House investigating Sec. of Transportation Elaine Chao

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Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and her father, James Chao.

ASAM NEWS

A House committee suspects Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao of making decisions to benefit her family’s own business interest.
The House Oversight Committee launched its investigation Monday following reports from both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times about potential conflicts.

“The Committee is investigating several allegations relating to your service as Secretary of Transportation, including troubling questions about whether you are using your office to benefit yourself or your family,” read a letter from the committee’s leadership.

Chao, 66, is accused of making decisions in her official government capacity to benefit her family’s shipping company, Foremost Group, to “increase its influence and status with the Chinese government,” including by sitting for interviews with Chinese media outlets where she appeared to represent both the U.S. government and Foremost Group. China has reportedly provided hundreds of millions of dollars in low-interest loans to the company.

She also faces allegations of initially failing to divest her shares in the Vulcan Materials, a company which received significant funding from the Transportation Department.

Additionally, in June, reports emerged that Chao, the highest-ranking Asian American in the Donald Trump administration, was using her office to bolster projects benefiting her husband, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in his home state of Kentucky.

The Transportation Department issued a statement defending Chao, saying “Media attacks targeting the secretary’s family are stale and only attempt to undermine her long career of public service.”

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill, who sits on the committee, said Tuesday that Chao's actions are part of a problematic pattern within the administration.

"Unfortunately, there's a pattern in the Trump administration where Cabinet official after Cabinet official appears to be using their public office oftentimes for private gain. And that's the concern here as well," he told CNN's Kate Bolduan

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Candidate remains blind to racial namecalling resorts to racist namecalling to energize his base

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A scene from a Don Blankenship commercial.

USUALLY I TRY TO IGNORE individuals who are out-and-out racists -- because it's a waste of time and energy trying to change their views -- but, when that person is running for U.S. Senate, it's pretty hard to ignore him.

Candidate Don Blankenship is one of these people who have come out of the woodwork because Donald Trump's racist rants have emboldened them to no longer hide their views. He is one of three Republicans running for the U.S. Senate to represent West Virginia

I've met exactly two people from West Virginia and I have to say that I've been pretty impressed, but just like those two people can't represent the whole state, Blankenship can't -- I fervently hope -- represent the good people of that state.

Now, I'm not a fan of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel -- far from it, his complicity in the enabling of Donald Trump's views, especially on immigration issues makes him part of the government swamp and why Congress has not been able to do anything on immigration. However, Blackenship's desperate attacks on the incumbent's family -- because his wife is Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, should have remained in the gutter from whence it came.

As reported in AsAm News:

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Don Blankenship escalated his racial attacks on the mixed-race family of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, reports CNN.

In his ad, Blankenship refers to Chinese as “China people” and calls McConnell “cocaine Mitch” and his “China family.”

“Swamp captain Mitch McConnell has created millions of jobs for China people, while doing so, Mitch has gotten rich,” Blankenship says in the ad transcribed by Time. “In fact, his China family has given him tens of millions of dollars. Mitch’s swamp people are now running false negative ads about me. They are also childishly calling me despicable and mentally ill. The war to drain the swamp and create jobs for West Virginia people has begun. I will beat Joe Manchin and ditch cocaine Mitch for the sake of the kids.”

According to Time, Blankenship claims McConnell’s father-in-law has given the Senator and his wife millions of dollars and that cocaine was found on a ship owned by the father-in-law’s shipping company. That shipping company is American and based in New York.

“There’s no mystery to what Mr. Blankenship is doing,” said Rep Judy Chu in a statement published in the South Pasadenan. “It is intentional race baiting. I condemn his comments and urge him to stop going down this hateful and divisive path. Unfortunately, one of President Trump’s legacies seems to be the lesson that stoking racial resentments and xenophobia are effective tools for winning an election.” 

Blankenship is in a three way race for the Republican nomination to represent West Virginia. The primary is Tuesday, May 8. 

He has a checkered past. He spent a year in prison after 29 people were killed in an explosion at a mine owned by Massey Energy. Blankenship served as CEO and his company was cited for numerous mine safety violations. 

“By using racially insensitive rhetoric to target Secretary Chao and her family in order to take cheap shots at Senator McConnell, Mr. Blankenship is 

perpetuating the hateful stereotype that being Chinese means you cannot also be a patriotic American. That this kind of rhetoric has been used to justify persecution of Jews and Catholics, the imprisonment of innocent Japanese during World War II, and more, and should give anybody pause,” said Chu.

The fact that Blackenship qualified to be a candidate for a high office and is capable of garnering thousands of votes, speaks volumes about the state of our country. The GOP fear losing West Virginia if Blackenship wins. The situation is serious enought that Trump was convinced to weight in, telling voters to reject Blackenship and vote for one of the other Republicans.

CORRECTION: MAY 7, 9 p.m. - to clarify the GOPO candidates running for the U.S. Senate to represent West Virginia.

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