Dump John Kline Blog

Going into the Labor Day Weekend, Rep. John Kline (R-MN-02) along with Rep. Michele Bachmann were among 66 other Congressional Republicans members who signed an amicus brief in support of Arizona's controversial immigration Law (SB 1070). Currently Judge Susan Bolton of Federal District Court has issued a preliminary injunction against sections of the law that called for police officers to check a person’s immigration status.

In many ways I'm not surprised by Rep. John Kline's position. He's always been willing to trade our Constitutional Rights for more political posturing on imaginary security/safety concerns. Kline has always favored protecting us with bigger- better- badder- boarder corporation, business, or military rights by trading away our basic civil rights. But John Kline would do well to remember the wise advise of one of our founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin:

 "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
While Kline may be willing to give up our essential liberties, Americans are not so willing to just yet throw away the Constitution. The Arizona immigration law's premise is that in giving up our constitutional right, we will be more secure. The law essentially legalizes racial profiling...

• The law puts communities of color in the cross hairs by requiring state and local government workers to determine if a person is illegally in the United States based on a “reasonable suspicion.”=
• Legal experts maintain that the law will result in racial profiling in a very diverse state with multiple generations of U.S. citizens. Three out of every 10 Arizonans are Hispanic, 1 out of 10 is American Indian, and 13 percent are foreign born.

The law undercuts our American Constitution and imbues local police with federal authority...another area that Rep. John Kline seems to think is okay...To Kline, it's okay under this law to not require search warrents or even suspect that some illegal action has occurred! It even makes solicitation of work criminal even though it is protected speech under the First Amendment.

 As Judge Susan Bolton cites:

“There is a substantial likelihood that officers will wrongfully arrest legal resident aliens by enforcing this statute, Arizona would impose, a distinct, unusual and extraordinary’ burden on legal resident aliens that only the federal government has the authority to impose.” “Requiring Arizona law enforcement officials and agencies to determine the immigration status of every person who is arrested burdens lawfully present aliens because their liberty will be restricted while their status is checked,” It's nice and neat to think that if we trade away just a few civil rights that we'll be protected and safe. But the question we need to ask, who will protect us once we have no more liberty? Reps Kline and Bachmann may feel it's okay to trade our Constitutional rights for so-called boarder safety/security problems but most Americans don't.

I find it ironic that these modern day Tea Party members conveniently forget Patrick Henry's speech 'Give me Liberty or Give me Death'  following the Boston Tea Party in 1773. Our forefathers and nation founders understood and risked their lives for the US Constitution that John Kline and Michele Bachmann are so lightly trading with  for their political gamesmanship in the name of safety/security. How disturbing is that?

The law will harm the state and local economies

Arizona already spends over a billion dollars annually on immigration related expenses, almost sending the state running for cash advances...can it realistically afford the massive cost of this law? Kline often uses the term fiscally conservative to define himself but there is nothing conservative about this unconstitutional law according to AmericaProgressive:

 ■The National Employment Law Project pointed out that smaller-scale anti-immigrant ordinances have cost individual localities millions of dollars. The Texas-based Perryman Group calculated that if all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Arizona, the state would lose $26.4 billion in economic activity, $11.7 billion in gross state product, and approximately 140,324 jobs.

 ■The Immigration Policy Center noted that, “with Arizona facing a budget deficit of more than $3 billion,” the new law will “further imperil the state’s economic future.”

 The law will be expensive and take cops away from community policing

 ■The Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police firmly opposes the law for fiscal and public safety reasons, noting that fear of government officials will diminish the public’s willingness to cooperate with police in criminal investigations and will “negatively affect the ability of law enforcement agencies across the state to fulfill their many responsibilities in a timely manner.”

 ■Local taxpayers will bear the heavy costs of lengthy court litigation.

 ■The costs to arrest, detain, process, and transport undocumented immigrants out of Arizona will drain local government treasuries. There were an estimated 460,000 undocumented immigrants in Arizona as of January 2009, making up 4 percent of the state’s population. If the federal government were to handle the entire undocumented population, the cost would be approximately $23,148 per person, based on a recent study by the Center for American Progress.

 

As Shelley Madore challenges incumbent John Kline for the right to represent Minnesota’s Second District in Congress, it will become important to stay focus on ethics reform as a central issue. She’s got a good reason for doing so. Congressman Kline is so caught up in taking money from special interest PACS then voting their interests and against campaign finance reform, that he’s strayed far from the values of the people that have elected him to office.
Kline is owned by a series of PACS including health care lobbies, oil lobbies, banking lobbies and defense lobbies. In all of these areas John Kline's voting and campaign record show him taking big money PAC donors then voting their interests over the needs of the citizens in Minnesota’s Second District.
Raising over a million dollars of which 40% came from these special interest PACs, in the last two years, Kline has repeated voted in favor of their interests against the interest of the people who elected him
RETAILERS SPECIAL INTERESTS
So far this year Kline has taken in almost half a million ($450,701) from special interest PACS including $31,000 from misc. retailers like Target ($5,000), Best Buy ($3,500), and Home Depot ($8,500).
Kline siding for retailers and against Americans:

• Kline failed to vote for H.R. 2, a bill to increase the minimum wage, which is currently at its lowest point since the 1950s. The bill would only have returned the minimum wage to a level comparable to that of the 1980s, which is in turn much lower than the minimum wage level of the late 1960s. It is a shame that Representative Kline does not even have the respect for America's workers that they deserved 20 years ago.
• Recently Kline voted against eliminating loopholes which encourage companies to move operations offshore to avoid paying taxes and other purposes. in H.R. 1568
• Kline voted against H.R. 1257, a bill that would permit shareholders of public corporations to cast an advisory, non-binding vote to approve or disapprove executive pay packages, golden parachutes, and gigantic bonuses.

DEFENSE SPECIAL INTERESTS PACSBesides retailers, John Kline has also taken in a whopping $47,200 from defense contractors like Lockheed Martin ($10,000), Boeing Co ($7,000) and Raytheon ($7,000). Kline has continued to support defense profiteers by his voting record.
Kline Votes for Defense Special Interests Every Time! 

• H.R. 897 is a bill that was killed in committee when the GOP controlled congress. It would have required Congress to be provided with descriptions of all contract work in excess of 5 million dollars performed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Apparently Kline and his special interest defense donors are comfortable with hidden contracts and not having Congressional oversight.
• John Kline supports major funding for all our wars. Kline has continued to vote for additional supplemental spending for the wars, including money used for no-bid military contracts, voting for unwanted war jets, or simply lost and unaccounted BILLIONS in war money.

FINANCE AND BANKING PACS
Banking has contributed big to John Kline, giving $133,658 of which $86,000is from PACS in areas like insurances ($27,000) like USAA ($8,000) and Bankers like American Bankers Assn ($10,000) and US Bank Corp ($3,000).

• Rep. John Kline voted against authorizing bankruptcy courts to modify the terms of mortgages made on homeowners’ primary residences (H.R. 4173). The amendment would permit bankruptcy courts to restructure the debt on home mortgages by reducing the principal owed, extending repayment periods, reducing interest rates, and prohibiting, reducing, or delaying future interest rate increases saving countless homes for the working poor and middle class.
• Kline voted against Wall Street Accountability and Consumer Protection...sigh...naturally siding with big business and corporations. [HR 4173]
• Representative Kline voted to bailout our country’s financial sector, but later voted against a bill to strengthen oversight of these TARP funds and make more community banks eligible to receive assistance. [HR384]

Banking Votes against Minnesota Voters

• H R. 1490: Rule Providing for the Consideration of the Conference Report to Accompany H.R. 4173, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Kline voted against Wall Street Reforms.
• H R 5982: To Amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to Repeal the Expansion of Certain Information Reporting Requirements to Corporations and to Payments for Property, to Eliminate Loopholes Which Encourage Companies to Move Operations Offshore, and for Other Purposes
• H R 964: Providing for Further Consideration of the Bill (H.R. 4173) to Provide for Financial Regulatory Reform, to Protect Consumers and Investors, to Enhance Federal Understanding of Insurance Issues, to Regulate the Over-the-Counter Derivatives Markets, and for Other Purposes, Kline voted No against implementing these oversights.
• Rep. John Kline voted against authorizing bankruptcy courts to modify the terms of mortgages made on homeowners’ primary residences (H.R. 4173). Kline voted against Wall Street Accountability and Consumer Protection...sigh...naturally siding with big business and corporations.

Rep. John Kline (R-MN02) has a record of voting NO against legislation that would help Minnesotans. Senate District 35 has done a poster with everything John Kline has voted against in the last year. His vote record makes it obvious that Kline is an obstructionist partisan naysayer that votes against the best interest of his district in an attempt to make the government (both local and federal) fail rather than see success with a Democratic majority in the house.  Kline has become a Pavlovian Republican who opposes anything the Democrats propose without regard to value, community need, or merit. The only exception is Kline's support of legislation for his top donor lobbyists like the war profiteers or weapons manufacturing.
Americans have the same basic goals of wanting the future to be better for their children. They are turned off by Kline's political obstruction, his far right ideology of dubious facts and continued partisan voting. John Kline, instead of servicing the public interest as he was elected to office to do, is the poster child of the big monies special interests and political right wing ideology. Instead of common-sense consensus, Kline offers more of his extremist record that has led him to NO votes for: job creation, extended benefits, stronger financial regulations, stronger ethic regulations, reduced dependency on foreign oil, a living wage, limits on executive pay, limits on oversees war expenditures.
Download the SD35 version of the poster (minus my Dr. NO artwork!) and post it up around your district. Let the people know just who John Kline (aka Dr. NO) represents (or doesn't) by his voting record of NO!

Since 2003, Rep. John Kline (R-MN02) has consistently scored a failing grade 'F' for voting against bills that would enrich the middle class and allow more working Americans to join their ranks. The list of programs Kline has voted against that would help the working class in his district goes on and on....from not supporting financial reforms like credit card reform, to siding with big business interests over the working class including the economic stimulus package for jobs, energy and infrastructure.
The website 'themiddleclass.org' shows the long list of Rep. John Kline (R-MN-02) voting record  against the working middle class. Kline's voting records clearly shows he isn't  fighting or voting for Minnesota's middle-class families.

In the last year Kline voted less than 12% of the time for legislation that would help the middle class. He voted NO on legislation that was key to working Minnesotans like Wall Street Reform, Banking Reform, or the American Recovery Act. 

Showing his contempt for working class families, Kline voted against Jobs for Main Street, Affordable Health care, and Unemployment Compensation, all the while voting to give more tax breaks to the wealthiest among us, and well as big Corporations. Time and time again, when faced with the choice to between leveling the economic playing field, John Kline has voted against the interests of our working middle class families.   Some recent John Kline votes: -Rep. John Kline voted against authorizing bankruptcy courts to modify the terms of mortgages made on homeowners’ primary residences. The amendment would permit bankruptcy courts to restructure the debt on home mortgages by reducing the principal owed, extending repayment periods, reducing interest rates, and prohibiting, reducing, or delaying future interest rate increases saving countless homes for the working poor and middle class. [H.AMDT. 534 TO H.R. 4173]   -Kline voted against Wall Street Accountability and Consumer Protection...sigh...naturally siding with big business and corporations. [HR 4173]   -Representative Kline voted to bailout our country’s financial sector, but later voted against a bill to strengthen oversight of these TARP funds and make more community banks eligible to receive assistance. [HR384]

Kline voted less than 12% for legislation that would help the middle classWhen you go to the polls this fall, remember it's not what Kline says, it's what his voting record shows. Kline's record shows a totally failed record on voting for Minnesota's working middle class families.

Since Rep. John Kline (MN-R-02) has been in office the dollar amounts being spent by local governments in his district searching for more federal dollars has grown. Kline's stance on earmarks has lead to other Representatives having to request necessary funding for projects in his district like transportion and roads. It has also led to an increase in spending by local mayors and county commissioners in an effort to bring federal dollars back home. As Kline's Democratic opponent and candidate for Congress Shelley Madore cites:
For every Federal tax dollar paid in our Congressional District, only 35 cents is spent here in our community.[verses 77 cents in other Minnesota districts] At the same time, John Kline voted for the bill that included the 'Bridge to Nowhere' in Alaska, among many other bills that included earmarks for other states."One of the biggest spenders in search of federal dollars is Scott County which falls in Kline's district. According to the Pioneer Press, so far in 2010 Scott County has spent $60,000 looking for additional federal funding. Their total expenditures for Federal lobbying since 2006 has been $815,000!

The practice of local governments lobbying for dollars is not new. In 2009, local, state and territorial governments spent more than $83.5 million of taxpayer money lobbying federal lawmakers and public officials. It would stand to reason that the amounts would rise as the needs increase. But it is interesting to note that Scott County is at the top of the list with significant spending even over the metro areas of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and the counties of Hennepin, Anoka, and Stearns combined!
Scott County has a greater need than other districts to replace the federal funds that Rep. John Kline won't bring home. John Kline's anti earmark stance has eliminated any chance for federal funding of projects for local city and country governements for transportation, bridge and road repair and other critical projects. "In a visit with the Scott County board, he defended his decision to no longer seek special funding for pet projects -- even those that benefit his district. Board members offered sympathy, but they also voiced frustration."Earmark spending doesn't change the amount of money Congress spends...it just determines where that money will go and what it will be spent on. As Representative Tim Walz states “Any funds not reserved for specific projects through the Congressional earmark process would instead be left for federal bureaucrats in Washington to distribute, in accordance with federal law, as they see fit.”John Kline's practice to eschew earmarks doesn't mean less money is spent, it just means the money isn't spent in his district. While ignoring the immense needs of his local area, Kline has transferred our federal tax money to other states. His refusal to bring federal funding back to Minnesota has caused local city and county governments like Scott County to spend more in lobbying for critical federal dollars. 

With the economy still slow, unemployment numbers still up and the need for federal aid persistent, the stakes are high for municipalities seeking help -- particularly after Kline's self promoting stance of 'no earmarks' which make up less than 1% of the total budget! John Kline is hurting local communities, costing family safety, business adequate infrastructure and ultimately costing local taxpayers more dollars while cities and county's try to replace the missing earmarks needed to fund necessary projects.

As the ranking Republican on the Labor and Education Committee, Rep. John Kline (R-MN-02) has consistently advocated for legislation allowing 'For-Profit' colleges and trade schools to gain millions of federal subsidy dollars without bothersome federal regulations. There is an awful lot of money being pushed into the hands of people like Rep. John Kline right now by 'For Profit' schools which can only mean they want to influence legislation.
Over at MN Political Roundtable, MNCentral describes Kline as the Corinthian College mascot of a CASH COW because the windfall from 'For Profit' colleges like California's Corinthian College that funnels thousands of dollars to GOP PACs like Kline's Freedom and Security PAC.
But unlike his completely blind support of 'For-Profit' schools, John Kline has voted against funding to public schools and teachers while he continues to bemoan  or vote against federal dollars that go to public schools including money to the school lunch program...think of that...Kline begrudges giving a lunch to a hungry child! Kline wants the program to account for the increase dollars (a measly 10 million over 7 years!) by cuts in other social programs while increasing the cost of war til it's now 43% of our total budget.

But if you are a 'For Profit' schools, Rep. Kline doesn't want regulations to interfere with the spending of millions of federal dollars (our taxes) even though the General Account office is sounding the alarm on high interest rates on student loans, worthless degrees, marketing scams, and the looming student loan financial crisis...almost sounds like the mortgage industry with it's deceptive practices and gouging ballooning fees.

The problem is not the rising cost of schools, it's the rising cost of 'For Profit' schools and the burden they put on us with excessive costs underwritten by the federal government. The student loan default rate is three times higher at a 'For Profit' colleges, while the direct-loan program to students from these schools is three percentage points higher and they cost more to attend (11.9 percent more). 

Yet Rep. Kline still supports 'For Profit' schools as alternatives to public schools and advocates for no regulation. Meanwhile, Kline voted  'NO' this week on public school funding through the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act.  The  Act provides $16.1 billion to extend the Medicail assistance to states and 10 billion in funding for states to create or retain public teachers' jobs. (BTW-the bill passed).

Yes Kline has become a cash cow to special interests including 'For Profit' schools over public schools. Save your money now for your kid's college needs because with John Kline in office schooling costs will continue to balloon out of control while Kline continues to reap part of their profits and taxpayers like us pay the bill.

In the typical 'oh look a bright shiny object' mentality, Rep. John Kline hopes to distract voters from his dismal record by offering up a new stunt . Most of us are aware of the lack of leadership coming from Rep. John Kline's office but his latest 'gimmick' is so disingenuous it's an embarrassment. Kline wants to empower you to make selections of programs to cut within our government, but not all programs are offered up for cutting and of course there will be no cuts! It's another klimmick (kline+gimmick) being offered to voters to keep them occupied while Kline spends us into deficit hell with his ever growing massive defence budget.

First, Kline wants us to cut only programs his far right ideology finds acceptable. While the biggest expenditure in our government right now is the out of control massive spending on war, it doesn't even appear on his list of 'to be cut'. The areas he wants you to cut (better know as 'bright shiny objects!) don't amount to more thank pennies compared to our war campaigns in Afghanistan and Iran.

Secondly, in the typical 'oh look a bright shiny object' mentality , Kline hopes to distract voters from his dismal voting record and lack of true leadership. Kline talks about massive failure of the government to cut wasteful spending but isn't he responsible for that problem? Rep. Kline has been in office now for four terms! Surely long enough to have made a difference. Only difference Kline has made is to increase our spending on a massive military budget overseas while cutting programs here at home.

Kline website touts:
Additional details about the four programs are included on the YouCut page on Kline’s website. While there, participants can also submit their own recommendations for cuts. Kline will continue to collect votes and suggestions until Sept. 9.My recommendation is we cut Kline off the government dole by voting him out of office. At the very least we stop his klimmicks at voters expense!

Congressman John Kline (R-MN2) repeatedly says the government is overspending especially since the Democrats have taken control of the White House.
"The debt crisis is the greatest national security threat we face," ranking Republican John Kline of Minnesota said. "The cost of this legislation cannot be ignored."But it's just another partisan speaking point for John Kline to look good while spending voting BILLION$ of our money down the military drain. How do we know? Well for starters, he didn't get religion  his position on spending until he finished voting to run up a record debt under the GOP Bush years. Then his recent House votes also show his inability to separate pigs from pigs spending from spending...for example...

In the past week John voted for $58.8 BILLION of our tax dollars for one of his favorite government charities...war. Then earlier this week Kline voted for another $141.1 BILLION of our tax dollars for construction projects for another of his favorite government charities...more war.

In the same week, Kline voted against $126.3 billion funding for the Department of Transportation and Housing where the money would at least be used locally to fund infrastructure like roads, bridges and transit.

If deficit spending is associated with war, then Kline is all for it...He doesn't care about the cost or the fact that the money is used in no-bid military contracts, voting for unwanted war jets, or simply lost and unaccounted BILLIONS in war money.

There is no limit to the amount of money Kline is willing to allocate to war profiteers like Defence Electronics and Defense Aerospace, that have all donated to his campaign war chest...collectively almost $50,000.00!

http://www.warresisters.org/pages/piechartFY2009.pdfAnalysts differ on how much of the current US debt stems from government military spending; many groups estimate 50% to 60% but without military spending, there would be no national debt! Our military spending is the largest amount allocated from the US budget...a whopping 43% of our current US spending. All total, the US defence budget now makes up almost the whole world's military budget combined!
As a Congressman, Kline will vote unquestioningly to raise the federal debt on needless military spending while questioning the need for and voting against anything else like funding the Department of Transportation, school lunches for children, and wanting to dismantle Social Security so money can be spent on...more war.
No wonder bridges fall down in Minnesota! Maybe if we make school lunches weapons of mass destruction Kline will vote the puny $8 Billion over ten years for them like military spending...without complaining about the cost...

The headline on Rep. John Kline's website reads "Minnesotans Tired of Borrowing, Spending, Bailouts, and Takeovers". And Kline should know. In his eight years in office Kline's policies have brought us to supporting two major overseas war that cost $1.03 trillion in fiscal year 2010 alone, voting to bailing out the banking industry, giving tax breaks to the wealthiest 1 %, and cleaning up BP spills after voting for lowering oversight and regulations and being Minnesota’s top recipient of campaign contributions from BP, taking in nearly $130,000 !

Yes we're tired of borrowing, something John Kline does repeatedly to support the 3 W's: war, wealthy and wall street!

Kline has worked in Washington DC for the past eight years during which time the problems in America have escalated, our pay hasn't kept up with inflation, the top 1% have gotten wealthier while the middle class has collapsed.  This is Kline's leadership!

Yes, I guess Minnesotans are tired of Kline.

 In a interview with AP, former Rep. Bob Inglis (R -SC) a conservative who helped lead the impeachment of Bill Clinton, said the Republican Party had become poisoned by demagogues and racists. Inglis singled out the oft-repeated (but false) claim that there were "death panels" in the health care reform bill.
"There were no death panels in the bill ... and to encourage that kind of fear is just the lowest form of political leadership. It's not leadership. It's demagoguery," Inglis said voters eventually will discover that you're "preying on their fears" and turn away and that it distracts for the real problems that politicians should be resolving like the deficit.

For the past year, Congressman John Kline’s critiques of President Obama’s health care plan has centered on issues such as 'death panels', coverage for illegal immigrants, subsidies for abortion, and proposed Medicare cuts. Taken together, these types false criticisms have helped to build confusion and opposition to many Democratic initiatives and reforms, but they have done nothing to advance any alternative vision for reform or resolution of issues. Their sole purpose is to drive a wedge into the issues, cause anger, and allow misinformation, hysteria, and the politics-of-fear tactics to prevail over debate and discussion and resolution.
Instead of engaging in honest and rigorous debate about the economic (insert your issue here!) and policy issues related to reform, John Kline has kept the conversation stuck on fear rhetoric like 'bureaucrats and government growing out of control', or 'crippling deficit'. There are too many legitimate concerns, issues, and problems to let blatant falsehoods, fear mongering and wedge policies mire down the conversation with false and misleading tactics. Promoting delusion, half-facts and conspiracy theories aren't leadership traits instead it's the worse KLINE of Republican!

Kline on Bachman
Kline said Michele Bachman (MN-R) has become a national voice for Republicans and has lots of admirers among her congressional colleagues.
“She certainly has a very ardent following,” and “She’s unafraid to speak up,” said KlineFar right tea party loonies stick together!

Kline/Bachman on Extending Unemployment
In the last couple of weeks, we seen a dizzying array of Republicans like Kline and Bachmann made it their official stance that $33 billion to extend unemployment benefits must be fully paid for, but financing a $678 billion extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy with deficit spending is just fine with them.

 “I think we need to be paying for all the spending that’s going on,” said Rep. Michele Bachmann. “But when people can keep more of their own money that shouldn’t be considered a cost.”

Ah, I get it, I can pay more in taxes so the wealthy can keep more of their money!  That old failed trickle down economics.

Kline/Bachmann Working Together
Reps. Michele Bachmann and John Kline were among a group of Republican members of Congress who signed on to a lawsuit that would force the District of Columbia to put gay marriage to a vote. The lawsuit was dismissed but look for them to team up again to take rights away from the GLBT community.  Congress has the ultimate authority over law-making in the District.

Both hold very similar views that would outlaw gay rights, unions, and women rights. When they use the freedom (and they do that a lot when speaking... they don't mean your freedom!)

Kline/Bachmann on Big Business Hand Bail Outs
Both John Kline and Michele Bachmann support big businesses, corporate America, and not taxing the wealthy. Both Kline and Bachmann voted  for the bank bail out. Hard to believe when they taut fiscal responsibility while siding with bankers (that would be bailed-out bankers) and voted against reforming Wall Street.

Both believe that the free market should be just that...totally free of regulations, government oversight and legislation. No wonder larger corporations and banks represent their donor base.

Kline and Bachmann...peas in a pod

John Kline has consistently voted against any legislation proposed by the Democrats. According to The Washington Post, Republicans have embraced being the 'Party of No' strategy for re-election hoping to once again control the legislative branch. Instead of working for solutions, the GOP just vote 'NO'...which doesn't resolve, improve or change anything.
"And the barrage of "no" votes from the GOP has not abated. Republicans are nearly unanimous against nearly every legislative initiative brought up by Democrats."


Every 'NO' vote that Kline makes, he frames by saying he objects because it would increase the deficit (although he backs the continued massive funding of our Middle East wars which is now topping around 43% of our total US budget!).  Kline even voted against financial regulatory system reform (although he did vote yes to the massive bank bailout!). John Kline could be the poster child for 'NO' since he opposes any legislation or policy involving social, economic or political progress.

Polling suggest that Kline can continue to oppose all Democratic initiatives by just saying it would increase the deficit and grow government. Unfortunately for Republicant's like Kline, NO  and business as usual aren't solutions. Kline's choosing obstruction over progress, recovery and reinvestment, leaves Americans in worsting economic conditions and calls into question his lack of leadership.

Re-election by 'NO' doesn't represent good leadership nor does it represent vision and solutions.

Lots of blogging today regarding Target supporting GOP Tom Emmer's TV ads...but Target has a long history of supporting far right 'don't tread on me' ideologist that support zero government involvement, regulation or oversight into any businesses. It doesn't take a genius to know why...just ask BP, or Goldman Sachs, or the housing market lenders.
I've mentioned in previous blogs about Target funding far right demagogues like John Kline. All businesses want an elected official that believes that government has no business trying to regulate them. .

Now that the Supreme Court allows businesses like Target to spend unlimited funds on political campaigns, do you think they will take care of the community by self regulation, or do you think they will do whats good for their profit margain? I suspect that Target will be giving even more to elected official and candidates like John Kline and Tom Emmer who support self-regulation instead of oversight and safety.

As John Kline says he's "Against taxes and regulations that stifle job growth and destroy small businesses" '  "Against a union-driven push to strip workers of their right to a secret ballot" .
Kline is willing to see living wages turn into lower wages and workers safety turn into business profits...all in support of profit. Just as Emmer wants,  we'll to see waitstaff wages lowered to help business. Yet the end result of that greed will be bank buy outs, environmental disasters, and worsting tax burden.
The real war in America is not a class war. It is People vs Corporations. Now those Corporations have unlimited spending to buy politicians like John Kline with their mantra of Greed, War, Power and Corruption.

By all estimates millions are about to join 14 million other unemployed Americans without extended unemployment benefits. Congress’s failure to renew the program that provides extended benefits to the long-term unemployed has caused more than 2 million unemployed workers to lose their unemployment insurance benefits in the last six weeks. Rep. John Kline's NO vote on extending unemployment during this crucial time to America's families is indefensible.

Rep. John Kline (MN-R)cited, among other things, the deficit as his main reason for voting NO in extending benefits, even though Kline has voted YES repeatedly to extend unemployment benefits during the Bush era! (yes there was a deficit then too). Unfortunately Kline's willingness to give away America's economic future for his far right ideological point is unexcusable.

Unemployment benefits fulfills two important national needs: assisting those most hurt by the recession and, as one of the most efficient mechanisms available for injecting spending into the economy, generating jobs. In essence, Rep. Kline is voting against Americans.

There are at least five unemployed workers for every current job continue to need assistance to weather this economic calamity. Unemployment benefits is a crucial lifeline to those families most hurt by the downturn. But instead of voting to help the economy and provide for 2 million Americans, Kline throws a job fair the serves only a handful of people (at best!). 

It's no surprise that 750 people attended Kline's sponsored job opening,meaning many of those who are unemployed have and will fair.June's unemployment rate was 9.5%, and 45.5% of the unemployed have been seeking work for more than six months. The current economy needs more of a boost than a local job fair made up of business donors to Kline's campaign! There are 4.7 unemployed persons for each job available in America. People are out of work and there aren't enough jobs. But, at best John Kline's job fair will provide less than 3% of the 750 attendees with entry level low paying jobs. That's a far cry from helping our nations 2 million unemployed with extended benefits.

Besides providing a crucial lifeline to those families in need of extended benefits, a YES vote would have injected spending into the economy and generated jobs on a national level.  The reasoning is so simple even John Kline could understand.... "Those who are unemployed are experiencing a major challenge to maintain anything close to their regular standard of living, so any assistance they receive will be spent on necessities, not saved. The spending that results as the unemployed pay their rent, buy groceries, and so on saves and creates jobs throughout the economy."

Kline is using this crisis to further his personal ideology, reward businesses that contribute to his campaign, and further the recession hardships for America rather than take the leadership role he was elected to and make real change in creating jobs.  Kline's current lack of leadership will have very real consequences on our country's economy.  While many lose their jobs, homes, and families, John Kline argues for a across-the-board tax cut (like the one that helped get us into this mess). He spins an argument trying to make a tax cut case but with 50 years of history, we know there is no trickle down. His actions shows a lacks empathy and any real sense of responsibility for others. It's void of true leadership, and simply put, indefensible.

It's really an amazing coincident that Congressman John Kline's big show (his hosting of a job fair) reads like his donor list...er...well lets take a look at the relationship Kline has with one of the job fair participant and major donor to Rep. John Kline re-election campaign...Pawn America (CEO Brad Rixmann) which contributed $10,100 .

For those not acquainted with pawn shops, they make money by giving short term loans of one to three months to customers based on the items they put up for collateral such as jewelery, electronics, musical instruments, hand tools... Loans are steep, usually asking 10-20% service fees monthly making them pricier than bank loans or credit cards, and if the fee isn't meet, they can sell the item. A 10-20% fee translates into an annual percentage rate exceeding 300%.

Additionally, many feel with pawn shops "comes an increase burglaries and break-ins. A pawnshop might give the addicts who regularly buy their drugs on that corner ready access to cash for their habit. A pawnshop might make it hard to woo more respectable businesses to that part of the south side; lower property values; increase gunfire; drive families away"
Pawn America has a majority of  the pawn-shop business in Minnesota, both with stores and a variety of spin off subsidiaries such as Payday America, Pal Card Minnesota, Gunbroker.com and Cash Pass Network. Each carries a service fee for their 'services'. Business is really good.
"Loans are up 20% to 25%," estimates David Crume, president of the National Pawnbrokers Association. Because of the GOP ideology of 'no government interference' and the subsequent banking melt down, pawn shops have experienced a mega boom. Because of this pawn shops also want to overcome any obstacles to their doing a profitable business and that means being able to have legislators lobby on their behalf against legislation.
Gold, as in jewelery, is the biggest item for pawn shops. In recent years, more people are pawning jewelery, not meeting the jacked up service fees, and pawn shops reap the reward. But with Washington taking a look at lending practices in the fallout of the banking bailout, pawn shops see their biggest obstacle to business at that potential reform legislation. According to Time:
More worrisome to investors is the potential power of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, part of the financial-reform bill recently passed by the House and under consideration in the Senate. Under the current versions of the bill, the agency would not have the power to set interest rates. But public anger with America's financial industry is rising, and that raises the possibility that extremely high interest-rate charges could ultimately be subject to federal limits.
When we talk about financial reform that means extremely high interest-rate charges like those charged by pawn shops could ultimately be subject to federal limits. To Pawn America a 9.5 percent service fee for two weeks works out to be an annual percentage rate higher than 200 percent. Not bad for a few minutes of work! It is also the reason Pawn America contributes to John Kline's campaign.

Rep. John Kline has consistently fought against any legislation that would limit high interest rates. Kline has made no secret that he's against any government regulations or over sight of any business sector including loan sharks and pawn shops. That's why in the eight years of John Kline being in office, we've seen the wall street crash and the banking industry melt down. Kline's 'drill baby drill' mentality, and his adherence to 'no government oversight, regulations, or interference', has made John Kline a Pawn American poster child.

Isn't it past time to tell Kline he works for us and not Pawn America?

Coal miner Josh Napper had a sick feeling something wasn’t right at his job, so he put his thoughts on paper for those he loved the most before heading back to work. It would be his last communication with them.


His handwritten note read: “If anything happens to me, I will be looking down from heaven,”
 
This week Representative John Kline(MN-R) went on record saying instead of enacting needed mining safety regulations, just enforce the existing ones. Unfortunately it’s difficult if not impossible to shut down a mine with poor safety records under the current appeals process. Additionally the government oversight agency has no power to subpoena documents or testimony, and even if it could, there is no whistle blower protection. American mine workers put themselves, co-workers, family and neighbors at risk by reporting problems.

In April of this year, the Upper Big Branch mining disaster left 29 workers dead. The accident brought to light numerous violations..a grand total of 1100 violations in the past three year against the mine. In the months prior to the accident, the operating company, Performance Coal Company, a subsidiary of Massey Energy was fined $382,000 for serious violations cited for 57 safety infractions. Just the day before the explosion, the mine received two citations and in the year preceding the explosion the mine had been closed 60 times.

There were lots of reports posted regarding the serious myriad violations within the mine over the last three years. And while their number is overwhelming, unfortunately the mining company can point to having a better than industry average for six consecutive years. Which begs to question of: a low thrust hold for mining safety regulations if they are better than others!


In addition the company has contested nearly a third of the violations since 2005. The appeal process has both delayed penalties and delays the process which could potentially stop any unsafe mine from closing for years!


This speaks to a serious problems with the enforcement of regulations (MSHA, Mining Safety and Health Administration) and oversight. Now that the Democrats want to pass improve legislation for miner’s safety, John Kline is opposing it. Just as with “drill, baby, drill”, Kline would have the industry ‘self regulate’. BTW John, how’s that working out with BP?



“Democratic lawmakers, seeking to prevent another mine disaster like the April explosion that killed 29 workers in West Virginia, proposed sweeping new legislation Tuesday that would make it easier to shut down mines with poor safety records”
As with most all the other Democratic legislation that John Kline opposes, Kline has no specific recommendations other than asking for stronger enforcement of existing regulations. Which is ironic considering it was under the Republican’s administration that MSHA was gutted and made worthless.

The bill introduced this week would boost penalties, grant regulators expanded access, and protect whistle blowers. As demonstrated by the numerous mining accidents and the human toll, how can Rep. Kline be so shallow as to think that’s ‘overreaching’?

Unlike the Democratic summary of the proposal, Representative Kline doesn't believe  “All workers deserve to come home safe after work each day.”

Congressman John Kline is not a fiscal conservative. Conservatives wouldn’t continue to borrow against, and add to the United States deficit, especially for funding their own private partisan agenda. Yet John Kline continues to 'feed at the trough' of government waste for his own altruistic motivation.

Would a Conservative....

• Enjoy government subsidized health care that most American’s can only dream about while leading the rally to take health care away and deny health care for the rest of us!
• Deny unemployment benefits to millions of Americans saying we all need to tighten our belts during tough economic times, while spending more public tax money on his staffing.
• Let bridges fall down, Americans don’t need no ‘stinking earmarks!’..er..unless it’s for big corporations to build unwanted and not needed war toys like F-22s fighter jets.
• Use random polling from self-selected anonymous web users at tax payers expense, instead of the American constitution to determine his political party’s policy and issues.

 
John Kline has been in office for eight years with all the responsibility and authority that comes with his position. He would like us to believe he is all about stopping wasteful government spending but in fact, he’s part of that problem. While Kline has been asking us to prepare for the coming economic downturn, he hasn't bother to tighten his own belt...just ours. The message is clear, Kline can't walk his own talk when it comes to being a fiscal conservative.

Congressman John Kline voted against extending emergency unemployment benefits. As a result, 1.2 million people will lose their jobless benefits by the end of the month, joining millions of “99ers” who have already seen their benefits run out.

It wasn't really a surprise as about the only thing Rep. Kline votes to fund is the war(s) now over 600 Billion a year, and giving tax breaks to the wealthy. Unfortunately, with 14 million Americans out of work, Kline siding with other Republicans to make a bad situation worse isn't in the best interest of this country. In fact the only thing it furthers is his ideology which is not going to put Americans back to work or feed it's children or stop the worsting depression.

As Senator Durbin stated:
“There used to be bipartisan sentiment that when America faced a disaster, we would pull together… we have a national emergency with this recession and 14 million Americans out of work,”John Kline and the House needs to provide us with living-wage jobs, here in our local community instead of funding wall street business and war profiteers. I'm outraged that John Kline is willing to take down the people of this country over his own party politics. You know John, there are republicans are out of work too!
For the millions unemployed, unemployment benefits have provided a way to keep a roof over head and food on the table in one of the worst job markets since the Great Depression. In essences, Rep. Kline has voted to continue the Depression.

The Party of NO!
For the past year, Congressman John Kline’s critiques of President Obama’s health care plan has centered on issues such as “death panels,” coverage of illegal immigrants, subsidies for abortion, and proposed Medicare cuts. Taken together, these criticisms have helped to build some opposition to Democratic initiatives, but they have done nothing to advance any alternative vision for reforming the health care system. In a nutshell, that is what’s wrong with John Kline stance on issues. He can go on for hours being reactionary and sprouting off on what’s wrong with health care reform (or minimum wage, or labor organizing, or public schools, or civil rights …) but offers no real alternatives, changes  or solutions. Instead of offering constituents leadership with solutions, Congressman John Kline throws the health care bill to the floor like petulant child while screaming NO!
The Party of No Solutions!
In 1994 the GOP defeated President Clinton’s health care proposal and took back congress, only to spend the next 15 years with no resolve to the health care crisis facing our country. While in power the GOP has done nothing to help families and businesses get a hold of health care costs and bring them down. Instead of reform, the GOP along with Kline have screamed ‘death panels’ and plotted challenges against anyone who would even consider saying anything but NO to health care reform or changes. That 'NO' is their same message today.
The Party of ‘R’s (Repeal, Reactionary, Reject)John Kline would have us believe that the broken health care system that Americans struggled with for the last decade is better than the current reforms . Like Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Joe Wilson, Congressman Kline offers only a reactionary rhetoric of 'NO' fueled with imaginary fears of the sky falling. Kline has rejected change, wants to repeal reforms and would have us believe partisan ideological hacks that only sprout 'NO'. The ‘real fears’ Americans have is with our Health Care crisis instead of the current mumble jumble of fears compiled by conspiracy tea baggers.
The Party of More NOs!Kline had the opportunity to participate in the health care reform bill and shape the bill with real bipartisanship leadership but instead he continues the monologue of ‘NO’. If John Kline thinks that offering more of the same nothing is acceptable then he’s out of touch with the average American. Families and businesses want solutions over roadblocks, made up fears, and slogans of ‘NO’.
NO is not a solution!

A StarTribune article that touts Congressman John Kline's record as working for cough, 'bipartisan' cough, agreement regarding the House Education Committee. If by 'bipartisan' the StarTribune means Kline wants to strip teachers from collective bargaining and promote charter schools that don't have the same standards as public schools, then yeah, I get it.
Kline who was named the ranking Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee has the sole goal of leading the fight against the Employee Free Choice Act, which seeks to make unionization easier and break federal controls over education with more failed charter schools? Charter schools are nonsectarian public schools of choice that operate with freedom from many of the regulations that apply to traditional public schools. In addition to poor academic performance, there have been many cases of financial and administrative failures. From USAToday: 'Independently run, publicly financed charter schools perform no better than comparable public schools, long-awaited federal data suggested Tuesday',
John Kline along with Mark Kennedy and John Boehner held meetings with Minnesota's school administrators to promote NCLB 'no child left behind'. Kline, who admits to promoting 'no child left behind', now says he soured on it after fielding persistent complaints from educators and parents....which just happen to coincided with Bush leaving office...hmmm...And even though he says he no longer supports NCLB, one of it's main tenet was establishment of charter schools encouraging states to hand over failing schools to commercial companies and nonprofit community groups that want to run them as charter schools. Stanford University's Center for Research on Education Outcomes, or CREDO, finds that charter schools significantly underperform overall compared to the traditional public schools they are supposed to improve on.
Once again, John Kline is still supporting failed policies to promote his own private agenda of braking unions and public schools.  Instead of offering real solutions to education issues in America, John Kline would have us believe that less federal funding, more teacher oversight, less unionization, and more failed privatization will help.  Kline hasn't been paying attention during his lessons on critical thinking regarding the failed lessons of NCLB and charter schools, no wonder NEA gives Congressman Kline an 'F' in education.