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New PAC takes aim at Tauscher

By Josh Richman
Monday, January 22nd, 2007 at 3:19 pm in Ellen Tauscher, General, U.S. House.

Today saw the launch of Working For Us PAC and its lobbying wing, They Work For Us — a Washington, D.C.-based coalition of labor, trial lawyers and liberal groups that’ll target any Democrats who don’t adequately support progressive values of a living wage for all workers; more domestic jobs; retirement security; sound corporate governance; access to affordable health care; and keeping jobs here instead of shipping them overseas.

And at the top of this PAC’s list of “offenders” is…

#1. Ellen Tauscher, CA
Throughout her congressional career, Ellen Tauscher has accepted more than $2 million in campaign contributions from business PACs and has voted for reforms that strip the rights of consumers in favor of big business, including voting to reform the country’s bankruptcy laws in favor of banks and credit card companies and restricting access to the courts.

This, after Tauscher, D-Alamo, already has been taking heat from the netroots.

Kevin Lawlor, Taucher’s press secretary, told me Monday his boss “and her 63 New Dem colleagues were in lock-step with Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic Leadership throughout the first 100 hours and are committed to remaining that way as we move forward in the new majority. New Dems have always, and will continue, to work within the party to promote a common-sense agenda that creates jobs and promotes America’s competitiveness.”

“Rep. Tauscher was elected with 67 percent of the total vote last November, a number that far exceeds top-of-the ticket Democrats in her district,” Lawlor added. “Organizations like Planned Parenthood and the League of Conservation Voters, which promote policies in line with the values of the majority of residents in California’s tenth, have consistently given Ellen perfect voting records. And Ellen is going to continue to work on bringing back transportation dollars and fighting for policies that help working families.”

UPDATE @ 4:30 p.m. Monday: Over at Calitics, Tauscher critic blogswarm notes the New Democrat Coalition’s “lockstep” with the 100 Hours Agenda wasn’t complete: John Barrow, D-Ga. , was among four Democrats who opposed H.R. 6, the bill to end oil-drilling subsidies and invest in renewable energy. And, from my own research, I now see that New Democrat Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., was among 16 Democrats opposing H.R. 3, the bill to expand stem cell research. Tauscher voted for both bills and for the rest of the agenda.

Meanwhile, Tauscher announced today that she’ll take 2006 Florida Congressional candidate Christine Jennings as her guest to the President’s State of the Union Address to Congress tomorrow “to highlight the gross injustice of election problems in that district last November.”

Jennings seemed to have lost the election to Republican Vern Buchanan by 369 votes, but Sarasota County’s electronic voting machines registered 18,000 under-votes in the Jennings-Buchanan race — which would mean 18,000 people failed to vote for any Congressional candidate at all. Jennings still wants an investigation, and now is appealing a lower court’s ruling denying access to the machines’ source code.

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2 Responses to “New PAC takes aim at Tauscher”

  1. Inside Bay Area > Political Blotter > Tauscher ‘on leave’ from Blue Dog Dems Says:

    [...] this be a sign that Tauscher is bending to an onslaught of liberal criticism from Bay Area netroots activists who say that she’s too conservative for [...]

  2. Inside Bay Area > Political Blotter > Tauscher talks turkey on Iraq, Gonzales, netroots Says:

    [...] liberal bloggers and activists targeting her for a 2008 primary-election challenge: “I don’t think they’re mad at me alone, by [...]

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