Sunday, July 8, 2012

Congressman Chris Gibson's Campaign Donors

In March federal judges, declaring the failure of New York State's government, redrew the dying state's congressional districts.  Ulster County is now in the 19th congressional district and is represented by the Honorable Chris Gibson (R). In light of the recent announcement that Agenda 21 is coming to the mid-Hudson region via a non-governmental organization (NGO), Engage Mid-Hudson, I asked Mr. Gibson to take a position on Agenda 21. I also described why I oppose Agenda 21. However, following a brief runaround, Mr. Gibson's campaign staff has not responded.

Agenda 21 is a corporatist land grab that cloaks its aims in environmentalist rhetoric. It reflects both the extremist environmentalist views of the 1992 Rio conference's chair, Maurice Strong, and the corporatist agenda of firms like Goldman Sachs, which are eager to acquire water, land development, and financing rights for projects like cluster housing, retrofitting, and various other schemes aimed, in accordance with Mr. Strong's proposals, to empty 78% of America's land of population and move it to cluster housing in urban areas.  The 78% would include the Catskills, where I live.

Part of the game plan under Agenda 21 is to transfer zoning and other legislative authority to NGOs like Engage Mid-Hudson.  Such transfer is in violation of Article Four, Section Four of the US Constitution, which requires that states maintain republican forms of government and requires Congress to ensure that they do so.  Republican government requires responsiveness to public opinion and ongoing election of officials. NGOs are private and so need not be responsive to public opinion. Also, once they are appointed they have the freedom to appoint or terminate their officials without concern for democracy.

In attempting to ascertain why Mr. Gibson would hestitate to take a position on Agenda 21, and to state unequivocally that he favors republicanism, I looked at the Federal Election Commission's website, which lists the political action committees that donate to congressional campaigns.  The majority of Mr. Gibson's donors are corporate and labor PACs.  There are also politically based PACS, and a few private individuals.  I edited out the politically based PACs and private individuals.

Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and the American Bankers Association are major contributors to Mr. Gibson's campaign, but the list of corporate contributors to Mr. Gibson is a long one. His campaign coffers already have over one million dollars.  He serves on the agriculture and defense committees, so agricultural and defense donors abound.  There are many other categories, though, including healthcare, construction, GE, Verizon, transportation, construction, insurance, high tech, United Technologies, and Wal-Mart. 

Although few New Yorkers appear on the list of donors (donations must exceed $250 for the donor to appear on the list), Mr. Gibson's campaign website makes the following statement:

Chris Gibson kept his promise to always put Upstate New Yorkers first in Washington and, to keep this new direction, we must re-elect Chris in November...Chris's priorities in Congress are growing the economy to create jobs, restoring fiscal responsibility and moving toward a balanced budget, and protecting freedoms. Already, progress has been made toward these goals, along with a commitment to addressing issues that are important here at home.

I wonder how the following PACs fit in with his claims:

AFLAC PAC 06/10/2011 1000.00 11932164880 AFLAC PAC 09/12/2011 1000.00 11971812604
CME GROUP INC. PAC 04/05/2011 1000.00 11931460152 CME GROUP INC. PAC 04/18/2012 1000.00 12951657960
CME GROUP INC. PAC 05/09/2012 1000.00 12971276614
LONE STAR LEADERSHIP PAC 05/17/2012 1000.00 12952171965 LONGHORN PAC 09/15/2010 500.00 10931614969
LONGHORN PAC 05/15/2012 1000.00 12952173325
ONE NATION PAC 10/08/2010 300.00 10931700457 ONE NATION PAC 07/05/2011 200.00 11932174375
THOROUGHBRED PAC 05/16/2012 1000.00 12971295660
TRANS PAC 04/29/2010 1000.00 10930732913 TRANS PAC 06/29/2011 1000.00 11932019482
TRANS PAC 09/29/2011 2000.00 11952666763 TRANS PAC 12/20/2011 2000.00 12970200808 TRANS PAC 03/30/2012 5000.00 12951526078



 


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