Tiahrt says “no gambling for the little people” he gambles with our tax money all the time

According to The Wichita Eagle, January 28, 2006:

“The odds that gambling will expand in Kansas were bad to begin with, given how competing interests tend to cancel one another out in Topeka. Those odds just got worse, though, with declarations by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, that they’ll work against the efforts to get federal approval for off-reservation tribal casinos in Kansas.”


He doesn’t believe in letting us gamble with our own money, but he sure gambles with our tax money and the money of his campaign people. He gambled with Jack Abramoff’s money and Rep. Tom DeLay’s money. He also wants to be the majority Whip so he can really gable with OUR future and the future of his own political party. I guess it’s only immoral when we common folks gamble with our money. When politicians gamble with big time contributor’s money, that’s perfectly moral. When us little people gamble, it’s immoral.

Bush goes to Kansas to find a friendly audience/ Tiahrt’s not there

Once again, President George Bush was trying to justify his imperial visions in the Middle-east, defend his unjustifiable war and this time he tried to find friendly territory; Manhattan, Kansas.

According to SFGate.com:
“Bush spent most of a one-hour, 40-minute session here chatting with questioners pulled from the seats of the Kansas State University arena. Before a crowd of 9,000 students, faculty, supporters and soldiers, Bush alternated between serious oration about terrorism and lighthearted banter about his family and dog.
He bemoaned "needless name-calling" in Washington and said that rather than get angry he tries to "burn off that excess energy" with exercise. He talked nuclear weapons and immigration and the Supreme Court. He had tough words for Iran and softer words for China. He said his wife does not hesitate to give advice, "which can be too frequent sometimes," then quickly added, "Not true, honey." He was in such a jocular mood that by the end of the event, White House transcribers recorded 61 instances of audience laughter.”
Ho! Ho! He! He!
According to The Wichita Eagle, Jan. 24, 2005: Bush attracted all the state's main Congressional Republicans, except Rep. Todd Tiahrt. According to his office he had more important things to do than worry about Bush’s next war moves. He is trying to move up the latter to become majority House Whip and that’s more important to him than the loss of a few Kansas soldiers.

Also According to The Eagle, there were a few protesters who were not so eager to have the president there:

“About 200 protesters gathered in two protest areas outside K-State's Bramlage Coliseum on Monday during President Bush's speech.
Most were students, though other protesters drove to Manhattan to take part. Police stood by, but aside from a few heated exchanges with Bush supporters, the protests went on without incident.
Computer science professor Alley Stoughton joined student groups in one of the protest areas as hundreds of troops from Fort Riley entered the building for the speech. Stoughton said the national media has portrayed Kansas as friendly territory for Bush, but he wanted to make sure those going to the speech knew not every Kansan agrees with Bush.
"There is opposition here to the president's agenda," he said. "A lot of us are appalled."
Political science major Megan Challender, 20, held a poster that read "WWiretap." She stood in line with other students to get a ticket to the Bush speech, but stood outside protesting. She hoped her empty chair sent a message.”

With Tiahrt as whip, Kansas could have new clout and a double dose of ridicule

The headline of an article in The Wichita Eagle, Jan. 16, 2006, said:
“With Tiahrt as whip, Kansas would have new clout.”
Yes Rep. Todd Tiahrt will bring our state new clout, but is it the kind we need or want?
We already have a state education board that has brought us ridicule over evolution, a voucher system and a reluctance to seek the financial support the schools need from the legislature. Thankfully, most people outside of Kansas have never hear of Kansas Education Commissioner Bob Corkins. But we have Fred Phelps and his followers, who are among the country’s best known Kansans.
So if Tiahrt becomes the Republican Whip, we will have just one more embarrassment to endure here in Kansas.
According to the Eagle article:
“If Todd Tiahrt became Majority Whip of the U.S. House of Representatives, he would be the first Kansas delegation member in an elected congressional leadership position since Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole resigned to run for president in 1996.”
Comparing Dole to Tiahrt is like comparing a badger to a sniveling weasel. I never liked Dole. He was always wrong on the issues. He supported RENAMO, the right-wing guerillas in Mozambique, notorious for cutting off their suspected opponent's ears. They were so brutal even the past prime minister of Britton, Margeret Thatcher refused to support them.
Dole was a Richard Nixon-like leader. He was called “the hatchet man” and the reason was obvious. He was a tough opponent. He was smart. He was dangerous.
Since getting elected, Tiahrt has avoided showing up at debates during his re-election campaigns. He holds town forums in the smaller rural communities to avoid people who might ask tough questions. He’s more of a President George Bush-like leader. He spends much of his time trying to convince us he isn’t an idiot, since it’s obvious he is.
Past Republicans were obnoxious, mean-spirited and politically wrong, but they were smart and could defend their policies. Today’s Republicans are nothing but stooges for the moneyed interests behind them. They have to be coached to give a speech and avoid a situation where they may have to think on their feet and that’s because they can’t.
America may have hated and ridiculed Dole, but Tiahrt will turn the ridicule of a bad leader to an all new art form.
If they ridiculed us before, wait until we give them Tiahrt as a major U.S. House of Representatives leader.

From: The Guardian's expose'.

MoveOn wants to address congressional corruption – Tiahrt simply takes part

Every day we hear about new congressional scandals. Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleads guilty. Tom DeLay is removed as Republican Leader. But there is no real action by Congress to stop corruption. The bottom line is: Congress cannot be trusted to clean up Congress.
The scandals are slimy but an opportunity to push reform. While members of Congress are home for the January break, it's important they hear that Americans want a real plan to enforce ethics rules and reign in lobbyists. And, the business of Congress just can't go forward until there is real reform with teeth. Will you sign our petition urging Congress to Stop Corruption First?
http://political.moveon.org/stopcorruption/?id=6626-3189845-r17.zkvDwPUeM3YizS1ygg&t=3
The recent scandals have opened a window of opportunity to pass a reform package. Leaders are going to try to pass something so they can say they've dealt with the problem. The question is, will it be tough or just business as usual? A real anti-corruption agenda with teeth would do something like:

Start enforcing ethics rules and punishing violators—Congress has proven they can't police themselves.
Reign in lobbyists—ban all gifts, free meals, free travel and cut lobbyists out of campaign fundraising.
Shine a light—real transparency and reporting. We want to know who is meeting with our leaders.
Get serious about public financing of elections.
These are just some of the ideas proposed by clean government advocates and some Democrats in Congress.1
Of all these ideas the most important is the first. Right now Congress thinks they can get away with corruption. The DeLay, Abramoff and other scandals were ignored by the neutered House Ethics Committee.2 That is why a new and independent ethics enforcement entity is badly needed.
Widespread corruption has real-world implications for ordinary Americans: higher prescription drug prices, high gas prices and bigger deficits. Passing a big ethics and lobbying reform plan needs to be the FIRST thing Congress does when they return. No renaming post offices. No picayune regulatory changes. Stop corruption first.
The plan is to deliver the petitions to Congress the day they begin their 2006 work. Our goal is to gather at least 250,000 signatures. Between now and then we'll be working together to build pressure for reform and highlight some of the worst consequences of corruption. Please sign the petition at the link below.
http://political.moveon.org/stopcorruption/?id=6626-3189845-r17.zkvDwPUeM3YizS1ygg&t=4
If you do our part and other people do their part together we can do something big.
Thanks for all you do.
– Tom, Adam, Jennifer, Tanya and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team Wednesday, January 11th, 2006
Sources
1. "Five Ways to Shake Up Washington." Common Cause. January 11, 2006.http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1330
"Analysis: Pending Lobbying Reform Legislation Could Have Helped Prevent Much of Jack Abramoff Scandal." Public Citizen, January 6, 2006.http://www.citizen.org/documents/Abramoff_Lobbying.pdf
"The Real Scandal: Our Big Money Political System." Nick Nyhart, Public Campaign. January 10, 2006.http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0110-41.htm
2. CREW Calls on House to Restore Ethics Committee. Citizens for Responsible and Ethics in Washington, March 15, 2005.http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1331
Support our member-driven organization: MoveOn.org Political Action is entirely funded by our 3.3 million members. We have no corporate contributors, no foundation grants, no money from unions. Our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. If you'd like to support our work, you can give now at:
http://www.moveonpac.org/donate/email.html?id=6626-3189845-r17.zkvDwPUeM3YizS1ygg&t=5
PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://political.moveon.org/?id=6626-3189845-r17.zkvDwPUeM3YizS1ygg&t=6Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

Tammany Hall and Jobs Brought the City Back Together.

Tiahrt wants the new Republican whip job. Says he’ll take a new direction. Where?

According to The Wichita Eagle, 1-10-06:

WASHINGTON - Todd Tiahrt announced Monday that he's running for the No. 3 leadership post in the U.S. House of Representatives, calling himself a new face and a voice for change in direction for House Republicans.

"I think it's clear we need to have a new direction in the Republican conference," said Tiahrt, R-Goddard, who is seeking to become majority whip. "To make that happen we need to have new faces."

Let’s look at where Tiahrt has taken us so far:

Corruption:

November 03, 2005

The Center for Public integrity has made some important observations on Wichita’s own Koch Industries and their ability to buy elections. Among the findings:
“Koch Industries (pronounced "coke") is a huge oil conglomerate controlled by brothers Charles and David Koch, two of the country's richest men and among the biggest backers of conservative and libertarian causes. With estimated revenue of about $40 billion last year, Koch is bigger than Microsoft, Merrill Lynch and AT&T.
Koch is the leading campaign contributor among oil and gas companies for the 2004 election cycle, giving $587,000 so far.

“Koch has rained the most campaign cash, almost $121,000, on Rep. Todd Tiahrt, a Republican who represents Wichita, where Koch is headquartered.”

January 02, 2006

Michael Scanlon, a Republican political operative, publicist and former press spokesman for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, pled guilty November 21 to conspiring with lobbyist Jack Abramoff to bribe a Republican congressman and cheat several American Indian tribes out of tens of millions of dollars.

The Associated Press named eight more congressmen and senators who received contributions engineered by Abramoff in return for political favors, four Republicans and four Democrats. The Republicans were congressmen Charles Taylor of North Carolina, J. D. Hayworth of Arizona, Todd Tiahrt of Kansas and Dave Camp of Michigan. The Democrats included three senators, Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota (the senior Democrat on the committee now investigating the Abramoff affair), and Congressman Dale Kildee of Michigan.

September 29, 2005

A grand jury in Austin charged DeLay, 58, and two associates already facing criminal charges with a single count of criminal conspiracy, accusing them of improperly funneling corporate donations to Republican candidates for the Texas legislature. (Read the indictment )”

According to data in a "Report Card" compiled by Public Campaign Action Fund:
‘The tangled web of backslapping relationships between DeLay, other Republicans, and lobbyists is becoming exposed to the light. So we've taken the best information out there on the connections between Republican members of Congress and Rep. Tom DeLay and we're sending it to you as your own personal Report Card on Rep. Todd Tiahrt’:
Tiahrt's Connections to Tom DeLay - he accepted $10,071 from Tom Delay's PACs and donated $10,000 to Delay's legal defense fund. He voted with DeLay 95.14% of the time (3,229 of 3,394 votes).

"TomDeLay did nothing wrong," said Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan, last May. "There is no evidence of any breaking of the House rules, no evidence of breaking any laws of the land or of the laws of Texas."

September 09, 2005

The new bankruptcy changes that Rep. Todd Tiahrt just helped pass in Congress, may force Hurricane Katrina victims to pay for homes and vehicles washed away in the ocean. They will not be able to file bankruptcy as people who have lost everything to such disasters have done in the past. They must spend much of their life paying for things that the disaster has taken from them, according to a report in The Wichita Eagle, Sept. 7.
When congress passed the new law, they were only trying to make bank and credit card PACs happy. The banks now have protection from ordinary citizens who try for debt relief. It saves the banks and credit institutions lots of money, but will just about ruin the lives of the victims in these tragedies.
Bank PACs bought their congressmen’s votes with millions in PAC donations. Tiahrt accepted $24,500 from
AMERICAN BANKERS ASSOCIATION PAC (BANKPAC)

June 21, 2005

After complaining that a sign was put on public property, for partisan reasons, The Wichita Eagle, June 20, 2005, announced that Todd Tiahrt and his wife attend an annual conference in Hawaii at a cost from between $5,000 to $15,000, and all of it is taxpayers money. The American Association of Airport Executives puts on the conference.
Even if Todd can justify this, why does he need his wife along? She would probably argue that it is OK because she doesn’t actually get involved in politics. She just parties it up at the taxpayer’s expense. For her it’s not politics – it’s time to PAAARRTTYY!
So it’s a rip-roaring fun time for all- and all is paid for by the taxpayers.

May 13, 2005

"When I go back to mycongressional district, the question [from] a lot of people is the price ofgas ... whereas you come here and it's 'Tom Delay, Tom DeLay.' And I go backto my district and they don't know who Tom Delay is,"

Tiahrt defends pro-torture stand:

December 23, 2005

Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R) sent a rebuttal to The Wichita Eagle, Dec. 23, 2005, defending his stand in support of torture.
In “REP. TODD TIAHRT: REVEALING TACTICS” Tiahrt said:
“What the board and others either refuse to recognize or fail to understand is how this so-called "anti-torture" provision puts our national security in jeopardy. In addition to calling for a ban on activity that is already illegal under Title 18 of the U.S. Code, the provision requires that all U.S. interrogation procedures be documented in the Army Field Manual. This means that terrorists could learn how we will attempt to get information from them, which allows them to be fully prepared for U.S. interrogation if apprehended. This is clearly not in the best interest of the security of our country.”

Defends sending our young people to die in Iraq:

Dec. 11, 2005
“The Eagle editorial board has recently opined about both the debate regarding troop withdrawal in Iraq and whether America is safer since the horrific terrorist attacks in September 2001. Though they were written about separately, these two topics are unavoidably intertwined.”

Todd, how many of your family members are over there fighting? None? Oh… so you favor the rest of us sending our children over to finish the job.

“By rooting out the terrorists and making Iraq the central battleground in the global war on terrorism rather than the United States, we are indeed making America safer. However, we must support our military and allow it to finish the job it has started to ensure our country's future security.”

Do you have any idea how cowardly that makes us look? So kill lots of people in Iraq, even our own sons and daughters, as long as the rest of us feel safe and cozy.

Tiahrt wants the new Republican whip job. Says he’ll take a new direction. Part II

Tiahrt supports trashing science standards:

November 14, 2005
Tiahrt has thrown his support to those monkeys on the Kansas State School Board who can’t tell the difference between science and mythology. “Mainstream science?” Tiahrt said. No mainstream scientist is proposing ID in the schools. Tiahrt knows as much about science as he does about politics. The only thing he really knows about is campaign financing loopholes. He’s made himself rich off that office while pandering the Christian fundamentalist right. He always says things that will please his fundamentalist kook supporters.


Wants to keep working people poor:

November 02, 2005
More than $150,000 a year for Tiahrt and he still opposes raising the minimum.




Is anti-environmental:

May 13, 2005

Kansas Rep. Todd Tiahrt newest rider to a federal energy bill is a classic “bait and switch” game with the voters. (The Wichita Eagle, April 22, 2005) It’s a bonanza for the oil companies, a disaster for what’s left of our pristine arctic environment and a real snow job on the voters. His measure allows drilling in the Arctic wildlife refuges. Tiahrt already has a 0% approval rating from nearly every environmental group. His contempt for nature is more than obvious. There’s also a provision to protect the oil companies from being suited if they contaminate the gas they sell. Tiahrt will obviously come home to his constituents to brag that he is helping lower gas prices at the pump.

Tiahrt’s movin’ on up to the big corruption leagues

What happens when you are caught up in two political bribery scandals, try and justify torture, take in some of the biggest campaign contributions from such slick companies as Koch Industries? In the Republican Party you stand a good chance of being promoted to minority whip.

According to The Wichita Eagle, January, 9, 2006, Rep. Todd Tiahrt has decided to run for House majority whip, the No. 3 leadership post in U.S. House of Representatives, according to his press secretary, Chuck Knapp.

To win the position, Tiahrt would need the support of the majority of the House of Representatives Republican caucus, which holds a majority in the chamber. The leadership election is anticipated to take place Feb. 2.

He should be a shoe-in. Among Tiahrt’s good friends are Michael Scanlon, a Republican political operative, publicist and former press spokesman for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, pled guilty November 21 to conspiring with lobbyist Jack Abramoff to bribe a Republican congressman and cheat several American Indian tribes out of tens of millions of dollars.

Tiahrt himself said:

"TomDeLay did nothing wrong," said Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan, last May. "There is no evidence of any breaking of the House rules, no evidence of breaking any laws of the land or of the laws of Texas."

So he has plenty of support among the corrupted Republican Party leaders in Congress. The big question now is “How long with the common folks of Kansas tolerate this?"

Tiahrt and other rats desert Jack Abramoff’s sinking ship

Rep. Todd Tiahrt and other Kansas Republicans are scrambling to return Abramoff’s donations (bribes in reality) before they get too bogged down in the scandal.
According The Wichita Eagle, Jan. 06, 2006:
“Jack Abramoff has lawmakers worried all over Capitol Hill, and they want nothing to do with him.
They may not have any choice.”
And:
“Among Kansas lawmakers, Reps. Todd Tiahrt and Jim Ryun have smaller connections to Abramoff interests, which contributed to more than 300 members of Congress and congressional candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C.
Ryun received $250. Tiahrt received $5,440 worth of in-kind contributions.”
Sen. Sam Brownback received $44,500 in campaign contributions linked to the disgraced Washington lobbyist, according to federal records. His contributions were considerably more than the others.
This whole affair is just one more example of the gross corruption that has been perpetuated by a Republican congress that believes they can fleece the public and use these offices to make bundles of cash, while hiding behind the skirts of the religious fundamentalist leaders and their gullible followers who are looking for “moral guidance.”
What is moral about bribery?

Once more, Tiahrt is caught up in another corruption scandal

From the World Socialist Web Site:
“The Abramoff affair: Corruption scandal threatens Republican control of US Congress”
By Patrick Martin
November 29, 2005

Michael Scanlon, a Republican political operative, publicist and former press spokesman for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, pled guilty November 21 to conspiring with lobbyist Jack Abramoff to bribe a Republican congressman and cheat several American Indian tribes out of tens of millions of dollars.
Scanlon’s guilty plea—and even more his agreement to cooperate fully with federal prosecutors and testify against former colleagues—has sent a chill through Republican ranks and raised the prospect of numerous indictments, convictions and jail terms for congressmen and congressional staffers as well as Bush administration officials involved in the rampant corruption of official Washington.
By the end of last week, there were press reports that at least four Republican legislators and 17 staffers and former staffers were the targets of the Justice Department investigation into the Abramoff affair. The Wall Street Journal named DeLay, Congressman Robert Ney of Ohio, Congressman John Doolittle of California, and Senator Conrad Burns of Montana as targets, as well as several former Bush administration officials. The Washington Post reported that prosecutors had informed Congressman Ney that he was the subject of a bribery investigation and added that the wives of DeLay and Doolittle had also been linked to Abramoff’s influence-peddling schemes.


The Abramoff affair could have much wider implications. A reporter for BusinessWeek, on a television interview program, said that his Justice Department sources had told him that as many as 60 congressmen could be implicated in the bribery scandal—far more than enough to threaten control over the House of Representatives, where the Republican majority is 231-202, with one independent.
The Associated Press named eight more congressmen and senators who received contributions engineered by Abramoff in return for political favors, four Republicans and four Democrats. The Republicans were congressmen Charles Taylor of North Carolina, J. D. Hayworth of Arizona, Todd Tiahrt of Kansas and Dave Camp of Michigan. The Democrats included three senators, Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota (the senior Democrat on the committee now investigating the Abramoff affair), and Congressman Dale Kildee of Michigan.