the coal families under attack in places like Kentucky and West Virginia and Colorado, or are they going to continue to stand with the powerful left-wing special interests that want to see their jobs eliminated?"

McConnell's announcement struck some as a little premature, given that the EPA has yet to even finalize its greenhouse gas rules for carbon dioxide. The agency just published draft rules last week. But McConnell has asked the Government Accountability Office whether he can employ the CRA before the regulations are finalized, according to a letter obtained by National Journal.

Environmental advocates criticized his move. "Senator McConnell's attempt to invoke this law prematurely is a meritless deep reach into his desperate bag of tricks to derail sound climate policy Americans support," said Jim Murphy, senior counsel for the National Wildlife Federation.

cut food stamps, boost agribiz subsidies: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/14/2013-farm-bill-senate_n_3273838.html 90$/mo

The Senate bill calls for a total of roughly $2.4 billion a year in cuts, while a House version to be considered Wednesday would save $4 billion out of almost $100 billion annually. Those cuts include more than $600 million in yearly savings from across-the-board cuts that took effect earlier this year.

Much of the savings in the House and Senate bills comes from eliminating the direct payments, which are frequently criticized because they aren't tied to production or crop prices. Part of that savings would go toward deficit reduction, but the rest of the money would create new programs and raise subsidies for some crops while business is booming in the agricultural sector....

In order to boost savings, the Senate bill would cut $400 million out of almost $80 billion spent annually on food stamps, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The legislation would save dollars by targeting states that give people who don't have heating bills very small amounts of heating assistance so they can automatically qualify for higher food stamp benefits.

The committee rejected amendments by Johanns and Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., to expand the cut, while New York Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, a Democrat, said she will offer amendments on the Senate floor to restore the food stamp dollars. She said the cuts are immoral.

All three of those senators voted against the final bill, along with Roberts and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who sits on the agriculture panel but did not attend the meeting....

Longtime critics of farm policy say that even with the belt-tightening, the legislation is still a giveaway to the largest farms which tend to receive the largest shares of the subsidies.

"It's very disappointing in a time of runaway deficits and record farm income," says Scott Faber of the Environmental Working Group.

This morning, Mother Jones dropped a bombshell of a story revealing Senator Mitch McConnell and his top aides discussing how they planned to use Ashley Judd's mental health and religion to smear her in a political campaign. (Judd, a potential Democratic challenger to McConnell, recently announced she would not run). The Republican Party has reacted with anger, claiming that the story, based on a recording given to reporter David Corn by an anonymous source, is based on "Watergate-style tactics," insinuating that some type of break and entry occurred at McConnell's office.

led filibuster of disclose act

http://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/06/20/9145/us-chamber-gop-block-election-ad-transparency-bill

A similar dynamic exists in the Senate, where the U.S. Chamber has long-standing ties to Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell. The director of McConnell’s first reelection campaign and subsequent chief of staff, Steven Law, went on to become the U.S. Chamber’s chief legal officer and general counsel (a position he very recently left to serve as CEO of American Crossroads,9 a right-wing organization that coordinated with the U.S. Chamber to funnel tens of millions of dollars into this year’s elections).10

While Law was at the U.S. Chamber, the Chamber fought hard for McConnell, lauding his anti-health care reform stance11 and running ads in McConnell’s 2008 election against his opponent.12 McConnell worked just as hard for the U.S. Chamber: in 2008, the Chamber awarded him a 100 percent rating, reflecting McConnell’s support of the interests of the U.S. Chamber’s corporate funders on every vote the Chamber counted that year. Over his twenty-six-year Senate career, McConnell boasts a lifetime U.S. Chamber of Commerce rating of ninety-one percent.13 As the Chamber has sought to portray President Obama’s administration as anti-business, McConnell walked the Chamber line “on the issue of curbing the Obama administration's appetite for stronger business regulation,”14 saying, “the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”15

Boehner and McConnell’s loyalty to the U.S. Chamber is mirrored by the new class of mostly Republican representatives the Chamber worked to elect this fall, spending at least $31,702,779 on ads in federal races alone (although the total...

has said any limit on campaigns , any disclosure opens up donor to retaliation by gov't ?

hmmn

Tries to undo campaign finance reform:

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF HAWAIi

IN THE MATTER OF MARY LOU WOO TRUSTEE, PLAINTIFF

BOBBY N. HARMON, DEFENDANT

CIVIL NO. 05-00030- DAE-KSG

(JUDGES DAVID A. EZRA AND KEVIN S. CHANG)

DEFENDANT’S WITNESS

MITCH McCONNELL

Republican Senator from Kentucky; majority whip in the Senate; major opponent of the McCain-Feingold Bill for Campaign Finance Reform and major proponent of unlimited campaign contributions based upon the First Amendment ; husband of U.S. Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao.

On December 10, 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld most provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002 in a 5 to 4 decision seen as a victory for campaign finance reform advocates. After a six and a half year effort, the Senate passed BCRA in a 60 to 40 vote on March 20, 2002. President Bush quietly signed the measure into law (Public Law No. 107-155) on March 27, 2002; it took effect on November 6, 2002. The law next faced the Federal Election Commission's rulemaking process and legal challenges.

On March 21, 2002, the day after the Senate passed the bill, Sen. Mitch McConnell, who termed the measure "unconstitutional" and an "assault" on freedom of speech, announced the heavyweight legal team he has put together to challenge the legislation--Floyd Abrams, Judge Kenneth Starr, James Bopp, Bobby R. Burchfield, Jan Baran, and Dean Kathleen M. Sullivan. The very day Bush signed the bill, McConnell filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Suits by various other groups were consolidated into McConnell v. FEC.

Senator Mitchell McConnell

This witness is expected to testify regarding his political, business, professional and personal relationships with Jack Abramoff, Karl Rove, “Scooter” Libby, Hal Rogers, Ernie Fletcher, Gale Norton, Bureau of Indian Affairs, The Nature Conservancy, Henry Paulson, Peter Savio, Frank Carlucci, Carlyle Group, Ashland Oil, Aloha Petroleum, Wackenhut, John Peyton, Corrections Corp. of America, John Snow, CSX, Inc., Ralph Reed, Jr., Grover Norquist, Michael Scanlon, Dan Inouye, Daniel Akaka, Neil Abercrombie, Ed Case, Linda Lingle, Maurice Greenberg, American International Group (AIG), Lippo Group, Robert Rubin, Citigroup, James T. Riady, John Huang, Sukamto Sia, Al Gore, William B. Blount, Protective Life Corp., CRC Protective Life Insurance, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Bill Frist, Columbia/HCA, Hawaiian Tropics, Randy “Duke” Cunningham, Titan Corp., Kathleen Sullivan, and other entities to be named upon discovery.

Internet References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitch_McConnell

www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a6553426d0f.htm

www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2002/03/22/usat-campaign.htm

www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=393

www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/030519/19mcconnell.htm

www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Mitch_McConnell

http://oakland.drinkingliberally.org/

www.cwa9430.org/ramblings.html

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10723902/from/RL.5/

www.opensecrets.org/1996os/detail/S2KY00012.htm

http://mcconnell.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=224452&start=1

www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/07/18/loc_kydiscipline18.html

www.the-catbird-seat.net/Titan-Corp.htm

www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5394

http://hawaiiankingdom.info/C608676235/E20050723045558/

www.kpua.net/news.php?id=5812

www.the-catbird-seat.net/Title-VIII-Appropriations-10-28-0.pdf

www.the-catbird-seat.net/Prisons-Mitch-McConnell.htm

www.the-catbird-seat.net/Octopus.htm

www.the-catbird-seat.net/PrivatePrisons.htm

www.the-catbird-seat.net/BrokenTrust.htm

www.the-catbird-seat.net/NuclearNests.htm

www.the-catbird-seat.net/Paradise3.htm

www.the-catbird-seat.net/IndonesianConnection.htm

www.the-catbird-seat.net/DCBats.htm

TO GO TO THE WOO VS. HARMON WITNESS INDEX

Jack Abramoff connection

McConnell "said through his spokesman that the money given to him and his political committee by three [American Indian] tribes will be donated to the Wayside Christian Mission in Louisville, which helps the poor and homeless. While federal records show McConnell received $18,500, his office's accounting showed $19,500, and that is what will be given to Wayside," James R. Carroll reported in the January 5, 2006, Louisville, Kentucky, Courier-Journal.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) has joined the pro-polluter frenzy sweeping the U.S. Senate, introducing legislation to permanently cripple Clean Air Act rules on global warming pollution. The small business legislation, the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2011 (S. 493), introduced by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), is being used as a vehicle for senators who wish to prevent regulation of greenhouse pollution from oil refineries, coal-fired power plants, heavy industry, and other major emitters. Stabenow has added her amendment to three others intended to hamstring the Environmental Protection Agency on behalf of carbon polluters.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has introduced amendment 183 [PDF], the Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011, first introduced by Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.). The amendment is cosponsored by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Mike Johanns (R-Neb.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.). The amendment calls for:

The permanent prohibition on Clean Air Act regulation of greenhouse gases, other than the existing motor vehicle rules

Repeal of the greenhouse gas endangerment finding and reporting requirements

Preventing any future California waiver for tailpipe greenhouse emissions

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) has introduced amendment 215 [PDF], the EPA Stationary Source Regulations Suspension Act, cosponsored by Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.). The amendment calls for:

A two-year suspension of stationary source regulations of carbon dioxide and methane.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has introduced amendment 236 [PDF], which has three elements:

Forbidding regulation of greenhouse gases from a emitter that doesn't also produce other regulated air pollution

Codification of the EPA tailoring rule that establishes a 75,000 ton CO2e/year threshold for regulation

Excluding regulation of biofuel greenhouse emissions related to land-use changes, or of any greenhouse emissions from other agricultural activities

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) has introduced amendment 265 [PDF], which has four elements:

A two-year suspension of stationary source greenhouse gas regulations

Preventing any future California waiver for tailpipe greenhouse emissions

Excluding regulation of biofuel greenhouse emissions related to land-use changes, or of any greenhouse emissions from other agricultural activities

Allocating $5 billion to the Advanced Energy Project tax credit

Votes on some combination of these amendments is expected as early as Thursday afternoon.

http://www.publicintegrity.org/congressional_patrons/entry/2112/

staffer law worked at CoC and Am Crossroads

Jack Abramoff Connection

Tobacco issues

From tobacco industry documents, a 1995 internal R.J. Reynolds email indicates support of Sen. McConnell enjoys from RJR, and Sen. McConnell's support for the tobacco industry:

McConnell is up for reelection in 1996 so don't be surprised if he raises that point and the need for RJRT and the industry to help often and early. As we have done during his previous elections, we will provide maximum help very early...The Senator is our strongest supporter on the product liability and the effective date issue for punitive damages...McConnell is likely to be our preferred point person on the FDA issues in both Appropriations and other legislative vehicles...

[4]

Marked funds for firm under investigation

Sen. Mitch McConnell, pushed $25 million in earmarked federal funds for a British defense contractor that is under criminal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for bribery. He had taken at least $53,000 in campaign donations from BAE's political action committees and employees since his 2002 re-election. McConnell's earmarks included $12.2 million for five-inch Naval gun mount overhauls; $8 million for Naval destroyer weapons modernization; and $4.8 million for ammunition pallets for Naval ships. "Most politicians decide that a scandal is a good time to stop doing business with a company, at least until the scandal is over, particularly when we're talking about a criminal investigation over bribery. You would think that a member of Congress would want to steer clear of anyone accused of bribery," said Melanie Sloan, the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.[1]

Bio

Background

McConnell was born February 20, 1942 in Alabama and raised in south Louisville, Kentucky. He graduated from the University of Louisville College of Arts and Sciences in 1964, and from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1967. McConnell gained experience on Capitol Hill as an intern under Sen. John Sherman Cooper, later as an assistant to Sen. Marlow Cook, and was a Deputy Assistant Attorney General under President Gerald R. Ford Jr.. From 1978 to his election into the Senate in 1984, he was the County Judge-Executive of Jefferson County, Kentucky, which includes Louisville.[5]

McConnell is married to the Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao.

Senate Career

In 1984, McConnell ran against two-term Democratic Senator Dee Huddleston and won by a razor-thin margin — less than half a percentage point.

McConnell faced a tough reelection contest against former Louisville mayor Harvey I. Sloane in 1990, winning by 4.5 points. He had a slightly easier time in 1996 even as Bill Clinton narrowly carried the state. In 2002, he was reelected with the largest majority by a Republican candidate in Kentucky history. On November 12 of that year, McConnell was unanimously elected as Majority Whip of the Senate.

In 2006, following the November elections in which Republicans lost control of the Senate, McConnell was unanimously selected by the Senate Republican caucus to be minority leader for the 110th Congress. He took over the position of top Republican from Sen. Bill Frist (Tenn.), who retired at the end of the 109th Congress. [6]

McConnell has a solidly conservative voting record in the Senate, and is widely considered a "kingmaker" in Kentucky Republican politics.

Money in politics

This section contains links to – and feeds from – money in politics databases. cid=N00003389&cycle=2006

Links to more campaign contribution information for Mitch McConnell

from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org site.

Fundraising profile: 2006 election cycle Career totals

Top contributors by organization/corporation: 2006 election cycle Career totals

Top contributors by industry: 2006 election cycle Career totals

Revolving door profile for Mitch McConnell from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org website.

2006 privately funded travel profile for Mitch McConnell from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org website.

Personal finance profile for Mitch McConnell from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org website.

Oil and Coal Money in Politics

Mitch McConnell has received $305,600 in oil contributions during the 110th congress. $147,000 of those dollars were from industry PACS.In total, McConnell has accepted $474,658 from oil companies since from 2000 to 2008, making him a leading recipient of oil money.[2] In addition to oil, McConnell has received $187,350 in coal contributions during the 110th congress. $78,250 of those dollars were from industry PACS. See above for oil and energy voting record.[citation needed]

Republicans have taken advantage of the infighting by using the Senate's baroque parliamentary rules to throw down as many procedural impediments to legislation as possible. Directing the obstructionism is McConnell, the Senate minority leader. A jowly Kentuckian renowned for his skill at inserting pork projects into legislation, McConnell spearheaded the opposition to campaign finance reform that ended in the recent Supreme Court decision allowing unlimited corporate spending in American elections. "McConnell has always been the tactician," says Rollins. "He knows how to tie up the Senate." In a dramatic break from precedent, McConnell has subjected even the most routine Senate business to the 60-vote threshold required to break a filibuster — a move traditionally used only in dire policy disputes. McConnell began his obstructionism after Democrats took control of the Senate in 2007, forcing a record 139 "cloture" votes to defeat the filibuster — more than double the 68 cloture votes in the previous Congress. The Senate is now on track to eclipse even that record, with Republicans forcing more filibuster votes last year alone than the Senate cast in the decades of the 1950s and 1960s combined. "I've never seen the Constitution stood on its head, as they've done," Vice President Biden said in January. "This is the first time every single solitary decision has required 60 senators."

Republicans are using the filibuster not only to delay legislation they genuinely oppose, but as part of a broader strategy to stall Democrats on other initiatives. Last fall, GOP leaders forced Democrats to overcome a pair of filibusters to extend unemployment benefits. "There was no opposition to the bill," observed Sen. Bayh, who noted that the measure passed by a margin of 98-0. "But some senators saw political advantage in drawing out debate, thus preventing the Senate from addressing other pressing matters."

The GOP has also used parliamentary chicanery to prevent Obama from filling key roles in his administration. Under Senate rules, a single senator can anonymously block a vote on a White House nominee by using what's known as a "hold." "It's a policy that is easily abused," says former Bush adviser David Frum — and Republicans have proved themselves eager to abuse it, even at the expense of national security. After the attempted Christmas Day airline bombing, Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina continued to block a vote on the chief of the Transportation Security Administration because he didn't like the nominee's pro-union politics. In February, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama placed a blanket hold on more than 70 nominees — including three high-level Pentagon officials — in a stunt designed to steer more military pork projects to his state. The GOP's willingness to gum up the works is unprecedented: While Bush ended his first year with just 70 appointees awaiting confirmation, more than 200 of Obama's nominees are still in Senate limbo.

By voting en masse against the president's initiatives, Republicans now have the luxury of casting everything as Obama's fault — even if it requires distorting the president's record. Democrats, they argue, are hurting average Americans. "The economy is worse for having done the stimulus," says Norquist. "It's not that it helped a little bit. It didn't help at all!" The GOP, he insists, can make the same argument on health care: "There's nothing in the health care bill that's any good at all. It's all taxes and transfers of income. There's nothing in there that reduces the costs of health care for anybody."

To avoid answering questions posed by six U.S. Senators concerned with the records of President Bush and EPA nominee Michael Leavitt on environmental issues that affect the lives of millions of Americans, Senate Republicans Bill Frist (R-TN) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) last night filed a cloture petition ( write a petition ) to override "holds" placed on Leavitt's nomination and to cut off any floor debate--before any debate has even begun. --EarthJustice

"The Senators with holds on Mike Leavitt's confirmation vote have asked legitimate questions about this nomination. The Senators have questions that have yet to be answered about whether Governor Leavitt and President Bush will continue to weaken our nation's environmental safeguards. They are refusing to release information about their anti-environmental policies," said Joan Mulhern, senior legislative counsel for Earthjustice.

"This disrespectful disregard of traditional Senate processes is an effort to force a vote on the EPA nomination before many important questions can even be asked," said Mulhern. "The Bush administration and Senate Republican leadership apparently don't believe they have to answer to anyone about their policies to destroy federal environmental safeguards. These are life and death issues for many Americans - will our drinking water be clean? Is the air safe for our kids to breathe? The Bush White House and Governor Leavitt do not want to answer these questions.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bush_regime_environmental_record

TWO

new 3/15

tag mcconn 12/16

staffer mafia

capt 4/18 bak

619 capt

congrats you evil feck 10/16: furies?

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As he blocks election security bills, Mitch McConnell takes checks from voting machine lobbyists

written by June 12, 2019

This article was written by Donald Shaw and reprinted from Sludge, which produces investigative journalism on lobbying and money in politics. In 2016, Russian hackers targeted voting systems in 21…

This article was written by Donald Shaw and reprinted from Sludge, which produces investigative journalism on lobbying and money in politics.

In 2016, Russian hackers targeted voting systems in 21 states and, according to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, breached systems in Illinois and two counties in Florida, gaining access to information on millions of registered voters. In his report, Mueller described the Russian government’s interference in the 2016 elections as “sweeping and systematic.”

Three years later, security experts warn that not enough has been done to address vulnerabilities in the U.S. election system. The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations recently told Congress that “the threats just keep escalating,” adding that he viewed the 2018 midterms as a “dress rehearsal for the big show in 2020.”

In fourteen states, some 2018 midterm voters submitted their votes on touchscreens that did not produce paper trails necessary to verify their votes or audit election outcomes. If votes had been inaccurately processed in these precincts—whether through equipment errors or foreign hacking operations—election officials wouldn’t have been able to find or correct the problems.

Several Democratic and Republican members of Congress have submitted legislation to shore up election security. Proposals from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) include replacing paperless electronic voting machines with hand-marked paper ballots and optical scanners, subjecting voting equipment vendors to rigorous cybersecurity standards, and requiring vendors to report cybersecurity incidents.

But all the bills have hit a roadblock. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has reportedly told his colleagues that he will not allow the Senate to vote on election security legislation this session

“At this point I don’t see any likelihood that those bills would get to the floor if we mark them up,” Senator Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said recently when asked by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) whether the Rules Committee, which Blunt chairs, would mark up any election security bills. The Hill asked McConnell’s office about Blunt’s comments regarding election security and was referred to the majority leader’s verdict on the Mueller report: “case closed.”

Senator Wyden told Sludge he thinks McConnell does not want to make elections more secure.

“The only logical conclusion is that Senator McConnell wants American elections to be vulnerable to hackers and foreign interference,” Wyden said. “It is unconscionable for Republicans to stick their heads in the sand and do nothing after what happened in 2016. If Congress doesn’t act, it’s only a matter of time before hackers successfully interfere again.”

The two largest voting machine vendors in the U.S., Election Systems & Software (ES&S) and Dominion Voting Systems, together supply more than 80% of the nation’s voting machines. The companies have operated extensive lobbying operations in states for years, and both companies recently hired new lobbyists to represent them at the federal level.

ES&S hired lobbying firm Peck Madigan Jones in Oct. 2018 and paid it a combined $150,000 to lobby the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives in the fourth quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019. ES&S did not employ any federal lobbyists in 2017, and when they reported lobbying in previous years it was at a much lower level, spending just $10,000 in many quarters. Dominion Voting Systems, which was recently acquired by New York-based hedge fund Staple Street Capital, signed its first-ever federal lobbying contract in January 2019 with Brownstein Hyatt Farber and Schreck and has paid the company at least $30,000 so far to lobby Congress.

Several of the lobbyists working for ES&S and Dominion Voting Systems have recently made contributions to McConnell’s campaign and joint fundraising committee.

Brownstein Hyatt Farber and Schreck lobbyist David Cohen, who lobbies for Dominion Voting Systems on issues related to election security and monitors federal legislation for the company, gave McConnell $2,000 on March 31: $1,000 to his campaign committee and $1,000 to his joint fundraising committee. Lobbyist Brain Wild, who works alongside Cohen on the Dominion contract, gave McConnell $1,000 on the same day.

Emily Kirlin, a lobbyist for Peck Madigan Jones who lobbies for ES&S on election security and H.R. 1, gave McConnell’s campaign committee $1,000 on February 19, and her colleague who works with her on the contract, Jen Olson, gave McConnell $1,000 on March 4.

“It’s not surprising to me that Mitch McConnell is receiving these campaign contributions,” the Brennan Center for Justice’s Lawrence Noren told Sludge. “He seems single-handedly to be standing in the way of anything passing in Congress around election security, and that includes things that the vendors might want, like money for the states to replace antiquated equipment.”

“Mitch McConnell’s conflicts of interest in blocking any and all election security legislation is not only shameful, it is placing our democracy at risk,” Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist at Public Citizen, told Sludge. “The conflicts of interest arise from more than the campaign contributions he is receiving from voting machine vendors—contributions which certainly appear to be a reward from the industry for letting them off the hook—but it is also a self-serving act for strictly partisan purposes.

“McConnell believes this foreign interference in our democratic process will again favor the GOP, and so he is doing everything possible to make sure that window stays wide open for those who seek to do harm to our political system,” Holman said.

McConnell’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Voting machine vendors like ES&S and Dominion Voting Systems are not currently subject to any specific regulations or mandatory security standards.

“In contrast to other sectors, particularly those that the federal government has designated ‘critical infrastructure,’ there is almost no federal oversight of private vendors that design and maintain the systems that allow us to determine who can vote, how they vote, what voters see when they cast their vote, how votes are counted, and how those vote totals are communicated to the public,” Noren told Congress recently in a testimony. “In fact, there are more federal regulations for ballpoint pens and magic markers than there are for voting systems and other parts of our federal election infrastructure.”

Several of the bills that have been proposed in Congress would subject them to regulation and oversight for the first time, and some could result in the companies doing less business with the states as they encourage the use of hand-marked ballots instead of machines.

A bill from Senator Wyden—the Protecting American Votes and Election Act (PAVE Act)—would, for the first time, establish minimum cybersecurity requirements that election equipment vendors would have to comply with in order for their equipment to be eligible for use in federal elections. The rules would be established by the Department of Homeland Security, and systems would have to be tested and certified by the Election Assistance Commission (EAC).

The PAVE Act would also require voting systems to use an “individual, durable, voter-verifiable, paper ballot of the voter’s vote that shall be marked and made available for physical inspection and verification by the voter before the voter’s vote is cast and tabulated.” And while the bill does not explicitly ban electronic systems for marking paper ballots—something that both ES&S and Dominion Voting Systems have begun manufacturing—it specifies that funding it would give to states to replace their paperless systems could not be used “to acquire any electronic device that a voter can use to mark a paper ballot.”

If a paper ballot requirement were to become law, with or without a funding restriction such as the one included in Wyden’s bill, the increased costs and security risks of ballot-marking machines could make them less appealing to states looking to purchase new systems.

According to testimony from Alex Halderman, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan, equipping a precinct with ballot-marking electronic devices costs about three times as much as equipping it with a truly paper-based system along with a dedicated electronic device for voters with disabilities. “Fortunately, the most cost-effective approach is also the most secure: hand-marked paper ballots counted using optical scanners,” Halderman stated.

Another bill being blocked by McConnell, the House-passed H.R.1, includes a paper ballot requirement and would subject vendors to additional new security regulations. Voting machine vendors would be required to follow cybersecurity best practices that would be issued by the EAC’s Technical Guidelines Development Committee, and they would have to report election cybersecurity incidents and response plans to the EAC. They would also be forced to submit their equipment to independent security testing, and the EAC would be empowered to decertify any equipment that does not meet its security standards.

“I don’t know why Mitch McConnell is staging a full roadblock of election security legislation,” Wyden said. “But it is clear as day that there are politicians in the country who view insecure voting equipment as a benefit that helps them win elections. Instead of defending Americans’ constitutional rights, they are looking at this issue from a purely cynical and political standpoint.”

https://www.alternet.org/2019/06/as-he-blocks-election-security-bills-mitch-mcconnell-takes-checks-from-voting-machine-lobbyists/

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As he blocks election security bills, Mitch McConnell takes checks from voting machine lobbyists

https://www.alternet.org/2019/06/mitch-mcconnells-empire-of-corruption-this-is-what-joe-bidens-normal-looks-like/

digby

...Biden is just wrong about this. As someone who was an integral part of the Obama administration, he should know better. He participated in the Obama team’s tortured attempts at a Grand Bargain with then-House Speaker Paul Ryan, when they got snookered over and over again until they finally woke up to the fact that the Republicans were not acting in good faith.

The Republican Party went over the cliff quite some time ago and there is no evidence at all that it is prepared to climb back up. For that we can thank a lot of people, from Rupert Murdoch to the Tea Party, but none so much as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Even more than Trump himself, McConnell exemplifies the degradation of the GOP.

Recent reporting shows that he’s like the president in some ways that may surprise people. McConnell is not only a ruthless partisan, he also appears to be taking full advantage of the chaos and corruption of the current era to enrich himself personally. His partner in that endeavor is his wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. And what a partnership it is.

The New York Times reports that Chao has blatantly leveraged her position in Trump’s Cabinet to benefit her family’s shipping business, the Foremost Group. In 2017, she had planned a visit to Beijing, ostensibly on government business, and has also arranged for members of the family to attend government meetings. This so alarmed the U.S. embassy that staffers there got in touch with the State Department to find out how to handle it. That visit was canceled, but according to this Politico article published last month, Chao has held at least a dozen interviews with Chinese media, with her father by her side, clearly associating his business with her position as transportation secretary.