Illinois Gubernatorial candidate not releasing income tax returns…

Illinois Green Party Gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney is not releasing his income tax returns. A posting on NBCChicago.com, is critical of a number of candidates for Illinois Governor are not releasing their tax statements. Whitney did not want to release the documents because of his wife's privacy.

Two Republicans also have refused to release their information and another Republican will only release the income tax information if “everybody else does”.

Two Democrats mentioned in the piece said they would release their information, but have not done it yet.

SOURCE:

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/politics/Guv-Candidates-Withhold-Tax-Returns-78126587.html

http://www.southtownstar.com/news/1910864,113009transparency.article

Jesse Ventura: MSNBC paid for my silence

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times’ Scott Collins, Jesse Ventura talked about his new television show on truTV and a few other surprising things.

The former Independent Governor of Minnesota also touched on his time on cable television on MSNBC. He said “weird phone calls” started happening asking if Ventura was against the war in Iraq. Which Ventura was against.

Ventura said he was being groomed to get a five day-a-week TV show, then he was taken off the air and not even being used as a consultant, but was still paid for three years. Ventura was quoted saying, “Why do you think you didn't hear from me for three years?”

The interview also focus on Ventura’s conspiracy based show “Conspiracy Theory”. Ventura talked about 9/11 terror attack conspiracies and weather control conspiracies.

SOURCE:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-conversation29-2009nov29,0,1777742.story

Is the door opening to Third Party conservatives?

Two recent polls show there may be an opening for conservative Third Parties in the upcoming 2010 elections.

Democracy Corp said in a recent poll, “only 16 percent have a positive view of the current economy and only a third think the economy is ‘starting’ to improve.” The results of the poll shows that Independents “are particularly pessimistic” on economic issues. People vote with their pocketbooks and if voters are not will to accept the economy is doing well Democrats will fall.

But what about Republicans? When you look at numbers from an “excitement” poll conducted by Research 2000 for the DailyKos, the chances for conservative independent or Third Party candidates are high. The poll shows more than half of the country has negative views of Congressional Democrats and Republicans, and the parties in general.

The excitement gap is where the big news happens. The Research 2000/DailyKos poll asked, “In the 2010 Congressional elections will you definitely vote, probably vote, not likely vote, or definitely will not vote?” 81% of Republican Voters said they are Definitely or Probably Voting in 2010, 65% of Independent voters also felt the same way, with only 56% Democratic voters feeling the same way.

If a conservative candidate can strike a credible message on the economy a third party candidate could get some traction. We saw how in just one month a Third Party candidate in upstate New York (Doug Hoffman) turned the race on its head. It took visits from the Vice President, and the endorsement from the Republican to beat the Third Party challenger.

If Democrats fail to garner excitement and support an independent/Third Party candidate could take some of their votes and then battle for votes from the right and make it into Congress.

SOURCE:

http://www.democracycorps.com/strategy/2009/11/the-economy-at-a-sensitive-juncture/

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/27/808503/-Weekly-Tracking-Poll:-New-Feature-Paints-Ugly-2010-Picture

Bloomberg for Mayor: The $100 Million Dollar Mayoral Campaign

The final numbers are in on the New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg's re-election spending. The New York Times says Mayor Bloomberg spent about $102,000,000 to get re-elected to a third term as mayor. That equals about $183 per vote.

Bloomberg is now top-spending self-financed politician in U.S. history. In previous campaigns he spent $85,000,000 and $74,000,000.

SOURCE:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34180267/ns/politics-more_politics/

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5AR08320091128

Bernie Sanders makes some news on Sunday talk shows…

Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders makes some news on Sunday talk shows.

Senator Sanders said he would not vote for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to be reappointment to his position. Sanders said on ABC’s ‘This Week’ program, “I absolutely will not vote for Mr. Bernanke. He is part of the problem. He's the smartest guy in the world, why didn't he do anything to prevent us from sinking into this disaster that Wall Street caused and which he was a part of?"

The Progressive Senator also said he would not force a public option in the health care reform bill. Senator Sanders said he would like get a public option, but does not believe is worth destroying the rest of the bill over the public option issue.

SOURCE:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/29/sanders-says-second-term-federal-reserve-chief/

http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2009/11/sanders-no-line-in-sand-on-health-care.html

Progressive Party of Vermont comes out with it’s own loyalty-ish pledge…

The Vermont’s Progressive Party comes out with it’s own loyalty-ish pledge. Martha Abbott, the Chairwoman of the Vermont Progressive Party, explains on the party blog what it will take to keep a Progressive candidate out of the 2010 Governor’s race.

Abbott says these the key issues are:

*Enacting a Single Payer Health Insurance System

*Closing (or not extending the license of) Entergy Nuclear (formerly known as VT Yankee)

*Fixing the insolvency of Vermont’s Unemployment Insurance fund without doing it on the backs of the workers who are unemployed.

*Fixing the state employees retirement fund (where retired teachers currently receive an average of slightly more than $10,000 per year and retired state employees currently receive an average of slightly more than $14,000 per year) without gouging current and future retirees.

Abbott wrote, “…it is not about what candidates say, but about what they do… We are looking for someone who will be proactive at trying to rally people behind the needed changes.” So it appears the Progressive Party is willing to let the Democrats have the only major candidate on the left, but only it the Progressives are happy with the choice.

Abbott suggested a number of possible Progressive candidates. Interestingly Anthony Pollina, former Progressive candidate for Governor, was not mentioned in the list. Is that because Abbott felt people knew enough about Pollina, is this a sign that Pollina will not be for Governor again, or could this mean Pollina will look for the Democratic nod?

SOURCE:

http://www.progressiveparty.org/blog/?p=1038