This is the fourth segment of a ten part series about why you, and the netroots community as a whole, should be focused on the Eighth Congressional District of Pennsylvania.  There has been a lot of discussion around the net about what makes a good “netroots” candidate – this is my case for Patrick Murphy in PA-08. If you haven’t already, please check out the first three installments:

More on the flip…
Part 4: PA-08 – Fitzpatrick: Bought the Very First Day

How fast does it take for a freshman Congressman to be bought by the special interests in Washington?  If you are Mike Fitzpatrick – it happens on your first day:

Yes – Mike Fitzpatrick’s FIRST VOTE was to weaken the ethics rules to protect Tom DeLay.  And Patrick Murphy was there to call him on it (from the Bucks County Courier Times):

Murphy pointed to Fitzpatrick’s first day in Congress last January when Fitzpatrick voted to loosen ethics rules in the House in a move meant to help then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.
Those rules changes were later reversed in April and Fitzpatrick said last night that he only voted for them since they were part of a larger bill that included establishing a permanent Homeland Security Committee.

Yup – you heard it right – “national security!”  Fitzpatrick didn’t get away with slipping this by the local press though, from Josh Marshall at talkingpointsmemo.com:

BY GEORGE I think we’ve got it, or him, our congressional Bamboozler of the Day: Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA).
Back in the district (Bucks County, PA, etc.) Fitzpatrick is posing as a strong clean-up-congress man. But he’s being asked why his first vote in Congress — back in January 2005 — was to loosen congressional ethics rules to cover for Tom DeLay.
His answer? He did it for Homeland Security.

Oh – it gets much, much worse:

Fitzpatrick HEARTS Jack Abramoff:

Campaign money linked to Abramoff
By BRIAN SCHEID
The Intelligencer
Bucks County Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick has raised more than $200,000 in campaign contributions from political action committees linked to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his American Indian tribal clients, according to an analysis of his campaign finances by the Courier Times, sister paper of The Intelligencer.
In a statement Friday, Fitzpatrick said he has already donated to charity $21,500 he received from political action committees headed by embattled Reps. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, and Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Calif. All three have ties to Abramoff.
However, Fitzpatrick would not comment on the fate of nearly $190,000 in additional contributions he received from political action committees with ties to the Abramoff scandal.

And this…

Murphy links Fitzpatrick, Abramoff at press conference
By BRIAN CALLAWAY
Bucks County Courier Times

Democratic congressional candidate Patrick Murphy called for steps aimed at lessening lobbyists’ influence in Washington during a press conference Thursday.
…
Murphy invoked the disgraced lobbyist’s name several times in connection with Fitzpatrick, the man Murphy hopes to unseat in November in the 8th Congressional District, which includes Bucks County and small parts of Montgomery County and Philadelphia.
Abramoff or his lobbying clients donated generously to many elected officials. Fitzpatrick, serving his first term, has raised more than $1 million. About $211,000 of that money came from political action committees that received donations from Abramoff or his clients.

Fitzpatrick  HEARTS Bob Ney:

Fitzpatrick says he’ll donate $5,500 contribution tied to Ney
By BRIAN SCHEID
Bucks County Courier Times
With the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal brewing in Washington, D.C., Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick entered the fray Tuesday with a call for stricter ethical standards on Capitol Hill and a pledge to give away $5,500 his campaign received from a congressman tied to the scandal.

Fitzpatrick REALLY HEARTS Tom DeLay:

Group chides Fitzpatrick about Tom DeLay
By CHRIS ENGLISH
The Intelligencer
Local members of a national organization seeking to oust Republican Congressman Tom DeLay as House majority leader tried Wednesday to get Congressman Michael Fitzpatrick, R-8, to support their cause.
Members of MoveOn presented a petition with 1,083 signatures to Fitzpatrick’s district office at the Oxford One office building next to the Oxford Valley Mall in Middletown. The petition asks Republicans in Congress to replace DeLay as majority leader and for Fitzpatrick to return a $5,000 campaign contribution he received from DeLay’s political action committee, Americans for a Republican Majority.

For more on DeLay, see this Murphy Press Release.

Fitzpatrick HEARTS Special Interest CAFTA money:

Report says Fitzpatrick rewarded for CAFTA vote
By BRIAN SCHEID
Bucks County Courier Times
Bucks County Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick received a windfall in corporate campaign cash last year, which a report released Tuesday tied to his vote for a contentious free trade agreement that many of those corporations will profit from.
The report tracked nearly $2.8 million in political contributions from corporations that will benefit from the Central American Free Trade Agreement, also known as CAFTA. That $2.8 million was given to 11 Democratic and 19 Republican House members who voted for the agreement. Fitzpatrick, R-8, was among them.

Finally, Fitzpatrick’s contributions are a virtual whose- who of Republican shade-balls (including PACs):

Murphy has been there at every stop – not only offering a REAL ethics plan, but also tying Fitzpatrick cronyism to his awful voting record.  This is what Patrick said after Fitzpatrick deciding vote on the recently passed special interest budget bill.

We have seen the results of the current system in Washington-a confusing prescription drug plan written by the drug companies; a bad energy bill written by the oil companies; and now a devastating budget bill that makes it harder to afford health care while giving $22 billion to the HMO industry.

“Our Representative is not representing the people who elected him. It’s time for a change in Washington,” Murphy said.

I can’t sum it up any better than Patrick did: “This administration does not care for you. They care for special interests . . .This is not the America I’ve fought for . . . .”

It is that simple folks, we need change, and it starts with you and me and PA-08.

[To be fair, Fitzpatrick agreed to donate a fraction of some of the tainted money]

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