April 22, 2018

See How Hard It Is for Sen. Bob Corker to Say Something Nice About the Woman Who Might Replace Him

“Senator, that’s not a ringing endorsement.”

Retiring Tennessee Senator Bob Corker (R) has recently said glowing things about a candidate angling to fill his seat in the Senate this year. Unfortunately for the GOP, those nice things were all about the Democrat in the race, former governor Phil Bredesen. “He was a very good mayor, very good governor, very good businessperson,” Corker said of his longtime friend Bredesen.

A recent poll shows Bredesen with a 10-point lead over his likely GOP opponent, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a tea party favorite, climate denier and original sponsor of the first congressional “birther bill” aimed at forcing President Obama to release his birth certificate to prove he was an American citizen.

Corker’s laudatory comments about Bredesen prompted a tongue-lashing from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and a reminder that Corker’s unexpected retirement is the reason the GOP majority in the Senate hangs in the balance. Corker got back in line and later tweeted that he was donating money to Blackburn’s campaign and would vote for her.

But this morning on CNN, host Dana Bash attempted to get Corker to explain why anyone ought to vote for Blackburn. Despite his Twitter endorsement, Corker had a little trouble. The best he could do was suggest that a vote for Blackburn could be critical to the GOP retaining control of the Senate and of course, re-electing McConnell as Senate Majority Leader.

Watch the exchange below:

 

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This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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