FroshUpdate: Freshmen Draw Challengers, New Yorker's Grimm Allegations
The New Yorker reports on salacious revelations about New York Representative and former FBI agent Michael Grimm, and challengers to freshmen start to line up. This is FroshUpdate for April 26, 2011.
BIPARTISAN GREEN JOBS BILL: Rep. Chris Gibson (R-NY) and Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) are partnering on a bipartisan green jobs bill which has been introduced in the House of Representatives, H.R. 1659 Fuel Cell Industrial Jobs Act of 2011. The legislation would increase the tax credit for fuel-cell powered industrial vehicles. http://bit.ly/hbywPX
GRIM ALLEGATIONS: A New Yorker piece this week contains sensational allegations about the previous misadventures of Rep. Michael Grimm (NY-13). Grimm, a former FBI agent, allegedly got into a fight at a nightclub more than a decade ago with his date's estranged husband, later threatening to make the man "disappear," brandishing his gun, and returning with other law enforcement agents. Grimm maintains that his conduct "was a hundred per cent by the book and fully exonerated." http://politi.co/dEPsmY
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DUFFY DRAWS CHALLENGER: Former Wisconsin Democratic state senator Tim Kreitlow has announced his intent to challenge Rep. Sean Duffy (WI-07) for his seat in 2012. Kreitlow cites Duffy's vote for the Medicare overhaul in the Ryan budget plan as "the last straw" that pushed him to run. http://bit.ly/gwPUVn
BASS DRAWS CHALLENGER: Rep. Charlie Bass' (NH-02) old opponent from 2010, Democrat Ann McLane Kuster, says she'll challenge Bass again for his seat in 2012. http://bit.ly/hfzFa1
CONDITIONS: Rep. Kristi Noem (SD-01) has an op-ed in Monday's Mitchell Daily Republic, in which she calls for any vote on raising the debt ceiling to be accompanied by steep cuts in federal spending. Such a measure, she writes, is the only way to prevent the United States from losing its AAA credit rating in the next few years. http://bit.ly/igBRT0
THE ROT: Rep. Joe Heck (NV-03) addressed the Nevada legislature on Monday, praising the performance of Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval, while asserting that federal spending for the sake of "political expediency" has "rotted America's economic foundations to the core." http://bit.ly/gKBdxU
GOVT AS CAUSE: U.S. Rep. Joe Heck blamed a "badly broken federal government" for the recession that strangled Nevada's economy and said stability in regulatory and tax policies will provide an economic climate needed for businesses to grow and begin hiring. http://bit.ly/fIOflp