Scott Brown.....running for President?.....

WCVB Channel 5 Boston

 

Former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown says he may be exploring the possibility of a presidential bid in 2016. Would you like to see him run? http://ow.ly/o2l4g

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scott Brown

Searching for an unrelated article, the entry below appeared....posted in this forum...cross posted elsewhere ....a gentle reminder of Scott Brown's active lobbying while a U.S. Senator, for his bed bud, Gary Piontkowski, now a publicly recognized CROOK.

Mr. Piontkowski didn't need a gun or sophisticated plan....he just took it! When caught, the 'investors' even gave him more...such a deal!

Senator Scott Brown's other best buds were among those connected to Framingham's New England Compounding Center


These were not merely anonymous campaign contributors....the relationships go beyond and raise doubts about Scott Brown's judgement, as well as his lock-step endorsement of the Republican push for DE-REGULATION....well, until something horrific happens. Then they scream.....or ignore the death toll.

OTHER: Senator Scott Brown's Poor Judgement

Arizona Calling Out The Insane REPUBLICANS

Thirty years of trickle down economics hasn't worked; free trade has send 30 million factory jobs overseas where labor earns 25 cents on the dollar when compared to the American worker; they've taken away labor union benefits from workers and have stripped labor unions of their political power. Workers have no human rights in 26 of the 51 states in the USA.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Middleboro Remembers: A Senator Lobbying for Predatory Gambling?

Middleboro Remembers: A Senator Lobbying for Predatory Gambling?


Massachusetts voters are historically known for correcting their errors in the next election.
When you vote, please consider the letter to the editor below.

Senator Scott Brown returned from Washington, D.C. - a sitting Senator - to lobby for his buddies at Plainridge.

Is that what we want? A Senator lobbying for a Slot Barn? For Predatory Gambling?

 

Gráinne O'Malley

Here's a great letter to the editor about the connection between Scott Brown and expanded predatory gambling:

October 28, 2012
To the Editor,

When the two anti-casino candidates won the Foxboro selectmen races in May 2012, many thought the casino-in-Foxboro issue had been put to rest, particularly when the Kraft Group issued a press release stating it was "suspending" their efforts. However, "suspending" raised a red flag in my mind that they would be back, particularly if the Suffolk Downs location in East Boston and Revere ran into problems.

An article in the October 18th Foxboro Reporter, stated the Kraft Group submitted to the Planning Board on October 11th a set of "draft zoning clarifications/revisions." The article went on to say that a "resort, conference and/or entertainment facilities" and "resort amenities and personal services for occupants of the facilities" would be allowed in the Route 1 economic development area.

The Foxboro Reporter article also said that several people asked the Kraft Group representative if these proposals would allow for a casino. He would not answer their question.

An article in the October 25th Foxboro Reporter notes that a Foxboro Advisory Committee member wants the Kraft Group to sign a legally binding no-casino pledge in order to resolve the casino issue once and for all: "...All it (Kraft Group) needs to do is enter into an agreement...that is legally binding and that runs with the land, and can be recorded with the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds."

The article said that "a spokesman for the Kraft Group declined to comment Tuesday on the proposal."

You know, there's a saying: Sometimes no answer is an answer.

Given the above, a cautious person would have to believe that whatever casino activity was "suspended," no longer is.

I lived in Norfolk when the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority attempted in the 1990's to locate a Sludge Dump on the boundary line between Norfolk and Walpole. After several years of intense opposition to it, we finally stopped it.

A key factor in our success was having elected officials, both state and federal, being in our corner and going to bat for us.

This raises a very important question about the casino issue and the upcoming U. S. Senate race. Where does Scott Brown stand on having a casino on Route One in Foxboro? We can get a pretty good idea by traveling down Route One just four miles from Patriot Place to the Plainridge Racecourse in Plainville.

On April 26, 2012, at Boston.com, Jose Martinez, Boston Globe correspondent, said, "The track owners hope to expand their gambling operation to include the first slot-machine parlor in Massachusetts." They have a "$160 million plan to expand the racetrack."

August 9, 2012 was the opening day to submit applications to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. On August 9, 2012, at www.sunchronicle.com, Jim Hand of the Sun Chronicle, posted that "Plainridge Racecourse formally began the process of applying for a slot machine license by submitting a check for $400,000 to the state Gaming Commission." He said the deposit was non-refundable, and "Plainridge wants the only license the state is offering to operate 1,250 slot machines...." Hand's posting on August 16, 2012, notes that the Plainridge Racecourse is in the process of building a 1,000 car parking garage. "The hope is the garage will serve future customers of a racino the track owners want to build if they win the only state license for a slot machine parlor."

How does Scott Brown fit into the above picture?

On July 20, 2010, over two years ago, at Boston.com, Noah Bierman and Frank Phillips of the Boston Globe staff posted the following: "As a state senator, Brown was a strong advocate for Plainridge Racecourse, whose owner, Gary Piontkowski, has given, with family, $3,250 to Brown's political campaigns since 2003, who attended Brown's swearing-in as a (United States) senator, and who co-owned a horse with Brown's daughter."

"Senator Scott Brown has lobbied both Governor Deval Patrick and Senate President Therese Murray to legalize slot machines at the state's race tracks according to the governor and a legislative official on Beacon Hill....Brown called Murray in April (2010), shortly after the House passed a bill allowing slots at the race tracks, to voice his support and suggested that the Legislature authorize 1,500 slot machines at each track."

Harness Tracks of America's Executive Newsletter of July 31, 2008, noted that Scott Brown's daughter became a partner in ownership of a racing horse in April 2008 with Plainridge Racecourse president Gary Piontkowski. This was raised during a session of the Massachusetts State Senate when it was considering extension of the Massachusetts simulcasting law. The Newsletter stated that Scott Brown "pointed out that he had worked on behalf of Plainridge long before his daughter owned a horse..."

On January 26, 2009, at www.sunchronicle.com Michael Gelbwasser of the Sun Chronicle staff posted an article about a public meeting held at the race tack by Plainridge Racecourse President Gary Piontkowski to promote slot machines at race tracks. Gelbwasser wrote that Piontkowski "invited Plainville residents, town and state lawmakers and horsemen to the session."

State Senator Scott Brown attended the session and said: "If you folks are going to continue to support it, then we'll support it in the Legislature." Gelbwasser also wrote, "Plainridge Racecourse President Gary Piontkowski said Sunday he and his partners are ready to fund a $100 to 125 million renovation and expansion of the Route 1 track immediately if state lawmakers allow 1,500 slot machines there." It's interesting that in the above Boston Globe article about Scott Brown discussing slots at race tracks with Governor Patrick and Senate President Murray, that he suggested the same number of slot machines, "1500."

 

 

http://olmosfoundation.blogspot.com/2012/11/middleboro-remembers-senator-lobbying.html

Senator Scott Brown's Poor Judgement

Senator Scott Brown traveled from Washington to lobby Governor 'Slot Barns' Patrick for his best BUD, Gary Piontkowski who ingratiated himself with many others, unless, of course, you were an abutter he was forced to intimidate and bully.

There does seem to be an inordinate amount of BULLYING going on in Plainville.....

While former Senator Scott Brown's choice of friends and fund-raisers may seem questionable in regards to Plainridge/Piontkowski, don't ignore the Senator's connection to the New England Compounding Lab and his support for DE-REGULATION in all sizes and colors.

The Perennial Candidate Scott Brown might choose his friends more wisely. Even if the name Piontkowski is easily forgotten next election cycle, the avoidable deaths caused by his other best BUDS are not.

Scott Brown’s Pal Deemed Too Sleazy For Slots By State Commission

The Gaming Commission finds former Plainridge president Gary Piontkowski so corrupt that the racetrack is ineligible for slots.

By David S. Bernstein|Boston Daily|August 6, 2013

 

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission decided yesterday that Plainridge Racecourse’s recently-booted president Gary Piontkowski was so insanely sleazy and corrupt that the track had to be deemed ineligible for a slot machine license.

 

This result will be celebrated by the many Beacon Hill folks who have, over the years, described Piontkowski to me as someone who they feel dirty being in a room with. But it must be a bitter disappointment for Piontkowski’s No. 1 superfan and booster, Scott Brown.

 

The Plainridge facility is in Brown’s old state senate district, and over the years, the two developed a close friendship. Brown was well known to frequent the racecourse and enjoy a drink with his pal Gary. Piontkowski became a big donor and fundraiser for Brown; Brown became a hardy advocate for the racing industry—and in particular, for allowing Plainridge to fill its halls with slot machines.

In 2008, Piontkowski sold a 50 percent share in a trotter he owned to Brown’s younger daughter, Arianna, for $3,000. They co-owned the horse together, as it ran and won money, but that wasn’t seen as a potentially compromising business partnership for Brown because it’s perfectly normal for a successful businessman to go sharesies with a 16-year-old girl.
 

When Brown went on to become a US Senator in 2010, he demonstrated a weird fixation in his conversations with political leaders back in Massachusetts, including governor Deval Patrick and senate president Therese Murray. They would want to discuss issues of importance to the Commonwealth going on in Washington, like Republicans filibustering huge chunks of Medicaid funding. But all Brown wanted to talk about was how they should pass a gaming bill that put slot machines at Piontkowski’s track. The Globe‘s Joan Vennocchi dubbed him “Senator Slots.”
 

This April, as the Gaming Commission was doing its required investigation into Plainridge, Piontkowski abruptly retired as president, citing “health reasons.”
 

As we learned recently, the “health reasons” were that Piontkowski had been literally stuffing wads of the track’s money into his pockets for years, which is enough to make you sick. This revelation, uncovered by the Commission, came as a total surprise to Piontkowski’s business partners and fellow executives, because every time the track’s CFO had tried to tell them about it, they stuck their fingers in their ears and sang “My Old Kentucky Home” at the top of their lungs.
 

Once the Commission received testimony about the casual theft of well over a million dollars by the track’s president, however, the Plainridge powers leapt into action to save their chance for a slot machine license: they allowed Piontkowski to leave under a false “health reasons” pretense, without penalty or punishment and without repaying any of the money plus a full buy-out of his shares and an extra two years’ salary for his troubles. Because that’s exactly what you would expect any gambling establishment to do for somebody who stole $1.4 million out of their money room.
 

And they seem startled that the Commonwealth has decided that Plainridge shouldn’t be chosen as the recipient of the state’s only slots-only license.
 

I wonder what Scott Brown has to say about that decision. Is he sad that all his years of advocating for Plainridge to get slot machines has come a-cropper? Or does he not care, now that his buddy is no longer president and part-owner of the place?
 

And is Brown bothered by the fact that the guy he shared so many good times with—and accepted so much funding from—turns out to have been so sleazy?
 

I doubt we’ll hear much from the former US Senator on these questions. And if he is planning to run for something in 2014 (the latest scuttlebutt is that he wants to take on Ed Markey for Senate), he’s probably hoping that the media will have forgotten all about this by the time he gets around to announcing. I, for one, plan on remembering.

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2013/08/06/scott-brown-pal-gary-piontkowski-plainridge-racecourse/



New England Compounding Lab, De-regulation and Jeopardizing Human Lives:

Framingham Pharmacy Contributed to Brown

Toyota and the Tea Baggers: Did you ever notice......

NECC owner bought $2.4M home here this spring

Dirty shoes? How did steroids get contaminated?

Putting Lives At Risk For Deregulation
The human cost of 'deregulation' and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
And some call themselves 'Christians'!.....
Patriotism

Compounding problems with health and safety oversight

Goose-Stepping Against Regulations

End of a Legacy and the Death of New England Fisheries

Overshadowed by the election campaign reports, the President's trip to the Middle East and the sabre-rattling by Iraq, and buried on the back pages of local newspapers, the New England Fishery  Management Council's groundfish committee in October recommended action that will essentially end a way of life and alter New England's harbors and fishing industry irretrievably.

After decades of overfishing and refusal by the industry to effectively self-regulate, some species are at their lowest historical levels and endangered.

The current recommendations will expand offshore closure areas from last May's actions and additionally limit annual catches for target species.

On George's Bank at the turn of the century, the average halibut caught weighed 40 pounds. Last year, the average was 10 pounds. The sustainable annual yield is estimated to be about 100 million pounds, but last year 10 million pounds were caught.

To fully understand what happens to one of the world's most productive marine ecosystems requires wading through the finger-pointing because industry blames the biologists for failure to understand the ecosystem and accurately predict the decline and a regulatory bureaucracy for its slowness to respond and the biologists blame the industry for their greed and failure to make the requisite financial decisions before the situation was dire and the regulators blame the other two.


Historical, the United States had laid claim to coastal territorial waters extending twelve miles from the coast.

In the sixties and seventies, foreign fishing fleets, including Japan, Poland and the former Soviet Union sent massive factory ships into the fishing areas beyond the twelve mile limit, precisely those areas that are the most productive.

By the early seventies, the decline of these areas was evident and Congress enacted the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 1976 extending the coastal limit to 200 miles, effectively evicting foreign factory ships.

The Magnuson Act provided that eight regional councils would be established to develop and implement management plans to regulate the regional industry and exempted council members from conflict of interest laws because the intent of Congress was that the commercial industry should self-regulate. In fairness to all involved, the regional councils have been successful in other areas and have regulated the commercial harvest at sustainable levels.

With the foreign trawlers successfully evicted, the New England fishing fleets expanded and thrived. New processing plants were constructed. Larger fishing boats were purchased. More sophisticated and expensive technology was purchased. More money was borrowed.

Those same vested interests that controlled the regional council failed to adopt appreciable limits because of potential financial consequences to themselves.

Both the Conservation Law Foundation and the Audubon Society had united with the commercial fishermen to prevent oil exploration in George's Bank, but by 1991, when overfishing continued and no appreciable action was evident, they sued the Commerce Department for failure to regulate the overfishing and received a consent decree mandating a stock rebuilding plan by 1992.

It had been argued that if the fishermen formulated a workable plan, their commitment to its success was assured.

For each proposal that was acceptable to one port, another argued that it was punitive.

When annual quotas were discussed, it was argued that the quotas would lead to a practice called "high-grading" wherein fish already caught are tossed overboard for a more valuable catch.

It should also be mentioned that most of the groundfish in the George's Bank area are caught in "otter trawls." My understanding is, that they resemble large mesh stockings. The boats pull the net through the water, above the bottom and the net fills with groundfish.

The first problem that quickly becomes apparent is that this technique is unselective - it catches everything in its path.

As the net fills, the larger fish block the mesh and consequently smaller fish are trapped within. If some of the fish landed are illegal, they are tossed overboard - dead. So in effect, nothing has been gained by the quota.

Additionally, some of the boats carry net liners with smaller mesh and argue necessity for other commercial species. There is no way to assure that there liners are not being used illegally.

When the closure areas were in effect, the fishermen fished the perimeters heavily and attacked closed areas when they opened like a Filene's Basement Sale, rendering the closure almost useless.

The 1992 deadline passed and various plans were still discussed. It finally became apparent that the limits imposed would include reduction of fishing days among other items.

Finally, in 1993, the National Marine Fisheries Service [NMFS] requested comments on the Council's amendment 5 that proposed measures to increase depleted stocks, addressed trawl, longline and sink gillnet fishing, as well as addressed incidental takes of depleted marine mammals, specifically harbor porpoises and right whales, by phasing in over five years no fish areas.

The Marine Mammal Commission [MMC] responded recommending faster phase in of the no fishing days.

It should be acknowledged that while proposals were being considered, a gag order was issued which prevented biologists from speaking out and educating the public.


In May 1994, the Council enacted Amendment 5.

In 1993, a five year moratorium on incidental takes of marine mammals expired and when the Marine Mammal Protection Act was reauthorized in 1994, it strengthened those measures intended to restrict fisheries interaction. In 1993, NMFS proposed adding harbor porpoises to the Endangered Species Act as a threatened species due to the high mortality caused by bottom-gillnet fishing and listed eastern spinner dolphin, northeastern offshore spotted dolphin and coastal migratory bottlenosed dolphin as depleted under the MMPA. None of these species was addressed adequately under Amendment 5.

All these pressures combined to force the Council to make their recommendations in October. It can be argued that it was decades overdue and the the industry's failure to act led to its own demise. Although the fishermen have argued that inadequate time has elapsed to allow Amendment  5 to work, they have complained that they are forced to stay out longer fishing and traveling further to fill their hulls.

There will be important lessons to be learned as the no fishing areas are enforced and marine biologists study the impacted species. Will the marine ecosystem rebound? Will we learn the lessons? History will report this as our gross stupidity and irresponsibility to our environment.



The above was written in the 1990s and although the fishing industry may have changed, politicians involved haven't.

Fishermen invested heavily in an industry in collapse, whine to politicians for rescue, bailout, increased limits and pretend to be victims of the depletion they have caused.

The most recent sacrilege is Attorney General Martha Coakley's Grand Standing to support an industry that has destroyed itself and one of the World's Most Productive Fishing Grounds.

The Epitaph has Martha Coakley's initials writ large.

End the GOP Gridlock

If you watched the GOP Tactics in the last Congress, the Filibuster was employed as obstruction to avoid helping the American people move forward, find jobs and improve the economy.

The GOP Tactics were employed for the sole purpose of denying President Obama a second term which Senator Scott Brown joined.

How'd that work out for you?

American voters have spoken.  

Let's unite behind the idea of restoring jobs, economic growth and progress to benefit all Americans.

Below is an email from our newest Massachusetts Senator, the first woman to represent Massachusetts in a truly proud moment -- Please join with others calling for an end to the GOP gridlock --


What did the filibuster cost in the past two years?

• We had a majority to vote for three jobs bills.
• We had a majority to vote for the DREAM Act.
• We had a majority to vote for campaign finance reform.
• We had a majority to vote for equal pay for equal work.

Every one of these laws was stopped dead by the filibuster.

Hard-working families are fed up -- and the Republicans know it. That's why they're pushing hard to stop filibuster reform in its tracks.

We can't give in. Join me, Senators Jeff Merkley and Tom Udall, the Daily Kos community, and thousands of your fellow citizens in standing up for real reform of the filibuster.

Let's be clear: The reforms don't eliminate the filibuster. Instead, they just make it necessary for someone to stand and talk through their objections -- out in plain view for everyone to see.

The reforms are about making the filibuster an extraordinary measure rather than a routine no-business-gets-done.

We need to put an end to the aggressive obstruction that has paralyzed the Senate. If someone objects to a bill or a nomination in the United States Senate, they should have to stand on the floor of the chamber and defend their opposition.

Nobody gets elected to the Senate to go down there and play politics. We're here to do the people's business.

Show your support for filibuster reform before our first vote next week.

Thank you for being a part of this,

Elizabeth

Capitalism works best.....

To the list below let's add the New England Compounding Center that killed and sickened people because of unsanitary conditions in their facilities. Management proved it was more interested in deregulation and $$$ than running a reputable company. [Let's not forget that the owners raised $$$ for Senator Scott Brown and contributed to his campaign.]

 

From: Keith Olbermann Fan Page and Melvin Poindexter shared Americans Against The Republican Party's photo.

Unregulated capitalism is a great idea! What could possibly go wrong?

The Suicide Trap

Let's not forget that former Senator Scott Brown signed Grover Norquist's pledge because he has no understanding of economics.

 

From:We survived Bush. You will survive Obama.

The Norquist tax pledge is a pledge to cut Medicare, a pledge to cut Social Security, Medicaid for seniors and the disabled, college loans, food stamps… And it’s a pledge to raise taxes on your kids. Most of all, Norquist’s pledge has been a promise to transfer wealth to the richest.

What Grover’s Tax Pledge Actually Means

By LOLGOP on November 24, 2012 in GOPocrisy

 

It’s a death trap, it’s a suicide rap

This week, Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia did what amazingly few elected Republicans do: He said that he cared more about his country than some “twenty year old pledge.”

He means the Americans For Tax Reform Taxpayer Pledge, which is advocated for and enforced by the most powerful American who has never won an election — Grover Norquist.

Chambliss now joins Senator Tom Coburn as one of the few outspoken Republican critics of a position that has infected nearly all of the GOP. It’s not an empty stand; he now risks a primary challenge funded by Norquist’s allies like the Club for Growth.

For two decades, by implicitly threatening every elected Republican with a career-ending injury, Grover Norquist has dominated the right-wing discourse with his strict belief that taxes should only be cut.
He’s been so successful that we’re having a fierce debate that’s only about raising taxes on income over $250,000 by a mere 3% — even though tax rates in general are at a 30-year low and the richest are paying some of the lowest taxes rates in 80 years.

This is the discussion that we are stuck with after Bush’s failed experiment which resulted in the richest 1% now having a greater collective net worth than the bottom 90%.

Everyone agrees we should leave Bush Tax Cuts for the middle class intact which is understandable considering that we are still in a jobs crisis. But, in exchange for keeping that $2,000 a year, what will middle class families give up? Is it worth working two more years before you get your Social Security or reforming Social Security so that it won’t keep up with inflation? Is it worth cutting education or health care for the most vulnerable?

Call Norquist’s pledge what it is: it’s a pledge to cut Medicare. A pledge to cut Social Security, Medicaid for seniors and the disabled, college loans, food stamps… And, it’s a pledge to raise taxes on your kids. Most of all, Norquist’s pledge is a promise to transfer wealth to the richest.

It’s not a pledge to be fiscally responsible, balance budgets or set priorities. It’s a pledge to do the opposite of all that.

That there are only a handful of Republicans willing to publicly object to basing their entire career on that kind of promise tells you everything you know about the GOP.

[CC image credit: Gage Skidmore | Flickr]

http://www.eclectablog.com/2012/11/what-grovers-tax-pledge-actually-means.html

Great Map of Votes

Warren realizes largest gains in working-class cities

Scott Brown's False Claims

Glad someone is hammering Scott Brown for his false claims!
His responses to emails represented lock-step Republican rhetoric, not independence.
His co-sponsorship of the Blunt Amendment should alarm any thinking person.



Harry Reid Hammers Scott Brown Bipartisan Claims As 'Big Joke'

Posted: 11/14/2012

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) scoffed Wednesday at defeated Sen. Scott Brown's chances of ever winning back his seat and slammed the Massachusetts Republican's assertions of bipartisanship as a "big joke" and a "travesty."

Reid's remarks came in reaction to a press conference Brown gave a day earlier, in which Brown bemoaned his loss to Democrat Elizabeth Warren in last week's election as more evidence that moderates are a dying breed in the U.S. Senate.

Asked about those comments Wednesday, Reid was happy to engage.

"I saw during the campaign his plea for bipartisanship. That is a big joke. It's a travesty," Reid told reporters. "He was one of the most partisan people that's ever served here."

In fact, Brown did vote with Democrats on a number of key measures, but Reid focused on the times that Brown could have broken from his party and put legislation over the 60-vote threshold needed to end a filibuster.

"He could have saved Citizens United," Reid said, referring to a bill that would have required corporations to disclose their independent-group spending on elections. "He could have been the 60th vote on that and many other things. So I don't need a lecture from him on bipartisanship. He should go look in the mirror."

The issue of Brown's bipartisanship is relevant because he would have another Senate shot in a special election if the Obama administration were to pick Massachusetts' senior Democratic senator, John Kerry, for a post such as secretary of state or defense. Brown declined Tuesday to rule out running for such an open seat, though he did praise Kerry as an excellent choice for secretary of state.
Reid suggested that should Kerry leave the Senate, Democrats would have nothing to fear from another Brown run, even though Brown is still relatively popular in the Bay State.
"We feel very comfortable -- if, in fact, something does happen -- we feel comfortable about Massachusetts," Reid said. "I think that I've already told you how I feel about Scott Brown."
Michael McAuliff covers Congress and politics for The Huffington Post. Talk to him on Facebook.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/14/harry-reid-scott-brown_n_2130518.html

Empty Suit!

Following Senator Brown's votes, public comments and lack has been disappointing enough.
Before you cast your vote, please do your homework.

FromGod Bless the President of the United States

DID YOU KNOW.... Scott Brown said during a debate that he wasn't one of Warren's students .... indeed the only truth he ever spoke during his campaign ...by the way he would never quality to be her pet much less a pupil. -CD (sharing via post by JohnT.May)
http://boldprogressives.org/after-1000-days-in-office-scott-brown-hasnt-held-one-open-town-hall-with-his-constituents/
MASS: PLEASE FIGHT FOR WARREN, You'll regret it if you don't!!!!

 

http://boldprogressives.org/after-1000-days-in-office-scott-brown-hasnt-held-one-open-town-hall-with-his-constituents/

 

 

Scott Brown puts opponent in ad!

Truly offensive!

From: Fred Koed via Gus Bickford

Scott Brown's Campaign should be renamed to "A Comedy of Errors"

NECC owner bought $2.4M home here this spring

When Republicans insist that there are too many business regulations, this story of widespread tragedy should come to mind. How do you place a price on the human toll?  

As the death toll mounts, the Boston Globe offered the tragic case of the first victim, a Tennessee man, in the fungal meningitis outbreak caused by NECC that highlights the difficulty of detection --

As meningitis death toll rises to 21, physicians detail the first case

By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff
10/19/2012

http://www.boston.com/whitecoatnotes/2012/10/19/meningitis-death-toll-rises-physicians-detail-the-first-case/X6uJ5sQFLioHd5ODKXHLoM/story.html


With the death toll at 21, bankruptcy is predictable, additional names added to the list --

Bankruptcy likely for Framingham firm linked to meningitis infections
New England Compounding Center lawyers say action would stem flow of lawsuits

The US Food and Drug Administration said the fungus causing the fungal meningitis outbreak was in one lot of vials made in August by the New England Compounding Center, which is at the center of the national investigation into hundred of fungal meningitis cases, including at least 21 deaths.

By Todd Wallack

Globe Staff / October 19, 2012

Peter McGrath, a former federal prosecutor representing a New Hampshire patient, has asked a judge to place a lien against the personal property of three company directors: ­Gregory Conigliaro, his sister Lisa Conigliaro Cadden, and brother-in-law Barry Cadden. A hearing is scheduled Nov. 6 in Middlesex Superior Court.

Boston attorney Fredric ­Ellis, representing a Michigan patient, said it can be difficult to “pierce the corporate veil” and hold officers accountable for their companies’ actions. But Ellis said he sued Barry Cadden, in addition to the company, because Cadden is also listed in state licensing records as the pharmacist of record for New England Compounding.

“He is responsible,” Ellis said.

Jazlowiecki said he is trying to find out whether any suppliers or related companies could be partially responsible for the fungal contamination, such as Conigliaro’s recycling business, located next to New England Compounding.

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/2012/10/19/new-england-compounding-center-likely-file-bankruptcy-stop-flood-lawsuits/PuUIIvr1CVFy7nubfbTbwO/story.html

NECC owner bought $2.4M home here this spring

10/20/12 · 7:39 am :: posted by CCToday

 

TODAY's quote: "We want to pierce the corporate veil and go after the individuals.
My clients are in a lot of pain.” - Attorney Peter McGrath.

 

Owner tied to meningitis outbreak owns $2.4M Cape Cod home

 

Views of the waterfront home in Barnstable at 155 Salten Point Road.

By Walter Brooks

The Conigliaro companies & NECC are in the same building in Framingham.The owners of the New England Compounding Center (NECC) spent several million dollars on luxury homes, including one in Barnstable, in the months before U.S. authorities shut down their operations.
The Insurance Journal reports that members of the Boston-area family who own the New England Compounding Center and related companies which are linked to the deadly meningitis outbreak, spent several million dollars in the Spring of this year.

Greg Conigliaro, who is one of the owners of NECC and Ameridose, paid $2.4 million for a beachfront home at 155 Salten Point Road in Barnstable this spring.

Meanwhile the New York Times interviewed eight former employees at NECC and Ameridose, a related company with FDA approval as a manufacturer. Some defended the company, but six said that a corporate culture encouraged shortcuts, even when it compromised safety. At Ameridose, a pharmacist complained to management that quality control workers, who were not trained pharmacists, did work they shouldn't have done.

Read the Insurance Journal report here.

See the list of health facilities affected here.

http://www.capecodtoday.com/news/EXTRA/2012/10/20/necc-owner-bought-2-4m-home-here

 

West Harwich: Astounding Republican Ignorance!

It might seem that removing the sign, researching the IRS regulations and apologizing was the better part of valor.  

It's difficult to determine who, in this instance is more ignorant - Rev. Jonathan Cobb for convincing himself the tax-exempt church property is somehow his without regard to the law or the West Harwich Republican Town Committee Chairman Rick Gleason for placing the sign.

Brown sign on church property violates IRS rules

 

The Rev. Jonathan Cobb, pastor at First Baptist Church of West Harwich, says he wasn't aware his sign supporting Sen. Scott Brown was against IRS regulations.

Cape Cod Times/Merrily Cassidy

 

By Doug Fraser

dfraser@capecodonline.com

October 19, 2012

 

WEST HARWICH – The big red, white and blue campaign sign “Scott Brown He's for Us” wasn't jarring in and of itself. There were plenty of signs championing the Republican U.S. senator and his

 

Democratic opponent, Elizabeth Warren, all along this stretch of Route 28.

 

The problem was that it was posted right in front of First Baptist Church of West Harwich in violation of an Internal Revenue Service prohibition on tax-exempt entities endorsing candidates.

“It's a matter of saying we support Scott Brown because he helped us,” said the Rev. Jonathan Cobb.

Cobb, the pastor of First Baptist Church, said Brown's staff helped untangle a maze of red tape that allowed his wife's grandmother to come to the U.S. as a citizen.

“He helped us. We support Scott Brown,” Cobb said.

 

Cobb did not realize the church couldn't endorse a candidate and wondered if such a prohibition didn't verge on impinging on his freedom of speech. He said he planned to check with his attorney on whether he was violating the law.

 

First Baptist Church is tax exempt and doesn't pay property taxes in Harwich, which has a property tax rate of $8.12 per every $1,000 in valuation. With the property valued at nearly $800,000, the church avoids paying nearly $6,200 annually.

 

According to the IRS restrictions on political campaign intervention by tax-exempt organizations, churches, for instance, “are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf (or in opposition to) any candidate.” They cannot make contributions or make verbal or written public statements of their position regarding a candidate.

 

Violation may result in the denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of taxes, the IRS warned.

 

“I think perhaps Pastor Cobb didn't think ahead of the consequences of doing what he did,” said Diane Casey-Lee, the executive director of the Cape Cod Council of Churches of which First Baptist Church is a member.

 

Casey-Lee said the prohibition on allowing a candidate's sign on church property is clear and well-understood by many of the members. She said she was sure the prohibition would be upheld. “He has a good heart and intentions, and it was well-intended but, yes, (the prohibition) is very clear,” Casey-Lee said.

 

While he may have the right to place the sign on his own front lawn, she said, by putting it in front of the church made it seem as though the church, as an organization, was endorsing Brown's candidacy.

 

Casey-Lee explained that the prohibition on churches becoming involved in political campaigns goes back to the Founding Fathers and their negative experience with institutionalized religions. A spiritual leader endorsing a particular candidate may have undue influence over his or her congregation.

 

Cobb said he did not endorse Brown from the pulpit nor did his church contribute any money to his campaign.

 

“No one is strong-arming anyone to vote for Scott Brown,” Cobb said. “I think Scott Brown is the best person, and I will try to help him. I will take the sign down. I have no problem with that.”

 

Harwich Republican Town Committee Chairman Rick Gleason put up the sign after asking for Cobb's permission, he said Thursday by phone.

Gleason said he didn't know that it violated any laws, that he'd been putting up campaign signs for a decade and simply abided by the rule that he had to get a property owner's permission.

Gleason said Cobb's wife, who was originally from Haiti, saw a Brown sign in the back of his pickup truck and asked him if she could put one up. He asked and received Cobb's permission and installed the sign.

 

He admitted he had never installed one on church property before.

“He said it's his church, and he's the pastor,” Gleason said.

A phone message and detailed email request for comment from Brown's staff was not returned Thursday.

 

Cobb questioned whether the law was being enforced equally or at all. He pointed to highly political ministers like the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson and political positions they have taken and candidates they have endorsed over the years. 

 

Rev. Cobb points out 'but they're doing it,' ignoring the issue! No! Rev. Cobb! You are NOT being picked on!

“They are gray areas that have evolved over the past 10 to 12 years,” said Casey-Lee, who dabbles in politics as an advocate for the poor to state legislators and agencies. “For me, this is pretty clear, because this is what I do. I'm not tempted to walk over that line.”

 

The IRS has a special audit procedure that applies only to churches, according to the agency's rules on political activity by religious organizations. Although the IRS usually becomes aware of a violation through a complaint from a citizen or from media reports, it doesn't commence an investigation until getting authorization from U.S. Treasury officials.

 

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121019/NEWS/121019736/-1/NEWSLETTER100

Good Esquire article!

Senator McDreamy's No-Good, Very-Bad Day

By Charles P. Pierce

at 4:42PM

Cosmopolitan

It didn't have to be like this. Senator Scott Brown could have run for the Senate based on his high personal-approval ratings, and on what was once considered a winning personality, and on his perceived status as an independent voice in an increasingly polarized national legislature. He could have taken the high road in his election against Elizabeth Warren because, quite honestly, the road wasn't all that high. It was within reach even for someone who didn't have Brown's hoops-honed vertical. It would have been easy to do.

Instead, almost from jump, Brown determined to run as a not-particularly-bright evening drive-time AM radio host. He latched onto the nothingburger of Warren's Indian ancestry and went into it all the way back to his molars. He wouldn't shut up about it. Alternately, he tried to make an issue out of the fact that Warren had worked for companies going through bankruptcy, including Travelers Insurance, which was dealing with the whopping awards granted to the people whom the asbestos industry had poisoned and killed. This might have worked — to understand what Warren did required a knowledge of bankruptcy law beyond most people who are not Elizabeth Warren — except that Warren marshalled the lawyers for the plaintiffs in those suits, and the surviving members of the victims' families, and they all went very public about how much Warren's work had helped them and their families. Some of them appeared in a very powerful television commercial called "Ashamed," in which they criticized Brown for politicizing their private tragedies in such a reckless way. That, people could understand.

At which point, Senator McDreamy decided to double down the way you would if you were, say, Sean Hannity, and somebody got through the call screeners....

"A lot of them are paid," Brown said. "We hear that maybe they pay actors. Listen, you can get surrogates and go out and say your thing. We have regular people in our commercials. No one is paid. They are regular folks that reach out to us and say she is full of it."

How many ways is this stupid? (I quit counting after 23.) Needless to say, the people actually in the Warren commercials went completely up the wall....

"Let Scott Brown tell me to my face that I am nothing but a paid actor, and I'll set him straight on what it was like to watch my father suffocate to death," English said. Another victim's family member who appeared in a Warren advertisement about the asbestos controversy spoke out about Brown's comments as well. Steven Yapp said that Brown's actor comments were cruel. "To dismiss what my family went through by calling me a paid actor isn't just disrespectful, but it's cruel," Yapp said. "He's attacking people who lost loved ones to asbestos poisoning, just because we stepped forward to tell the truth about Elizabeth Warren. Sen. Brown showed his true colors today. He's a politician who will say anything and attack anyone that gets in his way."

There is shooting yourself in the foot. Then, there is shooting yourself in the foot, cutting off the foot, placing it upon your head, and then shooting yourself in the foot and in the head simultaneously. A lot of people have been talking about the fact that Willard Romney's campaign has been remarkably truthless because of how the right has constructed its own universe with its own physical laws and its own history and its own facts. But this episode is why living in that universe on a fulltime basis is a dangerous thing. Somebody on Scott Brown's staff — or the Senator himself — thought this gambit was shrewd politics because so many of the people in "the base" would believe it without proof of any kind. The fact that it was a fundamentally indecent thing to do to people who'd already paid a whopping price for an even bigger indecency never entered into the calculation because those kind of things never do. Listen to those radio shows some time. Hell, listen to the way people talk about the president sometime. It didn't have to be like this. At all.


Read more: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/scott-brown-asbestos-ad-13853238#ixzz29gkUGpQz

Senator Scott Brown: Racially-Tinged Tactic

From: Vaughn Allen Goodwin via Michael Mulligan Ibew

The is no more deceptive and devious exploiter of ethnicity than Scott Brown. From attacking Elizabeth Warren because she admitted her Native American Heritage, to the tomahawk taunts of his campaigners, to now hiring homeless African Americans to wear shirts that say " Obama Supporters for Brown", Scott Brown is worse than George Wallace, David Duke and Bull Connor ever was. At least with them we know where they stood. With Scott Brown he stands like a handsome stooge trying to appeal to Women and the poor, yet he has systematically voted against aid to the poor and support the very businesses that have continued the vicious cycle of oppression that we now find ourselves in. We need to rise up as a group and call Scott Brown what he is.

Scott Brown pays homeless $8 an hour to campaign in black areas
October 17, 2012

 

Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol February 16, 2012 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown is under fire for a racially-tinged campaign tactic in his contentious 2012 U.S. Senate race.

According to the Boston Herald, the GOP candidate has been paying small sums of money to homeless people of color to campaign on his behalf in largely minority neighborhoods.

Some have been spotted in “Obama Supporters for Scott Brown” t-shirts, although the president an ardent supporter of Brown’s opponent, Democrat Elizabeth Warren.

The group is reportedly funded by the Brown campaign, with volunteers earning an $8 an hour to campaign for the incumbent Republican.

According to the Herald, “The effort for Brown comes after recent Warren endorsements by Mayor Thomas M. Menino and leading black ministers, a blow to the Brown camp’s hopes for heavy city electioneering support.”

Polls have recently shown the race neck-and-neck or with Warren leading Brown by a thin margin.

http://thegrio.com/2012/10/17/scott-brown-pays-homeless-8-an-hour-to-campaign-in-black-areas/

In case you missed this in the Boston Globe --

Scott Brown quietly returned Travelers Insurance money before launching attacks on Elizabeth Warren

10/16/12

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

Senator Scott Brown, who has criticized Elizabeth Warren over her work on behalf of Travelers Insurance, quietly returned $7,000 to the company’s political action committee last month, according to newly released campaign finance records.

The campaign returned the money on Sept. 10, 10 days before Brown began a concerted effort to attack Warren over her work on behalf of the company, during the candidates’ first debate. Brown, a Republican, has since launched advertisements about the case that claim that Warren, a Democrat, was working against the interest of asbestos victims.

Warren, a Harvard bankruptcy specialist, was paid $212,000 by Travelers from 2008 to 2010, helping Travelers in a Supreme Court case in which it was trying to win immunity from asbestos-related cases in exchange for a $500 million settlement, to be divided among current and future claimants.
Travelers won the immunity. But after a series of legal twists, the company avoided paying the $500 million settlement. Warren was no longer involved at that point, but Brown argues she should have foreseen that potential result.

Though some victims opposed the settlement, most were on Warren’s side when she worked on the Supreme Court case.

The biggest opponent of the settlement was Chubb Insurance, which was concerned that immunity for Travelers would prevent Travelers from sharing liability with Chubb in the event Chubb was sued by asbestos victims.

Records show that Chubb’s PAC donated at least $4,500 to Brown over the past two years. A Chubb employee also donated $250 to Warren, records show.

Records also show Brown has received $6,000 in contributions from Dow Chemical Company Employees PAC over the past two years. The Senator has also criticized Warren’s legal work for Dow in the 1990s.

Brown’s campaign did not immediately respond to questions about the returned Travelers PAC donation or the Chubb donation.

Staff writer Matt Carroll contributed to this article.

http://www.boston.com/politicalintelligence/2012/10/16/scott-brown-quietly-returned-travelers-insurance-money-before-launching-attacks-elizabeth-warren/TvwTCiGgxmjPquYi4mKygN/story.html?utm_source=Morning+10%2F17&utm_campaign=ML+afternoon+1&utm_medium=email

Putting Lives At Risk For Deregulation

This growing tragedy was not caused by too much regulation. 

When the Republicans proclaim that regulation stifles business, remember these deaths. 

The owners of this company are Senator Scott Brown supporters and campaign contributors. Whose side is he on?

Company linked to meningitis scare besieged as deaths rise

By Greg McCune | Reuters 

Enlarge Photo

Reuters/Reuters - A security guard looks out from the front doors of pharmaceutical compounding company New England Compounding Center (NECC), a producer of the steroid methylprednisolone acetate, in Framingham,

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The company that produced contaminated medications linked to an unprecedented fungal meningitis outbreak faced mounting scrutiny on Saturday over whether it illegally sold drugs to medical facilities, as the death toll from the disease grew to 15.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said another person died from meningitis, the second death in Indiana. The number of cases of the disease reported reached 201 in 14 states, according to the CDC and state officials.

Illinois reported its first case of meningitis from a steroid injection and New Hampshire officials reported that state's first four confirmed cases from the outbreak, which showed no signs of abating.

Tennessee is the worst affected state with six deaths and 52 cases followed by Michigan with three deaths and 41 cases, including one case of an infection that has not been confirmed as meningitis.

As federal and state authorities scrambled to contain the outbreak, investigators were trying to determine how the medication produced by New England Compounding Center was contaminated and whether its sprawling drug supply business complied with licensing laws.

A series of emails between the company and a clinic in Mississippi reviewed by Reuters show that NECC sold drugs without requiring physicians to supply individual patient prescriptions. The customer confirmed that NECC supplied the clinic with drugs without patient names or prescriptions, which are required by a number of states including Massachusetts, where the company is based.

The emails also indicate that NECC referred business to a sister company,  Ameridose LLC, despite a statement by Ameridose earlier this week that the two operated separately.

NECC has recalled the suspect product, surrendered its license to operate in Massachusetts and suspended operations. Ameridose also has temporarily suspended operations.

"NECC's intent has always been to operate in compliance with our licenses in the states where we do business," the company said in a statement.

FEDERAL CRITICISM

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating NECC and there have been calls from some in Congress for a criminal investigation of the company.

"FDA considers this to be one of our top priorities and we are dedicating many resources to this investigation," the agency said in a statement late on Friday.

Federal regulators have come under criticism for failing to prevent the outbreak by closely regulating drug compounding companies such as NECC, which prepare medications for clinics and doctors largely outside federal oversight. The FDA has said the law does not give it adequate authority to do so, leaving regulation largely to the states.

"This outbreak began at a compounding pharmacy and the Food and Drug Administration has very limited authority over what these facilities produce," said a spokesman for the Health and Human Services Department in Washington. "We urge Congress to give FDA the authority it needs to ensure these kinds of outbreaks do not happen again."

NECC faces mounting threats from states as well. Several states are investigating the company and at least two - Michigan and Massachusetts - have said the company violated their regulations, according to a Reuters survey.

Some 14,000 patients received the suspect steroid medications, which were shipped to 76 facilities in 23 states as long ago as May.

Meningitis is an infection of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms include headache, fever and nausea. Fungal meningitis is a rare form and is not contagious.

Cases of meningitis have been reported in Tennessee, Michigan, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and New Hampshire.

(Additional reporting by David Bailey, Toni Clarke, Aaron Pressman, Andrea Shalal-Esa and Ros Krasny; Editing by Bill Trott)

http://news.yahoo.com/congress-widens-scrutiny-meningitis-outbreak-003939836.html