Sen. Gillibrand fundraises off of potential Scott Brown run in NH

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) sent out a fundraising email on behalf of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) after former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) suggested he might run for Senate in New Hampshire.

"If he enters this race, Jeanne will immediately become the top target of Karl Rove and the Tea Party Super PACs," Gillibrand wrote in the fundraising email sent out on Friday. "Jeanne needs our help now to prepare for the attacks from Brown and his allies. They’ve launched a 'Granitebomb' campaign to fight back."

Less than 24 hours earlier Brown was asked about a possible campaign in New Hampshire. Shaheen is up for reelection in 2014.

"I don't think I'm done with politics, but I'm not going to rule out anything right now because I really haven't thought a heck of a lot about it," Brown said, according to CNN.

In her fundraising email, Gillibrand described Brown, who lost reelection to now-Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in 2012, as a "billionaire-backed Republican."

"You read that right: A billionaire-backed Republican from Massachusetts who voted against equal pay and critical job-creation bills wants to take on Jeanne Shaheen – a tremendous champion for our progressive values," Gillibrand writes in the email.

"Brown raised $37 million in 2012 and spent it on partisan negative attacks against Elizabeth Warren."

Gillibrand's goal in the email is to raise a total of $100,000 to "send a message to Scott Brown and his Tea Party allies that we have [Shaheen's] back."

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Scott Brown in talks for job at Fox News

Former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) is in negotiations with Fox News to become a contributor to the network, a spokesperson for the channel said Wednesday.

Brown would be the second former legislator to join the network this year, alongside former Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), who debuted late last month. Brown, who lost his reelection bid to freshman Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), said last week that he would not seek the seat opened by former Sen. John Kerry's (D-Mass.) appointment as secretary of State.

At the time, Brown said he was not convinced another run for Congress was the best way to advocate for his policy goals.

“I was not at all certain that a third Senate campaign in less than four years, and the prospect of returning to a Congress even more partisan than the one I left, was really the best way for me to continue in public service at this time. And I know it’s not the only way for me to advance the ideals and causes that matter most to me," Brown said in a statement.

Earlier Wednesday, the former senator announced he was joining the board of directors of Kadant Inc., a paper company.

"I am honored to have the opportunity to contribute to Kadant and learn more about the challenges of an international business," Brown said in a statement. "Kadant has been on the forefront of designing and manufacturing equipment to recycle and produce paper for decades. I look forward to sharing my knowledge and experiences and contributing to the future direction and growth of this global leader."

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Sherrod Brown Compares GOP Governors to Hitler, Stalin

Promoted from diaries.

Last year while governors across the Midwest worked to reform broken public union laws, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) slandered them in a speech that could have easily been written by one of the millionaire “leaders” at SEIU, NEA, or AFSCME.

During one of his stemwinders about the wondrous things unions do, Sherrod dropped a reductio ad Hitlerum on Governor Kasich (OH), Governor Walker (WI), and Governor Christie (NJ):

Bizarrely, Sherrod claims he’s not comparing Kasich, Walker, and Christie to Hitler, Stalin, and Mubarak in the middle of comparing them to Hitler, Stalin, and Mubarak. While he’s conflating overdue reforms with mass murder, Sherrod also repeats one of his favorite deceptions by pretending government unions are the same as private industry unions.

Several media outlets noted the dictatorial portion of Sherrod’s rant, and the next day he apologized for stepping in it:

“But in speaking about this, I should not have mentioned the hostility of tyrants like Hitler to unions,” Brown said. “I don’t want my mistake to distract from the critical debate in Ohio, and I apologize for it.”

Sherrod didn’t want “to distract from the critical debate” over public union reform! Even now, slamming Ohio’s Senate Bill 5 as an “attack on workers” is the cornerstone of Sherrod’s stump speech – yet he always runs out of time before debating any of the critical specifics. Big Labor’s opponents are evil because it’s evil to oppose Big Labor.

Sherrod Brown is desperate to get additional mileage out of the union bosses’ $40 million smear campaign, but remember what was actually in Ohio’s union reform bill:

Replace automatic step increases with merit pay for public workers.Require public employees to pay 10% of their pension costs and 15% of their health insurance costs.End forced payment of “fair-share” fees for public workers who don’t want to join a union.End last-in, first-out firing policies, requiring considerations other than tenure when local governments must make layoffs.Public workers retain the privilege of collective bargaining for wages & working conditions, but may no longer go on strike against the public.

No less the Progressive than FDR, patron saint of caring Democrats, knew public unions are an awful idea. Either Sherrod Brown is too dense to recognize government and private industry are different, or he’s been lying for years to protect his favorite interest group.

Footnote: This clip is from the same speech where Sherrod claimed public union reform violates Christian principles. Refer again to the bullet points above; those are the sort of hateful reforms that get you slandered on the Senate floor as a tyrannical heathen by Sherrod Brown.

Transcript of the C-SPAN clip follows.

Sherrod Brown: Because we, as a country, we stand for a more egalitarian workforce. We stand for worker rights. We believe workers should organize and bargain collectively, if they choose. We believe in a minimum wage. We believe in workers’ compensation. We believe in worker safety. We believe in human rights, and all of that is about the labor movement, and, you know, you can support labor rights in Guatemala, but you better damn be sure you’re supporting labor rights in Wilmington, and Columbus, and Cleveland, and, and Detroit, and Dover, Delaware, and everywhere else.

And that’s, um, that’s, those were, those were some of the words Secretary Clinton said – I’m obviously expanding on them – but, as a nation, you know, I I I I look back at history and some of the worst governments we’ve ever had, you know one of the first things they did? They went after the trade unions. Hitler didn’t want unions, Stalin didn’t want unions, Mubarak didn’t want independent unions. These, these autocrats in history don’t want independent unions. So when I see, when I see in Egypt, or if I see in, in the old Soviet Russia, or I see – history tells me about Germany – I, I, I’m not, I’m not comparing what’s happening to the workers in Madison or in Columbus to Hitler and Stalin, but I am saying that history teaches us that unions are a very positive force in society that creates a middle class and that protects our freedom.

Cross-posted from jasonahart.com

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