As of this writing, our newly-elected Congressman Frank Kratovil has voted 53 times in his elected capacity as our representative. During his campaign, he assured the voting public that he would be an independent voice in Washington.
Well, thus far Frank has voted with the majority of Democrats 86.8% of the time, or 46 votes out of 53. Certainly I know that my friends to my left will argue that not all votes are created equal, and they are right. Let’s see where Frank has shown his independence and where he’s toed the party line to the district’s detriment.
The seven votes where Frank broke with the majority of Democrats are as follows:
- Roll Call #17, Providing for consideration of H.R. 384, to reform the Troubled Assets Relief Program of the Secretary of the Treasury and ensure accounability (sic) under such program
- Roll Call #25, On Motion to Recommit with Instructions, TARP Reform and Accountability Act
- Roll Call #27, Relating to the disapproval of obligations under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
- Roll Call #35, Rule providing for consideration of the bill H.R. 1
- Roll Call #38, On Question of Consideration of Bill, Making supplemental appropriations for fiscal year ending 2009 (H.R. 1)
- Roll Call #45, On Motion to Recommit with Instructions, Making supplemental appropriations for fiscal year ending 2009 (H.R. 1)
- Roll Call #46, On Passage, Making supplemental appropriations for fiscal year ending 2009 (H.R. 1)
So Frank can be considered somewhat of a maverick on the stimulus bill and TARP reform. But there were other opportunities Frank could have stood with other thoughtful Democrats on both of these bills.
- He could have voted for the Camp Amendment, which stripped the appropriations from the stimulus package, leaving just tax relief (Roll Call #44).
- Even though he voted to recommit in vote #25, Frank voted to pass the TARP reform bill on the very next vote (Roll Call #26). Was he for it before he was against it, or vice versa?
And there were other places where Kratovil could have voted in the better interests of the district.
For example, why should we subsidize Amtrak? Frank voted against stripping an appropriation for the railroad from the stimulus bill (Roll Call #43). He also voted against stripping appropriations from the stimulus bill on another roll call vote (#42).
He gave a gift to one of his largest contributor groups by voting for the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 – not just once (Roll Call #9), but twice (Roll Call #37). This eliminated the statute of limitations on pay discrimination lawsuits, which means look out for a slew of new lawsuits over alleged unfairness which happened years or even decades ago, after businesses have destroyed their records.
Finally, while this wasn’t a surprise given his early campaign rhetoric, Frank voted to reauthorize and expand the SCHIP program (Roll Call #16), ensuring the continued existence of that budget-busting entitlement.
Later this week I’ll look at our state’s two senators, who tend to vote like peas in a pod, and see just what they are voting for the government to do.
I guess that maverick Wayne Gilchrest looks pretty good to you now. The Republicans bit off more than they could chew when they flew off the right wing with Andy Harris. Instead of Gilchrest voting 68% with the Republicans, you now have a congressman that votes 86% with the Democrats. Lesson learned. Be careful what you wish for.
No, we wanted someone who would be a reliably conservative vote. I TOLD you people he would vote pretty much as he’s done so far. Yes I was pleasantly surprised on the bailout but look how he played it both ways on the TARP bill – typical politician.
So hopefully the lesson IS learned and the First District elects Andy Harris (or a reasonable facsimile) to Congress in 2010.
Given Gilchrest’s record, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that on the important votes, Kratovil is more conservative than Gilchrest. A lot of votes are procedural and don’t really mean much, so Kratovil voting along party lines isn’t all that important. But Michael did a good job of illustrating how Kratovil voted during the important roll calls. Those are the votes that really matter. Kratovil has been reasonably conservative so far. I don’t think we’d see the same from Gilchrest. For instance, I’d guess that Gilchrest would have voted for the bailout.
I’m not real pleased with having Kratovil as our Congressman, but I do think he’s more conservative than Gilchrest. I also think that we can do better in 2010 and get a real conservative in there.
On that count I would say you’re mostly correct; however I’d have to look up how Gilchrest voted on SCHIP because I think he voted against it – my memory could be incorrect there though.
And yes, one could argue that Kratovil voted with the Republicans x percent of the time on the whole, since there are some issues which passed with little to no opposition, like one vote congratulating the University of Florida for winning the national championship in college football. This is why I wrote the article as I did, taking into account a few votes where thoughtful Democrats broke party lines but he didn’t. or votes where his conservative district may have differed in their assessment, like the Amtrak amendment – a classic case of I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine, never mind if it’s a subsidy that puts one entity at a competitive advantage for no reason aside to give Joe Biden a ride to work.
I’m almost certain that Gilchrest voted for SCHIP, although I’m too lazy to look it up right now.
Regardless, you are performing an important service. In 2010 Kratovil will campaign for Republican votes while highlighting a few high-profile breaks with Pelosi, like the stimulus vote. We need to remind voters that while he may get a few votes right, Kratovil also gets many wrong. We can do better than him as a Congressman and I’m looking forward to having a Republican Representative from CD1 sworn in on Jan. 3, 2011.