Time to Party With Lobbyists

What do Sandy Adams (Fla.), Quico Canseco (Texas), Rick Crawford (Ark.), Bob Dold (Ill.), Sean Duffy (Wis.), Stephen Fincher (Tenn.), Mike Fitzpatrick (Penn.), Daniel Webster (Fla.), Mike Grimm (N.Y.), Nan Hayworth (N.Y.), Jim Renacci (Ohio) and Cory Gardner (Col) all have in common. They all partied with lobbyists at the Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, Florida.

Congressmen Canseco and Gardner were seen on camera heading in to host happy hour. To get in, donors had to pay at least $10,000.

During his campaign, Gardner promised average voters would inspire his actions. One ad said, "I will always put Colorado families before the Washington special interests."

Turns out Gardner put his interest in special interests above Colorado families. Families getting their homes foreclosed upon are not important when it's time to party. Nothing says helping Americans more than playing golf and slamming drinks with Spencer Bachus, Pete Sessions, and a group freshman Republicans.

You will be shocked to learn that nine of the congressman at the vacation fundraiser are on the committee with oversight of banks. You also will be shocked to learn that none of the elected Republicans at the fundraiser wanted to be interviewed by CBS News on-camera.

Republicans on the state and federal level have been living lavishly of the campaign contributions of their corporate donors. There are those Republican Party of Florida credit card bills that the state party continues to avoid discussing. Tom Feeney lost his House seat because of his infamous golf trip with Jack Abramoff. These REpublicans talk about hard work and the power of the free market. The truth is they want lavish corporate welfare and a government paycheck.

Wanted: David Rivera

The Florida Democratic Party has sent out this nifty Rep. David Rivera wanted poster. Rivera hasn't held townhall meeetings. That might have something to do with Rivera not wanting to answer questions about why he is being investigated by the FBI, IRS, Miami-Dade Police Public Corruption Unit, and Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Rivera has another problem. His campaign is broke. According to OpenSecrets.org, his campaign has raised $110,324 and has $151,581 in debt. Rivera ran the Miami-Dade Republican Party into debt. Rivera spent $250,000 of Miami-Dade Republican Party money for Communication Solutions. Rivera's girlfriend Esther Nuhfer is the only employee of Communication Solutions. Nuhfer's only client is Rivera. Her office is a home in a residential community. I checked Google Maps for a business address for Communication Solutions in Coral Gables. There is none. An online profile of Communication Solutions shows the address to be a PO box.

PO BOX 143657 CORAL GABLES FL 33114-3657 US

Communication Solutions is what is known as a virtual company. Translation. It exists on the internet but not in the real world. This is usually how people set up bogus companies. Interesting tidbit is Nuhfer donated to the 2010 campaigns of Rivera, Sandy Adams and Rivera's former roommate Marco Rubio.

Another Blue Dog About to Bite the Dust

Conservative Democrats never learn. Suzanne Kosmas is the latest casuality. She voted against the health care bill. Kosmas also backed extending the Bush tax cuts. This pandering to far-right Republicans who will never vote for her has dropped her in the polls. The result is the DCCC is pulling two weeks of ad buys for her campaign.

"The DCCC constantly makes adjustments based on the level of Republican activity in a district," DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen said in a statement. "We are fully invested in the critical voter contact efforts in Suzanne Kosmas’s campaign. We will continue to keep our options open as events change and remain confident that our efforts, coupled with Suzanne’s overwhelming financial advantage, will ensure a victory in November."

If the DCCC is so confident about Kosmas' chances their would not have pulled their television ad money. I always hate when political parties say their candidate is going to win when their actions dictate otherwise. In the future, I will call political party spin, such as this, doing a Kenneth Quinnell.

Kosmas positioned herself to the right. The Right is going to vote for Republican Sandy Adams. Voters like to see a candidate actually stand for something. To the voter that projects strength. Jim DeMint and Michele Bachmann sound deranged to me, but I understand that their supporters think they are fighters. It is the same reason that Paul Wellstone and Al Franken were able to get elected. I am not sure what Kosmas stands for and that is the reason she will probably lose.

Update: Nate Silver gives Sandy Adams an 84.2 percent chance of winning. Kosmas' chances of winning are 15.8. I guarantee Chris Van Hollen (who has done agood job at the DCCC) will not mention anything about Silver's number.