Bush Tax Cuts

Meet The Democrats Who Want To Preserve Tax Cuts For The Rich

Brian Beutler | September 16, 2010, 8:46AM

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

As he presses Congress to let the Bush tax cuts for wealthy Americans expire, President Obama has two goals in mind: achieve a significant policy victory; and give struggling Democrats a wedge issue ahead of the November elections. But a significant number of those Democrats are saying they don't want the help -- and that number may be enough to force Democratic leaders to punt on the issue.

Rep. Michael McMahon (D-NY), who is fighting to preserve the top-bracket tax cuts for at least a year, says he has somewhere between 25 and 50 members on his side. "I think the difference is there," he told TPM after a House vote yesterday afternoon.

McMahon is a signatory to a letter authored by Rep. Melissa Bean (D-IL) and others designed to pressure leaders to give wealthy Americans another tax break. His view represents a political and policy consensus shared by a significant, and vocal faction of the Democratic party -- a consensus that party leaders are doing little to weaken.

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2010 elections

Dem Rep Fires Aide After Distribution Of 'Jewish Money' List

Evan McMorris-Santoro | July 29, 2010, 9:02PM

Rep. Mike McMahon (D-NY) is in full-on damage control mode this evening after the New York Observer revealed that an aide to his reelection campaign attempted to highlight an opponent's out-of-district donor base with a list of donors entitled "Jewish Money Q2."

The basic summary of the situation, from the Observer piece: McMahon's finance director, who is Jewish, pored through the campaign finance reports from one of one of McMahon's Republican opponents, former FBI agent Mike Grimm, and compiled a list of donors to who she claimed are Jewish to showcase money raised Grimm raised from outside the Staten Island, New York district. A spokesperson for McMahon's campaign told the Observer the finance director labeled the donors Jewish because "she knows a lot of people in that community" and could, presumably, recognize their names.

"Where is Grimm's money coming from," Jennifer Nelson, McMahon's campaign communications director told the paper. "There is a lot of Jewish money, a lot of money from people in Florida and Manhattan, retirees."

The campaign provided "a list of over 80 names, a half-dozen of which in fact do hail from Staten Island, and a handful of others that list Brooklyn as home" on the "Grimm Jewish Money Q2" list provided to the Observer. Nelson "stressed" to the paper "that the point of compiling the list was not to show that Grimm had a lot of Jewish support, but that he had little support in the district."

Not surprisingly, that's not how Grimm saw it.

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NY-13

Staten Island GOP, Deprived Of Fossella, Chooses Allegretti

Rachel Slajda | May 28, 2010, 10:10AM

House candidate Michael Allegretti (R-NY)

The Staten Island GOP last night nominated Michael Allegretti to run against Rep. Mike McMahon (D-NY) for Vito Fossella's old House seat.

They had originally nominated former congressman Fossella, who in 2008 dropped out of his re-election race after a DUI arrest led to the admission that he had fathered a child during an extramarital affair.

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Vito Fossella

Fossella, Considering A Run, Still Has $58K On Hand

Rachel Slajda | May 11, 2010, 1:49PM

Former Rep. Vito Fossella (R-NY)

Vito Fossella, who Politico reported this morning is considering a run for his old House seat, still has $58,000 in his campaign committee, which hasn't filed an FEC report since the first quarter of 2009.

Fossella, a Republican from New York's Staten Island, dropped out of his re-election race in 2008 after being arrested for drunken driving and subsequently admitting that he had fathered a child with a woman not his wife.

His last FEC filing came in April of 2009, showing that he had $58,015 cash on hand. Since he hasn't dissolved the committee, the FEC has repeatedly sent him letters informing him of his failure to file -- four in all, for the last three quarters in 2009 and the first quarter of 2010.

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NY-13

Is Two-Family Man Vito Fossella Considering Another Run?

Rachel Slajda | May 11, 2010, 9:56AM

Former Rep. Vito Fossella (R-NY)

Politico reports this morning that Vito Fossella, the New York Republican who dropped out of his re-election campaign in 2008 after a DUI arrest led to the revelation that he had fathered a child during an extramarital affair, is considering running for his old House seat.

Sources close to Fossella said he's thinking about challenging Rep. Mike McMahon (D-NY) for his seat from a district in Staten Island. The Staten Island Republicans reportedly delayed a candidate screening meeting this week in order to allow Fossella more time.

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