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Author Topic: Corruption in Government  (Read 74265 times)

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AGelbert

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Re: Corruption in Government
« Reply #345 on: May 05, 2017, 12:45:02 pm »
By Came In On Saturdays | May 02, 2017 at 04:48 PM EDT

“Moderate” GOP Congressman Tom “Repeal Obamacare” MacArthur —He’s Just Another Trump Rubber Stamper


      “ IT’S B…AAA CK!  IT’S B…AAA CK!  IT’S  B…AAA CK!” The repeal Obamacare zombie bill keeps rising from the GOP ooze. In the Trump administration, it has already failed to pass twice. Actually, health care repeal legislation had previously failed over 50-60 times while Obama was in office. However, that was B.T.E., “Before the Trump Era.” Now, we have a GOP President as well as a “Red” House and “Red” Senate, a trifecta. Remember what Donald said on the 2016 campaign trail? Give him the Oval Office and keep both Congressional chambers bright “Red,” and repeal will be done in no time. Certainly, no later than the end of Trump’s 100 days, or by 4/29/2017.

       To Trump and his GOP’s surprise, the public began to realize how good and effective Obamacare was.  At packed town hall meetings, constituents yelled at GOP Congressmen and Senators, “Hands off our Obamacare.” Despite all of Donald’s appeals, arm-twisting, and bullying, too many GOPers in swing districts   realized that a vote to repeal Obamacare might cost them their seats in 2018 and even give Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) the Speakership. On 3/24/2017, Economic “genius” (NOT) House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wi.) was forced to pull the first vote to repeal Obamacare because he and Demagogue Donald would have faced a humiliating defeat (Wash. Post, 3/24/17 Vote Count).

         While the hard-right “Freedumb” Caucus took the blame for killing the first Trump/Ryan health care repeal, they and some GOP “moderates” would not end this battle to give Donald a 100 Days victory. Too many GOPers “think” that if they don’t repeal health care, enough of their red-meat base might stay home in the 2018 midterms because the GOP trifecta did not deliver. Some “moderates” are also upset that the “Freedumb” Caucus and Donald are blaming them for the 3/24/2017 failure. Obamacare repeal remains an obsession, even for “moderates.” Therefore, the GOP Congress and Trump brought forth Obamacare repeal Attempt #2. GOP Congressman Tom MacArthur, a co-chair of the “moderate” Republican Tuesday Group, “negotiated,” read, “capitulated” to the “Freedumb” Caucus. He succeeded in getting them to agree to an extremist health care repeal bill. Post-Trumpcare bill 2.0, MacArthur’s “brainchild,” was even worse than the original Trumpcare legislation. The new version would further tighten the screws on vulnerable Americans and let states allow insurance companies to charge higher premiums on older people with pre-existing conditions. MacArthur/Trumpcare 2.0 would, additionally give insurers the freedom not to cover essential health services like maternity care and cancer treatment (NY Times Editorial, 4/28/17).

     Democrats threatened to shut down government funding if this disastrous MacArthur/Trumpcare amendment made it into the federal funding bill then being negotiated. GOPers need the Democrats to pass this funding bill because they know the public would blame them for a government shutdown. They could then easily lose a net 24 seats in the 2018 midterm elections and flip the House “Blue.” On 4/30/2017, a senior congressional aide stated that congressional negotiators had hammered a deal to keep the federal government open till 9/30/2017. Trump would have to sign it before 5/05/17. In order to keep the government running, the GOP had to yield to the Democratic minority on major issues. No border wall between the U.S. and Mexico would be built. Planned Parenthood was funded. The Environmental Protection Agency was funded. The National Institutes of Health received increased funding. And the MacArthur/Trump gut Obamacare amendment was not in this funding deal. Overall, this funding compromise resembled an Obama-era spending bill more than a Trump one (See“The Hill,” Bolton & Wong, 4/30/17, Bloomberg.com, House, Wasson, & Litvan, 4/30/17).  However, Speaker Ryan, VP Pence, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Trump himself are still pushing MacArthur/Trumpcare 3.0. They are “educating,” read, “twisting” fellow GOPers to go along (See Wash. Post, Snell, Costa, & O’Keefe, 4/28/17). Donald and “Team Red” must “win” at any cost. Who is this Cong. MacArthur?

             Second-term GOP Congressman Tom MacArthur (56) represents New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District (CD). The present Garden State 3rd is located in South Central New Jersey and contains the 1 million- acre Pine Barrens Forest and thousands of additional farmland acres. Part of the Joint Base McGuire Dix-Lakehurst sits in the 3rd’s center. This base combines an Army military reservation, an Air Force base, and a Navy air station. Defense contractors are attracted to this area and 42, 000 jobs are connected to this base. Lockheed-Martin in Moorestown is a big employer with a naval electronics and surveillance system plant.  In addition to defense and agriculture, health care and tourism  remain  economic pillars. East of the Pine Barrens is Ocean County, including the barrier islands from Mantoloking south to Stafford. The 3rd contains older beach front communities and inland subdivisions and condominiums. The 3rd CD includes large parts of Ocean and Burlington Counties. The 3rd’s largest city is Toms River. Toms River had been home to a Ciba-Geigy Chemical plant. This plant closed while settling a $13.7 million lawsuit in 2001 over air and water pollution that residents claimed caused cancer. The 3rd  has  several suburban Philadelphia Burlington County townships (Barone & CQ 14 Political Almanacs).

         Ocean County has been the fastest growing part of New Jersey, a kind of “Frost Belt Florida.” It has attracted many NY and North Jersey retirees, eager to leave urban crime and high taxes. Politically, the Jersey 3rd has been competitive.  After the 2011 redistricting, Democratic-leaning Cherry Hill was moved into the heavily “Blue” Camden-based 1st CD while several GOP-leaning Burlington County townships were added to the 3rd . The current Cook Partisan Voting Index (PVI) gives the 3rd an R+1 score, keeping this district in the swing category. The 3rd went for Obama by 5 points in both 2008 and 20012, after going for W in 2004 by 2 points. In 2016, Trump carried the 3rd by 6 points (See Barone 14).

        Hebron, Ct. native Tom MacArthur received his undergraduate degree from Hofstra University. He then worked in the insurance industry. For 11 years, he was chairman and chief executive officer of York Risk Services Group. From 2011-2013, he served on the Randolph, New Jersey Township Council, and in 2013 became mayor (AP, 5/03/14). When the incumbent GOP Congressman decided not to run in 2014, MacArthur resigned from the Randolph council and moved into the 3rd CD. After winning the GOP primary, MacArthur contributed over $5 million of his own fortune to his general election race. He outspent his Democratic rival by about 3:1 and won by a 10-point margin. In 2016, he coasted to re-election getting 60% of the vote (Knapp, newjerseyhills, com/randolph, “Opensecrets.org.”, nj.com/politics/index, NJ.com, Melisurgo, 11/08/16). MacArthur now lives in Toms River and owns homes in Randolph and Barnegat Light, New Jersey. He is the richest member of the New Jersey congressional delegation, worth at least $30.8 million (AP, 5/03/14, “Washington Times,” 5/05/14, Mulvihill, “New Jersey Hills Media Group,” “NJ.com.”). In the present 115th Congress, MacArthur sits on the key House Financial Services Committee (CQ Roll Call, 115th Cong. At Your Fingertips). 

        As previously noted, MacArthur may be a co-chair of the “moderate” GOP Tuesday Group, but IMHO, he is a MINO, “Moderate in Name Only.”  In the current 115th Congress, MacArthur voted with his hard- right party 96% of the time and with Trump’s position  92.9% of the time (“ProPublica,” Willis, “FiveThirtyEight,” Bycoffe).  Mac Arthur endorsed Trump in the 2016 presidential election.  MacArthur was the only New Jersey Congressman to attend the 2016 Republican National Convention that nominated Trump. In 2/2017, Cong. MacArthur voted against a resolution to have the House request 10 years of Trump’s income tax returns (NJ.com, indy100. 2/28/17, heavy.com /news, 4/26/17). MacArthur has a personal relationship with the Trump family that Donald played upon. MacArthur knew Trump’s late father Fred and handled his insurance for many years. MacArthur would ride in Fred Trump’s car, going out with him to settle claims on many of the apartments Fred owned (Wash. Post, Snell, Costa, & O’Keefe, 4/28/17).

     MacArthur opposes abortion. He favors a crippling balanced budget Constitutional amendment (“Project Vote Smart, ontheissues.org). He opposes federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. In 2/2017, he voted in favor of repealing a rule that required energy companies to disclose payments to foreign governments (Bycoffe, “FiveThirtyEight). The League of Conservation Voters gave MacArthur a lifetime 10% score (“League of Conservation Voters Scorecard”). He opposes same-sex marriage (“Project Vote Smart”). 

         Cong. MacArthur has repeatedly called for repealing Obamacare (“Project Vote Smart”).  A lot of GOP moderates received a bad case of political “heartburn” from MacArthur’s negotiating another health care repeal deal that catered to the demands of the “Freedumb” Caucus. MacArthur was the only “moderate” involved in these talks and often consulted with the White House and GOP leadership. Many Republican moderates had explicitly asked their leadership NOT to negotiate with the “Freedumb” Caucus over health care (SeeCNN, Mattingly, Walsh, & Barrett, 4/28/17, Wash. Post, Snell et al, 4/28/17). MacArthur could care less about following his group’s wishes. He could care less that 70% of Americans favor federal protection for pre-existing conditions. MacArthur wants states to be easily able to waive this vital federal pre-existing protection (Wash. Post-ABC News, 4/2017 Pol, CNN, Mattingly et al). All that counts for super-rich insurance businessman Cong. MacArthur is being in Demagogue Donald’s gut health care corner.

          Donald, VP Pence, and Speaker Ryan are far from giving up. They want to bring up MacArthur’s anti-health care reform amendment as soon as possible to the House floor. Democrats and moderates must keep bombarding the House with emails, phone calls, and letters to stop this disastrous legislation from passing. Whenever this awful zombie legislation comes up, it must be met with massive public opposition. The “moderate” Tuesday Group should strip MacArthur of his leadership position for going against their wishes.  Finally, in this swingy district, the Democrats must recruit and finance a top-flight challenger to defeat repeal Obamacare MacArthur in the 2018 mid-term elections. In 11/2018, Democrats and moderates must come out in droves to send MacArthur home. MacArthur’s record makes him more compatible with Southern and Rocky Mountain GOPers, not those from New Jersey.

http://cameinonsaturdays.com/
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

 

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