Daily Kos
MON JUN 09, 2014 AT 07:26 PM PDT
MI-Sen: Terri Lynn Land (R), "Unlimited Dark Campaign Money Is The American Way"
With Land getting a lot of money from the Kochs, it really shouldn't surprising that she would be all about unlimited campaign cash. However, being that she's getting a lot of money from big time polluters like the Kochs who's Koch Carbon is polluting Detroit's air, it's hard for me to take her seriously on this issue:While Peters is disappointed in the recent Supreme Court rulings lifting the spending for organizations and businesses, Land says they protect free speech.Land mentioned her time working on the re-election campaign for President Gerald R. Ford."Back then there were all sorts of different ways they communicated messages, different groups did," Land said in an interview with MLive. "And I think that’s the American way, that’s what's great about our country, is everyone gets to have a voice and they can talk about the issues that are important to them. As candidates we need to talk about the issues that are important to the voters and that’s what we are doing."Land is the beneficiary of at least $4.6 million from outside spending from groups that do not disclose their donors, according to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network. And the vast majority of that money comes from Americans for Porsperity, which has spent $3.6 million on Land's behalf. - Huffington Post, 6/9/14
Speaking out against the Environmental Protection Agency's new rules curbing carbon emissions from power plants, Land said she believes in "protecting [Michigan] from climate change," but not at the cost of jobs:Peters has a more legit response on this issue:Her tweets come after a spokesperson for Land told the Washington Post's Greg Sargent in May that while "there should be a healthy and educated debate on the impact of human activity on our environment," Land herself "does not agree with radical liberals like Tom Steyer and Congressman [Gary] Peters on the extent of the effect of human behavior on our climate."Steyer's super PAC NextGen Climate, is targeting Land and seven other GOP candidates in their election bids this year. - Huffington Post, 6/4/14
One thing's for sure, climate change is becoming a big issue in this race:Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Gary Peters offered conditional support Wednesday for President Barack Obama’s new plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions, two days after his GOP opponent called the proposal a job-killer for Michigan.Peters, a third-term member of Congress from Bloomfield Township, said he supports setting new standards to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants but is concerned the draft Environmental Protection Agency rule released Monday “imposes a more stringent standard on Michigan than surrounding Midwestern states.”“We must take action to address climate change,” Peters said in statement, “but we must do so in a way that works for Michigan families, manufacturers, and our emerging clean energy sector.”The Obama administration Monday released its proposal to reduce carbon emissions 30 percent nationwide from 2005 levels. To get there by 2030, the plan gives states targets to meet and flexibility on the mix of ways to reach the goal, such as reducing emissions from coal-fired power plants and increasing renewable fuel.Peters, who has campaigned on addressing climate change and has the support of California billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, said he intends to work with stakeholders on improving the rule for Michigan. - The Detroit News, 6/4/14
And while there's a lot at stake in this race, at least the ads are starting to become more entertaining:“Michigan is on the front lines of climate change with our Great Lakes and economic system,” Peters told Greg Sargent of the Washington Post. “The Great Lakes are incredibly important for Michigan. This is something elected officials should be talking about — we have to be concerned about it.”What has brought this concern about? Trouble, mostly. The rupture of Enbridge Line No. 6 into the Kalamazoo River, also known as the largest inland oil spill in U.S. history, provided an involuntary civic education in contemporary crude extraction and transportation. So has the three-story high pile of petroleum coke that the Koch brothers left on the shores of the Detroit River (it’s since disappeared), and this year’s refinery spill on the other side of Lake Michigan.Given how much pre-existing pipeline infrastructure runs along the Great Lakes, Michigan is at high risk of being a site for future oil spills, while the lakes themselves are beginning to show signs of being affected by climate change.But this concern also looks like some good-old-fashioned political maneuvering. Peters, who has served three terms in the House of Representatives, was thought to be a shoo-in for this election. Then, back in January, attack ads against Peters began to air – about $1 million worth. The ads were funded by Americans for Prosperity, one of the political nonprofits controlled by the Koch brothers. Was Michigan now one of the battlegrounds chosen by Republican donors intent on gaining a majority in the Senate? Sure looked that way. Meanwhile, Washington pundits noted that Terri Lynn Land had already raised more money for her campaign than Peters and declared that she now had the edge in the race.But if the Koch brothers are boosting Land’s campaign, they’re also the guys behind that three-story high pile of petroleum coke, and a whole lot of bad climate change policy, including pressuring senators and representatives to sign a pledge not to spend any money to fight climate change without an equivalent amount of tax cuts. - Grist, 6/6/14
Funny. But all joking aside, the Kochs want this seat and they will spend big to get it. Please do click here to donate and get involved with Peters' campaign:And in the latest jab, the Democrats have released a 2 minute, 21 second Seinfeld parody video mocking Republican Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land.The video begins with the theme music from the Seinfeld show and someone pretending to be Terri Lynn Land meeting two guys pretending to be the Koch brothers at a diner. The Koch brothers have been bankrolling anti-Gary Peterson commercials."What is the theme of your campaign? What is it about?" asks one of the Koch brothers.A bubbly Land bursts out: "It's about nothing! Forget the theme, it's about nothing."She repeated uses the word nothing.The video is a takeoff of an episode in which Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza pitch a show to NBC and George keeps saying the show is about "nothing." - Deadline Detroit, 6/5/14
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