Kanjo has announced support

Finally.

UPDATE: Kanjo got asterisk manager changes that benefit Geisinger Insurance and Scranton Orthopaedic. More later as details become known.

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Kanjo rescinds, back on the fence; Stupack has tentative agreement with WH

Latest from our little bird inside the beltway loop -- Kanjorski's unease about voting against the interests of a corporation that has given a million bucks to his pet projects, operates a PAC that has been very generous to him (in the last cycle, no one in Congress got more from the Sallie Mae PAC than Paul Kanjorski), and with executives who have opened their wallets for him, has apparently caused him to retract and place himself back into the "undecided" column. And those hundreds of thousands of residents of his district that would be benefited by this legislation, they just don't stack up to millions of dollars.

Meanwhile, we are told that Stupack is polling his little gang to measure agreement to a White House deal that appears to solve their faux abortion issue. Stupack has been dealing with White House lawyers since yesterday evening and those close to the talks appear confident that Stupack and his gang will end up in the 'Yes' column.

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Deal Done, Kanjo on Board

Kanjorski has informed the White House that he is now a definite yes. We're assuming some sort of deal favoring Kanjo's corporate sponsor, Sallie Mae, was struck. But we'd like to think all of those constituent phone calls to his DC office helped win the day.

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Weighing a Vote -- Kanjo Protecting Sallie Mae over District 11 Residents?

With the report that Kanjorski told the President that he will probably vote NO on Health Insurance Reform because the Congressman objects to the impact of the included student loan reform effort on the Billion-Dollar Sallie Mae, which employs a few hundred in his District, we thought it a good time to take a look at what was on the other side of these scales.

A small percentage of Sallie Mae's employees work in the Hanover Industrial Park, in Kanjorski's District. Most of them are low-paid telephone collections/customer "service" workers. Even if Sallie Mae is right that many of them would lose their jobs as a result of the student loan reforms included in the health insurance reform legislation, even those jobs seem to pale in comparison to the impact of the pending legislation on the District residents.

Here's what the Congressional analysis of the impact for the 11th District shows:

• Improve coverage for 420,000 residents with health insurance.
• Give tax credits and other assistance to up to 190,000 families and 14,000 small businesses to help them afford coverage.
• Improve Medicare for 133,000 beneficiaries, including closing the donut hole.
• Extend coverage to 27,000 uninsured residents.
• Guarantee that 8,200 residents with pre-existing conditions can obtain coverage.
• Protect 900 families from bankruptcy due to unaffordable health care costs.
• Allow 52,000 young adults to obtain coverage on their parents’ insurance plans.
• Provide millions of dollars in new funding for 7 community health centers.
• Reduce the cost of uncompensated care for hospitals and other health care providers by $42 million annually.

(The House has done a similar analysis for each District.)

There are 190,000 families in Kanjorski's District who would qualify for health insurance subsidies under the pending legislation. 190,000!

But Kanjorski is joining the Republicans to say NO to the 190,000 families in his District who would finally be able to secure health insurance for their families. To protect a few hundred jobs.

There are 8,200 uninsured individuals in Kanjorski's district who have pre-existing medical conditions like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes and can't get health insurance. That would end under the act, but Kanjorski thinks protecting a few hundred Sallie Mae jobs are more important than those eight thousand unfortunate citizens in his District who had the bad judgment to become ill.

In a single year, 900 families file bankruptcy in Kanjorski's District due to health care costs. That tragedy would be all but eliminated -- if not for Kanjorski's determination to protect a few hundred Sallie Mae jobs.

There are 133,000 Medicare beneficiaries in his district. The legislation improves their benefits by providing free preventive and wellness care, improving primary and coordinated care, and enhancing nursing home care. The bill also strengthens the Medicare Trust Fund, extending its
solvency from 2017 to 2026. And you know what Kanjorski thinks? Too bad, he wants to protect Sallie Mae jobs.

And there's more, you can read the details in the report.

You should be forgiven if you are thinking that stacking a few hundred Sallie Mae jobs against these hundreds of thousands of people in his District seems a little, well, UNbalanced. Because, in truth, Kanjorski IS NOT balancing those hundreds of thousands against a few hundred Sallie Mae jobs -- he is balancing them against MORE than a few hundred thousand of Sallie Mae's DOLLAR$.

If you are in the 11th, it is time to call your Representative and let him know that balancing the lives of hundreds of thousands against Sallie Mae's millions is not why you sent him to Washington time and time again.

Call Rep. Kanjorski's office at (202) 225-6511. But don't stop there. Make it your mission today to get 5 friends or neighbors to call, too.

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Kanjo Tells Prez: "I'm (probably) voting 'No'!"

A source with information received directly from the White House has told us that Kanjorski has told the President that he is firmly in the Republican column on the health insurance reform initiative. [See UPDATE below] Contrary to recent reports in the Washington Post , Firedoglake, and Ben Pershing's Blog, among others, Kanjorski reportedly told the President there was little no room for movement on his vote.

Kanjorski's movement to the "No" column was NOT the result of the faux abortion issue. Instead, Kanjo's decision to oppose health insurance reform was dictated by the interests of the large private student loan lender, Sallie Mae, which has a facility in his district. Kanjorski has long-ties with the folk at Sallie Mae, something he's boasted about in the past. A 2008 piece on Kanjorski's deep-ties to Sallie Mae laid it out pretty well:

Sallie Mae has rewarded Kanjorski for his support in other ways as well. According to federal campaign finance records, the loan giant has contributed, through its PAC and from individual company officials, nearly $70,000 to the Congressman's campaign coffers over the last decade. In addition, the Sallie Mae Fund, the company's charitable arm, has made generous contributions to one of the Congressman's pet causes: donating $1 million in 2003 to the Wilkes-Barre Catholic Youth Center, which provides daycare and overnight care to children from primarily lower-income and minority families. Kanjorski has long championed the center and fought to get federal funding for it. In Sallie Mae's news release, the center's executive director "expressed deep gratitude" to the Congressman for helping to secure the loan company's donation.

Stephen Burd, The Higher Ed Watch Blog. The House added "The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act" to the reconciliation bill on health insurance reform. The reform measure allows students to borrow directly from the federal government instead of from Sallie Mae or other lenders. Currently, the federal government loans money to Sallie Mae, which in turn makes a tidy profit by re-lending our tax dollars to college kids.

Kanjorski, by supporting one of his large corporate financial backers, is threatening to turning his back on the rank and file, the middle class, the laborers, and all of the individuals suffering for lack of access to health care.

We spoke with a Kanjorski spokesperson who did not deny that Kanjo is a no. Instead, speaking about the Kanjorski conversation with the President, the spokesman said only, "I am not aware of that conversation." When asked, did the Congressman tell the President that he will be voting no, the spokesperson responded again, "I am not aware of such a conversation." Asked if the Congressman is going to vote no, "As far as I know, the Congressman is undecided."

As an apparent result of Kanjorski's conversation with the President, this morning the Organizing for America folks sent out an email to their supporters in Kanjo's district. In that email they warned that Kanjorski's vote can't "be taken for granted" and urged recipients to "pick up the phone and call Rep. Kanjorski's office at (202) 225-6511. But don't stop there. Make it your mission today to get 5 friends or neighbors to call, too."

The same source also reports that Kanjorski isn't going to bother to tally the calls to his District offices or 800 numbers -- the only calls he's counting are the ones to his DC office. Odd choice, but when a guy is going to cast a vote based on how it affects his corporate sponsor, one wonders why he's counting at all.

If he follows through, Corey O'Brien will be getting a check from me on Monday.

UPDATE: My source contacted me this afternoon to say that Kanjorski was firm in refusing the President's request to commit to yes and told the President that he was strongly leaning "No" -- he did not, apparently, come right out and say he was firmly in the 'No' column, but that he was likely to be a 'No' vote. We were also told that many Kanjorski District voters were unable to get through to his Washington office because it was so busy with callers.

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Gutless

For the last couple of decades, the quintessential big fish in a very small pond has been Paul Kanjorski. The Congressman from PA-11 (Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton), was a four-time loser before he finally won a primary and then went on to handily beat some rich kid (who later skipped town and this year ran a keystone-cops goobernatorial campaign in Colorado.) Kanjorski has served since then, and apparently became adept at funnelling money to family-owned businesses. Ask about his accomplishments and you get the grunting rut of the pork king.

Apparently Kanjo wandered into East Stroudsburg University the other day and had the audacity to tell the students that they need to be able to stand up for what they believe in and be willing to debate their opponents:

He distilled his life and political experience into three pieces of advice to the students. The first was to learn the art of debate and public speaking. "If you haven't got the guts to stand up and state your position, you're no threat to me or my opponent," he said.

This wasted windbag wouldn't know courage if it were wearing a sign. This steaming pile of NEPA politician has the audacity to lecture college students on standing up to their opponents when he has refused to debate his opponent this year.

Hypocritical asshole.

He's a paper cowardly-lion.

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