Tag Archives: 60 Plus Association

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): another astroturf award

27 Wednesday Jun 2018

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Old friends from Vicky Hartzler’s 2010 campaign against Ike Skelton (D).

Astroturf refers to apparently grassroots-based citizen groups or coalitions that are primarily conceived, created and/or funded by corporations, industry trade associations, political interests or public relations firms.

That’s them, fake grassroots.

Today, via Twitter, from Representative Vicky Hartzler (r):

Rep. Vicky Hartzler @RepHartzler
Honored to receive the Guardian of Senior’s Rights award from the @60PlusAssoc today! I am grateful to have the opportunity to advocate for the senior citizens of #MO4.
1:48 PM – 27 Jun 2018

It appears that the “60 Plus Association” went through some reported board turmoil. They operated as a 501(c)(4).

Lawsuit Isn’t First Time 60 Plus Association Has Been Accused of Lying to the IRS
By Matt Corley
March 11, 2016
The 60 Plus Association, the seniors-focused conservative nonprofit that has spent millions on influencing elections, is in disarray. Last month, four of the group’s board members, including founder and longtime chairman Jim Martin, filed a lawsuit against another set of board members that includes 60 Plus’s president…

There is a 60 Plus Foundation.

The 60 Plus Foundation has a bare bones web site:

[….]The 60 Plus Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3)* non-partisan educational organization formed to identify these problems and needs, and to seek alternative solutions developed through the private sector, financed through the free enterprise system, which enhance the quality of life, dignity, and security of American senior citizens. The Foundation brings together segments of the public, representatives of civic institutions, leaders in private enterprise, and specialists in educational disciplines to restore the vigor, intentions and beliefs of our founding fathers, as those intentions and beliefs relate to senior issues. We work to rekindle a nation and a culture that assists, supports, and provides opportunities to its senior citizens, while respecting the Constitutional right of every citizen to live in dignity and thrive in a democratic society, free from government reliance.

Director and President: James L Martin
[….]

Jim Martin and James Martin. They’ve got to be the same person, right?

Apparently the “new” 60 Plus Foundation has applied to be a 501(c)(3).

We can probably guess that “free from government reliance” means they’ll gut Social Security and Medicare and then privatize them.

We’re not sure if it’s the same organization in the tweet or how that translates into Vicky Hartzler being an “advocate for the senior citizens of #MO4.”

Note the 60 Plus Association in the 2012 right wingnut funding maze:

The Koch network was one of the biggest political operations in 2012 and worked largely outside the campaign finance system, raising at least $407 million. Source: Robert Maguire with the Center for Responsive Politics.

Isn’t that special?

Previously:

60 Plus Association – rightwing campaign mail: fear as a tool (September 25, 2010)

60 Plus Association – rightwing campaign mail: fear as a tool, part 2 (October 9, 2010)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): that’s a particularly nebulous group of astroturf friends you’ve got there (August 27, 2012)

A tale of two politicians

25 Monday Oct 2010

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I received two e-mails that epitomize the difference between Russ Carnahan and Ed Martin.

The first was a press release from Carnahan’s office:

Yet another Social Security privatization group is lining up behind Ed Martin in thanks for his support to eliminate this critical safety net for Missouri seniors.  The 60 Plus Association, a national group known for promoting risky Social Security privatization schemes, has just begun spending significant campaign cash to elect a sure vote for their extreme agenda: Ed Martin.

You can bet your booty that Russ Carnahan won’t abandon Social Security. He’s the other kind of politician, the kind who will actually work to protect us–who will, for example, take time out from fending off Ed Martin’s lunacy to deal with an environmental issue that concerns the drinking water of hundreds of thousands of St. Louisans. He has jumped into the fray about West Lake Landfill.

The backstory on that landfill is that Kay Drey, who has been an activist about nuclear waste issues for decades, has, for two and a half years now, been kicking up a fuss over the decision by Region 7 of the EPA in Kansas City. The last director there ruled that it would be sufficient to cover up–oh, pardon me, I meant to say cover over a landfill site full of extremely hot radiation.

I don’t know strontium this from thorium that from polonium the other. But people who do, tell me that the nuclear waste that Mallinckrodt Chemical Works illegally dumped at the West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton in 1973 is the kind you don’t want to put on a floodplain. Eight miles upstream from the water treatment plant for all of North St. Louis County. With no liner or cap. And a levee that’s no higher than the one that the flood of ’93 breached in Chesterfield.

Rea Beck, working with Drey, tells me that:

Mayors of nearby cities and the St. Louis County Council have urged the original decision be overturned and a better solution be found. The Missouri Division of Natural Resources Director, Mark Templeton, weighed in with Region 7 (which has a new Director) and asked them to reconsider the original decision. So far, except for the reconsideration, no action has been accomplished. I recently talked with Rep. Russ Carnahan and he has graciously sent the following letter to the EPA in Washington DC.

The Honorable Lisa Jackson

Administrator

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Ariel Rios Building

1200 Pennsylvania Ave N.W.

Washington,D.C.2001

Oct.8th,2010

Dear Administrator,

I’m writing to discuss the radiologically contaminated West Lake Landfill Site,Operable Unit 1, located in Bridgeton,Mo.(CERCLIS ID Number: MODO79900932). As you know,this landfill became RADIOLOGICALLY CONTAMINATED IN 1973 WHEN SOILS MIXED WITH URANIUM ORE PROCESSING were USED AS DAILY cover in a Landfilling operation. While this Landfill is not in my District,it does sit on the Eastern edge of the Missouri River flood plain and could potentially affect my District and the drinking water of St.Louis area residents.

While I understand a Record of decision for Operable Unit 1 was signed in May 2008, I would like to ask for answers to the following questions,

1. The selected remedy calls for installation of an engendered landfill cover and implementation of a long term monitoring program. In light of the location being in the Missouri River floodplain, what effect would a levee failure have on this location?

2. The Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) has cleaned up a number of radiologically contaminated locations in the area. What reasons does EPA have for not transferring control of this site from the EPA to the Corps in order to remediate the contaminated waste?

3. Does EPA consider consider this location to be permanent or temporary storage for this radioactive waste?

4. Even if there is a cap to stop water from entering the fill, what is there to stop the radioactive particulate from seeping into groundwater, given that there is no protective layering below the fill?

Thank you for your attention to this important matter . Should you have any questions,please do not hesitate to contact me directly or Ken Reidy at (202)-225-2671 or Ken.reidy@mail.house.gov.

Sincerely

Russ Carnahan

Member of Congress

“Member of Congress” indeed. Someone who will ask those pertinent questions, that’s the kind of person we need as a member of Congress. Can you even imagine Ed Martin caring about something like safe drinking water? He’d find a way to turn such concern into a socialist plot.