Monday, February 27, 2006

Port Insecurity

What Long Island representative voted against increased port security funding only a few short years ago?

This one's easy.

More tomorrow

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? King Opponent Dave Denenberg Fundraising

"For just $25, you can dethrone Peter King.

The only way this country will change the direction in which it is heading is if we change the make-up of Congress. Democrats need to gain the majority. This is the year it is going to happen.

We will have a Democratic governor. We will have a Democratic senator. Let’s elect a Democratic congressman.

Nassau County Legislator Dave Denenberg wants to run against Peter King. All of you who know Dave, know that there is no one on Long Island more qualified than he is. If you want to learn more about him, please check out his website at www.daviddenenberg.com.

I recommend that you read the Merrick Life article posted on that website entitled “Denenberg Saves Caucus”, which explains how he took hold of a bad situation in the Nassau County legislature and made it work. Isn’t that exactly what we want in Congress?
Someone who is not afraid to take control of a congressional session, fight for what he believes in and leave the meeting with an end product that we Democrats would be proud of.

If given the chance, I know Dave Denenberg will save this country from the direction it is heading.

If everyone who reads this contributes just $25, Dave Denenberg will defeat Peter King.

The polls show that Peter King is vulnerable. His voting record is deplorable. He votes the Republican agenda, even it means hurting his constituents. He is Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee and yet he voted to deny the 9/11 families the money promised them. He votes to forgive the energy conglomerates from cleaning up Long Island’s MTBE that has contaminated our soil, leaving Long Island taxpayers to pick up the tab. He is in favor of upgrading Plum Island to a facility that will conduct experiments on the most highly contagious diseases known to mankind, such as anthrax and small pox – rendering a facility that is already a known terrorist target, even more dangerous.

And Katrina happened while Peter King chaired the Homeland Security’s Emergency Preparedness, Science and Technology Committee. Need I say more…

Dave Denenberg has degrees in chemical engineering and law. He specializes in intellectual property and environmental law. He represents private individuals in lawsuits concerning environmental contamination. We desperately need someone in Congress who will look out for us. In the legislature, Dave Denenberg has secured more money for his district than any other legislator. He is the only legislator that has an office in his district, which he keeps open at his own expense. He has held over 150 community meetings. His reputation for constituent service was recognized by Newsday.

Dave Denenberg has the reputation as the hardest working legislator. One can only imagine what he will do once he gets to Congress.

But it will take money. He needs to raise $1 million to turn Peter King’s district into Dave Denenberg’s district. And it’s crunch time. He must raise $250,000 by March 1. Contributions of $50, $100 or more will make the possibility of his meeting his goal even greater.


Please make your check out to “Denenberg for Congress” and mail to:

Claudia Borecky
c/o Legislator Dave Denenberg
2818 Merrick Road
Bellmore, NY 11710

Please write your affiliated organization on the memo portion of your check.
Let’s make this happen.

Please print out the contribution clause below and include it with your payment:

Please sign below: I designate my contribution(s), composed of personal funds, to Denenberg for Congress as follows: the first $2,100 for the 2006 primary election and any additional amount that I contribute up to $2,100, for the 2006 general election.

Signature required
­­­* An individual may contribute a maximum amount of $2,100 per election (the primary and general are separate elections) to a federal candidate. Federal multi-candidate political action committees (PACs) may contribute $5,000 per election. Contributions from corporations, labor organization treasury funds, foreign nationals, and federal government contractors are prohibited. Corporations and individuals are strictly prohibited from reimbursing another person for making a contribution to Denenberg for Congress.

Federal law requires us to use our best efforts to collect and report the name, mailing address, occupation, and name of employer for each individual whose contributions aggregate in excess of $200 per election cycle.

Name: Email:

Occupation: Employer:

Address:

City:

State:
Zip:

Phone: (H) (W) (F)

Corporate contributions to the Committee are prohibited by law.

Contributions to the Committee are not tax deductible for federal income tax purposes
."

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

REMINDER - Feb 22 "The Constitution and the King" Rally

"Surveillance of terrorists is a prudent measure to prevent future attacks. Warrantless wiretaps, however, is a dangerous leap of faith. Without the judicial branch’s approval, the president’s N.S.A. surveillance program clearly violates the 1978 FISA law and appears to violate the Constitution.On Wednesday, February 22nd at 6pm, concerned citizens from all over Long Island will be urging Representative Peter King to investigate the president’s violations of the law and defend the Constitution.To learn more and to sign go to the following link:http://political.moveon.org/event/events/event.html?event_id=7990I hope you take advantage of this opportunity to stand up and fight for the integrity of our Constitution."

King of the Environment - Scores 11% with League of Conservation Voters

The League of Conservation Voters has released its 2005 Scorecard (.pdf d0wnload) and Peter King ranks at the bottom for New York State. King ties Staten Island rep Vito Fossella with 11%. The only rep with a lower score on the environment is Rep. Kuhl with 6%.
How can these numbers be so low? The 3rd CD covers the South Shore and the North Shore. The need for a strong pro-environment stance should be a requirement for any representative from Long Island. His vote for MTBE is one that should be his shame.
Reps. McCarthy, Bishop, Ackerman and Isreal all score a 94%
Kings record on the environment hasn't been that good with a score of 16% in the 108th congress and 23% in the 107th. With 11% in the 109th congress, King keeps getting worse and worse.

Monday, February 20, 2006

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Just when you think that King is right on an issue, he falls back to his usual self.
The troubling idea that major US Ports will be run by a company owned by the United Arab Emirites who have had ties to radicals has come under fire by Sens. Schumer and Clinton of New York and Sen. Menenedez of New Jersey. Local representatives inculding Peter King have expressed dismay at the choice and want to know how this deal came about and why it was authorized.
King said "I would urge the president to freeze this contract, to hold this contract until a full and thorough and complete investigation can be conducted."
and "The United Arab Emirates, they're one of only three countries in the world that, prior to September 11, recognized the Taliban. In the days after 9/11, they were not overly supportive, as we were trying to track down terrorists' financial transactions.
What's more, U.S. officials have said the UAE was an important transfer point for shipments of smuggled nuclear components sent to Iran, North Korea and Libya by the Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan.
Nonetheless, the Bush administration calls the UAE an ally in the war on terror. And counterterrorism officials say it is cooperating more and consistently since 9/11."
King also says "I'm aware of the conditions and they relate entirely to how the company carries out its procedures, but it doesn't go to who they hire, or how they hire people... They're better than nothing, but to me they don't address the underlying conditions, which is how are they going to guard against things like infiltration by al-Qaida or someone else? How are they going to guard against corruption?"

The problem with King is that while he is critical of the plan, he has fallen back to his "protect Bush" mode. He did it with the Hurricane Katrina failures (which we will be covering more of soon) and now according to CNN's Lou Dobbs, King might be trying to do it again.
Will King do it? We'll see...

Lou Dobbs had this to say about one of King's responses,
"DOBBS: Understandably, perhaps, in a political sense the suggestion by Congressman King, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, that this is a mistake on the part of midlevel bureaucrats. This has been approved by the Treasury secretary, the CFIUS Committee, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, and fully endorsed by the secretary of Homeland Security, who actually the temerity to say, Ed Henry, "We have to balance the paramount urgency of security against the fact that we still want to have a robust global trading system."
Those are the words of the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Not a midlevel bureaucrat, we should point out.

HENRY: That's right. And those words are frustrating a lot of people like Peter King. There's obviously going to be a question about whether King and others are insulating the president a bit, though, by suggesting its midlevel bureaucrats. I think what he was referring to is the fact that he thinks is took too long for some of the lower level bureaucrats to kick it upstairs. You're right, certainly higher level officials like the cabinet secretaries have gotten involved, but he's saying that they pushed it upstairs too late in the game, and it became a fait accompli -- Lou.

DOBBS: This is a failure at every level. Let me be clear, Ed Henry. This is a failure of leadership. This is not a failure of midlevel bureaucrats, period."



Sunday, February 19, 2006

"The Constitution and the King" Vigil

"Surveillance of terrorists is a prudent measure to prevent future attacks. Warrantless wiretaps, however, is a dangerous leap of faith. Without the judicial branch’s approval, the president’s N.S.A. surveillance program clearly violates the 1978 FISA law and appears to violate the Constitution.

On Wednesday, February 22nd at 6pm, concerned citizens from all over Long Island will be urging Representative Peter King to investigate the president’s violations of the law and defend the Constitution.

To learn more and to sign go to the following link:

http://political.moveon.org/event/events/event.html?event_id=7990

I hope you take advantage of this opportunity to stand up and fight for the integrity of our Constitution."

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

King Opponent Emerging

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Nassau County Legislator Dave Mejias is emerging as the man to beat King this November.
Dave needs encouragement and would like to hear your thoughts. e-mail him at davemejias@aol.com and let him know we need him to defeat King.