Who says Senator-Elect M. Michael Rounds doesn't look out for the little guy? John Tsitrian notes that Rounds has taken several strongly pro-Israel positions. Tsitrian reminds us that Rounds made a point of visiting Israel early in his Senate campaign. Rounds declared to a pro-Israel event in New Jersey in August 2013 that the U.S. should recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. And now Rounds has hired a lobbyist from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee to be his legislative director.
And for what political gain? Rounds has only 345 Jewish constituents. As of August, Rounds had received a "modest" $7,500 from pro-Israel groups, hardly enough to change the oil on his airplane. Yet Rounds shows with his statements and his staffing decisions that his underdog pro-Israel constituents are at the top of his agenda.
There. Who says Mike Rounds only serves the folks with big money and big votes?
P.S.: While I recognize that folks from D.C. can add value to a South Dakotan's Senatorial staff, Tsitrian's post gets me thinking: is the legislative director position to which Rounds has appointed D.C. lobbyist Gregg Rickman a spot better occupied by someone with some South Dakota connection? Should the person guiding our Senator's legislative agenda have some direct knowledge of the major legislative issues facing South Dakota?
More junkets?
Cory, your readers might have to type "Mike Rounds Norpac" into the searchbox of the Jewish Link Of Bergen County, which is the publication you link to, where the full story and pic of Rounds' visit to a pro-Israel gathering in NJ occurred in August 2013. Your linkage is to the phrase "recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel" in the body of your post.
Stan obviously saw the future in Rounds and got him elected the governor of the state. A very good investment that is going to pay huge dividends to the Jewish lobby starting next month. I think that it is really not so brazen of Rounds to go full Jewish in his new digs, it only shows what we already know, he is a very crooked man with no principles whatsoever so he will fit right in with his new best pals.
Bout three miles west of me is an unincorporated town called Gaza. Maybe Mossad wants South Dakotans to spy on Gaza for them just in case. There is propane,diesel fuel,farm chemicals and other possible terrorist weapons available there. The new Bakken crude pipeline will run close by there.
Senator Johnson votes for the Romulus bill to fund the Government.This guy was supported by Labor all those years then votes for this bill which allows the trustees of pensions to cut them from the working man. Johnson are you going to to take a cut in pay and reduce your pension.You go after the people who supported you thanks for the parting shot.Unlike Klobuchar Franken And Tester who voted against this .Had I known this and you would have run we would have voted against you, pretty sorry aenator sorry indeed.
ALEC has had model legislation for a few years wanting to get rid of pensions for public employees. That is a wingnut wet dream.
Where have you been Moses? Senator Johnson has always voted for the banking industry, he has never failed it, that is why he was chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban affairs.
Mike Rounds is Catholic. Catholics are not anti-Jewish because Jesus practiced Judaism, and spent at least part of his life in Jerusalem.
To not to be supportive of Israel would be something akin to a sin, not quite a sin, but pretty close.
I do not know if that is really the case because I do not know how much of a dyed in the wool Catholic that he is.
good eyes, people: rounds just tapped into the Vatican/Israel pipeline but note that many bishops, including blase cupich are condemning industrial zionism's war on the environment.
Pope Frank and Mike Rounds' bishop ain't buds.
Drones controlled from Ellsworth have killed thousands of children so kids die in Pakistan in retaliation: peace on Earth at any cost.
Billion year old carbon meets silent night: hark the reaper.
(Thanks, John! I'm not sure why that link was redirecting to the main page. I have tinkered; is it working now?)
I'm just curious what South Dakota interest is served by Rounds's deep interest in Israel.
I think my friend Stan Adelstein has some influence here. Stan is well known to be a strong supporter of Israel and has been a supporter of Rounds since his days in the legislature. I remember having dinner with him once when I barely even heard of Rounds, ca 2000, and Stan couldn't speak more highly of him. I know just before the election in November, when Rounds was getting pummeled and the race looked close, that Adelstein took out a large multi-column inch ad in RCJ and wrote a glowing endorsement.
Oh, btw, Cory--the link is working fine now.
It will be interesting to see how Rounds comes out on some issues. Rickman could present an interesting moderating influence on Rounds' reflexive pro-nuclear boosterism.
The uranium mining/nuclear technology industrial complex is more and more becoming an industry that depends on authoritarian regimes and rogue states, many of which are sworn enemies of Israel. The uranium mine near the Grand Canyon that the lame duck session just cleared the way for is owned by a company that is partly owned by Iran. Where do you stand on that, Sen. Rounds? Does the fact that SD uranium could sit inside a nuclear bomb aimed at Israel give you pause?
South Dakota gains nothing from Rounds pro-Israel support, but Mike Rounds gains continued financial support for his future election campaigns. The contributions will be generous from the Jewish lobby.
I can think of a feller who put up some walking around money to put Rounds in the governors mansion. That worked well and now here we are, a nice return on an investment with a visit there and the whole works. Now, about that 9 million that Rounds was discussing before the election, where on earth did that come from and where is it now??
Seems like someone cannot leave the United States for fear of being arrested for war crimes, does the old heart good to hear that there are those who actually think torture is a criminal act like we used to. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1354211/George-W-Bush-cancels-Switzerland-visit-fears-arrest-torture-charges.html
The world is getting wiser to corruption, maybe we will as well with Rounds and his EB-5.
mfi, I had to check out Gaza, all 3 streets of it. Cute.
Jerry, I followed your link. Good to see the slimy war criminal having to be scared and limit his movements. Gah. Just thinking about him makes me gag.
Boy, Donald, you're asking Rounds to do some hard dot-connecting there. Fascinating point, though: more uranium means more chances for bad guys to make bombs and wipe Israel off the face of the earth. He'd better talk to his brother-in-law who consults for Powertech/Azarga and revise his position!
Jeni, The term is anti-semitic, not anti-Jewish. I am not anti-semitic, but I am anti-zionist and zionist is what Israel has become. Christian zionists have no allegiance to Jesus, but to the Jewish ruling of Palestine. The country was very small in 1947 but with continued seizings by war and just plain land grabs, Israel now encompasses nearly all of what used to be Palestine. You can see the results on the third website I have cited below.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35747.htm
http://www.rense.com/general59/sde.htm
http://www.google.com/images?client=safari&rls=en&q=Palestine+1947+and+today&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ei=YCiSVLimKI6lyAThx4CIAw&ved=0CCkQsAQ