Hillary has received $133,246 from private prison lobbyists

[AZ Progressive]

One little-known fact this year is that Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio have benefited from prison lobbyist money. In fact, they've taken almost the same amount of contributions from major prison lobbyists. Clinton's campaign has received $133,246 while Rubio's campaign accepted $133,450 from the prison lobby.

- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/h-a-goodman/marco-rubio-and-hillary-clinton-accepted_b_9191868.html

Yup, Hillary is benefiting from an industry that directly benefits from the War on Drugs' war on poor black people.

[Warren DeMontague]

1. And her pal debbie wasserman schultz keeps doubling down on putting pot smokers in prison.

Yay drug war!

[Fumesucker]

2. I'm close to concluding the black political power structure likes the drug war

It certainly keeps the competition for high ranking positions down when a big percentage of black youth has a criminal record.

Funny thing is I'm convinced the war on guns will do the same thing, throw a lot of young blacks, particularly black men, into prison or the criminal justice system and keep them out of politics.

[mgmaggiemg]

4. so

you are against ending gun violence by the state ...yeah that worked really well for clement pickney (democratic congressmen...killed by state gun violence)didn't it....? yeah way more african americans will go into politics if there is no war on state gun violence...hmmm you want to rethink that?

[Lorien]

6. WTF are you even talking about?

Bernie has a D- rating from the NRA, while Hillary takes huge contributions from arms manufacturers.

[mgmaggiemg]

8. ok rip van winkle...time to wake up

she's been trying to pass gun control since the bc administration...there is an interesting article a few hours ago on cnn about gun control legislation over the last hundred years on cnn tonight...check it out...did not see bernie's face in there anywhere

[beam me up scottie]

10. Hillary? The person Obama called Annie Oakley in 2008? Who touted states rights?

Hillary hits Obama on faith, guns

Yesterday, Clinton hit Obama for calling Pennsylvanians "bitter," ground on which he fairly ably engaged.
Today, she's onto the other half of his San Francisco remarks, in which he linked economic frustration to clinging to religion and guns (the part he sought to walk back this morning in Muncie, Ind.).

"Sen. Obama's remarks are elitist, and they are out of touch," Clinton said. "The people of faith I know don't 'cling to' religion because they're bitter. ... I also disagree with Sen. Obama's assertion that people in this country 'cling to guns' and have certain attitudes about immigration or trade simply out of frustration. People of all walks of life hunt — and they enjoy doing so because it's an important part of their life, not because they are bitter."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/ben-smith/2008/04/hillary-hits-obama-on-faith-guns-007747

Hillary Clinton goes bold on gun safety — but she sounded a different note in 2008

But Clinton hasn’t always been so forceful in her fight for gun control. As the Post highlights, Clinton has dramatically shifted her tone on gun control since the 2008 campaign. While Clinton touted her husband’s record record on gun control (former President Bill Clinton signed into the law an assault weapons ban that has since lapsed) she also heralded personal memories of learning to shoot with her father and defend gun ownership, saying, “there is not a contradiction between protecting Second Amendment rights” and the effort to reduce crime.

You know, my dad took me out behind the cottage that my grandfather built on a little lake called Lake Winola outside of Scranton and taught me how to shoot when I was a little girl,” Clinton said while campaigning ahead of the Indiana primary, where white working class Democrats propelled her to a narrow victory over then-Sen. Barack Obama. “You know, some people now continue to teach their children and their grandchildren. It’s part of culture. It’s part of a way of life. People enjoy hunting and shooting because it’s an important part of who they are. Not because they are bitter,” she continued, in a dig at Obama’s remark at a fundraiser that disenfranchised Americans often “cling” to cultural symbols like guns and religion.

http://www.salon.com/2015/07/10/hillary_clinton_goes_bold_on_gun_safety_but_she_sounded_a_different_note_in_2008/

Clinton's Hunting History

WAUSAU, WIS. -- At a campaign stop this afternoon, Hillary Clinton's focus was on the economy and health care but some in the crowd had other things on their minds. Clinton was asked to discuss gun control which prompted Clinton to talk about her days holding a rifle in the cold, shallow waters in backwoods Arkansas.

"I've hunted. My father taught me how to hunt. I went duck hunting in Arkansas. I remember standing in that cold water, so cold, at first light. I was with a bunch of my friends, all men. The sun's up, the ducks are flying and they are playing a trick on me. They said, 'we're not going to shoot, you shoot.' They wanted to embarrass me. The pressure was on. So I shot, and I shot a banded duck and they were surprised as I was," Clinton said drawing laughter from the crowd.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/clintons-hunting-history/

Let states & cities determine local gun laws

Q: Do you support the DC handgun ban?

A: I want to give local communities the authority over determining how to keep their citizens safe. This case you’re referring to is before the Supreme Court.

Q: But what do you support?

A: I support sensible regulation that is consistent with the constitutional right to own and bear arms.

Q: Is the DC ban consistent with that right?

A: I think a total ban, with no exceptions under any circumstances, might be found by the court not to be. But DC or anybody else [should be able to] come up with sensible regulations to protect their people.

Q: But do you still favor licensing and registration of handguns?

A: What I favor is what works in NY. We have one set of rules in NYC and a totally different set of rules in the rest of the state. What might work in NYC is certainly not going to work in Montana. So, for the federal government to be having any kind of blanket rules that they’re going to try to impose, I think doesn’t make sense.

Source: 2008 Philadelphia primary debate, on eve of PA primary , Apr 16, 2008

http://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Hillary_Clinton_Gun_Control.htm

[mgmaggiemg]

20. well 2008 is certainly not 2016

where she is standing with Gabby Giffords (a victim of gun violence) in the NH primaries...the state that is number one in gun manufacturing having taken the bold step of standing up for gun control....it shows you that people can look at the massive gun violence and decide that something needs to be done...because the FBI due to lack of funding sits on millions and millions of background checks...but because of a loophole info sent into them ....means the gun shop owner can sell that gun to the person who has not really passed a background check...that mean all those gun shops are really straw purchasers selling guns by the millons to people who have not passed a background check...but the FBI doesn't say that and the gun manufacturers don't say that and the gun shop owners don't say that and the politicians who have rolled over for the gun manufactures don't say that....ALL ON A TECHNICALITY because the information is sent in....they say that the person passed a background check....do you know that HRC announced her candidacy on the same day the NRA had their annual conference...and on National tv on the same day during the NRA conference Wayne La Pierre called Giffords and HRC whores and prostitutes...so believe me she is definitely for gun control...if La Pierre a gun nut calls you a prostitute and a whore you are not a friend of the gun rights community....

[beam me up scottie]

25. She's a weathervane, if she gets the nod she'll abandon her gun control platform.

And how is it "bold" to support gun control when every other Democrat also supports it?

If she was such an advocate she wouldn't have smeared Obama on the issue, she took the opposite position because it was politically expedient.

She pandered to the gun crowd then and she will do so again, that's what she's known for.

[mgmaggiemg]

27. you must still be sleepy rvw

you seemed to have missed the part about going into the NH primary..the number one guns and ammo state in the nation....and saying I'm for gun control ...vote for me....Bernie certainly didn't do that...if he had I would have rushed to his defense..believe you me....and Bernie certainly has no problem pandering to the gun manufactures...with good reason...he needs their votes...

[beam me up scottie]

28. Oh please, Bernie's been pro-gun control since the 80's.

Do you have a link to him "pandering" to gun manufacturers?

If he's a pro-NRA/pro-gun industry shill why did the NRA give him a lifetime D- rating?

Sanders voted against the pro-gun-control Brady Bill, writing that he believes states, not the federal government, can handle waiting periods for handguns. In 1994, he voted yes on an assault weapons ban. He has voted to ban some lawsuits against gun manufacturers and for the Manchin-Toomey legislation expanding federal background checks.

http://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Bernie_Sanders_Gun_Control.htm

I want to shield gun shops from lawsuits, not manufacturers

Q: For a decade, you said that holding gun manufacturers legally responsible for mass shootings is a bad idea. Do you want to shield gun companies from lawsuits?

SANDERS: Of course not. This was a large and complicated bill. There were provisions in it that I think made sense. For example, do I think that a gun shop in the state of Vermont that sells legally a gun to somebody, and that somebody goes out and does something crazy, that that gun shop owner should be held responsible? I don't. On the other hand, where you have manufacturers and where you have gun shops knowingly giving guns to criminals or aiding and abetting that, of course we should take action.

Source: 2015 CNN Democratic primary debate in Las Vegas , Oct 13, 2015

http://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Bernie_Sanders_Gun_Control.htm

Bernie Sanders’ critics misfire: The Vermont senator’s gun record is better than it looks

....However, the Nation and the other reports like it don’t shed real light on where Sanders is coming from. They don’t explain why he supports some gun controls but not others. Nor do they ask if there’s a consistency to Sanders’ positions and votes over the years? They simply suggest that Bernie’s position is muddled and makes a good target for Hillary.

Yet there is an explanation. It’s consistent and simpler than many pundits think. And it’s in Bernie’s own words dating back to the campaign where he was first elected to the U.S. House—in 1990—where he was endorsed by the NRA, even after Sanders told them that he would ban assault rifles. That year, Bernie faced Republican incumbent Peter Smith, who beat him by less than 4 percentage points in a three-way race two years before.

In that 1988 race, Bernie told Vermont sportsmen that he backed an assault weapons ban. Smith told the same sportsmen’s groups that he opposed it, but midway through his first term he changed his mind and co-sponsored an assault rifle ban—even bringing an AK-47 to his press conference. That about-face was seen as a betrayal and is the background to a June 1990 debate sponsored by the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs.

I was at that debate with Smith and three other candidates—as the Sanders’ campaign press secretary—and recorded it. Bernie spoke at length three times and much of what he said is relevant today, and anticipates his congressional record on gun control ever since. Look at how Bernie describes what being a sportsperson is in a rural state, where he is quick to draw the line with weapons that threaten police and have no legitimate use in hunting—he previously was mayor of Vermont’s biggest city, and his record of being very clear with the gun lobby and rural people about where he stands. His approach, despite the Nation’s characterization, isn’t “open-minded.”

As you can see, Bernie—who moved to rural northeastern Vermont in the late 1960s—has an appreciation and feeling for where hunting and fishing fit into the lives of lower income rural people. He’s not a hunter or a fisherman. When he grew up in Brooklyn, he was a nerdy jock—being captivated by ideas and a high school miler who hoped for a track scholarship for college. But like many people who settled in Vermont for generations, he was drawn to its freer and greener pastures and respected its local culture.

“I went before the sportsmen of Vermont and said that I have concerns about certain types of assault weapons that have nothing to do with hunting. I believe in hunting. I will not support any legislation that limits the rights of Vermonters or any other hunters to practice what they have enjoyed for decades. I do have concerns about certain types of assault weapons.”

That was not the end of his remarks. But it is worth noting that his separating the rights of traditional hunters from the concerns of police chiefs has been a constant thread in many subsequent votes he would take in Congress. It’s also noteworthy that Bernie consistently has opposed assault weapons from the late 1980s—before he was in Congress—which he reiterated to the moderator.

http://www.salon.com/2015/10/10/what_bernies_gun_control_critics_get_wrong_partner/

Alternet: Bernie's Gun Control Critics Are Wrong—His Stance Has Been Consistent for Decades

Next, the 1990 debate turned to gun control. The moderator, who clearly was a Second Amendment absolutist, went after Bernie—to test his mettle after Smith’s about-face.

“Do you support additional restrictions on firearms? Do you support additional restrictive firearms legislation?” he asked. “Bernie Sanders, explain yourself, yes or no?”

“Yes,” he replied. “Two years ago, I went before the Vermont Sportsman’s Federation and was asked exactly the same question. It was a controversial question. I know how they felt on the issue. And that was before the DiConcini Bill. That was before a lot of discussion about the Brady Bill. That was before New Jersey and California passed bills limiting assault weapons.

“I went before the sportsmen of Vermont and said that I have concerns about certain types of assault weapons that have nothing to do with hunting. I believe in hunting. I will not support any legislation that limits the rights of Vermonters or any other hunters to practice what they have enjoyed for decades. I do have concerns about certain types of assault weapons.”

That was not the end of his remarks. But it is worth noting that his separating the rights of traditional hunters from the concerns of police chiefs has been a constant thread in many subsequent votes he would take in Congress. It’s also noteworthy that Bernie consistently has opposed assault weapons from the late 1980s—before he was in Congress—which he reiterated to the moderator.

“I said that before the election,” he continued. “The Vermont sportspeople, as is their right, made their endorsement. The endorsed Peter Smith. They endorsed Paul Poirier. I lost that election by about three-and-one-half percentage points, a very close election. Was my failure to get that endorsement pivotal? It might have been. We don’t know. Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn’t. All I can say is I told the sportspeople of Vermont what I believe before the election and I am going to say it again.

“I do believe we need to ban certain types of assault weapons. I have taked to police chiefs. I have talked to the police officers out on the street. I have read some of the literature all over this country. Police chiefs, police officers are concerned about the types of weapons which are ending up in the hands of drug dealers and other criminals and our police oficers are getting outgunned.

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/bernies-gun-control-critics-are-wrong-his-stance-has-been-consistent-decades

Sanders Votes for Background Checks, Assault Weapons Ban

WASHINGTON, April 17 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today voted for expanded background checks on gun buyers and for a ban on assault weapons but the Senate rejected those central planks of legislation inspired by the shootings of 20 first-grade students and six teachers in Newtown, Conn.

“Nobody believes that gun control by itself is going to end the horrors we have seen in Newtown, Conn., Aurora, Colo., Blacksburg, Va., Tucson, Ariz. and other American communities,” Sanders said. “There is a growing consensus, however, in Vermont and across America that we have got to do as much as we can to end the cold-blooded, mass murders of innocent people. I believe very strongly that we also have got to address the mental health crisis in our country and make certain that help is available for people who may be a danger to themselves and others,” Sanders added.

The amendment on expanded background checks needed 60 votes to pass but only 54 senators voted for it. “To my mind it makes common sense to keep these weapons out of the hands of people with criminal records or mental health histories,” Sanders said.

Under current federal law, background checks are not performed for tens of thousands of sales – up to 40 percent of all gun transfers – at gun shows or over the Internet. The amendment would have required background checks for all gun sales in commercial settings regardless of whether the seller is a licensed dealer. The compromise proposal would have exempted sales between “family, friends, and neighbors.”

In a separate roll call, the Senate rejected a proposal to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. That proposal was defeated by a vote of 60 to 40.

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-votes-for-background-checks-assault-weapons-ban

Bernie Sanders voted for the 1994 crime bill because it included the Violence against Women Act and assault weapons ban:

In 1994, however, Sanders voted in favor of the final version of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, a bill that expanded the federal death penalty. Sanders had voted for an amendment to the bill that would have replaced all federal death sentences with life in prison. Even though the amendment failed, Sanders still voted for the larger crime bill.

A spokesman for Sanders said he voted for the bill "because it included the Violence Against Women Act and the ban on certain assault weapons."

Sanders reiterated his opposition to capital punishment in 2015. "I just don’t think the state itself, whether it’s the state government or federal government, should be in the business of killing people," he said on a radio show.

http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/sep/02/viral-image/where-do-hillary-clinton-and-bernie-sanders-stand-/

[mgmaggiemg]

31. scottie all you

have to do is look at them sideways and they will give you a lifetime F....vermont is not a gun control state...nh is certainly not a gun control state...bernie has voted multiple times in congress to protect gun manufacturers from law suits...he's a second amendment protector....there is no way he can hide it ...just like his votes show he votes for the Military Industrial Complex....being against the death penalty has nothing to do with gun control...nor does being pro-choice or pro life...unless you are a christian terroist...which we all know bernie is not...and those things have nothing to do with the second amendment...

[Mbrow]

30. Scottie,

Don't even try with this one, 275 post 4 hides. This one seems weird. You know?

[beam me up scottie]

33. Ah, didn't notice that, good point.

I'll just leave those facts and be on my way then, my work here is done.

Thanks!

[CorporatistNation]

39. Hillary Is "FOR" Whatever She Needs To Be Politically.. At Any Given Point In Time!

Simple as THAT! She will tell anybody whatever she thinks they want to hear in order to get a vote! She is TOTALLY WITHOUT PRINCIPLE(S)!

[Lorien]

5. Yep. DWS killed the medical MJ bill here in Florida

because she hated the lawyer who sponsored it for calling her a "bully". So millions suffer because she has a thin skin and her pal wants prison industrial complex $$$$.

[Warren DeMontague]

7. She's a train wreck.

[mhatrw]

15. She killed it because she likes $cripts better. nt

[mgmaggiemg]

3. i am with you

on this one...private prisons should close...

[pnwmom]

9. It's a little known fact because it's a LIE that she has benefited from any private prison

industry money.

Another lie told by this libertarian writer, H.A. Goodman.

Hillary announced in October -- in another piece also reported in the Huffington Post -- that any money that had been donated from the prison industry would be given to charity and no money would be accepted in the future.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-private-prisons_us_562a3e3ee4b0ec0a389418ec


WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton pledged Thursday to ban the use of private prison companies if elected president, and in the meantime will stop accepting campaign contributions from those corporations and the lobbyists who work for them.

All previous donations will be given to charity, the former secretary of state's campaign said.

"Hillary Clinton has said we must end the era of mass incarceration, and as president, she will end private prisons and private immigrant detention centers," campaign spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa said in a statement Thursday night. "She believes that we should not contract out this core responsibility of the federal government, and when we’re dealing with a mass incarceration crisis, we don’t need private industry incentives that may contribute -- or have the appearance of contributing -- to over-incarceration."

[Wilms]

11. I didn't know she turned the money over to charity and is refusing future benefit.

But I did know money WAS coming in from that source as you yourself note.

So thank you for the update, and reconsider use of the word "lie". That is an obfuscation.

[pnwmom]

19. The Huffington Post did -- because it published both pieces. Goodman was lying

because he knew, too.

[oasis]

12. Thanks pnwmom for setting the record straight

[cali]

29. After her hypocrisy was exposed. That's the way to get hill to

do the right thing.

[Enthusiast]

35. Yup!

[beam me up scottie]

14. Once people called her on it, up until then she was happy to keep the money.

There is no lie in the op, she did receive that money.

[mhatrw]

18. Wow! So she promised to away those bribes now that her superpredators are all safely behind bars?

Which charity did she give her private prison bribes to? Lobbyholics Anonymous?

[uponit7771]

38. Good point pnwmom!!!

[NurseJackie]

40. So HA Goodman *LIED* ?? (How Shocking.) :-P

... and it gets repeated? (Not shocking.)


P.S. Thank you!

[mhatrw]

13. Wow! So she got about as much from private prisons as Sanders got for the DSCC?

People who live in Glass–Steagall repeal houses ...

[Feeling the Bern]

16. And Bernie has a black person problem why? The other candidate is supported by people

who want to make the war on drugs harsher and wants the police to keep targeting minorities. The private prisons want stricter laws and harsher sentences so they can keep going to the bank.

How can people support this woman? She is literally becoming GOP lite.

[Hoyt]

17. Private prisons aren't the problem. The problem is laws that fill them with people who don't need or

deserve incarceration.

As far as I'm concerned, let private companies use their money to build prisons that will one day become obsolete. If our courts purposely fill prisons, that's a different problem.

[Warren DeMontague]

24. Incarceration should not be a profit-driven enterprise, sorry.

There are plenty of things that corporations can make money off of in our society, locking people up shouldn't be one of them.

Also, do the math- when a corporation's business model is based upon putting 'customers' in jail, and that corporation is lobbying the government, do you think they're going to lobby for fewer, or more "customers" sent their way?


Yes, we're filling our for-profit prisons with pot smokers, but that's only part of the problem. If these corporations are going to sink all this money into building these things, they're also going to sink money into the campaigns of politicians who will promise to keep sending more pot smokers to prison.

[Hoyt]

41. I think courts incarcerate people. Prisons are just crummy housing for people who belong elsewhere.

[Warren DeMontague]

43. Courts do. Based upon laws which are passed by politicians, which are lobbied by corporations.

Like I said, there are plenty of ways for corporations to make money in our society, locking people up shouldn't be one of them.

And the private prison industry isn't about "building" the prisons- I suspect construction contractors do that- it's about running them and maintaining them. That's why they have names like "Corrections Corporation of America"

It's probably one of the MOST inane and ill-suited notions of "privatization" there is.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

21. Americans more than a thing hate taxes. And that's saying somethimg

How on earth do you elect someone who wants you to pay 60% of your income to the IRS?

Truly. How would that happen?

After briefly perusing some tax statistics in America and England, it became immediately apparent that although a single payer, or universal healthcare system is a dream come true, the cost to the people all but ensures single payer is not in the near future; and no political revolution is going to change that fact.

Americans are not interested in paying significantly higher income taxes to have ‘government-provided’ healthcare.

http://www.politicususa.com/2016/02/10/why-americans-cant-have-universal-healthcare-like-europeans.html

[Wilms]

32. That's essentially a right-wing argument.

And a specious one at that. What else have ya got?

[SleeplessinSoCal]

34. did you read the article?

This is about a uniquely American trait. Democrats just prefer a progressive tax where those with more pay more in taxes. You know - justice.

But we still want to spend our money where we want to spend it. An increase to pay towards education and infrastructure may raise taxes a small percent. What Sanders is talking about is extremely costly and upwards of half your income.

[Wilms]

36. Of course I read it.

Here it is in a nutshell. If my education and healthcare cost are eliminated, and my taxes go up an amount that doesn't exceed what I formally paid for those services, what is the problem?

I'll tell you the problem.

What I wrote above will be true for something like 90% of the population. The remaining ten percent...people making more than $200K or so, would likely see taxes go up.

That is the problem.

[Hoyt]

42. Right wing dumbasses that don't want an education or "government" insurance will gripe about paying

those taxes. And I suspect some Democrats will too. You can explain to them all day long that educating our young people is good for all of us, will probably result in increased tax revenues that pay for it, and a lot happier populace. But dumbasses aren't gonna get it. Then there are those who just don't want to pay for anything that is good for someone else, especially if some of them are minorities.

As far as I'm concerned, they can take my entire income if I get housing, food, musical instruments, insurance, parks, etc. But most people just don't feel that way, or won't get it. Just a fact, not saying they are right.

[Wilms]

44. There's a lot of truth to what you say.

Especially...

Then there are those who just don't want to pay for anything that is good for someone else, especially if some of them are minorities.

And from the many Europeans I've known, I can tell you they gripe about taxes...but when asked about the services they enjoy...or if they'd prefer our system...I've rarely come across any who don't change their tune and mention that their countries approach is a point of pride.

Why is Bernie surging? He polls better than Hillary against Republicans. I think folks have had it with living the way we do...why we do.

[Betty Karlson]

22. But but... it's her turn!

Also 9/11 and a gender. And Sanders never gets anything done.

[eShirl]

23. ugh

That's pretty disgusting.

[billhicks76]

26. They Love It In Florida

The South in general is all about private prisons. It a religious war for them and they exploit it for cash. The definition of treason.

[uponit7771]

37. She makes 15 million a year so that's what .1% of her yearly salary and somehow she's

... so morally bent that the RELATIVE poultry amount of money that's mentioned in the OP is supposed to sway her?

That's how rich the rich like Sanders are, that people who don't see those figures often think its a lot of money

Its not, for the rich

[Warren DeMontague]

45. "relative poultry amount of money"?

maybe she's just chicken to address the underlying issue.

[uponit7771]

46. Yes, for people like Clinton and Sanders its a drop in the bucket

[Warren DeMontague]

47. Thats why he's the colonel.