Category: Fall 2006 Newswire
Malden Mills Sees Flow of Federal Fundin
Millsmoney
The Eagle-Tribune
Bryan McGonigle
Boston University Washington News Service
Dec. 12
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 – Eleven years ago, Malden Mills was engulfed in one of the worst fires in Massachusetts history, which devastated the Merrimack valley textile manufacturer and led the company into bankruptcy.
But in recent years, Malden Mills has been awash in a stream of federal funds and military contracts, making it a leading developer of combat gear and helping the Merrimack Valley economy.
Malden Mills, which produces Polartec fabrics for clothing worn by U.S. troops, has received about $58 million in earmarks from defense appropriations bills since 2002.
“Congressional funding gets the product to the field,” Malden Mills spokesman David
Costello, of Marblehead, said.
Pipeline for Polartec
Costello was the company’s business manager until 2003 and
continues to serve as its manager of government business. He is a lobbyist with ADS
Ventures in Boston, the firm that represents Malden Mills in Washington.
“We couldn’t follow [product development] all the way through,” Costello said. “I couldn’t sell the jacket. I had to sell the fabric. I wanted to follow the whole process, and what I do now enables me to do that.”
Malden Mills paid ADS Ventures $90,000 last year, according to the company’s lobbying reports.
The Department of Defense creates a list each year of products the military needs, called unfunded requirements, and Costello goes to Congress to get funding for development of those products, he said.
“What we’re doing is very client-focused,” Costello said. “We only work on things that
are supported by the Department of Defense. We really think it’s
important to be lined up with their needs.”
For example, the military is trying to find new ways to deal with improvised explosive
devices. Polyester melts into skin and drips when hit with extreme heat, so Malden Mills
is developing a fabric that will withstand heat and pressure unleashed by such an
explosion, Costello said. That project is being tested in the field with Marines.
“We’re not making a joint strike fighter here, but we’re making something that impacts the soldier every day,” Costello said. “Our goal is focused on the war fighter and trying to improve their comfort and safety in the field.”
Out of the Ashes, Into the Budget
Federal money has taken the company a long way since December 1995, when a fire destroyed three of the nine buildings on Malden Mills’ 29-acre complex. Aaron Feuerstein, who owned the company at the time, gained national attention when he decided to keep paying his idled workers through the rebuilding process
But the company lost business while the new plant was being built, and it amassed a $140 million debt. So the company’s leaders – in an effort to keep alive the legacy started by Feuerstein’s grandfather in 1907 – decided to take their business to Uncle Sam.
Malden Mills, working with Natick Labs, began designing fabrics for U.S. troops in Bosnia in 1998.
“The products they had were extremely bulky, took up a lot of room in their backpacks and were not very effective,” Costello said.
The company filed for bankruptcy in 2001 but continued to research and develop new fabrics for the military. In 2003, Malden Mills emerged from bankruptcy and Feuerstein relinquished control of the company to a group of creditors led by GE Capital. Feuerstein remained chairman and president but stepped down as CEO.
The company’s sales rose eight percent last year to between $180 and $190 million, and military contracts account for 15 percent of total sales, Costello said.
Under a Marine contract this year, Malden Mills will supply the fabric for 317,644 combat desert jackets over the next five years and receive $10 million.
“Operating in some of the most unforgiving regions of the world, our service men and women need the best possible equipment and technology,” Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said. “The work of
[Natick Labs] and the quality products of Malden Mills, have led to the continuing development of better and better protective clothing and equipment for our troops.”
Earmarks, however, have been a focus in the debate over ethics in Congress in recent years. Earmarks are money for a specific interest that is added to a Congressional spending bill outside of the usual appropriations process. Critics refer to them as “pork” and say the earmarks are used to boost a lawmaker’s image in his or her district at the expense of an already enormous budget.
One district’s gift, another district’s pork
In 1994, there were 4,126 earmarks on appropriations bills, according to the Congressional Research Service. In 2005, there were 15,877 earmarks. Funding for earmarks has increased from $23 billion in 1994 to $64 billion in 2006, and $30 billion of that increase was in this past year alone.
Defense earmarks have more than doubled since Sept. 11, 2001. For fiscal year 2006, the number of congressional earmarks on defense appropriations bills was 2,847 with a total value of more than $9.4 billion.
Winslow Wheeler, director of the Straus Military Reform Project at the Center for Defense Information, said defense earmarks have become an enormous problem because there is no independent examination of them.
“Evaluation is the issue,” Wheeler said. “The earmark needs not just to be described. It needs to be evaluated by an entity that does not receive money from federal government or defense contractors.”
Wheeler said earmarks like those that Kennedy and Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., deliver to Malden Mills may make them heroes in Massachusetts, but those earmarks also give Massachusetts an unfair advantage.
“When Congressman Meehan wants to stuff in fleece liners for the Army, he should be happy that the Army is getting the best available, so let’s compete other states against his manufacturer and get the military the lowest price,” Wheeler said. “He is dead set against doing that because he wants to bring the money to his district.”
Meehan disagreed, saying that there is already a competitive process for Malden Mills’ fabrics and the earmarks.
“The materials have been tested by the services over the years,” Meehan said. “And based on those tests and based on best available fabrics, [the military] put out request for proposals from various companies.”
Meehan is an outspoken advocate of overhauling the rules for both earmarks and lobbying, having introduced legislation in 2004 and 2005. Neither of those bills passed, but earlier this month, he vowed to once again push the issues on the first day of the Democratic-controlled 110th Congress in January.
“I believe there should be a transparency in earmarks, but it’s not an effort to eliminate earmarks altogether,” Meehan said. “The process should be legitimate. This should not be something that’s done in secret, in a way that gets around the process that debates these things openly.”
Meehan added that giving Malden Mills defense earmarks was a rigorous process that took several years of testing and military scrutiny.
“Anyone who would criticize the Malden Mills earmarks would be someone who did not have a clue as to the process by which Malden Mills garments have qualified for the unfunded requirement list and the testing that has gone on,” Meehan said.
From the Federal Well to the Local Pail
Joseph Bevilacqua, president of the Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce, said congressional funding has helped the north of Boston community on many levels.
“Malden Mills has been a tremendous asset to the Merrimack Valley area,” he said. “There have been earmarks in the past, for every state, that I didn’t think were justified. But an earmark set aside to employ people and keep the economy moving is a good thing.”
Malden Mills employs 1,000 people, most of them at the Lawrence plant and about 40 at the company’s Hudson, N.H., facility.
“Those employees shop at local stores, eat at local restaurants, pay rent, taxes, and
that money goes into the community,” Bevilacqua said.
Put into perspective, the almost $58 million in earmarks to Malden Mills over five years represents $11,600 a year per employee at the company.
Malden Mills is only one of several Massachusetts companies seeing a financial boost in the war on terror. Defense contracts awarded annually to Massachusetts increased from $5.3 billion in 2001 to $8.3 billion in 2005, according to the Department of Defense.
Malden Mills’ Washington cash flow is relatively small compared to Raytheon in Andover, which has received more than $300 million in product orders in the past three months as part of ongoing contracts of more than $600 million to support the Patriot missile system. Raytheon’s defense contracts increased from $6.3 billion to more than $9 billion from 2001 to 2005, according to the Department of Defense.
But Wheeler said that earmarking should not be used as a means for boosting local economies.
“[The earmark] is going to help somebody’s economy somewhere,” Wheeler said. “I don’t know why the people of Massachusetts should be privileged over Minnesota.”
Meehan said that no matter how much Massachusetts gets in earmarks, when it comes to military supplies, quality trumps geography every time.
“I would never, ever advocate products that weren’t the best products, no matter where they’re made,” Meehan said.
He did acknowledge the benefits, however, to having ties to a district supplying those products.
“This is a win-win situation for me, because [the military] wants it and it happens to be manufactured in my district,” he said.
Bevilacqua commended local members of Congress for getting funding from Washington for Malden Mills and said that if the funding keeps one of the nation’s oldest manufacturing companies alive, then it’s worth the investment.
“If a manufacturer is doing well in the Merrimack Valley, it’s doing well in the United
States,” he said.
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Connecticut Organization Participates in Pageant of Peace
PAGEANT
The New Britain Herald
Tia Albright
Boston University Washington News Service
December 7, 2006
WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 – Participants at the lighting of the National Christmas Tree Thursday praised the historically themed ornaments donated by the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford.
“I think that the ornaments hanging on the Connecticut tree are a great representation of the state’s history and spirit,” said Devon Miller, a Greenwich native.
The Stowe center gave a collection of handmade ornaments for display on Connecticut’s Christmas tree along the “Pathway of Peace,” which consists of 56 trees representing the states, territories and the District of Columbia. One organization from each state provides ornaments that represent that state’s history.
Beth Giard, collections manager for the center, said, “We donated the ornaments as a way to represent the state of Connecticut in the pageant and to get out the message of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s to the nation.”
Harriet Beecher Stowe was born in 1811 in Litchfield and is best known for her novel, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” written as a testament to the hardships of slavery.
The center’s ornaments are based on its “American Woman’s Home Collection.” They are miniature quilts screened with patterns of artifacts from the collection, including lace, pillows, ceramic plates, pitchers and bowls.
The first National Christmas Tree was lit by Calvin Coolidge in the Ellipse south of the White House in 1923. Last night was President Bush’s turn. The pageant will continue until early January.
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Baldacci Named Chair of Job for America’s Graduates
JAG
Bangor Daily News
Lauren Smith
Boston University Washington News Service
12/7/2006
WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 —Gov. John Baldacci Thursday was named chairman of Jobs for America’s Graduates Inc., a school-to-career program for students facing barriers, of which Maine consistently ranks highly.
Baldacci accepted his nomination at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington before about 750 supporters, business leaders, politicians, teachers and students.
“I don’t accept these positions, with my day job responsibility,” he said. “I have more than enough to do. As a matter of fact, I tell people I don’t go looking for trouble; it walks right through the front door.”
But Baldacci said he was honored to take on the job because he has seen first-hand its effects on students’ enthusiasm.
“In Jobs for Maine’s Graduates’ program there was enthusiasm, there were smiles, there was laughter, there was energy, and there was an interest in education,” Baldacci said. “We’re very fortunate to have this as a tool in the tool chest which is going to help to power Maine and the country in the future.”
Jobs for America's Graduates is a national non-profit corporation that assists affiliates in 30 states serving more than 40,000 students.
The program, established in 1980, targets children who are not engaged in school, have no support networks and lack goal-setting skills. The program pairs them with a specialist or mentor who works with them to prepare them for careers or for post-secondary education.
“I don’t think it matters where you’re from—rural or urban areas, Aroostook County or Portland—children either have the will to succeed or they don’t,” said Craig Larrabee, president and CEO of Jobs for Maine’s Graduates program, who has been with the program since it began in Maine in 1993.
“We help them set goals and teach them why education is important,” he said.
When it started in Maine as a pilot program, 500 children participated, said Larrabee, a Waterville resident. It has since expanded to 52 sites throughout the state and serves 2,500 students.
For the past 12 years Maine has been the best of the program’s participating states as measured by the number of students in the program who graduate from high school. In addition, Larrabee said, a Maine Department of Labor study released two months ago found that students who went through the program made more money then their counterparts six years after graduating.
Larrabee credits much of the program’s success to its staff. “One person wears so many hats—they are teachers, mentors, friends, parents.”
Daniel Ball, a 17-year-old senior at Provine High School in Jackson, Miss., has developed a strong relationship with his specialist.
“I can call her whenever and I know she will always be there for me,” he said. “But she’s also very, very hard on me. But I know it’s out of love.”
Ball, who signed up for the program as an elective in his school because he thought the field trips sounded like fun, said he now believes the class should be mandatory for all students.
“This class should be a requirement for graduation,” he said. “Everyone should get a taste of JAG.”
Rodgeric Poindexter, an 18-year-old senior at Choices High School in Canton, Ohio, agreed.
“I pity whoever doesn’t take advantage of the opportunities they are handed,” he said. “I don’t know my place in this world. I’m lost. I don’t even know my family. But this program teaches you how to find your place and let it all soak in.”
Poindexter joined the program because he wanted to be able to pursue social work after finishing high school. He and Ball said the program has provided them with many new and valuable experiences, including visits to job sites and businesses in their area, as well as visits from college and university presidents.
Baldacci said the program, or one similar to it, may be pushed in the new Congress to become a regular part of public school curricula.
“The difficulty with education sometimes is you don’t know where you’re headed and nobody is turning the light on clear enough for you,” Baldacci said. “But with this program and the mentoring and support that you receive, you’re going to hit the ground running.”
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New Hampshire Country Home Ornaments Decorate Washington Tree
NHPeace
New Hampshire Union Leader
Kendra Gilbert
Boston University Washington News Service
12-7-06
WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 – As President Bush lit the National Christmas Tree Thursday night, a little piece of New Hampshire hung nearby on the state’s Christmas tree as part of the 2006 Pageant of Peace.
Make that 50 little pieces.
Every year one organization from each of the 56 states, territories and the District of Columbia is asked to decorate a tree to represent that jurisdiction at the Pageant of Peace.
Since 1983, Hampshire Pewter of Wolfeboro has donated 50 ornaments each year to decorate New Hampshire’s tree in the nation’s capital.
“It’s always been a nice tradition for the last 24 years,” said Abe Neudorf, co-owner and president of Hampshire Pewter.
This year’s ornament, made from the company’s “secret formula” pewter, depicts a country home nestled deep in a New Hampshire forest, with a cardinal in the foreground.
“It’s fitting,” Katie Roberts said of the ornament’s country home theme.
Roberts and friend Jill Laroe, both of Hudson, were visiting Washington on the night of the tree lighting and stopped to look at their home state’s tree.
“It’s a wonderful idea having every state represented,” Roberts said.
After lengthy discussion that started in January and requests from customers for something homey, the theme for this year’s ornament was set, Neudorf said.
“Basically, we never stop thinking about the ornament for the tree,” Neudorf said, “because every year we know we have to come up with another humdinger.”
The company, founded in 1974, always sees a high demand for the special ornament in its four retail stores located throughout New Hampshire, Neudorf said.
Included with the 50 ornaments that were shipped to Washington in November was this note Neudorf wrote explaining the significance of this year’s design:
“Out past the skyscrapers and billboards, beyond the crowded streets and traffic lights, down the long driveway and through the trees lies a beautiful place we call our country home. The New Hampshire mountains, lakes and forests provide many quiet places to call home. Whether your home is quietly nestled in the New Hampshire countryside, neatly placed in a suburb or standing tall in a city, our hope for you is that your heart will never have far to go to find home.”
After all, there’s no place like home for the holidays.
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Maine Delegation Responds to Iraq Study Group Findings
FINDINGS
Bangor Daily News
Lauren Smith
Boston University News Wire Service
12/6/2006
WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 —After the Iraq Study Group issued its report to the President and members of Congress, Maine’s delegation said maintaining the status quo in Iraq is unacceptable.
“Today, with Robert Gates’ expected confirmation as Secretary of Defense and the release of the Iraq Study Group's report, our nation is witnessing twin events to usher in a new era for American policy in Iraq,” Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) said.
On Wednesday the bipartisan group, which had been formed by the Congress in the spring, presented detailed guidelines for a change in course of action in Iraq, including the pullback of American troops by early 2008.
Collins called the report a “blunt assessment of where things currently stand,” and said is a good starting point for the future of U.S. involvement in Iraq.
Rep. Michael Michaud (D-Maine) said that two of the most important recommendations that the Iraq Study Group made were to call for better diplomatic and political efforts in Iraq and the region, and a change in the primary mission of U.S. forces in Iraq.
“I believe that it is critically important that the United States engage all regional partners,” Michaud said. “By stepping up regional diplomacy and focusing our efforts on training, equipping and advising Iraqi forces, our troops will be able to leave Iraq sooner and the Iraqi people will be more capable of taking control of their own country.”
International diplomatic participation by key neighbors like Iran and Syria, Snowe said, will prove central to containing the conflict in Iraq.
“Ultimately, it is not in anyone's interest to have a failed state where terrorism and sectarian violence flourishes in the heart of the Middle East,” she said.
Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine, who has issued his own plan for redeployment from Iraq, said that the group’s failure to set a deadline will make it hard for the U.S. to put pressure on Sunni and Shia leaders to sort out their differences over political power and oil.
Snowe added that the Iraqi government “must understand in no uncertain terms that our presence is neither open ended nor unconditional and that it is up to them to take control of their country by containing the escalating sectarian violence.”
The major question now, Allen said, “is whether President Bush will make the necessary changes in strategy and policy or continue to turn a deaf ear to criticism.”
The Senate Armed Services Committee, of which Collins is a member, will hold a hearing Thursday to further discuss and examine the findings of the study group.
Collins said she plans to seek a better understanding of “why the study group believes the engagement of Syria and Iran without seeking preconditions will help stabilize Iraq. In addition, I will be interested to learn more about the recommendation that we embed additional troops while drawing down all our combat troops and, in particular, what the safety implications of such a strategy would be for our embedded troops.”
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Command Sgt. Maj. John J. Leonard Receives Big “M” Award
AWARD
Bangor Daily News
Lauren Smith
Boston University Washington News Service
12/5/2006
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 —The list of Command Sgt. Maj. John J. Leonard’s decorations and awards reads like a run-on sentence, scrolling 13 lines on a piece of paper and totaling 33 distinctions in all.
He added another to the list on Saturday at Bolling Air Force Base, where he was awarded the 2006 Big “M” Award by the Maine State Society.
“He characterizes the spirit of Maine people who work behind the scenes that are not public officials,” said Lewis Pearson of the Maine State Society. “That was a reason for choosing someone like him.”
Leonard, 59, originally of Southwest Harbor, now lives at Ft. Myer next to Arlington National Cemetery . He was the first senior enlisted advisor assigned to the Office of the Chief, National Guard Bureau, which is the highest-ranking, non-commissioned officer for both the Army and Air National Guard. In this job he has been responsible for advising on the affairs of some 457,000 soldiers and airmen of the Army and Air National Guard.
He served as a Marine in Vietnam, was Command Sergeant of the Maine Army National Guard during the first Gulf War, was deployed to Desert Storm, and has traveled two times to Iraq and Afghanistan.
“One of the reasons he was selected by the senior officers is because of his ability to relate to and communicate with enlisted personnel worldwide and all those in the Army National Guard unit,” Pearson said.
In the early 1960s the Maine State Society, a Washington organization for persons from Maine, established the Big “M” Award to recognize Maine people for outstanding contributions and service to Maine and its citizens and to the state’s continuing role in national affairs; or for attaining the highest level of achievement in the recipient’s profession; or for exemplifying the finest attributes of a concerned citizen involved in state or national affairs, projects or programs.
You only have to meet one of those requirements, said Pearson, but Leonard, who retired at the end of the summer, has accomplished each one.
Carl Bouchard, president of the Maine State Society presented the award to Leonard at a dinner attended by 75 of Leonard’s colleagues and other Maine State Society members, many of who grew up with him along the coast of Maine.
“When you look at the list of names, I’m probably the only one who has never been a congressman,” Leonard said of the award recipients who include Maine’s Gov. John Baldacci and Sens. Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins.
Career-wise, Leonard said he was most proud of being fortunate enough to hold a position that actually makes a difference in soldiers’ lives. Working with members of Congress he was able to make more than 100 changes for the Guard and Reserves in the past five years—more than there has ever been made in history, he said. They ranged from how mail is delivered to protections for the families at home to ensuring they receive sufficient health coverage after they return from the war.
“In working hard, he was always very cognizant of what the little guy needed,” said Leonard’s daughter, Lynn Tinkham, of Orrington. “He would be most proud of having the opportunity to have the position to help the lower-ranking soldiers. That has always been one of his missions.”
But strip away the uniform, awards and distinctions, and what is left is a devoted husband and family man, a Red Sox fan and a proud Mainer.
“I am most proud of my family,” said Leonard, who has two daughters, each with children of their own. “And I’ve always been proud to be from Maine.”
Leonard plans to help lay wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday as part of the annual tribute to fallen servicemen and women.
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Meehan Joins Legislators in Pushing for Lobbying Reform
Lobbyreform
The Eagle-Tribune
Bryan McGonigle
Boston University Washington News Service
Dec. 5
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 – Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Capitol Hill Tuesday to press for lobbying and earmark reform – a key voter concern in last month’s mid-term elections.
“I don’t think you’d have a Democratic House but for this issue,” Meehan said at a press conference. “So Democrats better recognize the need for reform.”
In a CNN poll taken during the election season, 92 percent of participants said they were concerned about congressional ethics. That percentage was higher than that of those concerned about the economy and the Iraq war.
Points of reform proposed Tuesday included:
-- A ban on gifts from lobbyists and organizations that employ lobbyists.
-- A requirement that former members of Congress wait two years (instead of the current one year) after leaving office before they may lobby Congress.
-- Stronger lobbying disclosure and transparency, including quarterly reports and a publicly accessible online database showing all lobbying activities.
-- A requirement that members of Congress pay market value for charter flights and flights on private airplanes.
-- A new Office of Public Integrity to offer oversight of lobbying and spending earmarks.
Often called “government pork,” earmarks – additions made by lawmakers to spending bills to benefit specific interests in their states and districts – have been a controversial topic of ethics debate for years.
“The growth in earmark funding during the past 12 years has been staggering,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said at the news conference.
In fiscal year 1994, there were 4,126 earmarks on appropriations bills, according to the Congressional Research Service. In 2005, there were 15,877 earmarks. Funding for earmarks increased from $23 billion in 1994 to $64 billion in 2006, and $30 billion of that increase was in this past year alone.
McCain added that 96 percent of earmarks are written into parts of legislation that cannot be amended.
The proposed Office of Public Integrity would be a nonpartisan group comprising a professional staff – not members of Congress – who would be appointed by the congressional leadership.
The office would investigate non-frivolous complaints of potential ethics violations and present its findings to the Senate Ethics as well as provide guidance to members and their staffs about conduct under House and Senate rules. It also would provide guidance to registered lobbyists on reporting requirements and conduct random audits of reports.
“You cannot have meaningful rules reform and lobbying reform if you don’t have a mechanism for meaningful enforcement,” Meehan said.
Meehan is a longtime advocate of lobbying reform. In 2004, he introduced the Democracy in Congress Act. In 2005, he introduced the Lobbying and Ethics Reform Act in response to the scandals involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas. Both bills called for tighter restriction, more oversight and more transparency regarding lobbying; neither was passed.
McCain also has called for more transparency in government spending and lobby reform, having co-sponsored the Federal Funding Accounting and Transparency Act earlier this year.
“Despite Abramoff… and other scandals, the status quo remains,” McCain said. “We believe that inaction is unacceptable. We think that same message was sent loud and clear by the voters in November.”
Meehan said he is confident that with Democrats controlling both the House and Senate in the forthcoming 110th Congress, lobby and earmark reform will pass within the first 100 hours of the new Congress.
“Next year, we’ll have an opportunity to get it right,” Meehan said. “Addressing ethics reform is the first order of business for the 110th Congress, and I believe we’re going to make history early on.”
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Questions Loom for Romney’s Surging Campaign
Romney
Cape Cod Times
Paul Crocetti
Boston University Washington News Service
November 30, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 — While Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani have better name recognition, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s fundraising skills could help push him towards the top of the list of Republican presidential contenders, according to some political observers.
By April 2007, Romney should be able to reach a fundraising goal of $30 million, according to Alex Vogel, a political strategist speaking at the 9th annual American Democracy Conference in Washington. The event, sponsored by the magazine National Journal, featured discussions analyzing the recent midterm elections and looking ahead to the 2008 elections.
Questions remain for Romney, though. Perhaps the biggest issue concerns his Mormon background. No Mormon has ever been elected president.
“The people in this room will hear the [Mormon] question until it’s embarrassing,” said Jan van Lohuizen, a Romney pollster. “It’s almost there now. We’re already down to underwear.”
Van Lohuizen is referring to a writer for the Atlantic Monthly who asked Romney if he wears Temple Garments, sacred underclothing worn by some Mormons. Romney declined to answer.
Many people in 1960 questioned whether the country was ready for a Catholic president. But John F. Kennedy ran as a Democratic candidate who happened to be Catholic rather than a Catholic candidate, van Lohuizen said.
“We’re not going to run on the Mormon question,” he said. “We get it.”
Between 20 and 40 percent of the population would not consider voting for a Mormon for president, according to several polls. But some think the issue is overblown.
“I think that in this country today, voters are much more thoughtful and tolerant,” said Mark McKinnon, a media consultant for McCain. “I think the country is ready for a Mormon president, a black president, a woman president.”
Romney has played down his religion in his home state. But he’s also been out of Massachusetts a lot lately, visiting such campaign hotspots as Iowa and South Carolina.
And Democrats argue that the recent elections also hurt Romney’s candidacy. His lieutenant governor, Kerry Healey, lost November’s election for governor by a wide margin to Democrat Deval Patrick.
Brian Dodge, executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party, denied any anti-Romney sentiment in Massachusetts.
“Governor Romney’s record will stand on its own,” he said in a telephone interview. “He’s done all the things we’ve asked him to do. He’s balanced the budget without raising taxes. The economy has grown to twice the national rate. That’s the legacy he’ll leave for Massachusetts.”
But Philip Johnston, chair of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, said that Patrick’s election hurt Romney’s status.
“His policies of the last four years were rejected,” Johnston said in a telephone interview. “Polls show that Romney is very unpopular in Massachusetts.”
Another question is whether his performance as governor can trump any negative effects the country’s anti-Bush sentiment has on GOP candidates.
Romney’s support of Bush’s policies, particularly his support of the war in Iraq, will be an issue, Johnston said.
But the panelists at the conference agreed that, for GOP presidential contenders, shunning Bush would be a mistake.
“Why run against Bush?” asked van Lohuizen. “You can run against Congress.”
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Moderates Still Wield Power in Congress
MODERATES
Bangor Daily News
Lauren Smith
Boston University Washington News Service
11/30/2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 —Despite the ouster of many moderate Republicans in the midterm elections, politicians and political experts still expect moderates to play a pivotal role in the upcoming Congress.
“Nearly 45 percent of Americans describe themselves as moderates and I think that speaks volumes about what the people want, what Maine people want: an independent voice building a political center,” said Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who won reelection with almost 75 percent of the vote.
The Democrats will enjoy a 31-seat majority in the House come January. In the Senate, Democrats will have a slim two-seat majority in combination with the two independents who have said they will be caucusing with the Democrats.
“Because of the Senate rules, it takes 60 votes to get any major bill passed,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). “That means the moderates on both sides of the aisle will be the ones who determine whether or not legislation is approved.”
The slight majority in the Senate could put Republican moderates in a powerful position.
“The few moderate Republicans that exist in the Senate are in an influential position,” said Richard Powell, political science professor at the University of Maine, Orono. “They still control the swing vote in such a narrowly divided Senate.”
Because of the rules in the House which allow the majority party to control the flow of legislation, Republicans in the House will have less influence, said Powell.
But the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderate and conservative House Democrats, of which Rep. Michael Michaud (D-Maine) is a member, hopes to reach over to the Republican side of the aisle on at least some issues, said Eric Wortman, the coalition’s spokesman.
“I think you will see a rise in bipartisanship. The leadership of the House has made that clear,” Wortman said.
The recent election brought a number of new Blue Dog Democrats to the House but took a particularly hard toll on the already endangered New England Republican.
Rep. Chris Shays is not only the last Connecticut Republican in the House, he’s the only Republican left in the chamber from New England. The state’s other two GOP representatives, Nancy Johnson and Rob Simmons, viewed as moderates on most issues, lost to Democratic challengers.
“This is just the latest in a long line of elections in which the number of moderate Republicans has been declining in both the House and the Senate,” Powell said. “The trend has been underway for quite some time now.”
New Hampshire’s two Republican House members, Charles Bass and Jeb Bradley also were defeated by Democratic challengers.
In Rhode Island, moderate Republican Sen. Lincoln Chaffee was ousted from his position. In Massachusetts, a Democratic governor was elected for the first time in 16 years, putting the statehouse in line with the state’s entire congressional delegation.
“It is not healthy for Republicans to have such a small presence in an entire region of the country,” Shays said. “Competition makes everyone perform better. It would be better for the Republicans, the Democrats and the country to have two strong parties in New England.”
Shays said he would be happy to travel in New England to help rebuild the moderate wing of the party in the Northeast.
“Moderates in both parties have an important role of reaching across the aisle to get things done,” Shays said. “Most Americans are not red or blue, they are purple.”
Maine’s two senators said they believe voters want results from Congress which requires bi-partisanship.
“I really do think the American people spoke vehemently about what they want from their elected officials and we all have a collective responsibility to address that,” Snowe said.
Collins added: “I think the message that was sent by this past election was that people are tired of partisan politics and that they are tired of excessive partisanship. They want us to work together, roll up our sleeves, and get to work.”
The aim of the Senate Centrist Coalition is to do just that. The coalition, created in 1995, is made up of moderate Democrat and Republican senators who work together to bridge the partisan divide.
But with the shift in control of the Senate, it remains to be seen what the group will look like, what issues it will focus on and who will be a part of it.
“The centrist’s role and the centrist voice in the political process has unfortunately been diminished because of ideological division and partisanship, and created a huge political chasm in the political process,” said Snowe, who has co-chaired the coalition with Sen. Joseph Lieberman, R-Conn.
Collins said she thinks there will be a “floating and changing coalition of centrists who work together.”
“I think the individual senators may change, but I think you will still find groups of moderates working together,” she said.
Collins also pointed out the newly elected senators she considered centrists—Bob Casey (D-Penn.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). “They are not from the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. They are centrists, so I expect to be able to work very well with them.”
Snowe remained realistic.
“Does that mean we won’t have differences,” she asked. “No. But we’ll try to make every attempt to pave a way towards crafting solutions to problems, work through and navigate out differences and obstacles to get to an end result that will benefit the broader majority of Americans.”
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Maine Faces Funding Shortage for Children’s Insurance Program
CHILDREN
Bangor Daily News
Lauren Smith
Boston University Washington News Service
11/29/2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 —Maine’s program that provides health insurance coverage for children in low-income families may face a shortfall of as much as $6.5 million in 2007, according to a new study.
The State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which the federal government and the states jointly finance, provides health insurance coverage to children in families that earn too much to be eligible for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance.
“Generally it covers low-income working families and fills in that gap and provides health insurance and health care,” said Matt Broaddus, research associate at the Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. He said the program covers more than 4 million children nationwide, most of whom would otherwise be uninsured.
Federal funds budgeted for fiscal year 2007 will not be enough for the program to maintain current enrollment levels in 17 states, including Maine, through the end of the fiscal year, which ends next Sept. 30, Broaddus said.
“Based on data provided to the federal government, it looks like Maine’s shortfall will be about $570,000,” Broaddus said. “But when we talked to officials in the state of Maine, they reported that actually, expenditure figures looked like they would be higher than what they reported to the federal government and thus would result potentially in a shortfall as high as $6.5 million.”
Without additional funds, states such as Maine will have to either increase state spending for the program or scale back their coverage by reducing eligibility, capping enrollment, eliminating benefits, increasing beneficiary cost-sharing or cutting payments to providers, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ analysis.
In any event, the federal-state program is set to expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The program, authorized in 1997 for a 10-year period, provides critical access to health coverage, preventive care and neonatal visits for children in Maine.
Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), along with 17 other senators, on Tuesday urged the Senate leadership to enact emergency legislation to fully fund the program for fiscal year 2007. The call for immediate action came just four days after Snowe and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) sent a letter to President Bush asking him to secure funds to continue the insurance program beyond 2007.
“It is unacceptable and incomprehensible that today in the United States of America more than 9 million children are without health insurance and too often do not receive the care they need to grow and develop,” Snowe said.
The reauthorization of the children’s insurance program “will be one of the most important issues for children we consider in the 110th Congress,” Snowe and Collins wrote in their letter to the president, urging him to include funds for the program in the 2008 budget to ensure its continuation.
Broaddus said that while the program’s reauthorization was certainly an important issue, it was critical to recognize the immediate needs of the 17 states with projected financial shortfalls.
The number of uninsured Americans reached a record level of 46.6 million in 2005. Without increased funds, Broaddus said, 610,000 children would be at risk of losing their health insurance coverage.
“Since the enactment of the SCHIP legislation at the federal level, the un-insurance rate for children in Maine has fallen by more than half,” said Ana Hicks, policy analyst at Maine Equal Justice Partners, an advocacy group for low-income people. “It’s significant, and meant that Maine has been able to cover many more children with critical health coverage and has meant that we have one of the lower un-insured rates in the country.”
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