The funding of the Rainville campaign from scandal-ridden Republican power brokers in Washington only becomes clearer with ongoing revelations of a coverup from the GOP House Leadership in the Mark Foley congressional page scandal.

First, Rep John Shimkus (R-IL), head of the Congressional Page Program (who sat on the Foley concerns and did NOT inform fellow page board members of the issue). From KSDK in Illinois:

Since the scandal broke last week, there have been calls for Shimkus to be fired from his role as Chair of the House Page Program.

Shimkus says he will not be forced out by what he calls “false accusations” and “the politics of personal destruction.”

“I think we’ve improved the program,” says Shimkus.

Contributions to Martha Rainville by Shimkus’ “John S Fund”: $1000.00 (03/31/2006)

Second, Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY), chair of the NRCC. From WaPo:

With his statement, Reynolds, who is locked in a difficult reelection campaign, signaled he was unwilling to take the fall alone amid partisan attacks that were becoming increasingly vituperative. The Democratic National Committee yesterday issued a statement asking “Why Did Tom Reynolds Cover Up Congressman’s Sex Crimes?” It continued: “While the shocking [online] exchanges produced an immediate uproar that cost Congressman Foley his job, at least one member of the House Republican leadership had known about the situation for months and did nothing about it: . . . Reynolds.”

Contributions to Martha Rainville from Reynolds’ “TOMPAC”: $5000 (03/31/2006)

Do we really want our US Representative beholden to these people?

Tommy Douglas the NDP premier of Saskatchewan introduced a single payer health care system into that small (by population) rural and agricultural province.  The doctors initially opposed the program and went on strike in 1962.  The strike failed when a little girl died because of it.

The minority liberal government of Lester Pearson soon thereafter introduced medicare nationally with the support of the NDP now led by Tommy Douglas.

The Canadian health care system is viewed by the overwheming majority of Canadians as one of the country’s crown jewels.

Recently, Canadians voted Tommy Douglas the greatest Canadian of all time beating out Banting and Best (insulin)Trudeau, Pearson and even Wayne Gretzky. 

When Vermont introduces a single payer health care system, this small, agricultural, and rural state will once again lead the nation and I can only hope that Scudder Parker will be our Tommy Douglas.

Two quick items: First, Scudder Parker is currently introducing himself to the Daily Kos crowd. His diary has made the recommended list and is drawing comments (and contributions?) from around the country. Go have a look see and drop a comment.

Second, the Caledonian (Broken) Record is currently running an online poll for US Congress. This is the flagship paper of the angry right in Vermont, so it’s not Peter Welch’s crowd. Nevertheless, he is holding his own and is only a bit behind Martha Rainville (224 to 198) at posting time. Go help him out with a vote, and spread the word. [UPDATE: When I posted this, Rainville was around 30 points up in the online poll, and I now wake up to Welch being almost 50 points up….nice work folks. Keep it coming – this poll is up for an unspecified amount of this whole week (wonder if they’ll pull it the second Rainville gets ahead again, if that even happens)]