The King Files
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King's Record Hill Project is under investigation The Maine Wire breaks the story:
Investigators contacted King’s wind company days before report released
"While U.S. Senate candidate Angus King was busy discussing the ethical benefits of selling his company, behind the scenes Independence Wind was becoming part of a congressional probe into inappropriate federal loan guarantees.Despite an increasingly tangled timeline, the former governor’s campaign maintains he had no knowledge of the probe."
http://www.themainewire.com/2012/03/investigators-contacted-king-wind-co...
Meanwhile, The King is "not pleased" with the Twitter parody of his campaign, and moved to quash the account this past weekend. The parody is back up and running., under a new name.
It appears that like Eliot Cutler, King is simply "not ready for prime time."
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Updated: 1:49 AM
Twitter parody of candidate King gets suspended, then resurrected
The author says it's just humor, not an attempt to influence the election.
By David Hench dhench@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer
.... Twitter account that poked fun at .... Angus King... was suspended Sunday night after King's campaign complained that tweets from King_Angus could mislead people.
By Monday morning, King_Angus_II....resuming the unflattering commentary -- and adding accusations of an assault on free speech. It also was seeking more followers than the King campaign's own Twitter account.... which also was launched Monday morning.
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If King is too thin-skinned to handle a mostly benign Twitter parody, how is he going to cope with the real brouhaha in DC?
The truth is he cannot! While as gov. it was a little easier to hide the fact is , it is not something he is used to !
Let's us face it there is a lot more to get touchy about now than when he was the darling of the Birkenstock crowd years ago.
Angus King was and always has been 'a member of the elite/birkenstock crowd:
....Angus King, who would serve as Maine's governor in 1994, got his start in Maine politics as a lobbyist for the NRCM and other environmental groups in the mid-1970s."
See story here:.
"Green Greatness"
http://www.nrcm.org/news_detail.asp?news=3104
Note that the MTM has not carried or covered the story of the Congressional investigation?
Maine candidates share opinions
Morning Sentinel Staff
3/27/11
Angus King: "I support the Affordable Care Act -- many of its provisions have been law in Maine for 20 years -- and I am hoping that the constitutionality will be upheld."
http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/maine-candidates-share-opinions_2012-...
Let him run. If we can come up with a good candidate, and the Dems run, we'll have it locked up.
So far we have a clear idea of King's position on the following:
Obamacare = 100% yes
Environmental policies = 100% for all left wing policies
Spending = 100% liberal spending, taxes and debt. Thinks Regan was a idiot and the Republican policies are nuts.
Moderate policies = none
Conservative policies =none
OK US Grant, it is clear that you are not among the King supporters, and I guess it is nice that AMG provides a place for you to present chapter and verse of why Angus is bad, but what is the point of such rants here on AMG. It is not as if the majority of us on AMG are even considering casting a vote for him, your arguments are not going to be cited by PPH, BDN or anyone else as the reason to stay away from Angus, so what is it you are trying to achieve here with your multi-thread postings?
Perhaps you could provide something more interesting like who in the R party could/should rise up and take him down. Thus far, I do not see that person emerging from the current field, though it is early, your posts seem to reflect un underlying sense of dread for the inevitable: Angus smoking the competition. If not, who is it going to be? Who do you want it to be?
Kenny B. Your post is...interesting, but the relevant point is there is no other place that anyone is posting what is and will be posted here. Take for instance the fact that no one in the Maine Media has picked up the story about Angus King lying about the fact he knew his firm is the subject of a Congressional Investigation before he 'resigned' from Independence Wind.
And Kenny, though you are right about AMGr's the press who visits AMG regularily does read what goes on here.
Who would I like to challenge The King--Anyone--anyone at all.
BREAKING: Pingree helped King get $102 million Federal loan guarantee
The Maine Wire
March 30, 2012
.... Maine Wire ...obtained a letter sent from...Pingree...to the Department of Energy in support of...King’s Record Hill Wind project. ...named ...in...report from...House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform......companies that received federal loan guarantees under questionable circumstances. King’s company received a $102 million government loan guarantee, despite having more than sufficient cash on hand for the project, as well as the backing from the $8 billion Yale Endowment.
Maine Wire for the letter and other information.
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King's campaign claimed he knew nothing about the investigation.
It pays to have friends who are married/own people in high places.
King Defends Wind Project:
The Portlant Press Herald finally got on the story that was opened here and on The Maine Wire
Here is the link:
http://www.pressherald.com/news/wind-farm-loan-wasnt-a-mistake-king-says...
Gotta love the spin:
"...Independent U.S. Senate candidate Angus King is defending his former wind energy company against Republicans who say it shouldn't have benefited from a federal loan guarantee program that critics contend is investing billions of taxpayer dollars on risky projects.
House Republicans say Record Hill in Roxbury, and 26 other alternative energy projects receiving help from the Department of Energy, are at risk of failing."
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has 18 Democrats and 22 Republicans on it.
http://oversight.house.gov/committee-members/
And the PPH did not put a link to the original study in their story. AMG doing their work again...
http://oversight.house.gov/report/the-department-of-energys-disastrous-m...
Reference to King's project begins on page 63.
The Maine Wire's follow-up piece on PPH story over the weekend:
"The MST’s piece was basically a one-sided apology...
The Maine Wire also broke the news on Friday that Congresswoman Chellie Pingree helped King get his $102 million loan guarantee by writing a letter of support to the Department of Energy. This is significant for several reasons:
• Chellie Pingree is a close personal friend of Angus King. Now it appears Pingree is supporting King’s professional efforts as well.
• King’s Record Hill Wind project is not even in Pingree’s district. Pingree urged support for a project for a personal friend outside of her district, and Mike Michaud, the congressman who actually represents the town of Roxbury, did not.
http://www.themainewire.com/2012/04/main-stream-media-picks-angus-king-w...
http://www.mainegop.com/2012/04/questions-the-media-should-be-asking-ang...
April 2, 2012
AUGUSTA, ME – Angus King’s wind farm dealings are now the subject of a congressional investigation. King has answered some questions from the press, but there’s a lot he still needs to explain.
Here are some questions the media should ask Angus King:
- Why did King’s close personal friend, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, write a letter of support to the Department of Energy for the $102 million loan guarantee, when the project wasn’t even in her district? (Congressman Michaud, who represents the project site, did not write a letter of support for the project.)
- King’s Record Hill Wind project received a $102 million government-backed loan. How much of that government-backed money did King receive when he sold his stake in the company just before the congressional report was released? (King has thus far refused to release details of the sale.)
- The Congressional Oversight Committee has shown that King applied for an ‘innovative technology’ grant, but the technology he used for the project was clearly not ‘innovative’. How does Angus King explain his company’s efforts to secure the loan under false pretenses?
King’s company was told on March 14 that it was under congressional investigation. King sold his stake in the company on March 19. King’s campaign has said he was unaware of the investigation when he sold his stake in the company. It strains credibility to think King sold his half of a hundred-million dollar company without knowing about the investigation. But Angus King continues to bank on the reality that the press won’t ask the tough questions.
It’s time for the press to hold Angus King to the same standard as other political figures.
Thank you, US Grant.
An objective individual, an Maine voter, would begin to notice a pattern of misrepresentation.
Angus King's words and his actions, especially since he has left office show different things.
He strongly advocates for the protection of Maine's "Quality of Place" in 2006 and 2007, but by early 2009 he is proposing projects that will destroy that very same beauty.
He then goes around advocating that Maine is "the Saudi Arabia of Wind" and that "wind power will get us off oil", when he knows that we do not use oil to make electricity.
He knows that natural gas is our primary source for electricity, and that "if the price is below $6 per MCF that makes wind power unprofitable", yet he goes ahead with his project.
He knows that his project is not even started, but changes his permit application to "operating", slipping it by the permitting authorities.
He knows who is backing his project has virtually unlimited funds, yet he applies for a Federal Loan Guarantee "following the process", when there isn't one--except politics, which he took full advantage of.
Is this the kind of guy we want representing us?
Angus can follow Baldacci off the elected stage, left door.
Rumor has it that Angus King personally called The Maine Wire staff to have them "back-off" on the story of the Congressional Investigation. Fat chance.
What's a matter Angus, don't like the attention? Trying to stifle free speach?
Yawn...perhaps he called to ensure that he was given a chance to give his side on the record which is journo 101 in the event Mainewire neglected to ask.
Your single minded devotion to be the declarant of all true things about Angus is reminiscent of Scarcelli, Rhoads and Bailey.
He still wipes the floor with Poliquin, his Georgetown neighbor.
How King could swing Senate
By: Manu Raju
April 5, 2012 04:39 PM EDT
“I represent a threat,” King...told POLITICO. “If it can happen in Maine, it can happen...other places. And they need to start looking toward the middle, instead of...right or...left.”
...............
“It may make more sense to join the majority, whichever it is, and that would give me a stronger position...,” he said.
Yet he is...warning that...GOP attacks on him won’t “help” them if they want him to caucus with Senate Republicans.
King has early lead in race for U.S. Senate, poll shows
By John Richardson jrichardson@mainetoday.com
State House Bureau
AUGUSTA — ...Angus King has a big lead early in Maine's race for a U.S. Senate seat, and...Obama has an edge among Maine voters over...Romney, says a poll released Friday by...Maine People's Resource Center.
The center is affiliated with the Maine People's Alliance....
"What these numbers mostly show is name recognition," [communications director] Mike Tipping said in a written release. "These results tell us where candidates are starting, not where they'll end up."
http://www.pressherald.com/news/king-has-early-lead-in-race-for-u_s_-sen...
Voters in Maine Prefer Independent Candidate in Senate Race
With a long way to November, former two-term Maine Gov. Angus King leads the way in Senate race
By Lauren Fox
April 6, 2012
Maine Democratic Party spokeswoman Lizzy Reinholt admits King is a factor, but says....
"Maine has always had a tradition of having a strong independent streak," Reinholt says. "It...isn't about who Mainers like now, it is about who voters like on Election Day. A lot of Mainers are concerned that he isn't saying who he is willing to caucus with."
It is the one question King has refused to speak about.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/04/06/voters-in-maine-prefer-in...
Race for Snowe's open Senate seat in Maine unpredictable, could decide majority
Published April 07, 2012
FoxNews.com
"Independent Angus King?" asks a voice in a National Republican Senatorial Committee video.
"But who dragged him into the race. Chuck Schumer and the Democrats … to ensure King would caucus with Democrats."
King dismissed the accusation as "bunk." "
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has said very little about King and did not respond to a request for comment.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/04/07/maine-senate-race-is-wildcard...
Angus King’s Book Tour, and other weirdness
"U.S. Senate candidate Angus King has posted an odd campaign video today, as a preview to his official campaign launch next week.
The video itself is basically boring, but the backdrop is very strange. Here’s a screen shot:"
http://www.themainewire.com/2012/04/angus-kings-book-tour-weirdness/
I like his first book better. Most have heard of Chairman Mao's "Little Red Book". Angus wrote a little green book with the $7,000,000 he was given by Central Maine Power to run for governor. What a crock of codswallop! It was propaganda pure and simple. Too many fell for it. Get a copy and compare the techniques King used with the hope and promise technique Obama used. It's almost as if they both had Bill Ayers as a tutor. Now, there's a thought. After all, Angus said he was supporting Obama for reelection.
Reposted here with permission from the "I represect a threat" thread:
"You know where is stands when he said he would vote to retain Obama as President. He is not anywhere near the center or an independent."
There is no such thing as the "middle" that King refers to. There are diametric opposites in political philosophy in Washington: American individualism and freedom versus collectivism and statism. They are irreconcilable. The two parties don't consistently stand for either and there is very little of the first, but they have no "middle". Compromises or mixtures of freedom and statism mean more statism.
King is not "independent" of political premises -- no one is -- he is a "pragmatist" and progressive statist.
Like all pragmatists, King does not want to be pinned down on what he is as he pretends to appeal to everyone in the name of the "practical". But pragmatism is not practical.
The commonly heard notions that "truth is what works", and "what is true today may not be true tomorrow" are central tenets of pragmatism that lead to its 'ends justifies the means' assumption that any means are available in government that "work". That is an assumption of statism on principle that pragmatists refuse to acknowledge. Pragmatism opposes principles as a matter of principle, but cannot escape them. Pragmatism is a parasitical philosophy that relies on unacknowledged premises for the standards of what "works" for what ends, and how you know either.
King is not "different" in his pragmatism. The philosophy of pragmatism, first promoted by William James and others in late nineteenth century America, was an outgrowth of the European counter-Enlightenment in Europe -- primarily the skepticism created by German mysticism and Prussian statism in politics.
Pragmatism caused the progressive political movement with its progressively growing statism countering the original American system of government based on the Enlightenment in protecting the natural rights of the individual. Pragmatism and progressivism have infected American politics and government (and a lot more) ever since for over 100 years. (See Ekirch's Decline of American Liberalism.)
Nearly every commonly heard statist rationalization undermining our freedom and rights shares the influence of pragmatism and its tacitly assumed collectivism: Examples range from the unprincipled "rights are man-made conventions bestowed by government choice and can be changed at any time" -- to "we have to try 'something'" and hope for "change" that "works" -- to the attacks (as from Obama) on Constitutional limits on government power as getting in the way of "practical progress".
So does King's denunciation of "the right" as "ideologues" as he pretends to also oppose "the left".
King's pragmatism explains his cynical hypocrisy in openly suggesting that he would "join the majority, whichever it is" in caucusing with with whatever party is in the majority in the Senate -- solely because he claims that this unprincipled approach would give him more personal power and influence. It's "what ever works". He stands for nothing but his own power as he hides his implicit premises behind a non-existent "middle".
King's opposition to political principle as a matter of principle does not make him "different", as he claims to be in his statement that he wants to "send the message not only to the people in the Senate but also to the people in the country that there is a different way.” He isn't a "different way", only the latest openly extreme example of the failed philosophy of pragmatism and its progressive politics now over 100 years old.
The constant "compromises" on top of "compromises" leading government progressively farther to the left in the name of whatever "works" -- on behalf of a leftwardly moving "middle of the moment" -- is how pragmatism has been destroying the country with progressively increasing statism. It creates more problems on top of problems with unprincipled, and increasingly unworkable, patches on top of patches. The "practical" problem with pragmatism is that "it doesn't work". Neither does King.
US Grant, "Rumor has it that Angus King personally called The Maine Wire staff to have them "back-off" on the story of the Congressional Investigation"
Where did you hear the rumor? Has it been verified yet?
US Grant, "there is no such thing as the middle that King refers to"
You don't think so? I agree with your assertions about King and his motivations for calling himself "the middle", but that doesn't mean there aren't throngs of voters that stay moreso in the middle, so to speak, and lean one way or another depending on some factors.
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For those who are interested King, Gardiner, and Yale got a huge bonus from the Federal Loan Guarantee.
$7,000,000 to $9,000,000 per year benefit!
$140,000,000 over 20 years!