Not me.
"For Markey, a tale of two homes" by Noah Bierman and Frank Phillips | Globe Staff, February 14, 2013
MALDEN — The yellow two-story house, squeezed snugly into a blue-collar neighborhood, has been the place Edward J. Markey has called home since he was a toddler and the link to his congressional district since he ran for office 37 years ago.
But his critics view the house as the base he left behind when he became a figure in Washington, married a Beltway player, and purchased a grander house, triple the size, on a leafy cul de sac in the exclusive Rolling Hills neighborhood of Chevy Chase, Md.
Related: Wealthy Responsible For Global Warming
Then Ed is just full of hot air, isn't he? Aside from A123 and Evergreen, I gue$$.
Markey, even as he has cruised easily to reelection every two years, has never fully shaken questions about his residence, and by extension, his allegiance to the people he represents.
The Democratic House member was fully aware his residency could be an issue when he declared in December that he would run for Senate in the special election to replace John F. Kerry, now the secretary of state.
Well, I suppose it should be. The founders thought (or hoped) the rep would live here, not there.
He polled potential voters, in an unreleased internal survey, on whether it mattered to them. And former senator Scott Brown, a Republican, publicly revived the issue by questioning whether Markey lives in Massachusetts.
Who?
A Globe review of the residency question has found mixed results....
I think we just found you a winner, Steve.
Around Washington, he and his wife, Susan Blumenthal, a health care consultant and former high-ranking official in the Clinton administration, appeared frequently for a time in the society pages....
He obviously met her there, but I wonder how old she is. I don't have to wonder about her religious dispensation.
Markey may be a Malden guy, but over the years, he’s also been a Beltway name, particularly in the 1990s, when he and his wife were regulars on the Washington party circuit. Washingtonian magazine once called him and his wife “a very desirable twofer” on the social scene and put them on a separate list of couples who are “always in demand.” The Washington Times labeled them “the very social Rep. Ed Markey and Susan Blumenthal.”
Markey’s name has shown up less in those pages in recent years. And Markey’s neighbors in Rolling Hills -- professionals in sprawling homes set high above the street — say he is not one to throw parties at the house there. If anything, he’s cutting the grass or working on the yard.
I hope it's a hand-powered mower.
Martin T. Meehan, the former US representative who is now chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell, said a lawmaker’s time in the district is not the best measure of his value. Markey, he said, has been a key lawmaker, heading subcommittees and crafting legislation.
“If you’re actually writing laws rather than voting on laws, you need to be in Washington,” Meehan said. “It can’t be done just Tuesday to Thursday.”
Okay, fair enough.
**************
The congressman says he made 34 round trips from Washington to Boston last year, but he declined a Globe request to provide his daily schedules for the last two years. His opponent in the Democratic primary, Representative Stephen F. Lynch, also declined....
Umm, wait a minute, how did you do that? Please don't tell me you flew in an airplane. I don't even want to here that you drove. Either you swam, or stop bloviating about global warming footprints.
By contrast, Representative Michael E. Capuano’s office supplied a list of dates showing he had spent more than half his nights in his Somerville home over the past two years.
Markey and Representative James P. McGovern of Worcester are the only members of the state’s House delegation to own houses in or around the District of Columbia, with members of their families living there....
McGovern is my rep.
For generations, members of Congress have been torn between their obligations to craft bills in Washington while remaining part of the communities that elect them.
$y$tem's broke then.
That tension increased as air travel has become cheaper and anti-Washington sentiment has grown.
Oh, that's how they travel. What's the taxpayer-financed footprint on that?
There are many who argue, however, that the dwindling population of lawmakers spending time together in off hours has contributed to Washington gridlock, because members of the opposing parties no longer know one another’s families and values....
What does that mean, because they are not out at the ol' watering hole they can't agree?
Related: Crapo Found Shitfaced
Maybe they still are at the old watering hole since they agree on whatever war-profiteers, Israel, and the banks want. I mean, if a Mormon is all liquored up down there, who isn't?
--more--"
And we can talk frankly and openly in a relaxed setting at the house:
"Edward Markey holds firm on his analogy to slavery ruling" by Noah Bierman | Globe Staff, February 21, 2013
Representative Edward J. Markey refused to back down Thursday from comments he made this week that seemed to compare the US Supreme Court’s ruling on campaign finance law to the high court’s 19th-century Dred Scott decision, a notorious pro-slavery ruling.
On Tuesday, at a campaign rally in Pittsfield, the Democrat said that if he is elected to the Senate he will fight for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, the 2010 case that allowed unlimited third-party spending in political campaigns.
There wasn't a shooting while he was there, was there?
“The whole idea that the Koch brothers, Karl Rove can say we’re coming to Massachusetts, that we’re coming to any state in the union, with unlimited amounts of undisclosed money, is a pollution that must be changed,” Markey said, according to a video of the event provided by the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Yeah, from what I heard the Koch brothers are keeping it cold in California, and I don't think Rove will be wa$ting his time here.
“The Constitution must be amended,” he added. “The Dred Scott decision had to be repealed; we have to repeal Citizens United.”
The Dred Scott ruling, in 1857, upheld slavery in US territories and further said that blacks did not have the rights of US citizens. The 13th Amendment of the Constitution, adopted in 1865, formally abolished slavery. The 14th Amendment, in 1868, granted citizenship to African-Americans.
Markey made his comments Tuesday afternoon, hours after he met with a group of African- American ministers in Springfield. Several black ministers contacted Thursday said they found the comments inappropriate and off-the-mark, but added that they would not judge Markey solely on that remark.
Markey’s opponent in the Democratic primary, Representative Stephen Lynch, condemned the comment, as did Republicans.
In a statement Thursday, Markey repeated his opposition to Citizens United and criticized Republicans for failing to embrace a pact to curb spending from political action committees in the Senate election. He did not disavow his earlier remarks.
“The Supreme Court had the horrific judgment to issue the Dred Scott decision, and people rose up to challenge it,” he said. “Today, we’re faced with another egregious decision that needs overturning, Citizens United. The damage the court unleashed by allowing outside money to control elections constitutes a legitimate constitutional crisis.”
Oh, I admit the influence of corporate and elite cash has never been greater; however, we are fooling ourselves if we never thought money mattered in AmeriKan politics. Always has, but that conflicts with the shining narrative we are taught and believe about ourselves. Same with the equality bit when we had slavery and suffrage for so long.
The Rev. Eugene F. Rivers III, director of the Ella J. Baker House and cofounder of Boston TenPoint Coalition, said that Markey should sit down with African-American clergy in Boston to explain “his somewhat revisionist approach to the Dred Scott case.”
“I do not understand the historiographic or historical analogy,” he said. “That makes no sense to me.”
It does to me in a certain sense.
The Rev. Talbert W. Swan II, president of the Springfield NAACP and one of about 15 to 20 people who met with Markey earlier Tuesday, said he agreed with Markey that there were some parallels between the two “horrible” court decisions.
“Dred Scott basically upheld considering people as property and continuing to subjugate them and restrict their rights, while Citizens United did the opposite, by recognizing property as people and giving them rights,” Swan said.
I suppose one out of three ain't bad these days (unless you join the military, in which case you are property).
But he added that politicians need to be extremely sensitive about making such a comparison, given the significance of slavery in American history and especially within the African-American community.
“While there are some parallels, I don’t think campaign finance can be compared to the subjugation of an entire people,” Swan said.
Well, when you think about all the corporation ca$h that flows into government....
The Rev. William E. Dickerson II, senior pastor at Greater Love Tabernacle in Dorchester, said Markey probably did not intend to compare slavery with campaign finance, but added that people in the public eye need to be careful about their phrasing.
“We minimize the issue of the Dred Scott decision when we try to juxtapose it” with lesser issues, he said. “In terms of its impact and significance, that should stand alone.”
Good thing Markey didn't say anything about Jews, but then again why would he? He married one.
None of the pastors interviewed thought the comments would damage Markey significantly in the black community, however. They said black clergy are looking for candidates who can show a long-term commitment on significant issues, including incarceration rates for people of color, urban violence, and education.
Swan said he expects that Markey will garner support from many of the black ministers who met with him, because his stances are in line with those of President Obama, Governor Deval Patrick, and others who have won their support. But like other members of the black clergy, he said he wants to hear from all the candidates, from both political parties, before making a commitment.
“I think the day of African-Americans automatically supporting the Democratic candidate are over,” Swan said. “We have a more informed electorate that wants to weigh where the different candidates stand on the issues.”
Dickerson said someone from Lynch’s campaign has previously reached out to request an opportunity to address his church, and he expects other candidates from both parties to do the same. African-American voters, who are overwhelmingly registered as Democrats, could be especially influential in the party’s primary, and Lynch’s campaign was quick to seize on Markey’s comments.
I'd go with the residency angle instead, but what gets me is how the black preachers actually play into and need to invoke victimization to keep their slice of power. It's an open secret that they are part of the conservative wing of African-American power, and without the continuing straw man of racism they lose their flock. I'm not saying racism doesn't exist in AmeriKa, far from it; however, religion isn't the answer and often causes more problems.
I'd rather just treat people as I'd like to be treated, and judge them onnly by their actions.
“I don’t think it’s right to compare Citizens United to the Dred Scott decision,” Lynch said in a statement. “Dred Scott kept an entire race of people in bondage and perpetuated the horror of slavery in America. I’m not sure there are any Supreme Court decisions that rival Dred Scott in infamy.”
Why did Palestinians just leap to mind?
Lynch said he also supports a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.
Republicans tried to cast the comments as evidence that Markey is out of touch. “Agree or disagree with federal campaign finance law, it’s ridiculous and offensive to compare it to the horror of slavery,” said Brad Dayspring, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Yeah, because the chains are invisible this time and we have them running to the country. We call them immigrants.
--more--"
And over after-dinner drinks we can keep on talking:
"Markey criticized over fund-raiser with Spitzer" by Noah Bierman | Globe Staff, February 19, 2013
The state Republican Party called on US Representative Edward J. Markey Tuesday to cancel a fund-raiser next month for his Senate campaign cohosted by former New York governor Eliot Spitzer.
The invitation, obtained by Politico, lists Spitzer and his wife among six couples and one individual cohosting the March 13 event. It is being held in the Washington home of Emily Spitzer, the former governor’s sister, according to Politico, and her husband. Guests are asked to donate $500 to $5,000.
Markey’s campaign confirmed the invitation, but said the event would go on.
Spitzer, who resigned as governor of New York in disgrace in 2008 over a prostitution scandal, has since hosted television shows on CNN and Current TV and reemerged as a potential candidate for office.
He thought he wasn't being spied on. What did you think they were doing with all that power, trying to catch framed patsy-plotter "terrorists?"
Related:
"Spitzer was likely a target of a White House and Wall Street operation to silence one of its most dangerous and vocal critics of their handling of the current financial market crisis."
Yeah, hard to criminally prosecute banks when you are out of office.
Kirsten Hughes, chairwoman of the Massachusetts Republican Party, said the Malden Democrat should withdraw from the fund-raiser.
“You are judged by the company you keep, and it’s disgusting for Congressman Markey to rub elbows with a man best known for his solicitation of prostitutes,” she said. “Markey should immediately cancel the fund-raiser and denounce Spitzer’s abhorrent and unacceptable behavior. Anything short of a public condemnation and cancellation would send the wrong message to women.”
She's Brownie's girl.
--more--"
Related:
Markey says abortion shift was personal
What kind of message does that send?
Markey, other Democrats call for increased fuel aid
Now he's just pandering to the poor.
Markey ad highlights response to BP oil disaster
Slick.
Lynch, Markey sign pledge to limit third-party ads
GOP field rejects ad pledge in Senate race
Republican Senate candidates err in rejecting the people’s pledge
""US Representative Edward J. Markey is leading the race for the Democratic Senate nomination, according to a new WBUR poll released Tuesday. Markey, a Malden Democrat heavily backed by the national Democratic establishment, leads his rival, US Representative Stephen F. Lynch of South Boston, by 11 percentage points among likely Democratic voters, 35 percent to 24 percent, according to the poll. But about 30 percent of those surveyed said they have never heard of or are undecided about both candidates. Respondents said they had a more favorable view of Lynch than Markey. Either one would hold a lead of at least 17 percentage points over any of the GOP candidates in a hypothetical general-election match-up.""
That ought to make him feel comfortable.
Also see:
Democrats begin lining up to run for Markey’s congressional seat
Sciortino plans run for Markey’s seat
I guess he will be able to keep the house in Washington after he wins the special election.
