Some Democratic Governors Like Those in Kansas and Virginia are Only DINO's
Their actions show that they do not work for the common good, nor for government of, by, and for the people, but are actually Republicans who support and promote government of, by, and for the corporations and other wealthy few.
What this highlights is a continuing deliberate myopia and ignorance of state Democratic parties that don't believe in a 21st century New Deal Democatic Party philosophy and fail to pick true Democratic candidates, instead settling for Republican lites.
The most current example is Governor Mark Parkinson, a Republican until he switched to the Democratic Party in 2006, who recently took over Kathleen Sibelius' former office.
And last year's example of a DINO is mediocre Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia.
Recent case in point from McClatchy Newspapers Kansas City Star: "After only six days in office, Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson did last week what state legislators couldn’t do in two years: resolve the rancorous row over Western Kansas coal plants.
"But the Democrat also succeeded in angering some in his own party and environmental groups that had viewed Parkinson as their champion. After all, they’d repeatedly fought off the coal plant project, then saw Parkinson give in for environmental concessions they view as inconsequential.
"The Parkinson compromise allows Sunflower Electric Power Corp. to build one 895-megawatt coal plant near Holcomb, Kan. It’s not the two 700-megawatt plants that Sunflower wanted, but after years of fighting Parkinson’s predecessor, utility executives jumped at the offer.
"In exchange, Sunflower agreed to invest in more wind power and energy efficiency, and the state Legislature agreed to pass modest measures to encourage renewable energy.
"But while Parkinson touted the concessions made by Sunflower, many were planned by the utility before the deal was struck. Others appear to have limited value to the state.
"Environmental groups took a dimmer view.
“If you’re going to trade, trade up,” said Nancy Jackson, director of the Lawrence-based Climate and Energy Project. “This isn’t trading up.”
"The Parkinson deal also strips the state’s top regulator of the discretion he used to reject the plants in 2007. Environmental groups maintain that change will allow other utilities to build additional coal plants as long as they meet federal environmental guidelines.
"Indeed, the deal allows Sunflower to apply for a permit for a second plant in two years — though company executives say there’s currently no plan to seek a second plant.
"Sen. Marci Francisco, a Lawrence Democrat who opposed the coal plants, thinks Parkinson gave away too much for something the state didn’t need. She said Kansas can meet its expected energy demands for years, and noted that most of the plant’s power would serve out-of-state customers.
Perhaps he was taking lessons from Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, a pseudo-Democrat who worked against both unions and protecting the environment (in addition to being anti-women's reproductive rights and pro Bush's Iraq invasion and occupation).
What's amazing is that he is the new DNC chairman and was in the running to be Obama's Vice President! What does that say about the Obama administration's Democratic brand?
From Glenn Hurowitz at Huffington Post last year:
"Virginia governor Tim Kaine had a tough task at his town hall meeting in Manassas in the Washington, DC, exurbs this weekend, where he was, in part, trying to prove to Obama that he could be an effective vice presidential candidate. Not only had he just said he favored so-called "right to work" (hat tip Matt Stoller) laws that make it nearly impossible for workers to exercise their rights to form a union, he also recently gave into pressure from Dominion Power to hike electricity rates on Virginians to pay for the construction of a massive, new polluting coal-fired power plant.
"You can just see the GOP attack ads coming: "When Barack Obama had the chance to choose a vice presidential candidate, who did he pick? The one governor who's actually raised electricity rates in a sweetheart deal with lobbyists. Raised them so much, in fact, that his own state government said the extra costs would put almost 1,500 Americans out of work. Barack Obama: Job Killing Machine."
"Not exactly what we need at this time of great economic anxiety and anger at rising electricity costs.
"During the meeting, Kaine called on me to ask a question, and I questioned his ability to serve as an effective vice presidential nominee because of his backing for this new coal plant.
"I've included an excerpt of his (very lengthy) response below:
I think the senator and I have the same position on energy, including coal. But first let me talk about energy policy because this is what I believe and what I believe the senator believes too. If you look at energy on a pie chart, there's nuclear, natural gas, renewables. Every state has a different mix. In Virigna we are right about the national average on coal. We're about 47, 48 percent coal. Coal is the biggest native source of energy that we have right now. There are some who disagree with me about this and I respect their right to disagree but I've spent a lot of time really weighing this. We do not have a no-coal future in this country any time soon. What we need to do is take the coal portion -- that 47 percent in Virginia and nationally -- and we need to make it smaller and cleaner. The way to do that is by investing in new cleaner coal technology and by shuttering plants that are older and dirtier and making them retrofit up to newer standards...
"Kaine's response was inaccurate in its fundamental point: Obama's campaign has said he won't back new coal plants like the Dominion plant under debate in Virginia because it doesn't have the technology necessary to capture coal's carbon dioxide releases (technology that seems to increase the amounts of other nasties anyway).
"It was also inaccurate in terms of its commitment to clean energy. It's kind of amazing: while Governor Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas is standing up to Big Coal and stopping a pollution-spewing plant, and California is using its energy dollars to invest in the biggest solar plants in the world, Tim Kaine is leading Virginia and America into the future with...coal, expensive energy, and a divided and disgruntled state."
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