Timothy McNulty | September 16, 2009
For the Bob Casey files: expect a GOP attack line on his Acorn funding vote when he runs for reelection. From CQ's "In the Right" blog:
[Monday] night, by a vote of 83-7, the Senate voted to deny funding to
ACORN through the annual appropriations bill for the Department of
Housing and Urban Development.
In the wake of recent investigations -- notwithstanding the fact that ABC's Charlie Gibson appears never to have heard of them -- Nebraska Republican Sen. Mike Johanns' amendment was, as we say in the business, a no-brainer.
The roll call
is quite illuminating -- the seven who voted against the amendment (in
effect, voting to allow ACORN to continue receiving taxpayer funds
through HUD) were, not surprisingly, all Democrats: Roland W. Burris and Richard J. Durbin of Illinois; Pat Leahy and Bernie Sanders of Vermont; Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania.
Burris will retire at the end of his current term without ever facing the voters, so his vote cannot be used against him.
Durbin is absolutely safe in Illinois, as are Leahy and Sanders in Vermont.
Whitehouse must feel pretty safe in Rhode Island.
Gillibrand has to build up some liberal street cred in New York.
But Casey? In Pennsylvania? He feels safe enough in the middle of
his term (he's up for reelection in 2012) that he feels he can afford
to cast a vote in favor of using taxpayer funds to support an
organization under investigation all over the country?
Wow.
Let's hope the research team at the National Republican Senatorial Committee keeps good files.
Posted
Sep 16 2009, 10:18 AM
by
Timothy McNulty