On Kansas Senate Candidate Jim Slattery

by: Matt Stoller

Wed Jun 18, 2008 at 14:23


I spent some time with Kansas Senate candidate Jim Slattery last night, who is running against the head of the Intelligence Committee, Pat Roberts.  Slattery and his campaign staff spent some time explaining that Kansas is shifting into away from the Republican Party because of the war and the economy, though it is still quite a conservative state.  It's a cheap state that can be blanketed with a 30 day media blitz for around $3M, and Slattery was a long-time Congressman who is well-respected.  Senate Guru calls Slattery the sleeper competitive race of 2008.

He was well-versed and passionate around progressive issues and told me he supported network neutrality (Google's definition where tiering is allowable but content discrimination is not).  What impressed me was Slattery's record in Congress; he helped author the Clean Air Act and fought against Reagan's ploy to send military aid to the Contras in the 1980s.  As a savvy bureaucrat, he knew that voting for aid for food and medical supplies made sense, as long as none of it was delivered "by the CIA".  In going back through the archives, I'm running into people like Colin Powell, who made the case for intervening to Congress after Iran-Contra, and Eliot Abrams, who was the bureaucratic infighter for Reagan to make it happen and was damaged during the Iran-Contra hearings.  It turns out that Powell's turn at the UN is not the first time he used his reputation to justify crazy interventionist policies.  Weird, that.

We need people like Slattery in Congress who have the institutional memory of these conflicts.  I found him impressive, and I hope he can ride the wave of people like Kathleen Sebelius and turn Kansas blue.
Matt Stoller :: On Kansas Senate Candidate Jim Slattery

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On Kansas Senate Candidate Jim Slattery | 2 comments
Eh (0.00 / 0)
He also has been a lobbyist for a decade.

http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q...

Not the worst clients but still, Verizon, Washington Citizens for World Trade, Motorola, General Motors. Not really exiting, IMO. But still. He's running against Pat freaking Roberts and I'd love to get rid of Roberts.


John McCain: Beacuse lobbyists should have more power

Elliot Abrams, Otto Reich, John Negroponte- many others (4.00 / 3)
the fact that all these guys were rehabilitated by Bush II was a storty that was slowly gaining traction in the early days of the administration.  Then 9/11 and the scrutiny of these guys stopped.  But they are bad folks and another example of the GOP exploiting the lack of institutional memory by our media.  Also, its a reminder that you have to hold these people accountable when you have the chance.  
On Kansas Senate Candidate Jim Slattery | 2 comments
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