Campaign funny-business from the crooked, lying bastards - TPM

[TacticalPeek]

All other campaign funny-business aside (on both
sides of the aisle), there's been a pretty high bar
in place on using congressional websites for
explict political campaign uses and
electioneering.

Along those lines, almost all the space on the
House Committee on Resources website today
is devoted to fronting these two grafs ....

Headline: "That black stuff is hurting us." Sen.
John Kerry on oil (Greenwire)

Washington, DC - Democrat presidential
candidate John Kerry is quoted in today’s
edition of Greenwire as saying, “that black stuff
is hurting us,” with regard to oil. Members of the
House Committee on Resources found the
Senator’s comment absurd.

snip


This is a taxpayer-funded website -- one for a
House committee. This seems hands-down
inappropriate, if not a breach of House rules.

The "read more" link is to this page, which
contains straight-up GOP anti-Kerry bullet points.
Perfectly legit as campaign material; but stuff that
obviously has no place on this site.

-- Josh Marshall

TalkingPointsMemo


Josh is right. The Republican inclination to bullying intimidation and opportunistic usurpation knows no bounds. Especially where the taxpayer is concerned.

:grr:

[BootinUp]

1. Hmmmm

I'm sure it will be coming down soon enough. I am wondering if this story will get some airtime tonight.

[GainesT1958]

2. These idiots are doing FAR worse things...

In their "control" of the House than we EVER did when we had the majority over there...the only good news is that some of them may pay for it in jail time...maybe...:eyes:

Nakedly partisan stuff on House sites, and stealing our stuff on Senate sites...Gordon Liddy and his fellow Watergate "Plumber" operatives have apparently taught them well...x(

B-)

[Caution]

3. Contact them and complain

I sent an email. I'd call but it would be inappropriate for me to do so at work (gee, I can recognize when using my employer's resources would be wrong...)

Office Contact:
1333 Longworth House Office Buidling
Washington, DC 20515
ph: [phone]
fax: [phone]

Communications Director:


Brian Kennedy
[email protected]
Press Secretary:
Nicol Andrews
[email protected]
Deputy Press Secretary:
Matt Streit
[email protected]
Press Aide:
Amanda Lawson
[email protected]

[TacticalPeek]

4. The toll-free Capitol switchboard will hook you up: [phone].

Just ask for the office to which you wish to direct your constitutionally protected right to bitch.

:)

[BR_Parkway]

5. My email to all the committee members

Why would your committee need to post the current “news” on this website? These are my tax dollars that are being used as campaign fodder and needs to be stopped immediately. Whether I was a Democrat or Republican would make no difference – this is a House committee BIPARTISAN website and yet, you’re allowing this rhetoric to be posted:

Washington, DC - Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry is quoted in today’s edition of Greenwire as saying, “that black stuff is hurting us,” with regard to oil. Members of the House Committee on Resources found the Senator’s comment absurd.
“John Kerry is dead wrong,” Chairman Richard W. Pombo (R-CA) said. “Oil doesn’t hurt Americans; John Kerry’s anti-energy policies hurt Americans. In fact, this is exactly the kind of rhetoric and bad policy that has led to the outsourcing of good American energy jobs. Last year alone, the United States outsourced more than $100 billion worth of American jobs, economic growth, and national security to foreign countries for our energy needs. Americans are left with a supply and demand imbalance that creates higher prices at the pump and longer waits on the unemployment line." - READ MORE -

This is a complete misuse of the power and discretion that your entire constituency elected you to use wisely in your representation of them. Please get with whoever the webmaster is and post something that doesn’t campaign one way or the other. If you can’t think of anything important, post a picture of a national park or put up a poll so you’ll have some idea of how normal, everyday Americans feel about how this Nation’s resources are utilized.

You, the members of Congress have enough to worry with between an illegal war being fought in Iraq, millions of jobs being shipped overseas by your largest campaign donors, a budget that spends so much more money that my grandchildren will be paying on it long after I am dead so that you could give the rest of your larger campaign donors a fat tax break. We, the people, will decide on the outcome of the elections come November - without Congressional input or "armchair quarterbacking". That's our job. You have your own to do. And over the next six years, you'll have a chance to reverse those problems mentioned above. Or my job won't be the only one at risk.

Warmest Regards,

[sophie996]

6. preaching to the choir

It's great to have groups like this one and all the other Democratic message groups, but we're talking to ourselves. We need to counter the Bush campaign lies in other places, where they won't be read exclusively by people who (mostly ;-) ) agree with us. Suggestions?

Letters to editors, of course. Sites that won't toss you off for even a mild disagreement with Repub hard-liners. One I check in with regularly is www.hispaniconline.com which has a pretty free-wheeling message board. Anybody know of others?

New Yorker this week has a good piece on Jeb Bush and the Florida Cubans. They only keep these pieces available for a few days.
http://newyorker.com/fact/content/

Be patient; I find the NY site unusually slow-loading.

Peace,
Sophie

[newyawker99]

7. Hi sophie996!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: