Paul Penzone Interview — Podcast August 13, 2012

Posted on August 15, 2012 by William Timberman


Competence, Community Accountability and Fiscal Responsibility: Why Paul Penzone Is a Better Choice for Maricopa County Sheriff. Democratic Perspective interviews Paul Penzone, Democratic candidate for Maricopa County Sheriff. What would it be like to have a sheriff’s department that is professional, dedicated to proven principles of effective law enforcement, and free from ideological grandstanding? Paul Penzone, 21-year veteran of the Phoenix Police Department, explains how he would re-focus the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department on its real priorities: to safeguard and serve the Maricopa County community and to provide it with the competent law enforcement it deserves.

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Voter Suppression Update — Podcast August 6. 2012

Posted on August 9, 2012 by William Timberman


A Blatant Attempt To Steal the Election: Update on Republican Voter Suppression Tactics. Democratic Perspective revisits the Republican Party’s attempts to disenfranchise traditionally Democratic voters, evade the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and guarantee themselves election victories that they don’t deserve.

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A Blatant Attempt To Steal The Election

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Gary LaMaster

Once again, Democratic Perspective looked at Republican attempts to suppress the vote. As we’ve noted before, numerous studies, including a 2007 study by the Bush administration, have found very few instances of voter fraud.

Nevertheless, Republicans have used antecdotal evidence of a few instances to create fear with the system. They would like people to believe that, somehow, undocumented immigrants are going to vote for President Obama. This may be the most preposterous accusation ever, since it’s highly unlikely that undocumented immigrants would ever take the risk of exposing their situation to authorities.

But, for the time being, logic has been completely suspended with new voter ID laws already in place in nine states, many of them swing states that could determine the outcome of the election. These also happen to be states with the highest Latino population growth and the highest black voter turnout – groups that are most likely to vote for Obama.

Make no mistake; these laws are not about fixing a problem. They are all about politics. A Republican leader has as much as admitted so.

In a speech to other Republicans, Pennsylvania House Majority Leader, Rep. Mike Turzai, said the state’s voter ID law “is going to allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania.”

The push to require voter ID began immediately after the 2010 midterm elections when Republicans gained control of state legislatures and governorships and the effort has gained steam since then.

Of course, Republicans say that IDs are required for other activities, such as driving, flying, even at many workplaces. But those requirements don’t interfere with Constitutional rights.

The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University estimates that one in ten Americans lack the types of IDs being required. 10 million American voters live more than ten miles away from any office that issues IDs, and 500,000 of those voters don’t have access to a vehicle.

Moreover, the cost of the documents required for ID cost money. According to the Brennan Center, the cost of the documents is actually more in current dollars than the poll tax ruled unconsitutional in the 1960s.

Restrictive voter ID laws are only one of the methods the Republican Party is using to suppress the vote. Florida is, once again, attempting to expand its list of felons ineligible to vote. In 2000, a similar effort led to thousands of innocent people being denied the vote in an election decided by just 533 votes.

Florida is also one of the Republican-controlled states that have made it more difficult to register new voters. And several states are trying to restrict early voting.

All of this is not to say that we don’t need to fix a number of voting problems. The few known organized voter fraud efforts in the past involved absentee ballots, and they benefited Republicans. Of course, voter ID laws will do nothing to prevent that. There are also some registration problems. It’s difficult for counties and states to keep up with changes of address and deaths. But that hasn’t resulted in fraudulent votes.

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Republicans In Their Own Words.

Posted on August 3, 2012 by Gary LaMaster

This week, rather than talk about Republican politicians, Democratic Perspective chose to let them speak for themselves.

Mitt Romney —
“We have a president, who I think is a nice guy, but he spent too much time at Harvard, perhaps.” (Neglecting to mention that Romney has two Harvard degrees.)

As Massachussetts Governor, Romney said, “The individual mandate is essential for bringing the health care costs down for everyone and getting everyone the health insurance they need.” (Of course, as presidential candidate he is now opposed to the individual mandate.)

“Corporations are people, my friend…

“I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there.”

“He [Obama] says we need more firemen, more policemen, more teachers. Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did. It’s time for us to cut back on government and help the American people.”

“Let Detroit Go Bankrupt,” Romney wrote in a 2009 New York Times op-ed. Then in 2012 he said, “I’ll take a lot of credit for the fact that this industry’s come back.”

“It’s hard to know just how well they [the 2012 London Olympics] will turn out. There are a few things that were disconcerting.” (Statement made while visiting London led one European newspaper to call Romney “The American Borat.”)

“I get speaker’s fees from time to time, but not very much.” (Romney earned $374,000 in speaking fees in one year according to according to his personal financial disclosure)

“I love this state. The trees are the right height.”

“PETA is not happy that my dog likes fresh air.” (Statement in response to questions about strapping his dog to the roof of his car.)

“I’m not familiar precisely with what I said, but I’ll stand by what I said, whatever it was.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell —
“The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”

Rep. Eric Cantor —
“Look, we know we screwed up when we were in the majority. We fell in love with power. We spent way too much money – especially on earmarks. There was too much corruption when we ran this place. We were guilty. And that’s why we lost.” (On Republicans losing control of Congress in 2006.)

Senator Jon Kyl —
“I object.” (Kyl said this more than 70 times to block President Obama’s appointments, including appointments of federal judges. Not long after, as he eulogized Judge John Roll, he lamented that Judge Roll was overworked because of the shortage of federal judges.)

Former Vice-President Dick Cheney —
“Deficits don’t matter.” (When asked about the massive deficits being run up as the result of two wars and the Bush tax cuts.)

Former State Senator Russell Pearce —
“Had someone been prepared and armed they could have stopped this “bad” man from most of this tragedy. He was two and three feet away from folks, I understand he had to stop and reload.” (Commenting on the mass killings in Aurora, Colorado.)

LD-6 State Senate Candidate Chester Crandell —
“It’s time ‘we the people’ stepped up … we will take over the management of the land, of the water, of the air” from the federal government. (On claiming state sovereignty over federal lands in Arizona.)

“We have a tremendous amount of public resources that are just wasted, totally wasted. If we used those resources, then we wouldn’t have to raise taxes,” said Crandell. “If you don’t use it — you’re going to lose it.”

LD-6 State House Candidate Brenda Barton —
“This is not a democracy. It is a constitutional republic. If it were a democracy, all the wolves would decide which lambs they want to have for dinner. Right now in the Valley they’re calling us ‘kooks,’ they’re working very, very hard to ‘dekookify’ the Legislature. They want to get rid of anyone who wants to live under the constitution.”

LD-6 State House Candidate Bob Thorpe —
“It’s time for another shot heard ’round the world,” “Let’s make Arizona an example of how we reclaim our liberties, which we have slowly allowed to erode. Liberty-loving patriots will lose a battle or two, but what we’re concerned about is whether we win the war or not — and we’re at war with the federal government.”

“It’s time the states reminded the federal government it was the states that created the federal government — federalism is a relationship between the states and the central government. The Founders were afraid of democracy and a powerful federal government — and that’s exactly what we have today.”

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio —
“Sometimes these kinds of things occur in big departments like the Maricopa sheriff’s office. If there were any victims, I apologize.” (On his department’s failure to investigate hundreds of sex crimes.)

“I’m the only guy who’s not paranoid and everybody’s going after me.”

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Republican Candidates in Their Own Words — Podcast, July 30, 2012

Posted on August 1, 2012 by William Timberman


Unintended Honesty: Republican Gaffes, and What They Reveal. Democratic Perspective’s  co-hosts Mike Cosentino and Gary LaMaster offer a choice selection of misstatements from Republican notables, beginning with Gov. and Mrs. Romney, and demonstrate that when Republicans put their feet in their mouths, they often tell us more about what they really believe than we could find out any other way.

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Mitt Romney and the Ryan Budget — Podcast July 23, 2012

Posted on July 25, 2012 by William Timberman


Repealing the 20th Century: the Ryan Budget Plan. Democratic Perspective explores the Ryan budget plan, which Forbes Magazine has called a Mistake of Historic Proportions. If there’s anyone who still believes that the only responsible economic solution to the current recession is to turn the vast majority of Americans into paupers, he should have a look at what the Congressional Progressive Caucus has proposed with its Budget for All.

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“The Most Fraudulent Budget In American History.”

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Gary LaMaster

That’s how Nobel Prize-winning economist, Paul Krugman, describes the Romney-Ryan budget plan. Those are strong words, yet they seem inadequate to describe the consequences of this plan if it’s ever adopted.

A study by the Joint Economic Committee shows that the Romney-Ryan plan would increase taxes by $1,300 on those who earn $50,000 to $100,000. For those who earn $100,000 to $200,000 it would increase taxes by $2,600. But those who make $500,000 to $1 million would get a check for $35,000, and those who make more than $1 million would get an average of $285,000.

Not only would this plan rob from the poor to give to the rich. It would result in lost jobs, lower salaries and dramatically higher deficits. In fact, research by the Economic Policy Institute suggests that the Romney-Ryan plan, if enacted, would result in unemployment of approximately 11.6 percent by 2014.

Moreover, the cuts intended to decrease our deficits would all come from safety nets, such as Medicaid, food stamps and Pell grants. The Congressional Budget Office found that the Romney-Ryan plan would result in non-defense discretionary spending of just 0.75 of GDP. (For comparison, since the end of World War II, that number has never been less than 8 percent!)  That would make it impossible for the government to afford even the most basic functions.

There would not be enough money to maintain infrastructure, protect the environment, inspect meat, regulate pharmaceuticals, educate children, fight crime or staff air traffic control.

But there would be plenty of money for our military.  Even though the defense budget now exceeds Cold War levels, the Romney-Ryan plan would actually increase it!

All of this led Forbes magazine to describe the Romney-Ryan plan as “A mistake of Historic Proportions.”  In an article for The New Yorker, James Surowiecki summed up the plan this way: “The U.S. does need to get its finances in order,” he wrote. “It just doesn’t need to repeal the twentieth century to do so.”

Lest you think that it’s impossible to balance the budget without causing harm to our economy or punishing the poor, check out The Budget for All from the Democratic Progressive Caucus.  To learn more, read this report comparing it with the Romney-Ryan plan.

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Following Mitt’s Money — Podcast July 16, 2012

Posted on July 18, 2012 by William Timberman


Offshoring His Money and Our Jobs: The Cayman Islands? Bermuda? Switzerland? A 15% tax rate when most of the rest of us are paying 25-28%? Mitt Romney wants to be President, but the real question is this: does he understand what the majority of Americans are facing in these troubled times, or does his membership in the 1% blind him to what the country really needs? Democratic Perspective investigates.

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Mitt’s Money.

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Gary LaMaster

Through the Republican primaries, Gov. Mitt Romney resisted calls from other candidates to release more details of his net worth, tax returns, investments and assets. Even when he finally released his 2010 tax return, The Washington Post called them “the most opaque they have encountered.”

What little information he has released paints a picture of a man who has gamed the system to make money and avoid taxes.

For example, Mitt’s tax return shows that much of his estimated net worth of $250 million or more (he won’t reveal the exact amount) is invested in offshore tax havens such as Grand Cayman, Bermuda, Switzerland and Luxembourg.

Romney has $30 million in Bain Capital funds in the Cayman Islands alone. He’s listed as the sole owner of Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors Ltd. in Bermuda which he set up in 1997, then transferred to his wife’s newly created blind trust the day before he was inaugurated as Massachusetts’s governor. His 2010 returns show a $3 million Swiss bank account, which has been described as a bet against the U.S. dollar, and 25 investments in the catergory of “over $1 million.” Finally, Romney is known to have an unknown number and amount of investments in Luxembourg.

Of course, Romney denies that the offshore investments were intended to avoid US taxes. But there are only two reasons to stash money in offshore accounts: Secrecy and tax evasion.

Moreover, the US government estimates such offshore tax havens result in the loss of $100 billion in tax revenue per year, which means that average taxpayers have to make up for it by paying an estimated $484 per year.

There are many more questions about Mitt’s investments, such as an I.R.A that mysteriously grew to $102 million, payments to Ann Romney from Bain for “services performed,” investments in offshore “blocker” corporations, and investments in feeder tax havens designed to skirt taxes and regulations.

Despite all this, Romney claims his tax consequences were “the very same” as if he’d invested his money in the US. If that’s true, the obvious question is why didn’t he?

Another question is in regard to the blind trusts and retirement accounts he created prior to being elected governor of Massachussetts in order to avoid conflicts of interest. You see, the trusts are managed by his family attorney, which affords him even more secrecy due to client-attorney privilege.

But the issue that has gained the most attention is Romney’s claim that he ended his relationship with Bain Capital in February 1999. However, he still receives money from Bain and, as recently as 2002, he was listed on SEC filings as the CEO, chairman of the board and sole owner of Bain Capital.

Oops!

This means that Romney may have filed false documents on numerous occasions that could make him guilty of one or more federal felonies.

Last, but not least, is the question of Romney’s fundraiser in London during the Olympics. It’s illegal for US political candidates to receive money from foreign interests, yet The London Telegraph has reported that donors will pay $25,000 to $75,000 to have dinner with Romney. The sponsor, Barclay’s lobbyist Patrick Durkin, has so far raised $927,160 for the campaign.

It’s not a problem that Romney is rich. But it should be a problem that he has used a combination of accounting tricks and offshore investments to avoid paying taxes…especially since his effective tax rate for 2010 was only 15 percent.

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Fast And Furious Lies.

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Gary LaMaster

In the wake of the House vote to find Attorney General Holder in contempt of Congress, Democratic Perspective addressed the many misconceptions and lies surrounding the ATF operation known as Fast and Furious.

Of course, the Congressman Darrell Issa and the GOP would have you believe that the ATF intentionally allowed thousands of guns to “walk” across the border to be used by the Mexican drug cartels. They also want you to believe that Eric Holder was aware of the operation and that the Obama administration tried to cover it up.

With those accusations in mind, let’s look at the facts.  According to an exhaustive investigative report for Fortune magazine by Katherine Eban, we have learned that:

1) No guns were intentionally allowed to “walk” across the border.
2) The ATF seized 68,000 guns from 2006 through 2011.
3) The seven-member ATF team in Phoenix that was responsible for Fast and Furious was frustrated by Arizona gun laws that allow any non-felon over the age of 18 to purchase any number of guns and re-sell them to anyone they want.
4) The ATF team had repeatedly requested indictments on obvious “straw buyers” recruited to purchase guns for the cartels, but were refused by the Assistant US Attorney.
5) The ATF team was hopelessly divided between those loyal to the by-the-book supervisor and a group of insubordinates calling themselves “Renegades.” This included the so-called whistleblower who claimed to be outraged by gun-walking.
6) The only guns that were not recovered were six guns purchsed by Agent Dodson, the whistle-blower. After giving them to a suspected gun trafficker, he left for vacation.

In the rush to break a sensational story, most of the media never interviewed any of the key players in the operation other than the whistle-blower who had an axe to grind with his supervisor.

Moreover, the House Oversight Committee, in its determination to embarrass the administration, never sought testimony from any of the ATF team other than the whistle-blower. Indeed, even before he gained the chair of the committee following the 2010 elections, Issa was quoted as saying that he was going to “make the administration play by the rules,” ostensibly his rules.

Issa was itching to “get” the administration. He held hearings on Solyndra, Fannie Mae and the FDA without any major revelations. He then turned to Fast and Furious which was easier prey given that ATF has been broadly disliked since Ruby Ridge and Waco. In addition, the National Rifle Association has long wanted to kill the agency. As a result of NRA bullying, the Senate has not confirmed a permanent director of the ATF since it was spun off from the Treasury Department in 2003.

In order to comply with the Kangaroo Court-like hearings, the Attorney General testified publicly 9 times and privately several other times. He turned over more than 7,600 documents to the committee and complied in every way legally possible. In return, he was the first member of a president’s cabinet to be cited for contempt.

Holder shouldn’t feel bad. According to the polls, it would appear that most of America is contempt of this Congress.

(For more information, read Katherine Eban’s follow-up article in Fortune magazine.)

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