Steve Kagen’s Terrible Two Weeks

U.S. Rep. Steve Kagen (WI-8) should have had a great last two weeks. He was just sworn in as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives as part of a new Democratic majority. He had several positive news stories ready to go, give him some momentum. Instead, he stumbles right out of the box, one blunder after another.

First it was publicly minimizing a signature Democratic campaign promise – the minimum wage hike. A January 3rd Associated Press article reported:

Rep.-elect Steve Kagen said Wednesday that Democrats must do more to help working Americans than raise the minimum wage, one of their top early priorities upon taking over Congress. Kagen, a Democrat, is Wisconsin’s only new member of Congress this year. On the eve of being sworn in Thursday, he said he’d like to see a minimum wage increase coupled with other steps.
Democrats are proposing to raise the federal hourly minimum wage to $7.25 from $5.15, the first increase since 1997. Kagen said that would help only an estimated 4 percent of the work force. “The assistance to people is going to be marginal,” he said.

The day before his swearing in, and he’s saying that one of the most important parts of the new Speaker’s 100 Hour Agenda is not going to help folks?

What’s more, last fall this is EXACTLY what Governor Doyle’s campaign attacked Congressman Green for saying. This Doyle campaign press release is typical:

Governor Jim Doyle and U.S. Senator Russ Feingold today highlighted a key difference in the race for Governor: the minimum wage. … Congressman Green has said the minimum wage is “an irrelevant issue,” suggesting that not many people would be helped. [Source: Green Bay Press-Gazette, 12/12/99]

Incidentally, that’s pretty much what Rep. Kagen said calling it “marginal” and exposing that it would only affect 4% of working folks.

From there, he gets sworn in and gives his maiden speech to the House, a nice moment with nice coverage. What better headline could a politician ask for than “Kagen calls for fiscal discipline in first speech.” At the same time he gets another nice committee assignment important to the district, and nice news coverage.

But the magic died quick when Kagen stumbled into a national political blunder. For those who thought “Injun time” was a unique incident that would never happen again, think again. He told a meeting of local peace activists, including the managing editor of the Appleton-area alternative newspaper “The Scene,” an anecdote about the time he insulted the First Lady at a White House welcoming reception.

Through an anonymous spokesman, the White House labeled Kagen’s account, as reported in The Scene, “ridiculous.” Thus, the story entered the mainstream local media on Jan. 11, including the blogosphere, talk radio, and the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Appleton Post-Crescent, and Oshkosh Northwestern.

So then the story went national – the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, National Journal’s Hotline, and Rush Limbaugh.

Then in today’s papers the White House went on the record to reiterate the denials, sparking another round of stories. Basically, the White House called the Congressman a liar. Kagen now refuses to comment. Inevitably the tape recording of the event reported in the newspapers will get out, providing another day of play for talk radio.

If the incident at the White House did in fact happen, then Congressman Kagen was a jerk to the First Lady, and he also blundered in sharing the anecdote publicly, particularly with a reporter in the room. If the incident did not happen, then he propogated a lie, and a jerk to even think up such a lie.

Then more news this morning. The Food and Drug Administration has accused Dr. Kagen of running an illegal unlicensed pharma factory out of his clinic. The Associated Press reports:

Federal health officials have warned freshman Rep. Steve Kagen that his Wisconsin allergy practice is in apparent violation of federal law for manufacturing and selling allergy shots without a valid license.
According to a letter sent to Kagen by the Food and Drug Administration, Kagen manufactured a variety of ragweed and grass allergen vaccines from commercially distributed pollen and sold the shots to patients at his clinic and in at least 24 other states.

There are three problems here. First is the obvious: The Congressman from the Eighth is under federal investigation for running an illegal factory of unlicensed drugs for interstate distribution. If he is prosecuted and convicted of violating 42 United States Code 262, he could be sentenced to a year imprisonment.

The second is the national problem that the House Democrats just passed, to great fanfare, a series of bills that Kagen makes them look bad on. First and most obvious is a new ethics package. The International Herald Tribune:

House Democrats got a head start Thursday by working on a tougher congressional ethics code aimed at ending what they called a “culture of corruption” in the previous Congress.

The House Dems passed their ethics rules earlier this week and Senate Democrats are working on theirs this coming week. So as all the media nationwide is talking about how the Democratic majority is getting tough on Congressional ethics, a story breaks that a Democrat Congressman is under federal investigation?

To make matters even better, Friday to great fanfare the Democratic majority in the House passed a bill regarding prescription drugs, amidst hot rhetoric about fighting the big drug companies. And who did the Democratic majority send to brief the national press corps on the bill? Dr. Kagen. Then Saturday we find out Congressman Kagen is running an unlicensed pharma factory out of his clinic. Running your own personal lab and factory isn’t what the Dems meant by “fighting the big drug companies,” right?

As though that’s not enough, what other issue did Dems take up this week? Medical (stem cell) research. Who got on C-Span to give a floor address touting how he, an experienced medical doctor, knew we needed to pass the bill? Congressman Kagen. How much credibility can one assign an MD who is under investigation by health officials?

No wonder the story ran in all the national papers: St. Paul, Seattle, New York, Los Angeles, San Fran, Houston, Kansas City, Cleveland, Washington DC, and dozens more. In three direct way – the 100 hour agenda bills on ethics, prescription drugs, and stem cells – it made the Democrat message a hypocritical joke.

The third is the act of political malpractice that was committed by the Congressman and his staff. WHY DID THEY HIDE THIS STORY?

According to the AP, “The FDA letter to Kagen was dated December 18th but wasn’t posted online until January 11th.” The Kagen camp had to know the story would get out – if the letter was posted online it’s a matter of public record, and the NRCC and the AP have people who sit around all day putting prominent officials’ names through search engines. They had to know it would come out.

So why not release it on Friday, December 23rd? Friday afternoon is the normal time to dump bad news; the Friday before a Christmas holiday weekend only comes around once several years. Release the FDA’s letter [which you can read online], a letter from Kagen’s lawyer back to the FDA explaining Kagen’s position, and a brief personal statement. It runs in the paper on Saturday Christmas Eve and is never heard of again. If that’s too fast, release it after Christmas before New Year’s while the nation is so focused on President Ford’s death it misses that John Edwards announced for President. Do it before he’s even sworn in. Control the story, contextualize the letter, and let it die with no one watching. Then settle with the FDA as soon as possible for an amount so small it’s less than a slap on the wrist.

Instead, the Kagen camp sits on the letter for three weeks, lets the press discover it themselves (adding the cover-up factor), and makes it a major state and minor national story two weeks into the new session. Because it is a sitting Congressman not a Congressman-elect it gets more play and totally takes the wind out of Kagen’s sails his first month in office (if the jab at the First Lady wasn’t sufficient).

The first two weeks of Steve Kagen’s time in Congress have been an utter disaster. And he can only blame himself. We’ll see if the doctor in the House becomes a poison pill for the Democrats.

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