Special Interest Money
The Federal Election Commission web site has a fairly easy way to look up donations to the congressional and Senate candidates. That includes donations from Political Action Committees (PACs), the so-called special interests that range from Big Oil to banks and insurance companies and cattle producers.
They’ve given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Oklahoma candidates, primarily incumbents.
Information about the Republican candidates for the House can be found here. The basic numbers show that Reps. Frank Lucas, R-Cheyenne, and John Sullivan, R-Tulsa, have actually raised more money from PACs than from individual contributors.…
Read the rest of Special Interest Money
Coburn lends hand to Inhofe
U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn is “asking everyone to support my friend and colleague, Jim Inhofe,” in an e-mail paid for by Inhofe’s re-election campaign.
Coburn, R-Muskogee, said an Inhofe victory would send a message to Washington that “America is fed up with wasteful spending and high taxes.”
Coburn said Inhofe, R-Tulsa, led efforts to defeat a climate-change bill that would have set a limit on the emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide from the combustion of coal, oil and natural gas, Coburn said.…
Read the rest of Coburn lends hand to Inhofe
Obama Crosses Million Dollar Mark in OK
Oklahoma may wind up being the reddest of all red states this year — polls show only Utah in competition — but Sen. Barack Obama has now raised more than $1 million from Oklahomans.
According to the latest reports at the Federal Election Commission, Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, has raised just over $1 million.
But Sen. John McCain, the GOP nominee, has raised more than $1.7 million. And he’s outraising Obama in every part of the state, including the largely Democratic areas in eastern Oklahoma.…
Read the rest of Obama Crosses Million Dollar Mark in OK
Coburn Holding Town Hall Meeting
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, the one member of the Oklahoma congressional delegation who isn’t on the ballot this election year, is holding a town hall meeting at 2 p.m. on Monday at the Langston University campus in Oklahoma City, 4205 Lincoln Boulevard.
Coburn has been busy lately, campaigning for colleagues and GOP presidential nominee John McCain.
The senator will no doubt be talking about the economy and the recent $700 billion rescue plan of the financial industry. Coburn, perhaps the most fiscally conservative member of Congress, probably surprised a lot of people when he voted for the rescue plan.…
Read the rest of Coburn Holding Town Hall Meeting
Istook's Legal Fees
Former U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook has been out of Congress for nearly two years now, but he’s still paying legal fees for problems connected to his campaign and a former staff member in his House office.
Istook paid $4,000 to an Oklahoma City law firm in July for representing him in regard to the federal case against his former chief of staff, John Albaugh, who pleaded guilty in June to “honest services” fraud for taking concert tickets and meals from a lobbyist in exchange for money for road projects.…
Read the rest of Istook's Legal Fees
White House Plumbers
So is it wise for someone seeking the White House to talk about plumbers?…
Read the rest of White House Plumbers
President Debate live blog, 8 p.m. Wednesday
…
Read the rest of President Debate live blog, 8 p.m. Wednesday
Bus bashing Bush makes Oklahoma stop
A museum on wheels with several exhibits to demonstrate how “disastrous” President Bush’s policies have been since he took office in 2001 rolled into Oklahoma today.
The Bush Legacy Bus made a two-hour stop in a parking lot south of the state Capitol. The general theme is that the Bush administration is responsible for an economy in shambles, millions of Americans without health insurance, ignoring concerns about global warming and a growing number of Americans losing their jobs.
Americans United for Change, a group best known for leading efforts to beat back Bush’s effort to privatize Social Security in 2005, is a main sponsor of the bus, which has made stops in more than 40 states.…
Read the rest of Bus bashing Bush makes Oklahoma stop
Lucas' Trips
“I can’t win the argument on this kind of thing,” Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Cheyenne, said today when asked about the trip he made to the Galapagos Islands earlier this year with four other members of Congress.
That trip was the subject of a report last night on Inside Edition, which portrayed the taxpayer-funded excursion as a vacation for the lawmakers, all of whom serve on the House Science and Technology Committee.
The same lawmakers also went to Antarctica.
Lucas said such trips will always be “an easy target” but that they serve a function for lawmakers.…
Read the rest of Lucas' Trips
Henry seeks Rice donations
Andrew Rice’s uphill campaign against Oklahoma’s senior U.S. senator reminds Oklahoma’s governor of his 2002 gubernatorial race when he was the underdog, according to an e-mail sent out during the weekend.
“As governor, I am proud when Oklahoma produces leaders like State Senator Andrew Rice,” Henry, who won a Democratic primary before winning by a narrow margin in 2002, wrote in the e-mail, which was paid for by the Rice campaign. Rice, an Oklahoma City Democrat, was elected in 2006 to the state Senate.…
Read the rest of Henry seeks Rice donations
