March 25, 2016

Why Did NY Rep. Chris Collins Endorse Donald Trump?

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Do you remember Carl Paladino? Sure you do. He’s the wealthy developer and racist jackass who somehow managed to win the Republican nomination for New York governor in 2010 and proceeded to run a campaign drenched in almost fetid ugliness. He hasn’t changed much in the intervening years and he is—unsurprisingly—supporting Donald Trump for president. A few days ago he sent a message to his email list:

We haven’t heard from you following my last memo. The press said I was trying to bully you; obviously that is a misnomer. After all, you are the duly elected representative of your constituents and you know what is best for them. Don’t you?

….This is our last request that you join Trump for President and try to preserve what’s left of your pathetic careers in government. Whatever you do, staying neutral is not an option. Pick a horse in the race and you may salvage some of your constituents’ respect for you. Not choosing paints you as a coward. The bus is leaving the station very soon. Get on, or you’ll be left behind.

Charming, no? But typically Paladino. And he promised more to come: “This is the beginning,” he had said of an earlier email blast. It’s going to get worse for those that continue to hold out. I’m being nice. I’ll up the ante a little bit more in the next one I send….People like to read what their representatives are doing.”

Anyway, a couple of weeks before this email went out, Rep. Chris Collins had announced his endorsement of Trump. That was unexpected, since Collins is a moderate guy who had previously endorsed Jeb Bush. Had Paladino threatened to run a challenger against him in the primary, as he’s done with other Republicans he dislikes? The Huffington Post’s Matt Fuller makes the case:

In an interview with The Huffington Post this week, Collins denied he was “pressured” into supporting Trump, saying he endorsed the GOP front-runner without speaking to Paladino about it.

But pressed on whether the two had discussed an endorsement, he backtracked:

“Uh, so — I mean, Carl and I know each other,” Collins said.

Yeah, they know each other. Collins is the biggest recipient of Paladino campaign donations in all of western New York. He certainly knows how generous Paladino can be if he likes you, and how merciless he can be if he doesn’t.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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