Rainville's Stolen Ideas

While trying to find polling information about the Welch / Rainville race (Vermont race for the house seat left open by Bernie Sanders) I discovered something interesting:

From Martha Rainville's web site, there is the following statement on energy:

"Briefly, I strongly believe that our present system of energy is weakening our national security, hurting our pocketbooks and threatening our children's future."

source: http://www.martharainville.com/issues/issuesTxt.htm

In May, Hillary Clinton delivered the a speech which includes the following comment:

"Our present system of energy is weakening our national security, hurting our pocketbooks, violating our common values and threatening our children's future. "

Source: http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=255982

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Martha Rainville on easy access to the federal budget:

“We need maximum transparency for government. There should be no secrets unless it involves critical aspects of National Security. Every earmark, every grant, every contract should be online so the public can get access to it,” Rainville said. “Letting the American people see exactly how their money is being spent is one of the best ways to control spending and ensure accountability.”

Source: http://www.martharainville.com/articles/budget/accessFedBudget.htm

This was dated September 8th. On August 25th, there was an interview on the PBS show NOW, which included a segment with Representative Jim Cooper (D-TN), which includes this statement by Cooper:

"Absolutely. I think we need maximum transparency for government. There should be no secrets unless it involves certain parts of national security. Every earmark, every grant, every contract should be online so that the public can get access to it. But the key principle is this: sunshine is the best disinfectant. And we need a lot of disinfectant in Washington today."

Source: http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/234.html

Here's the best part about this: notice the grammatical error in Cooper's original comment: "There should be no secrets unless it involves certain parts of national security." (the noun is singular but the verb is plural). Rainville's statement makes that exact same grammatical error-- it's not just a rendering of the same idea. It's cut and pasted from the statment by Cooper.

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Earlier I found these other items on Rainville's health insurance policy:

Press release from Martha Rainville, dated September 17th:

“Our health insurance system is in a crisis,” Rainville said. “Employers face spiraling cost increases for employee health insurance, forcing them to reduce coverage or drop it completely. People switch jobs but their insurance isn’t portable, forcing them to change doctors and coverage or lose it entirely The uninsured show up in our nation’s emergency rooms and leave unpaid bills, so hospitals cost-shift the added burden onto those with insurance. We see a similar problem with Medicare reimbursements that are far below the cost of care.”

Source: http://www.martharainville.com/articles/MedicareReform/healthCareReform.htm

Here's an excerpt from Rick O'Donnell, who's running for congress in Colorado, dated July, 2006:

America's health insurance system is in crisis. More than 10% of 7thCongressional District residents - nearly 150,000 people - lack healthinsurance. Employers face spiraling cost increases for employee health insurance, forcing them to reduce coverage or drop it all together. People switch jobs but their health insurance isn't portable, forcing them to change doctors and coverage or lose it entirely. The uninsured show up in emergency rooms and leave unpaid bills, so hospitals cost-shift by charging more to those with insurance.

Source http://www.rickodonnell.com/healthcare.html