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Please visit our new website for future information on Democratic Congressman Harry Mitchell.

When Harry Met Nancy

Here is the latest ad released by Harry Mitchell Watch. It’s called “When Harry met Nancy.”

Harry Mitchell on FDIC

Harry Mitchell is seeking to up the ante on the $700,000,000 bailout legislation that is currently being reconsidered by the U.S. Senate.

According to an article in today’s Phoenix Business Journal, Mitchell would like to increase the amount of Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation from $100,000 to $250,000.

Show Us the Money, Harry

What good is a law if it is not respected by individuals subject to its jurisdiction? It is well documented that Harry Mitchell’s campaign is in the practice of receiving and retaining contributions from ethically-challenged liberal Democrats such as Charlie Rangel of New York. Rangel’s Congressional Committee and his leadership PAC have combined to contribute $14,000 to Mitchell re-election campaign this election cycle.

However, voters in CD-5 must now question whether Harry Mitchell has been completely candid in his personal financial disclosures. Questions have emerged about Mr. Mitchell’s membership in MCC Property Investments, LLC. For example, has Mr. Mitchell accurately estimated his ownership interest in MMC, LLC?

Next, why did Harry Mitchell fail to disclose his status as a trustee of the Mitchell Family Revocable Trust on his House Candidate Personal Financial Disclosure form dated May 8, 2006? Should voters be concerned about such matters given that the Mitchell Family Revocable Trust made certain land conveyances to MMC Property Investments, LLC in 2006?

Mr. Mitchell’s voting record in the House and his vision for the future are both deficient in substance and merit. It is tragic enough that Harry Mitchell has demonstrated his reluctance to engage in independent thinking. Serving as the agent and conduit for Mr. Rangel’s legislative projects and goals, Mitchell has betrayed the interests of his own constituents.

In addition to weighing the ethical implications of Mitchell’s being sponsored by a tax-evader, CD-5 voters must now contemplate whether their elected representative has faithfully discharged his duty to disclosure with regard to his own personal finances.

• 2005 Personal Financial Disclosure Form
• 2005 Personal Financial Disclosure Form Amended
• 2006 Personal Financial Disclosure Form
• 2007 Personal Financial Disclosure Form
• Arizona Corporation Commission Corporate Inquiry

Harry Mitchell’s Hypocrisy on Ethics

The Arizona Republic typically runs a candidate profile prior to every election cycle. This election cycle is no exception. I decided to take a look at their profile of Harry Mitchell which is located here.

Under the header titled, “Congressional Ethics” Mitchell responded with the following political diatribe:

When I was first elected to serve in Congress, it seemed like Congressional ethics were at an all-time low. Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay had been indicted, lobbyist Jack Abramoff admitted to bribing members of Congress, and Rep. Mark Foley was caught having inappropriate relationships with teenage House pages. We needed to do better. The first piece of legislation I supported was a sweeping ethics reform package that cut the influence of lobbyists, created tighter restrictions on travel and gifts, and made members of Congress certify that their spending requests do not financially benefit themselves or their spouses. I also fought to create an independent ethics panel that long-time members of Congress opposed because Congress can’t always be trusted to investigate itself. I will continue to support efforts to make Congress more open, honest and transparent, and am currently a co-sponsor of legislation that will require every member of Congress to post their spending requests online for the public to see.”

Well, there’s nothing like a voting record or a campaign finance report to authenticate and lend credibility to a elected official’s own rhetoric.

As I covered in an earlier post. Harry Mitchell received $28,000 from Charles Rangel. You know, he’s the member of congress who is a matter of heartbeats away from an indictment. If you recall, Rangel paid Harry Mitchell $5,000 from his PAC as late as March 5th of this year!

I also pointed out that Mitchell took money from Freddie Mac’s PAC in the amount of $1,000 as late as June 6th of this year. Remember, Freddie Mac is the government sponsored enterprise authorized to make loans and loan guarantees. In case you’ve missed the biggest and latest news, Freddie Mac is one of the two biggest players who’ve brought the United States closest to the brink of financial collapse.

Aside from the political donations made to Mitchell, I also wanted to take a look at his voting record on government reform and ethics issues. Here’s what I found:

• On May 11, 2007, Harry Mitchell voted to spend $23,000,000 for one of his Democratic colleague’s special pork project instead of provided needed funding for human intelligence programs that are critical to fighting terrorism (HR 2082 | Roll Call 340).
• On May 22, 2007, Harry Mitchell voted to block a Republican resolution reprimanding Congressman John Murtha for breaking House rules when he threatened to take away defense earmarks from Michigan Congressman Mike Rogers. (The Hill later covered the apology by Murtha to Rogers.) (H RES 428 | Roll Call 402).
• On June 12, 2007, Harry Mitchell voted to block consideration of an amendment that would have restored transparency and accountability to earmarks (H RES 423 | Roll Call 451).
• On July 19, 2007, Harry Mitchell voted to spend taxpayer monies to pay for a $2,000,000 personal library and private office for his ethically-challenged House colleague, Charles Rangel (HR 3043 | Roll Call 678).

Wait, Harry’s last vote gets better! According to remarks on the floor of the House by California Congressman, John Campbell,

Mr. Rangel provided to me yesterday a brochure here on the Center for Public Service in New York.  And this has a lot of stuff in it, admittedly, it mentions many things.  But there are a few things in it I thought were troubling, because amongst the things that it says this center will have are, quote, “a well-furnished office for Congressman Rangel.”  Second, “the Rangel Library to house its Rangel archives.”  And it goes on to say, quote, “The Rangel archivist librarian will organize, index and preserve for posterity all documents, photographs and memorabilia relating to Congressman Rangel’s career.”

Even several liberal media outlets covered Rangel’s ethics abuses. CBS News ran this piece of video on September 14, 2007. The New York Times noted the abuse on July 11, 2008. Then The Washington Post gave some further detail to the $2 Million package on July 15th 2008. The next day, The New York Post ran a piece noting that Rangel had acknowledged violating House ethics rules.

As I noted in an earlier post, Mitchell received a $2,500 donation from Charles Rangel’s political action committee on June 30th – almost three weeks prior to Mitchell’s vote awarding Rangel the $2,000,000.

Finally, MItchell likes to claim he voted against the automatic pay raise for himself. True to his word, he did vote against the payraise but he also took the $4,100 dollars. Instead of refunding taxpayers their money back to the US Treasury, Mitchell took the money and doled it out to his favorite charities. How’s that for personal ethics? Suppose Harry finds a hundred dollar bill on the ground and instead of turning it in to the authorities, like you’re supposed to do, Harry takes the money and gives it away to his favorite cause. We should have known that putting Harry Mitchell in an ethical dilemma is too challenging for Harry.

So much for looking out for the taxpayers. So much for practicing personal and professional ethics. So much for making Congress more open, honest and transparent. So much for keeping your promises Harry Mitchell.

Harry Mitchell’s Fannie PAC

With all the heat and scrutiny on Freddie Mac and their contribution to America’s economic demise, I thought I’d run a quick check to see if their PAC gave money to Harry Mitchell.

Lo and behold, there on the FEC reporting site was the evidence.

On June 6, 2008, Harry Mitchell accepted a donation from Freddie Mac’s PAC. The amount was for $1,000.

If Harry really wants to do his part to avert the coming financial crisis, he ought to refund the donation.

Harry Mitchell’s Real Record on Military and Veteran Issues

Prompted by the Harry Mitchell’s recent campaign ads, I decided to take a thorough look at Harry Mitchell’s voting record on veterans issues. Here’s what I uncovered:

• On January 31, 2007, Harry Mitchell voted against an effort to eliminate expensive wasteful earmarks and instead shift that money towards providing needed funding for military housing (H J RES 20 | Roll Call 71).
• On February 16, 2007, Harry Mitchell voted (to publically disapprove of the troop surge as US soldiers were heading into harm’s way (H CON RES 63 | Roll Call 99).
• On March 23, 2007, Harry Mitchell voted for a Democrat troop withdrawal bill that tied spending for our soldiers to billions of dollars in pork (HR 1591 | Roll Call 186). 
• On April 19, 2007, Harry Mitchell voted in favor of a hasty withdrawal of troops from Iraq, regardless of their progress in reducing violence and spreading democracy (HR 1591 | Roll Call 235).
• On April 25, 2007, Harry Mitchell voted for a timetable for withdrawal of troops from Iraq, even if our troops and the Iraqi government achieved progress (HR 1591 | Roll Call 265).
• On May 2, 2007, Harry Mitchell Voted to begin withdrawal of troops from Iraq within six months, even if our troops and the Iraqi government achieved progress (HR 1591 | Roll Call 276).
• On May 10, 2007, Harry Mitchell voted against amending an Iraq surrender bill to instead base any withdrawal decision on our ability to defeat the terrorists, train Iraq Security Forces, and protect members of the U.S. Armed Forces deployed in Iraq (HR 2237 | Roll Call 329).
• On July 12, 2007, Harry Mitchell voted to withdraw troops from Iraq just weeks after Congress fully funded the war (HR 2956 | Roll Call 624).
• On November 14, 2007, Harry Mitchell voted in favor of a hasty withdrawal of troops from Iraq, despite the great progress they made in reducing violence and creating stability (HR 4156 | Roll Call 1108).
• On December 17, 2007, Harry Mitchell voted for an amendment that would specifically block funding for military operations in Iraq (HR 2764 | Roll Call 1172).
• On August 1, 2008, Harry Mitchell voted against exempting Veterans Affairs and military construction contracts from federal contracting laws that favor unions and increase costs (HR 6599 | Roll Call 561).

As you can read, Harry Mitchell is no real champion for veterans or the troops. He selectivley releases what he wants the public to know through his melodramatic campaign ad and even that wasn’t much, let alone a sham.

The public deserves to know the truth and the troops and veterans demand real leadership on their issues. Harry Mitchell needs to come clean but if he doesn’t I’ll be the first to blow the whistle on his lame voting record.

Ad Watch – Harry Mitchell No Real Leader on Veterans Issues

In an earlier post I addressed the ingenuousness of Harry Mitchell’s latest veteran ad through his use of a liberal Democratic activist – one of only a few willing to vouch for Mitchell.

In the ad, Mitchell claims,

The troops fought for us. It’s a disgrace the way they were treated. That’s why I started these investigations and sponsored the new GI bill.”

As Mitchell makes those claims, the viewer sees two headlines splashed across the screen:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyone who revisits the February 21st, 2007 edition of the Phoenix Business Journal will find a 153-word news piece in which Mitchell jumped on the bandwagon of the then breaking story by the Washington Post uncovering the horrendous conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Justifiably so, almost every member of Congress spoke out and was within their perogative to criticize the conditions.

Fifteen days later on March 7th in the same newspaper, Phoenix Business Journal reporter, Mike Sunnucks, revealed that Democrats had decided to play politics with the issue by having Mitchell deliver the Democrats’ weekly address. Sunnucks wrote,

Mitchell, a freshman representing Scottsdale and Tempe, has been part of Democratic efforts critical of the Bush administration and the Pentagon for conditions at the Washington, D.C.,Army hospital.” Democrats had gone partisan with the issue by this time.

Let’s take a look at the second headline – “Mitchell Fights for Veterans with GI Bill”

Searching for this article in the East Valley Tribune actually reveals that the headline was not actually a news item but rather a commentary submitted by Scottsdale resident, Luke Larson.

In his opinion piece, Larson refers to the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 which was part of the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008.

According to the federal record, the bill, H.R. 2702, was actually introduced by Democrat Bobby Scott (D-VA) on June 13th as the House companion version of Senator James Webb’s (D-VA) S. 22. In entirety, 127 sponsors signed on to the bill including Harry Mitchell who stalled becoming a co-sponsor until September 4th, 2007.

Ultimately, the bill went through the legislative process over several months gaining bi-partisan support along the way before a final version of the bill was signed into law by President Bush on June 30, 2008. In fact, the bill received support from the entire Arizona delegation including Republican Congressmen Renzi, Franks, Shadegg and Flake.

Larson’s commentary was essentially a public thank you to Mitchell for co-sponsoring the bill which in reality had “strong bipartisan and bicameral support with 57 co-sponsors in the Senate, 234 co-sponsors in the House and the endorsements of the nation’s leading veterans’ organizations.” Larson could just have well thanked the rest of the Arizona congressional delegation.

Harry Mitchell’s latest ad is nothing more than an attempt to play up his melodramtic role on veterans issues.

Because Mitchell serves as the chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House Committee on Veteran Affairs, he’s was under obligation to make a statement on the Walter Reed fiasco. That was later exploited as a political play against President Bush and the Republican party.

The other pseudo-headline exposed as an opinion piece written by a Mitchell supporter, was a pretty clever attempt to make Mitchell stand out in a bi-partisan crowd of other elected officials who voted for the same bill. Mitchell’s campaign might as well have used the typical “The New and Improved Harry Mitchell” line on this little ploy. But perhaps the more appropriate tag line should have been – “Harry Mitchell, 25% more B.S.!”

Friend$ of Harry

The late Big Daddy Unruh once said that “money is the mother’s milk of politics.” If that’s true, then Harry Mitchell has been sucking at the teet of some prominent liberal and ethically challenged Democrats.

According to Federal Elections Commission reports, Mitchell received a combined total of $8,000 from both Nancy Pelosi and Charles Rangel in the 2006 Election cycle. Both Pelosi and Rangel also head two political action committees under the names “PAC to the Future” and “National Leadership PAC,” which gave Mitchell $20,000 in the 2006 election cycle.

In the 2008 Election, both Pelosi and Rangel stepped up to the plate again for Harry Mitchell matching the same donations they gave in 2006.

Here are those donations as reported by the Federal Elections Commission:              

03/31/06  $5,000.00  National Leadership PAC - Rangel
03/31/06  $5,000.00  PAC to the Future Pelosi
06/29/06  $2,000.00  Nancy Pelosi for Congress - Pelosi
06/29/06  $5,000.00  PAC to the Future - Pelosi
06/29/06  $2,000.00  Nancy Pelosi for Congress - Pelosi
09/08/06  $1,000.00  National Leadership PAC - Rangel
09/12/06  $2,000.00  Rangel for Congress - Rangel
09/30/06  $2,000.00  Rangel for Congress - Rangel
09/30/06  $4,000.00  National Leadership PAC - Rangel
03/31/07  $5,000.00  PAC to the Future - Pelosi
03/31/07  $2,500.00  National Leadership PAC - Rangel
06/30/07  $2,500.00  National Leadership PAC - Rangel
06/30/07  $2,000.00  Nancy Pelosi for Congress - Pelosi
06/30/07  $5,000.00  PAC to the Future - Pelosi
06/30/07  $2,000.00  Nancy Pelosi for Congress - Pelosi
03/05/08  $2,000.00  Rangel for Congress - Rangel
03/05/08  $2,000.00  Rangel for Congress - Rangel
03/05/08  $5,000.00  National Leadership PAC - Rangel

In total, Harry Mitchell has accepted $56,000 from both Pelosi and Rangel since 2006.

With Mitchell’s campaign coffers overflowing with money from the likes of Pelosi and Rangel, Harry has some explaining to do when it comes to who he’s taking orders from. Perhaps his recent votes on the Democratic hoax energy bill is a good indication of who Harry is really looking out for. (hint: it’s not the voters of CD-5). When piper Pelosi pays, Harry better play her tune.

Rangel has his own problems these days with all sorts of ethics violations, probes and investigations.  Harry doesn’t seem to mind though. He’s still accepting money from Rangel even as recent as March 5th of this year. As Rangel appears to be headed over a cliff, Mitchell may lose one of his biggest donors. But don’t expect Harry to give any of the money back unless Nancy tells him its for Rangel’s legal defense fund.

Ad Watch – Harry’s Favorite Veteran

For the politically unastute voter, the latest political ad by the Harry Mitchell campaign is an example of making voters feel all warm and fuzzy about Mitchell’s scant record on veterans issues. In reality, the Mitchell ad is an exercise in using limited resources and political camouflage.

Here’s the ad as it appears on YouTube:

Now let’s take a closer look.

The ad opens up with the introduction of a young man named Corp Ruben Gallego. He is identified as “US Marine Corp (retired).” The camera presents him with the standard dignified Marine look. He then tells the camera:

When you leave the battlefield - I mean - you leave behind a lot but it never ever leaves you. It’s very insulting to come back and ask for some basic assistance and you’re just not getting it. There wasn’t anyone pushing for us to have a modernized GI Bill until Harry got on board. It’s good to see that, you know, someone like Harry Mitchell is fighting for us.

Ruben’s message is compelling and the average voter would think this poor young man is some non-political veteran who recently returned from the Iraq war.

But here’s the politically incestuous truth.

Ruben Gallego is actually Ruben Marinelarena and is the chief of staff for Democratic City Councilman, Michael Nowakowski. He landed the job after managing Nowakowski’s campaign in 2007. Prior to that, Marinelarena worked at the Riester ad agency. Marinelarena’s primary vocation is political activism of the pungent, liberal, Democratic flavor.

After majoring in government and graduating from Harvard in 2004 where he served as the finance director of the Harvard Democrats, Marinelarena moved to New Mexico as a regional director for America Coming Together (ACT), a George Soros-funded, liberal, 527 group that broke various federal campaign finance laws in 2004. ACT ultimately agreed to pay $775,000 in fines as part of a settlement arrangement with the Federal Election Commission. (read more at Latino Perspectives.) He is also listed as on the John Kerry and Allies webpage as the New Mexico Congressional district 3 coordinator for ACT.

Some time after the 2004 fiasco in New Mexico, Marinelarena went to Iraq as a Marine where he served on active duty for a year. Marinelarena’s military obligation actually began earlier as a reservist in the Marines where he was part of a New Hampshire unit. According to a “War Profile” which appeared in the Harvard Crimson on June 5, 2003, Marinelarena was activated (but not depolyed) in January 2003 and was sent to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina for training during his Spring 2003 semester. In the Harvard Crimson, we get an interesting view of Marinelarena’s perspective of being activated and working within the military,

In addition to the stress of training, Marinelarena said, it was hard to deal with some of the personalities he came across. But he found ways to cope with the “one-track minds” with which he found himself coming into contact.

It wasn’t until 2005, that he was sent to Iraq for the year of active duty.

While on deployment in Iraq, Marinelarena posted a comment on the liberal Daily Kos on June 25 2005 giving tips for sending anti-war anti-Bush materials to the soliders using the name “Rubendem”:

So far from the care packages I have gotten the best packages have had the following. Candy, kool aid, gatorade packets, jerky, hygiene gear, movies, books, and magazines. As for political propaganda. You can send what ever you want. I have recieved many political books and magaizines all liberal and anti-bush. I have not been punished or chastised for it. As for a letter to let the fellow soldier or Marine that you are a democrat. I would work it in subtlely. Last thing a Marine wants to think is that he being used as a political tool. We have one party for that already. Newspaper articles that highlight the lack of caring on the Republican side is also fine. I read just about anything when I am outside the wire.
Take Care, Semper Fi,
Ruben Marinelarena

Some time in that time period, Marinelarena started using the last name of Gallego.

In 2006, he arrived in Arizona to work with Riester and was involved in the opposition effort to defeat Arizona’s traditional marriage amendement (Propostion 107). After the 2006 election cycle, he went to work on Nowakowski’s campaign for the Phoenix CIty Council race. After Nowakowski’s win, he was rewarded with the chief of staff position.

In his spare time, Gallego is a full-out activist for the Democratic party. In an interview with Ted Prezelski’s  Rum, Romanism and Rebellion, Gallego explained how he did not get selected as an Arizona delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Pissed off that he didn’t get selected over longtime Arizona Democrats, Gallego then explains how he lobbied party activists to accept him as an alternate to the convention.

Here are two You Tube interviews:

At the convention, Gallego took his activism so seriously that he staged a marriage proposal to his girlfriend, Kate Widland, while on the floor of the convention. Both Gallego and Widland were die-hard Obama delegates. Given Ruben’s dedication to liberal Democratic causes, maybe the Gallego’s will name their children Harry and Harriet?

If there is one thing to take away from Harry Mitchell’s disingenuous “Veteran” ad is that it lacks the same amount of depth as his record on veteran issues. That may be one of the reasons why he had to call in a liberal, anti-war, democratic activist to help him fool the voters.