PAC Man

CQ Politics has a story today about leadership PACs shelling out in contested Senate primary races. Leadership PACs, as you probably know, are organized by members of Congress; they enjoy higher limits on donations than do individual donors -- $10,000 per cycle, instead of $4800.

Mike Rogers has his own leadership PAC, appropriately titled MIKE R Fund (Majority Initiative to Keep Electing Republicans). This fund brought in over half a million dollars in 2008, and it is cranking along nicely for the 2010 cycle.

This year, Mr. Rogers' PAC has already shelled out for GOP House members (including Thad McCotter, Joseph Cao, and -- no lie! -- Joe Wilson), Kansan GOP Senate candidate Todd Tiahrt and the Michigan Republican Party. Also on the spending list: pricey Miami Beach hotels and D.C. tapas restaurants. Hey, raising money is hard work...

And where is all this money coming from? Unsurprisingly, the guy with over five million YouTube hits for his anti-health care reform video has raised the majority of his PAC dollars from pharmaceuticals, health products and health professionals.

It's clear that Mr. Rogers is a very gifted fund raiser. I say this without any snark-- he's really good at it! It would be nice, though, if he spent a little bit of that energy and creativity on the people in MI-08.

Patriot Games

TPM is reporting that the NRCC has decided to limit its next Patriot Program group to five incumbents, down from the original 10.

Mike Rogers has energetically co-chaired the NRCC incumbent retention program and spent quite a bit of time raising $$ for the chosen Patriots.

Has he not been working hard enough? Perish the thought, according to an NRCC aide:

"The political environment has shifted, and there just aren't five more vulnerable Members who are really in need of assistance or facing a credible challenge," an NRCC aide told the paper. "That money would be better spent by directly transferring money to the committee and on assisting the large number of challenger candidates looking to oust a Democrat incumbent."

A somewhat more clear-eyed analysis came from TPM.

Another way of looking at it is this: The Republicans got cleaned out in 2006 and 2008. With the exception of some open swing seats where usually safe GOP incumbents are retiring, there's not too much left that the GOP has a serious chance of losing.

Either way, it looks as though Mr. Rogers will have some extra time on his hands. Think he'll get around to paying attention to Michigan's interests in Washington?

Very High Double Standards

The Neighborhood is admittedly a small blog; we focus on one Congressional district that's spread out over bits & pieces of five different counties (not to mention three different media markets), "represented" in Washington, D.C. by Mike Rogers.

Well, the 'Hood got some national attention last week, when the story about insurance industry donations to Mr. Rogers was picked up by The Sunlight Foundation's "Local Sunlight" columnist.

OK, enough bragging.

Back here in the Mitten, the Lansing State Journal's Derek Melot has a nifty little blog post describing one of the sweet health care perks that Mr. Rogers receives courtesy of us taxpayers: The Office of the Attending Physician (OAP), a full-service health center.

Members of Congress do not pay for the individual services they receive at the OAP, nor do they submit claims through their federal employee health insurance policies. Instead, members pay a flat, annual fee of $503 for all the care they receive. The rest of the cost of their care, sources said, is subsidized by taxpayers.

Earlier this year, the Neighborhood brought you the details of Mr. Rogers' health insurance plan -- also paid for with our tax dollars -- and compared it to the costs and benefits available to a Michigan family purchasing the cheapest MI BC/BS individual plan. It would be kind of funny if it weren't so unfair.

So between paying for his premiums with pretax dollars and having a personal physician on-call in the Capitol, you have to wonder how Mr. Rogers can keep a straight face when he rants about "socialist health care." As an adult, his health insurance coverage has been provided by taxpayers (U.S. Army, the FBI, the Michigan legislature and U.S. Congress). Given his early bout with bladder cancer, it would be instructive for him to go looking for individual coverage and see just what he would be shelling out for a basic plan...

Don't Know Much About History

Despite his many obligations to the NRCC -- protecting incumbent Republican members -- and his latest job serving as John Boehner's liaison to GOP governors, Mr. Rogers apparently has the time to offer up a misty-eyed, breathtakingly inaccurate version of American history.

His latest YouTube special kicks off with a quote from Benjamin Franklin (sort of),

Those who would sacrifice liberty for a little safety and security deserve neither liberty nor security.

Mr. Rogers then explains that Franklin said this "before the Constitution, before the Revolutionary War," when Franklin was "the Finance Chair of the Pennsylvania state legislature." Oh, really?

Mr. Rogers might benefit from reading the Memoirs of the Life of Benjamin Franklin for a more detailed explanation of the legal issues Franklin was discussing (including the Massachusetts Bay Colony's desire to submit a separate petition to Parliament rather than jointly petitioning with the other colonies).

Mr. Rogers' take on American history continues with a reference to the Great Depression. After rhapsodizing about the national ideal of fairness, which in RogersSpeak translates as "people who work hard and play by the rules shouldn't have to pay for other people who don't do those things," he goes on to say

We have agreed that a safety net is a good idea. So you think about it, the Great Depression, over 30% unemployment for years, the poverty level in the United States was staggering, but we didn't give up. We didn't say, "you know what, it's too hard, the federal government should do it for us." We didn't do that.

Wait, what? Has Mr. Rogers never heard of the WPA, TVA, FDR or Social Security?

Moving right along, Mr. Rogers notes

World War II, when they were rationing sugar and rubber tires, we didn't give up. And that spirit, that ember of fairness on behalf of the American people has led to the greatest nation on the face of the earth, because it's individual responsibility, it's people getting up everyday and thinking, "I can do this better, faster, quicker, the speed of business, I can take care of my family, let the government take care of something else."

Sorry, Mr. Rogers -- the "they" that organized rationing to support the war effort was, in fact, the federal government. And the American people responded to calls for shared sacrifice during wartime -- a lesson you forgot (or ignored) when you voted to support tax cuts for the wealthy during the Afghan and Iraq wars. Oh, and the U.S. government not only worked to win the war, but helped to rebuild Europe and Japan for greater postwar security and a stronger global economy.

In his peroration, Mr. Rogers links the "burning ember" of American national spirit and Bejamin Franklin with the angry ranters of the Tea Party Express. He enthuses about the GOP health care plan, which would "control costs, improve access, do all those things without the federal government stepping in." We're still waiting for a bill number, Mr. Rogers. (Plus, we'd love to know why Mr. Rogers does not consider the United States House of Representatives to be a part of the federal government...)

Now that he's an official lover of American history, party loyalist Rogers might find some modern-day resonance in this quote from Benjamin Franklin:

As in the course of the debate, some lords in the administration had observed, that it was common and easy to censure their measures, but those who did so proposed nothing better.

Nah, never mind...

Money Talks, Congress Listens

Over at Open Secrets, there's a great article on insurance industry donations to House Energy & Commerce Committee members.

Committee Chair Henry Waxman told 52 insurance companies that they had to disclose their financial records, including executive pay, entertainment expenditures and, oh yes, political donations.

Here are the current members of the House Energy and Commerce to collect the most from the 52 insurers required to respond to Waxman's request, including contributions to the lawmakers' leadership PACs and candidate committees back to 1989:

Name Total

Roy Blunt (R-Mo) $204,428
John D Dingell (D-Mich) $154,600
Nathan Deal (R-Ga) $150,600
Mike Rogers (R-Mich) $109,800
Henry A Waxman (D-Calif)$106,500
Bart Stupak (D-Mich) $94,750
John Shadegg (R-Ariz) $94,250
Joe Barton (R-Texas) $84,350
Lee Terry (R-Neb) $84,300
Phil Gingrey (R-Ga) $83,770
Tim Murphy (R-Pa) $81,700
Fred Upton (R-Mich) $78,300
John M Shimkus (R-Ill) $73,750
Bart Gordon (D-Tenn) $73,550
Jim Matheson (D-Utah) $72,500

What's impressive (in a bad way) is that Mike Rogers didn't get elected until 2000 -- yet he's managed to scoop up enough insurance industry cash to come in fourth at the trough.

Pop-Up Video

Remember VH-1's "Pop-Up Video" series that ran in the late 90s? As the music video was playing, little bubbles ("info nuggets") would pop up on the screen, a mix of snark and trivia.

I really wish that I could do that for Mike Rogers' latest YouTube video... but National Journal has done the next best thing:

With so many people looking to the video for their health care arguments, how true are Rogers' main points about H.R. 3200 and the debate in general?

National Journal fact-checks Rogers' statements on disenrolling individuals and cancer survival rates. They'll follow up with an interview with Rogers, to be posted next week.

Hell is, in fact, freezing over.

Once again, a conservative blogger has done a great job of calling out Mr. Rogers for his, um, flexible approach to policy. Earlier this summer, The Right Stuff took him to task over his earmarking habits...

and now Debbie Schlussel has named him the Hypocrite of the Day:

U.S. Congressman Mike Rogers (R-Michigan) sent out press releases telling everyone and their mother that, yesterday, he was in Israel speaking at a conference on terrorism.

But, with blowhard Rogers – a conservative – as the keynote speaker, perhaps the “World Summit on Counter-Terrorism, ” should change its name to “World Summit on Counter-Terrorism and Phony American Congressmen Who Blew It.” Rogers needs to shut his mouth, stay Stateside, and actually do something on terrorism. Problem is, he’s all talk and ZERO action. [skip]

Ironically, Rogers’ speech was on “Where America Stands Eight Years Into Its War on Terror.” Hilarious. In no small part because of Rogers’ negligence, American stands no better–in fact, far worse–than it did eight years earlier.

Wonder if the speech was subtitled, “Do As I Say, Not As I Do.”

Amen.

Now, it's pretty likely that Ms. Schlussel and and I don't quite see eye to eye on a lot of issues, but we both agree that Mr. Rogers' brand of bull is bad for our country's security.

Excuses, excuses

A neighbor sent me the link to the Channel 4/Flashpoint Roundtable video, featuring a health care discussion with Congressmen Rogers, Thad McCotter, John Dingell and John Conyers.

The show leads off with Rogers, flush from a few million hits off his YouTube video. Mr. Rogers states that "we've got a great list of ideas... the problem is that we've never been involved, we've never been invited into the negotiations at the White House, we've never been involved in negotiations in the committee..."

[Who knew that Mr. Rogers had such fragile self-esteem? Not being invited to lunch at the White House seems to have damaged him to such an extent that he almost didn't participate in his Energy & Commerce Committee's health care discussion... he pulled himself together in time to insert a logic-defying amendment that had nothing to do with lowering costs, improving quality or increasing access. Then he voted against the E&C bill.]

At that point, Mr. Conyers asks for the number of the bill that Mr. Rogers is describing.

Oops.

Here in the Neighborhood, we know that Mr. Rogers is an inspiring speaker, unafraid to let his emotional anecdotes fly free of pesky facts. Apparently, Mr. Conyers was unaware of this, and pressed his fellow legislator for details of Rogers' efforts to turn the rosy picture of GOP health care proposals into actual legislation.

Okay, so Mr. Rogers doesn't have a bill number. Or he couldn't remember it. Whatever. With the help of repetition, a few hearty assurances and a compliant host, Mr. Rogers never had to answer Mr. Conyers' question.

Enough already. Everyone needs to understand what is at stake here in the 8th Congressional District:

America’s Affordable Health Choices Act would provide significant benefits in the 8th Congressional District of Michigan: up to 15,100 small businesses could receive tax credits to provide coverage to their employees; 7,600 seniors would avoid the donut hole in Medicare Part D; 1,700 families could escape bankruptcy each year due to unaffordable health care costs; health care providers would receive payment for $53 million in uncompensated care each year; and 49,000 uninsured individuals would gain access to high-quality, affordable health insurance.

Everyone, including Mike Rogers.

Echo Chamber

Just when we thought Mr. Rogers had totally bailed on talking with his constituents over the August break, we find that he only partially bailed -- he held a "tele-townhall" limited to "randomly" selected residents of the 8th Congressional District.

This isn't the first time Rogers has chosen a controlled environment to avoid tough questions.

According to the Press & Argus, Mr. Rogers told his listeners that

they will lose their private health care or Medicare benefits if proposed health-care reforms become law. [skip] Rogers said the bill would dash Medicare Advantage plans that can include prescription drug coverage, among other options.

Statements like this really can't be called anything but deliberate deception.

Rogers is using a ridiculously lawyered-up interpretation of H.R. 3200 to scare his constituents and keep his political donors happy. For a point-by-point refutation, visit FactCheck.org

Note that Mr. Rogers is awfully attached to Medicare Advantage (MA), the private plan that covers roughly 18% of Medicare beneficiaries -- yet costs taxpayers an average of 12% more than traditional Medicare. For the retirees who choose a Medicare Advantage private fee for service plan (PFFS), the cost is 19% higher.

Who thinks MA is a good idea? Probably the insurers and pharmaceutical companies which have seen their "government-sponsored medical programs" profits increase dramatically over the past few years, more than making up for losses in the employer-based insurance market.

Stop the lies, Mr. Rogers. Your district is in trouble. Choose to help your constituents

America’s Affordable Health Choices Act would provide significant benefits in the 8th Congressional District of Michigan: up to 15,100 small businesses could receive tax credits to provide coverage to their employees; 7,600 seniors would avoid the donut hole in Medicare Part D; 1,700 families could escape bankruptcy each year due to unaffordable health care costs; health care providers would receive payment for $53 million in uncompensated care each year; and 49,000 uninsured individuals would gain access to high-quality, affordable health insurance.

instead of the industries that fund your political activities.

(cross-posted at Michigan Liberal)

Fan Fiction

The YouTube video of Mike Rogers' opening statement on health care has been popping up on quite a few conservative blogs lately, as posters excitedly swoon over his "common sense" stance on health care reform.

There's no question that Mr. Rogers is a persuasive speaker. He has a friendly demeanor and an ordinary-guy style; he's known for his use of heart-tugging emotional anecdotes to make a point.

The only problem? All that emotion camouflages a lot of bad information.

Mr. Rogers is openly skeptical of government's role in health care

The very innovation of who we are is what got us here, and it wasn't the federal government and it wasn't Washington, D.C.

Where is the "here" that this swell innovation has brought us? "Here" is where an American Journal of Medicine study found that 62.1% of all bankruptcies in 2007 were caused by medical problems. Three-quarters of those declaring bankruptcy for medical reasons had health insurance. Most were well-educated home owners with middle-class occupations.

Yet Mr. Rogers continues to rail against the dark results of government involvement:

They can actually go in and unenroll individuals -- unprecedented power... They can rip you off your own invididual plan. They can disenroll your whole company off a certain plan.

That sounds pretty awful... until you realize that private insurance companies already unenroll individuals and companies without their consent.

This is called rescission, and it is still legal for private insurers to unenroll members without warning.

Rescinding thousands of policyholders a year enabled California insurers to save millions of dollars. Health Net Inc., for example, figured that it avoided $35 million in medical expenses over six years. The loss of coverage left individuals awash in medical bills and without healthcare when they needed it most, and it left many hospitals and physicians with uncollectable debt. (emphasis added)

Mr. Rogers has spoken openly about being diagnosed with bladder cancer as a teenager, and firmly asserts that he wouldn't be alive today if cost-conscious bureaucrats had interfered with his treatment.

He's apparently unaware of the interference already being run by bureaucrats in the insurance industry. This year, the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation issued a report on the problems faced by cancer patients who are covered by private insurance.

For these patients, having private health insurance at the time of their cancer diagnosis did not protect them from high out-of-pocket costs – leaving them with large debts to cover their treatment costs and forcing some to skip or delay necessary treatments.

“The stories of people with cancer in this study and video documentary show what our earlier survey work found: that the insurance system often fails people when they need it most, when they get really sick,” said Kaiser Family Foundation President and CEO Drew Altman, Ph.D.

“Cancer patients too often find out that their insurance doesn't protect them when they need care the most,” said John R. Seffrin, Ph.D., national chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society. “High out-of-pocket costs coupled with the high cost of insurance premiums can force cancer patients to incur huge debt, and to delay or forgo life-saving treatments."

The crazy thing is that Mr. Rogers, a beneficiary of generous government health coverage for most of his life, is a staunch defender of the health care status quo.

Wonder if it has anything to do with the money he and his PAC have received from health-related industries?