The Swampreports that a few minutes before Obama's speech ended last night, Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) stood up and walked out.
The Swamp explains that Shimkus' spokesman rationalized the walkout this way: "Congressman Shimkus was frustrated that the president was not offering any new ground and left with just minutes remaining in the speech."
Polluters love to blame environmental regulation for job losses and the debate in Congress over the ACES bill to reduce global warming emissions is no exception. John Shimkus' fear-mongering over the destruction of the Illinois economy includes a failed amendment that would have nullified the entire ACES bill if it resulted in two coal mines closing.
How would we know if the energy bill is responsible for mines closing instead of some other factor? I guess every mine closure should be blamed on environmentalists in Shimkus' world.
"Following the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, the Illinois coal industry suffered greatly. We went from 36 coal mines producing 62 million tons of coal with 10,000 employees to just 15 coal mines in 2003 producing 31 million tons of coal with only 3,500 employees. I am very concerned about what the Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill will do to the Illinois coal industry."
Tree-huggers make an easy scapegoat but even that lobbyist knows better. What I find interesting about his numbers is that productivity is cut roughly in half but jobs went down by almost 2/3rds. It's true that there are fewer coal mining jobs but the US Bureau of Labor Statistics gives a reality check about why.
This morning I heard John Shimkus speak to the Springfield Citizens Club. He usually attends events for the Republican Party or specific organizations in Springfield, so this is the first time I've heard him speak to a general audience.
Many questions I could have asked went through my head but I decided to listen to him respond to others. He started the forum with a seemingly random introduction about John A. Logan and his family vacation. I found nearly everything he said after that to be uninformed and/or offensive.
This has already been run by Rich Miller, and of course by Progress Illinois, who dug up and posted the story (to much acclaim). But I don't think anyone's had a substantial discussion over the widespread and appalling misuse of logic in the legislative process.
Whether or not the traditional Republican view on carbon emissions is right or wrong, comments like these undermine the effectiveness of the American political process:
Oh the fallacy, it hurts. Shimkus' ideology might be wrong, but that's besides the point. Heck, I'd even give him the benefit of the doubt that a radical tax on carbon emissions won't completely solve the problem of global warming. But there's a fundamental problem with his cognition. How scary is that to hear about an elected official?
This isn't a problem that only Shimkus is having; it's almost a pandemic in our government. What other Illinois politicians have been caught on the record expressing something so illogical that it made you nauseous?
One of the books I (was forced to) read during my freshman year of college, Innumeracy, really succeeds in talking about this phenomenon in a more analytical light, and I'd also recommend Susan Jacoby's brand new one, The Age of American Unreason. Fallacy Files is a great resource to fact-check a lot of the garbage that comes out of the mouths of our representatives.
There weren't a lot of competitive downstate primaries but there were two upsets in races I've posted about here before. Here's a quick summary for those who haven't made it over to my blog.
Jehan Gordon defeated Allen Mayer in the Democratic primary for the 92nd Illinois State House seat based in Peoria. There's currently no Republican candidate, which means Republican Congressional candidate Aaron Schock could have his state legislative seat filled by a young, black Democratic woman. More at the Peoria Journal Star and my blog.
Perhaps the biggest upset of the night was Daniel Davis winning the the Democratic primary against Joe McMenamin to take on John Shimkus in the 19th Congressional district. How Davis won is something of a mystery. He had no major endorsements, reported raising very little money, avoided taking a stand on most issues, and his campaign website is oddly preoccupied with giants. I can't say I have much hope of defeating Shimkus this year.
More at the Journal Register and my blog.
Republicans named Congressman John Shimkus as the ranking member on the oversight and investigations subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. No, this isn't a joke.
Let's review a few facts that explain how completely ridiculous this is. First, Shimkus uses his position on the Energy & Commerce Committee to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from polluters.
There's no group more powerful in the Democratic Party than organized labor so its hard to overstate the importance of Joe McMenamin's endorsement by the Illinois AFL-CIO. Schoenburg calls it a "boost" for McMenamin in his column today.
That's in addition to endorsements by the Democratic party organizations in the two largest counties in the district (Madison and Sangamon) along with several others. Leaders across the district know that McMenamin is our best shot at defeating John Shimkus in November!
Democrats in the Illinois 19th Congressional district think Republican incumbent John Shimkus is more vulnerable than ever this year which is why three candidates are running in the Democratic primary. Shimkus' involvement in the Foley page scandal cover-up, the violation of his term limit pledge, his offensive statements about Iraq, and the likelihood that 2008 will be a good year to unseat a Bush rubber-stamp gives new hope to local residents who are tired of John Shimkus. So far only one candidate, Joe McMenamin, shows signs of being a serious threat to Shimkus.
One indication of his strength as a candidate is the support he's receiving from Senator Dick Durbin. Durbin states in a letter on McMenamin's campaign website:
I first met Joe McMenamin a few weeks ago after the showing of a documentary movie in Springfield. He spoke during the group discussion period about why he felt Bush leading us into Iraq was misguided. He mentioned speaking in front of the Springfield city council in favor of a resolution opposing the war even before it began.
He also said he believes America has been hijacked by extremist ideologues who are taking us down the wrong path. Its immediately obvious when you hear McMenamin that he speaks with passion and the courage of conviction.
When he told everyone that he's running as a Democrat for Congress in the 19th district of Illinois against John Shimkus the room burst into wildly enthusiastic applause.
John Shimkus has a challenger for 2008. Perhaps not the challenger that we'd all hope for, but a challenger none the less. We've spoken often of the importance of having a Democratic name on the ballot and in 2008 we will.
Shirley Roney is a newly minted Democrat who just announced her candidacy. She ran against Shimkus, who she apparently considers a friend, in the 1996 GOP primary. She's anti-abortion, but pro-stem cell.
Dan Stover, who challenged Shimkus in 2006, has not yet declared his intentions. His website is still up, but looks like it hasn't been updated since last November.
A reader of The Southern writes a letter about his Congressman's support of the 700-mile border fence while failing to provide the funds to actually build it. Unsurprisingly, he finds Shimkus and the Republican's position and actions on this issue more than a little untrustworthy.
It's time to take a stand: To the Editor: For the life of me I can't understand how the Republican Congress can even begin to face their districts after the shameful authorizing of a 700-mile long fence along the border with Mexico.
They have no intention of carrying through with this program as they failed to vote the necessary funds for its construction.
It was merely a political ploy to make the far right-wing base of the Republicans think they were acting for them, when in fact they were doing nothing of the sort.
Because of the stink that their rural members are raising, they felt that they could get away with this bit of smoke and mirrors.
What is needed is the Democrats' comprehensive immigration reform, it's tough but smart, and it is in line with the beliefs of the nation as a whole.
The Republicans are trying to make it sound like they are against immigration all together, even though they are telling their corporate farmers that they are going to grant citizenship to the 12 million illegals already inside the borders.
America was founded by immigrants, these people are the life blood of this nation, their SS and Medicare dollars are helping to provide for the care of the sick and elderly.
It is time that we the people stand up and shout out that enough is enough.
No more games, no more pork-barrel projects, and here in IL-19 we have no intention of letting Rep. John Shimkus play follow the leader and give President Bush what he wants, each and every time a vote reaches the House floor.
Consituent Dynamics has its most recent round of polling up. Lots of good stuff (internals available). I don't have time to dig deeply into it now, but here are the conclusions. August/September polls in parentheses (where available). More midwest races are below the fold.
Dennis Hastert, John Shimkus, and Mark Kirk knew. They knew of a sexual predator. They knew he was preying on underage boys. They knew that this was on-going. They knew it all and they ignored it.
(Original title: Shimkus Lobbyist/PAC treasurer resigns - promoted by wegerje)
Mark Valente, a lobbyist and treasurer of John Shimkus' (IL-19) political action committee, resigned. You might think that in light of the Abramoff scandals and Duke Cunningham's little problem Shimkus would want to clear himself of the stench of impropriety. After all his good buddy Ray LaHood had tried to push his lobbyist campaign steering committee pals away in January; asking that they stop hosting campaign fundraisers. You might think that Shimkus would want to join the other nine lawmakers whose leadership PACs Valente served on in asking him to step down. You might think all of those things, but you'd be wrong.
After my e-mail conversation with Bill Scheurer, the independent candidate running in IL-8. I got to thinking about what other third party candidates were trying to run for congress in Illinois. I knew about Anthony Williams running as a Libertarian against Jesse Jackson Jr. in IL-2 and obviously there was Bill Scheurer in the northwest 'burbs. But downstate I wasn't as familiar with.
I knew that Jamie Mock was going to run as a Green against Jerry Weller and John Pavich in the 11th (the Fightin' 11th!), but that he pulled out. I didn't think that there were any others out there. Naturally I was wrong.
Below the fold I'll tell you what little I found out about two others, John Hartman running in IL-19 and Richard Rawlings running in IL-18. If you have additional information about either of these candidates or if there is a third-party or independent candidate running in your neck of the woods, leave a comment so I can add them to the list.
It seems that Sen. Jim Talent (R-Mo) is getting some heat for having a lobbyist as his campaign treasurer. Well, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch looked around its readership area and found another lawmaker with a similar problem: John Shimkus.
It seems that the treasurer of Shimkus' campaign PAC, Mark Valente III, also "lobbies for a gamut of interests, including the North American Coal Corp." Shimkus didn't find anything wrong in this saying:
Shimkus also dismisses suggestions that lobbyist-campaign connections are improper. Valente never lobbied him after he became his PAC treasurer, Shimkus said. "I couldn't even tell you who he represents," he said.
...
Shimkus conceded that Valente's role as treasurer for him and other lawmakers "probably" gives him cachet with clients, who understand that it means he has a financial connection to those who hold power. "That's Washington," Shimkus said.
In case you need someone to remind you that all is not normal with this situation, the Post-Dispatch reminds us of why this sort of thing happens (and why it is now (finally) looked down upon).
Indeed, there's little question that lawmakers are likely to return a lobbyist's call more quickly if that lobbyist also volunteers for their campaigns and helps bring in campaign cash. And there's little doubt that lobbyists use their "treasurer" or other campaign titles in pitches to clients, as proof that they are wired in with Washington's power players.
Just one more reason to send John Shimkus packing. Danny Stover is running for the Democratic nomination to challenge Shimkus in November. Get to know his positions on the issues and consider donating or volunteering.
