Denny Hastert

GOP Ready to Throw Hastert and Boehner Under the Bus

Bob Fertik — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 00:11:46 -0500

Before most votes were even cast, righter-wing House Republicans got ready to throw rightwingers Denny Hastert and John Boehner under the bus, according to their house organ The Hill:

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), the outspoken chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC), is expected to run for House minority leader if the GOP loses its majority by a sizable margin, a Republican aide with knowledge of his intentions said yesterday...

If he runs, the loquacious conservative would join Energy and Commerce chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas) in the field of candidates expected to challenge Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) if Republicans lose control of the House...

A broad array of rank-and-file members and some current leaders are considering bids for the elected leadership, including Reps. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), John Carter (R-Texas), Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) and Kay Granger (R-Texas). Cantor and Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.) are the two members of the current elected leadership whose stars have risen in the aftermath of the Foley scandal, but they remain mum about their ambitions after the election.

I can't wait for their competing campaign slogans:

I didn't take as much from Abramoff as he did!
I only fantasized about pages, I never IM'd one!
I got more earmarks than anyone else!

Post FoleyGate Polls Have Repubs Grasping 'Mushroom Clouds'

CactusPat — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 17:15:33 -0400

If you hadn't noticed, the post FoleyGate polls are so bad for Republicans they're grasping for 'Mushroom Clouds'. Here's a round-up of the good poll news for Democrats from the past week. Ride the "Democratic Wave"...

BREAKING--New House polls will show looming Democratic landslide The new Majority Watch will be released in a few minutes. Based on 63 polls of 48 districts of 1,000 likely voters each, they will show Dems currently ahead in the House by 19 seats, 224-205... It is also a significant increase from the 219-214 seat lead for Democrats from late Aug. and early Sept. This 19-seat doesn't even include seven competitive, Repub-held districts that are currently being polled, and six districts that are currently tied. In fact, perhaps most stunningly, the districts with "safe" leads outside the margins of error break 217-198 in favor of Dems...
Internal Poll Suggests Hastert Could Devastate GOP House Republican candidates will suffer massive losses if House Speaker Dennis Hastert remains speaker until Election Day, according to internal polling data from a prominent GOP pollster... "The data suggests Americans have bailed on the speaker,... And the difference could be between a 20-seat loss and 50-seat loss...."
Poll: GOP Put Politics Over Safety Most Respondents Think GOP Leaders Knew About Foley's Explicit E-Mails. (CBS) An overwhelming majority of Americans think House Republican leaders put their own political interests ahead of the safety of congressional pages in their handling of the Mark Foley scandal...

Democrats have big lead after sex scandal": polls (Reuters) Dem candidates have a big edge on Repubs one month before elections to decide control of Congress... A USA Today/Gallup poll gave Democrats a 23-point edge on Republicans in the battle for Congress, while a CNN poll gave Democrats a 21-point lead. A ABC News/Washington Post poll found Democrats held a 54-41 percent lead in the congressional horse race, which ABC said was the biggest Democratic lead this close to election day in more than 20 years...

GOP Officials Brace for Loss Of Seven to 30 House Seats Republican campaign officials said yesterday that they expect to lose at least seven House seats and as many as 30 in the Nov. 7 midterm elections, as a result of sustained violence in Iraq and the page scandal involving former GOP representative Mark Foley. Democrats need to pick up 15 seats in the election to take back control of the House after more than a decade of GOP leadership. Two weeks of virtually nonstop controversy over President Bush's war policy and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert's handling of the page scandal have forced party leaders to recalculate their vulnerability and placed a growing number of Republican incumbents and open seats at much greater risk...

An analysis by Glen Greenwald - Increasing desperation There is a palpable desperation among Republicans as a result of the Foley scandal and related election troubles, which is giving rise to a significant increase in their willingness to peddle blatantly dishonest and irrational claims in order to save themselves...

Ruy Teixeira gives his take - State of the Race: The Macro and the Micro Broadly speaking, there are two approaches to looking at the outlook for this year’s Congressional elections. One is the “macro” approach, where one looks at a variety of national indicators to gauge the mood of the electorate and how that’s likely to affect the incumbent and challenging parties. The other approach is the “micro” approach, which assesses how each individual House and Senate race is likely to turn out, and aggregates up from that level to assess the likely gains and losses of the two parties. The two methods can tell different stories and, indeed, this spring that’s just what they did. The macro story suggested that the GOP was in terrible shape and likely to get swamped by the Democrats in November. Indeed, by these macro-indicators, as Charlie Cook pointed out at the time, the GOP was at least as badly off as the Democrats were at that point in the 1994 election cycle. The micro story was different, however. Looking at individual races, it was hard to see where the Democrats could pick up enough seats to take back the House, while the Senate looked almost impossible. But that was then. This is now and now the macro and micro data are aligning and pointing in the same direction: big trouble for the Republicans and a good chance that they could lose not only the House—which looks better than 50-50 at this point—but also the Senate...

Support shifting to Democrats, poll shows Democrats have regained a commanding position going into the final weeks of the midterm-election campaigns, with support eroding for Republicans on Iraq, ethics and presidential leadership, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. Apparent Republican gains in September have been reversed in the face of mounting U.S. casualties and gloomy forecasts from Iraq and the scandal involving Mark Foley (R-Fla.), who was forced to resign his congressional post over sexually graphic online conversations with former House pages. Approval of Congress has plunged to its lowest level in more than a decade (32 percent), and Americans, by a margin of 54 percent to 35 percent, say they trust Democrats more than Republicans to deal with the biggest problems the nation is confronting. Fifty-five percent of those surveyed said congressional Democrats deserve to be reelected next month, but just 39 percent said Republicans deserve to return to office...

Poll: Majority think Hastert should resign A majority of Americans believe the scandal over former Rep. Mark Foley's contacts with teenage congressional pages should cost House Speaker Dennis Hastert his leadership post, according to a CNN poll released Monday. The poll, conducted Friday through Sunday by Opinion Research Corporation, found that 52 percent of the 1,028 adults interviewed think Hastert should step aside. Only 31 percent said they think he should keep his post, and 17 percent had no opinion.

NEWSWEEK Poll: GOP in Meltdown A Political Limbo - How low can the Republicans go? Come hell or high water-ran the conventional wisdom-Republicans could rely on two issues to win elections: the war on terror and values. Then came Mark Foley. The drip-drip-drip of scandal surrounding the former Congressman from Florida, which became a deluge this week, now threatens to sink Republican hopes of keeping control of Congress... And that was the good news for the GOP. More worrisome still, the Foley fiasco is jeopardizing the party’s monopoly on faith and power. For the first time since 2001, the NEWSWEEK poll shows that more Americans trust the Democrats than the GOP on moral values and the war on terror. Fully 53 percent of Americans want the Democrats to win control of Congress next month, including 10 percent of Republicans, compared to just 35 percent who want the GOP to retain power. If the election were held today, 51 percent of likely voters would vote for the Democrat in their district versus 39 percent who would vote for the Republican. And while the race is closer among male voters (46 percent for the Democrats vs. 42 percent for the Republicans), the Democrats lead among women voters 56 to 34 percent....

TIME Poll: The Foley Sex Scandal Has Hurt G.O.P. Election Prospects Two-thirds of Americans aware of the lurid e-mails set to congressional pages by a G.O.P congressman believe Republican leaders tried to cover up the scandal — and one quarter of them say the affair makes them less likely to vote for Republican candidates in their districts come November... The poll suggests the Foley affair may have dented Republican hopes of retaining control of Congress in November. Among the registered voters who were polled, 54% said they would be more likely to vote for the Democratic candidate for Congress, compared with 39% who favored the Republican. That margin may be fueled by the rolling scandal over sexually explicit e-mails sent to teenage pages by Republican Representative Mark Foley. Almost 80% of respondents were aware of the scandal, and only 16% approve of the Republicans' handling of it...

Voters Say Scandals Will Affect Votes (AP) - In yet another hurdle for Republicans, the scandals that have dogged Congress for the past year are prominent in the minds of many voters who say corruption will significantly influence their vote in November. With midterm elections less than five weeks away, the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that about half of likely voters say disclosures of corruption and scandal in Congress will be very or extremely important when they enter the voting booth. About two out of three of those voters said they would cast their ballots for Democrats in House races, further complicating the political landscape for Republicans already struggling against negative public perceptions...

Kinda breath-taking, eh? Dems polling ahead of Repubs in every catagory, including fightin' terra and moral values! Bonus statistic - Smirk's approval rating has fallen to a new all-time low for the Newsweek poll: 33 percent...

Tell Denny Hastert to Resign

Bob Fertik — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 11:05:22 -0400

House Speaker Denny Hastert insists he knew nothing about Mark Foley's predatory behavior until the scandal broke on 9/29/06.

But two-thirds of Americans believe Hastert is covering up the truth.

And now we know Hastert's Chief of Staff, Scott Palmer, confronted Foley about his abuses several years ago, according to a front page story in the Washington Post.

Palmer and Hastert are extraordinarily close; they are roommates in Washington DC. It's impossible to believe Hastert was unaware of Palmer's confrontation with Foley.

That means Hastert is lying about what he knew and when he knew it - and is indeed leading a coverup.

Denny Hastert must resign as Speaker of the House immediately. Tell your Representative:
http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/87

Let's take Hastert's seat!

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 14:18:19 -0400

Thanks to Ted T. for bringing this up at just the right time.

From: don.jones2@... On behalf of congressional candidate JOHN LAESCH (but not from his political committee)

So, who is the candidate opposing Denny Hastert in Illinois's 14th congressional district? A U.S. Navy veteran, a labor union guy, a straight-shooter. What more could we ask for?

MORE MORE MORE

Well....some financial support for his campaign would be nice -:)

Here's where you go to take care of that: http://www.john06.com/

Right now is when we can tie down Hastert so he can't travel around the country campaigning and raising money for other (R)'s.

Thanks for your support! Don

Posted by Carolyn Kay MakeThemAccountable.com

Closeted Gay Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) Leads Hastert Defense

Bob Fertik — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 18:25:15 -0400

I just watched Tucker Carlson's show on MSNBC and was astonished to see none other than closeted gay Republican Patrick McHenry (R-NC) vigorously defending Denny Hastert!

Have House Republicans gone completely insane???

McHenry has quite a reputation on Capitol Hill, according to The Hill, a pro-Republican publication:

The House Republicans’ usual attack dog, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) was back in the saddle yesterday.

“Who would turn over the instant messages to ABC News rather than the police?” McHenry said in a statement. “In my mind, this person, group or political organization is as sick as Foley himself.”

"Sick" is a commonly-used adjective among rightwingers who were trained in ideological warfare by Newt Gingrich's GOPAC in the 1990s.

In any event, the "sick" people are McHenry's fellow Republicans who first got their hands on the emails in the fall of 2005 but failed to hand them to the police:

Date unknown, "Fall" 2005
At some point Alexander's chief of staff calls Tim Kennedy, a staff assistant in the office of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., according to a news release from Hastert's office, and says that Alexander "had," meaning possessed the text of, an e-mail exchange between Foley and a former House page. Kennedy "did not reveal the specific text of the email but expressed that he and Congressman Alexander were concerned about it." The release does not give a specific date, or even a month, and does not identify Alexander's chief of staff. (Source: Hastert news release, 9/30/06.)

But what could be more "sick" than a closeted gay Republican who rails about the "sanctity of marriage" while defending those who cover up the crimes of a child predator?

Congressman McHenry has always been a vocal advocate of traditional values and strongly supports a constitutional amendment outlining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. He believes that Congress must act to curb the influence of judicial activists who seek to recklessly redefine marriage and other traditional institutions.

Marriage, family and community are not just catch phrases; they are the backbone of American society. Sadly, however, there is an organized effort by the radical left and their allies in Hollywood and academia to destroy our traditional American culture.

America is an inclusive nation and we respect other cultures and traditions, but we must defend what is sacred in our country from the reckless actions of a dangerous few who seek to impose their radical view on all of society.

How do I know Patrick McHenry is gay? Let me put it this way: "everyone" knows Patrick McHenry is gay.

This weekend I learned that "everyone" knew Mark Foley was gay. Isn't that strange, since last week no one (outside the DC gay community) knew Mark Foley was gay?

In McHenry's case, I have completely reliable sources. With any luck they will go on the record soon.

Today we learned that Kirk Fordham is also gay. Fordham was Foley's Chief of Staff for 10 years, and then became Tom Reynold's chief of staff. Is Tom Reynolds also gay? If so, that would explain why he was sweating buckets during his press conference with Laura Bush today.

Of course there are more Republicans who "everyone" knows are gay. Joe Scarborough discussed gay Republicans at length on tonight's show, although he avoided naming names. He eventually forced rightwinger David Bossie to admit there are gay Republicans high in the House leadership. That probably means David Dreier, chairman of the Rules Committee, who "everyone" knows is gay - but I'm just guessing. Heck, John Boehner seems excessively "natty" to me - that's a possible sign. And Denny Hastert was a high school wrestling coach who spent every afternoon with his arms (and legs?) around sweaty, muscular, scantily-clad young men - doesn't that raise suspicions? Why doesn't Scarborough name names if he's really a "journalist" - not a Republican hack?

Interestingly, the highest-ranking closeted gay Republican whom "everyone" knows is gay - Ken Mehlman, the Chairman of the Republican Party - is going nowhere near the cameras. Isn't it strange that the Chairman of the Republican Party is afraid to appear on TV at the moment when the Republican Party is facing Armageddon?

The Foley/Hastert/Boehner/Reynolds/Shimkus/Fordham scandal is metastasasizing - even neofascist Charles Krauthammer said so on FOX tonight. Joe Scarborough went even further on Olbermann - he said the GOP has hit the iceberg and there is nothing they can do to avoid sinking to the bottom of the sea.

Before L'Affaire Foley is over, the whole "sick" Republican Party - closeted gay and perverted straight alike - could well be exposed and swept out of office en masse.

DEMAND Hastert's Immediate Resignation

thepen — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 14:28:38 -0400

ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/pnum528.php

In response to his indefensible handling of a known child predator in their midst, Dennis Hastert whined today that liberals were out to "get to me". Isn't that just so precious? Little Denny Hastert is now the REAL victim in all of this, not the children exposed to the abuse of Mark Foley because of Hastert's own complicity.

The fact is that Foley began making inappropriate advances to underage pages from the day he entered Congress in 1995, and the Republican leadership knew so much about it that, as reported by the Washington Post, they were warning the pages to stay clear of Foley from day one.

Hastert today says "we took care of Mr. Foley" by asking him to resign. Of course that's exactly what he told John Boehner, "it had been taken care of", when fresh allegations surfaced 11 months ago, which Boehner at first admitted, then denied, then admitted again. This has been common knowledge among the Republican leadership for 10 years, it is only the Democrats and the American people who have been kept in the dark. So for Mr. Hastert "taking care of" something MEANS to sweep it under the rug yet again, all the while Foley is paying off the National Republican Congressional Committee.

President Bush yesterday said we should still trust Hastert because he is a "father". What parent would not aggressively move to investigate such inappropriate overtures which they knew all about? What parent would be lulled into inaction by concerns that it "might have affected campaigns". It NEEDS to affect campaigns alright, starting with the resignation of Dennis Hastert.

ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/pnum528.php

Even the reactionary Washington Times has called for Hastert to go immediately. A liberal media conspiracy indeed! Is there no craven hypocrisy too depraved for the current Republican leadership to swallow? Tell them to take some "personal responsibility". Tell Hastert to resign.

Sweep Out Morally Corrupted Republican Congress

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 08:24:53 -0400

From BuzzFlash.com:

Men And Women Of Faith: Sweep Out Morally Corrupted Republican Congress

by Brent Budowsky

It what may be one of the greatest disgraces in Congressional history there are now senior Republicans, including the Speaker’s best friend Congressman Lahood, suggesting the page program be abolished.

Think about it: the very idea that there are now Republicans claiming that their Congress is morally incapable of protecting young people only demonstrates how far these people have come from the moral bearing of our democratic nation.

Punish the pages and protect the politicians?

MORE MORE MORE

No. Let’s keep the pages and get rid of the politicians who threaten them. Let’s respect the pages and get rid of the politicians with such little confidence in their own moral bearing they no longer believe they can protect them. Let’s get rid of those who treat this sordid episode as just another example of one party corruption in Washington.

Even now, this issue is treated as an inside job, by a small circle of cronies, running a Congress from dark rooms and back rooms. Even now, the meetings that matter involve only a handful of Republicans, excluding everyone else, treating Democratic Members as though they do not exist, treating half of America as though they do not matter.

The preposterous finger-pointing and contradictory cover stories of Republican leaders only proves the moral bankruptcy of official Washington. The failure to notify the full Page Board alone is grounds for resignation and firing of every Member of the Republican Leadership who met in dark rooms, behind closed doors, and kept this information secret from all members of the Page Board except the Republican hand chosen operative on the Board.

What is our President doing, using a day of photo ops on events purportedly promoting the safety of kids, to gratuitously proclaim how wonderful the Republicans in Congress are performing in this case?

How typical of the hyper-partisanship that Republicans have brought to Washington that in one sentence the President says how appalled he is, and how he wants to get the facts. Then, in the next sentence, he gives the high five to partisan Republican leaders who let this happen, kept it quiet, and now claim they can’t remember who told what, to whom, or when.

Men and women of faith can put a stop to this in November. This is the ultimate one party scandal and the ultimate example of the moral corruption of official Republican Washington.

They believe all decisions are made by leaders of only one party, as though our democracy does not exist, as though half the country is disenfranchised, as though nothing matters except their money and power, even the safety of young pages.

They believe that when scandal strikes our young, they should run to the Chairman of the Republican Congressional Campaign group, who calls a press conference using young kids as props, while they deliberately, and shamefully, keep this matter secret from the full Page Board which is entrusted to protect the pages.

True Conservatives, true Christians, true believers in the Judeo-Christian ethic, true men and women of faith of all denominations should demand a higher standard and refuse to vote for those who let this happen, those who kept it secret, those who covered it up, those who refuse to take responsibility today, and those who put their partisan politics ahead of protecting our kids.

Brent Budowsky served as Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, responsible for commerce and intelligence matters, including one of the core drafters of the CIA Identities Law. Served as Legislative Director to Congressman Bill Alexander, then Chief Deputy Whip, House of Representatives. Currently a member of the International Advisory Council of the Intelligence Summit. Left goverment in 1990 for marketing and public affairs business including major corporate entertainment and talent management. He can be reached at brentbbi@webtv.net.

Posted by Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

Can the GOP Survive So Many Scandals?

Bob Fertik — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 12:01:38 -0400

Christy surveys the ever-expanding list of GOP scandals and shakes her head in disbelief. We have truly gone through the Looking Glass.

We Democrats look at these scandals and assume the normal results will follow. For the individual politician, that means humiliation, resignation, and exile to oblivion. Then his closest colleagues are exposed and follow the same trajectory: humiliation, resignation, and exile. Then the party hangs its head in shame, removes all bad apples, and returns to the path of God.

But the GOP doesn't play by the rules: there is no shame at the GOP.

There is no shame over Tom DeLay, Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney, Mark Foley, or any of the other Republicans who have resigned in disgrace.

There is no shame over the coverup by Speaker Denny Hastert and Majority Leader John Boehner, the two most powerful Republicans in the House.

There is no shame - only attacks on Democrats like Bill Clinton (Hannity lies again!) and long-forgotten former Rep. Gerry Studds.

There is a simple reason why shame has no place in Republican politics: that's because the GOP is a top-down corporation, not (like the Democratic Party) a franchise operation of individual politicians who rise or fall based on their character and accomplishments.

Take George W. Bush. What had he ever achieved before he became the GOP nominee for President? Less than nothing. He went AWOL from the National Guard, failed at several businesses, and was drunk until 40. But Bush Inc. (led by James Baker and Karl Rove) decided he had a winning personality (unlike his dull father) that would make him electable, so they made him Governor (an easy task in solidly red Texas) and got him through the Republican presidential primaries in South Carolina by accusing John McCain of having an illegitimate black child.

Of course Bush didn't win in 2000 or 2004. But Baker and Rove made sure he was declared the victor by their Republican Secretaries of State (and Bush-Cheney campaign chairs), first Katherine Harris and then Ken Blackwell. In 2000, Baker even had to get his 5 Republicans on the Supreme Court to throw out 175,000 never-counted ballots.

That's how the GOP works: it's a corporation and everyone in the GOP is a loyal employee who does whatever (s)he is told.

Mark Foley is a loyal employee. When Karl Rove told him to resign, he did so immediately.

Denny Hastert is a loyal employee. When Karl Rove told him to block an investigation of Foley and his enablers, he did so immediately. When Karl Rove tells him to resign over the Foley scandal to protect the rest of the GOP leaders (Boehner, Reynolds, Shimkus, etc.), he will do so immediately.

Republicans don't care if their actions are immoral or even criminal. They know the Corporation will take care of them, both through the propaganda system (a.k.a. The Media) and through the legal system.

For the first 4 years of the Bush Regime, both of these systems worked perfectly. But in 2005, reality began to bite back. Jeff Gannon was exposed as a rightwing gay prostitute who was placed as a mole in the White House press corps. Iraq turned into a debacle, and the Downing Street Memos exposed the deliberate lies that brought it about. Retired generals exposed Rumsfeld's massive failures and demanded his replacement. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald got sick of White House lies and put the most powerful officials under oath repeatedly to get the truth, finally indicting Scooter Libby on perjury and exposing the whole character-assassination game.

And Bob Woodward finally woke up and smelled the rotten fish in the Oval Office.

So one by one, top Republicans are being exposed for their most blatant crimes. And one by one, Republican voters are waking up to the corruption at the heart of the GOP.

But will that be enough to cost Republicans control of Congress? Not as long as Republicans control the counting of votes in key states like Florida and Ohio and in thousands of counties where votes are counted by Republican machines programmed by Diebold, ES&S, and Sequoia.

Republicans are in power for two reasons: they control the media and they count the votes. Progressives have broken the GOP monopoly on the media by creating our own - the blogs and Air America radio. But until we break the GOP monopoly on vote counting, Republicans will continue to control our government.

I'll offer solutions to this problem in the days and weeks to come...

Republican Minimum Wage Bill to Lower Wages in Seven States

Bob Geiger — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 08:03:37 -0400

By now, most people know that the Republican majority in the House of Representatives passed another tax cut for the wealthy late last week. They did this by almost eliminating the estate tax on multimillion dollar estates and, along the way -- to give their GOP brethren a chance to appear caring and noble before the November elections -- they grudgingly attached an increase in the minimum wage.

Their message to Democrats was clear: If you want low-income Americans, who have not seen the federal minimum wage rise in almost a decade, to get a tiny bit more money, you need to provide yet more tax breaks for the very richest families in the country.

The political ploy, which would raise the minimum wage over three years to $7.25 an hour from $5.15, outraged Democrats in both the House and the Senate.

Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) called the Republican scheme "the most ethically repugnant, intellectually dishonest, morally bankrupt ploy I have ever seen in a legislative body." He went on to say to House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) that "… apparently shame has become entirely irrelevant to you and your party."

On Monday, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) called it a "transparent and cynical trick" adding that "Republicans have offered to give America a raise if, and only if, their wealthiest friends also get billions of dollars in tax breaks."

"Republicans are threatening to deny a $2.10 raise for 11 million Americans unless they can give away hundreds of billions to less than .2 of 1 percent of the American people," said a frustrated Reid. "The $2.10 raise is over a period of years. It should be immediate. The $2.10 an hour raise occurs if the richest of the rich get billions of dollars. It is political blackmail that reeks of desperation."

But here's the really sick part: The Republican minimum wage bill, which may come to a vote on the Senate floor by the end of this week, would actually cut the salaries of hundreds of thousands of workers across seven states. The way the law passed by the House last week is written, employers in every state would be allowed to lower the base wage they pay and count tips earned toward meeting minimum wage requirements. Most states http://www.dol.gov/esa/programs/whd/state/tipped.htm " target="_blank">already have laws that provide for a lower minimum wage for workers such as waiters and waitresses who earn tips but, if passed, the new federal law would override laws in seven states that mandate no minimum wage difference for those earning tips at their jobs.

Here's the states where the minimum wage is the same for tipped and non-tipped employees:

The Republican law would dictate a rock-bottom minimum of $2.13 per hour for workers receiving gratuities in all states -- including those seven -- with the difference between that and their state-mandated minimum wage made up with the tips that they currently get above and beyond the higher wage.

So, for a waiter in California, the new law would amount to a salary cut of $4.62 per hour, where the person who used to make $6.75 per hour plus tips, would now only make $2.13 an hour plus tips. Similarly, a bartender in Alaska would lose $5.02 an hour. If they failed to make enough tips to hit their state's minimum wage, the employer would make up the difference.

"Everything that has been achieved in seven states to support low-wage workers who earn tips is destroyed by this bill," said Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) "This bill would slash the salaries of thousands of workers."

Ted Kennedy (D-MA), who has tried many times in this Congress to get standalone bills for a minimum wage increase passed -- and was shot down every time by the Republican majority -- jumped all over this outrage on Monday.

"What this proposal contains is an ingenious proposal, suggested by the restaurant association," said Kennedy. "They say: People who work for tips in the restaurants, they often make $5.25 an hour. They often make that in tips. So why are we required to pay them? They were able to persuade Republicans -- this is strictly a Republican proposal -- to say: If they are going to receive tips, you are only required to pay $2.13 an hour. The rest can be made up in tips. That person still effectively gets the minimum wage. But the restaurant doesn't have to pay that. Do you hear me? They don't have to pay the worker the $5.15 an hour."

But I suppose this is to be expected from the same National Restaurant Association that fought Kennedy's last attempt at raising the wage rate saying " A federal wage increase to $7.25 per hour, as proposed by Sen. Kennedy, is the largest increase in the entry-level wage rate ever proposed."

Because, as the restaurant guys figure, they want to keep claiming that all of their workers are entry-level and they sure as hell don’t want to give that big of a pay raise and actually have someone who works 40 hours a week making a whopping $15K per year.

And you need only take a look at the charts below to see why the GOP-controlled House takes these guys so seriously:

It's nice that they choose to hang with Tom DeLay to that extent but just look at how much money they've given to the current Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert.

Go figure.

We can only continue to hope that Americans will take the Iraq war, the time wasted on nonsensical wedge issues and add it with a healthy dose of screwing working families with legislation like this to decide how they want to vote this fall.

Said Kennedy on Monday: " Most Americans believe a job ought to get you out of poverty. But those on the other [Republican] side believe if you have a minimum wage job, you ought to remain in poverty. That is a very big, very major difference."

You can reach Bob Geiger at geiger.bob@gmail.com

ABC Insists Denny Hastert is Under FBI Investigation

Bob Fertik — Thu, 25 May 2006 00:42:15 -0400

Despite a fierce counterattack from House Speaker Denny Hastert, ABC News is sticking to its story: that Hastert is under investigation by the FBI for his role in the Abramoff scandals:

Despite a flat denial from the Department of Justice, federal law enforcement sources tonight said ABC News accurately reported that Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert is "in the mix" in the FBI investigation of corruption in Congress.

Speaker Hastert said tonight the story was "absolutely untrue" and has demanded ABC News retract its story.

Law enforcement sources told ABC News that convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff has provided information to the FBI about Hastert and a number of other members of Congress that have broadened the scope of the investigation. Sources would not divulge details of the Abramoff’s information.

"You guys wrote the story very carefully but they are not reading it very carefully," a senior official said.

One focus involves a letter Hastert wrote in 2003 urging the Secretary of the Interior to block an Indian casino that would have competed with tribes represented by Abramoff.

The letter was written within days of a fund-raiser held for Hastert at Abramoff’s restaurant in Washington. Federal campaign records show more than $26,000 was raised at the time from Abramoff and his clients.

Hastert has denied doing anything unlawful and says he has a long history of opposing certain types of Indian casinos.

ABC’s law enforcement sources said the Justice Department denial was meant only to deny that Hastert was a formal “target” or “subject” of the investigation.

"Whether they like it or not, members of Congress, including Hastert, are under investigation," one federal official said tonight.

The investigation of Hastert’s relationship with Abramoff is in the early stages, according to these officials, and could eventually conclude that Abramoff’s information was unfounded.

Officials said the next logical investigative step would be for the FBI to seek a wide range of documents from the members of Congress named by Abramoff, including letters and business documents.

A spokesman for Hastert said the office had received no subpoenas or requests for documents.

Click here to read the statement issued by the Office of Speaker Dennis Hastert.

No wonder Hastert went ballistic over the FBI's unprecedented search of Rep. Bill Jefferson!

As a Constitutional matter, I think the Justice Department must be extremely careful when investigating Congress - and it absolutely should not be recruiting spies to report "potential crimes," whether in Congress or anywhere else.

But at this stage of the Abramoff investigation, there is more than enough evidence to get a subpoena for Hastert's records.

And as BradBlog reminds us, they should also be investigating Hastert for taking as much as $500,000 in campaign bribes in October 2000 to kill a Congressional resolution designating the killings of Armenians in Turkey between 1915 and 1923 a genocide.