Idaho’s Anti-Reform Congressman

  The Club for Growth RePork card is out. There were 50 amendments that were proposed to trim unnecessary and wasteful projects from Appropriations bills.

Members of Congress, particularly the Democrats, weren’t too keen on trimming them. Still, there were some standouts, like Congressman Bill Sali (R-ID), who earned a 94 percent rating, voting for 47 of the 50 Amendments. A solid margin, and well within tolerance levels considering that it’s a given some folks will disagree over what’s legitimate and what’s pork. Congressman Sali is clearly on the taxpayer’s side and far above the average 43% score for Repubicans. (It should be noted that 105 members of Congress scored a zero.)

Still, there’s the matter of my Congressman, Mike Simpson. My pal, Cat complained about her Congressman, Virgil Goode (R-VA) only scoring an 11% on the scorecard. Well, Cat, Virgil’s a fiscal prince compared to my Congressman, Mike Simpson (R-ID), who managed to score a 4% on the scorecard.

Four percent, how bad is that? Don Young (R-AK), Alaska’s Pork King, scored six percent. To be fair, he supported the same number of Amendments as Simpson, but only voted on 31 issues. Still, when you’re getting into Don Young territory, it’s pretty bad.

Congressman Simpson will remain unphased by this blog post. He’s pretty well untouchable. There are some good reasons for this. He’s a member of the Appropriations Committee. He votes right on the war and takes care of our soldiers, he’s usually right on social issues. He’s got a 100% rating from National Right to Life, and has voted with the Family Research Council between 80-92% of the time each year. He’s got an 88% American Conservative Union Rating.

But yet, his fiscal record is damning. It points to a man who spends freely in the name of helping the district. He’s built himself an impregnable fortress in Idaho’s 2nd district. Since his initial primary victory, he’s been unopposed in each of the last four elections. He couldn’t get a serious challenger even if the Democrats could, in theory present one. Too entrenched.

But yet, as I study this pork issue, I see how wrong he is. Congressman Simpson not only brings home the bacon to Idaho, he helps perpetuate the bad and wasteful spending of other Congressmen. Congressman Simpson couldn’t even muster the common sense to oppose a $2 million no-bid earmark given to Sherwin Williams to develop a defense product the Pentagon didn’t ask for and that taxpayers won’t own any right in.

And why should he show common sense and restraint? Why should he care about the future of our nation. By the time this nonsense has run its course, Congressman Simpson will be retired, splitting his time between Idaho and exotic locales enjoying a Congressional pension, while my generation is left to sort out this miss. That’s right, Congressman Simpson and his colleagues will run up the credit card, my generation and our children will be left to pay the bill.

Now, some Democrats may pounce on this. But if you think I’m suggesting voting for Democrats, think again. While Congressman Simpson has a four percent rating on these Amendments, your average Democrat has a rating of two percent. Despite his faults, Simpson is, statistically speaking, twice as fiscally conservative as your average Democrat. Thus the utterly depressing situation you’re left in when a district has a Pork Barrell Republican Congressman. There’s no good alternatives, just more spending and more taxes.

Doubtless some Republicans will feel me disloyal to the party in making these comments. Well, Congressman Simpson has been disloyal to me as his constituent in wasting my taxpayer dollars and refusing to reign in spending. Congressman Simpson is part of a bi-partisan group leading our country to fiscal catastrophe, taking my hard-earned money and spending it on nonsense. This is an issue that’s too important to shut up about and play nice.

I would hope that at some point a true Conservative would challenge Simpson in the primary. Maybe they wouldn’t win, but a significant showing might make Congressman Simpson more circumspect (Maybe he’d support 20% of anti-pork Amendments rather than 4%), or if it didn’t, it could build up grassroots support for a true Conservative to replace Simpson in two or three terms.

Something needs to be done. The cost of doing nothing is far too high.

Linked by Ridenbaugh, Huckleberries Online , and Club for Growth