Who Loves Gordon?

DPO Executive Director Trent Lutz’s Statement On U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith’s (R-OR) New TV Ad.

“Gordon Smith doesn’t get it. Slick TV ads can’t hide his record. Gordon Smith votes with President Bush 90 percent of the time and opposes Ron Wyden on ending the Iraq War, solving climate change and lowering prescription drug costs for seniors. Gordon Smith, it doesn’t matter what you say to the camera or what music plays in the background, you can’t disguise your record. You stand with Bush, you stand with the special interests, and you stand against Ron Wyden on the issues that matter most to Oregonians.”

Discuss: DPO Executive Director Trent Lutz’s Statement On U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith’s (R-OR) New TV Ad.

Posted April 29, 2008 in Who Loves Gordon? - 0 comments

Payback

Payback.

That’s what Tax Day is for Gordon Smith’s special interest contributors. It’s the day they can tally up how many billions Gordon Smith is saving them in return for the millions they have contributed to his campaigns.

A couple examples. In each example, Smith cancelled out the vote of Oregon's Democratic U.S. Senator, Ron Wyden.

Smith Helped Protect $5 Billion In Big Oil Tax Breaks.
Tax loopholes that save the oil industry $5 billion were removed from the original Senate version of the GOP tax reconciliation bill in February 2006, but after heavy lobbying by the industry, Congressional negotiators reinserted them into the final bill. The $5 billion tax break for Big-Oil could have been used instead to partially offset the increase in middle class taxes. Gordon Smith voted for the final tax bill with the Big-Oil tax breaks.
[Republican Policy Committee, 2/7/06; Washington Post, 4/26/06; Joint Tax Committee, 5/9/06; Vote 118, 5/11/06]

Smith Opposed Efforts To Lower Drug Prices For Seniors.
Smith voted against an amendment to allow the federal government to negotiate volume discounts for seniors the way it does for military personnel and veterans.
[Senate vote #60, 3/17/05]

How did these industries earn Smith’s votes?

With checks to his campaigns.

The Say Anything Senator has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Pharmaceutical and Health Products Industry over the last several years.

Smith has raised nearly $1.5 million from Big Oil and the other special interests who control his reckless environmental votes against reducing greenhouse gases and lowering fuel standards.

“Gordon Smith’s record clearly shows he’s a vending machine for votes,” DPO Chair Meredith Wood Smith said. “Special interests insert money and Gordon Smith produces corporate tax breaks, overpriced prescription drugs and anything else they want.”

Discuss: Payback

Posted April 15, 2008 in Who Loves Gordon? - 0 comments

8 Million Questions

Yes, we know he’s got money.

But who is it from and how does it affect his votes?

As journalists report on the millions of dollars Gordon Smith will have for his re-election campaign, they’ve unearthed the most important questions about his fundraising.

Where are Gordon Smith’s contributions coming from and how do they shape his votes in Washington, D.C.?

Smith Fundraising In The News

“The race is being closely watched nationally. Smith, the only Republican in the Senate who represents a West Coast state, is considered vulnerable. But he has a big campaign finance advantage over all of the candidates.”
(AP, 4-5-08)

After the May 20 primary, Gordon Smith will “…face the morning with at least $8 million.”
(David Sarasohn Column, The Oregonian, 4-6-08)

“The Pendleton Republican far outpaces any of the Democrats in fund-raising and name recognition.”
(OPB, 4-4-08)

Special Interests And Smith

The special interests have gotten what they paid for out of Smith. He has taken millions of dollars from special interests and repaid their contributions with a voting record that favors Wall Street at the expense of Main Street.

While cashing in more than a quarter million dollars from pharmaceutical and health care special interests, Smith has voted to ban the federal government from negotiating lower drug prices for seniors, opposed improving Medicare and left rural seniors medically stranded. In all these votes he cancelled out Democratic U.S. Senator Ron Wyden’s vote.

Smith has raised nearly $1.5 million from Big Oil and the other special interests who control his vote on climate change. He has heeded his special interest bosses and opposed Wyden’s bill combating climate change.

“Gordon Smith has learned that when you deliver votes for the special interests, they deliver checks for your re-election,” DPO Chair Meredith Wood Smith said. “From ignoring climate change to neglecting seniors, the special interests have gotten their money’s worth out of Gordon Smith.”

Discuss: 8 Million Questions

Posted April 8, 2008 in Who Loves Gordon? - 0 comments

Decoding The Smith Myth

Gordon Smith never lets his voting record interfere with his campaign rhetoric.

As he trumpets his work on his campaign website, Smith leaves out the money trail that shows special interests cashing in their contributions for his votes to raise the price of prescription drugs for seniors. He never mentions how he has opposed Democratic U.S. Senator Ron Wyden more than 1,600 times on votes important to Oregonians.

While Smith promotes the Smith Myth that he works with Wyden, fights the special interests and delivers for Oregonians, here’s the part of his record he won’t talk about.

SMITH’S MEDICARE QUOTES:

“That is why Gordon fights for funding for Children's Health Care, Medicaid and why he worked to add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare.”
(GordonSmith.com)

SMITH’S MEDICARE VOTES:

While cashing in more than a quarter million dollars from pharmaceutical and health care special interests, Gordon Smith has voted to ban the federal government from negotiating lower drug prices for seniors, opposed improving Medicare and left rural seniors medically stranded. In all these votes he cancelled out Wyden’s vote.

SMITH’S BIPARTISAN QUOTES:

“To break ground on the massive construction project in Redmond, Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden found common ground in Washington to secure over $14 million. Because they know how much good they can do, Oregon's Senators don't squabble over issues that help Oregon.”
(GordonSmith.com)

SMITH’S BIPARTISAN VOTES:

Gordon Smith has cancelled out Ron Wyden’s votes more than 1,600 times, from Iraq to climate change to health care, but you won’t hear Smith mention that on the campaign trail. Smith has millions of reasons for quietly opposing Wyden.

Smith has raised nearly $1.5 million from Big Oil and the other special interests who control his vote on climate change. He has heeded his special interest bosses and opposed Wyden’s bill combating climate change.

“Gordon Smith runs from his record faster than an Olympic sprinter,” DPO Communications Director Marc Siegel said. “It’s established that Smith disguises his record. It’s established that he rakes in the special interest money and churns out their legislation. It’s established that Gordon Smith opposes Ron Wyden on the important challenges facing Oregon. The only question is, will Gordon Smith campaign honestly and discuss his real record? So far, his answer is no.”

Discuss: Decoding The Smith Myth

Posted March 25, 2008 in Who Loves Gordon? - 0 comments

It’s Sunshine Week Gordon, Release Your Records

Gordon Smith says he’s working too hard and doesn't have time to golf.

Well, it’s Sunshine Week 2008 and Torrid Joe from Loaded Orygun has an appropriate challenge for Gordon Smith’s “working too hard” claim.

Prove it. Release your records.

How many times have you golfed since January 2007 and how many times have you held open town halls just like Ron Wyden does, since January 2007?

Wyden crisscrosses the state every year, holding open town halls publicized well in advance, in every county.

And you Gordon, how many open town halls (not speeches where you might take a question or two from a small, friendly audience, but open forums just like Ron Wyden) have you held since January 2007?

"It’s Sunshine Week," DPO Chair Meredith Wood Smith said. "Release your records and show whether you've spent more time at the country club or more time at open town halls and forums."

The Challenge From Loaded Orygun:

“But we DO know he still gets the chance to play a little golf. Back in June he made time for a fundraiser round with lobbyists at Bandon Dunes, so it's not all (undocumented) work and no play for Gordon. If you're keeping score, that's golf rounds 1, open 'meet your elected official' events 0.

So let's put the question to Gordon Smith: release your records since January 2007. Show us the greens fees from all the golf you played, and then show us all of the open events you've held for your constituents.”
(Torrid Joe, Loaded Orygun, 3-17-08)

Discuss: It’s Sunshine Week Gordon, Release Your Records

Posted March 17, 2008 in Who Loves Gordon? - 0 comments

Birdies For Special Interests. Bogeys For Working Families.

Now we understand why Gordon Smith supports President Bush’s failed fiscal policies and votes with the special interests rather than with Oregon’s working families.

He has a skewed economic perspective from too much time in the country club, not enough time with Oregon’s working families.

So much time, in fact, he thinks golf clubs are a good deal at $300,000 each.

Yes, $300,000 per club, or more than the cost of many homes in Oregon.

“Smith has always been a true golf fanatic. He once paid $1.25 million for four really vintage golf clubs - including a putter owned by King James IV in 1504 - and can speak at passionate length about golfing in Scotland, having done so several times.

In 2005, Golf Digest reported that Smith's handicap was 8.2 - good enough to put him at 41st on their list of D.C. movers and shakers who play the game.”
(Way West Of The Beltway, The Oregonian, 3-7-08)

“If Gordon Smith thinks paying the cost of four homes for four golf clubs is a good deal, no wonder he’s blindly supported tax windfalls for big oil, policies to keep big pharma raking it in and reckless tax cuts for the wealthy. Smith has no concept of the economic challenges facing Oregon families. When it comes to working families, he can’t find the fairway," DPO Communications Director Marc Siegel said. "The special interests have spent millions and millions buying Gordon Smith’s negligence on climate change, his opposition to reducing the cost of prescription drugs and his out of step positions on other issues. It turns out they could have just sent him a set of clubs.”

Discuss: Birdies For Special Interests. Bogeys For Working Families.

Posted March 11, 2008 in Economy, Who Loves Gordon? - 0 comments

Smith Stands With Special Interests And Against Wyden

Does Oregon need any more evidence that Gordon Smith impairs Ron Wyden’s work and votes for his special interest contributors, not his constituents?

Oregon’s senior U.S. Senator, Democrat Ron Wyden, is co-sponsoring a bill to combat climate change.

Despite pleas from his senate colleagues and 670 groups of hunters and sport fishermen - including 28 based in Oregon - Oregon’s other U.S. Senator, Republican Gordon Smith, won’t co-sponsor it and won’t support it, according to an editorial by The Register-Guard.

“While Ron Wyden fights for Oregon, Gordon Smith fights for the special interests,” DPO Communications Director Marc Siegel said. “Gordon Smith, who has raised millions of dollars from special interests, responds to donors’ checks, not constituent phone calls, meetings and letters.”

Smith And Special Interests

Smith has raised nearly $1.5 million from the special interests who control his vote on climate change.

According to the Center For Responsive Politics, Smith has accepted:

$271,475 from Oil & Gas Interests

$300,354 from Electric Utilities

$230,871 from Air Transport Interests

$91,947 from Trucking Interests

$305,804 from Manufacturing & Distributing Interests

$163,019 from Railroad Interests

$93,850 from Sea Transport Interests

Discuss: Smith Stands With Special Interests And Against Wyden

Posted February 28, 2008 in Environment, Who Loves Gordon? - 2 comments

Gordon Smith Thinks Oregonians Want A Third Bush Term

How out of touch is Gordon Smith?

Does he really think Oregonians want more special interest influence in Washington, D.C., an indefinite stay in Iraq and a third term for President Bush?

Yesterday, Smith told The Oregonian he thinks John McCain can win in Oregon. Here's what a McCain candidacy represents.

More Special Interest Influence In Washington, D.C.:

“After championing campaign finance reform and ethics legislation to score political points, he now has a staggering amount of lobbyists involved in every aspect of his campaign. In fact, two of the top three sources for John McCain's campaign cash are D.C. lobbying firms, and he looked the other way as Jack Abramoff bought and paid for the Republican Party and the Culture of Corruption.”
(Governor Howard Dean, DNC Email, 2-6-08)

Unending Iraq War:

“His objective isn't to figure out how to get us out. His objective is to get us to let him figure out how to keep us there.”
(Ron Eachus Column, Statesman Journal, 2-4-08)

A Third Bush Term:

“The Iraqi defense minister has said it won't be able to handle its own security until 2018. McCain says we ought to stay in Iraq for 50 years the same way we've done in Japan and South Korea. Anything less is tantamount to defeat. And, like Bush, he continually tries to link a necessity for continued occupation to winning the war on terrorism as if Iraq was an al-Qaida bastion before we arrived.”
(Ron Eachus Column, Statesman Journal, 2-4-08)

“From Iraq to health care, Social Security to special interest tax cuts to ethics, he's promising nothing more than a third Bush term.”
(Governor Howard Dean, DNC Email, 2-6-08)

“Gordon Smith doesn’t get it,” DPO Executive Director Trent Lutz said. “Oregonians don’t want more special interest influence in Washington, D.C., they want less. They don’t want 100 more years in Iraq, they want a responsible exit. They don’t want a third Bush term, they want a change in Washington, D.C. Lobbyists have been telling Gordon Smith how to vote for so long, he doesn’t recognize what Oregon families want in Washington, D.C.”

Discuss: Gordon Smith Thinks Oregonians Want A Third Bush Term

Posted February 21, 2008 in Smith + McCain, Who Loves Gordon? - 0 comments

Money Talks. And It Has Gordon Smith On Speed Dial.

They say that Money Talks.

Apparently it has Gordon Smith on speed dial and is telling him to charge seniors as much as possible for prescription drugs, oppose improving Medicare and limit prescription drug coverage in rural areas.

The Say Anything Senator has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Pharmaceutical and Health Products Industry over the last several years. And they have gotten their money’s worth.

Industry: Pharmaceuticals/Health Products

Cash In: $254,009 [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 2/18/08]

Votes Out:

In each of these votes, Smith canceled the vote of Oregon's other U.S. Senator, Democrat Ron Wyden.

Smith Voted Against Improved Prescription Drug Coverage For Rural Areas.
Smith voted to kill an amendment to provide comprehensive drug coverage for rural areas by opposing a federal “fall back” provision to the Bush drug plan. The Bush plan relies heavily on participation by private insurers, but rural advocates pointed out there are often few or no available private plans in less populated areas, so they proposed a special government-run insurance plan for areas that were not served by at least two insurance companies to ensure competition and lower prices. Smith rejected this plan that would have protected rural Oregonians.
[Senate vote #238, 6/24/03]

Smith Opposed Efforts To Ensure Lower Drug Prices For Seniors.
Smith voted against an amendment to allow the federal government to negotiate volume discounts for seniors the way it does for military personnel and veterans.
[Senate vote #60, 3/17/05]

Smith Voted Against A Comprehensive Medicare Drug Plan.
Smith voted to kill the Democratic Medicare prescription drug plan. This plan cost $594 billion over eight years and would have provided prescription drug coverage to all senior citizens through Medicare, not private insurers. The beneficiary’s out-of-pocket costs would be limited to $4,000 a year.
[Senate vote #186, 7/23/02]

"Gordon Smith is letting special interest cash, not the health needs of Oregon seniors, dictate his votes. Our seniors shouldn't have to write a check to Smith for him to look out for them,” DPO Executive Director Trent Lutz said. “Gordon Smith accepts pharmaceutical company cash, and then on vote after vote allows rural seniors to be left medically stranded and does nothing to reduce the outrageous bite prescription drugs take out of seniors' budgets. Gordon Smith's priorities are the special interests, not the people's interest.”

Discuss: Money Talks. And It Has Gordon Smith On Speed Dial.

Posted February 19, 2008 in Health Care, Who Loves Gordon? - 1 comments

What do Smith's over donors want?

Now we know what U.S. Senator Gordon Smith plans to use to fill the gap between his votes and his quotes – cash.

According to Willamette Week, the Federal Elections Commission is looking into overpayments by Smith’s big money contributors to his campaign. Some contributed more than the $2,300 they can give for a primary and $2,300 for a general election.

I wonder what favors Smith’s over donors expect in return?

More huge tax cuts?

More votes to allow the U.S. to drill in ANWR?

More opposition to a woman’s right to choose?

The over donors don’t need to worry.

He’s already doing all of that.

Discuss: What do Smith's over donors want?

Posted July 17, 2007 in Who Loves Gordon? - 0 comments

Smith can't buy a new voting record

DPO Chair Meredith Wood Smith had this to say about Senator Smith's fund raising announcement.

“Gordon Smith can’t buy a new voting record with all his campaign cash. No flashy TV ads or websites will hide the fact he votes with President Bush 90 percent of the time, nor close the gap between his Oregon quotes and his Washington, DC votes.”

Discuss: Smith can't buy a new voting record

Posted July 13, 2007 in Press Room, Who Loves Gordon? - 0 comments

Smith Tees Up Lobbyist Cash, Ignores Constituents

Gordon Smith will swing for money this weekend while he leaves Oregonians swinging in the wind on Iraq, alternative energy and other crucial issues.

No matter how well he plays on the golf course this weekend, United States Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR) will be missing the ball on his real job – listening to and representing Oregonians.

As Smith joins donors and lobbyists at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort this Saturday for a fundraiser, he will be talking more about the greens than his record.

Read more and discuss: Smith Tees Up Lobbyist Cash, Ignores Constituents

Posted June 29, 2007 in Press Room, Who Loves Gordon? - 0 comments

Two Iraq War Supporters And Campaign Cash

Smith brings in fellow Iraq War supporter to raise money for his campaign

Voting to continue funding the Iraq War last month was not enough of a slap in the face to Oregonians for U.S. Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR).

Now he’s bringing in a fellow Bush loyalist and ardent Iraq War supporter to bolster his campaign coffers.

United States Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will raise campaign funds for Smith on a cruise tomorrow evening on the Willamette River.

Read more and discuss: Two Iraq War Supporters And Campaign Cash

Posted June 15, 2007 in Iraq, Press Room, Who Loves Gordon? - 1 comments

Vulnerable Smith Appeals For Conservative Cash

Conservatives raise campaign cash to support President Bush’s Personal U.S. Senator

While Oregon editorial pages, politicians and pundits proclaim U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith’s (R-OR) vulnerability, loyal conservatives in Washington, DC and around the country are fighting for his re-election.

United States Senator John Ensign (R-NV) is rallying conservative Republican activists throughout the country to fund Smith’s campaign.

“Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said he expects to put together as many as 30 joint fundraising events around the country for the four most vulnerable senators of 2008: Sens. Norm Coleman of Minnesota, Susan Collins of Maine, Gordon Smith of Oregon and John Sununu of New Hampshire.”
(The Politico, 4-25-07)

Read more and discuss: Vulnerable Smith Appeals For Conservative Cash

Posted May 1, 2007 in Press Room, Smith is Vulnerable, Who Loves Gordon? - 0 comments