Speak Out at Camp’s Office Draws Modest Crowd

Many of us couldn’t make it to Midland last Wednesday to the Speak Out at Congressman Camp’s office to protest the drastic Reverse Robin Hood budget cuts favored by the rich and powerful and their Republican lackeys. But the anti-Camp movement did indeed show up.

Democratic activist Christine Barry from Shiawassee County has pictures on her website about the event.

Dave Camp Takes Care of Himself First

At the same time that our 4th District Congressman David Camp consistently votes against increases in the minimum wage, Camp has received more than $60,000 in pay raises since he was first elected to Congress in 1990. Considering that he started at a salary of more than $89,000 when he was elected, Rep. Camp has done fine while his constituents in counties like Clare, Montcalm and Gratiot are dealing with official unemployment rates above seven per cent and real unemployment rates more than double that.

Of course, under Republican controlled leadership, members of Congress can avoid responsibility for voting in favor of their own pay raise because they are now automatic.

Congressional watchdog groups, however, consistently ask members of Congress to reject those raises, but Camp’s office is silent about those requests. Camp wasn’t silent last year though when Utah Democrat Rep Jim Matheson introduced a procedural measure to block the annual Congressional pay increase. Rubber Stamp Camp voted right along with his good buddy Tom DeLay against the effort to save the taxpayers a few more bucks.

The rich and powerful can count on Camp to vote them tax breaks, while you and I watch good paying jobs head south even faster since Camp has voted for every trade agreement he can and refuses to vote for any increases in the minimum wage. Perhaps, the Catholic Camp hasn’t read what recent popes have said about the morality of poverty and how unjust it is when the rich keep getting richer and the poor are ignored.

Camp pretends to care about us, but actions speak louder than words.

Camping Out on Lobbyist Dollars

It would be nice to take a trip if you could afford one. But our well-heeled Congressman doesn't mind a freebie when he can get them. And he doesn't have to just camp out either.

If we could only be a Republican in Washington. They seem to have all the time in the world for vacation, and we could have special interests pay for them, lavishly.

In August of 2003, our own Congressman Dave Camp went on a five day trip to London, paid for by special interests. A five day trip to London, where $15,623 was spent on Con. Camp. The stated purpose was a "transatlantic conference." A conference put together by the Ripon Educational Fund.

What is the Ripon Educational Fund? Elizabeth Drew from The New York Review of Books tells us:

The Ripon trips are famous among lobbyists for the opportunities they present for pressing their cases with members of Congress. A Republican lobbyist says that a Ripon Fund excursion has 'become the trip to go on, because of the luxury and the access.' The Washington Post reported that a Ripon Educational Fund trip to London in 2003 was attended by more than a hundred lobbyists, including representatives from American Express, AOL/Time Warner, and General Motors. They pay the Ripon Fund an annual membership fee of $9,500, and in addition finance their own trips abroad to Fund meetings.

A "transatlantic conference" to hob-nob with lobbyists? Couldn't Rep. Camp just do that on K-Street? In all, our local Washington Republican has been lavished with over $32,000 in vacations since 2001.

Go here to see more about where Con. Camp is getting his money.

Originally posted by Bob Busch

The Other Half of the Story

 

Camp Tries to Save Tom DeLay's Butt -- Dave and Tom Don't Like Ethics

 

The Story About How Dave Worked Hard To Save Tom's Butt

Way Back in January, Tom DeLay's Republican buddies knew he would be indicted, they just didn't know when. But Michigan's 4th Distroct Congressman was busy trying to change ethics rule to get his buddy off the hook. Of course, it wasn't much later that fellow Republicans couldn't jutify the Camp changes, so they had to concede Camp's idea was a bad one.

The January 5, 2005 Morning Sun had the whole sordid story. See Above Pic.

You Can Buy Dave, The Price Depends on....

Would you keep quiet and just keep doing what Dow Chemical wants you to do if you knew they were trying to pass the buck for cleaning up their mess along the Tittabawassee River in Midland and Saginaw Counties? Dow could be facing a $100 million cleanup, but it's cheaper to buy a Congressman. It looks like our 4^th District Congressman Dave Camp will not only look the other way, but actively support Bush administration efforts to let not only Dow off the hook, but all polluters. You have to hand it to “Dioxin Dave,” he doesn’t come cheap. Dow has coughed up more than $250,000 in campaign contributions since Dow helped put him in office way back in 1990. Want to keep your coal fired power plants from having to spend too much on more pollution controls? DTE and Consumers have also rewarded “Dioxin Dave” too. Check out who has given the largest bucks to keep our anti-environmental Congressman in office. http://tinyurl.com/8957f

Rubber Stamp Camp Doesn't like Criticism

Our 4th District right wing Congressman is at it again defending the indefensible. Dave Camp is singing in the Karl Rove choir again from the same Republican song sheet, but the notes are mighty sour now.

The Midland News has the story: http://tinyurl.com/89bvb

Rubber Stamp Camp agrees with everything Tom DeLay says and everything George Bush says from Terry Schiavo to Social Security and claims that this isn't the time for criticism. That's Republican hogwash and a blatant outrageous way to deny what everyone knows. Republican indifference, cronyism and mismanagement caused thousands of Americans to die both in Iraq and from the disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina.

Accountability isn't something they want to talk about now. Remember WMD? They don't want to talk about that either. Remember Terry Schiavo? Remember privatizing Social Security? How about more tax cuts for the rich? They don't want to talk about what the majority of the American people want to talk about. Greed, indifference, war profiteers, any rebuilding contracts for Halliburton? How about more tax breaks for oil companies? There's a lot of things the Bush administration doesn't want to talk about now. Messing up America and you don't want to talk about it? We beg to differ, Dave.

Camp: A Zero on the Environment

It looks like Congressman Dave Camp sides with polluters over people. His score with the League of Conservation Voters is only 5% out of 100%. By comparison our two US Senators rate an 84% from the LCV. http://tinyurl.com/e2slb The Public Research Interest Group that rates Congress on how much our national elected officials care about consumers and the environment a PIRG “Zero” joining more than 50 other Congressman who always vote with the rich and corporations over regular voters. http://tinyurl.com/95zko

Camp : Friend of the Rich, Not the Average Taxpayer

One of the mantras of the Republican Party in the past is that taxpayers have a friend in Washington, when actually only rich taxpayers have Republican friends in Washington.

The truth is Republicans like Bush and Congressman Dave Camp are ripping us off. Latest information from Taxpayers for Common Sense shows taxpayers are paying outrageous overcharges on Katrina relief efforts like temporary roof repairs from FEMA costing 10 times what they should. Check this out: http://tinyurl.com/ahwor

Taxpayers for Common Sense, a non-partisan taxpayer watchdog group is the same organization that rated our local Republican Congressman with the second worst legislative scorecard of all Michigan Congresspersons. Only Republican Congressman Joe Knowllenberg did worse. Camp got a pitiful 30% rating for keeping an eye on the bucks for taxpayers, while Knowllenberg got 5%.
Check it out here: http://tinyurl.com/d8bzs

Let's Not Forget Terry Schiavo

Rep. Dave Camp (Corrupted-Mi4) celebrates his firm stance for big government, and tromps on the sanctity of marriage, and his firm belief that your in-laws should decide. Con. Camp, true to form, follows his orders from on high (Tom DeLay) and votes to usurp state's (and family's) rights.

I love this line from the statement:

When Congress returns after Easter, I will urge my colleagues to take an even closer look at what changes need to be made in the law to guarantee everyone a chance at life.

Great...I have some good ideas to "gaurantee a chance at life", how about a living wage? Reasonable heath care?

Too easy, Mr. Camp.

Originally posted by Bob Busch

Can Camp Deny DeLay Connection? Not Hardly

The slime of corruption is hard to wash off. Tom Delay can't drag congress into a family dispute to hide his corruption. Dave Camp can't deny that he took money from Delay and proposed rules changes so the corrupt Delay would not be investigated.

Campaign for America's future is running ads to tell congress that it is time to wash their hands of the one thing can, Tom Delay.

"Washing Hands"
TV :30

Narrator: Tom DeLay. He'd like to wash his hands of corruption.

He'd like you to forget he's been accused of accepting a gift worth thousands from a foreign agent.

He'd like you to forget that two of his close associates have been indicted for money laundering.

Tom DeLay can't wash his hands of corruption by involving Congress in one family's personal tragedy.

[Onscreen: www.ourfuture.org, paid for by the Campaign for America's Future.]

But Congress can certainly wash its hands of Tom DeLay.

Remember Dave Camp and Congressional Republicans are corrupted.

Originally posted by Bob Busch

What $225 Can Buy...

Tom Delay is known as "the hammer". He has also been called "the most corrupt man in the house". A litnany of his ethical violations are at www.thinkprogress.org, dubbed his "dirty dozen".

You may remember Tom Delay as the Majority Leader who bribed Nick Smith (R-Mi7) .

Of course this is the same, Tom Delay, that when he admonished several times by the Ethics Committee, just changed it's members to his friends.

$245 dollars bought Tom Delay a proposal for a rule change by Rep. Dave Camp and Rep. Lamar Smith (TX).

If an ethics complaint is deadlocked in the committee, it used to be automatically investigated after 45 days. Now, it goes away. Pretty convienent with a committee that is evenly split, 5 D's, 5 R's. Here's the New York Times:

An aide to Representative David Dreier, the California Republican who is chairman of the Rules Committee, said that the proposals were submitted by Republican lawmakers and that Mr. Dreier deemed them worthy of study by House Republicans. The aide referred questions to Representatives Lamar Smith of Texas and Dave Camp of Michigan, the authors, but neither could be reached for comment.
...

Another proposal would prevent action by the committee on a complaint unless the chairman and senior member of the minority party, or the committee itself, agreed that an investigation was warranted. Under the current system, if the panel does not act within 45 days, an investigation is automatically begun.

Critics of the plan said the proposal could thwart many ethics inquiries because the panel, which is evenly divided between the parties, can deadlock. In their summary of the rule change, the authors said it would preserve a lawmaker's "presumption of innocence."

What I want to know is why Rep. Dave Camp is so cheap? Rep. Camp recieved $225 from Tom Delay's PAC. (Lamar Smith only $20) This is a naked attempt by Republicans to shield and protect their Majority Leader Delay.

Dave Camp needs to be reminded that no one is above the law. We need to remind him and voters that Dave Camp felt that ethic rules needed to be laxed in the House. We need to remind him that he stood on the side of a man that breaks laws to fund Texas campaigns , that tried to bribe a Michigan Congressman, that used Federal Homeland Security resources to keep Texas Dem's from thwarting his gerry mandering plan, that used money earmarked for a children's charity to pay for a golf tournament.

Dave Camp stood on the side of corruption.

And we need to keep saying that.

originally posts by Bob Busch