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Breakfast With Andre: This Isn't Egg McMuffins

by: finifinito

Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 19:06:44 PM EDT

After the Star jumped into the fray this morning with their article outlining Andre Carson's Special Election campaign financing garnered entirely from individual lobbyist contributors and PACs, a friend in DC sent me some information they received inviting them to breakfast with the distinguished gentleman from Indianapolis this week:

4/15/08 9:30am
Hon. André Carson (IN-07)
Breakfast: The Podesta Group
1001 G Street NW, Suite 900 East, Washington, DC 20003
Contact: Ashly Higgins or Randy Broz at 202-479-2527 or ahiggins@politicaldg.com
Contribution: $2000 Host, $1000 PAC, $500 Individual
Committee: André Carson for Congress, 499 S. Capitol St. SW, Suite 412, Washington, DC 20003
------
4/17/08 9:30am
***Hon. André Carson (IN-07)
Financial Services Meet & Greet: Bryan Cave Strategies
700 13th St. NW, 7th Floor, Washington, DC 20005
Contact: Ashly Higgins or Randy Broz at 202-479-2527 or ahiggins@politicaldg.com
Contributions are Welcome.
Committee: André Carson for Congress, 499 S. Capitol St. SW, Ste 412, Washington, DC 20003
------
4/23/08 9:30am
***Hon. André Carson (IN-07)
Breakfast: Bryan Cave Strategies
700 13th St. NW, 7th Floor, Washington, DC 20005
Contact: Ashly Higgins or Randy Broz at 202-479-2527 or ahiggins@politicaldg.com
Contribution: $5000 Host, $2500 Sponsor, $1000 PAC, $500 Individual
Committee: André Carson for Congress, 499 S. Capitol St. SW, Ste 412, Washington, DC 20003

So let's take a look at the firms where these breakfast and meet and greet events are taking place at. From The Podesta Group website, we learn:

The Podesta Group is a DC-based bipartisan government relations and public affairs firm with a reputation for employing creative strategies to achieve results. Our dynamic and talented professionals are adept at everything from policymaking to political maneuvering, and our closely integrated team of public relations specialists and political strategists sets us apart from old-fashioned lobbying shops.
Since 1988, we have provided clients with superior strategic advice and access, combined with a creativity that is unique in Washington. We have one goal for our clients: to deliver results, and we are consistently ranked among the best for both government relations and public affairs.
Our clients come in all shapes and sizes. We represent corporations and trade associations as well as local governments and nonprofits. For some, we are their chief Washington representative. For others, we partner with outside firms to contribute our particular strengths. You have a future in Washington. We can help you seize it!

And from Andre's friends at Bryan Cave Strategies' website we learn:

Bryan Cave Strategies LLC provides government relations and strategic counsel to corporations, trade associations and non-pro?t organizations. For clients facing a public affairs battle or difficult public policy climate, Bryan Cave Strategies designs and manages effective issue and legislative campaigns that produce winning results.
Headed by Jack Oliver and Broderick Johnson, Bryan Cave Strategies offers clients a bipartisan team that is well-prepared to address public affairs challenges before and after they happen. The team specializes in developing innovative strategic plans and managing complex, large-scale issue campaigns.
Founded in 2005, Bryan Cave Strategies works closely with Bryan Cave LLP's national network of law offices and full-service practice areas.

More after the flip...

finifinito :: Breakfast With Andre: This Isn't Egg McMuffins

Well now, $500 a plate breakfasts definitely do not sound like the kind of place so called champions of the working class like Andre would be caught dead at, right? If he isn't being asked for favors from the clients of these lobbying firms holding these breakfast and meet and greet events for Andre, then why associate with these folks who "have too much power in Washington" according to Andre's thoroughly misleading TV commercial that began airing this week?

Andre is on the House Financial Services Committee, one of the so called "honey pot" committees on the Hill. The lobbyists for the real estate, financial services, banking, insurance and securities industries are constantly lobbying the members of that committee. So it is with great interest we see the meet and greet event scheduled for this coming Thursday morning at Bryan Cave Strategies' office. The invitation is for a Financial Services Meet & Greet with a nebulous Contributions Are Welcome dog whistle to Wall Street to come and open the checkbooks wide for Andre. I bet the folks spending $5000 to have breakfast with Andre are getting more than scrambled eggs and orange juice for their money.

So what kind of clients do Podesta Group and Bryan Cave Strategies represent you ask? I'm so glad you asked, and thanks to OpenSecrets.org we can learn a lot about both of these firms. Here are some of Bryan Cave Strategies' clients:

Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports
Fannie Mae
FedEx Corp
Financial Services Forum
Ford Motor Co
Hartford Financial Services
National Horse Protection Society
Northwest Airlines
Shell Oil
Union Pacific Corp
Verizon Communications

And here we have some of Podesta Group's clients:

Alcatel USA
Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care
American Assn of Motor Vehicle Admins
Amgen Inc
Amylin Pharmaceuticals
Berkshire Hathaway
BP
Center For Responsible Lending
Cherokee Nation
Corrections Corp of America
Cubist Pharmaceuticals
Dosal Tobacco
General Dynamics
General Electric
Google Inc
Heineken USA
Lockheed Martin
Merck Serono
Millennium Pharmaceuticals
National Assn of Broadcasters
National Tobacco
Novartis AG
Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals
Pfizer Inc
Roche Group
Sunoco Inc
Tyco International
Wal-Mart Stores

So Andre will be having breakfast and meeting with the clients from both of these firms. I am particularly interested in the fact that so many big pharmaceutical, big oil and big tobbacco companies are on these firms' client lists.

Credibility is being strained when Andre launches a TV ad in which he decries how lobbyists and special interests have too much power in DC, then turns right around and schedules events to take campaign contributions from those same lobbyists. Anybody with 1/10th of a brain know how beholden to these firms our politicians have become, and Andre being a freshman Congressman is doubly so.

And on that note, does anyone else find it prescient of Eddie Murphy to have made that movie The Distinguished Gentleman, which is itself a strikingly parallel story to Andre Carson's? A politician skates into office on a name similar to the previous incumbent who died while in office and proceeds to make a killing accepting money from every lobbyist and PAC he can hook up with. Life truly imitates art, as usual.

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Breakfast With Andre: This Isn't Egg McMuffins | 15 comments

Desperation (0.00 / 0)

Woody must be really desperate and behind in the polls when he allows his paid InterNet operative to post this open comparison of André Carson to the Eddie Murphy character in that movie.

This kind of character assassination won't play well particularly in the African-American community knowing it's written by a white guy who thinks the Congressional Black Caucus is too powerful.

It's time for Dr. Myers to dump his prejudiced attack dog. I know some of Woody's relatives: they will be aghast at this language used by Joh Padgett!

by: Wilson46201 @ Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 18:26:58 PM CDT

by: you @ soon

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If I am so prejudiced... (4.00 / 1)

Why am I supporting a successful black male politician? And do you deny that Andre Carson uses his name recognition for political advantage like the Thomas Jefferson Johnson character from the Eddie Murphy movie? Try again Wilson, your usual smear tactics don't work in my case. You can't accuse someone working for an African American politician of racism.

And I never said the Congressional Black Caucus was too powerful. Thats one of your distortions of what I said. I think the CBC has done more for the progressive agenda in this country than any other organization inside or outside of Congress. I fully support the CBC and look forward to helping send their next newest member of the caucus Dr. Woody Myers.

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson

by: finifinito @ Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 18:41:40 PM CDT

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by: you @ soon

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Cash (0.00 / 0)

answers your question.

A multimillionaire health insurance executive can buy a lot of allegiance...

by: Wilson46201 @ Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 19:11:34 PM CDT

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No one can buy my allegiance (0.00 / 0)

A man from the Eastside of Indy who educates himself, works hard and rises to the top of his profession, then comes home to serve his neighbors he grew up with in Congress can't BUY my allegiance, no one can. He can and did earn it though. Dr. Myers is an inspiration all Hoosiers can look up to, regardless of race, creed or partisan affiliation.

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson

by: finifinito @ Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 19:20:37 PM CDT

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Dissing the Congressional Black Caucus (0.00 / 0)

Joh Padgett just wrote yesterday:

You cannot pay for the commercial with money raised from individual lobbyists contributing along with PACs, the Congressional Black Caucus and the DCCC and then make a crooked statement about lobbyists who have too much power in Washington.

It sure looks like you dissed the CBC and the DCCC by lumping them along with PACs that have too much power in Washington. Your own antipathy to the DCCC is well-known.

By the way, just yesterday a couple of CBC Members were on radio locally supporting our Democratic Congressman André Carson. If you think the CBC is so hot, why are you working so hard against them? Cash?

by: Wilson46201 @ Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 19:26:18 PM CDT

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You're reaching Wilson (0.00 / 0)

My statement was that he raised money from the CBC along with PACs and the DCCC. And I am not working hard against the CBC, I am working hard FOR the best candidate we have, Dr. Myers, who will become a member of the CBC when he is sworn in next January.

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson

by: finifinito @ Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 19:33:31 PM CDT

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CBC members have long endorsed André Carson (0.00 / 0)

but the oh-so-superior Joh Padgett absolutely despises him and has worked very hard against André Carson. Now he's a hired gun for Myers spreading his hatred against Congressman André Carson. It's a gig Gary Welsh wishes he could get paid for!

Somehow the strong endorsements of progressives like John Conyers, Barbara Lee and Maxine Waters of the CBC simply went under Joh's political radar -- he continued his attacks, even to the point of urging abstention in the Special Election if somebody wouldn't vote for Republican Jon Elrod (his initial preference).

The voters ignored Joh Padgett' sputterings and elected Democratic Congressman André Carson who is now a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. They are supporting him now to stay in the CBC.

by: Wilson46201 @ Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 20:09:20 PM CDT

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Wrong again (0.00 / 0)

I do not despise Andre Carson, the man. I do not despise anyone on this earth, except of course Dick Cheney. I like Andre as a human being, he has made me laugh with his great sense of humor many times when we were coming up together in the same music circles.

The endorsements by Reps. Conyers, Lee and Waters were made out of respect for Julia. Had Andre Carson been named Andre Wilson and not related to Julia, there is no way they would have endorsed Andre Wilson over Dr. Myers.

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson

by: finifinito @ Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 20:50:43 PM CDT

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but they DID. (0.00 / 0)

It was widely known Woody was running and they still preferred André Carson over his 7 challengers.

Sadly, Joh Padgett doesn't seem to think Black and long-standing members of Congress like John Conyers are able to make intelligent political decisions not clouded by emotionalism -- but Joh does! ( a little cash so sharpens the perceptions )

by: Wilson46201 @ Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 20:58:31 PM CDT

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Exactly (0.00 / 0)

You make my point for me. The endorsements by those CBC members you mentioned were clouded by emotionalism in wanting to do the right thing by Julia and endorsing her grandson to succeed her in that seat. Their friend had just died and they were upset, and a family member steps forward to fill the seat. That happens in politics, quite often actually. If I were them, I would do the politically safe thing and endorse the relative.

However, usually the relative who steps forward to fill the term stands down in the regular election cycle. The relative doesn't use the ascension to the seat to keep it for himself. Andre should have finished his term on the City County Council before running instead of confirming for everyone that he simply used the position on the CCC as a stepping stone to Congress.

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson

by: finifinito @ Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 21:26:33 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I really don't think that (0.00 / 0)

its fair to categorize Joh as a hired gun.

I know Joh through the work he did for Barry Welsh's congressional campaign, and it was never about the money.

I don't really care whether Carson or Myers win, but I don't think that you're being fair to Joh.

Would you have Joh work for free? Campaign work is full time job, and if you want people to have a full time job, they have to have a way to support themselves.

by: ManfromMiddletown @ Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 21:46:01 PM CDT

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Thank you (0.00 / 0)

I appreciate your support MFM, and you're right. I support Dr. Myers because I believe him to be the best candidate we could send. And I do more than just argue with Wilson in the comments all day for the campaign. I am admin for the website, I write the official campaign blog and I oversee the social network profiles in MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and beyond. I would probably do it for free for Dr. Myers to ensure that he has the best technology working for him but fortunately the campaign has the resources to be able to hire me to do what I do for a living.

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson

by: finifinito @ Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 22:19:33 PM CDT

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Great job Joh! (0.00 / 0)

Hang in there... I too think Woody Myers is an exemplary candidate. I'm sure he will give Andre a run for his money!

by: jjohnson @ Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 17:56:06 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Gary Welsh looooooves Joh Padgett (0.00 / 0)

Don't you feel sooooo proud?
http://advanceindiana.blogspot...

by: Wilson46201 @ Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 19:30:49 PM CDT

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haha....funny title to this post (0.00 / 0)

haha....liked the title of this post finifinto...and this is what i do not like about Andre, it's bad enough that he goes through his whole life on the coattails of his grandmother, positioning himself to run for office before his grandmothers death, and then using her political machine to ensure that he takes her seat after her death...His hypocrisy knows no bounds! Why would you put out a commercial railing about special interests and the money they spend. All the while planning breakfast fund raisers with these same people who he is railing against in Indiana. I know it takes money to run for office and that Andre doesn't want to spend his own money on it. But what is the deal! Is no one in Indiana donating money to him??? All i see with this guy is political machine, political machine, political machine! Hey Julia Carson is dead, and yes she served well and for a long time; but where does paying her for her distinguished service, have anything to do with Andre. That is called nepotism, and this is not Medieval Europe where titles are inherited. So what it really comes down to is Andre deserves the job because of his grandmother and because he accepted lots of money from special interests. Unless you wish to point out to me what he has done with his life and for the city of Indianapolis. I am not saying Andre is a bad guy, just saying i am not rewarding him because of who his grandmother was. He seems to have been privileged enough with this already.

"I prevail!"

by: dicktater4life @ Sun Apr 13, 2008 at 15:20:47 PM CDT

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Breakfast With Andre: This Isn't Egg McMuffins | 15 comments

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