Harkin bails out illegal alien employer
I would think Iowans — and taxpayers across the country — would be rather miffed about Democrat Sen. Tom Harkin’s decision to bail out illegal alien employer Agriprocessors. Reader Scott from Kensett, Iowa, is. He sends this info from the Des Moines Register along this morning:
A controversial Postville meatpacking plant might have been forced out of business if U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin hadn’t stepped in four years ago to give it a multimillion-dollar boost with federal tax money.
The money, nearly $8 million, came from an environmental program from which Agriprocessors normally would have been disqualified. The grant and loan were used to build a sewage-treatment plant that serves only the meatpacker.
The environmental program, run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is designed to help small towns improve their sewage systems. The new sewage-treatment plant is technically owned by Postville, but it doesn’t serve the town’s residents. Department administrators say that fact usually would have prevented it from receiving money from the program. But Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, used his influence to exempt the project from those rules in 2004.
“It was a sleight of hand on this deal,” said Jerry Anderson, a Drake University law professor and Agriprocessors critic. “We thought it was a misuse of the law.”
Agriprocessors, once the area’s dominant employer, sank into bankruptcy after an immigration raid there in May. It now is for sale and is operating far below capacity. Before the company’s recent economic troubles, the new sewage-treatment plant helped Agriprocessors lessen water-pollution problems that had brought repeated citations from environmental inspectors. Environmentalists say the pollution was so bad that it probably would have led regulators to shut down the company.
Harkin, who is chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, wields substantial power over the Department of Agriculture, which financed the treatment plant. He was the top-ranking Democrat on the committee in 2004, when he used an appropriations bill to direct money to the Postville project.
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I think that quote applies here also.
Shame, shame, shame on you Senator Harkin.
What is the new corporate ethos these days… “If you can’t do business within the law, just change the law”?
I don’t think so.
Agriprocessors is a company which engaged in illegal hiring policies and now appears to otherwise have been a transgressor of environmental laws to boot. To the Rubashkin family: be sure to employ a business model that neither engages in nor demands law-breaking as a fundamental component. I am relieved that Agriprocessors is scaled down to the point of being out of business – if not already there.
Bailout-palooza seems to have started before we realized it was in style. Who knew that Harkin possessed such foresight?
Well, at least things haven’t changed much since then. RINO’s and Lib’s are still giving away our money to companies that are going down the tubes with or without our hard-earned cash.
Politicians who vote for this crap should be jailed and forced to watch Stuart Smalley skits for the rest of their miserable lives.
Why would anybody think that this is a recent thing? Congress has been doing far worse than this for a hundred years or more. The only time it gets mentioned is when somebody is looking for a little notoriety, or when the opposition party is trying to win an election so they can pass more pork to their own bribers. Democrats wailed and moaned about that “Bridge to Nowhere” until they took over Congress. Now they’re all for bridges to anywhere.
Don’t worry Senator Tom Harkin, because
You’re Good Enough, You’re Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like You!
Sleep good tonight. The new world order worships Pelosi, Reid, Frank and other dumb asses like you.
Conducting the illegal-immigrant / bankrupt company bailouts other Americans won’t do.
Things that go together:
Sleight of hand.
Abuse of law.
Democrat.
Nothing like building a toilet to dump money in.
‘Nuff said.
As an Iowan, I have been ashamed that Harkin is associated with out great state for a long number of years. His decisions are repeatedly idiotic, and his politics are repeatedly dirty.
Agriprocessors got exactly what they deserved. Management was actively involved with getting false ID’s for their illegal employees. They knowingly broke every employment law on the books, but now all we hear from the local TV and print news is how horrible the Federal government was for actually enforcing existing laws.
My son attends a liberal arts college near Postville, and his bleeding heart liberal english professor had one of the poor displace employees come in and speak about how tough things were for him now that he was out of work.
To quote MM “BOO-FEAKIN’-HOO.”
This stinks……well, not as bad as it could have if it wasn’t for the sewage plant.
I wonder how many votes this got Senator Harkin.
Unfortunately, the way it looks we all be forced to watch Stuart Smalley live from the Senate.
We sit here and watch our treasury being given away at the politicians’ whim and will. It seems we (here) all know we are going off the edge, but the media and the current crop of pols say keep moving nothing is wrong or to see here. Like lambs to the slaughter house.
Boy, are we screwed!
Sort of answers itself, doesn’t it?
New lobbyist-invented product from Iowa: Jobahol – reduces US employment by 10%, guaranteed!
I agree with you, LuxEternam. I’ve been ashamed of Harkin since I was born (one of my first words was “Reagan”), and if there had been an AF base inside of Iowa, he would have been voted out years ago due to his comments about fighter pilots and his fraudulent claims about his service.
That being said, I’m a little shocked at the article in the DM Register. It’s late, sure, but better late than never, I suppose.
What’s in the water in Iowa (and Minnesota)? Good lord.
Ah it’s wonderful . . . idiot politicos squandering our money; moronic comedians inhabiting the senate; an incompetent novice occupying the White House; another Clinton in government; and, a hoard of wandering Republicans trying to find some purpose in this world. I think I’ll just go spend a few days with Jim Beam.
I guess that this is the ultimate abortion being rammed down our throats, as the congress of the United States rips open the belly of the United States Government and AIG, Banks, Auto Companies, and anyone else with an excuse wait to gobble up the golden goose. Meanwhile, the people who have actually worked hard will watch their hard-earned money slowly turn into meaningless pieces of valueless paper. Coming soon to a supermarket near you:
Super Sale Today: Bread $500 Milk $750.
At least I didn’t vote for the Bozo. BTW: because of the way Iowa does it ballots I got to vote for Sarah Palin twice. First for President, then as Vice President. I NEVER had to hold my nose
DemocratSocialistLet’s just call them what they are.
DemocratSocialistSen. Tom Harkin’sThere…that’s better; fixed it.
BTW: Did you see the Des Moines paper article yesterday on the salaries of public school officials? Many are making well over 150,000 per year and their salaries have jumped over 50 percent in 5 years. The excuse: NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
I know the USDA used to destroy crops to keep prices up, at least in the 80s they did. I don’t know whether that policy, since the ’30s, continues…under “hush-hush”, to keep prices up. I do know we pay app. 500% more for sugar than the rest of the world, thanks to the sugar lobby and price supports. So what Harkin does, or his committee, doesn’t surprise me. Always remember that, to a politician, he comes first; the country a very distant third, after his party.
OK, sewage treatment – except for residents – but now that they have failed as a company don’t they qualify for billions in TARP?
I’d pay $100 to see the math quiz that required these “educators” to figure out their annual rate of salary increase…
What do you expect? Harkin is part of the marxist groundswell occurring in Des Moines. Vilsack, our last governor, had the bright idea to form some sort of illegal immigrant welcoming zones in the state that didn’t go over too well even with the two-thirds of the state sullied by proximity to Illinois and Des Moines. BO just appointed him Secy of Ag. Vilsack was a big enabler for the meat packers and their bus trips to the border for illegal workers.
This part of Iowa is very red, but if you attend local legislative sessions at the library, it’s tough to get called on for the labor reps lining the front of the room.
Well, the city of SF wanted to name it’s sewage treatment plant after President Bush.
Maybe the city of Potsville can name this one after Harkin? They should give him is own one-holer.
I live in Minnesota and I drink nothing but bottled or filtered water.
I’m as much of a Harkin-hater as most Iowa conservatives, but I gotta put some perspective on this…
1. The grant came several years before the recent ICE raid and all the controversy over that. Yes, the company was hiring illegals, but it wasn’t known.
2. The money went to build a sewage plant. It wasn’t a “bailout” in the sense that we are seeing them today.
3. The sewage plant may be used exclusively by the company, but it really serves everybody. Without it, the company’s less-treated sewage went directly into the watershed, and there isn’t much nastier sewage than that from packing plants. Without the plant, everyone downstream suffers.
4. The company was the major employer in the town, and without it, yet another small Iowa town would have died sooner than it probably will. I wouldn’t want to own any property there right now.
5. This sort of thing is SOP for our government. Earmarks/pork is nothing new; the practice is as old as our government. As those add-ons go, this isn’t a bad one – the taxpayer got preserved jobs, cleaner water, and more agribusiness provided to the economy, which helps keep the supply up, and the price down (relatively). This is only in the news now because the plant is on the “bad-boy list”.
6. The only time I read that rag of a paper is when I get a free copy for filling my tank, let alone paying attention to any controversy they invent. It also is useful for starting my fireplace, but beyond that, forget it.
Well, maybe I should clarify one thing – that the company was hiring illegals was probably known about, but that fact didn’t have nearly as negative a connotation as it does now. Kind of like how everyone knows full well that we have illegals that work at the harvests, and other “jobs that Americans won’t do” (at least not for pennies per hour); the packing industry is one of those winked-at employers.
I’m not there but I pretty much agree with your 6 points. But, since it has now been determined that the transaction was improper, shouldn’t the money be returned back to the pot from which it came from?
The IRS makes taxpayers do it all the time.
Just Three of His Favorite Things.
And he too of Stolen Valor
Harkin too belongs in jail, lied about Viet Nam. That is what Democrats do I suppose.
They were operating a meth-lab there too…No union though so, It’s all good, right?
sarc/off for now
Yeah, ignorance in the community…1000 familias show up with no english skills, all with same name and social security number? HAHAHAHAHA
Americans won’t work for slave-wages which we are importing from Mexico…We could save BILLIONS by out-sourcing our Management to India, Korea, or China. I guarantee; we could find a CEO as qualified as Goldman-Sachs from a 3rd world colony. Oh, wait…We are one now…Let’s complain about union workers some more…Union voted down by ILLEGAL ALIENS afraid of being deported…AWWWWW
Tom Harkin is an enigma for Iowans as we generally do not elect (let alone re-elect radical lefties). Harkin has been blessed by a series of unfortunate Republican opponents (unfortunate for Republicans because they were consistently WEAK) rather than heavy hitters like former Republican Govs Branstad or Ray.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Branstad
Harkin has beaten every lightweight thrown his direction and the heavy hitters did not take him out…probably assuming a lightweight could do it.
Give Tom Harkin a little credit though…he does not wear out his welcome with Iowans because we never see him! He visits Iowa a few days when Democratic Presidential contenders need an intro but stays away the rest of his term. Harkin’s a joke and the debate has never been whether he’s a socialist rather the degree of his socialism and how much it will cost to get his support for a pet project. The man has no friends in Iowa…only Democrats will to pay the price to get his vote.
BTW – my Democrat friends do not try to defend Harkin because they know he is a cad. Harkin consistently wins with a bare majority thanks to larger Democratic efforts. On the other hand, Republican Grassley wins with almost 70% of the vote whenever he is up for re-election.
Jeff, you are hilarious. Major Ken is right on the money. I used to send Harkin “guidance” missives occasionally along with Senator Grassley and Congressman King. Harkin’s responses were so lame, I stopped. Coming from California, I cherish Grassley and King. King reliably votes against any and all legislation about 99% of the time. Like Grassley, he also wins big each election.
To further soapbox about the meatpackers and illegals, when the government raided a number of packers in Nebraska and Colorado, the following day there were hundreds of tax-paying American citizens lined up to get their applications in – yes, even in Colorado. I sent a link to the cretins at the WS Journal in an unsuccessful effort to dissuade them from using that erroneous line of reason.
I’ll tell you something else, people in this area want to work. They are aggressively working class with no desire to change or to move. They would work for not much more than is paid the illegals today if the opportunity was provided to them.
more like they don’t want to pay union dues…need that money to send home to their 2nd family….
Iowans and everybody else. Do not vote for ANY incumbent – any of them! They as a collective group have provided us NO representative government and NONE deserve our vote of confidence. We are fast coming to a new “Boston Tea Party”. Politicians have become the new ruling class who only care about one thing—keeping their royal arses in their seat. Illegal immigration is something they can address but they do not want to. Throw all the bums out.
This is no different from the lousy Barney Frank trying to designate the Taunton River as a “wild and scenic area” to stop the building of a greatly needed liquid natural gas port.
As U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, who, while displaying photos of a graffiti-marred area of the river, said the designation is not appropriate because
“the only part of this river that is scenic is the graffiti found on the bridges and embankments, and the only thing that is wild is the gangs that wrote this in the first place.”
The Taunton river area looks like something in a post apocalyptic Mad Max movie, and Frank has the gall to portray it as a fargin’ wildlife sanctuary!
Expect far worse with a Democrat controlled Executive and Legislative (and, eventually, Judicial) branches.
Does the term “run roughshod” mean anything to you?