T.W.I.T. #1 (This Week In Thaddeus)

Welcome to the first of hopefully forty-six editions of "This Week In Thaddeus". Forty-six weeks takes us into early November, 2008, and by then it's our mission to have convinced the people of the 11th District that Rep. McCotter is not "working for you". So without further adieu, let's see what the Distinguished Gentleman from Livonia has been up to lately...

• Ms. Cordelia Lear, over at "Blogging For Michigan" shares an AP story about Congress' use of the "franking privilege". Franking cost the American taxpayers over $20 Million last year, and it seems that our own Thaddeus McCotter is one of the top users of the privilege:

  Among legislative leaders, the biggest spender was Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., who last fall became chairman of the House GOP Conference. He spent $133,053 to mail 844,336 pieces.

  Other leaders in the last Congress and the current one were not big users.

  The cost of postage is not the only expense for taxpayers. Printing and reproduction can add tens of thousands of dollars to a mailing's cost. The printing cost for one mailing from McCotter was $30,259.

  So what's the big deal, you ask? Well, Rep. McCotter seems to want his cake and eat it too. He constantly decries "overspending" as his reason for voting against many important pieces of legislation. When I asked him about his vote against the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 - which was ultimately passed and signed into law by George Bush himself - McCotter replied, "While I support many sections of this bill, the overall spending contained in H.R. 2669 remained excessive; therefore, I could not in good conscience support this bill, which will pave the way for more government spending and higher taxes." He also ironically closes his e-mail reply with this gem:

P.S. In an effort to conserve paper and save taxpayer dollars, please subscribe to our email list so we can more efficiently provide you with updates on important issues to the 11th District.

• On December 18th, McCotter voted against the Energy Independence and Security Act, which would move the nation towards more renewable fuels, higher fuel economy, green building standards and increased methods of energy conservation. Perhaps Thaddeus didn't like that it took away huge tax breaks and subsidies for Big Oil? The bill also creates an Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Worker Training Program to train for “green collar” jobs, such as solar panel manufacturers and green building construction workers, created by federal renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives. This is exactly the kind of thing the State of Michigan is trying to achieve to help wean our economy from the automotive industry, and McCotter and four other MI Republicans voted it down.
  

• McCotter was the recent subject of an article in Harper's Magazine, written by Ken Silverstein. In it, Silverstein discusses a new political action committee (PAC) our dear representative has established. I will allow you to judge for yourself whether or not Rep. McCotter truly believes that the Democratic Party is going to bring about the Apocalypse. All I ask of you is this - does this sound like a moderate, reasonable person who is capable of representing all the interests of the people in his district?

• On December 23rd, McCotter was the subject of a Detroit Free Press editorial, penned by Ron Dzwonkowski. Dzwonkowski alludes to a recent speech/press release, dated December 12th, on how the Republican Party should be "restored". The pungent aroma of hypocrisy wafted from the page as I read it last Saturday. In his speech, McCotter has the audacity to admonish the GOP for its fall into a "Cashocracy":

  Hubristically deemed by its leading denizens as a “Permanent Majority,” the GOP Cashocracy was a Beggars’ Banquet at taxpayers’ expense. The Cashocracy’s sole goal was its own perpetuation; and its Cashocrats and High Priests of Money-theism myopically chased this aim through pragmatic corporatism and political machinations.

  This coming from a man who practically bribed his way to becoming GOP House Policy Charman with a $250,000 contribution to the National Republican Congressional Committee. This coming from a man whose campaign contributions from single-issue and ideological Republican PACs (including $20,000 from Tom DeLay's ARMPAC) allow him to outspend his challengers by a 10-to-1 margin! Not to mention that despite his strong public stance against the policy of federal earmarks being attached to bills for pork-barrel spending projects, one of his own was to secure money for Westland to renovate an ice arena. Hmm, could that be Democratic-leaning Westland, where he's looking for help in the polls this fall?

It's getting late, and I could go on forever...see you next week when TWIT rings in the new year!

I work for you. No, not you, college students...

In response to a message I sent the Congressman a while back, Thaddeus McCotter writes:

To address your specific concern, on June 12, 2007, Representative George Miller (CA) introduced H.R. 2669, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. As enacted, (P. L. 110 - 84), this legislation reauthorizes and appropriates additional funding for the Pell Grant program through FY2017 to increase the amount of the maximum Pell grant for which a student is eligible; and authorizes and appropriates $57 million for each of Fiscal Year (FY) 2008-FY2011 to provide assistance to all Upward Bound projects. This Act also establishes a TEACH Grant program, which provides $4,000 of tuition assistance each academic year to high-achieving undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, and graduate students who commit to teaching math, reading, or science in a high-need elementary or secondary school for four years. Further, H.R. 2669, reduces from twenty-three (23%) percent to sixteen (16%) percent of defaulted Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFEL) collections a guaranty agency may retain, beginning in October 2007; and changes the formula for calculating special allowance payments (SAPs) made to FFEL lenders, to compensate them for the difference between FFEL interest and market rates, by reducing the lender rate by 0.40% for loans held by nonprofit lenders and 0.55% for all other lenders. Additionally, this legislation cancels the Direct Loan (DL) balance owed by borrowers who, after October 1, 2007, have made one hundred and twenty (120) payments under income-based or standard repayment plans while employed in certain public service jobs. Moreover, this act raises from $20,000 to $30,000 the zero-expected family contributions income limit and excludes special combat pay received by military personnel because of exposure to a hazardous situation from student need analyses and consideration as financial assistance. Lastly, H.R. 2669 establishes a College Access Challenge Grant program requiring the Secretary to provide formula matching grants to states for specified activities and services to improve student access to postsecondary education; and makes $255 million for each of FY2008-FY2012 available to minority-serving institutions; with $100 million each going to Hispanic-serving and Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and $55 million each for Tribal Colleges and Universities, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Asian, Native American Pacific Islander, and Native American non-tribal institutions. While I support many sections of this bill, the overall spending contained in H.R. 2669 remained excessive; therefore, I could not in good conscience support this bill, which will pave the way for more government spending and higher taxes. Despite my opposition, however on July 11, 2007, the House passed H.R. 2669 with a vote of 273 - 149 and on July 20, 2007, the Senate passed this legislation with a vote of 78 - 18. Consequently, on September 27, 2007, President Bush signed H.R. 2669 into law (P. L. 110 - 84).

(Emphasis mine)

The Bush tax cuts for the richest 1% of Americans cost the country $56.5 Billion in 2007. The 11th District alone could have seen $112.5 million in additional revenue. According to the 2006 American Community Survey estimates from the US Census Bureau, there are approximately 46,711 children under the ages 15-19 in the 11th Congressional District. Each of them could have a $2400 scholarship for college with the money Thaddeus McCotter voted to give back to millionaires in 2003 and 2006.

When Thaddeus McCotter says he "works for you", he's talking to about 10,000 households in the district who report over $200,000 in income - about 3% of his constituents. There are almost as many households who have needed to use food stamps in the past 12 months as there are in the $200k-and-up bracket. And meanwhile less than a third of residents over age 25 hold a Bachelor's degree.

Thaddeus McCotter doesn't "work for you" - he doesn't work at all.