| Republican Opponent's Position: Less Action, More Attack Ads
One of the last things retiring Representative Mike McNulty did as Congressman was to vote "yea" on both $700 billion bailout packages meant to address the econominc crisis. McNulty voted for the first measure that failed in the House last week and remained firm in his support for the revised bill first passed in the Senate, then the House, and now set to be signed into law by President Bush.
Voters in the 21st Congressional District deserve to know how their future Congressman feels about this, and today Democractic candidate Paul Tonko let them know exactly how he feels. The following press release has a headline that reads Tonko Supports Bill, But With Reservations:
"I support the action taken by the House of Representatives yesterday to pass the Economic Stability Act. Although I strongly disagree with several aspects of this legislation, these actions are necessary to ensure the continued flow of credit that allows families to buy homes and send their children to college. I believe the threat to the well-being of working families caused by not acting far outweighs the reservations I have about this legislation.
"This bill does not go far enough to help people who are in danger of losing their homes. More foreclosures will mean more instability for the housing and financial markets. I believe that bankruptcy judges must be allowed to change the terms of distressed mortgages to prevent more foreclosures. This bill also includes questionable add-ons, including more tax breaks for oil companies, which certainly are not struggling.
"Another part of this bill that I find very troubling is what I believe are serious conflicts of interest in the administration of this plan. The bailout will be orchestrated by five Bush administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson who is the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, one of the firms that will benefit significantly from this plan. The Congressional oversight committee must watch very closely to ensure that no conflicts of interest affect the disbursements of taxpayer dollars.
"The bill does include protections for taxpayers, including provisions that will allow taxpayers recover their investment when the financial industry returns to profitability. The bill is also an improvement from the Bush Administration's original plan
"There is more work to be done. Despite this rescue plan, we will still face serious economic challenges in the months ahead. Leaders in Washington need to address the factors that led to the failure of the markets and take steps to provide responsible and effective regulation that will make sure this crisis never happens again.
"There are more immediate issues that Washington failed to address, like the record home heating prices facing families this winter. These record prices, combined with record gasoline and food prices, will leave many Capital Region families struggling. Congress must act to increase funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Plan (LIHEAP). In Congress, I pledge to work in a bipartisan manner to increase LIHEAP funding so people on low and fixed incomes don't have to make the choice between feeding their families and heating their homes."
Soundpolitic's Analysis Below The Fold... |
| Whether one agrees or disagrees with the action (that is, whether you refer to this as the "Economic Recovery Act" or the "Big Wall Street Irresponsiblity Reward Act") what is refreshing here is to have a concrete statement from a potential future Congressman that clues voters in to Paul Tonko's thought process. In general, he seems more opposed to the bill than supportive of it, but the big point is that Tonko realizes that sometimes you just can't get perfect legislation...especially under this Administration.
So, where is the statement in support or opposition of this plan from the Republican hopeful? I checked the website of Republican Jim Buhrmaster, and there's nothing on the economic bailout, nothing on the economic crisis, nothing on how he'd vote...
...but there is the childishly-named "Taxin' Tonko" attack ad that's just started to run! That'll solve this economic crisis, doggone it! So Mr. Burgermeister seems to think that people will hear him say something like this...
When it comes to addressing the issues that concern us all, Jim will not be looking for a Democrat or Republican solution, but the right solution for taxpayers in the Capital Region.
-Jim Buhrmaster, Republican candidate for Congress, 21st Congressional District of New York
...and then he'll hope people will eat up the same old partisan red-meat that boils every major problem we've ever had in our history to just one thing: high taxes. That's not addressing an issue that concerns us all; that's not looking for a solution; that's pointing to a problem and being very partisan about it in the process.
This is just the same GOP playbook as last year and every year before it as long as anybody can remember. It should be clear by now, as it's clear to Paul Tonko, that it was lower taxes for the already wealthy and lower amounts of regulations for their big businesses that got us into this mess. And Paul Tonko has already shrugged off attack ads in a tough Democratic primary last month, attack ads that, unlike the new Republican attempt, actually had some factual basis to them. If those ads couldn't stick, I'm sure this new Burgermeister attack won't even hit the target.
So if you want solutions to this crisis that boil down to a baseless attack ad, go ahead and vote Republican. If you want someone who actually understands this stuff and is willing to forgoe the old partisan attacks and actually give some explanation, check out Paul Tonko on the web. |
