American Politics Journal -- Let's Make Sure That Love Conquers Armey (Steve Love, That Is)



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Let's Make Sure That Love Conquers Armey (Steve Love, That Is)
by Tamara Baker

Dec. 28, 1999 -- ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA (APJNS) -- Here's a web site for your delectation: House of Crooks. It's all about that wonderful piece of Texas hypocrisy known as Dick Armey.

You remember him?

He's the one who told pupils at a school in Texas, after Judge Wright threw out Paula Jones' lawsuit against President Bill Clinton, that "If it were me that had documented personal conduct along the lines of the President's, I would be so filled with shame that I would resign. This President won't do that. His basic credo in life is 'I will do whatever I can get away with'. I believe that he is a shameless person".

Guess what, boys and girls?

While he was a professor of economics at North Texas University, Dick Armey is alleged to have made the lives of several of his female students pure sexual hell.

Here's what the website has to say:

According to Susan White, a graduate student at North Texas in the mid-1970s, Armey often flirted with undergraduate women before and after class. Two other economics graduate students, one an economics professor and the other an economist for the New Mexico legislature, confirm her statements. Armey's advances were strong enough that they caused one graduate student, Anna Weninger, to leave the university. She stated that his behavior was inappropriate, but could not remember the details of what Armey said/did. Her story is confirmed by two other sources: her mother, who said her daughter left school because of problems with a Professor Armey (and almost didn't go back), and Professor Cochran of the economics department. Cochran, then chairman of the department, told the Dallas Observer that he was approached by another professor who stated Weninger had left due to Armey. Cochran called Weninger and persuaded her to return to the university after he promised to personally supervise her master's thesis, which would reduce any pressure she felt studying under Armey. Weineger agreed and returned, graduating with her masters in 1979.
For more information on this and other details of Armey's life at the North Texas University, click on this link to the Dallas Observer story.

But wait! There's more!

Think that former Econ Professor Armey is looking out for the little guy? Think again. Here's a quote from him at the House of Crooks website:

"The American dream is not owning your own home; it's getting your children out of it". -- A statement made by Armey when asked if he felt his tax plan (which would harm the middle and lower classes) would harm the American dream of owning their own home.

Armey of course favors tax cuts for the rich and increases in corporate welfare for the rich, a recipe for huge deficits. (Of course, as an economics professor, Dick Armey knows that huge national debts favor the rich, because paying the interest on the debt takes money out of the pockets of the Democratic middle and lower classes, and gives it to the holders of Treasury bills, who are predominantly Republican.)

Needless to say, he's also, like most GOPers, strenuously against any sort of campaign finance reform, even the cosmetic Potemkin reforms of John McCain. He even said that he wanted CFR "out of my life by July 4th" of 1998.

In the meantime, he uses the power of his office as a bludegon to force various corporations and enterprises to render up money only to Republicans:

In 1995, Armey mailed a letter to 82 companies on his U.S. House of Representatives stationary, accusing them of giving to groups that further the agenda of the welfare state. Armey took corporations like Anheuser-Busch (hardly a liberal corporation) to task for donating money to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which works on issues relating to immigration (evidently a liberal cause) Other groups featured include such infamous leftist groups as the American Cancer Society (because they favor government regulation of tobacco (higher taxes)). The American Lung Association is on the list because it backs restrictions on burning hazardous waste, which does extensive damage to lungs. Who should these companies give money to, in the world of Armey? According to the author of the study that compiled these 82 corporations for Armey, they should give to organizations like the far right wing think tank the Heritage Foundation. This is not because they run, say, a soup kitchen (they don't), but because "they believe in wage in a war on ideas", according to Stuart Nolen, the author of the study.
This letter was evidently part of a larger plan to "defund the left". Congressional Republicans attempted to cut funding to many groups that lobby for liberal social programs. This effort is called "defunding the left" by conservatives. A GOP strategist and Gingrich advisor stated "We will hunt [these liberal groups] down one by one and extinguish their funding sources. With control over Congress and the White House, it's all over. We will go back and sue people who broke the law, who were ripping off taxpayers to do political work,". This particular aspect of the "grand plan" was coordinated in part by Dick Armey staffer Virginia Thomas, the highly conservative wife of Clarence Thomas. Virginia Thomas recently went on to work at the Heritage Foundation. The plan to "defund the left" spreads itself outside of Congress also. Groups such as the Alliance Defense Fund provide financial backings for lawsuits ranging from anti-homosexual lawsuits to defunding political groups at state schools.

Let me get this straight: Al Gore may have made a few phone calls to prospective donors from inside the White House, and GOP and their media shills want him hung over that.

But Dick Armey writes 82 letters on House stationery, letters that amount to the equivalent of a Mob boss warning shopkeepers to pay him protection money "or else" -- and the national media is essentially silent in comparison.

I mean, really: How low do you have to be to verbally mug the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association, simply because they back healthy, non-polluted environments and your chief contributors are the very ones who made the Great State of Texas a toxic-waste cesspool?

How long, O Lord, How Long must we put up with Dick Armey in the House of Representatives?

Only until November of 2000, if Steve Love has his way.

Mr. Love is running against Dick Armey on the Democratic ticket. Here's a portion of his bio:

Steve spent 18 years in the active clergy, three of those years in the Campus Ministry, where part of his responsibility was teaching World Religions. His last nine years in the clergy were spent in East Dallas where; besides his regular pastoral duties, he was involved in working with Senior Citizens of Greater Dallas, Inc.; performing individual, marriage and family therapy and abortion counseling, overseeing The Rack, a used clothing resale shop, supporting The Boy Scouts and running a printing operation. He also served as Dallas County Chairman of the Committee on Aging; was Area Representative for Yokefellow, Inc.; the Association of Couples for Marriage Enrichment; and was a member of the Fair Campaign Practices Committee. In 1970 he was raised to a Master Mason, joined the Hella Shrine and Scottish Rite. He has volunteered in several local and state political campaigns. After leaving the active clergy, Steve has been involved in a number of exciting and challenging vocations including licensed Real Estate agent; home remodeling, repair and construction contractor; screen process printer, paralegal and mediator for a family law attorney; bookkeeper, and volunteer mediators with the Dispute Mediation Service of Dallas, Inc. Presently, Steve is an Adjunct Instructor in the Business Department at Brookhaven Community College, works part-time for the Stemmons Corridor Business Association, continues to volunteer his computer services to Texas Scottish Rite Hospital and maintains his membership in the Masonic bodies. Steve and Linda are members of First United Methodist Church in Dallas and the North Texas Water Garden Society. Steve is a student of military, religious, economic and political history; a pilot; sailor; gun owner; woodworker; carpenter; gardener and pond builder.

Former preacher, dispute mediator, churchgoer, volunteer of the sort of work that actually helps the poor, and well-versed in economics to boot.