Justin's Political Corner
Freshman U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, did not cooperate with the Office of Congressional Ethics in its initial probe of alleged campaign finance violations by U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Peoria.
“The OCE infers that the information Mr. Davis refused to provide, taken together with the factual findings in this referral, supports the conclusion that there is substantial reason to believe that the alleged violation occurred,” the OCE said in a report made public Wednesday.
The report recommends that Davis and three other non-cooperating witnesses be subpoenaed.
The investigation, now before the House Ethics Committee, deals with allegations that Schock solicited donations of more than $5,000 per donor for a super political action committee. The OCE report says Davis, then an aide to U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville, was identified by the super PAC’s managing director as the contact person for five potential donors before the 2012 primary election.
The report deals with efforts by a super PAC called the Campaign for Primary Accountability to help raise money for what turned out to be a successful primary challenge by U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Manteno, to former U.S. Rep. Donald Manzullo, R-Leaf River.
“In early March 2012, CPA managing director learned that a House staffer, Rodney Davis, planned to have contributions sent to CPA from various donors for television commercials opposing Representative Manzullo,” the report states. It also says that the CPA development coordinator told the OCE that Davis was the contact person for a total of $120,000 in donations from five donors.
Both Davis and Schock represent parts of the city of Springfield.
At the time of the Kinzinger-Manzullo race, Davis was not yet a candidate for Congress. He was chosen by GOP county chairmen to run in the 13th Congressional District after the primary election winner, former U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Urbana, dropped out of the general election race.
This race is a perfect microcosm of the debate this election will be about. On one side, we have a candidate who has spent his career as part of the political machine. Having spent 16 years working as a congressional aide for climate change denier and Ryan-budget supporter John Shimkus, Rodney Davis is now aiming for a seat beside him. He is getting funding from the Koch brothers and big oil, and he is doing a good job of keeping allegations of his role in a money-laundering scandal out of the news.
On the other side, you have Dr. David Gill, an emergency room doctor who got into politics after seeing the effects of a broken health care system first-hand. Gill is a supporter of single-payer and marriage equality who refuses to take money from corporate PACS. He eked out a primary victory over a conserva-Dem preferred by the DCCC, and now faces a race for this open seat that is expected to be very close.
Anyway, I had moved away from Illinois, and I had Dr. Gill chalked up as a great candidate in a hopeless district… until I saw the results of re-districting in Illinois. The bulk of Dr. Gill’s base from Champaign, McLean, and DeWitt counties was no longer a part of the red and rural old 15th that Tim Johnson knew so well. Gill’s base is now in the new 13th district, which encompasses Democratic parts of Bloomington, Springfield, and Edwardsville, including a number of universities and community colleges. It is definitely a winnable race now.
Now, don’t get me wrong. The state party didn’t draw up this district for Dr. Gill. In fact, the Party establishment threw their weight behind the other guy. He was a family friend of Dick Durbin, and I can’t blame them for their logic: they think that Blue Dog centrism is the safe bet. I politely disagree.
The people of the 13th district agreed with me, although by a relatively bitter sliver. That’s saying something about his grassroots support, considering he was outspent 5-1 in the primaries. In Champaign, DeWitt, Piatt, and McLean counties (the only parts of the new 13th that came from the old 15th), Dr. Gill trounced Goetten. Dr. Gill will be a proud voice for reform, and he has a true grassroots campaign behind him. Most of the Democrats that supported Goetten down here did so because of the electability argument, and they have closed ranks behind Dr. Gill.
Unexpectedly, Tim Johnson, the sitting incumbent, announced that he was retiring shortly after Gill’s unexpected primary win. Johnson gave the usual line about “wanting to spend more time with his family,” but it sounds he was scared he might lose his first election. He certainly wasn’t fundraising like someone with plans to retire.
After this bombshell, the GOP was forced to search for a candidate to replace Johnson. They looked past Erika Harold (a female multi-racial Harvard Law grad and former Miss America winner), and chose Rodney Davis.
Rodney Davis has spent more than a decade as a Congressional aide to John Shimkus for more than a decade, and a supporter of the Ryan budget. He raised nearly half a million dollars in the past five weeks, as the GOP machine has thrown its full weight behind him. He has experience working with dark money behind the scenes. In fact, that might be part of the reason the GOP picked him. The GOP didn’t have the benefit of an actual primary election, and it seems that actual Republicans in the district aren’t especially enthused about the outcome.
h/t: Mr. Z at Daily Kos
Rodney Davis, an aide to Congressman John Shimkus, has been chosen by Republican leaders to be the GOP candidate for congress in the newly redrawn 13th Congressional District.
Davis, of Taylorville, will be the GOP candidate instead of U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Champaign. Johnson won the Republican nomination in the March primary election, but announced shortfly afterward that he would retire and not run in the general election.
That meant a new candidate had to be chosen by the Republican Party chairmen in the 14 counties of the congressional district. The chairmen met Saturday and chose Davis.
The district includes a midsection of Madison County, such as the Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Maryville and Collinsville areas.
Davis was chosen from among four finalists. The three other finalists were:
* Jerry Clarke, who previously served as Johnson’s chief of staff;
* Former Miss America Erika Harold, an attorney and Urbana native;
* Kathy Wassink, of Macoupin County, who owns a business that serves students with special needs. She also is an organizer of a local Tea Party-type group.
Davis serves as projects director for Shimkus, R-Collinsville.
h/t: BND.com
Shilling for big oil at a House Energy and Power Subcommitteehearing, Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) declared that, just like “little mom and pop drillers,” multinational corporations deserve to write off billions in tax breaks if they don’t hit oil.
Shimkus defended the $4 billion annual tax breaks the industry receives, claiming the oil giants — that collected a combined $137 billion in profits last year — should write off some drilling as a “business expense”:
Just because you have a lease, it doesn’t mean there’s oil underneath there. You have to look for it. It takes capital expense … I’m tired, I’m really tired of this attack on drilling. Because my little mom and pop drillers, all they want to do is if they don’t hit the well, they want to record that as an expense. That’s all this tax break for big oil is. If they don’t hit, they don’t count it as an expense. You can write it off as a business expense if you drill and you don’t hit the oil. That’s all it is.
Now multiply that to a multinational corporation and it’s the same thing. If they go deepwater drilling and they don’t hit, should they not write that off as a business expense? Sure they should. Just like my mom and pop should do it locally.
Not surprisingly, Shimkus’ donors include some of the same big polluters, like Exxon Mobil. Oil and gas is Shimkus’ fifth-largest donor this election cycle and he’s collected a $311,000 career total from the industry.
BELLEVILLE — Jason Plummer, a GOP candidate for the 12th U.S. House seat, on Monday received the endorsement of U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville, for the Republican nomination in the March 20 primary election.
“I think this is massively important,” Plummer said of his endorsement from Shimkus, who personally announced it at the newly opened St. Clair County Republican Central Committee office, 217 E. Main St.
“I look forward to going to Washington, D.C. with Congressman Shimkus to stand up for Southern Illinois,” Plummer said.
Shimkus said he endorsed Plummer, 29, because of his business success and his capacity for cutting the nation’s public debt and the federal deficit, as well helping repeal the Democratic-endorsed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which Shimkus derided as “Obamacare.”
“What we want to do is bring more people to Washington to continue to fight that fight,” Shimkus said. “I think Jason is the future.”
Plummer is one of three candidates in the GOP primary to replace U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Belleville, who is stepping down after 23 years.
h/t: bnd.com
