Via Facebook, we learn that Gil Gutknecht is bringing a guest to Minnesota State University--Mankato on Thursday, October 12:
Event Info Gil Gutknecht/John Boehner Rally!!
Welcoming the House Majority Leader to Southern MN
Host: Jesse Moreno
Time and Place:Thursday, October 12, 2006, 10:00am - 11:30am
MSU Mankato Centennial Student Union, Rooms 253 & 254
City:Mankato, MNDescription:
U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader John Boehner (OH-8) is coming to town to support Our Congressman, Gil Gutknecht. Congressman Boehner has been a leader in the house ever since he was elected to his first term in 1990. His tenure has been marked by his commitment to reform Congress, improve education and support farmers. Join us in welcoming US House Majority Leader Boehner.
Improving education. Hmmmm.
College students should educate themselves about the contributions to Boehner's Freedom Project leadership PAC from for-profit schools and lenders. Forbes reported:
He also wants to force students at traditional universities to fund 10% of their education with money from non-government sources, just as those at for-profits are required to. Such changes would put Corinthian Colleges , Apollo , Career Education and Education Management on a more equal footing with not-for-profit universities.
"He's been a friend," says Bruce Leftwich of the Career College Association, which lobbies for the for-profit schools that primarily teach vocational and technical skills. "He's been an excellent chairman. I'm supportive of him."
Friendship has its rewards. For example, executives of Santa Ana, Calif.-based Corinthian Colleges have donated $34,750 to the Freedom Project, Boehner's political action committee, while Corinthian's own political action committee has given another $5,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
But the Corinthian execs aren't the top contributors to the Freedom Project. That honor belongs to executives of student loan giant Sallie Mae, who have given $122,470. Last month, as part of the budget reconciliation act, Boehner's committee adopted rules to raise student loan limits and set a fixed 6.8% loan rate after years of it being a variable rate pegged to the 90-day T-bill. Critics complained the new rules were a sweetheart deal for the loan companies at the expense of students.
The Washington Post has more in "Controversial Industries Have Backed Boehner":
Two controversial industries -- for-profit colleges and trade schools, and private student lenders -- have been the major sources of financing for Rep. John A. Boehner's bid to become House majority leader. Boehner has been an outspoken advocate for each interest, and has used his chairmanship to push legislation that would boost profits by millions of dollars.
How much money did these industries contribute to help Boehner's bid to become House majority leader? The WaPo reports:
In the most recent election cycle, 2003-2004, the Freedom Project received $572,719 from individuals, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission and analyzed by PoliticalMoneyLine. More than half of that, $292,570, came from employees and lobbyists for private student lending companies and for-profit academic institutions.
Individuals affiliated with the private student-loan industry gave the PAC $220,020, including $52,670 from officers of Sallie Mae. Sallie Mae was established in 1972 as a government-sponsored organization that over the past decade has become privatized, and is now a Fortune 500 company specializing in student loans.
Boehner's PAC received $72,550 in donations from employees and lobbyists from for-profit colleges and trade schools.
The largest single source of money from the for-profits, $17,500, was given by corporate officers and senior employees of California-based Corinthian Colleges Inc., a for-profit educational firm which disclosed eight weeks ago that the Florida attorney general is investigating a Florida subsidiary.
Boehner has sponsored legislation strongly supported by private student lenders to restrict the ability of the U.S. Department of Education to make government student loans less expensive by cutting fees. Student loans constitute a multibillion-dollar market in which the nonprofit government and for-profit private lenders compete.
That information should please the students at Minnesota State University--Mankato. As should the fact that Gil Gutknecht "received $10,724 from House Majority Leader John Boehner's "Freedom Project" PAC," according to the DCCC.
Although you are correct that DCCC reports Gutknecht as having received $10,724 from The Freedom Project, if you trace through to the underlying FEC data, you'll find that the number is out of date. Another $5,000 was contributed in December of 2005, bringing the running total to $15,724. (The $10,724 number reflects two earlier $5,000 donations, plus $724 of in-kind donations.)
Posted by: Max Hailperin | September 27, 2006 at 09:00 AM