Phil Hare—searches for anything to save his job
This was not my planned post for today. Skimming today’s paper—Peoria Journal Star, 9/22/10, page B5—I saw the following headline “Hare asked opponent to give back donation.” The Hare referenced, of course, is Representative Phil Hare of Illinois who is the Congressman from District 17. After reading the story, I went to Representative Hare’s website. The following is a complete quote from the website dealing with this issue.
From http://friendsofphilhare.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=295:hare-calls-on-schilling-to-return-cintas-money&catid=51:press-releases&Itemid=107
“Hare Calls on Schilling to Return Cintas Money
September 20, 2010—Congressman Phil Hare (D-Rock Island) today called on Republican Congressional candidate Bobby Schilling to return the over $5,000 he has received from Cintas Corporation executives.
Cincinnati, Ohio based Cintas has one of the worst employee health and safety records in the nation. In 2007, Eleazar Torres-Gomez was killed after being dragged into an industrial dryer for at least twenty minutes. Hare led the call for a nationwide investigation into the company. In December 2008, Cintas settled with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for nearly $3 million. ‘Plant management at the Cintas Tulsa laundry facility ignored safety and health rules that could have prevented the death of this employee,’ said Edwin G. Foulke Jr., the assistant secretary of labor in charge of OSHA under President George W. Bush after levying the fine.
In April, ABC News investigative journalist Brian Ross highlighted the case during a piece entitled ‘Death on the Job in America.’ Click here to watch the report, which includes video of a particular practice Cintas management allegedly encouraged which eventually led to the death of Torres-Gomez.
‘I call on Bobby Schilling to return the $5800 he took from Cintas executives who are seeking to punish me because I have publicly challenged their reckless disregard for employee safety,’ Hare said. ‘He took their money, despite the fact that they received an almost $3 million fine from OSHA—one of the largest in history—because their willful negligence led to the death of a worker in an industrial dryer. How can he accept this Ohio company’s money? And how can he have any credibility on condemning special interest money from outside the district when he takes that very money from the worst of the worst?”
Is he joking! Is he trying to associate the Republican candidate—Bobby Schilling—with this company—guilt by contribution—just because the company executives decided to contribute to the Schilling campaign as have thousands of other people and company executives. Does any candidate have control over who donates to his campaign and who doesn’t?
Does Phil Hare actually want us to believe that ever person, company executive, and union official who contributes to his campaign is squeaky clean with no negative in their background? Really? Will he return any campaign donations that do not meet the standards he is requiring of Bobby Schilling? Who is Phil Hare that he is to decide what money the Schilling campaign should and should not accept?
Could the real reason be that Phil Hare is afraid that he might lose in the general election. This is the same Phil Hare who was video taped saying he doesn’t care about the Constitution when it comes to healthcare and his concept of what is “right” and “good” for America.
If he believes that Bobby Schilling should return the contributions, then I believe that he should immediately resign from his office of trust for violating his oath of office. This is what the Constitution says in Article VI, Section 1, ¶ 3 about his oath to uphold the Constitution. “The Senators and Representatives before mentioned … shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution .…” If Phil Hare does not care what the Constitution says when it comes to healthcare as he so stated, then obviously, he is NOT supporting the Constitution. Therefore, shouldn’t he immediately resign or be removed from office—if not be the House of Representatives, then by the voters in the 17th District?
And guess what. That just might happen. The following is the latest poll I could find on the election for this District. Bobby Schilling is ahead by 3% points in a District that the Republicans did not even run a candidate for in 2008. Could Phil Hare be concerned about losing his job? Is Phil Hare grasping for any straw to save him from losing in November?
From http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2010/house/il/illinois_17th_district_schilling_vs_hare-1458.html
“Polling Data
WeAskAmerica
Poll Date: 9/8 - 9/8
Sample: 1250 RV (RV stands for registered voters—my addition.)
Schilling [R]: 41%
Hare [D]: 38%
Spread: Schilling +3”
The following analysis was from the start of the race earlier this year. The exact date of the analysis was not given. Notice in this analysis Phil Hare had a 39%-32% lead. From the latest poll I could find—September 8th—Bobby Schilling now has a three point lead at 41%-38% with Phil Hare actually losing some support and Schilling picking up support from the undecided category.
Desperation from Hare calls for desperate actions? Is the above complaint the result of desperation from an incumbent candidate who has far more money than Bobby Schilling has. Remember Phil Hare did not have any opposition in 2008. Therefore, he has campaign money that probably dates back to 2006 after he won his first election. People like to contribute to the winning candidates of elections. Some people don’t like
Representatives who don’t care about the Constitution!
“Race Analysis
Illinois’ 17th District defies easy description. The district’s historical base is in Rock Island and West Central Illinois, but the latest iteration includes an ungainly appendage that traces down the Mississippi, runs east, and then sprouts pincers to take in Democratic terrain in Springfield and Decatur. The district leans a few points toward the Democrats, but not overwhelmingly so.
The 17th is represented by Phil Hare, first elected in 2006. In the landslide conditions of that year, he won with a convincing 57 percent of the vote, and was unopposed in 2008. Hare has compiled a reliably liberal voting record, earning him perfect scores from the ACLU, AFSCME, and Americans for Democratic Action.
Hare has received some unfavorable publicity from a videotaped response he gave where he purported not to care about whether the Constitution authorized the health care law, and a We Ask America poll showed him leading his Republican opponent, restaurateur Bobby Schilling, 39-32. Schilling has managed to raise about $300,000 through the second quarter, which goes a long way in this district. If things get bad enough for Democrats, Schilling could be the Fred Heineman of 2010.
This was not my planned post for today. Skimming today’s paper—Peoria Journal Star, 9/22/10, page B5—I saw the following headline “Hare asked opponent to give back donation.” The Hare referenced, of course, is Representative Phil Hare of Illinois who is the Congressman from District 17. After reading the story, I went to Representative Hare’s website. The following is a complete quote from the website dealing with this issue.
From http://friendsofphilhare.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=295:hare-calls-on-schilling-to-return-cintas-money&catid=51:press-releases&Itemid=107
“Hare Calls on Schilling to Return Cintas Money
September 20, 2010—Congressman Phil Hare (D-Rock Island) today called on Republican Congressional candidate Bobby Schilling to return the over $5,000 he has received from Cintas Corporation executives.
Cincinnati, Ohio based Cintas has one of the worst employee health and safety records in the nation. In 2007, Eleazar Torres-Gomez was killed after being dragged into an industrial dryer for at least twenty minutes. Hare led the call for a nationwide investigation into the company. In December 2008, Cintas settled with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for nearly $3 million. ‘Plant management at the Cintas Tulsa laundry facility ignored safety and health rules that could have prevented the death of this employee,’ said Edwin G. Foulke Jr., the assistant secretary of labor in charge of OSHA under President George W. Bush after levying the fine.
In April, ABC News investigative journalist Brian Ross highlighted the case during a piece entitled ‘Death on the Job in America.’ Click here to watch the report, which includes video of a particular practice Cintas management allegedly encouraged which eventually led to the death of Torres-Gomez.
‘I call on Bobby Schilling to return the $5800 he took from Cintas executives who are seeking to punish me because I have publicly challenged their reckless disregard for employee safety,’ Hare said. ‘He took their money, despite the fact that they received an almost $3 million fine from OSHA—one of the largest in history—because their willful negligence led to the death of a worker in an industrial dryer. How can he accept this Ohio company’s money? And how can he have any credibility on condemning special interest money from outside the district when he takes that very money from the worst of the worst?”
Is he joking! Is he trying to associate the Republican candidate—Bobby Schilling—with this company—guilt by contribution—just because the company executives decided to contribute to the Schilling campaign as have thousands of other people and company executives. Does any candidate have control over who donates to his campaign and who doesn’t?
Does Phil Hare actually want us to believe that ever person, company executive, and union official who contributes to his campaign is squeaky clean with no negative in their background? Really? Will he return any campaign donations that do not meet the standards he is requiring of Bobby Schilling? Who is Phil Hare that he is to decide what money the Schilling campaign should and should not accept?
Could the real reason be that Phil Hare is afraid that he might lose in the general election. This is the same Phil Hare who was video taped saying he doesn’t care about the Constitution when it comes to healthcare and his concept of what is “right” and “good” for America.
If he believes that Bobby Schilling should return the contributions, then I believe that he should immediately resign from his office of trust for violating his oath of office. This is what the Constitution says in Article VI, Section 1, ¶ 3 about his oath to uphold the Constitution. “The Senators and Representatives before mentioned … shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution .…” If Phil Hare does not care what the Constitution says when it comes to healthcare as he so stated, then obviously, he is NOT supporting the Constitution. Therefore, shouldn’t he immediately resign or be removed from office—if not be the House of Representatives, then by the voters in the 17th District?
And guess what. That just might happen. The following is the latest poll I could find on the election for this District. Bobby Schilling is ahead by 3% points in a District that the Republicans did not even run a candidate for in 2008. Could Phil Hare be concerned about losing his job? Is Phil Hare grasping for any straw to save him from losing in November?
From http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2010/house/il/illinois_17th_district_schilling_vs_hare-1458.html
“Polling Data
WeAskAmerica
Poll Date: 9/8 - 9/8
Sample: 1250 RV (RV stands for registered voters—my addition.)
Schilling [R]: 41%
Hare [D]: 38%
Spread: Schilling +3”
The following analysis was from the start of the race earlier this year. The exact date of the analysis was not given. Notice in this analysis Phil Hare had a 39%-32% lead. From the latest poll I could find—September 8th—Bobby Schilling now has a three point lead at 41%-38% with Phil Hare actually losing some support and Schilling picking up support from the undecided category.
Desperation from Hare calls for desperate actions? Is the above complaint the result of desperation from an incumbent candidate who has far more money than Bobby Schilling has. Remember Phil Hare did not have any opposition in 2008. Therefore, he has campaign money that probably dates back to 2006 after he won his first election. People like to contribute to the winning candidates of elections. Some people don’t like
Representatives who don’t care about the Constitution!
“Race Analysis
Illinois’ 17th District defies easy description. The district’s historical base is in Rock Island and West Central Illinois, but the latest iteration includes an ungainly appendage that traces down the Mississippi, runs east, and then sprouts pincers to take in Democratic terrain in Springfield and Decatur. The district leans a few points toward the Democrats, but not overwhelmingly so.
The 17th is represented by Phil Hare, first elected in 2006. In the landslide conditions of that year, he won with a convincing 57 percent of the vote, and was unopposed in 2008. Hare has compiled a reliably liberal voting record, earning him perfect scores from the ACLU, AFSCME, and Americans for Democratic Action.
Hare has received some unfavorable publicity from a videotaped response he gave where he purported not to care about whether the Constitution authorized the health care law, and a We Ask America poll showed him leading his Republican opponent, restaurateur Bobby Schilling, 39-32. Schilling has managed to raise about $300,000 through the second quarter, which goes a long way in this district. If things get bad enough for Democrats, Schilling could be the Fred Heineman of 2010.
posted by Christian Gunslinger at 4:26 PM
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