Thursday, May 12, 2011

What is Mark Schauer Doing Now?

Mark Schauer's losing his seat as our 7th District Congressional Representative was a downer for me. But I'm glad to hear that he's still working hard for us.

Mark has taken a leadership role in the BlueGreen Alliance's "Jobs21!" campaign - a nine-state grassroots campaign aimed at creating good, middle-class jobs in the 21st century economy. You can find details here.

And you can read a recent guest column of Schauer's, "Clean energy is an economic engine for Michigan," on the Center for Michigan's web site.

Thank you, Mark, for continuing to serve the public interest.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

"Protecting" Medicare Out of Existence

Did you get one of those "Thank Representative Walberg" mailers from 60 PLUS? It sure would be nice to know whose interests 60 PLUS is championing. Involved Voters understand that introducing insurance company middlemen into Medicare through a voucher system does not control the cost of health care, and benefits only the middlemen. So what, if those of us who are 55 and older won't have to switch to the voucher system. We still care about our kids and grandkids and their access to affordable health care in the future.

If only we could "follow the money" and learn more about the loyalties of 60 PLUS. Is the organization beholden to lots of individual small contributors who are 60 and older, or big donors who stand to benefit from keeping in office Republicans with a no regulation, gut government, shift the tax burden away from the rich agenda?

From the blog Open Secrets:
WHO FUNDS 60 PLUS? The 60 Plus Association, a group that recognizes itself as the "conservative alternative to the liberal AARP," announced a new campaign thanking conservative members of Congress for "protecting" Medicare during recent debates over the government program's future. The 60 Plus Association says it'll spend more than $800,000 on radio advertisements, direct mail and phone calls throughout 39 congressional districts.
...
The 60 Plus organization is a nonprofit 501c(4) group that does not have to disclose its donors and spent more than $7 million during the 2010 elections opposing Democrats.