Tim Murphy

Reporter

Tim Murphy is a reporter in MoJo's DC bureau. Last summer he logged 22,000 miles while blogging about his cross-country road trip for Mother Jones. His writing has been featured in Slate and the Washington Monthly. Email him with tips and insights at tmurphy [at] motherjones [dot] com.

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Allen West's Crazy "Nuts" Letter Is Now on eBay

—By Tim Murphy

| Tue Jan. 8, 2013 12:00 PM PST

CAIR–South Florida

In November of 2011, the South Florida chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations wrote to Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) to ask him to denounce Pamela Geller, a blogger and friend of West's whose writing on Islam has been classified as "hate speech" by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Instead, West, a notorious critic of Islam, wrote back with the one-word response you see above: "Nuts!"—a reference to Americans General Anthony McAuliffe's message to the Germans at Bastogne.

The Miami New-Times called the letter "the dumbest thing ever written on congressional stationery," which is something we can debate, but it's almost certainly the most Allen West thing ever written on congressional stationary.

So now that CAIR's biggest antagonist has been forced into early retirement (effective last week), how is the organization coping? By putting the letter on eBay, apparently:

Up for Auction is one of the shortest Congressional Letters ever written in US History! This is the ORIGINAL LETTER on Official US Congressional Stationary signed by Allen West himself!This item has something for everyone. It doesn't matter if you are a die-hard member of the Tea Party, Democratic Party, or protect the Civil Rights of Americans; this item is perfect for your collection.

Tea Party- This letter is signed by your fearless Rock Star! If you win this auction you will have signed documented proof that Allen West stood up in the face of your “EVIL” to protect the US (A "Judeo-Christian" Nation) from the Muslims. Your collection can’t go without this item.
Members of the Democratic Party- This letter represents the accomplishment of Democratic Party’s victory over Allen West. Allen West’s firebrand of politics often came with blanket insults towards Democrats with no regard of Congressional Fellowship or Respect. Vice-President Biden recently thanked Murphy at a rooftop party for running and defeating Allen West...
Protectors of Civil Rights- As you are well aware Allen West represented the antithesis of equality and fair treatment of ALL AMERICANS. If you were not part of his narrative or didn't agree with him you were a threat to our “Gene Pool”. J Bid on this letter today as a sign of your commitment to protect ALL Americans Civil Rights. If you win this Auction you will have a little piece of US History and proof that Equality is not negotiable !

The letter is currently going for $1,575. Bidding ends January 17. Steadfast and Loyal.

eBay

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NRA Private Security Advocate Works for Private Security Company

Asa Hutchinson wants an armed guard in every school. That could be good news for his former lobbying clients at Securitas Inc.

—By Tim Murphy

| Tue Jan. 8, 2013 4:01 AM PST

Private security firm Securitas touts the effectiveness of Segway guards in educational settings.

At a no-questions press conference in late December following the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, National Rifle Association executive vice president Wayne LaPierre announced a bold new multibillion-dollar proposal to end school shootings: Put an armed security guard or police officer in every school in the country. LaPierre commissioned a special task force to develop the plan, and deputized Asa Hutchinson, a former Republican congressman from Arkansas and director of the Drug Enforcement Agency under President George W. Bush, to head the effort.

But there's something the LaPierre didn't mention: Hutchinson sits on the board of directors of Pinkerton Government Services, a subsidiary of one of the nation's largest private security contractors, Securitas. And if the NRA's—and Hutchinson's—proposals are enacted into law, Securitas, a firm Hutchinson once lobbied for in Washington, could stand to score big.

[Read the full article]

Republicans Have a Habit of Blocking Disaster Relief for Americans

Rep. Peter King ripped his party for ignoring Hurricane Sandy victims, but it was business as usual for the GOP.

—By Tim Murphy

| Thu Jan. 3, 2013 4:06 AM PST

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.)

On Wednesday, Rep. Peter King lost it. Infuriated by a last-minute decision by House speaker John Boehner to kill a disaster relief package for victims of Hurricane Sandy, the New York Republican spent the last day of the 112th Congress mulling the moral decline of the GOP. "I can't imagine that type of indifference, that type of disregard, that cavalier attitude being shown to any other part of the country," he said in a floor speech. In King's telling, Boehner's decision was a "a cruel knife in the back." Later in the day, New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie also wondered what had come of his party, calling the decision "callous" and "disgusting," and adding: "This used to be something that was not political."

But King and Christie shouldn't be surprised. Boehner's stonewalling on disaster relief, far from a clean break with tradition, has become characteristic of how the currently deficit-obsessed GOP does business. Here's a refresher:

[Read the full article]

The GOP's Anti-Muslim Wing Is in Retreat

Why Republicans finally seem to be distancing themselves from the Muslim-bashers in their midst.

—By Tim Murphy and Adam Serwer

| Thu Jan. 3, 2013 4:06 AM PST

Over the last four years, a die-hard cadre of activists and their allies in Congress have dragged the Republican party into a fever swamp of Islamophobia and barely-concealed anti-Muslim bigotry. In their paranoid scenario, Islamic Shariah law is creeping into American courts; the Department of Justice has come under the sway of the Muslim Brotherhood; and the president’s engagement ring includes secret writing that indicates Muslim loyalties.

But after a November election that saw three of the party's loudest voices on "creeping Shariah" defeated—and the GOP presidential nominee ignore the issue entirely—the anti-Islam movement within the Republican party may have peaked. Wary of further alienating a once-promising conservative constituency, mainstream Republican leaders have sought, publicly and behind closed doors, to distance themselves from the loudest of the Muslim-bashers in their midst.

[Read the full article]

Stop Making Fun of the Chinese Drywall Bill

—By Tim Murphy

| Wed Jan. 2, 2013 9:16 AM PST

It was an easy target. With Washington at its most dysfunctional (well, almost), Congress took a break this week from doing nothing about the fiscal cliff to hold a critical vote on a bill to...regulate drywall. Drywall! "Tomorrow the house will vote on the drywall safety act of 2012," Buzzfeed's John Stanton tweeted on Saturday. "THANK GOD OUR LONG NATIONAL DRYWALL NIGHTMARE IS OVER." "Things more urgent than #Sandy relief: Drywall Safety, Frank Buckles WWI monument & "Conveyance of certain property in Kotzebue, AK," tweeted the Daily Beast's John Avlon on Wednesday.

Congress, or at least certain factions within, deserves a lot of the flack it catches. But as it happens, drywall safety is actually pretty serious business—and was the subject of a massive investigation by our friends at Pro Publica:

ProPublica and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune began examining in May 2010 what was—or wasn't—being done to help people whose homes had been built with contaminated drywall. The problematic drywall, much of it imported from China, emitted foul odors and frequently caused mysterious failures of new appliances and electronics. Worse yet, some residents complained of serious respiratory problems, bloody noses, and migraines.
What ProPublica's Joaquin Sapien and the Herald-Tribune's Aaron Kessler discovered: that despite an investigation by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), most of the primary issues remained unresolved; that some builders and suppliers knew early-on that some Chinese-made drywall was problematic but continued using it anyway; that health and structural complaints from people who lived in homes built by Habitat for Humanity in the post-Katrina "Musicians' Village" were virtually ignored; that a family-owned German company was closely involved in the operations of a Chinese subsidiary that produced some of the tainted drywall; that a proposed settlement for customers who bought bad drywall from Lowe's offered small payouts to victims and big fees to attorneys; and that bad drywall might be related to 12 infant deaths at an Army base in North Carolina.

In addition to taking steps to make Chinese companies abide by American court decisions, the new law requiring drywall manufacturers to label their products and to limit the amount of sulfur (which can corrode homes).

That's not to excuse House Republicans for not passing the Sandy relief bill or for basically just setting up a sequel to the fiscal cliff in two months—it's just that not everything that comes out of Washington is awful.

So we've got that going for us, anyway.