Lee Rogers Is Running For The House Seat Currently Occupied By Buck McKeon

After the closest call with political mortality of his life in 2012, Santa Clarita Republican Buck McKeon has told political allies that he won't run in 2014 if Lee Rogers challenges him again. Today he's getting the bad news: Rogers-- this time with the solid backing of the DCCC-- is running for the CA-25 seat. McKeon has promised the seat to Tony Strickland but Santa Clarita Mayor Bob Kellar, state Sen. Steve Knight, former Assemblyman Cameron Smythe, State Equalization Board chairman George Runner and Assemblyman Scott Wilk all agree that the seat isn't McKeon's to give away and that Tony Strickland, who ran against Julia Brownley last year, is a carpetbagger. This promises to be a very bloody primary-- at least on the Republican side.

Democrats in Santa Clarita, Simi Valley and the Antelope Valley have closed ranks behind Rogers, who has built a solid base of supporters, a network of donors and volunteers and a top notch campaign team to take on McKeon or whoever replaces him if he's too scared to face him again-- or too eager to go into the lobbying business his brother and nephew have already started for him.

Rogers, a nationally acclaimed surgeon and a recent national spokesman for the American Diabetes Association, has impressed district voters as a health care and patient advocate with the experience and know-how to reduce medical costs by making appropriate adjustments in the Affordable Care Act. Last year he was endorsed by Blue America and we're endorsing him again this year.

"I'm running for Congress, because I still believe that one person can make a difference. Nothing worthwhile comes easy. I could have done the easy thing and get back to my life being a doctor and treating patients who need me. But the district and the country also need me. Washington is constipated and it requires an enema. There is no progress. We demand improvements to the Affordable Care Act, passing universal criminal background checks for gun purchases, achieving comprehensive immigration reform by providing a reasonable path to citizenship for undocumented residents, getting out and staying out of wars in the Middle East, and preventing corporate money from influencing elections. I need your help to put progress back in Congress."

Rogers opposed the Sequestration which McKeon supported and which has held back economic growth. Rogers also opposes the Obama-Boehner scheme to cut Social Security benefits by messing with the cost-of-living adjustments, which McKeon supports. Here are a dozen important votes McKeon took since he was reelected that Rogers disagrees with (chronologically):

• H.R. 678- McKeon voted against requiring that when practicable, all materials used for conduit hydropower generation be manufactured in the United States
• H.R. 624- McKeon voted for CISPA, a Big Brother type domestic spying bill.
• McKeon also voted against a motion to make H.R. 624 less intrusive by prohibiting employers, prospective employers, or the Federal Government from requiring the disclosure of social networking or personal account passwords by an employee or job applicant without a court order.
•H.R. 1406- McKeon voted to penalize workers who receive overtime pay for overtime work.
•H.R. 807- McKeon voted to prioritize payments to China, Saudi Arabia and wealthy bondholders if the Republicans decide to stop funding the government.
• H.R.3- McKeon voted to approve building the Keystone XL Pipeline would will bring toxic tar sands into the U.S. from Canada so it can be trans-shipped to China
• H.R. 1911- McKeon voted to double the cost of student loan rates-- starting today!
• H.R. 1960- McKeon voted against giving the victim of sexual abuse in the military the power to choose whether to allow the Office of Chief Prosecutor to make the binding decision on whether a case goes to trial, or to allow the commander to proceed with the case.
• H.R. 1797 McKeon voted to make it illegal for a woman and her physician to go through with an abortion after 20 weeks.
• H.R. 1947- McKeon voted over and over to cut the food stamps program.
• H.R. 1613- Mckeon voted against allowing California to decide on its own whether or not to allow offshore drilling for oil.

• And, of course, McKeon and Rogers have a basic disagreement over the Affordable Care Act. Rogers sees a flawed bill that needs to be fixed and made better. McKeon voted 37 times to just repeal it, even though it is already saving Californians hundreds of millions of dollars in health care costs.

"We can't let crazy extremist social policies, like limiting a woman's right to make healthcare choices with her doctor, rule the day," Rogers told me yesterday. "If you want someone to go to Washington and stick up for our values, to fight for individual freedoms, and to prioritize challenges faced by our country, I'm your guy!" We know that... please consider being a first-day-supporter, right here.

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Why Is Buck McKeon Gung-ho To Allow Insurance Companies To Deny Coverage To People With Pre-existing Conditions?

90% or so of Americans would like to see Congress pass a law to enhance background checks for criminals, terrorists and the mentally-ill before they can purchase a gun. But Republicans have steadfastly refused to even allow a debate, let alone a vote, in the House. Instead, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has scheduled a 37th-- literally-- pointless vote on repealing Obamacare... not on making Obamacare better, which most people would like, but to repeal it, which would require a huge majority in the Senate and a signature from President Obama. So why are Cantor and Boehner wasting everyone's time? It means they don't have to do any real work and, more importantly, is allows freshmen from super red gerrymandered rural districts in the Old Confederacy to have a chance to vote NO as a way of showing lo-info voters back in their district that they're standing up to the illegitimate black usurper in the White House.

The DCCC is making their own political hay out of it. And, I was happy to see that just as they have realized they screwed up by not helping Jim Graves defeat Michele Bachmann in 2010-- and are working to remedy that situation next year-- they seem to have figured out the same dynamic here in the Los Angeles area. Yesterday they sent out a press release tying vulnerable Republican committee chairman Buck McKeon to Cantor's anti-healthcare nonsense.

The Republican Congress will cast its 37th vote this week to put insurance companies back in charge of health care-- will Congressman Buck McKeon go along? House Republicans have Tea Party Caucus Chair Michele Bachmann as their sponsor. Instead of finding smart reforms to our health care system, House Republicans are voting on Tea Party Caucus Chair Michele Bachmann’s bill that refights old ideological battles to take away consumer health care benefits and put insurance companies back in charge of health care.

  House Republicans already voted 36 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act during the last Congress-- costing the taxpayers $50 million.

    If Congressman McKeon votes yes, he will be:

•         Raising prescription drug costs by re-opening the prescription drug donut hole
•         Denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions
•         Ending tax credits for small businesses
•         Kicking children off their parents health care before they turn 26
•         Closing prevention and wellness initiatives that lower costs and improve health
•         Eliminating the cap on health care costs and let people go back into bankruptcy because of health costs

"California families want solutions that lower health care costs and protect consumers but Congressman McKeon’s Republican Congress just wants to refight old ideological battles instead,” said Emily Bittner of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Republicans will vote to put insurance companies back in charge of health care, which will raise prescription drug costs, deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, and even drive people back into bankruptcy because of health care costs--but will Congressman McKeon go along with this backwards plan? Middle class families will clearly suffer if Congressman McKeon puts insurance companies back in charge of health care."

Last November, Lee Rogers won in the Antelope Valley third of McKeon's district and came closer to defeating him than anyone had in his career. Local activists are hoping to persuade Rogers to run again. When we first met him last year, he had an entirely different persepctive on health care policy than McKeon-- although he told us he would have voted against the bill that came to be known as Obamacare.

As a doctor, I see the effects of health policy and health funding on Americans every day. There are several tenets of basic health policy that I believe in. I believe health care is a right, not a privilege. Every American should be able to choose their own doctor or other heath care provider. Insurance portability, allowing you to take your same insurance from job to job, is important. Discrimination for pre-existing conditions must not be allowed.

But this is a deeper problem because our current heath care crisis cannot be separated from our current fiscal crisis. They are one in the same. Health care represents about 23% of the federal budget-- and it’s growing. Part of the increase is because of the aging baby boomers who are requiring more care and part of it relates to the advances in medicine which are more costly. These costs cannot be controlled. Take my specialty, diabetes, for example. Diabetes affects 26 million Americans and an additional 79 million more have “pre-diabetes.” Diabetes alone is responsible for about a third of health spending. In most cases, diabetes is a preventable disease. For the first time in human history, chronic diseases (diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc.) surpassed infectious diseases (pneumonia, HIV/AIDS, etc.) as the leading causes of death. The World Economic Forum (WEF) estimates that chronic diseases will cost the world $47 Trillion by 2030. We must get control of chronic diseases, lest we bankrupt ourselves. This problem is not going away in 5, 10, or 15 years. It is a problem that is going to last decades and will be a major draw on the country’s finances.

But there is something that can be done. We can intervene to prevent chronic disease, before they occur, before they become more expensive. We can invest in research to treat disease and prevent complications. We shouldn’t slash the health care budget leaving more people to seek treatment later when the diseases are more advanced and costly.

Many people have asked my opinion on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), or the health reform law. Yes, I am a Democrat, but I’m also a doctor and I would not have voted for the bill. It is about 2700 pages long filled with payoffs to corporations and legislator’s home districts funded by taxpayers. It’s a sad state of affairs when legislators couldn’t care about what’s best for the country, only what pet projects they can get funded so they can fill their re-election coffers.

Certainly the law contains some beneficial provisions, like outlawing exclusions for pre-existing conditions, allowing adult children to stay on parents insurance until age 26, and eliminating lifetime maximums on policies. But there is more bad about the law than good. It creates an executive branch appointed panel to legislate reimbursement decisions by Medicare, instead of Congress. It creates Accountable Care Organizations (ACO), which sounds responsible, but they are really HMOs for Medicare patients without the ability to contain costs that traditional HMOs have. In the few pilot ACOs from around the country, all have lost money.

I don’t think it’s reasonable to repeal the law, but I think that we can take the good parts of it and improve upon them and repeal some of the bad provisions and pork.

One significant cost saving opportunity missed by Congress was failing to allow Medicare Part D (the prescription drug plan) to negotiate medication prices. Why should we pay more for the same medication in the US than they pay in England or in Canada. In effect, we’re subsidizing health care in other wealthy nations.

As I have stated, the health issue is a fiscal issue. We need legislators with the right priorities in Washington. There will have to be shared sacrifice including a combination of cuts and increases in revenue. Irresponsible behavior in Washington caused this debt and we can’t let it solely fall on the backs of our middle class, poor, and seniors by cutting their benefits and raising premiums. That will only lead to a poorer health quality for all, and result in larger expenses down the road. We can’t bury our heads in the sand. Let’s put America first.

The DCCC isn't sending e-mails like that blasting all Republican culprits though (let alone to media in districts with anti-health care Democrats like Jim Matheson and Mike McIntyre). One especially bad Republican they ignored was John Mica in the Orlando area. But the progressive Democrat running against him, Nick Ruiz, isn't ignoring Mica's vile record.

"When John Mica votes with the GOP's plan to roll back the Affordable Care Act, what does it mean? Does he believe that Americans don't need or want it? Most do. Or does he believe that he has a better idea for American healthcare? He doesn't. And he certainly is against other alternatives like single payer care for all. So what is it with representatives like John Mica? And what is it about the GOP? Do they want people to suffer? Do they want illness to go uncared for? There's no logical explanation for their position against expanding insurance coverage for American families. The only question now is-- will American families act to remove people like him and his party from office, because they clearly do not represent the best interests of America."

You can help Nick do that-- here.

UPDATE: DCCC Staffers Seem To Be Making Good Decisions Without Interference From Israel

The DCCC is launching a campaign of robocalls against 10 Republicans who keep voting against Obamacare in blue districts. In the past Steve Israel and Debbie Wasserman Schultz have prevented staffers from launching these kinds of campaigns against their personal Republican friends. This list includes two Republicans the dynamic duo have protected in the past, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ). We'll see if Israel allows the DCCC to follow through with real recruitment efforts and campaigns against these two. The other eight Republicans who are getting the robocalls: Chris Gibson (R-NY), Michael Grimm (R-NY), Jon Runyan (R-NJ), Gary Miller (R-CA), David Valadao (R-CA), Bill Young (R-FL), Joe Heck (R-NV) and Steve Pearce (R-NM). The script people living in Coalinga, Hanford, Delano and in Fresno's southern suburbs are getting: today:

The Republican Congress is scheduled to vote tomorrow to put insurance companies back in charge of your health care and repeal vital consumer protections and benefits that you’ve earned.

And your Congressman might be part of the problem. Tell Congressman Valadao to stand up for middle class families here in California-- and don't help the Republican Congress give insurance companies more control over your life.

We don’t need any more ideological wars in Washington, we need solutions that reduce health care costs and protect consumers. Sadly, Congressman Valadao might deny coverage to people with preexisting conditions, raise prescription drug costs, kick kids off their parents' health care before they turn 26 and even eliminate the cap on health care costs, forcing people into bankruptcy to take care of their families.

That would be a devastating blow to middle class families like yours across the country. Call Congressman David Valadao now at [xxx-xxx-xxxx] and tell him to vote no. Tell him it’s time to move forward and strengthen our health care, not join the partisans in Congress who want to put insurance companies back in charge.

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104 Republican Congressmen Voted To Reduce Benefits For Seniors And Vets

Looks like somebody stepped in it

The GOP is trying to decide how to best use Obama's screw up on Chained CPI for their own purposes. It's a Republican Party policy that he foolishly adopted for his dead-in-the-water budget at the urging of Boehner and McConnell. When will he ever learn that their ideas are toxic? (That's a rhetorical question; he'll never learn.) But while some Republicans praise the idea or say it doesn't go far enough, the chairman of the NRCC, Greg Walden (R-OR) has decided to use it in an attack against Democrats aimed at seniors and people who expect to be seniors someday. H was quick to run to CNN and tell Wolf Blitzer viewers that "the budget really lays out kind of a shocking attack on seniors, if you will. And we haven't seen all the detail yet, and we'll look at it, but I'll tell you, when you're going after seniors the way he's already done on Obamacare, taking $700 billion out of Medicare to put into Obamacare, and now coming back at seniors again, I think you're crossing that line very quickly here in terms of denying access to seniors for health care in districts like mine, certainly, and around the country. I think he's going to have a lot of pushback from some of the major senior organizations on this and Republicans, as well... you're trying to balance this budget on the backs of seniors and I just think it's not the right way to go."

And yet... and yet... 104 House Republicans already voted for Chained CPI on March 20th, when it was presented as part of the Republican Study Committee's alternative budget. So whatever game Walden wants to try playing, the candidates he's charged with reelecting aren't running against Barack Obama. They're running against Democrats who, in most instances are strongly opposed to Chained CPI, no matter if it's being proposed by Boehner, Obama or a bunch of crackpot extremists. Let's take Buck McKeon, for example. McKeon is an extremist in a moderate suburban Los Angeles area district (CA-25). His likely opponent in 2014 will be Dr. Lee Rogers, one of America's most distinguished podiatric surgeons, a man who already came closer to beating McKeon than anyone else in his career. As soon as Alan Grayson and Mark Takano circulated their letter pledging not to vote for any cuts to benefits for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, Rogers announced he would have signed it on the day it was drafted. "As a doctor I am adamantly opposed to cutting benefits to our population in most need. I announced several weeks ago, I would have been a day-one signer of the letter Mark Takano and Alan Grayson authored pledging to protect seniors and veterans from cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits, including chained CPI." So for voters in Santa Clarita, Antelope Valley and Simi Valley, there is a clear choice: McKeon (and Obama) want to cut social security benefits for seniors and veterans using Chained CPI. Rogers is adamantly opposed. 104 Republican incumbents are in the same boat and although most of them are crazy fanatics in gerrymandered blood red districts with constituents as ignorant as they are, there are several, like McKeon, in more precarious political positions.

This is a list of Republicans (with their districts' PVIs) who already voted to reduce benefits for seniors and veterans and could be vulnerable to competent independent-minded Democratic opponents in 2014:

• Justin Amash (R-MI) R+4
• Joe Barton (R-TX) R+11
• Kerry Bentivolio (R-MI) R+4
• Dave Camp (R-MI) R+5
• Steve Chabot (R-OH) R+6
• Ron DeSantis (R-FL) R+9
• Scott Garrett (R-NJ) R+4
• Randy Hultgren (R-IL) R+5
• Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) R+10
• Patrick McHenry (R-NC) R+11
• John Mica (R-FL) R+4
• Steve Pearce (R-NM) R+5
• Robert Pittenger (R-NC) R+8
• Scott Rigell (R-VA) R+2
• Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) R+7
• Pete Sessions (R-TX) R+10
• Lee Terry (R-NE) R+4
• Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) R+8

There are Democrats serving in Congress in districts with PVIs higher than these. It won't be easy for any of them, but it's not impossible either. The Democrats running against these guys-- and every one of them is a male (even Patrick McHenry and Dave Camp)-- have an opponent who voted to cut Social Security for seniors and vets. They did it already. That should be what the election in those districts are about.

Two of the Democrats in the Blue America Save Social Security contest, Nick Ruiz and Ken Sanders, are in that sweet spot, respectively running against John Mica and Joe Barton. As you can see, each is already running against Chained CPI and other unfair cuts their opponents back. Sanders has a message that will resonate in the suburbs between Dallas and Ft Worth, maybe even down in Waxahachie, Midlothian, Ennis and Corsicana:

"We cannot balance the budget on the backs of seniors, veterans, and our nation’s most vulnerable citizens. Our Social Security system is critical to protecting middle class families, and we cannot allow it to be dismantled one inch. Chained CPI, cutting Social Security, is a terrible idea and a pointless exercise. Besides, Social Security isn't in serious trouble. The Social Security trust fund is flush for at least two decades. If we want to ensure it's there beyond that, there's an easy fix-- just lift the ceiling on income subject to Social Security taxes, which is now $113,700. This way people making above $113,700 will pay like everyone else does, is a far better way of keeping Social Security secure long into the future. We need Congressional leaders who support middle class families, seniors and veterans; those who have helped make this nation great. I will fight to defend social security from Chained CPI. Seniors spend 20-40% of their income on healthcare. Two-thirds of seniors rely on Social Security for most of their income; one-third relies on it for at least 90% of their income. These people aren’t stashing their Social Security checks in the Cayman Islands and buying vacation homes in Aruba-- they are hanging on by their fingernails to their place in the middle class. Right now, corporate profits are at an all time high, the wealthy are doing phenomenally well and we must not balance the budget on the backs of some of the most vulnerable people in this country. Support me and I will be your voice in Washington to fight against Chained CPI and any other cut that threatens the shrinking middle class families of this country."

Nick Ruiz is running in the suburbs just north of Orlando-- Winter Park, Altamonte Springs, Oviedo, Maitland, Apopka, and all the way up to Deltona and Orange City. He'd make a great neighbor for Alan Grayson, who represents the suburbs on the other side of Orlando. They sure see eye to eye on protecting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Ruiz: "I would never vote to diminish Social Security benefits.These benefits cover retirees, widows, children, disabled persons and veterans-- none of whom receive enough as it is by current economic standards of reasonable cost, inflation and common decency. In fact, it's part of my platform to actually increase Social Security benefits, financed by lifting the FICA cap, and Wall Street cost-sharing. My GOP opponent, John Mica wants to CUT Social Security benefits and make seniors retire even later in life, at 70 years of age. It's unacceptable. Help me stop him."

If you'd like to vote in our contest, just contribute at least one dollar to one of the anti-Chained CPI candidates on this page. The candidate who gets the most donors wins $1,000 from the Blue America PAC and everyone who donates is eligible to win an RIAA-certified platinum award for the eponymous 311 album. Win-win!

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How Badly Will Obama's Chained CPI Error Hurt Democrats In The Midterms?

Social Security has long been the third rail of American politics. It has generally kept Republican predators, fearful of losing their careers, at bay. By introducing the Republicans' plan for Chained CPI, Obama has weakened the power of the third rail. It's the worst thing he's done since taking office. In the long run, it could well permanently tarnish the Democratic Party brand. And in the short run, many Democrats worry it will destroy the party in the midterms.

Although Boehner and Miss McConnell demanded that Obama include Chained CPI in his budget proposal, the GOP immediately jumped on it as a betrayal of seniors and vets (which it certainly is). Greg Walden (R-OR), head of the NRCC, immediately went on the attack against Democrats for this "shocking attack on seniors." Who couldn't have seen that coming?

Democratic candidates are being put into the uncomfortable position of having no choice but to distance themselves from Obama. Mike Lillis at The Hill reported that no less a party Establishment shill than Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), a former-- failed-- head of the DCCC, who oversaw the catastrophic Great Blue Dog Apocalypse of 2010, recognizes the danger for Democrats running for Congress next year and that "Walden's comments foreshadow a line of attack the GOP will use on the campaign trail."

"There are the substantive concerns about the chained CPI-- I share many of them-- but there are also the political concerns," Van Hollen said Friday. "And the fact [is] that Republicans were very quick to show they would use this as a political weapon against Democrats.

"I know there have been efforts to rewind the tape on that," Van Hollen said, referencing Republican criticisms of Walden's comments, "but that first salvo demonstrated what the Republican campaign committee intends to do."

Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) said Obama's Social Security proposal was a gift to Republicans that could single-handedly kill any chance the party had at regaining the Speaker's gavel in 2014.

"Seniors vote in even heavier numbers, proportionately, in off-year elections," he said. "So just looking at a political standpoint... I would think that this would be a damning blow to our chances of taking back the House next year."

...Walden delivered a different verdict, telling CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that Obama was “trying to balance this budget on the backs of seniors."

That's precisely the message Republicans used to great effect in 2010, when, despite their own calls to slash Medicare spending, they accused Democrats of threatening seniors by enacting billions of dollars in Medicare cuts under Obama's signature healthcare reform law.

"I don't underestimate the degree to which they'll be disingenuous," Rep. Mark Takano (Calif.), a freshman Democrat who has emerged as one of the loudest critics of Social Security benefit cuts, said Friday. "It harkens back to the charge that $700 billion was taken from Medicare and put into ObamaCare, and [they] told all the seniors it was a [benefit] cut. That was very deceptive, [and] this is another instance of that."

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), another staunch defender of Social Security, echoed that charge Friday.

"I never underestimate Republican hypocrisy," he said.

Not all Democrats fear Obama's chained CPI proposal will be a liability for the party during the midterms. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, argued that the president proposed the change, so any political fallout should be directed at him.

"They cannot lay that dead cat at our door," Ellison said Friday. "I don't know how it's going to affect the president's brand, but it would be completely unfair to affect the House Democratic Caucus brand, because we had nothing to do with it and most of us are affirmatively and explicitly against it."

Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), another fierce critic of chained CPI, offered another reason he thinks GOP attacks on Obama's budget won’t stick: Republicans, he said, have crusaded for similar entitlement cuts for too long to reverse course convincingly.

"The party that champions the dismantling of Medicare has a hard time attacking anybody for going after seniors," Deutch said Friday. "They would not come with clean hands to that argument."

Deutch predicted the conservative House Republican conference would ultimately prevent Walden and his National Republican Congressional Committee from attacking Obama's chained CPI proposal on the campaign trail, even if it would prove effective.

"There are too many members of his caucus who want to do real harm to Social Security and Medicare," Deutch said. "They won't allow him to even make that political argument because he'll expose them for what they really want to do."

Complicating the GOP attacks on Obama's proposal, more than 100 Republicans voted this year in favor of the Republican Study Committee budget, which includes a shift to the chained CPI.

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) argued that the Republicans' track record on Social Security-- which includes the effort by President George W. Bush to privatize the program-- would make it "immensely difficult" for GOP leaders to make an effective campaign strategy out of Obama's proposal.

"They are firmly embedded in the minds of the public as being a party that does not support Social Security," DeFazio said. "Hypocrisy is rife around here, but I think that was a personal statement by Greg Walden. … I don't think this is a budding strategy."

..."Our job is to make clear that Mr. Walden's crocodile tears over [Obama's proposal] rings insincere and hollow," Takano said. "As a whole, Republicans want to do far, far, far more damage than chained CPI."

And aside from the obvious crackpots like Louie Gohmert, Phil Gingrey, Ted Yoho, Steve King, Mike Pompeo, Steve Stockman and Paul Broun, among the Republicans who voted for Chained CPI in the Republican Study Committee budget were members of Boehner's inner-circle like House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI), House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA), House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), House Homeland Security Committee chairman Mike McCaul (R-TX), and House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX). In CA-25, for example, Lee Rogers has been very clear that he opposes Chained CPI and all cuts to earned benefits for seniors and veterans, while McKeon already voted for it. Rogers: "I’m eager to find out where McKeon stands on taking away benefits from seniors, since he’s supported previous measures like ending the Medicare benefit and raising the Social Security age. As a doctor I am adamantly opposed to cutting benefits to our population in most need. I announced several weeks ago, I would have been a day-one signer of the letter Mark Takano and Alan Grayson authored pledging to protect seniors and veterans from cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits, including chained CPI."

Other Democrats have similar dynamics at work. Florida anti-Social Security Republican, John Mica, voted for the Study Committee Budget and for Chained CPI. His opponent, Nick Ruiz has this to say about the Chained CPI scheme: "I would never vote to diminish Social Security benefits.These benefits cover retirees, widows, children, disabled persons and veterans-- none of whom receive enough as it is by current economic standards of reasonable cost, inflation and common decency. In fact, it's part of my platform to actually increase Social Security benefits, financed by lifting the FICA cap, and Wall Street cost-sharing." Same for Kenneth Sanders in TX-06. Joe Barton is a Chained CPI fan and voted for it. Sanders has been clear that "Chained CPI and the Ryan budget are both wrong for America. What this country needs right now is the kind of booming job creation that will get the economy running again. Penalizing seniors by taking Social Security earnings out of their pockets in not just wrong for the economy; it's immoral."

But will voters be able to distinguish? Or will they just have Obama and Chained CPI in mind-- with the help of a misleading GOP advertising blitz-- when they go to the polls in 2014?

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Buck McKeon Throwing In The Towel?

According to FlashReport, corrupt windbag Buck McKeon is quietly telling key people he may retire in 2014.

In the past few weeks United States Congressman Howard “Buck” McKeon (CA-25), Chairman of the powerful House Armed Services Committee, has been talking with prominent political leaders in his district, informing them that he may be retiring at the end of his current term. I’ve personally spoken to several of the folks who spoke with McKeon, who confirmed for me that they had spoken with the senior Republican who was first elected in 1992, and is currently serving in his 11th term in the House.

I spoke with Congressman McKeon last evening in advance of publishing this story, and the Congressman would only say on the record that he has not yet made a decision about whether he would seek re-election in 2014.

Because of “committee term limits” within the House Republican Conference, the 74-year-old McKeon is in his last two year stint as Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. McKeon is the senior member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, but has already served in the top GOP spot on that committee for three terms, and so cannot run for the Chairmanship of that Committee again.

DWT readers may recall that first time candidate Dr. Lee Rogers gave McKeon a real race in 2012, performing better against him than any candidate in his 20-year tenure in the House. Rogers owned McKeon in their only debate, which became a debate about the congressman’s lack of ethics. McKeon’s career has been plagued by ethical lapses in judgment, which the L.A. media was reporting. He is the only serving member of the House identified by the Republican-controlled House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform as a beneficiary in the Countrywide mortgage scandal. Even chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) said the inside mortgage deal McKeon got was a type of bribe. Other issues that came to light was his connection to the defense industry and the apparent quid pro quos, paying his wife hundreds of thousands of dollars from his campaign account, and misusing campaign funds to investigate a political opponent to his wife.

Perhaps Buck McKeon is taking the advice of his hometown newspaper, the Santa Clarita Signal, when their lukewarm endorsement in 2012 asked him to retire:

We want [McKeon] to return to being more of a Santa Clarita guy rather than a Washington guy. If our congressman is unwilling to do this, we believe he should consider retirement after this term.

In 2014, McKeon would have been chairman of the House Armed Services Committee for 3 terms, a self-imposed limit by the House GOP leadership. So his choices are to become a run of the mill House member, or become a K street lobbyist for the war industry. McKeon publicly bemoaned the first-time campaign bruises he took in 2012. At 74-years-old he may not have the fight left in him to face a better-funded Rogers candidacy.

There is much speculation about McKeon’s 2012 opponent and Blue America-endorsed candidate Lee Rogers entering the 2014 race. We’ve been told the DCCC is recruiting him for another run and they are spending considerable resources making it known that they consider CA-25 to be a district in play. Rogers has a tremendous grassroots network in the district has already seen webpages like these popping up encouraging a 2014 run.

Rogers replied to our inquiry about a potential 2014 campaign by email last night from the California State Democratic Convention in Sacramento, writing:

“I’m very encouraged by all the support I’ve received so far and we established a fantastic foundation in 2012. I’m seriously considering the 2014 race and will make up my mind soon after careful evaluation. McKeon’s possible retirement is not a major factor in my decision. He’s ignored the issues of people in the district for some time.

"I’m eager to find out where McKeon stands on taking away benefits from seniors, since he’s supported previous measures like ending the Medicare benefit and raising the Social Security age. As a doctor I am adamantly opposed to cutting benefits to our population in most need. I announced several weeks ago, I would have been a day-one signer of the letter Mark Takano and Alan Grayson authored pledging to protect seniors and veterans from cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits, including chained CPI.


"I’m confident that if I ran in 2014 we wouldn’t have a funding deficit and I’m not afraid of a 2012 rematch or running against a different Republican. But in the meanwhile, I’m helping people in the district doing surgery to save legs from amputation and teaching other medical providers how to do what I do.”

On a side note, we congratulate Dr. Rogers on the recent award he received from his national organization designating him as a “Master” for being a key opinion leader who has impacted his profession through education, advocacy, and research.

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