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Energy And Commerce Democratic Rivals Battle To The Wire

Energy And Commerce Democratic Rivals Battle To The Wire

By Emma Dumain, CQ Roll Call (MCT)

WASHINGTON — Since January, Reps. Frank Pallone Jr. and Anna G. Eshoo have been positioning themselves as the obvious choice to be the top Democrat on the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee.

But after ten months of cutting checks and courting colleagues, they’re still not finished campaigning to replace the panel’s current ranking member, retiring Rep. Henry A. Waxman of California.

Members of the House Democratic Caucus won’t settle the hotly contested race until late November at the earliest, meaning Pallone of New Jersey and Eshoo of California will have to stay on the offensive, showing they’re both team players and power players who are ready — and able — to help their friends out.

Along the way, they are pulling pages from the same playbook — with a few key exceptions.

They’ve both posted big fundraising numbers in Federal Election Commission filings and shown their willingness throughout the cycle to spend generously on House Democratic candidates and incumbents, drawing from respective congressional and leadership political action committees.

According to the most recent numbers made public, Pallone has spent roughly $605,000 on House races since launching his bid to succeed Waxman, while Eshoo has doled out approximately $482,000 for the same purposes in the same period.

They’ve given money to many of the same candidates, even those not in especially tight races, as shows of goodwill or perhaps in efforts to woo undecideds.

They’ve doled out funds to Debbie Dingell of Michigan, who is running to replace her husband, retiring Rep. John D. Dingell, who just happened to be the longtime top Democrat on Energy and Commerce before being usurped by Waxman in 2008.

And they’ve written checks to Congressional Black Caucus members Steven Horsford of Nevada and Gwen Moore of Wisconsin, plus Chairwoman Marcia L. Fudge of Ohio. Support from CBC members could be critical for Eshoo in particular, as they tend to defer to seniority in voting for committee leadership positions. (Pallone is the current No. 3 on Energy and Commerce, while Eshoo is No. 5.)

Both have also given extensively to individuals in the toughest election bids of the 2014 cycle.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has designated 29 candidates in the “Red to Blue” program and 24 “Frontline” incumbents. Pallone has given to all of them at some point in the past year, according to an analysis by CQ Roll Call.

Eshoo, meanwhile, has written checks to every “Red to Blue” candidate but three: James Lee Witt of Arkansas, Kevin Strouse of Pennsylvania and Jim Mowrer of Iowa. More glaring, she has excluded direct donations to seven of her most vulnerable colleagues: Ron Barber of Arizona, John Barrow of Georgia, Carol Shea-Porter of New Hampshire, Pete Gallego of Texas and Illinois freshmen Reps. Bill Enyart, Cheri Bustos and Brad Schneider.

“It looks like she’s running for ranking member and he’s running for chairman,” a senior Democratic aide, whose boss is supporting Pallone, quipped.

The seven members who have not gotten checks from Eshoo also happen to be public supporters of Pallone, and their exclusion has caused some to wonder whether the slight was intentional.

In an email to CQ Roll Call, an Eshoo campaign spokesman familiar with the lawmaker’s fundraising and DCCC contributions this cycle sought to downplay the significance: “Congresswoman Eshoo has contributed and raised close to $1.5 million for the DCCC, the lion’s share of which benefits Frontline Members. She has also directly contributed and raised in excess of three quarters of a million dollars for Red to Blue candidates and Frontline Members.”

Money is, of course, just one part of the equation. Since Waxman announced his retirement at the end of January, Eshoo and Pallone have both been working to expand their inner circles and bases of support. After all, the House Democrats of the 114th Congress will be the ones deciding, before the year’s end, who gets the slot.

Eshoo has been able to depend on Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California to be her most vocal supporter: One of Eshoo’s closest friends, Pelosi has sent out two endorsement letters on her behalf, a rare gesture for a member of leadership. Other powerful Democrats of the California delegation have been whipping for her, including Rep. Mike Thompson and Education and the Workforce ranking member George Miller, who is retiring this year but remains influential within the caucus. (Eshoo has shown appreciation for Thompson and Miller with campaign contributions.)

Though he has not been as outspoken as Pelosi, Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland has been working actively behind-the-scenes for Pallone.

Before the October recess, Pallone showed some clout by orchestrating the release of a “Dear Colleague” letter, signed by 50 members of the Pallone whip team, including CBC and Hispanic Caucus members — progressives who respect the seniority system — and some more moderate lawmakers as well.

In addition to handing out money, both Eshoo and Pallone are traveling in the final days of the campaign season. Pallone is traversing the map throughout October, said a source close to the New Jersey Democrat. By the month’s end, he will have made stops in battleground districts in Florida, Arizona, Illinois and New York, plus a goodwill visit with colleagues in Texas.

Eshoo is doing some stumping, too, recently participating in an event for female Democratic candidates with Pelosi and potential 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. But her spokesman preferred to highlight her legislative vision rather than her travel schedule — her speech on climate change at the Supply Chain Advocacy Summit, for instance, or a penned op-ed on “America’s Scientific Future.”

“Congresswoman Eshoo has always said, ‘Good policy is good politics,’ ” the spokesman said.

AFP Photo/Saul Loeb

Displaced Sandy Residents Face Deadline To Move From Temporary Housing

Displaced Sandy Residents Face Deadline To Move From Temporary Housing

By Karen Sudol, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.)

HACKENSACK, NJ — Marina Pesheva had already moved her family from her Superstorm Sandy-flooded home in Keansburg, NJ, to the decommissioned Fort Monmouth military base, where she temporarily resides with her husband, two children and two dogs.

Now, she’s being told she needs to vacate the Fort Monmouth one-bedroom apartment by the end of April.

“I just recently started looking (for a rental) but I’m hoping I won’t have to move again because I’m so close to getting our home done,” Pesheva said. “My kids are set on the next time being able to move home.”

The 37 families who remain sheltered at the fort are facing an April 30 move-out date — that’s when the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s temporary housing assistance is set to expire. The deadline would also affect 25 families living in manufactured units in mobile home parks.

And 13 of the families living in the Megill section of the fort are being asked to get out even earlier; the fort’s developer has requested that that area be vacated by April 1 to start developing it, according to Alberto Pillot, the public information officer for FEMA’s New Jersey office.

Pillot said FEMA will work toward that goal but emphasized that no fort residents will be forced out if they have not found other housing by the deadlines.

“People think that FEMA will throw them out on the street,” Pillot said. “We’ll work with them every day to find them affordable housing and a housing plan. We’re not abandoning these people.”

While FEMA helps displaced Sandy residents, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has also stepped in. Christie wrote President Barack Obama on Jan. 28 requesting a six-month extension of the assistance program “so that our hardest hit residents can continue to receive much needed financial aid and direct housing assistance until their homes are repaired or they can find more permanent housing.”

The president, who signed a disaster declaration for New Jersey on Oct. 30, 2012, must grant the extension.

The governor noted in the letter that many Fort Monmouth residents are still waiting for insurance settlements to fund repairs, while others have been approved for rebuilding grants under the state’s Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, Elevation and Mitigation program.

The administration has faced harsh criticism recently for the slow pace of issuing funds through that program, which provides up to $150,000 for Sandy victims to repair, rebuild or elevate their homes.

The state is also “facilitating the repair and construction of thousands of affordable housing units to replenish the substantially depleted rental supply in the most impacted communities,” Christie wrote to Obama.

The extension request is “pending,” Christie spokesman Colin Reed said in an email.

Phone calls and emails made and sent last week to White House spokesman Keith R. Maley were not returned.

Federal legislators and local officials have also thrown their support behind the extension.

U.S. Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ) wrote in a letter to FEMA that families have likely been housed in multiple locations since the Oct. 29, 2012, storm.

“To make these Sandy survivors move yet again would be onerous at best,” he wrote. “I believe compassion and prudence must be taken with regard to this sensitive issue so these American citizens can experience as little further upset to their lives as possible.”

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) initially suggested the governor write to Obama and drafted his own letter of support to the president.

“More than a year after the storm, countless New Jersey residents are still struggling to repair and elevate their homes, he wrote in the Feb. 5 letter. “If they lose their temporary housing assistance, many will be unable to afford to pay rent for temporary housing in addition to their mortgage while their home is being repaired.”

Sea Bright and Oceanport, two Monmouth County towns affected by the storm, recently approved resolutions backing the six-month extension. Many residents require substantial repairs or replacement of their homes but are facing “delays to commencement of construction (that) have been created by the federal, state and local governments as well as a result of new flood mapping, insurance claims and new building regulations, creating an additional hardship on these displaced residents,” the resolution stated.

Sandy victims’ lives are already complicated enough by navigating the maze of rebuilding grants and determining how the second round of funding recently announced by the state will affect them, said Oceanport Mayor Michael Mahon.

“These are folks who want to get back where they belong and begin the lives they had prior to Sandy,” Mahon said. “To me it’s a no-brainer that we should try to help them.”

After Sandy walloped the New Jersey coastline, FEMA signed a lease with the Army to use some of the housing at the fort that was closed in September 2011 as a cost-cutting measure. Sandy victims have been housed in two sections since December 2012: one area that had served as officer’s quarters and the Megill housing, located behind the Suneagles Golf Course.

At the peak, 115 families stayed at the fort, which is located in Eatontown, Oceanport and Tinton Falls, Pillot said.

Pesheva and others said they have been told they must be out by April 1.

Time is running out, and Pesheva said she is having difficulty finding an apartment that is both affordable and accessible for her husband, who is paralyzed.

“Let’s say we’re lucky enough to find a place,” Pesheva said. “How am I funding this? I’m already paying a mortgage and for a storage unit for the stuff that we saved.”

She also said her family just signed an agreement to receive a $150,000 grant to rebuild her home, which had to be razed due to storm damage. Work is scheduled to begin on Monday and the modular home could be finished within six weeks.

Had Pesheva received the state funds earlier, though, she wouldn’t be facing this dilemma.

“Even if FEMA says not to extend it, the state should take accountability for this,” she said.

Photo: acccarrino via Flickr

New Federal Investigation May Be More Damaging To Christie’s Presidential Ambitions Than Bridgegate

New Federal Investigation May Be More Damaging To Christie’s Presidential Ambitions Than Bridgegate

Things are going from bad to worse for Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ).

Already embroiled in a scandal over lane closures on the George Washington Bridge in September, the Republican governor now faces greater scrutiny as federal auditors have launched an investigation into the way he used Superstorm Sandy relief funds.

The probe comes months after New Jersey representative Frank Pallone (D) penned a letter to the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, in which he questioned how Christie spent funds approved for marketing purposes.

The new inquiry will review where the $25 million in Sandy relief money actually went and ensure the governor used taxpayer money to promote tourism in New Jersey rather than advance his own political agenda.

Pallone and other Democrats have long expressed suspicion about the odd bidding process that resulted in Christie hiring an advertising firm charging $4.7 million in the wake of Sandy over the alternative, which charged only $2.5 million at the time. The main difference between the two firms involved their marketing plan proposals: The one that charged the most money featured Christie and his family in the advertisements, while the other did not include either.

Even Republican senator Rand Paul (KY) suggested a “conflict of interest” occurred when Christie spent $25 million on commercials in which he appeared, while he also happened to be running for re-election.

On Monday, Christie spokesman Colin Reed responded to news of the investigation, brushing it off as “routine and standard” and noting that the governor’s plan had been approved by the Obama administration.

“We’re confident that any review will show that the ads were a key part in helping New Jersey get back on its feet after being struck by the worst storm in state history,” Reed added.

Christie’s much-praised response to the storm helped lead him to a landslide re-election, which made him one of the top contenders for the White House in 2016. However, several Republicans — including Fox News’ Roger Ailes — believe that the governor’s embrace of President Obama, days after the storm and just before the 2012 presidential election, cost Mitt Romney the presidency.

If the report finds that Christie wasted or misused taxpayer funds, this will damage his image as a small-government conservative and inflame a sore memory for many on the right.

A Rasmussen Reports poll released Friday found that a majority of New Jersey voters – 54 percent – “believe it’s at least somewhat likely that Christie was aware” that traffic lanes on the George Washington Bridge were closed as an act of retaliation against Fort Lee mayor’s refusal to support the governor’s re-election.

Additionally, 56 percent believe that Christie should resign if it is proven that he knew about and approved the closures – which would also signify he lied when he apologized and vowed he was neither aware nor involved.

The latest federal investigation into Christie’s use of Sandy relief funds also raises questions about the governor’s ability to prioritize governing over his presidential ambitions.

“This was money that could have directly been used for Sandy recovery,” Pallone said. “And, as you know, many of my constituents still haven’t gotten the money that is owed them to rebuild their homes or raise their homes or to help.”

According to Pallone, had the governor decided to hire the less expensive firm, he would have been able to distribute grants worth $50,000 each to 44 “Sandy-impacted” homeowners.

Photo: Gage Skidmore via Flickr