Bonilla, the Self-Dealing War Profiteer

(from commentator Larry Romo)

In early 2002, Bonilla bought (through his spouse), tens of thousands of dollars in stock in defense contractor Alliant Techsystems Inc.

Later In 2002, the House Appropriations Committee designated and Congress voted on and authorized $1.25 billion dollars for Alliant Techsytems, Inc. to provide Army munitions, $94 million more than the Department of Defense requested.

That same year, the Alliant Techsystems, Inc. Employees Political Action Committee (PAC) contributed $1,000 to Bonilla’s congressional campaign, in addition to the $500 he received in 2001.

With his vote in 2002 as a congressman and as a member of the Appropriations Committee, Bonilla boosted the value of his own stock in Alliant Techsystems, Inc., a company that is receiving more defense appropriations as the war in Iraq continues, meaning higher stock values and more money for campaign contributions. This conflict of interest is highly unethical for a public official. Bonilla used his position as a congressman to boost his family personal finances and his campaign.

Documentation:

Bonilla’s 2002 Personal Financial Disclosure: Open Secrets

Alliant Techsystems 2002 Fall Report: University of Iowa Business School

Bonilla’s 2002 Campaign Contribution Report: Federal Election Commission.

Compare Ciro vs. Henry - The Choice is Clear!

Ciro Rodriguez - Rated 100% by the NEA, indicating pro-public education votes.

Henry Bonilla – Rated 33% by the NEA, indicating anti-public education votes.

Ciro Rodriguez - Voted NO on allowing vouchers in DC schools.

Henry Bonilla - Voted YES on allowing vouchers in DC schools.

Ciro Rodriguez - Opposes requiring school prayer.

Henry Bonilla – Supports a Constitutional Amendment for school prayer.

Ciro Rodriguez - Rated 100% by APHA, indicating a pro-public health record.

Henry Bonilla – Rated 11% by APHA, indicating an anti-public health voting record.

Ciro Rodriguez - Voted YES on allowing reimportation of prescription drugs.

Henry Bonilla - Voted NO on allowing reimportation of prescription drugs.

Ciro Rodriguez - Voted NO on forbidding expanded stem cell research.

Henry Bonilla – Voted YES on forbidding expanded stem cell research.

Ciro Rodriguez - Voted NO on federal funding for health providers who refuse to inform women about reproductive health options.

Henry Bonilla - Voted YES on federal funding for health providers who refuse to inform women about reproductive health options.

Ciro Rodriguez - Voted NO on banning Family Planning funding in US aid abroad.

Henry Bonilla – Voted YES on banning Family Planning funding in US aid abroad.

Ciro Rodriguez - Rated 100% by NARAL, indicating a pro-choice voting record.

Henry Bonilla - Rated 0% by NARAL, indicating a pro-life voting record.

Ciro Rodriguez - Rated 100% by the ARA, indicating a pro-senior voting record.

Henry Bonilla - Rated 0% by the ARA, indicating an anti-senior voting record.

Ciro Rodriguez - Voted YES on strengthening the Social Security Lockbox.

Henry Bonilla - Voted NO on strengthening the Social Security Lockbox.

Ciro Rodriguez - Rated 100% by the AFL-CIO, indicating a pro-labor voting record.

Henry Bonilla - Rated 7% by the AFL-CIO, indicating an anti-union voting record.

Ciro Rodriguez - Rated 89% by SANE, indicating a pro-peace voting record.

Henry Bonilla - Rated 11% by SANE, indicating a pro-military voting record.

Ciro Rodriguez - Rated 79% by the ACLU, indicating a pro-civil rights voting record.

Henry Bonilla - Rated 7% by the ACLU, indicating an anti-civil rights voting record.

Ciro Rodriguez - Voted YES on starting implementation of Kyoto Protocol.

Henry Bonilla - Voted NO on starting implementation of Kyoto Protocol.

Ciro Rodriguez - Voted YES on prohibiting oil drilling & development in ANWR.

Henry Bonilla – Voted NO on prohibiting oil drilling & development in ANWR.

Ciro Rodriguez - Voted NO on speeding up approval of forest thinning projects.

Henry Bonilla - Voted YES on speeding up approval of forest thinning projects (Rated 0% by the LCV, indicating anti-environment votes.).

Ciro Rodriguez - Voted YES on banning soft money and issue ads.

Henry Bonilla – Voted NO on banning soft money and issue ads.

Ciro Rodriguez - Voted YES on campaign finance reform banning soft-money contributions.

Henry Bonilla - Voted NO on campaign finance reform banning soft-money contributions (Voted YES on restricting independent grassroots political committees).

Has there ever been an election in a Democratic leaning district where the choice is so clear and yet the race is so close?

For more information, see Ciro on the issues and Henry on the issues.

Ciro Rodriguez On the Issues

Ciro Rodriguez is rated 100% by the NEA, indicating a pro-public education voting record, and he voted against the school voucher program which will bleed money from the public schools and for reducing class size in grades 1 to 3.

Ciro is rated 100% by APHA, indicating a pro-public health record, and he has voted for more federal funding for health coverage, against the Prescription Drug Coverage boondoggle for international pharmaceutical corporations, for allowing reimportation of safe prescription drugs from Canada, and against arbitrarily capping damages in lawsuits involving hospital and nursing home negligence.

Ciro is rated 100% by the ARA, indicating a pro-senior voting record, and he voted against privatizing Social Security and in favor of strengthening the Social Security Lockbox.

Ciro is rated 100% by NARAL, indicating a pro-choice voting record.

Ciro is rated 89% by SANE, indicating a pro-peace voting record.

Ciro is rated 0% by the xenophobes at FAIR, indicating he favors a non-punitive immigration policy, and he voted for extending Immigrant Residency rules, and against reporting illegal aliens who receive hospital treatment.

Ciro has fought against discrimination and voted for a Constitutional Amendment for equal rights by gender and voted against ending affirmative action in college admissions.

Ciro believes a person's sexual orientation should not be the basis for limiting his or her civil rights, and he voted for more funding and stricter sentencing for hate crimes and against the Constitutional Amendment banning civil unions.

Ciro stands for the freedom of religion balanced against the freedom from unwanted religious interference with the state, and he voted against requiring school prayer.

Ciro voted for a moratorium on the death penalty, for requiring DNA testing for all federal executions, against the Mandatory Three Strikes sentencing laws, against harsher prosecution and sentencing for juvenile crime, and for alternative sentencing instead of more prisons.

Ciro voted against eliminating the Estate Tax for the ultra-wealthy, against making the Bush tax cuts for the rich permanent, and for ending offshore tax havens for corporate tax cheats.

Ciro voted against "Fast Track" authority for trade agreements, against withdrawing from the WTO, against implementing the US-Singapore trade agreement, against implementing the trade agreement with Chile, and for linking human rights to trade with China.

See On The Issues: Ciro Rodriguez.

Henry Bonilla Cheats Minorities

In 1999, Henry Bonilla took over an independent Political Action Committee known as the American Dream PAC. Bonilla promised to "give significant, direct financial assistance" to minority political candidates.

Under the first four years of Bonilla's supervision over the American Dream PAC, Bonilla collected $550,000.00 to fulfill his promise to help fund minority political candidates, but Bonilla gave less than $50,000 to minority candidates seeking public office. Bonilla used less than 9% of the funds collected to serve the interests which Bonilla promised to serve.

Instead, Bonilla used over twice as much money collected by this supposedly "independent" Political Action Committee (more than $100,000.00) to pay off partisan Republican Party organizations and causes, including corrupt Republican Tom DeLay's criminal defense fund. This is the same Tom DeLay who violated the Voting Rights Act to illegally gerrymander Bonilla's congressional district in a failed attempt to dilute the votes of over 100,000 Latino voters in Bonilla's district. Even the Republican-dominated Supreme Court had to reject Bonilla's gerrymandered district because DeLay and Bonilla "took away the Latinos' opportunity because Latinos were about to exercise it" against Bonilla.

Bonilla said that his corrupt PAC gave only small donations to the minority political candidates he pledged to support because he couldn't find "good, solid minority candidates to expend the funds on. We tried to be judicious and not just throw money out the window." Bonilla did not comment on why he considered fulfilling his promise to fund minority candidates throwing "money out the window" while he didn't consider giving away those funds to Tom DeLay's criminal defense fund throwing money out the window.

In 2003, Bonilla's committee treasurer pleaded guilty in a San Antonio federal court to embezzling $119,021 of the funds collected for promising minority candidates, and she was sentenced to 15 months in prison. Due to lax oversight, Bonilla did not discover this theft for over four years, and even Bonilla had to admit that this "was a black mark on my judgment."

Henry Bonilla, with his record of broken promises and corruption, must be stopped!