Missing in Action in Congress
How will Hillary Clinton be a Senator from New York and a candidate for President at the same time?
On May 20, 2003, I quoted the following about the 2004 Presidential race:
Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) has missed 162 votes in the House this year - 85 percent of the total … Gephardt has missed every vote on energy-related issues this session. House records show Gephardt also missed votes on other issues that are frequent themes in his presidential candidacy, including welfare reform, human cloning, healthcare, homeland security, education and tax cuts…
Other Democratic presidential aspirants also have missed votes, but to a lesser degree than Gephardt. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) failed to add his voice in 63 instances this year, 34 percent of Senate votes. (Not included in this total are two votes he missed in February due to prostate surgery.)
Last Thursday, when the Senate considered the House version of President Bush’s global AIDS initiative, Kerry used a floor debate to decry a provision in the legislation that required 33 percent of funds to be spent on abstinence education.
“We should not tie the president’s hands … I will support an amendment to strike this earmark.”
Later in the day, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) proposed just such an amendment. Kerry missed the vote on the proposal, which failed 45-52…
On August 4, 2006, I took on Congressional freeloaders, those missing when Congress is taking action:
Here are the ten worst, cheating you and me out of our hard earned money paid in taxes:
1. Lane Evans, IL-17, Dem, 38.7%
2. Jim Davis, FL-11, Dem, 23.2%
3. Ernest Istook, OK-5, Rep, 15.8%
4. Donald Payne, NJ-10, Dem, 15.3%
5. Ted Strickland, OH-6, Dem, 15.0%
6. Harold Ford, TN-9, Dem, 14.9%
7. Luis Gutiérrez, IL-4, Dem, 14.8%
8. John Sweeney, NY-20, Rep, 14.2%
9. Juanita Millender-McDonald, CA-37, Dem, 13.4%
10. Leonard Boswell, IA-3, Dem, 13.3%
[snip]
Layne Evans has been ill this year, dying of Parkinson’s Disease. He is supposed to be retiring at the end of this term. A court is appointing a guardian for him, which suggests that he should have retired long since.
Jim Davis is running for Governor of Florida, on the taxpayers’ dime. Instead of serving in Congress, he’s home, politicking for yet another taxpayer financed office. He should be turned down by the voters.
Istook is doing the same thing in his home state of Oklahoma. He’s running for Governor while being paid as a Congressman. Do the people of Oklahoma really want their pockets picked like this?
Ted Strickland is also running for Governor, in Ohio, while sucking down the gravy as a Congressman. Doing his job appears to be a low priority with him.
Harold Ford is running for the Senate in Tennessee, while serving poorly as one of its Congressmen. His relatives and their attraction to the wrong side of law enforcement combine with his poor work ethic to make him an unattractive choice for the Volunteer State.
Recent history shows that we, the taxpayers and voters, are very poorly served by politicians who run for another office than the one we voted them into. Unless Hillary resigns her Senate seat, the people of New York can look forward to a year and a half or more of lousy Senatorial representation by our elected rep. We pay her salary, and we should have the right to demand that she do the job we pay her to do.
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