Monday’s political round-up

October 10, 2005

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* With independent voters starting to shift a bit, Sen. Jon Corzine’s (D) lead over Doug Forrester (R) shrunk in the latest Star-Ledger/Eagleton-Rutgers poll. The survey shows Corzine up seven points, 44% to 37%. About 18% are undecided.

* In unusually candid language about his future plans, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is reportedly “seriously” considering a presidential campaign in 2008. As for serving as someone’s running mate, McCain continues to rule out the possibility. Telling the same joke he’s repeated for years, McCain said, “I spent all those years in a North Vietnamese prison camp, kept in the dark, fed scraps, why the hell would I want to do that all over again?”

* Alabama Gov. Bob Riley (R) announced over the weekend that he will seek a second term, setting the stage for a fierce Republican primary against theocrat Roy Moore. Riley, at his announcement speech, briefly alluded to Moore’s raison d’etre. “Some say they can no longer acknowledge God in government. I think that’s sad. Because I acknowledge him every day in speeches, in the office, in meetings, schools and churches. We can all do that every day in the way we live our lives,” Riley said.

* Alabama State Sen. Harri Anne Smith (R) may make the fight for the Republican nomination even more complicated. Smith has said she may seek the nomination, offering an alternative between the certifiably insane (Moore) and the guy who wanted to raise state taxes (Riley).

* Ohio Dems are concerned about the party split in advance of next year’s Senate race against incumbent Mike DeWine (R). Just as the party started to coalesce around Paul Hackett, Rep. Sherrod Brown announced his intentions. David Sirota proposes a solution: Send Brown to the Senate and Hackett to the House.

* The field of Republicans hoping to take on freshman Rep. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.) continues to grow. The newest candidate is state Rep. Robert Churchill (R), bringing the total number of GOP aspirants to five. Bean is considered a top Republican target after her narrow win against Rep. Phil Crane (R) last year in the GOP-leaning suburban Chicago district.

What qualifications does Jon Corzine haveto be a Democrat? I think he became one just to win the senate seat and I suspect that he was there to vote Republican if a crucial vote was close. Like social security privitazation.

Corzine has refused to disclose his finances. I think he should because Goldman Sachs has been involved in some of the worst scandals in recent history. One, Goldman Sachs had a 20% stake in Enron at one point. When did they bail out?

Goldman Sachs made out like crazy in the great telecom scandal of the ’90s. They were the underwriters for these phony companies and then when the companies went bust, Goldman Sachs formed MCG Capital to buy communication assets on the cheap. Sort of like they knew all along that these telecoms were bad investments, if you catch my drift.

One of the companies was RSL Communications of which Ronald Lauder was the major shareholder. RSL went under in March 2001 and stiffed the lenders for $2 billion. A lot of very shady activity was going on with RSL and another company like re-routing calls which is highly illegal. Goldman Sachs through MCG Capital tried to hijack the assets from one of the companies. Sleazy.

I say Corzine wants to be governor to look after his own and Goldman Sachs’ interests, whatever they may be.

  • I think at this point moldy leftovers could run on the GOP ticket and beat Bean. I live in her district, which is typically very red, and she’s turned her back the progressive base there.

    She’s managed to vote poorly on several major issues. I think when given the choice, the GOP is happy to have a Democrat like her, but will choose ANY Republican instead.

    I’m personally ashamed to have had her sign in my yard in 2004.

    But it is nice to know that a freshman Democrat can barely beat a old, out of touch, corrupt, and greedy hack in just two tries. Maybe in 35 years when whoever beats her has gone that way, I’ll run against them.

  • 277fia, do you have any clue what you are talking about? Jon Corzine is one of the most liberal Democrats in the Senate, especially when it comes to economic issues. He voted against the repeal of the estate tax, he voted against CAFTA, he is one of the most vocal opponents of Social Security privatization, he voted against all of Bush’s tax cuts, he stood next to Daschle after the collapse of Enron to argue for increased regulation of corporations, he voted against that sham tort reform bill, and on and on and on. Don’t conflate his policy positions with whatever you percieve to be the wrongdoing of the company that he used to work for. Judge the guy by what he has done, which is to have become one of the leading voices for economic progessivism in the Senate today.

  • Interesting take by Sirota on the Ohio Hackett vs. Brown heavy weight title fight. What are your thoughts, Mr. Carpetbagger?

    I think Sirota is right with the points he makes. What he doesn’t talk about is how Hackett is supposed to win in the Cincinnati district? Will the DLC and other national Dem groups fully support him? Hackett has a good chance of beating Brown in the primary and either Dem has a better than even odds of beating DeWine. So, Hackett must be thinking “I could be a Senator, or take a bigger chance and maybe beat someone I just lost to.” Sirota’s logic is pretty good, but he doesn’t really address it from Hackett’s perspective.

  • JFinn, Thanks for calling me out. I went back and read about Corzine’s position on Social Security and am a bit embarassed that I did not know how strongly he opposed privatization. The Dems will miss him in the senate next year, I’m sure. But Corzine’s not off the hook.

    I got riled up because I’ve been looking at some of the financial scandals from the ’90s and early 00’s. Financial misdeeds were swept under the rug and the small investor was treated shabbily by Wall Street. Enron and the telecoms are the best examples. With 9/11 and the war, everyone sort of forgot about the problems.

    If Enron hadn’t attacked California at the end of 2000, it would have been out of business earlier than November 2001. When it did collapse, Wall Street made Enron’s finances sound so complicated that no one could have predicted problems. Wrong. Enron spun off the best assets in 1999 and then engaged in low profit business not in the interest of the shareholders. As sales went up, profits went down.

    Goldman Sachs owned 20% of Enron at one time. I’m 99% certain that Enron, in the late ’80s and early ’90s bribed the management of Russia’s biggest gas company, Gazprom with shareholder money and more or less stole valuable Russian assets. Enron then set up a company registered in Russia and Florida named Itera. The very secretive Itera reportedly controls a big piece of the gas market in Georgia and other CIS countries and is investing in the US like crazy.

    Goldman Sachs would have known about Itera from the beginning. If Corzine is invested in Itera, he is being dishonest about his professed belief in financial integrity. He’s, in effect, saying the rules don’t apply to him or his co-investors which probably include the likes of Ken Lay and James Baker.

    Same with the telecoms. If Goldman Sachs knew that RSL and MCI were scamming the investors with a sophisticated plan to re-route calls and jack up revenue, they were playing with a stacked deck. They underwrite the telecom’s public offering, sell high and then have an investment group ready to buy assets on the cheap when the telecom goes bust. Pity the poor schmuck who spends his own money to build up a business.

    People used to go to prison when they got caught stealing.

    I’d like to make 30 or 40% on my social security money. Why don’t we all get together and go head to head with Goldman Sachs and the Carlyle Group? That seems fair. Or, let’s start the “average investor’s fund”. We’ll get 5 million middle income people to put in $5k each, hire a Goldman Sachs and we’ll be in business.

    With his financial acumen, Jon Corzine could do a lot more for his constituents than protecting social security.

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