Repubican Candidate Underdog shines with facts in Democrat Town hall
LD 29 Town Hall House Candidate Forum.
By: Aaron Borders
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Repubican Candidate Underdog shines with facts in Democrat Town hall - Video
Former U.S. Representative James Oberstar, a one-time chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee who devoted his lengthy congressional career to modernizing Americas roads, bridges and ports, died yesterday. He was 79.
Oberstar, a Minnesota Democrat, died in his sleep at his home in Potomac, Maryland, according to the Associated Press. A cause of death wasnt provided.
Oberstar was elected to his seat in 1974, part of a large group of Democrats swept into Congress across the country after President Richard Nixon, a Republican, resigned that August over his involvement in the Watergate political scandal. Many of the Watergate Babies, as the freshman class was known, grew to hold positions of power.
Oberstar was one of them. He sat on the House transportation panel during his entire 36 years in office, earning a reputation for his expertise on aviation, shipping and infrastructure. He championed funding for airport and bridge construction, bike paths, highways and dredging for Great Lakes shipping lanes.
Literally, his life was dedicated to and built around transportation and infrastructure, said Janet Kavinoky, executive director of transportation at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
He was at the center of every major rewrite of every highway bill, he was at the center of some of the most historic transportation laws in the modern era, said Ed Wytkind, executive director of the transportation trades department at the AFL-CIO, who worked with Oberstar for decades on various issues. He wrote and rewrote every major aviation law going back to the 1970s.
Oberstar pushed to implement Amtrak as a national rail system and to bring labor unions to the table on infrastructure legislation.
He was the conscience of the House when it came to making sure the voices of workers were heard, Wytkind said.
Oberstar served as chairman of the transportation panel from January 2007 until January 2011, having lost his seat in the November 2010 election to Chip Cravaack, a Republican backed by the small-government Tea Party movement. Cravaack lost re-election in 2012 to Democrat Rick Nolan.
In 2010, Oberstar was one of a half-dozen Democrats who threatened to vote against President Barack Obamas health-care legislation if it allowed federal funds to subsidize insurance plans that cover abortions. Oberstar ultimately backed the bill, a vote he said might have cost him the election later that year.
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Democrat Oberstar, Who Led U.S. House Transportation Panel, Dies
LITTLE ROCK The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Log Cabin Democrat of Conway and Saline Courier of Benton won the newspaper sweepstakes awards in the 2013 Arkansas Associated Press Managing Editors contest.
The awards and others were announced Saturday at the group's annual meeting. The contest was judged by AP-member editors in Oklahoma.
The winners of the sweepstakes awards in each of the contest's three divisions were determined by how many awards each newspaper won across the contest's 28 categories. A points system is used that gives more weight to winning the General Excellence category as well as for each first place award.
The Arkansas AP also gave its annual Mark Twain Award for Cooperation to Arkansas Business of Little Rock.
SWEEPSTAKES AWARD: Saline Courier.
GENERAL EXCELLENCE: 1, Saline Courier; 2, Blytheville Courier News; 3, Forrest City Times-Herald.
SPOT NEWS PHOTO: 1, Stephanie Dunn, Camden News, Car ablaze; 2, Fred Conley, Forrest City Times-Herald, How'd this happen?; 3, Stephanie Dunn, Camden News, Back to school.
FEATURE PHOTO: 1, Stephanie Dunn, Camden News, Fright night; 2, Brent Davis, Saline Courier, A Foggy Start to Thursday; 3, Kendall Owens, Forrest City Times-Herald, Training.
SPOT SPORTS PHOTO: 1, Aaron FitzPatrick, Blytheville Courier News, GCT spoils homecoming; 2, Rick Nation, Saline Courier, Hornets dealing with injuries; 3, Aaron FitzPatrick, Blytheville Courier News, The agony of defeat.
FEATURE SPORTS: 1, Fred Conley, Forrest City Times-Herald, Swing away; 2, Jay Manning, Saline Courier, Senior Jessica Hardig attempts a bunt; 3, Josh Briggs, Saline Courier, Bryant takes 7th BP title.
News Desk
The Nation
Publication Date : 03-05-2014
The Democrat Party of Thailand will not contest the next election if a reconciliation proposal to be unveiled by its leader, Abhisit Vejjajiva, today is rejected by the parties involved in the ongoing political conflict, according to the party's spokesman.
Chavanond Intarakomalyasut said yesterday that with the political conflict remaining unsolved and the country still in a state of deadlock, there was no point in the Democrats taking part in the election. "We will still be in the same spot, and we can't move forward because the conflict still exists. There will be disorder. The Pheu Thai Party will bring about a bloody election. For what will the Democrat Party have taken part?" he said.
The Democrat spokesman asked the ruling Pheu Thai Party and caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to make it clear how they would make sacrifices for the country's benefit. He criticised the premier for suggesting that Abhisit should not have set any conditions in regard to his reconciliation proposal.
The Democrat leader on Thursday had said that he would take a political break if his proposal aimed at finding a political solution were accepted by all the parties involved. Abhisit said this was to prove that he would not benefit from his own proposal.
Chavanond yesterday expressed suspicion that Yingluck might attempt to protect the interests of herself, her family and her party.
He said turning down Abhisit's proposal would mean the politicians involved were failing to sacrifice their own benefit for the country's interest. "We will see who are politicians, and who are the election experts," he added.
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Democrats threaten to boycott poll in Thailand
The Democrat Party will not contest the next election if a reconciliation proposal to be unveiled by its leader Abhisit Vejjajiva today is rejected by the parties involved in the ongoing political conflict, according to the party's spokesman.
Chavanond Intarakomalyasut said yesterday that with the political conflict remaining unsolved and the country still in a state of deadlock, there was no point in the Democrats taking part in the election. "We will still be in the same spot, and we can't move forward because the conflict still exists. There will be disorder. The Pheu Thai Party will bring about a bloody election. For what will the Democrat Party have taken part?" he said.
The Democrat spokesman asked the ruling Pheu Thai Party and caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to make it clear how they would make sacrifices for the country's benefit. He criticised the premier for suggesting that Abhisit should not have set any conditions in regard to his reconciliation proposal.
The Democrat leader on Thursday had said that he would take a political break if his proposal aimed at finding a political solution were accepted by all the parties involved. Abhisit said this was to prove that he would not benefit from his own proposal.
Chavanond yesterday expressed suspicion that Yingluck might be attempting to protect the interests of herself, her family and her party.
He said turning down Abhisit's proposal would mean the politicians involved were failing to sacrifice their own benefit for the country's interest. "We will see who are politicians, and who are the election experts," he added.
The next election has been tentatively scheduled for July 20. The previous voting on February 2 was declared void by the Constitutional Court, as it was not held on the same day in the entire country, which was against the Constitution.
The Democrats had boycotted the February poll on the grounds that it was being held at a time when conflict still existed.
Meanwhile, Abhisit has met a number of top politicians and senior bureaucrats to gather their ideas as to how the Kingdom could be brought out of its destructive political crisis.
He has called a press conference at the Sukosol Hotel this morning to unveil details of his proposal.
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Thai democrats threaten to boycott poll