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CORRECTED: Oops! Baucus Caught Out On Claim He Renounced SAYS HE RETURNED Health-Care PAC Dollars
LATE UPDATE: A BAUCUS SPOKESMAN TELLS TPMMUCKRAKER THE DONATION WAS RETURNED.
Gotcha's don't come much purer than this one.
Today, the Washington Post reported that although Sen. Max Baucus, who chairs the Senate Finance committee, has raked in big bucks from private health-care interests, he has taken one step to in the direction of good government:
To avoid any appearance of favoritism, his aides say, Baucus quietly began refusing contributions from health-care political action committees after June 1.
How admirable. But just hours later, the Sunlight Foundation found that on June 15, Baucus took in $5000 from Schering-Plough Corporation Better Government Fund.
"And what is Schering-Plough Corporation Better Government Fund?" asks Sunlight's Paul Blumenthal. "It's a Lobbyist/Registrant PAC."
We'll let you know if Baucus's office has anything to say in response.
Late Update: A Baucus spokesman tells TPMmuckraker the donation was returned.
Josh
Zachary
(crickets)
July 21, 2009 4:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
You can hate the game but don't hate the player.
July 22, 2009 9:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
We regret our mistake. It appears there was an error on the part of the aide who typed the release. It was meant to say "15", but the aide accidentally forgot the "5".
Thank you for your time but we are very busy right now. You know how it goes. Mo' Money Mo' Problems.
XOXO,
Baucus
July 21, 2009 4:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
The blue dog dems, and the Republicans hold the same goals as Osama Bin Laden. To kill and bankrupt as many Americans as possible.
July 21, 2009 4:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
They're coming after you next.
July 21, 2009 5:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Baucus is a corporate whore who is trying to derail health care reform. You have blood on your hands, Sir!
July 21, 2009 4:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Baucus has taken $1.3+ million from healthcare lobbyist over the past 2 years. Profits in insurance co.s have risen by 428% since 2000! These fools are in charge of our health reform..Call them tell them to remember 1992...the same fate awaits them in 2010 if they go against the will of the people!
1.800.828.0498
July 23, 2009 8:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
If you purchase a senator, but he returns the payment, do you have to give the senator back?
July 21, 2009 5:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
How do we know that Baucus actually gave the money back? And even if he did, was it part of a deal that S-P would return it once Baucus is out of the spotlight, like after he has done his acts of destruction for them?
If Obama's health care bill goes the way of Clinton care, then it is time to call a new Constitutional Convention with the purpose of eliminating the 100 person rich man's obstruction club called the Senate. The British did that to the House of Lords some decades ago for the same damned reason. The rich and powerful really don't like the people actually interfering with "their" government.
July 22, 2009 12:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Depends on how used s/he is - maybe have to do a discounted senator. Discounted - yeah, that sounds like Baucus.
July 22, 2009 12:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
SO best case scenario is that he hasn't been paid off in less than two months. Wow. He must very impartial.
July 21, 2009 5:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I would like to the documentation concerning this donation as to when it was returned and under what circumstances. You know things like visitor logs to and from Baucus' office, bank statements, letters from the Dear senator. If any false or fuzzy things come to light, then demand an ethnics investigation must occurr. I just don't trust slime and his words or statements are meaningless.
July 21, 2009 6:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Baucus and Dodd (among others) should lose their seats, they're corporate whores. If we don't punish these cretins we deserve what we get from them.
Baucus represents a state with 967,000 people and hes fu**ing the rest of the country, its frikkin lunacy.
July 21, 2009 6:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
But doesn't Dodd support a public option?
July 21, 2009 8:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Saying one thing and doing another in public life is toxic to one's credibility. Having said that, I have worked in a few Senate campaigns and all too often there can be a delay between a change in policy and the time it takes for word of that change to get filtered down to the folks in the district office who open the mail and deposit the checks. Should such a thing happen? No. But does it anyway? Yes indeed.
July 21, 2009 11:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is morally repugnant to profit off the misery or ill health of Americans. It's criminal that medical bills to the private for-profit MEDICAL/INSURANCE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX make up 62% of all bankruptcies filed in the U.S. each year. Americans spend 2.5 Trillion Dollars a year on Health care. The overhead at the private for-profit MEDICAL/INSURANCE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX is upwards of 35% of the health care dollar spent each year in the U.S. That is approximately $900 Billion a year the MEDICAL/INSURANCE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX uses for BRIBING CONGRESS and their lavish lifestyles, huge salaries plus perks and bonuses. All the while milking the hard-working men/women of this great nation of their hard earned money.
On the other hand Medicare has an overhead of 2%, Canada's system is 1.5%, Europe's 2.5% on average. The money that could be saved by eliminating the private for-profit MEDICAL/INSURANCE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX is estimated at $900 Billion a year. Enough money to help pay for putting all Americans on MEDICARE/SINGLE-PAYER TYPE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM.
We have to fight back and call, write e-mails, letters-to-editors, Congress and to the White House to let them know how Americans feel about the private for-profit MEDICAL/INSURANCE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX that currently provides the health care in this country.
Here are some Senators and blue dog(dems) who are on the wrong side of Health Care reform. Give them a call and demand,
"MEDICARE/SINGLE-PAYER TYPE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL NOW!"
Thanks to Dateline_Molly for this chart that shows how much money was paid to Senators by the MEDICAL/INSURANCE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX to OBSTRUCT health care reform. Link Now, when I call each member I can quote to them how much money they were PAID/BRIBED by the MEDICAL/INSURANCE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX to throw their constituents under the bus and deny them SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH CARE.
(blue dogs)
Ross D-AR, Boucher D-VA, Kind D-WI, Pomeroy D-ND, Tanner D-TN
Polis (CO), Titus (NV) and Altmire (PA)
These are the problem Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee: John Barrow (GA-12), Bruce Braley (IA-01), Bart Gordon (TN-04), Baron Hill (IN-09), Jay Inslee (WA-01), Jim Matheson (UT-02), Charlie Melancon LA-03, Zack Space (OH-18) and Bart Stupak (MI-01).
Joe Lieberman I-CT, Chuck Grassley R-IA, Lindsey Graham R-SC,
Susan Collins R-ME, Olympia Snowe R-ME, David Vitter R-LA,
Saxby Chambliss R-GA, Tom Coburn R-OK, Jon Kyl R-AZ,
John Thune R-SD, Richard Lugar R-IN, Jim DeMint R-SC
Jeff Sessions R-AL, Richard Shelby R-AL, Mel Martinez R-FL,
John McCain R-AZ, Mitch McConnell R-KY, Jim Inhofe R-OK,
Lamar Alexander R-TN, Dick Burr R-NC, John Cornyn R-TX
Mark Pryor D-AR, Thomas Carper D-DE, Mary Landrieu D-LA,
Max Baucus D-MT, Kent Conrad D-ND, Ben Nelson D-NE,
Maria Cantwell D-WA, Kay Hagan D-NC, Blanche Lincoln D-AR,
Ron Wyden D-OR, Evan Bayh D-IN, Diane Feinstein D-CA,
Arlen Specter D-PA
Here are the toll-free numbers for the Capitol Hill Switchboard:
(House and Senate)
1-800-828-0498
1-866-338-1015
1-866-220-0044
1-800-473-6711
Also give the President a call or write an e-mail:
White House Comments Line:
1-202-456-1111 M-F 9:00-5:00 est. (NOT A TOLL-FREE #)
President Obama's e-mail: http://www.whitehouse.gov/...
Nothing rattles the Congress and White House more than informed CITIZEN/VOTERS ringing the phones off the hook for real health care reform. Call the House, Senate and the White House and demand,
"MEDICARE/SINGLE-PAYER TYPE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL NOW!"
SEMPER FI!
July 22, 2009 1:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
"To avoid favoritism." Are they serious! This jagoff has done everything to either derail or water down meaningful health reform. So he returns $5000.00. Chump change to the $1,000,000.00 + he has already taken. It really shouldn't take that much money to buy a Senator from Montana but I guess that is what it takes to buy the chair of the Finance committee. What a f@%&ed upsystem we have! And these assh@les are so entrenched they have us by the balls and are squeezing!
July 23, 2009 10:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
he is the slimiest of all dem senator. if there was a way to impeach him, we would. does he have a viable opponent. anyone?
July 23, 2009 5:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
There are people who really want to made great issue so that they would be the talk of the town, which in fact, they never made good decisions and ideas.
Hope that they would be sensitive enough.
Web Hosting Reviews
August 20, 2009 3:18 PM | Reply | Permalink