#nh-sen

Here’s an updated summary of where we stand in U.S. Senate races:

Republican pickups

Arkansas: Tom Cotton (R) projected to defeat Mark Pryor (D)

West Virginia: Shelley Moore Capito (R) beats Natalie Tennant (D)

Democratic holds

New Hampshire: Jeanne Shaheen (D) defeats Scott Brown (R)

Minnesota: Al Franken (D) defeats Mike McFadden (R)

Massachusetts: Ed Markey (D) defeats Brian Herr (R)

Illinois: Dick Durbin (D) defeats Jim Oberweis (R)

Michigan: Gary Peters (D) defeats Terri Lynne Land (R)

Republican holds

WARREN, NH — Women in full-time year-round jobs earned 77 cents for every dollar earned by a man. Yet, at a town hall earlier this week, Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) claimed that Congress has done enough to ensure that women receive equal pay for equal work. Indeed, she justified her vote against legislation intended to prevent employers from dodging federal equal pay lawwith an excuse similar to the National Rifle Association’s explanation for why we do not need any more gun laws — we just need to enforce the ones we have:

QUESTION: My grandmother, who was an extremely intelligent woman, trained many, many men who then became her boss, and so on and so forth. [She] never received a pension, never, um, was really paid what she was worth. And I was disappointed that you voted against the Equal Pay Act, but maybe there was something in the bill that you thought would be detrimental to the economy or whatever. But I was curious if you could explain your philosophy about equal pay and how, maybe, you could suggest something that we could all agree upon so that women would stop making 75 cents for every dollar a man makes . . . .

AYOTTE: We have existing laws — Title VII, um, Lilly Ledbetter, all those existing protections in place — that, I believe, enforce and provide that people doing equal jobs are, certainly in this country, should receive equal pay. So, uh, that bill, in my view, didn’t add — in fact I think it created a lot of additional burdens that would have been hard, um, to make it more difficult for job creators to create jobs. . . . The reason that I voted against that specific bill is that, I looked at it, and there were already existing laws that need to be enforced and can be enforced and I didn’t feel like adding that layer was going to help us better get at the equal pay issue.

It should go without saying that, if similarly situated women are not making the same amount as their male colleagues, then we aren’t doing enough to close this pay gap. So Ayotte’s suggestion that our current laws are sufficient cannot be squared with the reality facing women in the workplace. The backbone of modern workplace discrimination law was formed by the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and it is indeed true that the pay gap narrowed significantly in the quarter-century after these workplace protections became law.

So when Ayotte voted against this bill, she stood up for employer’s rights to make completely irrational judgments about how much a female worker should be paid, and their right to retaliate against employees who are trying to figure out if they are being treated fairly.

June is going to be a busy month for Sen. Kelly Ayotte. Earlier this year, Ayotte set up "Kelly PAC" as a vehicle for raising money to win friends and influence people. Next month, she begins working to fill the coffers.

For: Sen. Kelly A. Ayotte (R, NH) When: June 14th, 2011 (6:30 p.m.) Where: Caucus Room - 401 9th Street NW Type of Event: Dinner Contribution Information: $2,000 PAC Co-Host; $1,000 Individual Co-Host; $1,000 PAC; $500 Individual RSVP: Jon Graham; 202-302-9930; [email protected]

Ayotte's fundraising is managed by the Gula Graham Group. During the 2010 cycle, The Gula Graham Group raised over $20 million for their congressional clients. Clients include Sen. Jim DeMint, Sen. Richard Shelby, Sen. Pat Toomey and Rep. Thaddeus McCotter.

For: Sen. Kelly A. Ayotte (R, NH) When: June 21st, 2011 (6 p.m.) Where: Online Lenders Alliance (OLA) Townhouse - 330 Maryland Ave NE Type of Event: Dinner Contribution Information: $2,000 PAC Co-Host; $1,000 Individual Co-Host; $1,000 PAC; $500 Individual RSVP: Jon Graham; 202-302-9930; [email protected]

The Online Lenders Alliance is an organization representing companies offering online consumer short-term loans, also known as “payday loans.” The OLA PAC donated $211,800 to federal candidates and committees in the 2010 election cycle.

For: Sen. Kelly A. Ayotte (R, NH) When: June 22nd, 2011 (6:30 p.m.) Where: The Home of Jeff and Gail MacKinnon - 3753 Oliver Street, NW Type of Event: Dinner Contribution Information: $2,000 PAC Co-Host; $1,000 Individual Co-Host; $1,000 PAC; $500 Individual RSVP: Jon Graham; 202-302-9930; [email protected]

The new 112th Congress has been sworn-in amid a backdrop of stubbornly high unemployment and economic turmoil. Time for Washington's best and brightest to name the hottest freshmen.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.): One Hot Mama

“It could very well be that foreign money’s coming in to try to trample the voice of democracy. That’s a sad state of affairs. Kelly Ayotte now has the endorsement of the Chamber of Commerce, the duplicitous, hypocritical Chamber of Commerce. She’s happy to accept their endorsement. She should call on them to disclose who’s behind them or call on them to take their ads down.”