Press Releases

Mary Bono Mack Battles with Herself on Energy Plan

Representative "All Over the Place" on Energy Plan,

Always Ends Up Next to “Big Oil”

PALM DESERT, CA, September 17, 2008 – Incumbent Mary Bono Mack’s “no” vote yesterday on the bipartisan compromise energy bill “puts her all over the place on a national energy plan,” Democratic Congressional nominee Julie Bornstein said today.  “But wherever she flits around on the issue, she always ends up right next to the oil companies that fund her campaigns.”

Along with all but 13 House Republicans, Representative Mary Bono Mack voted “no” yesterday on HR 6899, the Comprehensive American Energy Security and Consumer Protection Act.  The bill passed the House 239-189.  President Bush has threatened a veto.

The bill, which was a compromise with Republicans, allows states to permit offshore drilling, but also requires oil companies to fully exploit existing leases, pay fair royalties and strips the companies of $18 billion in tax breaks given to them by a previous Republican Congress.  That money would go to fund clean alternative energy and more efficient buildings.

“Rep. Mack’s “no” vote on this bill and her comments about it are a reversal of her previous positions,” Bornstein said.  “She sent out a press release after her vote calling herself ‘a consistent advocate for alternative energy,’ but apparently not when it is funded by oil companies paying their fair share of taxes and royalties to the American people.”

In her press release, Rep. Mack also changed her position on offshore drilling.  She had until yesterday been one of few Republican House members to oppose drilling offshore, but tacitly approved of it yesterday provided that states got “a portion of the revenue.”

According to the Federal Election Commission and opensecrets.org, Rep. Mack has received over a quarter-million dollars in campaign contributions from energy and natural resources company PACs and executives since she was first elected to Congress, including over $75,000 from the oil and gas business, and over $95,000 from electric utilities.

Rep. Mack also has significant personal holdings of gas and oil stock and benefits from rising energy company stock prices.  According to the Sunlight Foundation, Rep. Mack's most recent personal financial disclosure form to the Clerk of the House shows direct ownership of between $22,000 and $155,000 in oil and gas industry stock.  (Disclosures are made in very broad ranges).  Among the companies whose stock she owns are ExxonMobil, Devon Energy, Dominion Resources, Emerson Electric, Progress Energy, and Baker Hughes.  The disclosure form (and those for previous years) also shows that Rep. Mack is an active trader in energy stocks.

NATIONAL DEMOCRATS ELEVATE BORNSTEIN

RACE AGAINST MARY BONO MACK

PALM DESERT, CA, September 12, 2008 – The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) today named Julie Bornstein’s challenge to Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack as one of its “Races to Watch,” providing additional momentum to Julie’s fight for change. Bornstein is the first recent challenger in CA-45 to be recognized by the DCCC.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is the official campaign arm of House Democrats. The DCCC is the only political committee in the country whose principal mission is to support Democratic House candidates.

Bornstein, a former Assemblywoman and state official, said “We’re very pleased that the DCCC sees, as we do, that the changes in the 45^th District, our very active campaign and the unprecedented ground effort with hundreds of volunteers are making this a very competitive race.  We appreciate the attention, and we intend to live up to it.”

“Julie Bornstein’s campaign for change continues to gain momentum. California families are joining Julie’s fight to get our economy moving again, responsibly end the war in Iraq and make health care more accessible and affordable,” said Yoni Cohen, Western Regional Press Secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Walter Ludwig, Bornstein’s campaign manager, said “It’s great that the national party agrees with the people of the 45^th District that it’s time to end Mary Mack’s uninspired career in Congress, and that this is the year to do it.”

STATEMENT BY JULIE BORNSTEIN
ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2008

PALM DESERT, CA, September 11, 2008 -- Democratic Congressional candidate Julie Bornstein (CA-45) issued the following statement today:

"As with people all over America and the world, I look back to this day seven years ago with grief for those who died, a hope for comfort for their families and awe at those who ran toward danger to save both people they knew and complete strangers.

"When we contemplate the senseless horror of that day, we should also remember and strive to regain the solidarity and unity Americans felt with each other in the days that followed, and the respect and true friendship for Americans extended by citizens of almost every other country on Earth.

"We should call on our leadership to rededicate itself to finding those who carried out the attacks, and to bring them to justice.

"Lastly, I extend my deep respect and acknowledge our incalculable debt to those who have answered the call of country, both before and since September 11, 2001."

STATEMENT BY JULIE BORNSTEIN ON THE FEDERAL TAKEOVER  OF FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC

PALM DESERT, CA, September 8, 2008 -- Sunday’s announcement that the Federal government is taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should worry every American as the economy takes another serious hit, following the announcement last week of dramatically higher unemployment.

Fannie and Freddie were created to maintain a healthy secondary mortgage market, which opens homeownership to the majority of American households.  Their situation – and the broader home-mortgage crisis – has led to possibly the most severe threat to the housing markets and the economy since the Great Depression.

What makes the Fannie and Freddie situation much worse is that it was largely avoidable.  Major policy mistakes by the Bush Administration have led us here:

• Failed Federal oversight.  Over the last several years, Federal regulators have failed to adequately respond while accounting scandals, unjustified executive perks and overstated reserves became the practice.

• Reckless deregulation of the mortgage market.  Bush Administration deregulation of the home mortgage market not only created risky loan products that were given to unqualified buyers, but increased demand in a market where supply was already constrained, running up prices in a distorted way.  When some borrowers could not pay their mortgages, distress sales started a downward spiral of home prices. Mortgage lenders were forced to cease questionable and predatory lending practices and tighten credit requirements.  Fewer buyers, coupled with desperate sellers caused prices to begin a rapid decline, making holders of mortgage backed securities – packages of home loans bought from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as investments—nervous about the value of their investments.

• Rising budget deficits and foreign borrowing.  Many of the holders of these mortgage-backed securities are foreign central banks, who became concerned about the solvency of Fannie and Freddie.  Since the US is now a debtor nation, we have no choice but to be responsive to our creditors—the central banks of China and Japan at the top of the list.  If the US loses the confidence of its foreign creditors, the financial damage to both the US and the world economy would be unfathomable.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Julie Bornstein is the former Director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development and formerly served on the Board of the California Housing Finance Agency.  She led the national nonprofit Campaign for Affordable Housing as President and CEO until December 2007 where she often worked with management of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.  She is currently a candidate for Congress in California’s 45^th District, encompassing most of Riverside County.