Thug Buchanan Will Win At Any Cost... Even If His Employees Are Paying The Price (Illegally)

A bright young writer over at the Huffingtonpost called Vern Buchanan "sleazy."

Seems appropriate.

The author, Mr. Nathan Robinson, had some unfortunate up-close-and-personal experiences with Congressman Buchanan. Too bad for him. It reads like a scary bedtime story, the kind that gives your kids nightmares for a week.

Of course, the real scary stuff is Buchanan's win-at-all-cost strongarm tactics he employed in his 2006 campaign. Who knows what he's doing now.

Today he has come out with the official denial. From Jeremy Wallace & Carol E. Lee's article:

"They both are disgruntled employees," Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, said in his first public comments since the accusations surfaced last week.

Well, of course they are, Vern! If my bosses forced me to donate to my thug boss's campaign, I'd be disgruntled, too.

Why is any of this important?

Even as Buchanan rebutted the accusations of Joe D. Kezer, former finance director at Sarasota Ford, and Carlo A. Bell, former finance director at Venice Nissan Dodge, another former Buchanan employee, D.J. Padilla, said that he, too, was pressured to donate, but refused.

"It all happened," said Padilla, who worked in the finance department under Bell. "They said if you make a donation, they'll give the money back."

Pressuring employees for donations and paying reimbursements violate federal campaign finance laws.

Yes. Yes, it is.

That, and there is a good chance that the 13th CD of Florida -- Katherine Harris's old seat, so you know it's a doozy -- is going blue.

At long last, the voters of the 13th Congressional District of Florida deserve decent representation in Congress -- and they should hold Vern Buchanan accountable for his illegal actions.

Support Christine Jennings. She's the one who doesn't shake down employees for campaign contributions.

Buchana Hates His Workers, Customers, Ethics, Campaign Laws

If true, this helps prove that Vern Buchanan is a very bad person:

Two former executives for U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan's auto dealerships said they were pressured to donate to Buchanan's 2006 congressional campaign and were offered cash and gifts as inducements, which would violate federal campaign laws.

The former employees, Carlo A. Bell and Joe D. Kezer, are suing Buchanan, alleging his auto dealerships cheated customers. The alleged violations of campaign finance laws are not part of the lawsuit. The former employees went public with the claims this week, after Buchanan's lawyers rejected their $43 million offer to settle the lawsuit.

Anyone who would do this type of thing should be barred from Congress. And anyone who votes for someone who would do this doesn't care about what's best for Americans or Floridians.

Buchanan Hates Working Families, Loves Big Oil

Vern voted against the "Use It Or Lose It" bill at a time when working families (like mine) are struggling to pay for rising gas costs. Republicans are touting drilling closer to Florida's coast as a way to bring prices down -- a claim that is ridiculous when the oil companies already have leases to 68 million acres they aren't currently drilling, apparently because they won't get big enough profits quick enough on those acres. The bill would've required oil companies to drill on the leases they already have or they wouldn't get further leases. Vern voted against that and for continued high prices for working families and potentially for oil spills on our beaches. Thanks, Vern!

Vern Hates America and Its Values

It's clear that Americans generally favor more progressive values most of the time. Not Vern. With a lifetime Progressive Punch voting score of 12.86%, it's clear he hates Americans and their values.

Vern is Wasting Your Time in Washington

According to Congress.org, Vern is the 40th most powerful member of the House and as part of the hugely ineffectual Florida Republican delegation in Washington, helps make Florida one of the least powerful states in Congress. Thanks for the great work!

Vern Buchanan Hates Rule of Law, Ethics, Honesty

Apparently, Republican Congressman Vern Buchanan will hire anybody. His personal attorney is Daryl J. Brown, one of the few lawyers in the entire state who have been suspended twice by the Florida Bar. In fact, Brown isn't eligible to practice law in Florida right now. Brown's first suspension was for a campaign finance scandal involving Riscorp, a massive insurance company, where 875 illegal contributions were recorded. I wonder what party they went to? Not only was Brown involved, he lied to media about his involvement.

That didn't stop Buchanan from hiring him. In fact, Brown was involved in Buchanan's lawsuit against the developers of the Ritz-Carlton, something he did while under suspension. He later lied about his occupation on a campaign donation to Buchanan.

If this is the type of judgment Buchanan has when it comes to hiring his personal lawyer, how can he be trusted to represent Floridians ethically and fairly in Washington. He can't.

Vern Hates the Environment

The League of Conservation Voters recently released scorecards for Congress. How did Vern do? Poorly:

Vern Buchanan (REP), 25%

Not only did all of the Democrats do better than all of the Republicans, With one exception, all of the Democrats did more than twice as good as all the Republicans. And most of the Democrats voted in favor of the environment more than four times as frequently as most of the Republicans.

I wonder how many of these Republicans own property that will be beachfront property when most of Florida is under water because of global warming? I'm just saying...