Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Senate Dems meet to plot 2016 attacks on wealthy Koch brothers - POLITICO

Politico Magazine

A coalition of deep-pocketed liberal groups ― including a pair of super PACs backing Hillary Clinton ― has been meeting quietly for months, examining the 2016 map and plotting attacks against the powerful Koch brothers' network.

At midday Thursday, the architect of that effort, Clinton antagonist-turned-enforcer David Brock, is scheduled to present his findings ― complete with the back-up polling and research ― to the Senate Democratic Caucus, sources tell POLITICO.

Brock declined to comment for this story. But sources familiar with the caucus meeting plan say it appears his goal is to win strategic buy-in from Democratic Senators, who are looking for ways to make the most of a favorable 2016 electoral landscape.

Brock's argument, according to his recently released book and interviews with his allies, is that spotlighting the massive political spending of the conservative groups backed by the billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch is a "critical component" of boosting Democratic candidates, including Clinton, in 2016.

While the strategy produced little tangible benefit for Democrats in the 2014 election, several Democratic Senators in interviews this week expressed support for recommitting to the attacks.
"Well, I'm going to continue talking about them," said Senate minority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who has spearheaded the Democrats' war on the Kochs and invited Brock to the Capitol. Reid first reached out to Brock about the effort in 2014, according to Brock's book, which recounts a conversation in which Brock asked the senator "What should I be doing?"

Since then, Brock's groups have invested heavily in providing ammunition for the Koch attacks. And Reid asserted the effort has publicly defined the billionaire brothers, whose network intends to spend $889 million shaping the political and public policy debate in the run-up to 2016.

"We've proven in the long run that they're interested in one thing: Their bottom line. They're trying to buy the country, they want to become America's oligarchs," said Reid, who before the 2014 election repeatedly took to the Senate floor to lambast the Kochs as poster children for the corrupting power of money in politics. The broadsides were supported by multi-million-dollar political advertising campaigns, many of them funded by unlimited money super PACs that got their research from American Bridge, a non-profit operation founded by Brock. The common theme was that GOP candidates were beholden to super-rich donors like the Kochs rather than the middleclass voters who tend to decide elections.

It didn't go so well.

 

Democrats lost nine Senate seats and, with them, control of the Senate, while Republicans also made gains in the House and state capitals around the country. And Reid faced criticism from across the political spectrum for attacking the Kochs. Even Reid's fellow Democrats questioned the efficacy of attacking a pair of little-known ― albeit hugely influential ― donors, arguing it detracted from Democrats' core messages about the plight of the middle class.

"How could you say it's effective? Look at the results. I think the American public wants a discussion on solutions," Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), said Tuesday. "When you start making [the Kochs] front and center, you are losing sight of what you absolutely need to do," said Heitkamp, who does not face reelection until 2018. "We need to be more mindful of what the message is, not who the messengers are and who's paying for them."

James Davis, a spokesman for Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the non-profit group that orchestrates the Koch network, accused Brock and Reid of pursuing a cynical ― and unsuccessful ― political ploy. "Their past attempts to divide America by demonizing job creators have failed," he said. "We remain focused on advancing free-market principles ― ending corporate welfare, reducing barriers to opportunity and restoring fiscal responsibility."

The Kochs' allies have pointed out that some of the Kochs' top policy goals ― like reforming criminal justice laws and eliminating the Export-Import Bank ― have little, if any, bearing on their family-owned multi-national industrial conglomerate, Koch Industries. And they've mocked Reid for his occasional diatribes against the Kochs, who he's accused of being one of the "main causes" of climate change, alleging it's all part of an effort to intimidate conservative donors from political participation.

The Koch brothers have defended their network's spending as driven by a desire to improve society by advancing free market policies, rather than Koch Industries' profits. And the company has spent heavily on ads touting its corporate citizenship and the 60,000 U.S. jobs it provides.

Democrats have interpreted that as a sign that their attacks are working.

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) asserted this week "The fact that the Koch brothers are spending a fortune on positive advertising about themselves is an indication that their reputation has suffered."

And Brock and his allies have argued that the 2014 efforts by Reid and his big-money super PAC allies laid the groundwork for the strategy to pay dividends in 2016, when Democrats will face a more promising landscape. They're defending only 10 Senate seats, compared to 24 for Republicans.

Sources familiar with the plan for Thursday's caucus meeting say Brock will be accompanied by the veteran Democratic pollster Geoff Garin, who works for both American Bridge and Priorities USA Action, a super PAC that plans to air millions of dollars of ads supporting Clinton's presidential campaign.

Garin, who has conducted focus groups for American Bridge on Koch-themed political messaging, has argued that the attacks on the Kochs in 2014 may have helped Democrats win one Senate race ― Democrat Gary Peters' victory over Republican Terri Lynn Land in Michigan ― and kept others close.

For Reid, who is not seeking reelection in 2016, the battle also is personal. His accusations ― among them that the Kochs are "un-American" ― have provoked personal responses from the Kochs and their allies.

At the Kochs' annual summer donor summit in 2014, organizers erected a life-sized cardboard cutout of Reid, his arms spread and his mouth agape as if in midspeech. Emanating from it was a cartoon-like quote bubble with the word "un-American." This summer, Charles Koch took a swipe at Reid, mentioning his "bad eye" ― an allusion to an exercise accident early this year that left Reid blind in one eye.

 

And the Koch network has been building a robust infrastructure in Nevada, which likely would have deployed against Reid had he sought another term. In particular, the Koch-backed LIBRE Initiative, which courts Latino voters, was plowing money into infrastructure in Reid's backyard. It could still make things tricky for Reid's preferred successor, Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, who is Latina.

LIBRE's efforts contributed to the defeat of two Latino Democrats in 2014, said Cristóbal J. Alex, president of the Latino Victory Project, a liberal advocacy group. It's working with Brock's groups to counter LIBRE's efforts in 2016.

"We don't want to be caught flatfooted like we were in 2014. We won't let our candidates be attacked without response," he said, adding that his group would highlight LIBRE's Koch funding, without attacking the Kochs directly.

Likewise, a liberal group that reaches out to veterans, VoteVets.org, has worked with Brock's coalition to counter the efforts of a Koch-backed group called Concerned Veterans for America.

"Every chance we get, we're going to talk about Concerned Veterans being financed by the Koch brothers, because we think it's important for people to know," said VoteVets President Jon Soltz. Additionally, he said "when I mention the Koch network to my email database, it raises money and it fires up my base." In fact, in a Tuesday email to his supporter list, he warned that "the Koch Brothers are funding a massive organization to replicate our efforts, but with a focus on privatizing veterans' health care. And they are very dangerous."

Beyond the electoral and fundraising components, Democrats say the focus on the Kochs can help generate momentum for campaign finance reform.

"The Koch brothers are symptoms of a bigger problem, and that is Citizens United … free speech means normal folks can get swamped out," said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.).

Senate Dems meet to plot 2016 attacks on wealthy Koch brothers - POLITICO

Ratification of UAW, FCA deal appears mathematically impossible

 

By Brent Snavely, Detroit Free Press 12:42 p.m. EDT September 30, 2015

Mathematically, the deal did not get enough votes to ratify the proposed four-year contract.

Jeep sign in Toledo

TOLEDO, OH - MAY 7: A Jeep sign sits in front of the Chrysler Toledo North Assembly Plant where Jeep Wranglers and Cherokees are assembled. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images) (Photo: Bill Pugliano)

 

Ratification of a deal between the UAW and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles appears to be impossible after workers at assembly plants in Toledo and Sterling Heights on Tuesday overwhelming voted against a proposed four-year contract, the latest in a string of decisive defeats that now makes ratification of the deal a long shot.

In Toledo, 87% of production workers and 80% of skilled trades workers who work at the plant where the Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Cherokee is built voted against the contract, according to a person briefed on the results who is not authorized to release them publicly.

The margin of defeat by workers represented by UAW Local 12 in Toledo appears to be the largest yet among any UAW local that has voted so far.

At UAW Local 1700 in Sterling Heights, 72% of production workers and 65% of skilled trades workers who cast ballots voted against the contract, according to a person briefed on those results.

DETROIT FREE PRESS

Everything we know about UAW talks

A Free Press analysis of voting already indicated that ratification by a majority of the 40,000 union-represented workers at Fiat Chrysler was unlikely before the Jeep results were announced. Mathematically, the deal cannot pass.

The rejection of the agreement by members of UAW Local 12 in Toledo isn't surprising, but the overwhelming margin of defeat is the highest of any large UAW unit that has voted so far.

Many of the more than 5,000 workers there are angry at Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne because there have been media reports that the automaker plans to move the Jeep Cherokee -- the best-selling Jeep model -- to the automaker's plant in Belvidere, Ill.

News of the company's plans to move the Cherokee came after officials from Toledo and the state of Ohio spent more than a year putting together land and an incentive package to convince the automaker to keep the Wrangler in Toledo. But workers, as well as politicians, felt double-crossed when news emerged that the company would move the Cherokee instead.

DETROIT FREE PRESS

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Workers are worried about the relocation of the Cherokee because they are concerned that the Wrangler and a potential Wrangler pickup truck won't support as many jobs even after production capacity is expanded for the iconic SUV.

Workers in Toledo and Sterling Heights voted today and are among the last to vote in a nationwide ratification process that began last week. Workers at an assembly plant in Belvidere, Ill. will be the last to vote on Wednesday.

Issues about the automaker's product plans are also a factor at Sterling Heights Assembly, where Fiat Chrysler recently spent more than $1 billion to retool the plant to make the Chrysler 200. Now, there are media reports that car will be moved to Mexico and the automaker will make move the Ram 1500 from Warren to Sterling Heights.

Both the company and the UAW have refused to disclose the product plan and put it into writing.

"All the UAW workers in Metro Detroit are bombarded with rumors or work going to Mexico,"  said Simon Vuli, who has worked at Sterling Heights Assembly for three years.

A 2015 Chrysler 200 automobile moves down the assembly

A 2015 Chrysler 200 automobile moves down the assembly line at the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant in Sterling Heights, Mich. (Photo: Paul Sancya, Associated Press)

If ratified, the proposed contract would give all workers a $3,000 signing bonus, entry-level workers in assembly plants would see wages increase to a range of $17 to $25.35 per hour, and workers hired before 2007 would receive two 3% wage increases and two lump-sum bonuses over the life of the contract. It would also establish a new health care cooperative for all active UAW auto workers that would work to negotiate better rates and treatments from health providers without an increase for what workers pay.

The health care cooperative, combined with pay raises for both entry-level workers and legacy workers with a pay raise, largely achieves what UAW President Dennis Williams set out to deliver in contract talks.

DETROIT FREE PRESS

UAW FCA contract on shaky ground as voting concludes

But many workers also have said they don't like the proposed contract because it doesn't provide entry-level workers with a full path to the $28-per-hour average wage that workers hired before 2007 make, and a lack of clarity on a new health care cooperative.

The agreement also includes a different wage scale for entry-level workers the automaker's Mopar parts and distribution centers. They would earn between $17 and $22 per hour while axle operators would earn between $17 and $22.35 per hour, according to the 450-page contract

"My issue with the tentative agreement is back in 2011 there was talks about a cap of 25% on Tier 2 workers after the life of the contract," said Vuli. "In this new agreement their is actually another tier being added for Mopar workers and for progression employees no cap was put in place."

Contact Brent Snavely: 313-222-6512 or bsnavely@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrentSnavely.

Ratification of UAW, FCA deal appears mathematically impossible

Gov. Rauner orders closure of Lockport museum – but city's mayor fights back | The Herald-News

 

LOCKPORT – Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner has ordered the Illinois State Museum system, including the Lockport Gallery, to shut its doors to the public by the end of the business day Wednesday.

But can Illinois’ top executive officer order the closure of a privately owned building?

  • Lockport Mayor Steven Streit doesn’t think so.

    “It’s not the state’s building. It’s not the state’s [liability] insurance. It’s not the state’s artwork at this point,” Streit said Tuesday, noting he’s in talks with the building owner on keeping the museum’s doors open to visitors.

    While the four other ISM branches are located on state property, making Illinois the landlord, so to speak, the Lockport Gallery — at 201 W. 10th St. — is not, said John Lustig, gallery manager.

    “Who is wagging the dog? That’s the open-ended question,” Lustig said.

    It wouldn’t be the first time the museum staff and Lockport mayor have taken matters into their own hands.

    Since the museum was emptied out this summer because of a lapse in insurance, the two parties pulled together to create “The People’s Exhibit,” so the walls now are filled with the public’s work made in reaction to the state’s budget crisis. Lockport officials recently placed the museum’s new artwork under the city’s insurance.

    Streit said the city also will cover the museum’s rent and utility bills in the interim at a reduced price agreed upon with the building owner.

    The four other branches slated for closure include the Illinois State Museum in Springfield, the Chicago Gallery in the James R. Thompson Center, the Southern Illinois Art and Artisans Center in Whittington, and the Dickson Mounds Museum in Lewistown.

    As a state employee, Lustig said he will follow Rauner’s orders, but that if Streit and the building owner choose to unlock the doors, that’s of their own free will.

    Streit said Tuesday he hopes he can sidestep the closure orders, adding the museum is too valuable to the city’s continued development of downtown Lockport to be “under lock and key.”

    Pending lawsuit

    Rauner is moving forward with the planned Thursday closure, which also includes the Sparta Shooting Complex in Springfield, even as state employees continue to draw paychecks because of a pending lawsuit. The ongoing St. Clair County lawsuit brought forth from public employee unions prevents him from laying off employees, as the case is under arbitration.

    That means employees such as Lustig will report to work and stay on payroll.

  • Read by clicking on the following and going to page 2:  Gov. Rauner orders closure of Lockport museum – but city's mayor fights back | The Herald-News