Chairman, Energy and Natural Resources Committee
Armed Services Committee
Finance Committee
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee
Joint Economic Committee
Jeff Bingaman was Dick’s client when he was first elected in 1982. That was when they were both liberal Democrats. Bingaman still is.
He voted against the Bush tax cuts (back in 2001 and 2003, and against extending them now). He backed ObamaCare, the stimulus, the financial regulation, the GM bailout, etc., etc. He backs immigration reform, cap and trade, and any other liberal initiative.
But he’s been forthright about his views and kept to a high standard of personal ethics.
His wife is another story. Anne Bingaman was appointed to head the antitrust division of the Justice Department by President Bill Clinton. While the appointment may appear to smack of nepotism (possibly a blind spot in a president who helped his wife’s career along a time or two), those who know Anne all say she is highly competent, aggressive, and able. She was a strong enforcer of antitrust laws under Clinton.
Then she went through the revolving door and took a $2.5 million fee from Global Crossing Limited as a lobbyist.92 Her representation was perfectly legal, since she had been out of office the requisite amount of time required by law, but it was disappointing nonetheless.
BusinessWeek noted that “Global Crossing’s adventures in Washington make for an…audacious—and cautionary—tale of influence buying. Global Crossing, which [has] filed for bankruptcy, became a lobbying powerhouse…as it sought help from lawmakers and regulators to expand its international cable network.”93
In 1998, Global Crossing wasn’t much interested in politics and gave only $34,000 to candidates and parties. But, in 2000, when they needed favors in Washington, they coughed up $2.9 million—including money for Anne Bingaman.94 “They came out of nowhere and papered the town with money,” says Larry Makinson, executive director of Citizens for Responsive Government.95
BusinessWeek reports that “in 1999, Global Crossing was planning to lay a transpacific fiber-optic cable and faced competition from a powerful consortium of companies, including AT&T and WorldCom.”
[Global Crossing CEO Gary] Winnick hired Anne Bingaman, former Justice Dept. antitrust chief from 1993–96, and Greg Simon, a former domestic policy adviser to Vice President Al Gore, to lobby the Federal Communications Commission. Global Crossing paid Bingaman, now chairman of Valor Communications in Irving, Texas, an unprecedented $2.5 million for six months’ work. The company failed to block the rival group from getting a license, but did force it to modify its proposal in ways so it couldn’t dominate the market.96
When Jeff Bingaman went to Washington, it was after a distinguished tenure as New Mexico’s attorney general. But he clearly has benefited financially from his wife’s passage through the revolving door that separates government officials from lobbyists. Now, after thirty years in Congress, maybe his Mr.-Smith-Goes-to-Washington credentials are a bit rusty.
Bill Nelson
Florida
Elected in 2000
Voted with the Democrats 92% of the time97
Budget Committee
Armed Services Committee
Finance Committee
Intelligence Committee
Senator Bill Nelson has a problem. He voted to cut Medicare by $500 billion. And he comes from Florida, the state with the highest percentage of elderly in the nation. While 12.4% of the U.S. population is 65 or over, 17.6% of Floridians are.98
So how does he explain that he not only voted for the Medicare cut, but that his was the deciding vote that let it pass? Tough question.
He had high hopes that he would be able to buy his way out of political trouble when he got a special interest carve-out that exempted most Floridians from losing their Medicare Advantage benefits—a largesse that was not extended to any other state’s elderly. Through Medicare Advantage, seniors can get expanded benefits like dental and eye care at a federally subsidized premium. It also provides for better coordination of their care among their doctors and a managed care approach to their treatment. The elderly like it so much that almost 10 million have enrolled. They’re now out of luck, but Nelson preserved the benefits for most of Florida’s elderly.
Big deal! The Feds will still cut $500 billion from Medicare—Nelson’s amendment notwithstanding—and the cuts will fall disproportionately on Florida because of its large senior population, who are well aware that substantial cuts in Medicare mean one thing for them: rationing.
Already, with the sharp cuts in fees to doctors for treating Medicare patients, it has become increasingly difficult for those in the program to see a specialist. One GI doctor told me that he gets less than half as much per colonoscopy from Medicare as from private insurance. “I have to quota my practice so that no more than fifteen percent is under Medicare. I can’t afford any more.”99 When a Medicare patient calls for an appointment, he schedules them for three or four months hence. But a privately insured patient gets seen right away. It’s not that he isn’t conscientious, it’s that he needs to feed his family!
Increasingly, because of ObamaCare, elderly Medicare patients will not be able to see specialists under the program. Those doctors won’t be accepting Medicare patients with the drastically limited reimbursement rates the government will offer. Oncologists, cardiologists, GI specialists, OB-GYN doctors, dermatologists, and the like will only be accessible if the elderly have private insurance, just as when they were under sixty-five. Not the Medigap insurance most elderly have, but full private insurance so they can see the specialists they’ll really need when they get very sick.
Will the elderly forgive Nelson? No way!
Nelson tries to dress the cuts up as a way to “save” Medicare by “extending its life” for additional years. The theory is that if it offers fewer benefits, it will last longer. By that logic, eliminating all the benefits would permit it to last indefinitely!
The fact is, the money that is saved by cutting Medicare is not going into the Medicare fund, it is being used to subsidize insurance for younger people, who don’t have it, whether they want it or not.
But the elderly need the medical care more. After all, those who are now uninsured are, by definition, not old (they get Medicare), not children (they get State Children’s Health Insurance Program coverage), and not poor (they get Medicaid). Also remember that noncitizens who are here legally are a large proportion of those whose coverage will be paid by cutting Medicare benefits.
Nelson’s attempts to slash Medicare spending are doomed to fail in any case. With the elderly population of the United States likely to rise by 37% by 2020 and by 80% by 2030,100 who is Nelson kidding that we can cut the cost of Medicare? Its cost will inevitably rise as the elderly population increases. These cuts will not eliminate these increases, they will just hurt elderly medical care.
The elderly don’t want their benefits cut. Having paid into Medicare for forty years, they want to be able to see an oncologist when they get cancer and a cardiologist when they have a heart attack.
Nelson thinks they are being “intolerant.” He says “what we are seeing is an intolerance of ideas, an intolerance of attitudes. We’re seeing an intolerance of anyone who is different from the people who are so intolerant.”101
The senator, safe behind the generous government insurance policy he has as a member of Congress, can well afford to be glib about “intolerance.”
He frankly admits that “the president cannot win Florida today.”102
Why not? Because “the White House staff has not done a good job reflecting the president’s desires and wishes,” Nelson said. “When your two friends go to be president and vice president, what you quickly learn is that a palace guard forms around them and it becomes almost impenetrable,”103 he said.
Gainesville.com notes that Nelson “put part of the blame on communication failures, such as a misconception that Obama wan
ts to eliminate the manned space program. The White House also needs to do a better job explaining things like the fact that tax cuts made up 40% of the stimulus bill, Nelson said.”104
Does the $500 billion Medicare cut bear any of the blame for Obama’s political fall? Are the president’s misguided policies—not just his communications—part of the problem? Apparently not in Senator Nelson’s opinion. Even allowing for the myopia and astigmatism that afflicts U.S. senators, Bill Nelson’s analysis is unbelievably out of touch.
Aware that he is on thin ice as the 2012 elections approach, he has amassed a massive campaign fund to try to get us to ignore his Medicare cuts. But he has gathered it largely by getting earmarks into the federal budget and then collecting big campaign contributions from the lobbyists for those who got the money. He has collected $8.2 million in donations from lobbyists for whose clients he secured earmarks! Here’s the list.
* * *
BILL NELSON: EARMARKS FOR CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS
Earmark: Arkansas State University
Amount: $4,800,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 160,000
Earmark: Florida A&M University
Amount: $4,800,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 90,000
Earmark: Florida State University
Amount: $7,700,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 180,000
Earmark: Alliant Techsystems
Campaign Contribution: $2,020,000
Earmark: Columbia Group
Amount: $2,880,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 16,000
Earmark: University of South Florida
Amount: $7,700,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 380,000
Earmark: University of Florida
Amount: $2,200,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 70,000
Earmark: ADA Technologies CO
Amount: $2,000,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 30,000
Earmark: Jackson Health System
Amount: $2,000,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 250,000
Earmark: Florida Atlantic University
Amount: $2,000,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 50,000
Earmark: Rockwell Collins FL; IA; KS; OR; UT
Amount: $1,600,000
Campaign Contribution: $740,138
Earmark: Mainstream Engineering
Amount: $1,600,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 40,000
Earmark: Nanotherapeutics Inc.
Amount: $1,600,000
Campaign Contribution: $200,000
Earmark: University of Central Florida
Amount: $1,820,000
Campaign Contribution: $100,000
Earmark: Conservation Fund
Amount: $1,500,000
Campaign Contribution: $271,252
Earmark: City of Jacksonville, FL
Amount: $1,250,000
Campaign Contribution: $400,000
Earmark: Space Florida
Amount: $1,100,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 50,000
Earmark: Mikros Systems
Amount: $1,000,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 50,000
Earmark: Alachua County, FL
Amount: $ 900,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 70,000
Earmark: Collier County, FL
Amount: $ 800,000
Campaign Contribution: $120,000
Earmark: Lake County, FL
Amount: $ 800,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 10,000
Earmark: University Community Hospital
Amount: $ 800,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 70,000
Earmark: CHI Systems
Amount: $ 800,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 50,000
Earmark: Burnham Inst. for Med. Research CA; FL
Amount: $ 800,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 45,000
Earmark: City of Doral, FL
Amount: $ 750,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 80,000
Earmark: City of Palm Bay, FL
Amount: $ 600,000
Campaign Contribution: $120,000
Earmark: City of Miami Beach, FL
Amount: $ 500,000
Campaign Contribution: $100,000
Earmark: City of Homestead, FL
Amount: $ 500,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 80,000
Earmark: Orange County, FL
Amount: $ 400,000
Campaign Contribution: $120,000
Earmark: City of Maitland, FL
Amount: $ 400,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 90,000
Earmark: Forever Family
Amount: $ 400,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 30,000
Earmark: Space Florida
Amount: $ 400,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 50,000
Earmark: City of Tamarac, FL
Amount: $ 300,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 80,000
Earmark: Rape, Abuse & Incest Ntnl. Network
Amount: $ 300,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 60,000
Earmark: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univ.
Amount: $ 300,000
Campaign Contribution: $100,000
Earmark: A Child Is Missing
Amount: $ 300,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 60,000
Earmark: Orlando Health
Amount: $ 450,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 90,000
Earmark: City of Jacksonville Beach, FL
Amount: $ 250,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 80,000
Earmark: St Johns County, FL
Amount: $ 250,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 40,000
Earmark: Tallahassee Community College
Amount: $ 245,000
Earmark: Santa Rosa County, FL
Amount: $ 220,000
Campaign Contribution: $242,000
Earmark: Nova Southeastern University
Amount: $ 200,000
Campaign Contribution: $250,000
Earmark: Marion County, FL
Amount: $ 200,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 80,000
Earmark: School District of Palm Beach County
Amount: $ 200,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 90,000
Earmark: Ohel Children’s Home & Family Services
Amount: $ 200,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 70,000
Earmark: Leon County, FL
Amount: $ 200,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 80,000
Earmark: KidsPeace
Amount: $ 200,000
Campaign Contribution: $100,000
Earmark: Miami-Dade County
Amount: $ 150,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 54,000
Earmark: Florida International University
Amount: $ 100,000
Campaign Contribution: $325,000
Earmark: Barry University
Amount: $2,180,000
Campaign Contribution: $ 80,000
Amount: Total
Campaign Contribution: $8,153,390105
* * *
In all, Nelson put 164 earmarks into the federal budget in 2010, costing us $172 million.106
When Marco Rubio, newly elected Republican senator from Florida, voted to ban earmarks, Senator Nelson leapt to their defense. Thestatecolumn.com reports that he “said Florida has benefited from the use of earmarks.” So has he!107 It’s a win-win situation, unless you happen to be a taxpayer!
Taking donations from those whose clients got earmarks is relatively clean money compared to some of Nelson’s early fund-raising exploits. When he ran for reelection to the Senate in 2006, the Orlando Sentinel reported that he got $62,000 from Riscorp, the company whose CEO “pleaded guilty to felony counts involving illegal campaign donations and conspiracy
and served prison time. The Riscorp scandal involved dozens of Florida state legislators and was among the largest scandals in recent Florida history.”108 Some estimates of the amount Nelson got from Riscorp go up to $80,000.109
Nelson’s 2006 opponent, Katherine Harris (of 2000 election count fame), also got money from Riscorp. But she returned it. He didn’t. According to the Sentinel, “Sen. Nelson has never repaid the funds he received [from Riscorp] and used in his campaign.”110
All of these campaign funds, whether from Riscorp or from lobbyists whose clients got earmarks, are being used, presumably, to tell us how honest Nelson is!
Debbie Stabenow
Michigan
Elected: 2000
Voted with the Democrats 95% of the time111
Budget Committee
Agriculture Committee
Energy Committee
Finance Committee
Democratic Steering Committee
More than any other state, Michigan has been destroyed by a combination of unions and the Democratic Party. Like parasites, they have fed off the state until large parts of it are a hulking, empty shell.
The parasitic UAW (United Auto Workers) has destroyed its host, America’s automobile industry, while the MEA (Michigan Education Association) has eaten state and local governments alive.
The results are dire. Michigan entered the recession years before any other state, and it now has the second highest unemployment rate in the nation. And Debbie Stabenow is an integral member of the parasitic clan that has destroyed much of the state. (Some senators, like Casey of Pennsylvania, Brown of Ohio, or McCaskill of Missouri, are tangential to the decay of their states. But Stabenow is front and center.)
Compare Pittsburgh and Detroit. In 2000, Pittsburgh had an unemployment rate of 5.1%, while Detroit’s was only 4.0%. Now the roles are reversed. Pittsburgh is at 7.4% and Detroit is stuck at the bottom, with 13.4%. Why? Because Pittsburgh—led by its political, labor, and business establishment—adjusted to the loss of the steel industry, while Detroit kept betting on the car companies to come back. And the politicians found it politically useful to peddle that delusion rather than make their constituents face the facts.
The UAW pushed wages and benefits to such heights that the car companies couldn’t compete and crashed. The MEA forced up teacher pay, insurance costs, pension deals, and other expenses, to a point where Michigan is dying because of tax increases.