July 04, 2011

Dear Friends,

I will be announcing an important effort – TOMORROW – Tuesday July 5 – regarding the repeal of Obamacare and its pending consideration before Supreme Court of the United States.

Here are the details:

When: Tuesday July 5, 2011

Time: 10pm EST (9pm Central)

FOX BUSINESS NETWORK

Host: Eric Bolling

Show: Follow The Money

To find Fox Business in your area go to:

http://www.foxbusiness.com/channel_finder.html

Please spread the word and tune in!

Sincerely,

JOHN FLEMING, M.D.
Member of Congress
P.S. For the latest on my efforts to repeal Obamacare, please take a minute to visit my website at www.fleming.house.gov or follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/repjohnfleming or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/repfleming

Source: FLEMING to make MAJOR Obamacare Announcement TOMORROW – Tuesday July 5th

In a letter to committee Chairman Lamar Smith, Texas Republican, and the panel’s ranking Democrat, John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, the lawmakers said that “contradictory to her 2010 confirmation testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee,” recently released Justice Department documents show that Justice Kagan “actively participated with her Obama administration colleagues in formulating a defense” for the law.

The lawmakers, including 10 doctors and GOP presidential candidates Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, said the documents raise “serious questions” about Justice Kagan’s ability to “exercise objectivity” in any case involving the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that comes before the Supreme Court.

The letter was released Thursday by Rep. John Fleming, Louisiana Republican, who questioned whether Justice Kagan’s involvement in legal-defense activities while serving as solicitor general should warrant her recusal from Obamacare cases under federal law.

Read more: House panel probe urged of Kagan health care role

According to GOP sources, the new map includes two vertical districts in northern Louisiana, a plan similar to what Republicans had proposed in their map, which failed to pass. The new map would keep boundaries in southern Louisiana the same as suggested in the Democratic plan that failed to pass the state House on Wednesday.

The new map is essentially the bill named for Democratic state Sen. Lydia Jackson, except that the two horizontal districts in northern Louisiana in that version are flipped on their ends.

“It’s not the perfect district for me or for Rodney, but I think it’s something that we can get enough votes to pass,” Rep. John Fleming (R) told Roll Call late Wednesday night, referring to his own political fate and that of Rep. Rodney Alexander (R).

Republicans thought they had agreed on a map that would have left freshman Rep. Jeff Landry (R) without a district in a state that is losing a House seat after reapportionment because of population loss from Hurricane Katrina. But earlier this week, Rep. Charles Boustany (R) switched and threw his support behind the Democratic Jackson plan.

Read more: Republicans Ready to Unveil Compromise Map in Louisiana

Overall, the GOP did very well in Congressional races in Louisiana. While the delegation remained 6-1 Republican, the Democrats picked up a seat in New Orleans that was won by a Republican under unusual circumstances while losing, as expected, Democrat Charlie Melancon’s seat in south Louisiana.  

Continue reading at http://winwithjmc.com/archives/2090

John Couvillon is a political consultant. His company is JMC Enterprises of Louisiana, Inc. with expertise in the data analysis aspects of political campaigns, such as poll sample development/analysis, development of targeted voter files for phone canvassing or mail outs, campaign strategy, and demographic consulting. See his site at WinWithJMC.com for more information.

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WINNERS

1. David Vitter. Three years ago this guy was political dead meat. Tonight, he’s one of the strongest Republicans in the Senate. Vitter’s 57-38 blowout of Charlie Melancon tells us three things. First, his DC Madam scandal is over. Done. Melancon’s camp never did get the message that the people of Louisiana heard about it, processed it and decided it was none of their business. You can say we’re permissive of scandal here, and maybe you’re right. But at the end of the day, what the electorate decided was that they’re more interested in what Vitter can do to represent them than what he does in his personal life – or did 10 years ago.

Vitter will also return to a Senate that, while it didn’t flip to the GOP, will be far more heavily populated with ideological cohorts than the one he left for the campaign last month. The Rand Pauls, Pat Toomeys, Mike Lees, Marco Rubios and Ron Johnsons of the world will be much more likely to stand with Vitter than with Lindsey Graham, and as a result Vitter will find himself with more allies come January.

2. Jay Dardenne. Dardenne’s campaign was low-key, despite being blamed for “attacks” on Caroline Fayard. That was a ridiculous charge, as the Republican merely pointed out a few facts about Fayard’s history and background that were not of a personal nature. She’s a lefty, despite what she attempted to cast herself as. Dardenne also did a nice job of generally limiting his campaign to things the Lt. Governor actually does. It’s clear the voters responded positively. Dardenne won a 57-43 race which was several points higher than his people expected.

3. Jeff Landry. For a first-time Congressional candidate, Landry’s 64-36 blowout of Ravi Sangisetty in the 3rd District race was definitely impressive. Landry annihilated Sangisetty in the debates and he outworked the Democrat on the campaign trail, as the parish-by-parish numbers attest:

• Ascension: Landry, 61-39
• Assumption: Landry, 58-42
• Iberia: Landry, 71-29
• Jefferson: Landry, 75-25
• Lafourche: Landry, 68-32
• Plaquemines: Landry, 69-31
• St. Bernard: Landry, 67-33
• St. Charles: Landry, 64-36
• St. James: Sangisetty, 55-45
• St. John: Sangisetty, 56-44
• St. Martin: Landry, 72-28
• St. Mary: Landry, 65-35
• Terrebonne: Landry, 63-37

Sangisetty is from Terrebonne, which should give an indication of how big a win this was. And despite the nastiness of the race, there was an impressive 41 percent turnout in LA-3. The narrative we were sold was that Landry was toxic and a wider electorate would reject him. That narrative was a lie; Landry won huge majorities in 11 of the 13 parishes in the district. He’s got a big future in Louisiana politics, though it’s pretty clear he’s going to have to wade through nasty campaigns every time he gets a race.

4. Cedric Richmond. Richmond’s 65-33 destruction of Joseph Cao was the biggest surprise of the state’s races, though given the size of the margin one wonders if it didn’t reflect an implosion on the part of the Republican incumbent. But Richmond did what he did without getting help from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which thought about making a buy for him and ultimately opted not to. He clearly benefited from street money Caroline Fayard’s campaign spent in New Orleans.

Richmond’s race also indicated something not dissimilar to Vitter’s victory; namely, that voters in tonight’s Louisiana elections are more interested in how they’ll be represented in terms of policy than in the personal histories and/or failings of their politicians. Vitter survived the DC madam scandal because a large majority of Louisiana’s voters approve of his conservative Senate record, and in like manner Richmond won despite a rather frightening ethical record because at the end of the day the majority of the voters in New Orleans want a typical Congressional Black Caucus member, and he’s certainly that.

5. Charles Boustany. Boustany might be the biggest beneficiary of the GOP House takeover, as he’s set to take over a subcommittee in Appropriations. That, of course, could be good for Louisiana as a whole – though it’s unlikely anybody is getting much pork in the next Congress given the public mandate for fiscal discipline shown tonight. But Boustany isn’t alone; Steve Scalise is expected to get a key spot on the Steering Committee and Rodney Alexander is expected to get a subcommittee chair in Ways and Means. John Fleming is also in line to pick up a spot on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which would increase his profile and also give the folks involved in the Haynesville Shale play a larger voice in fighting federal efforts to strangle natural gas production through regulatory enslavement.

LOSERS

1. The Fayards. To have spent the kind of money the Fayard campaign spent on a special-election Lieutenant Governor’s race, when the job comes up for re-election next year, is enough to put her at the top of this list. But to have gone through that much money and lost, and to be left with the questions about how the campaign was financed which remain in its wake, make tonight a very, very bad night for Louisiana’s premier Democrat campaign funding family.

Caroline Fayard did create some name recognition for herself in this race, which it was clear she was trying to do. But getting trounced 57-43 after a poll earlier this week showed her just eight points down indicates she perhaps underperformed.

And at the end of the day, accusations of money-laundering from her father through the Louisiana Democrat Party to her campaign are likely to haunt Fayard and perhaps hamper her future political prospects. She’s likely to be back, but it’s clear voters were not comfortable with what they saw from the Fayard family. And a 14-point spread says it’s not just that she was a Democrat running in a Republican year.

2. The Louisiana Democrat Party. The Fayard campaign-finance issues are likely to land the state’s Democrats in a pickle with the state Board of Ethics, which raised lots of questions particularly when the party failed to file 48-hour reports in the two weeks prior to the election after the money-laundering issue was raised. That amounts to a cherry on top of the otherwise devastating results for the Democrats – who, it appears, don’t seem to be competitive almost anywhere. They failed to even run candidates in the 1st and 7th Districts, and outside of Richmond no Democrat congressional candidate did better than Ravi Sangisetty’s 36 percent.

We’ll have to do a full count tomorrow, but the number we’ll be looking for is how many parishes were won by Democrat candidates tonight compared to Republicans. From the looks of it, that’s going to be a very lopsided number. And that indicates the Democrats aren’t competitive on a statewide level anymore. What this portends for next year will be interesting; they’ll have a tough time mounting challenges to any statewide races save for Attorney General, which Buddy Caldwell will be a favorite to hold.

3. Charlie Melancon. We didn’t see his concession speech live, but we’re told it was an exercise in bitterness, bile and classlessness. If that’s true, then it’s of a piece with the shameful way Melancon conducted himself in the last debate, in which he acted like he was trying to start a brawl rather than offer leadership to Louisiana through the Senate seat he was running for.

Melancon’s campaign was a joke, frankly. He sent Anzalone Liszt out to push-poll the people of Louisiana and lie to the voters (and prospective donors) about the state of the race, he failed completely to offer a vision for the state he’d present as our senator, he couldn’t offer us anything more than hookers and troubled Vitter staffers and he told a lot of provable lies throughout the campaign. For him not to own up, after it was over and the result was a surprise to no one, to the fact that the voters soundly rejected what he had to offer indicates that despite what he repeated time and time again about Vitter’s ethics the reality is that there might be more questions about the former sugar-cane lobbyist and Edwin Edwards crony from a character standpoint than about his intended victim.

Melancon’s next stop is likely Washington, where he’ll probably land some cush gig as the Undersecretary of Bass Fishing in the Department of Nothing. One would hope so. After his performance in Congress over the past year and the way he embarrassed himself in this campaign it’s unlikely he’ll be able to pull a Billy Tauzin or John Breaux and cash in as a lobbyist. And as for ever getting elected to office again, he can flat-out forget it.

4. Bobby Jindal. Jindal spent a great deal of time and effort outside of Louisiana working for gubernatorial and senatorial candidates, and as best we can tell he actually managed to pick a decent number of winners with his endorsements. But if Jindal’s goal in all that galivanting was to boost his national stature, outside of making himself the subject of a FOIA request from Democrat National Committee opposition researchers to the Pentagon it doesn’t appear he put himself on the map as a presidential or vice-presidential candidate.

Meanwhile, a lot of hay was made about Jindal’s lack of endorsements for Vitter, Dardenne and the state’s GOP congressional candidates. As it turned out, none of them needed the governor to pitch in, other than perhaps Joseph Cao (who was probably helpless anyway). Jindal could argue that he didn’t hurt anybody by not endorsing, and that’s probably true. But he didn’t help anybody, either, and a governor is supposed to help to build his state’s party. Jindal clearly didn’t do that, and there will be a lot of ruffled feathers for him to smooth over – and he’ll have to set about doing it immediately.

Because Jindal is going to have a massive budget fight on his hands. And in state treasurer John Kennedy, who is the most ambitious politician in Louisiana, he now has an adversary with designs on his job and a nose for media attention. The more contentious that budget fight gets, the more Jindal might think he would have liked to have gathered and/or strengthened allies among the state’s politicians and their supporters.

5. Joseph Cao. Re-election was always going to be a heavy lift for Cao, and when Fayard made the runoff and spread street money all over New Orleans it got a lot tougher. So the fact that he lost tonight isn’t necessarily all that terrible a disgrace.

But when you get beat 65-33, you can’t sugar-coat it. That’s a mudhole being stomped in your butt. It’s hard to even analyze such a poor performance. Maybe at the end of the day, you just can’t pull black vote in LA-2 unless you’re black. It sure doesn’t look like Cao could despite his effort at doing so.

Today at the Louisiana Republican Leadership Summit, Scott Angelle spoke in detail about his party switch.  Echoing the theme of a former speech made in Lafayette on economic recovery, Angelle described his decision as motivated by the desire of national Democrats to kill the energy future of Louisiana.  His speech in Lafayette attributed the blame for the oil and gas drilling moratorium to Obama.  Today, as a new born Republican, he was unhindered by any former Democratic loyalties, and the resulting speech levied more specific and substantive criticism against the moratorium.

He began his speech by stressing the value of Louisiana as a primary American energy provider, detailing the capabilities of Louisiana to produce, refine, and ship natural gas and oil to every state of the union.  A significant moment came when he described his decision to switch parties.  He said that the primary reason for his change of affiliation was the damage national Democrats were causing to the Louisiana middle class.  He went on to say that, “the national Democrats have a bias against the oil and gas energy,” and that bias was led to the moratorium, which he said did not hurt company shareholders nearly as much as it hurt Louisiana workers.

He made some very interesting and accurate arguments about the state of the American economy in regards to the environment and energy.  Angelle called these three components the “three E’s.”  He described the situation in Washington perfectly, saying that national Democrats were treating the “Three E’s” independently of one another when in fact they are entirely interdependent.  Angelle went on to say that in order for the economy to prosper, each of these aspects must be treated as one entity.  He said that the key to economic growth is an increase in available and cheap energy combined with private investment.  Backing up these claims, he provided the fact that each of America’s past six recessions has been preceded by a sharp rise in energy costs.

Like in his Lafayette speech, he lauded Louisiana as potentially the greatest asset to the United States in terms of energy.  By extension, through his analysis of economic growth tied to energy, he surmised that growth in the Louisiana energy business was potentially the greatest asset to the improvement of the American economy.  While he said that alternative energy was all well and good in principle, he made the accurate argument that the American economy was simply not ready to run on green energy.  This sentiment was later echoed by Congressman John Fleming who said the economy is not set up “to be run by windmills.”  Angelle said that previous estimates about the potential of natural gas by officials in Washington attributed little worth to the energy source.  However, he said that Washington and the Democrats were holding Louisiana back from a “100 year supply of energy” from natural gas under our very feet.

Angelle also made an interesting parallel between the administration’s handling of the Gulf Oil Spill and Bush’s decisions after 9/11.  He classified both as titanic disasters, but he made an important distinction between the two.  He said there was no evidence that the problems leading to the oil spill were systemic, and therefore, to impose a moratorium on all drilling was irresponsible, representing a vast over extension of federal authority.  He described 9/11 security problems as broadly systemic because they affected the entire airline industry.  Did Bush shut down the airline industry for months?  No.  He shut it down for 4 days while necessary security regulations were put in place.  Have we had a successful terrorist attack on this country since? No.

Angelle attributes a liberal bias against oil corporations to the moratorium and the push for green energy.  It is this bias that Angelle claims he can no longer support.  The policies of national Democrats have catered to this bias to such an extent that Louisianians are now losing money and jobs.

His speech was passionate, articulate, and accusatory.  No longer hindered by past party ties, Angelle ripped the Democrats for policies that hurt the middle class of Louisiana.  He attributed blame not just to Obama but to the Democratic party as  whole.  While he is not currently holding public office in Louisiana, his future looks bright in the Republican party.  It is refreshing to see a politician express loyalty first to the people of his state.

UPDATE: Inside Louisiana News had video of Angelle’s speech…

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For example, this morning the campaign of Democrat congressional candidate David Melville, running against Dr. John Fleming for the 4th District seat in northwest Louisiana, put out a press release touting the endorsement of a prominent Republican politician to its side. On the surface, it seemed like a rather significant development in a race expected to be one-sided on Election Day…

 Today David Melville, U.S. Congressional candidate in Louisiana’s 4th District, proudly announced the endorsement of former Republican governor Buddy Roemer. 

“I am a proud Republican for the past 20 years,” said Roemer.  “But, I realized as a public servant and now as a private citizen that America comes first, not the Party.  David realizes this and commits to this principle of putting America first.  Now, more than ever, we need David Melville in the United States Congress.”

“I am humbled to receive Buddy’s endorsement,” Melville said.  “Despite the difference in party affiliation, he and I agree that this district needs a representative that will focus on listening to the needs of everyday people, bringing job opportunities to Northwest Louisiana, and ending the corruption in Washington.  I am ready to go to Washington and work with all sides to get results for the 4th District, and I appreciate his support.”

As a pastor, community leader, and family man, Melville believes in bringing people together to get things done for the common good. 

But Fleming’s campaign responded with a detail Pastor Melville left out. Perhaps our readers can spot it…

“An endorsement from Mr. Melville’s brother-in-law — a former governor — simply establishes that old style family and political connections, which the people of Louisiana have come to despise, are still alive and well in this state. Instead, I have worked hard for and earned the trust and endorsements from important working associations such as the US Chamber of Commerce, the Louisiana Sherriff’s Association, the National Rifle Association and many many others.”

We thought it was a detail that might be of some interest to disclose, though perhaps the Melville campaign thought it would make for better copy to say they got an endorsement across party lines from a former governor than that his brother-in-law is backing him.

Another detail that would indicate Melville’s Roemer endorsement is less of a story than it might seem is a line on the FEC report of the campaign’s individual contributors…

Hey, who’s that on the ninth line? And when did he make that max-out donation to the Melville campaign?

End of June. Four months ago.

Seems the Governor’s mouth takes a while to follow his money. He is a banker these days, after all.

There’s no polling available on this race, but as of Sept. 30 Fleming had raised $1.3 million, spent $908,000 and had $426,000 left. Melville had raised $182,000, spent $164,000 and had about $19,000 on hand.

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While I have no qualms with Mr. Colbert’s right to express his opinion and certainly respect the Majority’s right to invite whom it pleases to testify before the committee, one has to wonder what this says about the leadership capability of House Democrats. Inviting a comedian to appear before a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives to poke fun at an issue as divisive and explosive as immigration is emblematic of what a joke Washington has become in the view of many Americans. The juxtaposition of his comedy act against the backdrop of a historic Congressional hearing room provided a metaphor for the low ratings Congress suffers today because of its arrogance and incompetency. As Congress readies to recess for the term with mounds of unfinished business, Americans are not looking for a comedy show from their government; they want leadership.

In 1974, Congress passed the Budget Act which codified the process by which the annual budget is created. Since then, one of the most fundamental and crucial responsibilities of Congress has been to pass a yearly budget, laying a blueprint from which funds will be appropriated by our government. In the 35 years since these rules were put into place, the House has never failed to pass an annual budget — that is, until now. Even in the face of intense public opposition, Democrats have unapologetically abdicated this responsibility and plan to leave Washington for the term without passing a budget resolution.

What’s more, in just a few short months, the Obama tax-hike time bomb will explode, resulting in the largest single tax increase in U.S. history. While Americans continue to weather the worst recession since the Great Depression, our government, by its inaction, plans to raise taxes by $3.9 trillion dollars. From the blue collar worker trying to make ends meet to small businesses trying to keep their doors open, Americans will feel the pain come January.

Finally, we have a stubbornly high unemployment rate due to economic uncertainties created by uncontrolled debt, taxation, spending, excess regulation, and a monstrosity of a government takeover of our health care system.

With figurative Rome burning and a comedy act firmly in the can, the Democrat leadership will likely release Congress this week so many of their Members can return to their districts to campaign against the very laws and agendas they have facilitated throughout the 111th Congress. Thus begins the official start of campaign season to revive feeble Democrat political careers instead of fixing America.

The American people crave serious, competent leadership in Washington, and they are not getting it from the current liberal Majority. As unemployment lingers near 10% and our national debt sits at over $13 trillion, Americans are screaming for serious change. I think Mr. Colbert is a very talented comedian, but sadly the real joke in Washington today is just how laughably out of touch the Democrats have become.

John Fleming is a family physician and small business owner. He represents the 4th Congressional District of Louisiana and is a member of the House Armed Services and Natural Resources Committees. This article originally appeared at the Daily Caller.

• Any talk about David Vitter’s vulnerability in a primary or general election is just that – talk. He received a whopping 88% of the vote against two primary opponents (one of whom, Chet Traylor, initially got plenty of favorable press time to promote his candidacy), with at least 66% of the vote in each parish.
• If anything, Charlie Melancon ought to be more concerned. His two opponents were even less known to Democratic/Independent voters than Vitter’s opponents,  yet he only received 71% of the vote. More revealing is the distribution of that vote – while his highest percentages were in parishes with a large black population and/or his own Congressional district, his performance in several rural parishes was downright embarrassing. In fact, in five rural north Louisiana parishes, he received less than 50% of the vote.

Melancon Vote By Parish

• Republican enthusiasm was present at the polls today, just like it was for early voting. Though only 26% of the voters are registered Republican, Republican turnout was 2.5 times that of Democratic/Independent turnout (Independents can only vote in Democratic primaries), which resulted in 47% of the vote being cast in the Republican primary.
• Congressional primaries, with one major exception, were uneventful. Five Republican Congressmen (Steve Scalise of Metairie, “Joseph” Cao of New Orleans, John Fleming of Minden, Bill Cassidy of Baton Rouge, and Charles Boustany of Lafayette) received no primary opposition. Six year incumbent Rodney Alexander dispatched his primary opponent with 89% of the vote (he received at least 79% of the vote in each parish), which is identical to the 90% of the vote he received in the Republican primary two years ago.
• On the Democratic side, both contested primaries ended up being settled tonight. In New Orleans, state representative Cedric Richmond won his primary with 60% of the vote against three opponents – it didn’t hurt that he had the Landrieu endorsement. Up in northwest Louisiana, Methodist minister David Melville won his primary with 81% of the vote.
• (UPDATED 8/31 AM) The one primary which was bitterly contested, and will go into a runoff, was the Republican primary for Charlie Melancon’s vacated House seat, which stretches from Chalmette to New Iberia as far north as Gonzales. Former House Speaker (and former Democrat) Hunt Downer started off the heavy favorite, but made a critical error near the end of the campaign: he backed out of a candidate debate sponsored by the Baton Rouge Tea Party – to attend a fundraiser. This cancellation enraged Tea Party activists, who immediately began blasting Downer for this, for his legislative voting record, and the fact that he had served in the (Democratic) Blanco administration. While attorney Jeff Landry benefitted from this “establishment vs insurgent” matchup, engineer Kristian Magar also made a respectable showing, with a considerable assist from Tea Party activists through energetic use of social networking sites like Facebook.  In the end, Landry received 49.6% of the vote, compared to 36% for Downer and 14% for Magar. Will there be a runoff ? In addition to the fact that Landry was about 100 votes short of winning outright, the distribution of the vote should give Downer pause while he ponders whether it is worth the time and expense to contest the runoff. Basically, Downer was a “one parish candidate” –though he carried his home parish of Terrebonne with a very respectable 64% of the vote (versus Landry’s 26% and Magar’s 10%), he lost every other parish to Landry. In fact, outside of Terrebonne, 59% of the Republican vote went to Landry, while Downer received 25% and Magar received 16% - it’s important to note that both Landry and Magar shared an Iberia Parish voting base. Curiously, the absentee vote (which made up 17% of the total) went 52-40% for Landry, while those who voted on Election day gave Landry 49%, Downer 35%, and Magar 16%.

(UPDATED 8/31 AM) In addition to the Republican runoff for the 3^rd Congressional district, the “everything else” primary is in five weeks on Saturday, October 2. While the Lieutenant Governor’s race at the top of the ticket, there is also a myriad of judgeship races and municipal/school board races. The deadline to register to vote in this election is Wednesday, September 1. Early voting will be from September 18 to 25, and the deadline to mail in a ballot (that is, if the voter will be unable to make it to the polls on Election Day) is Friday, October 1.

Finally, West Virginia is having a special election this November to fill the seat of the late senator Robert Byrd. The primry to choose party nominees was held tonight, but was relatively uneventful. Governor Joe Manchin received 73% of the Democratic primary vote, while mining company owner John Raese (who has run several times before statewide and lost) received 71% of the vote in the Republican primary.

John is a political consultant and blogger with JMC Enterprises with expertise in poll sample development and analysis, development of targeted voter files for phone canvassing or mail outs, campaign strategy and demographic consulting, among other things. See his site at WinWithJMC.com for more information.