Questions Linger about Chabot's Pork Projects

Many questions still linger about the $1.6 million earmark Mr. Chabot inserted into the Fiscal 2007 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill. Chabot has been a longtime public critic of pork-barrel projects but seems to have done an unexplainable "about face" while arranging for this taxpayer money to be used for a number of local projects which would benefit the companies of eleven men and women who serve as part of his inner circle. The staggering amount of the monies set aside perplexed even Republican legislators such as Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) who has the following excerpt on the Government page for the Senate subcommittee on Federal Financial Management:

Eleven men and women who were identified as hosts or co-hosts on an invitation to a March Chabot fundraiser featuring House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) serve in leadership roles with the organizations in Chabot’s district that would receive federal money. It is not clear what relationship, if any, exists between the campaign donations and the federal money lined up for the pet causes of the donors. Indeed, it can be difficult for the public to understand why federal dollars are apportioned the way they are. “The suspicion has been that the way money works in politics is that those who give get, and this example appears to confirm that,” said Ellen S. Miller, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation.

Link to the entire story here:http://coburn.senate.gov/ffm/index.cfm?FuseAction=LatestNews.NewsStories&ContentRecord_id=1f36d469-802a-23ad-4ac6-5bdd0bdd1413&Issue_id=&IsTextOnly=False

Chabot's change of heart seems to go hand in hand with his major policy flip-flops in recent years. When running for his first term in 1994, Chabot campaigned speaking out against huge tax breaks for major corporations or what he billed "Corporate Welfare". However, the Cheney Energy Bill of 2005 contained over $23 Billion in tax breaks and incentives for Major Oil companies already raking in record profits. Mr. Chabot gave his full support to the piece of legislation. Again in 2006, he lobbied hard against an increase in the Federal Minumum Wage saying it would destroy the economy, even though it had not been raised in over 9 years. However, when a provision was inserted into the bill which would essentially give many of his wealthy donors another tax break, he changed his mind and said now that an increase would be GOOD for the economy.

Mr. Chabot still has alot of questions to answer about these donors who seem to be able to write their own blank checks on behalf of Congressman Chabot and the taxpayers.

Chabot continues Campaign against Environment

110th Congress / Bills / H R 1495
Title
To provide for the conservation and development of water and related resources, to authorize the Secretary of the Army to construct various projects for improvements to rivers and harbors of the United States, and for other purposes.

The Water Resources Act of 2007 ultimately passed the House by a margin of 361-54. It then went to the Senate where it passed with numbers great enough to override the threat of veto by President Bush. Anti-environment ambassador Dennis Hastert even voted for it. So why, beyond all reason, would Steve Chabot not support this bill? The answer, to us, seems very clear................$$$$$$$$$$.

The six-term Congressman has taken thousands of dollars throughout his career from anti-environment groups such as the Independent Petroleum Association of America and the National Mining Association, an organization led by Right-Wing activist and mine owner Bob Murray (profile:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Murray).

Mr. Chabot has been a long time enemy of environmental projects. His rating of 15% by the League of Conservation Voters is among the lowest and most embarrassing scores in the entire House. Link to his entire record here:http://www.govote.com/OH/Steve_Chabot_Environment.htm

Driehaus Open House

The Driehaus Campaign open house was held last night at their headquarters on Glenmore Ave. and was reportedly a huge success. The event was very well attended by supporters from all areas of the district.
There is alot of momentum with the Driehaus camp right now mainly due to the strong amount of support and respect Mr. Driehaus has earned from community residents during his tenure in the statehouse. The candidate mingled among the crowds and welcomed supporters who were "fired up" at the prospect of taking on Chabot in November.

While the Driehaus campaign is up and running strong at this point, the Chabotians seem to be still scrambling to recover from recent scandal and corruption allegations. Mr. Chabot was recently once again caught using his office and Congressional privileges for campaign purposes. A practice that is not only unethical and against Congressional rules, but also something Mr. Chabot has been involved with in the past.
It looks like all of these problems are keeping them from getting the Chabot website up and running. Link here:http://www.stevechabot.com/ or also at the bottom of this page.
We will keep you posted on any updates and changes.