Alan Bjerga takes on Tiahrt

Alan Bjerga will run against Rep. Todd Tiahrt in the upcoming election. With all the dirt uncovered on Tiahrt and all the flops as screw ups he’s had the last few years, the race would seem a slam-dunk for Bjerga. But Bjerga only has $2,700 so far

and Tiahrt has at least a $ million, according to The Wichita Eagle.



And in US democracy, the candidate with the most money usually wins, regardless of how bad they are. It’s a one dollar one vote style democracy. To get a message out about who the candidate is takes money. Without money, the incumbent can count on his/her base support, which for Tiahrt is the right-wing religious nuts that believe stopping abortion is so important that Tiahrt can rob us all blind and use his office to get rich at our expense.

Tiahrt Earns An "F"

US Politics Today gave Rep. Todd Tiahrt an F when it came to voting for the welfare of middle class voters.

The Bills		The Middle- Class Position	The Vote
Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention And Consumer Protection Act Of 2005 [S 256]		NO
Border Protection, Antiterrorism, And Illegal Immigration Control Act [Hr 4437]		NO
Class Action Fairness Act [S 5]		NO
Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act [Hr 8]		NO
Deficit Reduction Act Of 2005 [S 1932 / H.res. 653]		NO

No opposition from Republicans in today’s vote

Rep. Todd Tiahrt had no opposition in the primary race today. Every Republican knows he’s an excellent fund raiser and he just can’t be beat. He has those religious wing-nuts behind him and those churches are a mighty tool for getting re-elected. And all Republicans know by now (at least very few), that no one raises more funds in the house than Tiahrt. He’ll need all the money he can muster if the Democrats decide to take a serious shot at his seat. Most people in his district are completely sick of him, but his organization, zombie religious backing and wads of cash make him a difficult target.

Tiahrt passes spending bill destined to fail

Rep. Todd Tiahrt has lost votes for his bill to save Tax dollars by creating a “waste-fighting” department. It’s not surprising the bill didn’t go. Right now the Republicans are worried the voters might get tired of their pork barrel spending and personal perks, such as taking unnecessary trips to exotic locations, such a Hawaii or East Asia.
Tiahrt has taken such trips, with his family and he has attempted to get federal project passed to justify his job. Right now he has little to show for his time spent in the House of Representatives, except personal and campaign spending at the tax-payers expense.

According to The Wichita Eagle, Jul. 29:
“- As the U.S. House of Representatives wrapped up before its August break, Rep. Todd Tiahrt's bill to create waste-fighting federal commissions failed to get a House vote, as united Democrats and worried Republicans stopped a bill that once seemed destined to pass.
"We didn't have the votes we needed" to pass the legislation, said Chuck Knapp, spokesman for Tiahrt, R-Goddard.”

Yes all are worried the bill would cost them money and it would create a whole new bureaucracy to oversee other bureaucracies already created by congress. It is more likely that Tiahrt sponsored this bill knowing it would not get a vote. That way he can take it to the voters as proof he’s trying to cut waste, yet knowing in advance no one would support the bill. As with him, many congress-people are taking perks at the taxpayer’s expense.

Tiahrt favors jailing journalists

What would it be like to live in a country where you can be thrown in jail for what you print in a newspaper? That would be Rep. Todd Tiahrt’s idea of democracy here in the U.S. Just consider what Tiahrt said in a reply to a Wichita Eagle editorial, which was printed on July 9:


“Jailing media leakers is not 'authoritarian'
BY REP. TODD TIAHRT
The Eagle editorial board apparently believes we should err on the side of trusting the media rather than trusting the government to protect us from terrorists ("Reckless: Free societies need independent media," July 5 editorial). The editorial board also contends we do not know if leaks of classified information have harmed U.S. efforts in the global war on terrorism.
As a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I am probably in a better position than the editorial board to draw conclusions on this matter. However, I believe most clear-thinking individuals would presume that if you tell the enemy how we are tracking them, that indeed harms our ability to track them.
The editorial board also said that my call for locking up journalists who refuse to finger leakers is "authoritarian." If enforcing current law and protecting the citizens of this country is how the board defines "authoritarian," it needs a new dictionary.”

NOT AUTHORITARIAN? When I was in grade school the constantly told us of countries were people were jailed for speaking out against the government. Now Tiahrt want to do that here. That’s not only “authoritarian” it totalitarian. Dictators have always made the excuse that they were suspending rights in order to “save democracy.” But journalists were jailed and political parties and elections often suspended, often with political party officials jailed.
The Wichita Eagle has been flooded with letters protesting his comments. People know when their rights are being threatened.
Once again, Tiahrt simply ignores history. He also puts words into other people’s mouth. The Wichita Eagle had to print the following comments at the end of Tiahrt’s reply:

“Editor's note: Contrary to Rep. Todd Tiahrt's claim, The Eagle editorial board didn't question the length of the war or call for a timetable for ending it. The editorial board also has not supported gay marriage, desecrating the flag or surrendering the war on terror.
Tiahrt is free to disagree with the editorial board about whether journalists should be jailed for not revealing confidential sources. But making phony claims undermines his arguments.
--Phillip Brownlee”

Tiahrt misses out on Pork spending

Since Rep. Todd Tiahrt does little spends most of his time lining his pockets with campaign funds and other congressional perks, he needs plenty of pork projects to justify his job at election time. Not everyone votes solely on abortion or gay marriage, so Tiahrt tries to bring the pork home to his constituents in Wichita.
Congress as a whole has dealt him a blow lately. According to The Wichita Eagle, Jul. 04:

“Outrage on Capitol Hill that started with a "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska could end up slowing the pace of construction for central Wichita's railroad bridges and other area projects.
Backlash against congressionally funded projects such as last year's $315 million bridge from Alaska's Gravina Island, population 50, to Ketchikan, population 8,000, is making it more difficult for lawmakers to set aside targeted federal funds for projects in their districts.
That practice of "earmarking" funds normally steers tens of millions of federal dollars to Wichita each year.
But perceptions that Congress is abusing its earmark ability are slowing some projects and putting others on hold nationwide.”

The first thing to go is money that was earmarked to speed up the building of rail-road bridges, to smooth out traffic in Wichita. So that leaves Tiahrt with less to brag about at election time. He will have to count on his hard core base of far-right Christian wing-nuts for support in the next election,

Tiahrt says we can work as merchants of death

Worried about the job situation in Wichita? Rep. Todd Tiahrt has it all figured out. We can hire people to build weapons for our continuing involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places around the world. With our interventionist, modern day Julius Caesar president, were going to need lots of military equipment and ammunition. And let’s not forget the coffins and body bags, for those “brave men and women” Tiahrt mentions, who will not make it home alive.

According to a Tiahrt web page
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday passed a $377.6 billion defense appropriations bill that contains approximately $8.9 billion in defense projects that provide work for south central Kansas workers. U.S. Representative Todd Tiahrt (R-Goddard), a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, secured $52.6 million in additional funding for area companies.
“After fighting hard to keep the federal government’s spending down with the passage of a sensible budget, I am honored to bring federal dollars back to Kansas,” said Tiahrt. “We have the best workers in the nation and I am pleased the House passed a bipartisan defense spending bill that addresses the needs of our country while our brave men and women are protecting our homeland.”

Main index: San Francisco Antiwar Photographs.

MoveOn wants Tiahrt to go oil free

Dear MoveOn members,

Last month, 3 million MoveOn members came together and said, "Enough. We want clean, renewable energy, and we want it now!"

That's why today, we're launching one of our biggest campaigns in the last year—-a campaign for an "Oil-free Congress" to demand that Congress end America's oil addiction and move us toward a cleaner future. We'll pressure members of Congress to make a real difference—-and if they don't listen, we'll hold them accountable in November.

To start, we need to ask every member of Congress, including yours, to go "Oil-Free" and sign a pledge not to take any money from the oil industry. Can you sign this letter telling Rep. Todd Tiahrt to take the pledge?

http://political.moveon.org/oilfree/?id=8072-3189845-eE3xxufEOwkA7kuq9.JNwQ&t=3

We're working with a bunch of groups, like Oil Change International and the Center for American Progress in the Separation of Oil and State coalition to get every representative to sign the pledge not to take any more oil money. Together, we sent official pledge cards to all of Congress last week. But this call will be much more powerful if Rep. Tiahrt hears from thousands of his constituents about it, too.

We're aiming to send at least 500 messages in support of the pledge to Rep. Tiahrt. If we can make that, we'll personally deliver your comments to accompany the letters we delivered last week.

With gas prices off the charts, an unstable situation in the Middle East and scientists warning that global warming is at a tipping point, it's fair to wonder, why aren't our representatives doing something about our dependence on oil? The answer is that politicians get a lot of money from oil companies not to.

Since 1990, Big Oil has given more than $190 million to members of Congress and 75% ($142,635,314!) of those donations have gone to Republicans.¹ Those donations guarantee an energy policy that serves the oil industry over the public interest. Until our representatives stop taking oil money, it's going to be hard to make progress on global warming and clean energy alternatives.

Renewable and alternative energy sources, like biofuels, hybrids, solar and wind power are ready today, but Congress's addiction to oil money is holding us back. The best way to move towards energy independence is to end oil corruption in Washington.

Clean energy experts and advocates agree, the obstacles to energy independence are mostly political. And as Al Gore says in An Inconvenient Truth, "political will is a renewable resource."

Can you tell your representative that you're ready to end your addiction to oil, if he is ready to kick his addiction to oil money?

http://political.moveon.org/oilfree/?id=8072-3189845-eE3xxufEOwkA7kuq9.JNwQ&t=4

Thanks for all you do,

–Nita Chaudhary and Eli Pariser
Monday, June 19th, 2006

Once again, Tiahrt promotes Republican icons

Just as Kim Il Sung constantly erected monuments to himself in North Korea, to remind his people who important he was to them, Rep. Todd Tiahrt has once again designate a building, the community center at McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas, known as Emerald City, as the Robert J. Dole Community Center in honor of World War II veteran and former United States Representative and Senator Robert J. Dole.
Any one who has seen the Robert Dole center at Kansas University realizes this is much more about immortalizing Dole than honoring World War II vets. There’s one wall with pictures of WWII vets and an entire room full of Dole’s pictures and items from his past, including clothing he wore to college. It really does look like a hero’s museum, such as those in North Korea and Dole isn’t even dead yet.
Tiahrt has been trying to rename buildings all over Kansas and other places after Republicans. Few politicians have tried to re-write their states history as Tiahrt has. I have commented on several of his schemes in the past. This is one I just found out about.

Tiahrt is a friend of business and business only

Rep. Todd Tiahrt is a friend of business. He’s not much of a friend to the workers and consumers. But apparently businesses are his top priority. That’s probably because they are his main supplier of campaign funds.
Consider what he has said in the US House debate over Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 2007, May 24 of this year:
"Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, my amendment is very simple. It just says we will not promulgate any regulations without considering the effect such regulations have on the competitiveness of American businesses.”
And for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2007, May 23:
"Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, my amendment is very simple. It just says that none of the funds made available in this act will be used to promulgate regulations without consideration of the effect that such regulations would have on the competitiveness of American businesses.”
Sound like a broken record? Of course it does. This is a businessman’s representative. The people don’t count and never have.
Tiahrt did vote for the marriage amendment to keep his Christian right constituents happy. They may overlook his looting of his office over his so called “moral votes.”

Tiahrt Travels around on our tax dollars

From Power Trips, by Steve Henn


TIAHRT, TODD W, Republican Party-Kansas
Total number of trips - 13Total
cost of trips - $72,011.41
Average cost per trip - $5,539.34
Total number of days spent traveling - 63 daysRank of representative - 70 (Out of 638).


Sponsor(s) - Heritage Foundation, total cost: Total Cost - $637.74- location -Cambridge, MD.
Sponsor(s) -American Association of Airport Executives, total cost $14,102.00- location -Kauai, HI - took family memembers. He made two more trips on behalf of the same company to Hawaii and took his family.
Sponsor(s)- W.O. Farber Center, total cost: $844.00 - location- Vermillion, SD - Wichita, KS.
Sponsor(s)-Center for First Principles, total cost: $17,819.44- location- Prague, Czech Republic - Vienna, Austria - Budapest, Hungary. He took his family.

Tiahrt gets around - On your tax dollars - suckers!!

Missing in action – the Democratic Party

Recently the local paper pointed out that Rep. Todd Tiahrt is one of the main financial supporters of Tom DeLay, who is now facing corruption charges. Tiahrt’s own history of corruption makes him an easy target for whoever runs against him in the next election. He has openly made a fortune off the office and has sold his votes on a number of issues to the highest bidder. Beating him should be easy. But don’t count on it.
The Democrats have been missing in action for sometime. They just don't get it. They jettisoned thepeople with social interests, Women's groups, unions, Afro American interests and many others. They (as a whole) have not come out strongly against the war, although most of their “would be supporters” want that.
This is a party that needs a backbone. Even die-hard democrats are starting to ask why this party can’t take a clear stand on any issue and stick to it?They have worked hard to win over some white red-necks who are already loyal tothe Republicans. This next election should be a cakewalk for them, yet I'd bet a large sum of money, theyactually loose seats and the presidency. They have to stand for something and give the people a vision before they can beat even the weakest of Republicans.

It’s Campaign time and cash in time for Tiahrt

According toThe Wichita Eagle, Apr. 15, 2006:

“WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt has nearly $1 million in the bank to take on his yet-to-be-determined Democratic opponent in his re-election bid this November.
The $978,149.60 on hand reported in Tiahrt's Federal Election Commission filing Friday is the most he has ever had at this point in any of his six re-election campaigns.”
Yes, Mr. Tiahrt knows how to raise money. He doesn’t know anything else, but he does know how to raise money. And there are many rich corporation that want puppet stooges to represent our districts. Koch Industries has rained the most campaign cash, almost $121,000, on Tiahrt. They get what they want. We get boneheads who don’t know anything about politics or what’s in the best interest of their own constituents.
Then there’s always that zombie religious community that Tiahrt has duped into believing he somehow represents “Christian values.” Those Christian values include mostly greed and selfishness.


Koch Industries 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 headquartered In Wichita Kansas.
According to the Eagle:
“His biggest expenses this year have been a $50,000 contribution to the National Republican Congressional Committee, which funds U.S. House Republican campaigns; $25,000 to the Kansas Republican Party; $5,000 for the Kansans For Life Political Action Committee; and $6,000 for other Republican House campaigns, including $4,000 for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.”
In other words, Tiahrt is a major source of corruption for an extremely corrupted party. There have been only a few Democrats who’ve expressed interest in running against Tiahrt, but none have filed.

Tiahrt fails to embarrass Sebelius

Sebelius Praised for "Disposable Worker" Veto

Jesse Nathan, a Lawrence-based writer and photographer, writes a column for San Francisco's largest alternative daily, BeyondChron called "Blue Thoughts From a Red State." His most recent column discussed Governor Kathleen Sebelius' veto of SB 461, "the Disposable Worker" bill. Here's a little of what he says.

"during an election year and Republican Senators and Representatives wanted to stick it to Sebelius by making her veto something that will get her in trouble in November. The Governor, however, has refused to support this legislation simply because it may win her a few votes in the fall. And this, playing politics with money that workers statewide desperately need to support their families, is exactly what the GOPers this state produces—see Senators Brownback and Roberts or Rep. Todd Tiahrt—love to do....

DeLay down – Is Tiahrt next?

According to CBC News:

"DeLay resigns as U.S. House leader after indictment," 28 Sep 2005:

CBC News

"Tom DeLay resigned as U.S. House majority leader on Wednesday after a Texas grand jury indicted him and two associates on charges of conspiracy in fundraising. A defiant DeLay insisted on his innocence and called the prosecutor a "partisan fanatic."

DeLay is the first leader of the House of Representatives to be indicted while in office in at least a century, according to congressional historians."

And what did our representative in the House from Kansas say:
"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."

That’s not how it looks right now.

Last year, MoveOn said for Tiahrt to give the money back.
The organization MoveOn called up Tiahrt and ask him to give back the $10,071 in PAC money he received from Republican Leader Tom Delay.

Do rotten apples fall like dominoes?