“Jon Kyl’s search-and-destroy mission
“Jon Kyl is different from you and me.
“In the days following Hurricane Katrina, the nation was reeling over the death and destruction in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast. But Kyl, now the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, saw opportunity: According to a voice-mail recording left at the time by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Kyl and Sessions were hoping to find a business owner killed in the storm so they could use that in their campaign to repeal the estate tax.
“It was vintage Kyl: cold and ruthless.
“So when the Arizonan was named as one of six Republicans on the debt supercommittee, Democrats feared the worst — and they got what they feared. It exaggerates little to say that Kyl thwarted agreement almost singlehandedly. While some Republicans on the panel — notably Reps. Dave Camp and Fred Upton — were, with House Speaker John Boehner’s blessing, prepared to strike a deal, Kyl rallied resistance with his usual table-pounding tirades.
“The tragedy here is that Kyl, who has announced his retirement at the end of his term, could have risen above political pressures to strike an agreement to right the nation’s finances for a generation. Boehner’s House Republicans, aware that voters will hold them to account for inaction, were willing to deal. But Kyl’s Senate Republicans, hoping voters will evict the Democratic majority in the Senate, had no such incentive.
“…The sabotage began on the very first day the supercommittee met. While other members from both parties spoke optimistically about the need to put everything on the table, Kyl gave a gloomy opening statement. “I think a dose of realism is called for here,” he said. That same day, he went to a luncheon organized by conservative think tanks and threatened to walk (“I’m off the committee”) if there were further defense cuts.
When Democrats floated their proposal combining tax increases and spending cuts, Kyl rejected it out of hand, citing Republicans’ pledge to activist Grover Norquist not to raise taxes. Kyl’s constant invocation of the Norquist pledge provoked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to snap at Kyl during a private meeting: “What is this, high school?”
“Kyl’s defenders say his motives were pure because he had every incentive for the supercommittee to succeed: He never has to face voters again and he desperately wanted to avoid the automatic Pentagon cuts that now loom. But there’s little doubt that he was doing Norquist’s bidding in killing any notion of higher taxes.
“Norquist, who worked to defeat a compromise, brags about his control over Kyl. When Kyl made remarks in May that appeared to leave open the possibility of tax increases, Norquist called Kyl and adopted “the tone of a teacher scolding a second grader as he recalled the conversation,” Politico reported. Norquist boasted to the publication that, after he upbraided Kyl, the senator “went down on the floor and he gave a colloquy about how we’re against any tax increases of any sort. Boom!”
Cassi Creek:
This is an extreme example of a lobbyist circumventing the Constitution for the benefit of a select few members of the ultra-wealthy class, and to the detriment of the vast majority of Americans in the former middle and former working class. Grover Norquist has managed to co-opt elected officials by means of an “anti-taxation pledge” that has no legally standing and is unconstitutional in nature.
In this case, a Senator has been rendered subservient to a lobbyist and the people of the Senator’s home state have lost his services and representation. The same statement applies to the citizens of every state and every Congressional District if the elected office holder has succumbed to middle high school popularity contest bullying.
Looking at and listening to Norquist, it is easy to picture his decided lack of popularity in middle and high school. He must have spent all his time sucking up to the popular crowd and hiding from the jocks. Now he has stayed in pattern and sucks up to the very rich by coercing elected officials to break their oaths of office.
In keeping with my recent pattern, I called Roe’s local office today to demand that he refute the Norquist pledge. I also e-mailed his office with the same demand and an accusation of oath breaking and pledging fealty to a lobbyist. His office received this message.
“Signing the Norquist anti-tax pledge places you in fealty to a lobbyist who has no residency in TN. You were elected to represent the citizens of North East Tennessee, not a lobbyist who operates inside the beltway. I sincerely believe that your signature on this pledge violates your oath of office as a member of the House of Representatives. Please recall who pays your official salary and benefits. It is not Norquist. Refute the anti-tax pledge and stop performing as a puppet for a petty little lobbyist who brags about how many elected officials he controls.”
The 2012 elections will be here before we know it. Each of us needs to begin contacting our Senators and Congresspersons to demand that they break ranks with Norquist. Mail bomb them, overload their phones, make the message heard. Grover Norquist is a hired puppeteer for the very wealthy, all too eager to sell out the nation and its citizens for the benefit of the very rich. He can be rendered useless to his masters. Help neuter him, beginning today!
Remind your elected officials that Norquist believes he has them on a leash and will brag about how well trained they are. Thanks for the attention, please join the effort!
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