Mike Erickson's big adventure to Cuba
The O is reporting that Mike Erickson, GOP congressional candidate for the 5th CD, took himself a sweet little junket to Cuba in 2004.
Despite the U.S government's rather draconian restrictions for travel to the island nation, Erickson was able to swing it for what he describes as a humanitarian trip to provide medical supplies and equipment to disabled people and poverty stricken communities.
But as with everything else involving Mike Erickson, the truth appears to be a wee bit different from his description. The O snagged a copy of the travel itinerary provided to Erickson and others who paid for the trip. Five star hotels, cigars, yummy adult beverages, a gala auction (arriving in style in "vintage automobiles"), tour of the Partargas factory, etc. The O also notes that the itinerary included marlin fishing and nightclub visits.
I'd heard about this little junket awhile back, but didn't have the goods on the itinerary to nail it down. However, the way I've heard the story, there's a little more to it than just what's written down on that itinerary. But, since I don't have anything but a story (no photos, no documentation), we'll see if the O delivers more in the paper tomorrow.
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August 16, 2008 |
Carla Axtman | Comments (15 so far)
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Comments
Posted by: LiloandStich | Aug 16, 2008 8:20:01 PM
I thought liberals liked people who visited Cuba?
Posted by: Kari Chisholm | Aug 16, 2008 8:53:25 PM
I thought conservatives didn't like people who propped up the communist dictatorship by making big-money tourist trips.
Posted by: LT | Aug 16, 2008 9:19:47 PM
Erickson finally got around to adding veterans to his website, but it is very general. Smith and McCain were on opposite sides of the recently passed GI Bill. Which side would he have been on?
If he can't answer such basic questions, he deserves to be asked why on earth he was in Cuba.
Posted by: Aaron V. | Aug 16, 2008 9:43:16 PM
A Commie who pays for abortions. That's what every church in Clackamas County and south should say Erickson is.
Posted by: admiral_naismith | Aug 16, 2008 10:51:35 PM
What a loser. Looks like the Smith-Merkley race is going to be the only real big competitive race in Oregon this year.
Posted by: Bob Tiernan | Aug 16, 2008 11:07:35 PM
Carla Axtman:
The O snagged a copy of the travel itinerary provided to Erickson and others who paid for the trip. Five star hotels, cigars, yummy adult beverages, a gala auction (arriving in style in "vintage automobiles"), tour of the Partargas factory, etc. The O also notes that the itinerary included marlin fishing and nightclub visits.
Bob T:
What ?! No trip to the San Juan Hill Battlefield?
What a jerk!
Bob Tiernan
Posted by: Kari Chisholm | Aug 17, 2008 12:49:53 AM
Looks like the Smith-Merkley race is going to be the only real big competitive race in Oregon this year.
Don't be so certain, Naismith. Erickson's millions will go a long way. Ask Kevin Mannix.
Posted by: Kari Chisholm | Aug 17, 2008 12:50:22 AM
p.s. My firm built Kurt Schrader's website, but I speak only for myself.
Posted by: Walter Lippmann | Aug 17, 2008 7:30:20 AM
Under the very restrictive regulations, elected officials do not need a license from the federal government to go to Cuba, just as journalists, researchers and others need no license.
It's only ordinary people who just want to see Cuba with their own two eyes for whatever reason who need to have a permission slip from the federal government. So if you wanted to see the New York Philharmonic when the performed not long ago in North Korea, you wouldn't need permission from Washington.
But if you wanted to go to Cuba last week to see the Little League players, who defeated their Cuban counterparts, for THAT you would have needed permission from the federal government.
Hope that's clear.
Posted by: Mssr. TiTiTi | Aug 17, 2008 7:33:00 AM
Sure he's an SOB, but he's our SOB.
Most politicians only reveal their moral failings AFTER the get into office, but Erickson has done us all the great favor of revealing his BEFORE we vote him into office.
Does he have a wide stance? No. Does he beat his wife? No. Did he embrace Fidel or Raul Castro and smile for the camera? No. Has he dated a few skanks in his life? Sure, but let he without skanks cast the first stone.
Live boy/dead girl exceptions still apply: barring that, he's still got my vote.
Posted by: Jiang | Aug 17, 2008 12:23:22 PM
Legal mechanical question. The Lacy Act makes it a federal crime to take game which contravenes EITHER local law, Federal Law, or YOUR LOCAL STATUTES. While Cuba may permit it and the US miss it, surely you can't kill a Panther and bring it back to Oregon?
Oh, he's "ours" because of his state of residence? They'll all "yours" because they're stupid, troope mongering primates. Do you know how absurd it is to watch dumb apes playing at government? All you do is high school social interactions, dressed up as policy so you can rip someone else off for the funding. Do you KNOW anyone in Oregon goverment? I don't care if it's the lowliest office assitant. Describe the personality you would like to see in State government. As if they've ever seen that and, if so, what happens.
Two mantras are repeated universally. "The idealistic ones self-select out of the system" and "we're entitled to have the same ambition as anyone in corporate America. 'Service' is a dumb concept".
Posted by: Tim H | Aug 18, 2008 10:06:52 AM
Bob Tiernan is calling someone a jerk? Please. Like Dan Doyle calling someone unethical.
Posted by: Cruises From New York | Nov 27, 2008 1:18:35 PM
I don't understand what is so difficult to do a "big adventure" to Cuba. I mean, there are a lot more people who went there and no one has ever written a single thing about them. Oh, but wait, they weren't famous like he is.
Posted by: Cigars | Dec 20, 2008 12:07:29 PM
I don't care whether we're the party of family values or not, but the hypocritical factor doesn't make or break the scandal with Mel Reynolds. Had a relationship with a 16 year old volunteer and made her take certain pictures of a 15 year old? I don't want to get too descriptive, but to say that's okay because we're not the party of values is rather off-key and distasteful.
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Posted by: Dan Meek | Aug 16, 2008 6:38:20 PM
Here is part of a recent article in Counterpunch about hunters killing endangered species. The Erickson trip was arranged by Safari Clubs International.
Adventures in the Endangered Skin Trade
By JEFFREY ST. CLAIR
A significant player in this story is Safari Club International, at whose annual convention in 1994 Babbitt was a speaker. These tour operators naturally relish the possibility of sharply raising the number of animals they can legally kill and import. Much of the recent increase in trophy hunting of threatened and endangered species can be attributed to Safari Club trophy competitions, where gold and diamond awards are presented to those hunters who have killed the greatest number of listed species. The 1995 winner was Dr. Gerald Wamock, MD, a radiologist from Portland, Oregon, who has bragged of killing 278 different species. During his acceptance speech, Dr. Wamock said he is now “going back to kill the same species with a muzzle loader.”
Some of the Safari Club’s high profile clients include General Chuck Yeagar, actor Steven Seagal, Rep. Billy Tauzin, Rep. Richard Pombo, Dan Quayle, General Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, and the country singer Glen Campbell. The Safari Club is a powerful force in Washington, where its interests are advanced by lobbyist Ron Marlenee, the former congressman from Montana known for his extreme anti-environmental positions. The Club’s political action committee doles out nearly a quarter of a million dollars a year. Its top recipient is the wild man from Alaska, Don Young who raked in more than $14,000 over the past two years. Young is working sedulously to forge new loopholes in the Endangered Species Act that will allow increased importation of trophy hunted endangered species.