Category: Paul Crocetti
Earmarked Funding: Time for Reform?
Earmark
Cape Cod Times
Paul Crocetti
Boston University Washington News Service
December 14, 2006
WASHINGTON, Dec. 14– Bike paths on the Lower Cape got $7 million to make them longer. The Cape’s public bus line received $2.9 million. And the new park at the Bass River Marina in Dennis got $1.4 million.
Congressman William Delahunt, D-Mass., helped secure these funds over the past two years through a legislative process called earmarking, a subject of much recent debate in Congress. Earmarks are funding secured by a member of Congress for a specific project outside of the ordinary appropriations process.
Proponents say earmarks funnel needed money to legislators’ districts. Critics call this funding “pork,” arguing that the process of securing the money is wrong.
The debate figures to come to a head in the New Year when the new Congress tackles legislation overhauling the lobbying and earmarking processes.
The Democratic chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees announced Monday that they would be placing a moratorium on all earmarks until the process is overhauled.
In a press conference last week, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said that a draft of an ethics overhaul bill, including changes in the earmark process, will be ready by the time the new Congress arrives in Washington on January 4.
The number of earmarks has increased from about 4,000 in 1994 to nearly 16,000 in 2005, McCain said.
“This is disgraceful,” he said.
Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonpartisan group that tracks specific earmarked funding, states that pork increased from $7.8 billion in fiscal year 1994 to $29 billion in fiscal year 2006.
Earmarked funding has to meet certain criteria to be classified as pork. For example, Citizens Against Government Waste defines funding as pork if it is added during conference committee, the time when the House and Senate work out differences between their versions of a bill.
“Too often people confuse the two,” said David Williams, the vice president for policy at the group. “Pork is a project that didn’t go through the proper scrutiny. The way we define pork is a process. The most egregious way is to add funding through conference committee.”
Ninety-six percent of earmarks between July 1, 2005 and June 30, 2006 were added this way, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Because the conference committee is one of the last steps before a bill goes to the president, most members of Congress don’t see these earmarks before voting on the bills. And often, legislators add earmarks into spending bills that can run hundreds of pages long.
Williams said legislators should not be able to add earmarks during conference committee.
McCain wants a 48-hour period between the conference committee and the final vote, so legislators can have time to read the bills. He also wants more disclosure of earmarks, including how much recipients spent on registered lobbyists. With these rules in place, Congress may have been able to avoid the scandal of former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Calif., in which he traded earmarks for bribes.
Delahunt is pushing to require all earmarks be disclosed, along with their sponsors’ identity.
“If members are unable to defend the basis for earmarks, they would not be warranted,” he said. “I’m very confident that [our] earmarks were able to improve the quality of life [for people on the Cape]. The bridges to nowhere don’t exist.”
Delahunt referred to the $223 million in funding that U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, secured to build a bridge between the city of Ketchikan and the island of Gravina (population: 50). Many earmark critics point to this case, dubbed the “Bridge to Nowhere,” as one of the reasons reform is needed.
Delahunt points to funding for Cape wetlands preservation, open space and bike paths as examples of his earmarks that would stand up to the disclosure test.
“These are issues within the district that have had a positive impact on the way of life,” he said.
The funding for the bike path will extend an existing route from Dennis out west towards Barnstable, and Robert Canevazzi, the Dennis town administrator, said this extension would not be possible without the earmarked funding.
“A tremendous amount of work needs to be done to rehabilitate the existing roads into a bike path,” he said.
The new $1.4 million park at Bass River Marina will hopefully feature a boardwalk and kayak rentals, said Margaret Kane, the project’s chairwoman.
She does not believe the funding is pork.
“I think of pork as benefiting a few people,” she said. “This is something that not only benefits West Dennis but the Cape and people who come to the Cape.”
According to Citizens Against Government Waste, the funding for the Bass River project is pork because it was secured in conference committee.
But Cape Cod is not a hotspot for pork, Williams said. He noted that states such as Alaska and West Virginia receive the “lion’s share” of pork. For example, in 2005 alone, Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, brought $325 million in pork to his home state, according to the group’s Web site, cagw.org.
“The people of Cape Cod have to pay for other people’s pork,” Williams said. “They have to pay for other people’s nonsense.”
According to David King, a professor at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, there is no such thing as a good earmark.
“It’s Congress at its worst,” he said. “It often smells of corruption, in the public view. The justification for earmarks is almost entirely political.”
But without the $2.9 million that Delahunt secured for the Cape bus line, there would not be a new facility for the buses, according to Joseph Potzka, the administrator at Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority.
“We needed a new facility,” said Potzka, adding that he hopes it will open next month. “[The old one] was way undersized.”
Delahunt’s office approached the Transit Authority about the issue, Potzka said.
“Delahunt’s Hyannis office was very active in working with the Cape Cod Transit Task Force,” he said.
Often, though, a group will hire a lobbyist to help secure funding. The lobbyist then works with the congressman from the district.
But in the wake of the Cunningham scandal, members of Congress have to be more cautious about their earmarks.
“There should be more openness and transparency,” said one former House staffer who works at a lobbying firm. He noted that the firm does not specialize in appropriations lobbies and spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss his work with the media. “Earmarks that have come under scrutiny are egregious, dark of night type of things. I think that [disclosure] will solve 99 percent of the problems.”
King does not think an earmark overhaul will happen.
“The people who benefit are the ones who change the rules,” he said.
But Democrats have pledged to take action.
One key legislator it will come down to is Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., the incoming chairman of the Appropriations Committee. In the past, Obey has been known for securing millions of dollars in earmarks for his district, something he notes on his Web site.
But in a statement released this week, he said reform is necessary.
“We will work to restore an accountable, above-board, transparent process for funding decisions and put an end to the abuses that have harmed the credibility of Congress.”
Kirstin Brost, spokeswoman for the Democratic side of the House Appropriations Committee, predicted an overhaul of the earmarking rules will be passed in January.
She noted that funding can be misused, citing the “Bridge to Nowhere” as an example. But it can also be used for projects such as more body armor for troops.
“Funding like that is very valuable,” she said. “It is important for members to meet the needs of their constituents and not abuse the system.”
So should the number of earmarks decrease?
“We need to take each earmark by itself,” Delahunt answered. “I think each one deserves an examination. That will restore confidence [in the process].”
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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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Delahunt Calls for More Oversight into Costly Cuba Program
Cuba
Cape Cod Times
Paul Crocetti
Boston University Washington News Service
November 15, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 —Millions of dollars intended for promoting democracy in Cuba were spent without adequate federal oversight, according to a new government report.
The report prompted U.S. Reps. William Delahunt, D-Mass., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., Wednesday to call for more oversight into the federal aid program for promoting democracy in Cuba.
The report, released Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office, Congress’ investigative arm, detailed ineffective management and oversight of the U.S. pro-democracy programs in the island nation.
According to the report, the U.S. has spent approximately $73 million to promote democracy in Cuba, but much of that money has been distributed with inadequate oversight. The report identified questionable expenditures like a gas chain saw, Nintendo Gameboys and Sony Playstations, Godiva chocolate and a cashmere sweater.
“Internal controls—both over the awarding of Cuba program grants and oversight of grantees—do not provide adequate assurance that the grant funds are being used properly and that grantees are in compliance with applicable laws and regulations,” the report stated.
Delahunt said he and Flake, who both oppose the embargo against Cuba, requested the report last year. Delahunt is the senior Democrat on the House International Relations Committee’s Oversight and Investigations subcommittee, while Flake is the vice-chair of that panel.
“We wanted an objective analysis of programs, operations, controls, and efficacy, given the context of what is transpiring in Iraq, in terms of waste and efficiency,” Delahunt said.
In July, the Bush Administration called for $80 million in additional funding for the program.
“Speaking for myself and my party, we haven’t exactly been that great at oversight,” Flake said.
Delahunt and Flake expressed concern that 95 percent of the grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development were made “in response to unsolicited proposals,” according to the report.
Delahunt, who is in line to become chairman of the investigations subcommittee, said the panel will likely hold hearings on this issue at the start of the next Congress.
“I would expect that the subcommittee will invite grantees and others participating in Cuba democracy promotion to come before the committee and answer the type of questions that Jeff and I and others, on a bipartisan basis, have raised,” Delahunt said.
Delahunt, who has traveled to Cuba many times with Flake, said the situation there will remain one of his most important issues as he enters his sixth term of Congress.
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Now in Majority, Massachusetts Democrats Continue Dominance in Congress
MassDems
Cape Cod Times
Paul Crocetti
Boston University Washington News Service
November 9, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 —For the sixth straight Congress, Massachusetts voters have sent all Democrats to the House and Senate.
As a result, the state continues its reign as the most heavily populated in the nation with an all-Democratic delegation.
For the first time in 12 years, though, the Democratic Party will be in the majority in both the House and the Senate. And with that majority comes a great amount of new power for the 12 Massachusetts legislators, especially the longtime members who may ascend to committee chairmanships.
Rep. Barney Frank is likely to become chairman of the Financial Services Committee. Frank is now senior Democrat on the committee.
Sen. Edward Kennedy will probably resume the chairmanship of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Sen. John Kerry is in line to become chairman again of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.
“These are very powerful members of Congress,” said David King, a lecturer in public policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. “They’ve been on the outside looking in.”
Rep. William Delahunt, a member of the International Relations Committee, may take over the chair of its Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.
“[The chair] will give him considerable power,” King said. “He will have the ability to subpoena and he will conduct real investigations as to foreign policy.”
All 10 of the Massachusetts members of the House, along with Kennedy, won easy reelection Tuesday. Kerry’s term is not up until 2008.
When Kennedy was first elected 44 years ago, he occupied a seat once held by his brother, John F. Kennedy. The last time a Republican held Kennedy’s seat was during the World War I era, when John Wingate Weeks was senator from 1913 to 1919.
The last time Massachusetts Republicans held seats in the House was in the 104th session, when Rep. Peter Torkildsen and Rep. Peter Blute were in office. Current Reps. John Tierney and Jim McGovern defeated those members, respectively, in 1996.
With two senators and two House members each after Tuesday’s elections, Rhode Island and Hawaii have the next largest all-Democratic delegations.
In terms of years of combined service, Massachusetts ranks near the top. The most junior representative, Stephen Lynch, will begin his fourth term next year. As of the end of the current session, current Massachusetts members of Congress will have logged a total of 214 years of service.
Only the much larger Democratic delegations in New York and California have worked more combined years than those from Massachusetts.
Most Southern states historically had all-Democratic delegations, according to Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.
“Otherwise it is very rare for large states, and arguably unwise,” he wrote in an e-mail message.
Congressional control in the South began to switch to the Republicans in the 1970s, after President Lyndon Johnson signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act into law.
Now the major Democratic strongholds are in the Northeast and the Pacific West.
A political party can only do so much when it is in the congressional minority.
“The state is in great shape when Democrats are in power, but when the GOP rules the roost, Massachusetts is out in the cold,” Sabato wrote.
King, the Harvard faculty member, noted that Democrats reign in the Massachusetts State House as well.
“It reflects the fact that Massachusetts is a liberal state,” he said. “All regions of the state are fairly liberal.”
Even districts in the state that went for Republican Kerry Healey in the governor’s race, such as parts of Cape Cod and Northeastern Massachusetts, have elected liberals to Congress for some time now.
Kennedy, whom King described as the “unquestioned voice for liberals in the Senate,” is already looking ahead to the next session of Congress.
“The people of Massachusetts make it clear that as our nation continues its march to progress, they want their elected officials to be trying to break down the walls of discrimination, to give all Americans the good schools, good jobs and good health care they all deserve, and to give our troops and veterans the support they need and have earned,” Laura Capps, a Kennedy spokeswoman, wrote in a statement.
In a similar vein, Brigid O’Rourke, Kerry’s Massachusetts press secretary, highlighted Iraq and health care as two key issues for the Democrats.
“This mandate reflects the trust and confidence the voters have placed in the Democratic Party, and Sen. Kerry is eager to get working in the new Congress to help Massachusetts move forward,” she wrote.
But with their new power, Democrats have to be careful about reaching too far to the left.
“They’ve been in the minority the last 12 years, so they know how quickly it can go away,” King said.
The power of the majority could lead to investigations of the Bush Administration, according to King.
Massachusetts Democrats, such as Kerry and Delahunt, are in position to lead the charge.
“The Massachusetts delegation now has tremendous strength,” King said.
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Liberal Bloggers Buoying Democratic Efforts
Donation
Cape Cod Times
Paul Crocetti
Boston University Washington News Service
November 2, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 —Bloggers are having a direct effect on campaign contributions during the midterm elections, according to experts in the media field.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., donated $250,000 last week to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and another $250,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. But in the week before that, a number of liberal bloggers posted messages asking members of Congress with excess campaign cash to give more to the candidates who need it.
Kerry, who is not up for re-election this year but is expected to seek the Democratic presidential nomination again in 2008, was a particular focus of the campaign.
A posting Oct. 19 on DailyKos.com, a liberal blog, was typical of the effort, criticizing Kerry and three other senators for holding onto an excess of campaign money.
“They can hoard that cash,” wrote Markos Moulitsas, the founder of the site. “That’s their prerogative. But we shouldn’t forget when they ask us to sacrifice for their efforts in 2008.”
Chris Bowers, a contributor to MyDD.com, started the “Use It or Lose It” campaign in an Oct. 20 blog posting.
MyDD (for direct democracy) describes itself on its Web site as “a group blog designed to discuss the progressive movement and political power.” It does polling, research, commentary, analysis and activism, its site says.
“It’s hard not to see a connection between that [campaign] and Kerry’s recent donations,” said Jonah Seiger, managing partner at Connections Media, a Washington-based Internet strategies firm. “I would suspect that Sen. Kerry would not say that’s why he made the donations, but the timing reflects otherwise.”
The Kerry camp denied that the donation was in response to campaigns such as “Use It or Lose It.”
“Sen. Kerry wants to go the extra mile to make sure Democrats here in Massachusetts – and across the country – have the chance to put America back on the right track,” Brigid O’Rourke, Kerry’s Massachusetts press secretary, wrote in an e-mail message.
Kerry had almost $14 million in campaign cash left over in his presidential campaign fund at the end of September, the most recent filing period, according to the Federal Election Commission.
“To Kerry’s credit, he stepped up and made the contribution,” said Simon Rosenberg of the New Politics Institute, a Democratic group that studies the effects of technology and media on politics. “I think he made a thoughtful judgment as to what to do. He made a donation to the right place at the right time.”
Rosenberg said Kerry’s donations were a direct result of the efforts of the “netroots,” the term online activists use to describe themselves.
Unfortunately for Kerry, his controversial statements about the U.S. military in Iraq earlier this week have cast a pall on these donations.
“He’s not getting much benefit because of what he said,” Seiger said.
The chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee agreed that the Internet-based groups have helped the party.
“Throughout the cycle, the remarkable grassroots movement for change has buoyed Democratic efforts to expand the playing field, support our candidates and ultimately win a Democratic majority that can take our country in a new direction,” Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) said in a statement.
But politicians should not respond to pressure that could be perceived as threatening, according to Seiger.
“They shouldn’t be intimidated,” he said. “They should stick to their principles and strategies.”
Nevertheless, Web sites of this nature can be helpful in the end.
“The amount of information out there, the discussion around campaigns and elections, is only a good thing,” Seiger said. “More transparency is never a bad thing.”
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New Web Site Lets Users Play Congress
FantasyCape
Cape Cod Times
Paul Crocetti
Boston University Washington News Service
October 26, 2006
WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 —Usually the words “Congress” and “game” do not go together. But a new Web site, FantasyCongress.org, has combined the two in the hope that people will pay more attention to government.
The site is similar to online fantasy sports leagues where users score points, for example, with home runs or touchdowns. In Fantasy Congress they score when the legislators on their “team” succeed in moving bills through the Congress.
Only three weeks old, the site already has 14,000 registered users, said Andrew Lee, a senior at Claremont McKenna College in California , who created the site with three of his friends.
“The thing we care about the most, it’s getting people involved in Congress,” said Lee, a philosophy, politics and economics major.
Zach McLaughlin, a civics teacher at Sandwich High School, said he thinks the site might appeal to certain students.
“There is a niche group that would be interested but it’s not something that would cultivate new converts,” he said.
McLaughlin said the site’s problem lies in its scoring system. The points are only based on the strength of a member’s piece of legislation. For example, when a legislator’s bill gets referred to committee, that member gets 5 points. When a legislator’s bill gets signed into law, that member receives 120 points.
“They’re removing the value part of the equation,” McLaughlin said, noting that he thinks youths form their opinions of a member of Congress as a result of beliefs, rather than legislative success.
“Here, effective leadership is based on legislation,” he said. “They’re making a judgment based on how many pieces of paper a member of Congress has passed.”
Added Steven Broderick, Rep. Bill Delahunt’s (D-Mass.) press secretary: “The system is not an accurate barometer of what members of Congress actually do.”
Sorting through all that legislation when updating the site can be overwhelming, especially with mid-terms on the mind, Lee said.
“Congress is able to go ahead and change the laws, write them in different ways,” he said. “But we want to take it to the next level.”
Lee said he hopes to have several options for drafting players, as well as new forums available, by the time the next Congress takes over in January.
People who work for the current Congress are already taking note, according to Lee.
“Congressional staffers love the game but they don’t want us to say their names because they didn’t draft their bosses,” he said with a laugh.
Some staffers do, however, said Brigid O’Rourke, state press secretary for Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).
“For a sports fan and a political junkie, this is the best of both worlds,” she wrote in an email. “I can have a Tom Brady on my fantasy team, and now I can have John Kerry too!”
Both Massachusetts senators have moderately high scores: Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) ranks 36th of 100 senators, with 870 points. Kerry is 49th, with 715 points. Comparatively, Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) has the highest score in the Senate, with 1991 points.
In the 435-member House, Delahunt ranks 340th, with 62 points. Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) has the highest score for House members, with 1,905 points.
The site has been so popular that it has been experiencing delays. Lee said he apologizes, and things should be moving quicker any day.
As a result of the site’s popularity, Lee said he’ll probably need more help and more money, possibly adding advertisements to the site. For now, the site’s creators are focused on one thing.
“We don’t want it to die,” Lee said. “We just want to keep it running.”
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Delahunt, Kennedy Have Millions More Than Opponents
FECCape
Cape Cod Times
Paul Crocetti
Boston University Washington News Service
October 19, 2006
WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 —As election season enters its homestretch, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) hold financial advantages of millions of dollars over their Republican opponents, according to campaign finance filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Kennedy had $7.4 million in his campaign account as of September 30, the end of the latest reporting period, while his opponent, Ken Chase had approximately $36,000.
Delahunt had $1.87 million in the bank at the end of September while his opponent, Jeff Beatty, had just under $8,000.
But David King, a lecturer in public policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, cautioned that Delahunt’s financial figure must be viewed in context.
“$1.8 million seems like a lot, but it’s not compared to other members of the delegation,” King said. For example, Rep. Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) had almost $5 million in his campaign war chest at the end of September.
However, to be a contender against an incumbent, a candidate should look to raise at least $250,000, King said.
Beatty had raised just under $50,000 in this election cycle.
The Beatty campaign did not respond to queries from the Times before deadline.
“That’s not enough money to be considered a credible candidate,” King said. “Clearly Jeff Beatty is not attracting investors. People consider him a losing investment.”
That doesn’t mean the Delahunt campaign is sitting back on its heels. Delahunt has spent almost $800,000 this election cycle.
“We’re certainly not relaxed,” said P.J. O’Sullivan, spokesman for the Delahunt campaign. “The congressman takes every re-election seriously. He sees it as re-applying for the job, as he does every two years.”
In the past, Delahunt has given some of his extra money to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
This election cycle, he gave the committee $125,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan group that tracks campaign finance issues.
“It’s a pretty safe bet that Massachusetts will be returning a Democratic delegation, but we don’t know about the rest of Congress,” said Steven Broderick, Delahunt’s communications director. “Where we can help, we help.”
O’Sullivan said Delahunt will donate to the committee again, “but his first priority will be to ensure re-election.”
Unlike Kennedy and other members of the Massachusetts delegation running for re-election, including three that are unopposed, Delahunt does not have a campaign Web site.
As a result, potential donors are not able to make a quick donation to the campaign over the Internet.
“He has always viewed any campaign as an extension of his job as a congressman,” O’Sullivan said, noting that Delahunt’s official House of Representatives Web site is his place of record. “A campaign Web site, just to have one, would be duplicitous.”
Many of Delahunt’s and Kennedy’s top donors come from outside his constituent area. In this election cycle, seven of Delahunt’s top 11 donor zip codes are from outside the 10th district, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
However, some of those top donor areas are as close as Boston and Braintree.
“He’s not crossing too many boundaries there,” King said. “It’s very common that more money is raised externally rather than internally.”
Kennedy gets almost 70 percent of his contributions from outside of Massachusetts. King attributes this statistic to Kennedy’s status as a long-time senator who has had an effect on people across the country.
The bulk of Ken Chase’s donors have come from outside the state as well.
“They’re presumably writing anti-Kennedy checks,” King said.
The Chase campaign also did not respond to Times queries before deadline.
Although Chase has raised almost $650,000, a “decent” amount of money according to King, money does not matter much in this race.
“There isn’t much desire to get rid of Sen. Kennedy right now,” King said. “He represents the state very well. And that’s not a partisan matter. Republicans in Congress have great respect for how he legislates.”
Like Delahunt, Kennedy has not treated this race lightly: he has spent nearly $8 million this election cycle.
He will continue to use his money to campaign in Massachusetts, according to Melissa Wagoner, Kennedy’s press secretary.
“Beyond that, as always, he helps other Democrats get elected and fight for change in Washington,” she wrote in an email.
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Internet Regulation Up in the Air
Internet
Cape Cod Times
Paul Crocetti
Boston University Washington News Service
October 18, 2006
WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 – Internet content providers may have to pay increasing amounts of money to get onto the web, depending upon the outcome of a complex, little-noticed, but growing, legislative fight.
At issue is telecommunications companies’ growing practice of charging Internet content providers for their Web sites to run at high speed. Historically, Web sites have run at the same speed.
Critics, who favor what they call “net neutrality,” say that the practice of charging to make Web sites run faster is discriminatory and could have a chilling effect on Internet commerce.
Advocates argue that market-based competition is better for consumers than the government-regulated kind.
Service providers already make billions of dollars a year from content providers, in addition to the $20 billion they make from consumers for broadband access, according to Free Press, a nonpartisan advocacy group. The current proposed legislation leaves it open for service providers to charge content providers more.
“It would affect anyone putting up content, like bloggers,” said Craig Aaron, communications director for Free Press. “There’s no way the little guy is getting in the fast lane.” Aaron works in the Washington office of Free Press, whose main office is in Northampton, Mass. Free Press is the coordinator of SaveTheInternet.com Coalition, a pro-“net neutrality” group made up of organizations and individuals.
The battle has been joined over legislation, likely to come before Congress next year, that would overhaul the nation’s telecommunications laws.
The current version of the bill does not directly address the issue. That legislation, sponsored by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who chairs the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, which oversees telecommunications, takes the position that the Federal Communication Commission’s current “net neutrality” principles are sufficient, according to the Senate Commerce Committee.
The commission states that users should be able to access Internet content of their choice, run online applications and services of their choice, connect their choice of devices, and have fair competition among network, application, service and content providers.
Major Internet providers, such as Verizon, agree that the status quo is sufficient to deal with the issue.
“Internet legislation is unnecessary,” said Richard Colon, a spokesman for Verizon in Southeastern Massachusetts. “Quite honestly, there is no problem to solve.”
NETCompetition.org, a group that represents broadband companies, is also against any new legislation.
“The Internet backbone has always had tiers,” said Scott Cleland, chairman of the group. “Dialup and various speeds of broadband are based on price. The marketplace creates different niches. ‘Net neutrality’ proposes one-size fits all legislation.”
But proponents of “net-neutrality” legislation argue it is necessary to preserve competition and prevent companies from discriminating.
“If the phone or the cable companies discriminate against content, based on those who pay them most, then as consumers we won’t have anywhere else to turn,” said Aaron.
Lack of “net neutrality” would kill competition, according to Theresa Martin, executive director of the Cape Cod Technology Council, a nonprofit group that promotes technology in Southeastern Massachusetts.
“It would stifle lots of innovation, especially with people with no money yet,” she said, adding that sites like YouTube.com would not have been able to start up if they had to pay extra. “It would also stifle communication, for those who couldn’t pay for faster access to it.”
On May 2, U.S. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) introduced a “net neutrality” bill that would have prevented “companies from downgrading and discriminating regarding Internet access and services,” according to a Markey press release.
On June 8, the House voted not to include Markey’s bill in the telecommunications overhaul. Not addressing the issue, Aaron said, sank the telecommunications legislation.
“It’s stalled in a Republican Congress,” said Israel Klein, a spokesman for Markey. “Hopefully in a Democratically-controlled Congress, it’ll be different.”
Aaron agreed, saying that the GOP leadership has “sided with the phone companies.”
The legislation would influence Internet providers on the Cape, Aaron said.
“In terms of broadband service providers, there is a direct effect,” he said. “The choices of broadband come from the phone or the cable companies. That’s why they’re pushing this. They control 98 percent of the market. They’re using that power to undercut the competition, in terms of content.”
Content providers may find themselves having to pay for Internet work.
Another concern is whether consumers will have to pay more in the end.
“It depends on who you talk to,” said Martin, at the Cape Cod Technology Council. “Anytime you allow people to charge along the food chain, ultimately consumers will pay more. Or do they pay by less access, or lost opportunities?”
Pat Murphy, the sales director at Cape.com Internet Services, said it may come down to Martin’s last point.
“It potentially could limit the free flow, the ability to get to any Web site freely,” he said.
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Web Site Offers Congressional Salaries, with Caution
LegiStorm
Cape Cod Times
Paul Crocetti
Boston University Washington News Service
October 11, 2006
WASHINGTON, Oct. 11--A new Web site is making information on the salaries of the 24,000 staff members who work for Congress easily accessible to the public, but not without words of caution from the site’s founder.
The information has always been available to the public but the appearance of LegiStorm (legistorm.com) in mid-September marks the first time it is available on a single Web site, according to founder Jock Friedly. It has already generated significant interest; in fact, the site crashed because of heavy traffic in its first week.
Users of the site can search for information about staff salaries alphabetically by the staff person’s name or by the congressman, senator or committee for whom they work. They also can search by state delegation.
Several Massachusetts congressional aides said they hadn’t looked at the site, but at least one expressed concern over the way the data is presented.
For House aides, including those for U.S. Rep. William Delahunt (D-Mass.), salaries are reported every three months for the previous quarter (for Senate aides, every six months for the previous half-year).
“In the past, some offices calculated an annual salary based on quarters,” said Mark Forest, Delahunt’s chief of staff. “That’s not necessarily an accurate way to calculate.”
Forest, for example, made almost $37,000 for the three-month period that ended on March 31 (later information has not yet been posted). However, he said an accurate picture of annual salaries cannot always be determined by just one quarter.
Delahunt’s former chief of staff, Steven Clark Schwadron, earned more than $25,000 over the course of two days in early 2006, when he left his job in Delahunt’s office.
“That was unpaid leave, vacation and sick time that he’s accumulated over time according to House rules,” Forest said. “That’s not reflected in there.”
Friedly said more warnings will be included on the Web site on how the salary information is reported.
“It’s certainly important to take it with a little grain of salt, what the actual information means,” said Friedly, who became interested in these numbers while working as a reporter at The Hill, a Washington newspaper that covers Congress. “As with any official records, you should interpret the data with some amount of caution. It would be nice if we had the contract, the salary offer, but these are the best records out there.”
Melissa Wagoner, the press secretary for Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), said she hasn’t looked at the site much, and it hasn’t been heavily discussed in the office.
“The people on Capitol Hill don’t work for money,” she said. “I work for Sen. Kennedy because I believe in what he stands for.”
Brigid O’Rourke, the state press secretary for Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), said she read about the Web site in The Washington Post.
“I haven’t studied it or anything, but I know about it,” she said.
Forest said he hadn’t heard of it before.
“Some things jump out as possibly incorrect right away,” Forest said. “I’m not sure they have the correct titles.”
The data, however, came from the reports filed with the clerk of the House and the secretary of the Senate, LegiStorm says. And when The Times compared the official written reports on salaries in Delahunt’s, Kennedy’s and Kerry’s offices with the data on the Web site, the site was incorrect only by a matter of days on a few periods of work.
Similarly, the short job titles LegiStorm gives for each worker were copied directly from the House and Senate reports.
“What you don’t know is if the nature of the job descriptions is the same,” Forest said. “With several positions on here, they’re doing the job of two or three people.”
Forest said he is Delahunt’s district director as well as his chief of staff, and the LegiStorm site lists his salaries for each position separately.
“Job titles are not perfectly reflective of the titles they have internally in the office,” Friedly said. “There’s nothing we can do about it. Its official House and Senate records. There are 20,000 people working at any one time. It would be unrealistic to go into any detail.”
In Kennedy’s office, for example, one special assistant made nearly $15,000 over a six-month period, another made a little more than $17,000, a third received just over $22,000 and a fourth collected nearly $80,000 in the same period.
Members of Congress make $165,200 annually (more for those in the leadership). The cap on a congressional staff salary is about $162,000.
“On the one hand, it’s certainly interesting and it piques people’s curiosity, but it doesn’t give you the whole picture,” Forest said.
Although Friedly said he’s heard from congressional aides who are anxious about their salaries being posted online, the response has not been all negative.
“I’ve heard some positive things as well, that the site makes the Hill a more open kind of place,” Friedly said. “The staffers have the power to negotiate [for pay] that they didn’t have before. It should be interesting to see how the House and Senate pay in the future. There will be more awareness to what will be paid. I don’t think we’ve seen the last as to the reactions to the Web site.”
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Medicare Releases Plans to Aid Controversial Coverage Gaps
Medicare
Cape Cod Times
Paul Crocetti
Boston University Washington News Service
October 4, 2006
WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 —The coverage gap in Medicare has become a hot topic this year, as millions of seniors have found that they have to pay the full cost for prescription drugs once their total costs reach a certain point. But there is some help on the horizon, with Medicare announcing that insurance companies are now offering many new plans, including 15 in Massachusetts, that will cover some of the cost of drugs during the coverage gap.
“There’s never been this number of plans that offered this coverage through the coverage gap,” said Roseanne Pawelec, a spokeswoman for the Boston office of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Open enrollment on these private plans, which include Aetna and UnitedHealth, begins Nov. 15 and lasts six weeks.
As part of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, drug coverage was added to Medicare. Persons who opt for the coverage must choose a prescription plan from the dozens that are available in their state. Most of the plans require that when annual drug costs reach $2,250, the recipients must pay 100 percent of the charges until total costs reach $5,100. This gap in coverage has been nicknamed the doughnut hole. Between $250 and $2,250, the typical plan pays 75 percent of the cost, and for costs above $5,100 it pays 95 percent.
Medicare’s Web site, www.medicare.gov, lists the new plan offerings and offers help in choosing a plan.
The 15 plans that offer coverage through the gap have, on average, higher premiums per month than the 36 plans that have the doughnut hole. For the 15 plans, 13 of which cover only generic drugs through the gap, the average monthly premium is approximately $49. The average monthly premium for the other 36 plans is approximately $28.
This release of new plans comes amid a flurry of reports on the coverage gap. But there are conflicting figures of exactly how many seniors are affected.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that, on average, one-third of enrollees enter the gap every year.
A recent nationwide study of Medicare drug plan beneficiaries by Price Waterhouse Coopers found that 8 percent are expected to have drug costs that exceed $2,250 a year, according to Pawelec.
Regardless of statistics, some groups are working to alleviate the coverage gap problem.
In trying to bring the issue to light, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) joined Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) last week to introduce legislation that would track how many Medicare recipients fall into the gap.
“Millions of seniors will be denied the medicines they need because the law includes a gaping hole in the coverage, and the Bush Administration won't even tell Congress and the American people how many seniors are at risk,” Kennedy said in a press release. “Our bill requires the administration to level with the American people on how many seniors are losing coverage for the drugs they need to protect their health.”
The Honest Medicare Act of 2006, the bill Kennedy and Menendez introduced, would require the secretary of Health and Human Services to provide a monthly report on how many seniors fall into the coverage gap and how much they pay once inside.
“Some people are not going to pay more, they’re just going to stop taking medicine,” said Susan Regan, a researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital who recently worked on a study comparing various drug plans.
“To me it seems so stupid to have a plan that functions like that,” she said.
The hospital study analyzed a group of about 500 people on the AARP plan, all with the same disease. In this study, 27 percent of the patients fell into the doughnut hole.
Now, with the new plan offerings, Pawelec urges seniors to sit down with their health care providers and evaluate their current plans.
“They should examine the plans,” Pawelec said, “and determine if it makes sense to switch coverage.”
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