How does not voting to support renewable energy legislation help Minnesotans, and why would I want to send someone to Washington who is going to be in big oil’s back pocket?!

Paulsen has to live with his voting record, and that record is certainly not helping my family pay the bills.

1) Madia has received $5,000 from Steny Hoyer’s powerful Leadership PAC, “AmericPAC”. This is not a corporate PAC, but rather an “ideologial” PAC. So Madia can safely claim he has not accepted money from a “corporate” PAC. But who has given to AmeriPAC? A quick scan shows that a DC Lobbyist gave $5,000, an Oklahoma Oil and Gas Investor gave $5,000, a Maryland Govt Contractor Gave $5,000, Lawyers have given at least $50,000…..

2) Madia has received $4,600 from individuals employed at a Northern Virginia firm called Beekman, which from a 20-second Google Search looks like it is a HUD contractor, advisor, and broker of major real estate deals. That $4,600 may not have come from a corporate PAC, but you think those fellas from Northern Virginia are giving out of the goodness of their hearts?

My point is not that Madia is accepting money he shouldn’t — he is playing the game by everyone else. But’s lets not pretend that one candidate is saying “no” to special interests while the other one is not.

We need a good energy policy in this country today, and it isn’t going to happen if we send politicians to Washington who are already beholding to big oil. We already know how they will vote. And we all lose.

I’m sorry, but I don’t see what about that is courageous. You say that you’re not taking money from corporate PACs, but you can still accept from their executives directly, the labor unions who staff those industries, the “partnership” PACs which are company PACs, and other PACs which can collect money from corporationas and their employees, it just isn’t called corporate.

Saying you don’t accept money from corporate PACs, when you are the endorsed Democrat, just ain’t that courageous. Like I said before, if Madia wasn’t accepting money from special interests, I’d sit up and really listen. But low and behold, Madia is collecting plenty of funds from special interests across the nation.

Joe - what if I said that Erik Paulsen doesn’t accept money from Union PACs. Would that be courageous of him? Or would you say that Erik Paulsen probably wasn’t going to rely union Union PAC money anyway, and that members of those Unions could still give the max to Erik if they felt strongly about his views? Same deal.

Get real. Madia’s stand on corporate PAC money is a courageous one. There are plenty of candidates on both sides of the aisle who accept money from such PACs. The problem area for many Democrats in particular is the telecom industry — companies like Verizon and Comcast have plenty of congresscritters of all stripes in their pockets, and it shows on votes like the recent FISA travesty.

Then you have Madia, who doesn’t accept their money and lo and behold! He opposes terrible legislation like that which provided retroactive immunity to those interests before any investigation of their actions. He’s doing well fundraising without their help, and he’ll make a great Congressman come January 2009.

Why don’t we discuss the fact that Paulsen voted against renewable energy? Multiple times?!

Just one more reason to support Ashwin Madia.