Michigan Democratic Party Statement on Sen. Carl Levin Declining to Seek Re-election

From Michigan Democratic Party:

LANSING — The Michigan Democratic Party released the following statement on U.S. Sen. Carl Levin’s announcement that he will not seek re-election in 2014:

“Carl Levin is an icon of integrity and a model for distinguished and courageous public service. For 34 years, Senator Levin has fought for Michigan’s working families, and as Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee he has stood up for our brave men and women in uniform,” said Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lon Johnson. “For decades he has sought truth and demanded accountability from special interests. Today Senator Levin demonstrated his selfless commitment to those principles, announcing that he will devote himself entirely to serving the people of Michigan until his term ends in January 2015.

“There will be another day to discuss the 2014 election, but today I join with all Michiganders in expressing my gratitude to my friend and role model, Senator Carl Levin.”

Sen. Carl Levin ‘worried’ by influx of dark money

By Eric W. Dolan/Raw Story

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) said Monday that he was anxious about the influence of secret money in the 2012 elections.

“The thing that worries me frankly the most is the huge amount of hidden money which is going to get into — it already is in — the Romney campaign,” he said on Current TV’s War Room.

“The Super PAC money worries me. The fact that Mr. Romney will not disclose who is bundling his money, he is keeping that secret as well… It’s bad enough that we have these unlimited amounts of money that go into Super PACs.”

The Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling struck down key provisions of the federal McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law and gave rise to Super PACS, which can raise an unlimited amount of money to influence federal elections as long as they do not directly coordinate with a candidate’s campaign.

But Levin noted that although Congress could not limit political contributions, they could still require Super PACs to disclose their donors.

“We have a bill that would do that, that was filibustered by the Republicans and we could not overcome the filibuster,” he explained.

Watch video, courtesy of Current TV, below:

Sen. Levin would ‘love’ Armed Forces Network to drop Limbaugh

By Eric W. Dolan/Raw Story

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said Wednesday that the Armed Forces Network should drop conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.

“I would hope the people that run it see just how offensive this is and drop it on their own volition,” Levin told CNN.

VoteVets.org, the largest progressive group for American military veterans, is calling on the American Forces Network to stop broadcasting Limbaugh’s show in the wake of his attack on Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke.

“Rush Limbaugh has a freedom of speech and can say what he wants, but in light of his horribly misogynistic comments, American Forces Radio should no longer give him a platform,” they said.

“Our entire military depends on troops respecting each other – women and men. There simply can be no place on military airwaves for sentiments that would undermine that respect. When many of our female troops use birth control, for Limbaugh to say they are ‘sluts’ and ‘prostitutes’ is beyond the pale.”

But a Pentagon spokesman said Monday that the military’s network would continue to air Limbaugh’s program five mornings a week.

Levin thinks Limbaugh should not be broadcast by the military. However, he doesn’t think the decision to drop Limbaugh is something Congress should be involved with.

“I think that is probably an issue that should be left to the folks that run that network,” he said. “In other words, I’d love to see them drop it but I don’t think I’d legislate it.”

Goldman boss denies betting on housing collapse

By Raw Story

Sen. Levin accuses firm of 'trying to sell a shitty deal' to investors

Goldman Sachs denied reaping vast profits from the collapse of the US housing market as its top executive and a star trader faced a grilling Tuesday in Congress over the 2008 financial meltdown.

In angry exchanges before a Senate investigative committee, the storied Wall Street firm was accused of unbridled greed in a crisis that forced thousands of Americans from their homes.

Democratic Senator Carl Levin, the panel's chairman, assailed Goldman as representative of Wall Street's greed, linking them to a raging political fight over the most sweeping financial reforms in a generation.

Accusing Goldman of "trying to sell a shitty deal" to investors, Levin fumed that "as we speak, lobbyists fill the halls of Congress hoping to weaken or kill reforms that would end these abuses.

Newsweek's Michael Hirsh blogs,

Daniel Sparks, the former head of Goldman's mortgage department, repeatedly declined to utter the simple statement that he had acted in the clients' best interests, as did two other Goldman witnesses including Tourre (who took the opportunity to deny all the SEC charges against him). "You knew it was a s--tty deal," Levin told Sparks, repeating again and again a word seldom heard on the record from high public officials. "How much of that s--tty deal did you sell to your clients?"

Sparks refused to say. When Collins asked him whether he felt an obligation to "act in the best interest of your clients," Sparks couldn't answer that directly either. "I had a duty to act in a very straightforward way and very open way with my clients," he responded, prompting gasps of incredulity in the room.

In reporting the exchange, the conservative trash blog Drudge Report linked to a Breitbart video, using an all-caps banner: "DEM POTTY MOUTH: USE S-BOMB 11X IN PUBLIC HEARING."

This video is from C-SPAN 3, broadcast April 27, 2010.