Steve King Facts

Fact #1: Don’t take our word for it

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 14:32:00 -0500

For 127 days we have published facts about Steve King and why he isn’t the right choice for Iowa. But don’t take our word for it, here – according to the Sioux City Journal - is what the reaction was when Christie stopped by Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church last night for dinner:

Paul Bindner, of Le Mars, said it was a nice surprise to see her at the church. He said he doesn’t always vote Democrat but cast his ballot for Vilsack because he was tired of King’s politics.

“I think she’d be good in Congress and a good representative. You’ve got to vote for the people, not the party,” he said.

Polls show King and Vilsack in a dead heat, which Gus Scgos, of Sioux City, said made him nervous.

“I would like to see her win, but I don’t know if that will happen. I believe she is a nice person and I like strong people, honest people,” said Scgos.

When George Klimiades, of Whiting, Iowa, shook hands with the candidate, he wished her good luck.

“I haven’t voted yet. I will vote on Tuesday, though, and I’m going to vote for her. I think it would be good for the district to have a change and a new perspective in office,” Klimiades said.

Read the full Sioux City Journal article here

There’s only one day left, but Christie Vilsack has the momentum and the support to win.

Fact #2: Good for a beer, not for Congress

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 10:42:00 -0500

Congressman King might be good for a beer, but he has not been good for Iowa. With two days left until Election Day, the choice is clear who will represent the best interests of Iowa’s 4^th Congressional District. Today, Christie Vilsack was endorsed by the Mason City Globe Gazette, showing that the Vilsack campaign has the momentum.

Here’s what they said about Congressman King’s leadership over the last ten years:

“Steve King seems like a nice fellow. Sitting down with members of the Globe Gazette Editorial Board, he has always been pleasant, engaging and confident — the kind of guy it might be fun to have a beer with and watch a football game.

We’ve been less impressed by the Steve King we see in office, and by his decisions to stake out positions at the extremes of issues. He seems to take pleasure in making remarks that cause jaws to drop and draw unflattering attention to the state.

Now that an election is near, King may claim that he is often misquoted or taken out of context, but all it takes is a search for “Steve King Iowa” on YouTube or Google to find first-hand examples of his thoughts on immigration, President Obama, torture, disaster relief, abortion, global warming, the treatment of animals, death panels and more that seem designed to position King in some widely right radio-talk-show-based faction of his party.”

Read the rest of the endorsement here

Fact #3: King needs one more hour

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 21:21:00 -0400

Here’s what Congressman King told supporters in Sioux City tonight: “There are a whole lot of people who want to say the things that I say, but they are afraid. We’re going to give them courage on Tuesday night.”

We’re glad daylight savings time ends tonight, because Congressman King will need one more hour to explain his statements over the years and convince Iowans that these are things they want to say.

Here, courtesy of Doug Burns’ column for the Daily Times Herald, are some of the statements that Congressman King will need more than an hour to explain to voters. These extreme positions aren’t reflective of Iowa values and not the kind of representation Iowa deserves.

1. He idolizes Joe McCarthy

In the fall of 2005, King referred to widely disgraced red-baiter U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy as a “hero for America” and continues to defend the statement.

Joseph McCarthy is the political leader who cried wolf in the 1950s and nearly cost us the Cold War. He’s the inspiration for much of the movie “The Manchurian Candidate,” for heaven’s sake.

Most Americans see footage of the McCarthy hearings or remember the era and shudder at the thought of what the censured senator represented.

Not King. He sees a role model, a political jukebox hero.

“It’s extraordinarily bad judgment or he’s historically illiterate,” Art Neu, a Carroll attorney and former Republican lieutenant governor, said of King’s 50-year retroactive McCarthy endorsement.

2. King makes fun of an old lady

In 2006, King suggested that iconic journalist Helen Thomas, then 85 years old, was ugly in a joke about radical Islam’s belief that martyrs will be rewarded with virgins in the afterlife.

“There probably are not 72 virgins in the hell he (Abu Musab al-Zarqawi) is at,” King said at the Iowa GOP State Convention. “And if there are, they probably all look like Helen Thomas.”

3. King likens illegal immigrants to animals

In July 2006 King went to the House floor to display the model of a wall the Kiron Republican said he personally designed for the U.S. border with Mexico.

“We need to do a few other things on top of that wall, and one of them being to put a little bit of wire on top here to provide a disincentive for people to climb over the top or put a ladder there.” King said in explaining his design. “We could also electrify this wire with the kind of current that would not kill somebody, but it would be a discouragement for them to be fooling around with it. We do that with livestock all the time.”

4. King compares homosexuals to unicorns and leprechauns

In a Dec. 12, 2003, news release about Sioux City Judge Jeffrey Neary’s decision to grant two lesbians a divorce King said the following: “Unless I am mistaken it was in Vermont, not Iowa, that Howard ‘The Coward’ Dean slyly signed midnight legislation making same sex unions legal. Unicorns, leprechauns, gay marriages in Iowa — these are all things you will never find because they just don’t exist. But perhaps Judge Neary would grant divorces to unicorns and leprechauns, too.’”

5. The “Big, powerful, angry, black man” remark

Because of his concerns about the impact of war protests in America, King went to get a firsthand view of the anti-war demonstrations and speeches in Washington, D.C., just after the war in Iraq started in 2003.

The congressman spent about 90 minutes among war protesters around the Washington Monument and other places in the nation’s capital. One episode stood out to King, and he described it to me during an interview.

“I saw a big, powerful, angry, black man come up to the flag, the flags that were held along the streets by the ‘Support Our Troops’ people, and he was just screaming, ‘Burn that racist flag! Burn that racist flag!’” King said.

6. Congressman claims John Kerry would have lost World War II

In the summer of 2004, King issued a statement about the just-dedicated World War II memorial in Washington, saying, “Can you imagine if John Kerry had been president during WWII? We’d all be speaking Japanese and German right now!”

It would have been interesting to hear King say that at the dedication of our Veterans Memorial monument here in Carroll. Would you be OK with politicizing such an event?

7. King defends “hazing” at Abu Ghraib

“The dismembered and charred corpses of American contractors dangling over the Euphrates River in comparison to the abuse committed by a few soldiers at Abu Ghraib are like the crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer compared to those of Heidi Fleiss,” King said in a statement. “What amounts to hazing is not even in the same ballpark as mass murder.”

8. King says Iraq is safer than Washington, D.C.

In the summer of 2006, on the floor of the U.S. House, King says it’s more perilous for civilians in Washington, D.C., than Iraq.

9. King endorses back-seat babymaking

When discussing potential solutions to concerns about Iowa’s population during a Carroll Rotary Club meeting, King singled out Singapore’s plan to increase pregnancies, which he said included the injunction, “put newspapers in your car (windows) to get more privacy.” Added King, “I remember those things when I read them. They kind of stand out in my mind.”

10. King defends the widow penalty

King uses a preposterous hypothetical that characterizes our servicemen as booze-hounds prone to one-night stands and black-out drunk marriages. “A soldier, man or woman, could get drunk in Bangkok, wake up in the morning and be married, as will happen sometimes in places like Las Vegas or Bangkok, be killed the next day, and the spouse who was a product of the evening’s celebration would have then a right to claim access to come to the United States on a green card,” King said during debate on the widow penalty, according to The Des Moines Register.

Read the full column online here

Bonus Fact: More reaction to King’s hurricane relief comments

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 12:03:00 -0400

Here’s the latest reaction from New Jersey to Congressman King’s comments that he would oppose hurricane relief funds because he thinks they would go to “Gucci bags and massage parlors.” This is what U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell said yesterday:

“People are hurting and Steve King wants to turn his back on these very taxpayers when they need our assistance most. I will fight for each and every person in New Jersey impacted by these horrible events, and I condemn Steve King and those like him who would dare imply they won’t be fighting right there with me.”

King’s comments were also highlighted on last night’s episode of Hardball:

Once again, Congressman King rhetoric isn’t reflective of Iowa and it’s preventing him from being an effective voice in Congress.

Fact #4: Getting desperate

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 09:58:53 -0400

With the polls tied and Congressman King once again under fire for outrageous comments, it’s no surprise that Congressman King is getting desperate in the final days of this campaign. Unfortunately, his absurd claims are just the latest example of why he’s not able to be a strong voice for the 4^th District.

In Mason City yesterday, King told the audience, “I’m not convinced Christie Vilsack has moved to Ames,” a false and misleading statement that shows King is getting desperate in the final days.

While Christie Vilsack is traveling across the District discussing her plans to create economic opportunity and rebuild the middle class, Congressman King is resorting to attacks.

Fact #5: New Jersey lawmaker responds to “Gucci bags and massage parlors” comment

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 18:26:01 -0400

Congressman King is once again in the national news for his outrageous statement that hurricane relief funds may go to “Gucci bags and massage parlors.” What do New Jersey lawmakers think of such extreme rhetoric? The Huffington Post reports on New Jersey Assemblywoman Connie Wagner’s reaction:

“One of the first thoughts that came to my mind was ‘well then we won’t help Iowa either!’” Wagner said in an email to HuffPost. “Iowa has floods, tornadoes, and drought, all these disasters are aided by the federal government on a more regular basis than hurricanes in New Jersey. But no Mr. King, these are the United States and it is our job to help each other when faced with devastating natural events.”

“Your views are so out of step with what our country should be doing I can’t believe you were elected once let alone are able to run for re-election,” she added.

She concluded that “for Iowa’s sake” she hopes Vilsack will win the election last week.

Once again it’s clear that Congressman King’s extreme rhetoric is reflecting poorly on Iowa and is not in line with the values we share. In less than a week, Iowans will have a chance to elect someone who will be a strong voice for them, not a liability.

Fact #6: Former Republican Lt. Governor Art Neu on Steve King

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:43:00 -0400

In today’s Des Moines Register, Rekha Basu writes on why Iowans should support Christie Vilsack, including what Vilsack supporter and former Republican Lt. Governor Art Neu has to say about King:

Attorney Art Neu of Carroll served as Iowa’s Republican lieutenant governor from 1973 to 1979. He calls King “a decent man” personally, intelligent and courteous. He has friends who are voting for King, but Neu doesn’t think King has served residents, saying, “He has concentrated more on carrying some conservative message to those beyond the district.”

When asked to help secure federal funding for a project, for example, King is known to say his Republican caucus took a position against earmarks, Neu says. But most disturbing for Neu is what he calls “the vitriol” coming from the congressman. Neu keeps a file. It includes these highlights, from his own notes and newspaper clippings:

King once declared at a meeting of the Greater Des Moines Partnership that Iowa needs to boost its fertility rate to increase workers. When Neu asked him how to do that, King said that in Singapore people cover their car windows with newspaper to block out what’s going on inside.

“That we took to mean they produce babies in their cars,” Neu said.

Read the full column online here.

Congressman King’s extreme rhetoric is not serving his constituents well. The 4^th District deserves someone who will be committed to their needs and who will be a strong advocate for them in Washington. Congressman King has not done that.

Fact #7: We hope he’s willing to do more

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 18:48:50 -0400

We hope Congressman King will do more for the victims of the current horrible disaster than he was willing to do for victims of Hurricane Katrina. They will need our support in the coming days as they begin to rebuild and recover.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all those impacted by the storm.

Fact #8: Contraception position becomes clearer

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 17:36:00 -0400

Just over a week since King stated “I’ve not taken a position on the sale of contraception at all,” it appears that his position is coming into focus. The Huffington Post reports this afternoon on comments King made last week while visiting Ames High School:

The landmark 1965 Supreme Court decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, which prevents states from criminalizing contraception, was “written on weak grounds,” Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) told a group of high school students last week.

Prior to 1965, Connecticut law stated that married women who used “any drug, medicinal article or instrument for the purposes of preventing conception” could be fined and imprisoned. The Griswold decision struck down that law, citing a constitutional “right to marital privacy,” and prevented other states from banning contraception.

King told students that he disagrees with the Supreme Court’s ruling on that case because he believes the “right to privacy” is actually not protected in the Constitution.

“So the Supreme Court found that there is a right to privacy in the shadows of the Constitution that no one had discovered before that had sat on the bench, so they created this contrived legal argument that produced legalization of abortion on demand, without restraint,” King told the students at Ames High School on Wednesday.

Read more…

Congressman King appears to have growing doubts about the legality of contraception, but still refuses to give voters a straight answer. With only days left before Election Day, he needs to be honest about whether or not be thinks contraception should be legal.

Fact #9: FreedomWorks too busy trying to save Steve King to do a spell check

Sun, 28 Oct 2012 21:21:05 -0400

FreedomWorks, the Tea Party special interest group funded by big corporations, is getting ready to attack Christie Vilsack. But, in their rush to save Steve King’s flagging campaign and a vote for their anti-middle class agenda, FreedomWorks can’t even spell Christie Vilsack’s name right or check their facts.

The group is set to launch ConArtistChristie.com and an accompanying ad. The ad, and their website repeatedly spell Vilsack as “Villsack” and the Facebook page they’ve created spells Christie as “Christy.”

Here are the screenshots to prove it:

From their Facebook page:

From their website:

From their ad:

Then, there’s the more troubling issue of their facts. They say an ad from Christie’s campaign was called the “Lie of the Year” by Politifact. In fact, Politifact has never made a rating on any statement made by Christie Vilsack or her campaign. (Incidentally, they have rated Congressman King and he currently has a 100 percent “Pants on Fire” rating.)

They also claim Christie Vilsack has no plan for jobs. The reality: Christie has spent more than a year laying out her ideas for creating economic opportunity and rebuilding the middle class.

What this absurd attack by FreedomWorks – or maybe we should call them FridumWerks - really shows is that Congressman King is in trouble. Polls show the race is a dead-heat and he remains unable to produce a record of accomplishments or a vision for Iowa’s future. His special interest supporters are scrambling, but coming up short once again.

Fact #11: Karl Rove isn’t very creative

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 15:23:00 -0400

Karl Rove’s super PAC – Crossroads GPS – is now on the air with a baseless attack ad against Christie Vilsack. Rove and his anonymous donors are so quick to try and protect a vote for their agenda in Washington that they didn’t even take the time to look at the facts or Christie’s plan, they only looked at Congressman King’s consistent record of putting a national agenda ahead of what’s best for his constituents in Iowa.

This election is about which candidate has the best vision and best ideas for growing economic opportunity and rebuilding the middle class. It’s not about a national agenda and anonymous money flooding the airwaves.

In fact, Karl Rove wasn’t even creative enough to make a new ad. He’s using his anonymous cash to run the exact same ad in districts across the country. Iowans see through this tactic and Congressman King’s record in Washington.

http://DoesSteveKingThinkContraceptivesShouldBeLegal.com

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 12:46:00 -0400

http://DoesSteveKingThinkContraceptivesShouldBeLegal.com:

Fact #12: Should contraception be legal?

With voting already underway and Election Day in just 12 days, Congressman King needs to answer the question.

Fact #13: Should contraception be legal?

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 11:26:01 -0400

“I’ve not taken a position on the sale of contraception at all” – Rep. Steve King

Here’s the video to prove it:

With voting already underway and Election Day in just 13 days, Congressman King needs to answer the question.

Fact #14: Should contraception be legal?

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:31:00 -0400

“I’ve not taken a position on the sale of contraception at all” – Rep. Steve King

Here’s the video to prove it:

With voting already underway and Election Day in just 14 days, Congressman King needs to answer the question.

Fact #15: Should contraception be legal?

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 12:04:35 -0400

Steve King won’t say whether contraception should be legal.

Here’s the video to prove it:

With voting already underway and Election Day in just 15 days, Congressman King needs to answer the question.

Fact #16: "I've not taken a position on the sale of contraceptives at all"

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 14:22:00 -0400

On a special edition of WHO-TV’s Insiders, Congressman King made a shocking announcement about whether he believes contraceptives should be legal in this country. His answer: “I’ve not taken a position on the sale of contraceptives at all.”

King was also asked to explain some of his other outrageous statements. During the interview, King continued to defend his comparison of immigrants to dogs, saying “it was a compliment.” He was also asked to defend his statements questioning whether President Obama was born in America, saying, “I don’t know where he was born, but I don’t see the indication that he was born anywhere else.” King also doubled down on criticism of Huma Abedin and defended his assertion that she has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, saying, “If you look at her family connections and family orientation, I think it’s very clear.”

All of these statements were made in just a four-minute segment, which is available online here:

Congressman King has once again shown that he is not fit to represent the 4^th District. His refusal to take any position at all on contraception should raise serious doubts among voters who, regardless of party, believe families should have access to contraception and have the ability to plan their families.

Fact #17: Replace Medicare?

Sat, 20 Oct 2012 14:17:00 -0400

Congressman King’s record on Medicare is nothing to be proud of. He voted for the Ryan Budget, which would turn Medicare into a voucher program and force recipients to pay $6,400 more out-of-pocket. He would also repeal the provision in the Affordable Care Act that is closing the doughnut hole in Medicare Part D.

But, according to his statements in his last debate with Christie Vilsack, he seems to want to go even further. During the debate in Sioux City, King described his “dream bill” as one that would allow people to “purchase a Medicare replacement policy.”

Here’s his full quote:

“And this is my dream bill. I would turn health savings accounts into life management accounts so that young people could plan for their retirement, by saving for their health savings account and when they arrive at Medicare eligibility age, they would have enough money in there to purchase a Medicare replacement policy”

How extreme is this position? Here’s what the Carroll Daily Times Herald reported following the debate:

Patrick McKinley, chairman of the Political Science and History Department at Morningside College, said King’s proposal goes beyond what many high-profile conservatives advocate.

“Medicare even as a voucher would not be there,” McKinley said. “It is primarily you saving for yourself. So that’s even more radical than the Ryan plan.”

Does Steve King want to replace Medicare? As someone running in a district with a large senior population, it’s a question worth asking.

Bonus Fact: Santorum visit raises Akin question… again

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 17:07:00 -0400

What do Congressman King and Rick Santorum have in common, aside from the fact that they’ll be together in Ames tonight? They’re among the few Republicans standing up for Congressman Todd Akin. But where does King stand on Akin’s campaign for Senate? He has been quiet on the issue since claiming criticism of Akin was simply “petty, personal attacks” and that he had never heard of a victim of statutory rape or incest becoming pregnant.

Santorum hasn’t been as quiet. He enthusiastically endorsed Akin, releasing a joint statement with Sen. Jim DeMint, saying “We support Todd Akin and hope freedom-loving Americans in Missouri and around the country will join us so we can save our country from fiscal collapse.”

Congressman King’s major donors haven’t been so quiet either. The Eagle Forum, who’s PAC has given $32,000 to King, has made defending Akin a priority, asking for donations and volunteers to help send Akin to the Senate. The Family Research Council, who has given King $15,000, also was quick to come to Akin’s defense, saying this was “a case of gotcha politics.”

So where exactly does Congressman King stand on Akin? Does he stand with the long list of Republicans who felt Akin should step down, or does he stand with Rick Santorum and the special interests funding him?

Fact #18: ISU economists expose King’s debt plan

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 12:25:00 -0400

Since Congressman King took office, our nation’s debt has increase from $6 trillion to more than $16 trillion. Along the way, he has voted to add to the deficit by supporting two unfunded wars, an unfunded prescription drug benefit, and unfunded tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.

While he says the solution is a balanced budget amendment, today the Ames Tribune reports that economists doubt King’s plan would work and are critical of the lack of specifics proposed:

Two Iowa State University economists have been dismissive of King’s plan.

“It’s more of a political statement than an economic statement,” professor Juan Cordoba said. “I suspect that people who stick to any number are doing it for very dogmatic reasons.”

Cordoba thinks the analysis is backwards and the budget should be analyzed to determine the appropriate level of spending rather than picking a number and then cutting to match it.

“If you’re an economist, you stick to the math; if you’re a politician, you stick to a number,” Cordoba said.

King’s plan does not list details of what he would cut and what he would keep, and Cordoba said those details need to be revealed before the 18 percent figure can be evaluated.

Peter Orazem, an ISU economics professor and member of the Ames City Council, said King’s plan would dramatically shrink the size of government, and would likely hurt the economy in the short run.

“One has to ask what they’re not going to do,” Orazem said. “If they’re going to maintain Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security and defense, well, there’s precious little else.”

The ISU economists also suggest King’s plan would hurt the economy in the short-term:

“There were a lot of things that we now take for granted that we didn’t have in the 1930s. Well, we could go back to that,” he said. “People want their (benefits), but they’re willing to give up somebody else’s. You know: don’t tax you, don’t tax me, tax the guy behind the tree.”

Orazem thinks the economy would survive such a contraction in the long run, but in the “short run, it’s like throwing away a couple percentage points of Gross Domestic Product.”

That could touch off a vicious cycle where spending cuts designed to balance the budget hurt the economy thereby reducing tax revenue and increasing the demand for government programs.

Fact #19: Try to follow Steve King’s logic on this one

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 14:45:16 -0400

King has never been known as a moderate or a consensus builder. After all, he openly admits that his goal is to move the nation to the right. This is also the Congressman who, after health care reform passed, told a rally “Let’s beat that other side to a pulp. Let’s chase them down. There’s going to be a reckoning!”

Given that, see if you can follow his logic in an interview posted online with KCIM in Carroll, IA. In the interview he blames partisanship in Congress on the fact that Democrats were voted out for supporting the Affordable Care Act, and tries to present himself as a moderate voice in Washington:

“There used to be, and maybe slightly still is, the Blue Dog Democrats. There were 53 of them two years ago today, and they were the moderate Democrats you could do business with and you could go over there and count some votes, they’d come over to our side and sometimes they’d side with the other side. But, you could do business with them. They didn’t want to just tax and spend. They wanted to tax and reduce spending, and that was okay, I can do business with people like that. But, about 25 of them were defeated in the last election because they voted for Obamacare. And so now, the Blue Dogs are essentially gone as an organization and Congress had gotten more polarized because of that. Now you have, what’s left of Democrats, are more likely to be hardcore, left-wing liberals than they are to be moderate Democrats.” [KCIM Radio, 10/18/12]

Congressman King is not willing to work in a bipartisan fashion. It’s no surprise he’s trying to reinvent himself in the face of a tied race, but Iowans aren’t going to buy it.