Elections

Utah Sen. Robert Bennett Loses Re-election Bid

He is denied renomination at the state GOP convention, an early congressional casualty in a turbulent election season.
By Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times

May 9, 2010

Utah Sen. Robert F. Bennett was defeated Saturday in his bid for reelection, making the three-term Republican lawmaker the first congressional incumbent to fall in this angry election season.

Bennett, who upset many conservative activists with his willingness to work across party lines, became the first Utah senator denied renomination in 70 years. More broadly, his defeat at the state GOP convention made him a symbol of the festering anti-Washington, anti-establishment sentiment coursing through the country.

“He’s had his chance,” said Nick Whitehead, 17, a volunteer who greeted delegates at the downtown convention center with a giant placard touting businessman Tim Bridgewater, one of two Bennett rivals to advance to a June runoff. “It’s time for new blood.”

Bennett, 76, whose father served four terms in the Senate, was not particularly unpopular among the bulk of Utah Republicans. He fell victim, however, to the state’s unusual nomination process, which placed the choice in the hands of the most conservative — and most agitated — activists in one of the reddest states in the country.

A tearful Bennett told reporters there was not much he would have done differently. “The political atmosphere, obviously, has been toxic, and it’s very clear some of the votes that I have cast have added to the toxic environment,” he said. “Looking back on them, with one or two very minor exceptions, I wouldn’t have cast them any differently, even if I’d known at the time it would cost me my career.”

A conservative by most yardsticks, Bennett ran afoul of many “tea party” acolytes and grass-roots Republicans by supporting the 2008 Wall Street bailout — which he deemed necessary to save the economy — and by working with Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon on a healthcare bill that would have required Americans to purchase insurance. The provision was similar to the plan President Obama signed into law over the opposition of Bennett and every other Republican member of Congress.

Bennett also antagonized many by breaking his pledge to serve just two terms in Washington — though he managed to win reelection in 2004 without GOP opposition.

Under the nominating system, the field of candidates was culled to three in the first round of balloting Saturday. Bennett survived that initial vote and made one final plea to the nearly 3,500 delegates before they cast ballots a second time.

The question, Bennett said, was which one of the finalists could most effectively thwart President Obama and the Democratic leaders in Congress. “Don’t take a chance on a newcomer,” the senator fairly shouted. “Keep a veteran on the floor when you’re playing the championship game, because there’s too much at stake to try things with a rookie.”

But convention delegate Argie Shumway, like many, dismissed the importance of seniority, which Bennett made the centerpiece of his campaign.

“We want principled senators in there, even if they’re freshman senators,” said Shumway, 70, a retired flight attendant from Provo, who supported attorney Mike Lee.

After a third round of balloting, neither Bridgewater nor Lee emerged with the 60% needed to win the nomination outright. Their runoff on June 22 will be decided by GOP voters statewide. Given the party’s overwhelming advantage in Utah, Republicans are expected to hold onto Bennett’s seat regardless of who runs in November.

mark.barabak@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

Palm Beach ‘meltdown mogul’ billionaire to file as Democrat for U.S. Senate race

By George Bennett of the Palm Beach Post News

Just in case Florida’s U.S. Senate race wasn’t interesting enough, Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene plans to file papers this morning to enter the contest as a Democrat.

Greene, 55, rose from middle-class origins to make millions investing in real estate. Then he made hundreds of millions by betting that the real estate bubble would burst and investing in credit-default swaps. He established himself in Palm Beach last year by plunking down $24 million for La Bellucia on South Ocean Boulevard, where he lives with his wife and infant son.

Greene was rumored to be considering an independent bid for Senate before Gov. Charlie Crist beat him to it, dropping his failing Republican primary campaign and rebranding himself Thursday as a no-party candidate.

In a campaign video to be released this morning, Greene appeals to voters who are “fed up” and “frustrated” with Washington. He pledges to focus on creating jobs, cutting taxes for small businesses, investing in innovation and green technology and ending U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

“I am an outsider, the only candidate who isn’t a career politician. I’ve succeeded in the real world of hard work — the others have only succeeded at running for political office after office,” Greene said in a prepared statement.

If he’s willing to tap into his wealth, Greene could become a factor in a Democratic primary race that so far has been dominated by Miami U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, although former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre, and Kevin Burns, of North Miami, and Glenn Burkett, of Naples, also have qualified for the race. In a Quinnipiac University poll this month, 61 percent of Democrats and 73 percent of all respondents said they didn’t know enough about Meek to form an opinion.

Greene is pledging to refuse campaign contributions from “special interests” and to limit individual donations to $100.

He’s anticipating criticism involving his reputation as a “Meltdown Mogul” who got rich off of the foreclosure crisis.

In a one-page prebuttal statement, Greene says there’s a “big difference between what I did and what Wall Street did. What Wall Street did was wrong – they were motivated by greed and tried to win either way. That’s why I’m a strong supporter of President Obama’s efforts to reform our financial regulatory system.”

Greene said he made investments to protect any drop in his real estate assets. “Never did I imagine that the subprime mortgage market would implode, and I would make hundreds of millions of dollars.”

In his introductory campaign video, Greene also says he expects to be attacked “for my friends and my past when I was single. Some of it’s true but none of it matters.”

Troubled former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was the best man at Greene’s 2007 wedding and, according to a Forbes magazine profile, “Hollywood Madam” Heidi Fleiss was once a yearlong houseguest of Greene’s after she served prison time. Greene told Forbes “we weren’t dating….She’s a nice girl. I’ve had her over to Passover dinner with my mom.”

Greene’s 83-year-old mother lives in Century Village of West Palm Beach. Greene grew up in Massachusetts and recently lived in California, but says his ties to Florida go back to 1970.

In a recent Palm Beach Post interview, Greene said he left a summer busboy’s job at The Breakers in 1973 for a telemarketing job in West Palm Beach and over the next four years was able to sock away more than $100,000 while working during vacations from his studies at Johns Hopkins University.

‘Greeter’ becomes face of fight vs. Wal-Mart

AP
By PAUL ELIAS, Associated Press Writer – Sat May 1, 2:47 pm ET

PITTSBURG, Calif. – As a “greeter,” the cheerful Betty Dukes is one of the first employees customers usually see as they walk through the front doors of the Wal-Mart store here.

As the first “named plaintiff” in Dukes v. Wal-Mart, the ordained Baptist minister also is the face of the largest gender bias class action lawsuit in U.S. history — one that could cost the world’s largest private employer billions.

Her dual roles have turned her into a civil rights crusader for the company’s many critics, who have dubbed the legal battle “Betty v. Goliath.” It is a far cry from where Dukes expected to be when she enthusiastically accepted an offer in 1994 to work the cash registers part-time for $5 an hour. She dreamed of turning around a hard life by advancing, through work and determination, into Wal-Mart corporate management.

“I was focused on Wal-Mart’s aggressive customer service,” Dukes said in an interview during her lunch break, after first saying grace over a meal of fast-food hamburgers and chicken nuggets. “I wanted to advance. I wanted to make that money.”

But by 1999, her plans were in tatters. Several years of little advancement and frustration with her role culminated with an ugly spat with managers that resulted in a humiliating demotion and a pay cut, she said.

That also became the genesis of the federal class action lawsuit U.S. District Court Judge Martin Jenkins called “historic” while he was handling the case. On Monday, the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld Jenkins’ decision allowing the case to go to trial as a class action on behalf of as many as 1 million former and current female Wal-Mart employees.

Jenkins has since stepped down from the federal bench and the case will now be handled by U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker, who is also deciding another high-profile case, the legality of California’s voter-approved ban of same-sex marriages.

Dukes’ lawsuit alleges Wal-Mart is violating the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which made it illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of race, creed or gender. Dukes alleges that Wal-Mart systemically pays women less than their male counterparts and promotes men to higher positions at faster rates than women.

The Bentonville, Ark. retailer denies the accusations and argues that if there are any instances of discrimination they are isolated, and not an overarching company policy. Wal-Mart says any such cases should be handled as individual lawsuits, not as a class action.

The retailer has fiercely fought the lawsuit since it was first filed in federal court in San Francisco in 2001 and said it would appeal the most recent decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The incident that sparked the epic legal battle began while Dukes served as a customer service manager.

Dukes, 60, needed change to make a small purchase during her break. She asked a colleague to open a cash register with a one-cent transaction, which she claims was a common practice.

Nevertheless, she was demoted for misconduct. She complained to a manager that the punishment was too severe and part of a long campaign of discrimination that began almost as soon as she started working for Wal-Mart in this blue-collar city of about 100,000, some 45 miles east of San Francisco.

She believed the reprimand was partially motivated by race. She’s black and the managers were white.

When those complaints were ignored, Dukes sought legal advice.

She ended up being represented by Brad Seligman, an attorney had who launched The Impact Fund, a legal nonprofit, in 1992.

Seligman said he asked Dukes to serve as lead plaintiff in what would become a vast class action because of her strong personality.

“I’m somewhat in awe of her, particularly that she has managed to work at Wal-Mart for all these years,” Seligman said. “It is extraordinary difficult to find someone who wants to risk their jobs by filing a lawsuit against their employer.”

Seligman and other attorneys told Dukes that she wasn’t alone, that many other women had similar complaints. They said they would like to use her and five other former and current Wal-Mart employees to file the class action lawsuit.

“My jaw fell open,” Dukes said when told of the other complaining women. “I thought I was by myself.”

That was nine years ago. And with Wal-Mart insisting the lawsuit is without merit and vowing to continue its fight, it appears the litigation has more years to go.

Dukes is undeterred by that prospect and sanguine about the outcome.

“It’s a very courageous thing for a person to do, to stick with it over such a long period of time,” said Marcia Greenberger, founder of the Washington D.C. advocacy group National Women’s Law Center. “The individuals who step forward pay a very big price to be willing to tell their stories and to hold their records up to public scrutiny.”

The center has filed a “friend of the court” brief supporting the Dukes lawsuit, as have the NAACP and Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has also filed a brief supporting the lawsuit.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other organizations, fearful that a ruling in Dukes’ favor will expose other companies to costly lawsuits, have filed briefs urging dismissal of the complaint.

Ms. Magazine named her one of its “Women of the Year” for 2004, the same year Liz Featherstone’s book “Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers’ Rights at Wal-Mart” was published. Featherstone has compared Dukes to Rosa Parks, the civil rights crusader.

“I am very grateful that I’m on this platform,” Dukes said. “In this life, you have to stand up or be trampled.”

She leans heavily on her faith, believing she has God on her side and that she’s been called upon to fight for others.

Through it all, Dukes has remained humble, saying she lives with her mother because she can’t afford a place of her own on her $15.23 an hour salary.

“There are times that I can’t afford my lunch,” she said, wrapping her chicken nuggets in a napkin for later. “But I’m still blessed.”

She’s guarded about her past life, vaguely saying she has faced “many tsunamis.” Dukes mother moved the family from their native Louisiana to California 50 years ago. Dukes was married briefly but is single today and childless.

She preaches often at her church on Sunday and said that fellow employees often approach her for spiritual counseling. She slipped into preacher mode when asked about Betty versus Goliath characterization.

“David had five stones but only need one,” she said, comparing the biblical victory to the single lawsuit that she hopes will be decided in favor of Wal-Mart’s women employees.

Dukes said that there have been few problems with managers and co-workers since the lawsuit was filed in 2001. She said the work atmosphere gets a “little chilly” after courtroom victories are reported in the media.

Seligman, her lawyer, said her involvement in the lawsuit may even have benefited her.

“It seems like that at every pivotal moment in the litigation,” Seligman said, “Betty gets a raise.”