Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Tom Cole Admits GOP Difficulty

"Facing the most difficult political environment since they took control of Congress in 1994, Republicans begin the fiinal two months of the midterm campaign in growing danger of losing the House." (Washington Post) "It's the most difficult off-year cycle for the Republicans since 1982," said Representative Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma and former chief of staff to the Republican National Committee. "Environmentally, it's about as good from the Democratic perspective as they could hope to have." (New York Times)

So, come on all you Democrats who live in the 4th District, make it really difficult for Cole by getting out and supporting Hal Spake, the Democratic nominee. Hal's opening an office in downtown Norman today.
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1 comment:

Aticus88 said...

There is no doubt that Tom Cole knows of what he speaks. He's raising money for GOP candidates around the country rather than paying attention to Oklahoma's interests.

Yes, indeed, Tom Cole is a busy man. While serving as the U.S. Congressman from Oklahoma’s fourth congressional district, Cole also still has ties to his company in Oklahoma City, “Cole, Hargrave, Snodgrass and Associates” from which he earns $20,000 per year. But that’s another story, but it seems the House ethics committee has approved this lingering relationship.

But even more interestingly, Mr. Cole also is the “affiliate” of a political action committee titled “Conservative Opportunity Leadership and Enterprise PAC,” also known as Cole Pac. As of June 30, 2006, ColePAC had total receipts of $493,706 and expenditures of $476,874.

This makes ColePac the 16th largest political PAC run by a member of Congress and the list of the donations ColePac has made is an impressive list, according to OpenSecrets.com. Among them, two current Senators running for reelection:

Katherine Harris of Florida, whose state GOP leaders have begged to drop out. Harris received $1,000 from Cole Pac. George Allen of Virginia, who recently called a fellow Virginian a “macaca” widely noted as a racial slur. Allen received $1,000 from Cole Pac.

Of the House members running for reelection, Cole Pac has supported over 80 members who will be counted upon to elect Cole into a leadership position should the Republicans maintain a majority in the House. Some of those include:

Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania who, according to a story in the Los Angles Times, created a lobbying firm for his daughter who then sold access to her father. Weldon received $2,500.

Chris Chocola of Indiana who has voted against cracking down on gas price gouging 3 times while owning more than $300,000 in oil stocks. Chocola received $9,999 from Cole Pac.

Dave Reichert of Washington who voted to weaken the House Ethics Committee in order to protect Tom Delay and has had fundraising help from Dick Cheney. Reichert received $10,000 from Cole Pac.

Jean Schmidt of Ohio, who received $8,500, and who most notably had to apologize to Congressman John Murtha for suggesting he was a coward. Harris had her comments stricken from the Congressional Record.

While Tom Cole is taking a $165,200 salary as a U.S. Congressman to represent the interests of the 4th district of Oklahoma, he's spending alot of time paying attention elsewhere. He’s busy being a political consultant to his former business, and busy raising money to give away to Republican candidates all over the U.S. in order to further his political career.

Oklahoma deserves better.

9:02 PM

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