Knollenberg Brags About Wasting Taxpayer Money

In a page that could only be taken from the Karl Rove/George Bush campaign playbook, Joe "Do Nothing" Knollenberg is now taking what would generally be considered a weakness, i.e., wasting taxpayer dollars by the millions, and trying to play it as a strength by bragging about it.

What Is Joe Knollenberg Hiding?

So, although Knollenberg is now using his webpage to try to brag about his wasteful spending habits, he won't even respond to CNN's survey about his wasteful earmarks. Instead, he just cherry picks a few items and then tries to tell us how lucky we are that he is wasting our money like that.

The earmarks we know about are bad enough. What is it that he is trying to hide?


Joe Knollenberg Wastes Taxpayer Money Faster than George Bush

One of the items that Knollenberg is so proud about is the $1 million he is trying to get "for Oakland Community College, to "develop courses to help identify and attract businesses likely to do more hiring."

Notice that the money is to be spent to develop courses to identify businesses, rather than to do something useful like actually identifying and attracting businesses to Michigan!!

Or the $500,000 he spent on a model of a space ship -- even though the same model could be purchased at Target for $12.99.

It would be funny if it wasn't so sad and disturbing.


What The Voters Are Saying About Knollenberg & Earmarks
Once again we see Joe Knollenberg on the wrong side of an issue. While he is bragging about the good he is doing by wasting taxpayer money in Michigan (as opposed to wasting it just anywhere), the voters are outraged.

The Free Press ran an article on earmarks, and the online version contains some very insightful comments that show that the voters are not pleased with earmarks or Knollenberg:

o Comment from foofighter:

Do not re-elect any of these scumbags. We need fresh blood that isn't contaminated yet!

o Comments from TimeRanger:

"Reps. Joe Knollenberg, . . . pushing a $1-million earmark for Oakland Community College, to develop courses to help identify and attract businesses likely to do more hiring."

Huh? If the college doesn't know already, they should close their doors, NOW.

and

"...the winner was the Detroit Science Center and the $500,000 set aside two years ago to create a Space Science Discovery Lab...The earmark, sponsored by Knollenberg, provided money for an exhibit to get kids excited about careers in math, science and engineering. There will be a 1/10th-scale model of the Saturn V rocket and a model of the Martian landscape."

2 years ago and they haven't been able to go to a hobby shop, purchase a plastic model?

o Comment from paf:

It IS quite sickening watching our representatives fight over OUR money. I'd like to see them give it back to us and reduce our tax burden permanently!!!

o Comment from Luscious:

I'm a fiscal conservative and I don't want to hear . . . the vast majority of the Republicans open their filthy hypocritical mouths on spending.

The size of goverment grew at a larger rate under Bush and the Republicans than it had at any other time in decades.

They've lost the right to be taken seriously on fiscal discipline.

These losers didn't have any problem wasting taxpayer money when they controlled the purse strings.

Come November, . . if they are an incumbent vote them out. It's time to send these idiots on a permanent vacation.

So, it isn't just the folks at this blog who are fed up with Knollenberg. Knollenberg may be oblivious now, but he'll find out just how fed up the voters really are after he is fired in 2008.

Knollenberg Accepts Over $2.7 Million From Lobbyists

Joe Knollenberg Has Received Over $2.7 Million from Lobbyists and Special Interest Groups!!

That Joe Knollenberg is a lobbyist's best friend goes without saying.

After all, his Chief of Staff is a Washington, D.C. lobbyist.

A quick glance at the FEC records for campaign finance reveal that Joe Knollenberg has received $ 2,742,346 from lobbyists and special interest groups.

Yes. You read that right. Joe Knollenberg took over $ 2,742,346 from lobbyists and special interests. The picture may be ginned up, but the numbers are not. And those are just the dollars reported from committees. That doesn't even count the donations he gets from each individual lobbyist!!!!

Joe Knollenberg has accepted over $2.7 million in campaign donations from lobbyists and special interests!!

Joe Knollenberg is a Part of the Problem in Washington D.C.
We Need Someone Who Will be Part of the Solution.

This is sooooooo funny. Just for fun I put a poll on my web site, Retire Joe Knollenberg.


Do you think it's appropriate for Joe Knollenberg to have a lobbyist as his Chief of Staff?

Yes, lobbyists should tell Joe what his opinion should be: 80.00%

No, Joe should make up his own mind: 20.00%

I voted myself, No, Joe should make up his own mind. The thing is, Joe's Congressional office in D.C. is visiting my site 6-8 times per day, so they decided to rig the vote and vote that Yes, it's OK that Joe's Chief of Staff is a lobbyist and tells Joe what his opinion should be.

It's pretty pathetic Trent that you are controlling what Joe says and does. Just what voters in the 9th Congressional District need, another puppetmaster controlling an elected official.

We deserve a Congress person that can think for themselves.

Knollenberg's Chief of Staff Is Not Only A Lobbyist

but he must recognize that Knollenberg is in over his head this year.

It appears that Trent Wisecup, Knollenberg's Lobbyist Chief of Staff, can't find anyone to write letters in support of Knollenberg so he is having his family members write letters to the editors of local papers to support Joe Knollenberg.

You gotta know your candidates is in trouble when the only people who support him are his paid staff and their family members.

Of course it is published in the Radical Right Wing Detroit News -- the only organization in the country with less credibility than the Bush White House. Notice how ALL the letters to the editor on that page agree with the Radical Right wing talking points?

Knollenberg Keeps His Friends Close & His Lobbyists Closer

No Wonder Knollenberg Opposes Negotiating Drug Prices

For Medicare & Opposes Importing Drugs

Knollenberg's Chief of Staff is a Washington, D.C. Lobbyist
As noted in a previous post, Joe Knollenberg's Chief of Staff, Trent Wisecup, is a Washington, D.C. Lobbyist!

Apparently Joe lives by the adage of keep your friends close and your lobbyist closer!

And Wisecup isn't just any lobbyist, he was one of the key lobbyist's for the big Pharmacuetical companies during the debates over the Medicare prescription drug plan.

Knollenberg Supported a Bill That Made Senior Drugs MORE Expensive!
The Democrats wanted to allow Medicare to be able to negotiate lower drug prices for seniors -- just like Medicaid and the Veterans Administration. But Republican's like JOE KNOLLENBERG OPPOSED using such a fiscally responsible approach.

Instead, Joe Knollenberg supported a Medicare drug benefit that allows pharmaceutical companies to charge Seniors the maximum price -- far more than what they would pay if the prices were negotiated.

Knollenberg has also consistently voted against allowing Seniors and other Americans to import their medicine from Canada even though it could save them thousands of dollars a year.


Knollenberg's Chief of Staff Was Lobbyist For Big Drug Companies
It all became clear once we learned that Knollenberg's current Chief of Staff (who was also a staffer before he became a lobbyist) was a lobbyist for the big drug companies that were opposing having to negotiate their drug prices with Medicare.

In fact, the firm that Wisecup worked for brags about this on their website.

Apparently, Wisecup was behind the lobbying campaign that kept the Medicare Rx Bill from allowing Seniors to save money by importing their medication from Canada.

Yes. Knollenberg's Chief of Staff was the lobbyist that ran the campaign opposing allowing the importation of prescription drugs from Canada.

Knollenberg Voted For Big PhaRMA and Against Seniors
So it is no real surprise to see that Knollenberg voted with Big PhaRMA (and his lobbyist friend) and against Seniors.


In fact, earlier this year the House voted on whether to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for Seniors -- Knollenberg voted NO!!!


Why does Joe Knollenberg insist on forcing Seniors to pay more for their prescriptions?

Why does Joe Knollenberg want to hurt our Seniors?

Haven't they given enough to this Country?

UPDATE:
It seems that Mr. Wisecup isn't the first lobbyist Knollenberg has had on staff.
In fact, Knollenberg's previous Chief of Staff was a lobbyist too. Paul Welday was Knollenberg's former Chief of Staff and he is now involved in a controversy at the Oakland County Commission because many Commissioners believe that the County shouldn't be paying Welday $50,000 to be a lobbyist for the Commission. They believe that the Commissioners themselves are able to handle any lobbying efforts necessary.

Knollenberg's Chief of Staff is a Washington DC Lobbyist!

We've already reported on some of Joe Knollenberg's close ties with powerful Washington DC lobbyists.

It turns out he isn't just "close" to them. He has them on his staff!

Joe Knollenberg's Chief of Staff is a Washington DC Lobbyist!!

Knollenberg's Chief of Staff is Trent Wisecup. (We believe in full disclosure so we think it is important to note that he has been posting comments here under the initials "TLW". )

A quick review of some records shows that Mr. Wisecup is a Washington Lobbyist.

Here is a copy of a filing with the U.S. Senate's Lobbyist Disclosure program.

Mr. Wisecup was with the firm "D.C. Navigators". Apparently they knew how to navigate through the halls of Congress -- with the help of Congressman like Joe Knollenberg.

Heck -- on their own website they have a picture of the White House with the caption "Policy Development". Does that mean they develop policy for the White House? Gosh. Lobbyists who develop policy for BUSH & KNOLLENBERG -- now on-staff -- now getting a taxpayer funded salary! That is cozy.

Some of the clients of Wisecup's firm have included:

ACS
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Aetna
AgustaWestland North America Inc.
American Bankers Association
American Council of Life Insurers
American Immigration Lawyers Association
American Insurance Association
American International Group, Inc.
American Vantage Media
Association for Advanced Life Underwriting
Assurant Group
BellSouth
Bombardier
British Nuclear Fuels
California Manufacturers and Technology Association
Californians for Clean, Affordable, Safe Energy
Calpine
Caruso Affiliated Inc.
Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers
Dickstein & Zerbi
Fannie Mae
Farallon Capital Management
Financial Services Coordinating Council
Fisher Scientific
GateSafe
Hartford Insurance Brokers and Agents of the West
Jefferson Pilot Financial
Mass Mutual
Mutual of Omaha
New York Jets
Oracle
Pfizer Inc.
PG&E Corporation
Securities Industry Association
Sutter Health
Tyco International (US) Inc.
UnumProvident Corporation
Visa USA Inc.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
WellCare

Gee. There are a lot of financial service companies on that list -- like VISA, and banking interests, etc. Those were the folks whose lobbyists were successful at getting the bankruptcy laws changed so that individuals have a much harder time getting their debts discharged in bankruptcy than Corporations!

Knollenberg's Chief of Staff was a lobbyist for those interests.

Knollenberg voted to support the new bankruptcy laws.

Any connection there?

Culture of Corruption

As this article in "The Hill" points out -- Republican lobbyists have a vested and financial interest in making certain that Republicans get elected to office. Apparently, the more Republicans in office, the more influence they have and thus the more clients they get and the more money they make.

Of course one of the most famous lobbyists is the indicted felon, Jack Abramoff. He certainly made millions off of having Republicans in Congress that he could influence for his clients.