Mac Don't Like Jay Kim
American Politics Journal includes a 1997 article by Mac MacArthur on then-Congressman Jay Kim, my former Congressman who was convicted of receiving illegal campaign contributions. Defeated in 1998 and 2000, he has apparently disappeared from the face of the earth.
Mac MacArthur was mad that Kim didn't resign his office immediately. Mac ended up taking a Jay Kim biography and annotating it. His annotations are in ALL CAPS; not good Internet practice, but it probably suitably demonstrates Mac's disgust at the whole affair.
These are but small excerpts from the complete annotated biography.
...When Jay Kim took on the well-established, local political names of California's 41st Congressional district for his seat in the U. S. House of Representatives in 1992, most thought it was an impossible task. Betting against the odds AND USING CHIPS PROVIDED BY HIS KOREAN CORPORATE PALS, Jay entered the race and came away with a stunning and historic victory, making him the only Korean-American ever elected to Congress. STUNNING, INDEED -- TO THE COMPANIES THAT HAD TO PAY THE BILL FOR HIS CAMPAIGN....
...Working under the motto: "Hard work pays off," Jay quickly caught the eye of the Republican Party Leadership AND STEALTH FUND-RAISERS NEWT GINGRICH AND HALEY BARBOUR and was tapped to address the Republican National Convention in 1992 SO HE COULD PROJECT TO KOREAN-BASED CORPORATIONS THAT THE GOP LEADERSHIP WOULD DO THEM FAVORS IN EXCHANGE FOR BIG SOFT, HARD AND ILLEGAL DONATIONS TO KIM -- AND PERHAPS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ITSELF....
...Jay's rapidly growing reputation also cast him into the national media spotlight. Time magazine profiled candidate Kim as one of the political "outsiders", who was a "new broom to sweep a dirty Congress clean." WE'RE ROLLING ON THE FLOOR OVER THIS ONE....
...Jay has gone about winning the respect of both his Democrat and Republican colleagues -- YEAH RIGHT -- through his no-nonsense approach to the legislative process. THAT'S RIGHT -- GIVE ME THE CASH, I'LL GIVE YOU MY VOTE -- NOW THAT'S "NO-NONSENSE" PERSONIFIED!...
It takes something like this for an incumbent Congressperson to fail to win re-election. Or perhaps a goofy photo.
Some of you may have heard of Senator Ron Wyden from Oregon. Back in 1980, Wyden was a nobody, trying to defeat an incumbent Congressman. As part of his campaign strategy, he took an advertisement out in Reed College's student newspaper, talking about how he would make a difference for students at Reed.
The goal was to energize Reed students, who pride themselves on rejecting status quo type politicians. Any college with a "Reds for Reagan" outlet can be counted upon to reject status quo with a passion.
Unfortunately, something else happened to Wyden's ad. The ad featured a smiling, clean-shaven picture of Ron, which became the source material for a "Draw Ronnie" contest. The "Draw Ronnie" contest encouraged participants to add elements to the Ronnie picture - fake mustaches, glasses, what have you. I haven't found the classical Greek justification for this contest, but I'm sure it's there.
Unfortunately, there wasn't a "Draw Jay" contest in 1998. There are only so many ways to draw vertical bars.
Well, Jay Kim was not actually behind bars:
Sentenced to a year's probation by a federal court, Kim holds the distinction of being the only member of Congress to have sported a monitoring device shackled to his ankle, giving new meaning to the phrase "serving in Congress."
Slate (specifically, the late Scott Shuger) also had fun with this:
The Post and LAT report that Rep. Jay Kim, who pleaded guilty to knowingly accepting $230,000 in illegal foreign and corporate campaign contributions, was sentenced yesterday to a year of probation, a $5,000 fine and two months of home confinement, to be implemented by an electronic monitoring device. Since, as the papers point out, the federal program allows monitorees to go to and from work, look for Kim to be inundated with arduous meetings from early morning till late at night. Many of them in fine restaurants. Many of them with...contributors.
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