Target 2010 - Phil Hare (D-IL)

Phil Hare was elected to Congress as part of the 2006 Democratic sweep brought on by America’s general dissatisfaction with George Bush’s policies. The anti-war movement aided by liberals in the main stream media had certainly strived to make Bush toxic by linking him with the rising number of American soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and the allegations of US mistreatment of terror suspects. While that certainly didn’t help Bush, his downfall, like his father, had more to do with fiscal policies and the perception that he was disconnected from the true concerns of the American people.

Phil Hare came from a blue-collar family which is a plus to anyone running for public office in Illinois. He worked at the Seaford Clothing Factory in Rock Island where he spent thirteen years. During the time he worked at the Seaford Clothing Factory, Phil served as a union leader and as President of the Unite Here Local 617, an offshoot of the AFL-CIO. He also served six years as an Army reservist.

Proving that Illinois really doesn’t ask much of their elected officials, Mr. Hare is a product of Alleman High School in Rock Island and had earned an Associates Degree from Black Hawk College in Moline. An Associates Degree is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by community colleges, junior colleges and some four year colleges after completion of a course of study usually lasting two years. Since Hare doesn’t expand on the studies he completed to earn his degree, I can only assume it was Liberal Arts, P.E. or perhaps underwater basket weaving; the favored subject of limited achievers.

Hare began dabbling in politics when he ran as an Alternate Delegate to the Democratic Presidential Convention in support of Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts in 1980. One of the three delegates for Kennedy, Hare and his fellow Kennedy supporters were defeated by the delegates running in support of Jimmy Carter. In 1982 Phil left his union position to help Lane Evans, who was running for the US Congress against Republican incumbent, Tom Railsback. Hare and Evans had been close friends since 1976 when they worked together as volunteers for Senator Fred R. Harris' campaign for President. Surprisingly, Tom Railsback was defeated in the Republican primary by conservative challenger, State Senator Kenneth McMillan forcing Evans and Hare to shift gears and turn their attention to McMillan. Evans would defeat McMillan in November, and in appreciation, appointed Hare as district director.

For the next twenty-four years, Hare worked as an aide to Evans and assisted him mostly in the areas of constituent issues and labor problems. As an aide to Evans, Phil Hare oversaw the closings of Case International Harvestor plant in East Moline and the Maytag plant in Galesburg. The closings of these major businesses and many others resulted in a loss of more than 2,200 jobs in the 17th district as US companies began to flee over-regulation and high taxes in the US for countries that were a little more appreciative of the role successful corporations play in the health of an economy.

After Evans announced his retirement in March of 2006, Hare announced his candidacy to succeed Evans. Hare received the endorsement of Lane Evans and in a special Democratic caucus of precinct committee members from the 17th Congressional District, Hare defeated the four other candidates and became the district’s Democratic candidate for the 2006 Congressional race where Hare focused much of his campaign on labor issues. Since Illinois is not a right to work State, many people of the 17th district are union members (whether they like it or not) and let’s face it, labor issues in a State that loves to drive business away with union interference is an important issue for the people left looking for work. Apparently his promises worked and Hare defeated Republican Andrea Zinga in the general election of 2006 and ran unopposed in 2008 counting on America’s dissatisfaction with Bush and an easy ride on Obama’s coat tails.

Hare has followed Evans’s lead and his voting record is not just Liberal, it is very Liberal. That shouldn’t surprise anyone; especially since the mask came off shortly after the election and people found that Hare was not merely a Democrat, a Liberal or a union man….he was a Progressive and would become one of the founding members of the of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Caucus, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and an ardent supporter of the Progressive Caucus’s Socialist agenda.

Hare is an unapologetic supporter of Labor Unions and unfortunately, Labor Unions are for the most part, unapologetic supporters of Socialist ideology. Curiously, Hare doesn’t appear to be an unapologetic supporter of the actual union members and has openly supported Card Check, a provision in a recently proposed bill that would strip union members of the right to cast a secret ballot in union elections. The secret ballot was the membership’s only protection against intimidation and scare tactics used by corrupt and violent union leaders and while this maybe something a former union President would love to offer his “friends” as a gift, it is certainly something the rank and file is overwhelmingly opposed to.

Hare also voted for the recent healthcare bill even though he had previously stated that he would never support healthcare legislation that did not include, in his words, “a robust public option”. In a recent interview, Hare was asked about the Constitutionality of the healthcare legislation to which he replied: “I don't worry about the Constitution on this to be honest…I worry about the thousands of people that are dying because they don’t have health insurance." As video clips of his dismissive comments about our Constitution made their way across the internet and onto the news, Hare responded saying that his statement was taken out of context and what he really meant was that he was not concerned about the constitutional challenge to the legislation. I’m not so sure about his explanation because as the questioning continued, the interview started to ask what part of the Constitution gives Congress the authority to require people to purchase health insurance but Hare interrupted him and blurted out "I don't know! I don't know!... But at the end of the day I want to bring insurance to every person that lives in this country."

Hare mistakenly added that the Constitution guarantees everyone the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. An unidentified voice on the tape reminded Congressman Hare that the line he just quoted was from the Declaration of Independence and not the Constitution but that didn’t matter much either. He waved his hand and said “either one.” Either one? This may come as a shock to the Black Hawk doctor of underwater basket weaving but he swore an oath to support and defend one of those documents when he became a Congressman and most of us think it would be a really good idea if he knew which one it was and what it actually says.

Why would we expect Mr. Hare would have actually read the Constitution when he obviously hasn’t read the bill he had just voted for? When asked if he had read the bill he told the interviewer that he had read the bill three times. Really? To have read the 8100 pages of the bill and the corresponding documents that would have to be read for the bill to make sense in the time the House leadership allowed before the vote, one would have to read one page each minute and then comprehend what it means in totality. That, my friends, would be a feat for a bona fide speed reader let alone a union boss with a two year degree in arts and crafts (or whatever it was).

Clearly Mr. Hare has no respect for the Constitution; no respect for union members and even less respect for his constituents if he can vote for a bill that he could not possibly have read. In fact, to vote for a bill that he openly opposed on principal simply because Nancy Pelosi told him to, Phil Hare must have very little respect for his own convictions and that is something that worries me most of all.

Paul

Follow the Money

The healthcare bill is once again, being shaped and molded behind closed doors. There is really only one truth in Washington; large bills hide large lies. The bigger the bill, the bigger the lies and unfortunately, big lies in Congress usually come with an equally big price tag too. The healthcare bill, at nearly 2000 pages, is among the largest bills ever to worm its way through Congress and it is already known to be extremely costly. This bill is being shaped behind closed doors, we have not seen the “manager’s amendment” that was added at the last minute before the House vote and there are widespread rumors that there are at least attempts to hide the real cost of this monstrosity by shifting some of the costs to other bills or by using deceptive language in the amended copy.

Let’s see…the President said he will not sign a bill that is budget neutral. Well, budget neutral is Washington speak that simply means there will be enough tax increases and service cuts to pay for the proposal. Since it has an “adjusted” price tag of $1.2 trillion dollars, that equals an admission by Congress that this bill has $1.2 trillion dollars in tax increases and spending cuts; all taking place while the nation is in a deep recession. The truth is that independent analysis says that $1.2 trillion dollars is a laughable assessment and the actual cost over the first ten years will be closer to $3 trillion dollars.

At $3 trillion dollars, it will still be “budget neutral” because one of the big lies hidden in that 1900 pages is a tiny little provision that give Congress the authority to raise whatever funds are needed. What would happen to an economy that is already dangerously unstable if the Federal Government added another $2 trillion dollars in tax burdens? Washington is not totally crazy. They realize that raising taxes again would spell disaster in the next election so they will take the path of least resistance. More cuts to Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates which will shift the burden where it does now; to the State’s budgets and to the privately insured.

Why would Congress blatantly raise taxes when they can force the States to raise their own taxes to cover the shortfall created by federal reimbursement cuts? Why would Congress blatantly raise taxes when they can allow doctors and hospitals to raise their prices and shift the shortages to private insurance? Why jeopardize your own political future when you can jeopardize someone else’s?

Sometimes I think the indoctrination into the ranks of Congress began way back in grade school. The “spit-ball” assailant that watches in silence while another student is dragged out of the room to answer for a crime he did not commit. The stick ball player that breaks a window and hands the bat to the kid he wouldn’t even let play the game, then runs away before the grown ups show up. If you watched the old movies like “Mr. Smith goes to Washington” or “Meet John Doe”, the idea that there is honor in the halls of Capitol Hill is laughable. Congress has always been portrayed as a hive of villains that create law after law; not to benefit the American people but to handsomely reward that small circle of people that keep the politicians firmly ensconced as members of Congress for decades and decades.

This bill has hidden provisions that reward the latest generation of power brokers. Community organizers are suddenly transformed into part of our national healthcare system by providing funds to them for community outreach programs. A recent story taking place in Chicago showed public housing units, funded by Congress and run by these same community organizations. The units were neglected and maintenance personnel working for the property said that they didn’t even have the funds to buy steel wool to stuff in the rat holes that laced the property. Of course those same community groups had plenty of funds when it came to voter registration drives and to organize rallies to support the healthcare bill but somehow, the budget to care for the properties they acquired with Federal funds for the needy, is curiously empty.

The Unions get their rewards too; particularly, SEIU. A provision in the bill would provide funds to hospitals for nurse training provided that the hospital seeking the funds is a union hospital. Isn’t it funny that the SEIU covers healthcare workers and that SEIU’s Andy Stern is the most frequent visitor to the White House according to the recently released visitors list?

So let’s see if I have this right? The bill cuts $500 billion out of Medicare and raises taxes on people with good healthcare insurance plans, the wealthy, medical device manufacturers and through additional employer mandates in the name of healthcare reform but then provides cash subsidies to support the interests of SEIU and for programs administrated through the incredibly large number of ACORN affiliate organizations? The same SEIU whose members proudly wore their SEIU shirts while they viciously attacked a man in Ohio for attending a Tea Party Rally? The same ACORN that has just had their records and computers seized as part of an investigation by the Attorney General in Louisiana? The Same ACORN that has been labeled a criminal organization by a Congressional Committee?

Something is very wrong here and to be honest, I think that is what really needs investigation. Everyone is jumping on ACORN for their actions but I am a firm believer that fish stink from the head down. We have a healthy portion of the stimulus money that has not been spent yet. I honestly believe that the best place that money could be spent; the most effective action we could take to stimulate our economy and restore balance would be to use those funds for a complete and independent audit of every penny that has come out of Congress in the past ten years.

The Federal government only has the money that is has collected from us and with the way it is being spent; I will just go ahead and say “stolen” from us. It is a disgrace that billions are passed through for programs that average Americans easily recognize as ridiculous. Even though our economy is in serious trouble, the United States is still the largest stake holder in the United Nations, The International Monetary Fund, The World Bank plus a myriad of other international programs to create infrastructure and transportation systems in other nations around the globe. All of this is being spent without the knowledge of the American people or at least, without a complete understanding of what it does for the interest of America.

As the largest stake holder in the UN, we still have only one vote. As the largest stakeholder in the IMF and the Word Bank, all we get is an international bureaucracy to tell us what our financial obligations and policies should be. Infrastructure and transportation systems for foreign countries while our own infrastructure and transportation systems are crumbling? Why??? For all of the money this nation has spent in foreign and humanitarian aid, we have never bought a friend. In fact, all we have done is to create an ever growing population of those that wish us harm.

Paul