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(From the Sarvi campaign's comm director -- important stuff.
Kline. Must. Go. - promoted by Joe Bodell)
Fruit flies are under attack, and I'm kind of indignant about it.
This isn't an issue I thought I'd be writing about a week before the election, but then, working against John Kline has been a strange experience that keeps getting stranger.
As many by now know, John Kline is obsessed with member high priority projects (HPPs), which some call earmarks and which he likes to call "pork" no matter what they are or what they're for. He just won't stop talking about them. And you know what? More power to him. I hope he keeps right on talking about them, since most people are more concerned about losing their jobs, not having good health insurance, and not being able to afford to go to college or pay off their loans. And since earmarks make up a whopping grand total of .46% of our federal budget and we're spending $2 billion per week in Iraq.
So John Kline wants to talk about how he won't help his district get federal funds for critical projects - not even improvements to really dangerous roads. Fine. I think he'll pay the price for that (among other things) next week.
Of course, when Mr. Kline lambastes "pork," he doesn't talk about roads and bridges and other projects most of us consider worthy; he talks about things like the Lobster Institute. Signage in the L.A. fashion district. And fruit fly research in (gasp!) France. You've probably seen the ad where he mentions that. And you know, on its face, fruit fly research does seem pretty ridiculous. So Mr. Kline could be forgiven for thinking he might be able to score some political points off something like that. Right?
Oops. Turns out fruit fly research isn't ridiculous. |
| Kline might have scored on his bet except that those little critters have become a national GOP talking point: Vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has been talking about them. And because of all the attention afforded Mrs. Palin, we now know the story on the fruit flies, compliments of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. The research being done isn't about fruit flies; it's on fruit flies, for the benefit of human beings - namely, human beings with brain function abnormalities like autism. It appears that though the outward resemblance isn't strong, we're closely enough related to the flies that we share a bunch of important genes.
Now, I probably wouldn't bring this up except that like Palin, Kline is decrying fruit fly research alongside a call to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Mr. Kline began talking about the need to fully fund special education during his first debate with Steve Sarvi. I doubt anyone would disagree with him that this is something we should do. Some probably would disagree that we should discontinue federally funding research on autism just because it's being done on fruit flies in France (or anywhere else).
I would think this intentional juxtapositioning of issues was weird except that it's just emblematic of the confused and confusing position Kline has taken on HPPs, which he calls "corrupt and corrupting," since last year. Time and again, he's talked about how terrible they are, yet it hasn't stopped him from going to ribbon cuttings for roads and bridges for which he secured funds prior to his change of heart; it also hasn't precluded him from saying he sees no hypocrisy in going to these celebrations because his were projects a member "should be proud of." In other words, funds he secured before 2007 were something to be proud of; seeking funds today would be "corrupt and corrupting."
What is the difference between pre-2007 and today? Well, for starters, there's the fact that the Democrats are now in charge of Congress, and as a result of rules changes they instituted, there are a lot fewer earmarks - something that Kline should consider a move in the right direction. Nope. Quite the contrary. He voted against those rules changes, on the basis of that old chestnut that they "didn't go far enough."
Here's the deal: If John Kline had not been in Congress during a historic expansion of our national debt and our federal deficit; had he not supported nearly every appropriation for the Iraq war; had he not stood by and said nothing as millions of dollars were reported missing in Iraq due to contractor abuse ... then I think a lot of us could stomach an "I'm a fiscal conservative" argument against earmarks, even though they make up a measly .46% of our federal budget and there are lots bigger battles to be fought. But he was, and he did, and he did... so we can't.
And that's why Steve Sarvi needs your support. Steve's going to keep talking about the issues people are most concerned about. That's why I'M writing this blog post and he's not.
As Steve would say, there are just six days and a wake-up 'til Election Day. Tomorrow, we're releasing a new ad. Stay tuned. Until then, help us raise some more money so we can put it on-air more. www.stevesarvi.org |
