Let's elect the best qualified President, not the person who raises the most money

A wise old Master Chief told me, " If you are making a decision and the main basis of that decision involves $$$, you are likely making a bad decision."

As any Sailor knows, you listen to the Master Chief as he will make sure you are on the right track.

So when I read that SLICK MITT ROMNEY is operating off funds from a SUPER PAC and I see who is supplying him the money (Foreclosure Mill Operators, Multi-level Marketers, hedge fund managers, and others who have no real care about the average working man), I know that SLICK MITT is not the person we want in the White House.

" Follow the money" was the key phrase from Watergate. The Doofus in the White House right now has lots of Fat Cats propping him up also. The idea that both of these simpletons, OBAMA and ROMNEY believe all they have to do is pile up enough cash and they can buy their way into the Oval Office sickens me.

And it should sicken you too. Let's elect someone who realizes it is not all about money but rather who is best qualified and will look out for the citizens interests, not the Fat Cats. That eliminates SLICK MITT ROMNEY and OBAMA as neither cares about you & me, regardless of what lies they spout.


PAC brings in $12.2 million for Mitt
By: Jonathan Martin and Kenneth P. Vogel - Politico
July 31, 2011

A new Super PAC created to support Mitt Romney raised $12.2 million in the first half of the year entirely from high-dollar contributors and spent just over $22,000, according to a report to be filed with the FEC Sunday.

Restore Our Future, a group run by Romney officials from his 2008 bid, was funded exclusively by 90 wealthy donors, most of which have also given to the former Massachusetts governor’s presidential campaign account.

But with no limits on the contributions to such entities as Restore Our Future, the contributors were able to give huge chunks of money – not a single check was under four figures and most were in the five and six-figure range.

There are also no restrictions on how donors can give to the SuperPACs and three of the four $1 million contributions came from organizations instead of individuals.

Restore Our Future got $1 million each from “Eli Publishing” and a “F8 LLC,” both of which listed the same Provo, Utah, office suite. A records search reveals that the same address is also home to trusts set up by the families of Blake Roney and Steven Lund, executives at Nu Skin enterprises and major Romney contributors in the 2008 campaign.

Other givers were even harder to unmask. A “W Spann LLC” on Madison Avenue in New York City contributed $1 million, but it was unclear who was behind the contribution.

The only $1 million giver who put his name behind the contribution was John Paulson, a New York hedge fund billionaire who became famous for enriching himself by betting on the collapse of the housing industry.

Four individuals gave $500,000 each, including hotel magnate brothers J.W. Marriott Jr and Richard Marriott, the sons of the man Romney was named after – J. Willard Marriott Sr.

Also giving half-million were New York hedge fund manager Louis Bacon and James Davis, the Boston-based Chairman of New Balance shoes.

Renee Morse, who owns the Florida mega-retirement community The Villages, gave $250,000 and the company matched that amount.

Romney also got significant help from investors in Bain Capital, the private equity fund he used to run. Paul Edgerly and his wife, Sandra, gave $500,000 each and Stephen Zide contributed $250,000.

The wealthy Fox family in St. Louis – major bundlers for Romney’s presidential effort – gave the PAC $270,000.

Also notable was Texas homebuilder Bob Perry, who gave $500,000. While Perry, one of the leading Republican donors in the country, gave to the campaigns of Romney and Pawlenty, he’s among a group of wealthy Texans expected to support Rick Perry, should the governor get in the

Bob Perry (no relation) has been one of the biggest donors to Perry over the years, contributing at least $3.3 million to his campaigns.

All told, Restore Our Future brought in $12.231,700 for the first half of the year.

The PAC spent just $22,329.50, money that went to business licensing, legal fees and insurance.

“We’re proud of the support Restore Our Future has received from across the country,” said Charlie Spies, the group’s treasurer.

“These donors recognize Mitt Romney is the most experienced and qualified candidate to challenge President Obama’s record of out-of-control, big government spending which has led our country to a historic $14 trillion debt and near double-digit unemployment. As evidenced by our report, we will continue to keep costs to a minimum to ensure that our donors funds go to accomplish our main mission, helping Mitt Romney defeat President Obama.”

"Public-sector unions have a guaranteed source of revenue—you and me as taxpayers,"

I wrote before how POTUS & PELOSI hurried the Congress back in session to give out $26 BILLION dollars of your money as a "bail-out" for Public Sector Unions. They also allocated $10 Billion of that to rehire teachers, which was promptly taken by School Administrators -

http://usnavyjeep.blogspot.com/2010/08/lesson-today-at-school-we-canned.html

The idea that voters can be persuaded to allow this type of wholesale corruption of the system to continue is delusional in this day & age. Our economic situation makes the idea that the Unions will do what is best for anyone other than themselves is not only moronic, it is sad.

VOTERS need to wake up, pull the eject handle on all those that enable & support the corrupt unions and then get on with the business of devoting the taxes taken for the betterment of our country, not solely those who are on the public dole, via a position working for the local towns, counties or State governments.

Enough is enough - These arrogant " I-got-mine-screw-everyone-else" idjits have taken too much already. Send them packing.

Campaign's Big Spender
Public-Employees Union Now Leads All Groups in Independent Election Outlays.Article
By BRODY MULLINS And JOHN D. MCKINNON - WSJ

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is now the biggest outside spender of the 2010 elections, thanks to an 11th-hour effort to boost Democrats that has vaulted the public-sector union ahead of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO and a flock of new Republican groups in campaign spending.

The 1.6 million-member AFSCME is spending a total of $87.5 million on the elections after tapping into a $16 million emergency account to help fortify the Democrats' hold on Congress. Last week, AFSCME dug deeper, taking out a $2 million loan to fund its push. The group is spending money on television advertisements, phone calls, campaign mailings and other political efforts, helped by a Supreme Court decision that loosened restrictions on campaign spending.

"We're the big dog," said Larry Scanlon, the head of AFSCME's political operations. "But we don't like to brag."

The 2010 election could be pivotal for public-sector unions, whose clout helped shield members from the worst of the economic downturn. In the 2009 stimulus and other legislation, Democratic lawmakers sent more than $160 billion in federal cash to states, aimed in large part at preventing public-sector layoffs. If Republicans running under the banner of limited government win in November, they aren't likely to support extending such aid to states.

Newly elected conservatives will also likely push to clip the political power of public-sector unions. For years, conservatives have argued such unions have an outsize influence in picking the elected officials who are, in effect, their bosses, putting them in a strong position to push for more jobs, and thus more political clout.

"Public-sector unions have a guaranteed source of revenue—you and me as taxpayers," said Glenn Spencer, executive director of the Workforce Freedom Initiative at the Chamber of Commerce.

Gregory King, a spokesman for AFSCME, said conservatives make too much of the issue, especially the link to taxpayers. Based on their logic, "the government is funding the movie industry every time AFSCME members go out to the movies," he said.

The union is spending heavily this year because "a lot of people are attacking public-sector workers as the problem," said AFSCME President Gerald McEntee. "We're spending big. And we're damn happy it's big. And our members are damn happy it's big—it's their money," he said.

Spending totals are still in flux, and another group could overtake AFSCME in the race's remaining days.

Campaign spending by outside groups is increasing rapidly but is still smaller than spending by the Democratic and Republican parties, which combined have already doled out nearly $1 billion in this election cycle, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

AFSCME's campaign push accounts for an estimated 30% of what pro-Democratic groups, including unions, plan to spend on independent campaigns to elect Democrats. It was made possible in part by a 2010 Supreme Court decision that permitted companies and unions to use their own funds to pay for certain political ads. That unleashed a flood of contributions and spawned an array of new outside political organizations, most of which were set up to help elect Republicans.

The political debate over spending by outside groups has focused largely on advertising buys by those Republican-oriented groups. Unions have mostly escaped attention in that debate, in part because they traditionally have spent much of their cash on other kinds of political activities, including get-out-the-vote efforts.

Previously, most labor-sponsored campaign ads had to be funded by volunteer donations. Now, however, AFSCME can pay for ads using annual dues from members, which amount to about $390 per person. AFSCME said it will tap membership dues to pay for $17 million of ads backing Democrats this election.

President Barack Obama has criticized the Supreme Court decision that opened the door to more spending by corporations and unions. When asked about AFSCME's ramped up campaign efforts following the court's decision, the White House focused on largely anonymous campaign spending by what it termed "special interests."

"The president has been crystal clear that third-party groups which spend tens of millions of dollars from anonymous sources are a threat to our democracy—regardless of which candidates they support," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. He said these groups are disproportionately backing Republican candidates.


Public-sector employees are bracing for the most severe budget crunch yet in fiscal 2012, which for many states starts in mid-2011. Federal stimulus aid will run out in a few months and Republicans oppose providing more. Tax revenues remain well below pre-recession levels and state lawmakers who raised taxes at record rates in 2010 are reluctant to go further.

Republican takeovers in Congress and statehouses could breathe life into efforts to restrict how public-sector unions collect and spend members' dues. Republican Gov. Chris Christie has proposed including public-employee unions under New Jersey's pay-to-play rules, which generally limit political contributions by affected groups and individuals. Other Republican governors are likely to pursue similar measures.

One group, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, one of the main conservative union critics, advocates turning public-sector unions into voluntary organizations. That would deprive unions of the ability to use the government payroll system to collect dues and contributions. It would also allow state and local employees to organize and bargain in other ways.

Mr. Scanlon, who has run elections for AFSCME for nearly 15 years, acknowledged the connection between the number of government jobs and the union's political clout. "The more members coming in, the more dues coming in, the more money we have for politics," Mr. Scanlon said. AFSCME's membership has grown 25% in the past decade.

AFSCME began the year with a $70 million budget to campaign for Democrats who supported its priorities in Washington. It wasn't planning to help those who opposed issues including health-care legislation and extending unemployment benefits.

But with a Republican takeover of the House in the offing, AFSCME reversed itself and began supporting Democrats it once opposed, following what it calls the "218 Strategy," after the number of seats needed for a House majority.

In eastern Ohio, AFSCME is campaigning hard for Rep. Zack Space, even though the second-term Democrat has been abandoned by other unions and Democratic interest groups after he voted against health-care legislation. "We know he has been bad on the issues, but the point is, if you don't elect the Zack Spaces of the world then you end up with Speaker Boehner," said Mr. Scanlon, referring to Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, who is a leading candidate to become Speaker of the House if the Republicans take the majority.

"We may not be happy with him, but let's get people re-elected and work to change their votes. It's not a perfect world."

Because the union no longer needs to use volunteer donations to pay for attack ads, it has more money left in its political action committee to donate directly to candidates. AFSCME has donated a total $2.2 million directly to Democratic candidates in this election cycle, including nearly $100,000 this week to the re-election campaigns of 57 House and Senate candidates.

The union has also donated a total of $5 million to the Democratic Governors Association and Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, making it the top donor to the Democrats' efforts to win gubernatorial and state-legislative races. It's also the top donor to Patriot Majority, a leading Democratic outside group that is running ads to help Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and other congressional Democrats.

News Corp., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, is one of the larger corporate donors on the other side of the ledger, and has donated $1.25 million to the Republican Governors Association and $1 million to the Chamber of Commerce.

Write to Brody Mullins at brody.mullins@wsj.com and John D. McKinnon at john.mckinnon@wsj.com

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