Politics Now

Caroline Kennedy's trip continues

And so the strange trip of Caroline Kennedy's entry into New York politics continues.

   While her competitors for the job of replacing Hillary Rodham Clinton are largely shut out from the media's attention, there is Kennedy insisting Saturday  --  again -- that she is not campaigning for the job. One day she's on a listening tour upstate, complete with reporters in tow to capture her every utterance. Next she's meeting with a downstate union boss and a leader of New York's black community, complete with photographer conveniently alerted to capture the event. The next day, people are calling to the politically well-connected to promote her candidacy.

   Then, on Saturday, her handlers let her loose with a few reporters to talk about why she wants to be the U.S. senator from New York … a hop-scotching move for someone who has never been elected to a single office let alone held a full-time job in years. She talks of feeling the pain of upstaters, of improving health care and education, of her ties to President-elect Barack Obama, and of working double-time to make up for any doubters who think she might just be cashing in on her name.

   But Kennedy has a problem on her hands: Time.

   The longer the non-campaign campaign for Clinton's job hangs out there unfilled the longer Kennedy is the target of barbs -- from her fellow Democrats who have other  candidates in mind -- questioning her ability to represent 19 million New Yorkers in the U.S. Senate.

   She has angered other Democrats who feel they have paid their political dues and should be on line in front of her. She has been dissed as a political celebrity who may be nice and comes from a political family dynasty but is not prepared to represent New York at such a crucial time in the state's history. She's been ridiculed by those who say she thinks she is entitled to the job merely by her surname. And she's lost some of her famous privacy -- with guesstimates at how much she is worth financially, how many times she's neglected to vote and how closed-pursed she has been when it comes to donating to New York Democratic causes.

   And, she has not done herself any favors with the one voter who will decide this contest … Gov. David Paterson -- who appears a bit miffed at some Kennedy supporters for trying to box him into a decision on appointing the offspring of Camelot. He asked potential candidates not to campaign, but Kennedy has not listened, Democrats say.

"It's New York politics," Kennedy has said of the rising wall of criticisms she has been met with from some Democrats underwhelmed with her candidacy.

   All this could drag on for another month since Paterson has said he will not announce his choice to replace  Clinton -- in line to become U.S. secretary of state -- until she starts her new job. For Kennedy, though, time is not on her side, which may explain why some of her promoters are urging Paterson to make a choice sooner rather than later. The governor's response this week? No.

-- Tom Precious

Schumer, Dems got $$ from accused Ponzi schemer

    WASHINGTON -- The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics says Bernard L. Madoff, who is at the center of a $50 billion investment fraud, gave $238,000 to federal candidates since 1991 -- with 88 percent of the money going to Democrats.
      Among the major recipients of Madoff's money are Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., a member of the Banking Committee, and the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, which Schumer chaired for the 2006 and 2008 elections.
      The Center said Schumer got $12,000 from Madoff and his wife, Ruth. The center said Madoff and his wife also donated $102,000 to the Senate Democratic committee. All but $2,000 of it was received by the committee while Schumer was chairman.
    Schumer spokeswoman Deirdre Murphy said, "Mr. Madoff made three contributions to Sen. Schumer of $2,000 each over the years and Sen. Schumer has contributed all of that to three charities. ... He has met Mr. Madoff a few times but none in the last several years. As for the DSCC, Sen. Schumer has recommended that the money be given to charity as well, but as he is not in charge any longer, the decision rests with them."
   Murphy maintained Schumer received $6,000 from Madoff, not $12,000 as the CRP reported. Massie Ritsch, the CRP's communication director, said, "Apparently Mr. Schumer's office neglected to account for the $6,000 also donated to Mr. Schumer by Mr. Madoff's wife, Ruth." Other New York Democrats  who received funds from Madoff and his wife include Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rep, Charles B. Rangel of Manhattan, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, $2,000 each.
   Initally, Murphy maintained that the CRP was "wrong" in saying Madoff gave $12,000 instead of the $6,000 the Schumer office acknowledged. After the CRP's Ritsch noted the additional  $6,000 donated by Ruth Madoff, Murphy said "as far as I am aware, Mrs. Madoff has not been formally accused of any wrongdoing in this matter. If it turns out that she has had a formal role, we will of course donate those contributions as well."
    It is common practice for a donor to double the legally allowable campaign gift by listing a spouse as a contributor.
-- Douglas Turner

Some feel snubbed by Caroline's quick visit

   Caroline Kennedy ruffled some feathers when she decided to meet only with Mayor Byron W. Brown when she came to Buffalo for her Hillary Clinton-style listening tour.

   It wasn't just that they felt snubbed.

   "With all due respect," said Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples D-Buffalo," coming to meet with the mayor is a good thing, but there are a lot of other people in upstate and Western New York, and there are a lot of other issues that Ms. Kennedy needs to have some understanding of prior to becoming the next U.S. senator."

   It was a sentiment several leaders shared as they ponder the possibility of another major political leader hailing from downstate.

   So, Western New Yorkers, what does Kennedy, or for that matter, anyone who wants to be one of New York's representatives in the U.S. Senate need to know and understand about this region?

    -- Maki Becker

Why are Hillary's friends dissing Caroline Kennedy?

  WASHINGTON — Now that the sole survivor of President Kennedy's family, Caroline, has made known her interest in being appointed to succeed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, some of Hillary's friends are turning up their noses at the idea.
   "Clintonites have made it clear that they remain unhappy that (Caroline) Kennedy endorsed (Barack) Obama during the Democratic primaries and have voiced concern that Clinton's Senate seat would be handed off to a New Yorker who did not support her presidential bid," The Washington Post reported today.
     Kennedy has attempted to reach Sen. Clinton, but the incumbent, who will be nominated by Obama to be secretary of state, has not yet spoken with Caroline. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., has spoken with Kennedy but indicated he is not publicly taking sides among Kennedy and the dozen other Democrats who want Gov. David A. Paterson to name one of them.
      A Schumer protege, Rep. Anthony D. Weiner, D-Brooklyn, said "if she (Kennedy) has the gift of milking cows, it's been utterly hidden from people of the State of New York."
       Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-Queens, commented, "I don't know what Caroline Kennedy's qualifications are, except that she has name recognition, but so does J Lo (actress Jennifer Lopez). I wouldn't make J Lo the senator unless she proved that she had great qualifications, but we haven't seen them yet."
       Rep. Louise M.Slaughter, D-Fairport, and the Rev. Al Sharpton both said they welcome Kennedy's interest. Even so, Kennedy will find out early that Democratic politics in New York ain't bean-bag.
       The Huffington Post, which reported Kennedy's unreturned phone call to Sen. Clinton, quoted Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines saying, "This is entirely Gov. Paterson's decision, so (she) will not be commenting on it or any individual candidate, nor does any third party speak on her behalf."
      But the Clinton forces have an army of current and former aides very experienced in putting out material in the blogosphere, and none of the unattributed statements of Clinton "friends" are supportive of Kennedy.
      It is hard to take seriously their claims that they are lukewarm about Kennedy because she supported Obama. After all, didn't Sen. Clinton make peace with Obama and agree to be a leader on his national security team? Couldn't  political "oxygen" be the real reason? If Kennedy were appointed and won election in 2010, wouldn't she be the one commanding the front pages and the newscasts, and raising virtually unlimited amounts of campaign money, instead of Hillary and former President Bill Clinton?

--Douglas Turner

Will Congress, Obama stop outsourcing jobs?

    WASHINGTON — There is a weird clash of trends on American jobs, and foreign trade. While American manufacturing output is near record lows, the People's Republic of China is increasing its manufacturing exports to the U.S.
     On Jan. 21, there will be a Democratic president backed by a Democratic Congress for the first time in 15 years. The last time this happened, President Clinton got the North American Free Trade Agreement passed, and began the process that opened American markets to cheap, subsidized Chinese exports.
     During his primary and general election campaigns, Barack Obama was critical of the trade policies of Republican President Bush, but offered no criticism of what Clinton did to American manufacturing by passing NAFTA and loosening restrictions on Chinese exports.
     Obama criticized NAFTA and said he wants to renegotiate the treaty. His campaign platform documents put revising our liberalized trade codes and behavior on a high plane. However, his transition Website, www.change.gov, seems to have downgraded the issue, making it a lowly subdivision of his policies on the economy.
      His choice for U.S. trade ambassador could prove crucial in righting the many wrongs bequeathed by Clinton and the Republican Congresses of the late 1990s.
      Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., is the most frequently mentioned prospect for the job, formally called U.S. Trade Representative. He voted for NAFTA but now says he regrets supporting it. Becerra, who said our trade policy "is broken completely," is strongly opposed by powerful global business interests who helped pay for Obama's campaign. More recently, pundits are mentioning former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk for the job.
      University of Maryland economist Peter Morici suggested last week that Obama and the Democrats are two-faced about trade.
     "President-elect Barack Obama’s positions are in line with those of leading Congressional Democrats, who express angst about trade with China but take no action," Morici said. "It remains to be seen whether his administration will bring any real change to U.S. trade policies and economic relations with China."
         Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., as a member of the Senate Finance Committee, has long been in a position to discipline the PRC for artificially devaluing its currency to make its goods cheaper in the U.S. He once proposed putting a special tax on Chinese imports, but dropped the idea.
     Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, will soon be in a position to influence trade laws, as a prospective member of the House Ways and Means Committee. But when Higgins announced his selection for Ways and Means, he mentioned the committee's importance in getting development incentives for Buffalo, downplaying the panel's role on affecting trade deals. Whatever Schumer and Higgins do could have a dramatic effect on New York jobs and tax revenues.
        A survey released Monday indicated that in New York State manufacturing conditions this month are near the record lows set in November.

-- Douglas Turner

Will Blagojevich scandal hurt Obama?

      WASHINGTON -- President-elect Barack Obama said Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich should immediately resign for trying to sell his vacated Senate seat to the highest bidder. At a press conference today, Obama categorically denied having telephone conversations with Blagojevich about who would be his successor but declined for the second time to rule out the possibility that his transition staff talked with Blagojevich, or members of the governor's staff.

     Obama said he is "absolutely certain" that "our office had no involvement in any deal-making for my Senate seat." At the same time, Obama said he has asked his staff to detail all contacts they have had with aides to Blagojevich, which is pronounced "Bluh-GOY-yuh-vich."

     U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald of Chicago said Obama is not involved in any phase of the governor's "crime spree." Yet some Republicans are trying to escalate the case into a wholesale indictment of Obama and all his Chicago associations.

     Two story lines have emerged about Obama and Blagojevich. One holds that Obama was a key adviser in Blagojevich's 2002 run for goverrnor, that the governor is close to Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., who succeeded him in the House and who will be Obama's White House chief of staff, and that Obama and Blagojevich have used the same Washington political consulting firm in the past.

     The other is that Obama has put an arm's length between himself and the governor, whose erratic behavior has made him extremely unpopular and that for many months they have been estranged.

     Fitzgerald has filed a 76-page criminal complaint against Blagojevich's alleged auction of a Senate seat, and other activities. However, some experienced law enforcement hands wonder why Fitzgerald didn't wait until the governor committed a finite act, meaning to do something besides talk about corruption.

--Douglas Turner

Obama faces 'mission creep' in Afghanistan

  WASHINGTON -  By keeping Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and most likely Gates' team, President-elect Barack Obama may be sliding into a situation similar to one that beleaguered President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy inherited his predecessor's military commitments to South Vietnam and the disastrous and abortive Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.

    While Obama has tacitly signed onto the agreement between the U.S. and Iraq for three more years of occupation, Obama has specifically called for an "effective strategic partnership" with Pakistan to help fight the Taliban and terrorists in its neighbor Afghanistan.

    Referring to Afghanistan, Obama has said, "if we combine effective development, more effective military work as well as more effective diplomacy, then I think that we can stabilize the situation."

    Obama has consistently called for shifting troops from Iraq to Afghanistan, and that transfer has already begun, sending troops and resources to a country that has never been conquered by a western military force in all of history. There has never been a formal declaration of war against Afghanistan, where an additional 20,000 American troops will soon be deployed.

    The troops are being sent in response to a request from Gen. David McKiernan, American commander in Afghanistan. Among them will be soldiers from the Third Mountain Brigade, who will be sent from Fort Drum, N.Y. There has been no congressional debate over these deployments, which will last at least 18 months. 

     Bush has used the congressional Authorization for the Use of Military Force passed in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks as his justification to punish enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, the war in Afghanistan is on automatic.

   Obama will be faced with having to pay for this unannounced Afghanistan "surge" while he is trying to refrain from drawing down too quickly the 140,000 U.S. troops fighting in Iraq.

     Michael Crowley, writing in The New Republic, estimates that it could take as many as 600,000 troops to quell all the tribal tensions in Afghanistan - roughly 10 times the number of soldiers in the multi-national force there now. Even with more troops, sprawling, mountainous Afganistan may not be winnable. 

    The Greek warlord Alexander couldn't conquer it, nor could Queen Victoria's Imperial forces, nor the Soviet Union in 1979. The upcoming budget for the Defense Department is estimated at $584 billion, not counting the increased commitments for Afghanistan. Reportedly, the U.S. expeditionary forces have enough money to last them through June 2009. But Obama and the Democratic Congress will have to face the consequences of mission creep before then.

-- Douglas Turner
    

Corporate watchdog -- back from the pound

   ALBANY  -- With a few baby steps, Eliot Spitzer's public reclamation project has begun.

   Last week, Spitzer --  forced to resign in March amid word he patronized high-priced prostitutes -- began writing a column for Slate, the daily online magazine. Between his first Slate column and a recent one in the Washington Post, Spitzer is taking aim at an old familiar target: corporate excess in this new world of economic malaise and government handouts to once-mighty companies.

   Should anyone care what Spitzer has to say? His allies say that, despite his personal failings, he is intelligent and has the background to make some sense of the current corporate crisis afflicting the nation.

   But his detractors are incredulous. While there is no set period for disgraced politicians to return from exile, critics believe  Spitzer has certainly jumped the gun.

Spitzer's new gig also comes soon after Ashley Dupre, the call girl at the center of the ex-governor's scandal, made her first national TV appearance.

   So what is the right amount of time for Spitzer to be banished to the wilderness?

   Or, is his a  brand that is tainted for good?

-- Tom Precious

Is this what you voted for?

        WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama this week moved back from two more of his campaign initiatives. The American Small Business League, a California-based advocacy group, noticed that Obama's promise to fight for a windfall profits tax on the oil and gas industry had been dropped from his presidential team's web site.
        The same group also noticed that the Obama transition website also dropped Obama's promise to  enforce codes ensuring that a portion of the government's procurements go to small businesses.
        In February, Obama said he would step in and block the increasing illegal flow of government contracts to Fortune 500 companies, and he reiterated the promise last October.
          The League said that since 2003 more than a dozen federal investigations found that billions of dollars in federal small business contracts have been diverted to the nation's largest companies. The inspector general of the Small Business Administration found that many contracts went to big business through fraudulent documents.
        On the windfall profits tax, an Obama aide said the idea has been shelved because the price of crude has fallen below $80 a barrel "and we expect it to stay that way."
        Obama earlier shelved higher-profile promises to pull U.S. forces out of Iraq in 16 months, and raise taxes on those earning more than $250,000 a year. With his announcement he will name Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., secretary of commerce, Obama has pulled three former Democratic primary rivals into his upcoming administraton.
      The others are Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., who will be secretary of state, and Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., who will be vice president.
       Obama's choice for secretary of the treasury came under severe criticism from Peter Morici, the University of Maryland economist. Morici said Obama's pick, Timothy Geithner, who heads the Federal Reserve Bank of New York "is one of the principal architects of the Bush administration's bank bailout policy which has already pledged some $8 trillion in equity (and) loan guarantees ... without unlocking credit markets."
     Morici said "Geithner was a principal player ... in the recent $300 billion bailout of CitiGroup, which permitted shareholders, including Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talai, to maintain control of the bank and executives including ... Robert Rubin to keep their managerial authority and huge bonuses that caused the near bankruptcy of CitiGroup.
       Rubin, President Clinton's treasury secretary, became CitiGroup chairman. He now serves as a CitiGroup director and remains a key advisor to Obama on finance and the economy.

         --Douglas Turner
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Hillary Clinton, Diplomat

   WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

    Now that's a phrase I never expected to type until a few weeks ago.

    But now it's official. President-elect Barack Obama on Monday announced that the New York senator is his choice for the nation's top diplomatic job.

   Given how Obama and Clinton fought over foreign policy during their battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, this might seem like an unlikely choice.

   Rush Limbaugh, for one, offers a possible explanation.

   "You know the old phrase, 'You keep your friends close and your enemies
closer?'" Limbaugh said on his show on Monday. "How can she run for president
in 2012? She'd have to run against the incumbent and be critical of him … the
one who made her secretary of state."

   So is that the reason for this? Or might it be that Clinton is the best person for the job?

-- Jerry Zremski