Consider this a late addition to my Election Calendar, but the formal announcement to kick off Frank Kratovil’s re-election to Congress will include a brief stop in Salisbury.
(continued on my Examiner.com page…)
Tag: Frank Kratovil
Media, part 3: old media and new media
While some GOP aspirants in the First District Congressional and U.S. Senate races continue to trust old media with some of their advertising, most key contenders are still focusing on free media.
Eric Wargotz is back on the radio with the fourth in his series of 60-second spots, this entitled, “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs.” In the commercial, he notes, “I know first hand the detrimental affect (sic) that over regulation and an oppressive tax bourdon (sic) have on job creation,” based on his experience in private medical practice.
(continued on my Examiner.com page…)
Discussing the issues with Rob Fisher, First District Congressional candidate
Earlier this afternoon I stopped by the downtown Salisbury campaign office of First District Republican hopeful Rob Fisher and asked him a few questions. While I had some items on my agenda to ask, the 45 minute conversation with Fisher and his campaign manager Demetrios Karoutsos ranged over a broad palette of topics.
The modest facade of the building fit the low-key style of the candidate, who spoke about being a sixth-generation resident of the Eastern Shore and his family’s working class and agricultural background. Rather than being a stiffly formal q-and-a format, we worked in the information amongst a discussion of all the issues of making a run for Congress.
(continued on my Examiner.com page…)
Also, Fisher debuted his first television commercial today on various cable outlets. In speaking to them today, though, I noted that whoever does his website really needs to allow embed codes for videos!
Number crunching by the NTU
It’s a long report, but according to the National Taxpayers Union this Congress (or at least the Republican side) is beginning to listen to the clamor for less government.
The “BillTally” study done annually by the group shows this Congress may have slowed down a trend insofar as budget cutting bills are concerned, but we’re still nowhere near the small government prowess shown by the 104th Congress. (That was the Newt Gingrich/Contract With America class of 1994.)
Two of their findings were most intriguing given the rise of “Blue Dog” Democrats like Frank Kratovil and the schism between RINO’s and conservatives in the GOP.
- Members of the Republican Study Committee and the Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, two of the self-identified “fiscally conservative” caucuses in the House, compiled lower net spending agendas than other Members of Congress in their respective parties.
- Although the average House Republican was a net cutter, the typical member of the Republican Main Street Partnership, which claims to be composed of “fiscally conservative deficit hawks,” compiled an average net agenda to increase spending by $40.6 billion.
While the first bullet point is reflected in the study, this is all relative: an average Blue Dog is still much more free with other people’s money than the most moderate of Republicans. Just to give readers an idea of the mindset of the Republican Main Street Partnership: Wayne Gilchrest was a member of that group, which is the home of most of the more centrist members of the party. Frank Kratovil and Wayne Gilchrest are fairly similar ideological clones with the exception of who they’d vote for as Speaker of the House (and Gilchrest said recently he would have voted for Obamacare.)
Unfortunately, the study doesn’t specifically break down particular legislators to see just who would cut the most (yes it does – see the comment by the study author in the comments section;) then again, legislation is a complex process anyway and sponsoring a bill may or may not lead to the desired result – many a bill which began as one idea had a number of other unrelated things piggybacked onto it (such as Obamacare dealing with student loans.) But as a whole we can get some better idea of which party is the fiscally conservative one at the moment while reminding ourselves we need to keep a better eye on them should they regain power.
Kratovil joins bid to overturn ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’
While it wasn’t a strictly party-line vote outside of the Maryland delegation, Frank Kratovil joined his other six Democratic colleagues from the Free State in voting for an amendment to the defense appropriations bill to overturn the Clinton-era ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy for gays in the military, with certain conditions.
(continued on my Examiner.com page…)
April of angst for politicians
It seems as though most Maryland members of Congress are spending their Easter break warily hiding out from the post-Obamacare wrath of many constituents. At this time, none of the ten Maryland representatives to Congress have scheduled a town hall meeting during the break. Eighth District Congressman Chris Van Hollen comes closest with a public gathering scheduled for the first day back, April 12th.
First District Congressman Frank Kratovil has also been busy around his district, stopping at several points around the district to check into ongoing projects and speak to select members of the voting public.
On the other hand, the Maryland Republican Party will be more aggressive, engaging their public with a series of townhall meetings slated for next week. The nine stops include Annapolis, Salisbury, Easton, Catonsville, Hagerstown, Frederick, Silver Spring, Waldorf, and Bowie. As they note, “the MDGOP Town Hall Tour is geared toward letting all Marylanders voice their opinions on how we can return fiscal responsibility to Annapolis and Washington D.C.”
(continued on my Examiner.com page…)
Maryland’s two ‘no’ votes
It wasn’t unexpected, but Maryland’s House delegation split 6-2 on the issue of health care reform legislation dubbed by some as “Obamacare.” Roscoe Bartlett of the Sixth District joined all of his GOP counterparts in voting against the bill, and Frank Kratovil voted with 33 other Democrats in his opposition. In neither case was this a complete surprise.
But in looking ahead to the November election we find an interesting variation of reaction on the issue from the respective districts. In Bartlett’s case, only one of the two leading Democrats vying for the Sixth District nomination even mentions health care as an issue on his site. Andrew Duck favors “universal access to healthcare” but Casey Clark doesn’t even bring health care up as an issue. Perhaps that’s a nod to the unpopularity of the reform package in Bartlett’s district.
The more intriguing case is Kratovil’s. In 2008 Frank ran for office on a platform which noted, “Universal health care…means universal.” His statement said in part, “Universal coverage cannot be achieved until we accept the premise that every adult and child must be insured. If elected to Congress, I will support and advocate for true universal coverage and will provide leadership in forging consensus on a policy that provides such coverage without harming employers.”
(More on my Examiner.com page…)
An early morning ride
News from AFP Wicomico:
Some elected politicians still don’t get it, but more importantly there are many “on the fence” votes in Congress that need to hear from you and can be pushed to vote no on the Big Government takeover of your health care.
It seems our congressman, Frank Kratovil, may be flip flopping. To see this story click here.
Tomorrow Americans for Prosperity will be sponsoring a Bus to DC for a rally at 10 a.m. outside of the Senate offices and a visit to our Congressman all for $10, including lunch.
We need to let our voices be heard and let our Congressman that he needs to vote no again on the health care legislation
Contact Tom Cook (apatriotforever@gmail.com) to reserve your bus seat.
The bus will be leaving the Steer Inn on Racetrack Road at 5:30 in the morning, Boscov’s at 6:05 at the Mall in Salisbury, and the old K-Mart Parking lot in Cambridge on Rt. 50 at 6:35.
Truth be told, I haven’t decided yet whether to go because it makes for a long day of not being productive with other things I need to get done (probably wouldn’t be back home until 6:00 or later.) It’s a drawback of these sorts of events to have them at a time where working people can’t easily participate.
But if you are in a position where you can go it’s always worthwhile to meet with your Congressman, plus any others whose ear you may wish to bend. For all his faults voting-wise, it seems that Congressman Kratovil is willing to listen and hopefully he’s going to continue being a “no” vote on this issue.
There will be a good roster of speakers at the event, mostly from Congress – Reps. Pence, Bachmann, Price, Blackburn, Wilson, and Gingrey, along with representatives of the TEA Party Express, 60 Plus Association, National Center for Policy Analysis, and AFP.
Oh, by the way, did you answer your phone this weekend only to find an annoying Organizing For Against America volunteer on the other end? Neither did I, but that was their push according to flunkie Jeremy Bird:
The Final March for Reform is going strong — yesterday, OFA supporters made the phones ring off the hook in Congressional offices on Capitol Hill and across the country. But for every member of Congress, there are eight anti-reform lobbyists swarming Capitol Hill — and the upcoming vote is still too close to call.
So in these crucial, final days, we must make sure the voices of constituents break through the lobbyist attacks. And here’s the plan to make it happen:
As the next step in the Final March for Reform, OFA supporters like you will be gathering at volunteer phone banks across the country. We’ll be calling supportive voters in critical districts nationwide, asking them to reach out to their representatives and express their strong support for reform. A local OFA organizer will be on hand at every event, and no experience is required. (Emphasis in original.)
Gee, I can hardly wait to see what their next step is. But it looks like the people are going to speak tomorrow morning, bright and early.
The final march for ruination
I have so much fun with the e-mails from Organizing For Against America. Now they’ve undertaken a week-long “Final March for Reform” with steps their minions are supposed to take in order to achieved their desired result of Obamacare.
Step 1 was yesterday, where participants were supposed to “get the facts out.” So here are some of their so-called “facts”:
As the President has made clear, Americans deserve a final up-or-down vote on health reform. And the House is now expected to hold its final vote as soon as one week from today.
Yet House Democrats are scheming to avoid this. From CongressDaily yesterday:
House Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter is prepping to help usher the healthcare overhaul through the House and potentially avoid a direct vote on the Senate overhaul bill, the chairwoman said Tuesday.
Slaughter is weighing preparing a rule that would consider the Senate bill passed once the House approves a corrections bill that would make changes to the Senate version.
Undaunted, Obama’s flunkie David Plouffe pressed on:
As we speak, insurance-industry lobbyists are gathering at the D.C. Ritz-Carlton to stage a last-minute blitz to block reform — even as they jack up premiums by as much as 60% for small businesses and families across the country.
You know, I doubt you can get the Ritz-Carlton or any other major venue at a moment’s notice. This meeting was set up months in advance and besides, I thought we were supposed to have this last summer anyway.
Plouffe wraps up on this class-envy, “us-versus-them” note:
We’ve put together a simple summary of the President’s proposal, a fact sheet to show friends and co-workers how the plan will specifically help them, posters to display, Facebook notes to post, and much more.
(snip)
Today, it’s time to show the insurance lobbyists that no smear campaign cooked up at a posh hotel can match the power of millions of regular citizens who are ready for change and committed to the truth.
Yep, that’s grassroots all right. You have your talking points, we have this: Nancy Pelosi wants the bill to pass so we can find out what’s in it. Seems like it’s too late then, unless they want things to be hidden.
Here’s the real truth. This bill was of the special interests, by the special interests, and for the special interests. They don’t have the votes and they know it – hence the “Slaughter solution.” OAA has presented its case and lost in the court of public opinion.
By the way, here’s the Day 2 instruction, with OAA’s Mitch Stewart the flunkie of the day:
President Obama has called for the House to vote to move health reform forward as early as next week. Your representative, Rep. Frank Kratovil, stood with the President to create as many as 3.9 million jobs with the Recovery Act, and deserves our thanks. Now, it’s important to make it clear that the voters back home stand with President Obama and want health reform.
Yes, he pointed out Kratovil’s most glaring failure to date, voting for the porkulus bill, If Frank doesn’t hew to his word and vote against Obamacare, he may as well pack now. Kratovil can run to the right all he wants with his budget proposals and crackdown on illegal immigration, but a vote for Obamacare is his political funeral. And I’m sure he knows that.
So the battle lines have been drawn, activist vs. activist. I suspect there’s more of us than there are of them, and right is on our side. If they need to resort to trickery and deceit to pass their bill, well, there may not be much we can do about that now but certainly we can defeat this in other venues too. Just ask the commonwealth of Virginia.
Staying and fighting
Running for governor of your state is a task which takes a full-time effort, particularly if you’re not well-known around your state. That’s the situation Rep. Nathan Deal finds himself in as he strives to become the next governor of Georgia.
To that end, Deal had planned on resigning his House seat next week in order to concentrate on his run for statewide office. Instead, GOP leaders persuaded him to stay and made the hurdle for passing Obamacare that much higher. With a death and two earlier resignations (all Democrats who had voted for the bill previously), the nominally 435 member body was down to 432, requiring 217 votes for passage. Had Deal left as planned Nancy Pelosi’s job would have been made easier by cutting the majority number down to 216 and eliminating a sure “no” vote.
While the conventional wisdom is that the Senate and their reconciliation process is where the bill’s fate will be decided, they conveniently ignore the fact that President Obama and Democratic leaders could double-cross the House by promising them fixes to the Senate bill they’d pass – but as soon as the House passes the Senate bill (with the pro-abortion language, “Cornhusker Kickback” and “Louisiana Purchase” included) you better believe President Obama is going to find the pens to sign it.*
This is why many observers feel the whole battle over reconciliation is a red herring, a feint to distract anti-Obamacare supporters from the real important vote in the House. No wonder Frank Kratovil is making the news a lot more these days.
If the House somehow gets the Senate bill through, the game is over and we are stuck with Obamacare. Well, more precisely we are stuck with the taxes and regulations included therein – the so-called benefits don’t kick in for several years. And what entitlement have we overturned in the last seventy-five years since Social Security?
The ballgame is in the top of the ninth, and the American people need to be the ace closer who gets the save. Let’s get out and win this one!
* I’ve read past practice is that, on ceremonial bill-signings like Obamacare would surely be, the President signs his name one letter at a time with a different pen so that each of those who helped get the legislation through have a memento of the significant event. Talk about your poison pens.
Electoral toast
Update 9:30 a.m. – A new AP story by Erica Werner quotes Kratovil spokesman Kevin Lawlor, who says that Frank won’t vote for the Obamacare bill if it’s similar to the first one. Apparently there’s not enough carrots dangling out there for him yet.
Perhaps this is wishful thinking from the Associated Press and writer Charles Babbington, but Frank Kratovil is listed as one of ten House Democrats who may be open to switching his vote on the health care bill in order to pass it. Technically the article says he’s not stated a position or is undecided, and it may well be he’s not stating.
But his vote may be the one which makes the bill sink or swim because, of the 220 votes Nancy Pelosi got to pass the bill the first time through she’s likely to be missing four due to death, resignation, and the slim chance Republican Joesph Cao would make the mistake of voting ‘yes’ again without language restricting abortion.
So Kratovil is between a rock and a hard place for sure. With it out in the open that he may be amenable to changing his vote, the White House may dangle all sorts of bribes for his support – think help for his re-election campaign or even a cushy Administration job if he loses come November. On the other hand, First District voters might see to it the latter happens if he doesn’t maintain his stance against it and he would truly earn the moniker ‘flip-flop Frank.’
Perhaps this is why Kratovil has been attempting to burnish those conservative credentials he does have like talking up fiscal conservatism and getting tough on illegal immigrants.
But that may be too little too late as First District voters may decide why have conservative-lite when they can have the real thing?
Upping the ante
Well, isn’t this conveeeeeeeeenient (spoken in a Church Lady voice).
Last week I talked about Organizing For Against America wanting 1 million volunteer hours to spread the lies about Obamacare – no surprise they got that goal, which I thought was a little weak considering there’s 13 million on the e-mail list. Here’s their breathless announcement:
In just the last 3 days, OFA volunteers like you have pledged an incredible 4,000,000 (and counting!) hours to support members of Congress and candidates who fight for real health reform.
We can prove to Congress that health reform is good policy and good politics, but we need to go as big as possible. So today we’re setting a new goal: 5 million hours pledged.
If we hit it, the country will know. We’ll be running an ad with the final tally in USA Today, the nation’s largest newspaper. And to make sure your voice is heard where it matters most, we’ll run radio ads in critical states and districts, featuring local voters announcing the pledge total from their area.
(snip)
Beginning soon, we’ll talk to voters state-by-state, district-by-district, about why it’s important to stand with those who fight for progress and reform — and reject those who stand with big insurers to protect a status quo that is devastating our economy, families, and businesses. (Emphasis in original.)
We can rewrite that last sentence to say: Beginning soon, Organizing Against America will go back to lying like a rug to promote our takeover of 1/6 of the national economy by wiping out private health insurance companies.
That and I’ll be listening for those radio ads around here since we’re represented a Democrat who’s been reticent to join the rest of his party, believing (correctly) to do so would be political suicide.
Bet the TEA Partiers can log 10 million hours, but we’re not going to pay for an ad in USA Today to crow about the accomplishment – we’re just going to get to work.