T.W.I.T. #1 (This Week In Thaddeus)

Welcome to the first of hopefully forty-six editions of "This Week In Thaddeus". Forty-six weeks takes us into early November, 2008, and by then it's our mission to have convinced the people of the 11th District that Rep. McCotter is not "working for you". So without further adieu, let's see what the Distinguished Gentleman from Livonia has been up to lately...

• Ms. Cordelia Lear, over at "Blogging For Michigan" shares an AP story about Congress' use of the "franking privilege". Franking cost the American taxpayers over $20 Million last year, and it seems that our own Thaddeus McCotter is one of the top users of the privilege:

  Among legislative leaders, the biggest spender was Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., who last fall became chairman of the House GOP Conference. He spent $133,053 to mail 844,336 pieces.

  Other leaders in the last Congress and the current one were not big users.

  The cost of postage is not the only expense for taxpayers. Printing and reproduction can add tens of thousands of dollars to a mailing's cost. The printing cost for one mailing from McCotter was $30,259.

  So what's the big deal, you ask? Well, Rep. McCotter seems to want his cake and eat it too. He constantly decries "overspending" as his reason for voting against many important pieces of legislation. When I asked him about his vote against the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 - which was ultimately passed and signed into law by George Bush himself - McCotter replied, "While I support many sections of this bill, the overall spending contained in H.R. 2669 remained excessive; therefore, I could not in good conscience support this bill, which will pave the way for more government spending and higher taxes." He also ironically closes his e-mail reply with this gem:

P.S. In an effort to conserve paper and save taxpayer dollars, please subscribe to our email list so we can more efficiently provide you with updates on important issues to the 11th District.

• On December 18th, McCotter voted against the Energy Independence and Security Act, which would move the nation towards more renewable fuels, higher fuel economy, green building standards and increased methods of energy conservation. Perhaps Thaddeus didn't like that it took away huge tax breaks and subsidies for Big Oil? The bill also creates an Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Worker Training Program to train for “green collar” jobs, such as solar panel manufacturers and green building construction workers, created by federal renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives. This is exactly the kind of thing the State of Michigan is trying to achieve to help wean our economy from the automotive industry, and McCotter and four other MI Republicans voted it down.
  

• McCotter was the recent subject of an article in Harper's Magazine, written by Ken Silverstein. In it, Silverstein discusses a new political action committee (PAC) our dear representative has established. I will allow you to judge for yourself whether or not Rep. McCotter truly believes that the Democratic Party is going to bring about the Apocalypse. All I ask of you is this - does this sound like a moderate, reasonable person who is capable of representing all the interests of the people in his district?

• On December 23rd, McCotter was the subject of a Detroit Free Press editorial, penned by Ron Dzwonkowski. Dzwonkowski alludes to a recent speech/press release, dated December 12th, on how the Republican Party should be "restored". The pungent aroma of hypocrisy wafted from the page as I read it last Saturday. In his speech, McCotter has the audacity to admonish the GOP for its fall into a "Cashocracy":

  Hubristically deemed by its leading denizens as a “Permanent Majority,” the GOP Cashocracy was a Beggars’ Banquet at taxpayers’ expense. The Cashocracy’s sole goal was its own perpetuation; and its Cashocrats and High Priests of Money-theism myopically chased this aim through pragmatic corporatism and political machinations.

  This coming from a man who practically bribed his way to becoming GOP House Policy Charman with a $250,000 contribution to the National Republican Congressional Committee. This coming from a man whose campaign contributions from single-issue and ideological Republican PACs (including $20,000 from Tom DeLay's ARMPAC) allow him to outspend his challengers by a 10-to-1 margin! Not to mention that despite his strong public stance against the policy of federal earmarks being attached to bills for pork-barrel spending projects, one of his own was to secure money for Westland to renovate an ice arena. Hmm, could that be Democratic-leaning Westland, where he's looking for help in the polls this fall?

It's getting late, and I could go on forever...see you next week when TWIT rings in the new year!