California Conservative

Today, Minority Leader John Boehner’s office issued this scalding statement on the Democrats’ hypocritical energy strategy. The statement highlights Democratic co-sponsors of the Peterson-Abercrombie bill that John Peterson and Neil Abercrombie wrote. Here’s part of Leader Boehner’s statement:

House Democrats say they want to “stimulate” the economy, but last night nearly every single one of them voted against the bipartisan energy bill authored by Reps. John Peterson (R-PA) and Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) to lower gas prices on behalf of working families and small businesses, including 24 Democrats who are cosponsors of the Peterson-Abercrombie bill. That’s correct, 24 Democrats flip-flopped, repudiated their past statements of support and cosponsorship for the bipartisan Peterson-Abercrombie bill by voting against it. And by rejecting the Peterson-Abercrombie bipartisan plan, Democrats proved once and for all that yesterday’s debate was about nothing more than providing political cover for vulnerable Democrats on the eve of an election, and not about passing “all of the above” energy reforms to make a real difference in lowering gas prices.

When it was ‘rubber-meets-the-road’ time, this group of Democrats showed where their allegiances lied. Here’s the list of deserting co-sponsors:

Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-GA), Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK), Rep. Nancy Boyda (D-KS), Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA), Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA), Rep. Bud Cramer (D-AL), Rep. Henry Cueller (D-TX), Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL), Rep. Lincoln Davis (D-TN), Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN), Rep. Gene Green (D-TX), Rep. Phil Hare (D-IL), Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN), Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA), Rep. Steve Kagen (D-WI), Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA), Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-LA), Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA), Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-TX), Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN), Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D-TX), Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR)

It’s worth noting that many of these deserting co-sponsors are BDD’s. Still, the most stunning part of this is that Neil Abercrombie deserted his own plan. That’s unthinkable. It’s unthinkable because it’s extremely hypocritical. I can’t think of another time when a co-author of a bill abandoned the bill. It’s one thing to abandon it if a bunch of amendments had dramatically changed the bill. Thats defensible. This bill wasn’t dramatically altered. It was barely changed.

What this proves is that Speaker Pelosi has employed a strategy based on deceit. It isn’t a stretch to think she’s operated this deceitful strategy with Rep. Abercrombie’s full cooperation. It’s difficult to believe that the BDD’s weren’t willing participants, too. As I pointed out here, there was no difference in the way that 42 of the 53 BDD’s voted and the way that Dennis Kucinich, John Conyers, Maxine Waters and Jim McDermott voted. NONE WHATSOEVER.

Again, I’ll repeat myself: The only benchmark that matters is whether energy legislation brings down prices at the pump and brings down the cost to heat our homes. Anything that doesn’t accomplish that is just window dressing. PERIOD.

Here are the statements of three of the deserting co-sponsors:

For example, Rep. Nancy Boyda (D-KS), a cosponsor of the Peterson-Abercrombie bill, voted against it when given the opportunity:
“I have been working with a large, bipartisan group of Representatives to develop a comprehensive, common-sense energy bill. Our [Peterson-Abercrombie] bill will provide sorely-needed relief for Kansas families. It will help create energy independence for America and millions of jobs to help stabilize our struggling economy.” – Rep. Nancy Boyda (D-KS), Press Release, 9/04/08

Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN), a cosponsor of the Peterson-Abercrombie bill, once said “I hope this bipartisan bill will indeed be brought to the floor” but when given a chance, he voted against it:
“I hope this bipartisan [Peterson-Abercrombie] bill will indeed be brought to the floor for a vote when we return to Washington in September,” Hill said. “It would provide immediate relief, while also bolstering development of new energy sources in order to move this country closer to energy independence.” – Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN), Press Release, 8/14/08

Rep. Steve Kagan (D-WI), a cosponsor of the Peterson-Abercrombie bill, also voted against it:
“Kagen, who signed onto the bill Tuesday, said the Abercrombie-Peterson bill ‘really is a comprehensive energy policy and a road map forward. ‘That bill has the balance in investing in renewable sources. It raises royalty (fees) from those who are drilling and it doesn’t limit drilling to four or five states,’ Kagen said.”
“Congress Sitting on Energy Hot Seat,” Herald Times (WI), 9/13/08

Reps. Boyda, Hill and Kagen are freshmen that should be vulnerable. Now’s the time to step up the attacks on their credibility. In each of their cases, I’d make the case that farmers can’t trust them to side with them. I’d attack their credibility and how that affects the trust level farmers can have with these freshmen. Here’s how I’d word the advertisements:

Rep. Boyda/Hill/Kagen once stood for an ‘all of the above’ energy package that would have brought gas prices down for hard-working farmers. When the rubber met the road, though, Rep. Boyda/Hill/Kagen sided with Nancy Pelosi and K Street instead of siding with farmers and Main Street. Don’t we deserve a representative that we can trust to represent us?

I’d have videos made up that puts the spotlight on each of these deserters. It’s part of my new ‘No Prisoners, No Mercy’ strategy.

Technorati Tags: Gas Crisis, Blue Dog Democrats, Drilling, Neil Abercrombie, Baron Hill, Nancy Boyda, Steve Kagen, Nancy Pelosi, Paul Kanjorski, Sheila Jackson-Lee, OCS, John Peterson, Bipartisanship, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 18th, 2008 at 2:27 am and is filed under Author: Gary Gross, Election 2008, Energy, Pelosi, Special Interests. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.