Fishing for Influence?

[Joanne98]

Ah, Max. No wonder your committee's health plan is basically a gift to the insurance industry. Lobbyists are your peeps, they'll always be there for you when your own constituents are pissed off and giving you hell for being weak on health care reform.

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus of Montana plans to take a break from the grind of crafting a health care overhaul to serve as a Democratic rainmaker with a few of his friends along the Madison, Gallatin and Yellowstone rivers in the Treasure State this weekend.

Lobbyists and political supporters will get their chance to cast fishing lines and drive golf balls with the Senate's top tax writer at his Fly-Fishing & Golfing in Big Sky event. The cost is $2,500 per person, $5,000 for a political action committee. And for the same price, more fun lies ahead at Camp Baucus, the summer camp he holds for friends and their families in his home state between July 31 and Aug. 2.

Advocates of public financing of elections -- such as Craig Holman, a lobbyist for Public Citizen -- say lucrative parties like the Baucus events give special interests undue influence over legislation.

"It's unseemly to be doing this just before the markup," said Holman, referring to pending committee action on Baucus' draft health care bill. "This kind of schmoozing of lawmakers clearly buys influence. This kind of event clearly shows why we need public financing."
Unseemly? Not in Max's mind. "There's no problem. I've been doing these events for more than 10 years." Ten years worth of cozying up to lobbyists and doing nothing to help your constituents, and lots of them, who are uninsured. That would be more than a third of your state's residents under age 65.

Let's break that down a little bit more, just to point out the massiveness of your fail on health care reform.

◦More than three-quarters of Montana’s uninsured, or 78.5 percent, were in working families, working full- or part-time.
◦More than half, or 54.8 percent, of those individuals and families in Montana with incomes below twice the poverty level—$42,400 of annual income for a family of four in 2008—went without health insurance at some point in 2007-2008.
◦In addition, nearly one-quarter, or 23.7 percent, of those individuals and families in Montana with incomes at or above twice the poverty level—$42,400 of annual income for a family of four in 2008—went without health insurance at some point in 2007-2008.
Have fun counting all those checks, Max. I'm sure your constituents won't mind a bit. Hopefully, some of them have the chance to find you in between all the golfing and fishing to let you know whether THEY think it's unseemly to see you rubbing their uninsured faces in your fun.

http://www.bloggersforchange.com/?p=16554