He’s at it again: Votes against before voting for
It is a contention of this author that in order to plumb the actual proclivities of our congressman, it is necessary to look beyond the main votes and look at what happens in the arcane parliamentary procedure that precedes the main vote. Consistency of thought and action is a very powerful measure of the true intents of an individual.
Mr. McHugh has strong union backing even though in the past he as only voted 40% of the time with the interests of organized labor. This past Friday he voted for HR 800, the Employee Free Choice Act of 2007 that will authorize the creation of a union by merely gaining a majority of employees to sign “cards” – essentially a petition – to form a union. This will all be done out in the open without the mandate for a secret ballot.
It is therefore notable that before Mr. McHugh voted for the bill, he voted against it and by doing so tried to hand control of the debate over to those that vehemently oppose the bill. As noted before in these essays, voting against Ordering the Previous Question when voting on a Rule does just that. Mr. McHugh, as he so often does – being true to form – voted against Ordering the Previous Question (the vote to vote) and thus, buried in the arcane parliamentary procedure of the House, did all he could to obstruct the bill.
Then just before the final vote on passage of the bill, he voted to recommit the bill with the addition that only US citizens or legal aliens can participate in the union petition. The problem is that employees by law are supposed to have been checked by the employer to be legal residents. The clear intention of this tactic was to weaken the bill so that it would be unworkable. It would allow an unscrupulous employer who hires illegals to then turn around and challenge the attempts at union organization. It never ceases to amaze me how deviously clever they are. Give with one hand and take away with another. Reminds me of how the NSA Director (played by Richard Jordan) in Clancy’s Hunt for Red October characterized himself: “I’m a politician…when I’m not kissing babies, I’m stealing their lollipops.”
To those of us that see this bill as an equalizer of power between employer and employee, the vote can only be considered well cast. However, Mr. McHugh has a major problem. He has now betrayed his Republican base throughout the district. It has not gone unnoticed that John Johnson’s very Republican Watertown Times – but avid supporter of Mr. McHugh – has not reported this vote. His ability to win election after election is dependent upon both the support of that base and the support of organized labor. He has successfully, election after election, been able to raid his Democratic opponent’s base by courting organized labor.
No doubt, whoever runs again him will face the same problem. Even though this bill is doomed in the Senate, organized labor again will support him with money and organizational skill. All the while he has voted against our interests by continuing to support the war, by voting against stem cell research, voting for Medicare part D, voting to cut veteran benefits, avoiding the vote on negotiating drug prices with drug companies and on and on.
No one questions Mr. McHugh’s savvy ability as a politician. Whether it’s getting labor’s support by voting for a bill that he first tries to derail or casting selective ineffective votes for labor, it is the consistency and logic of his voting pattern that truly belies his real intents. When challenged about this vote by the Republican base, he can easily say that he did everything he could to stop it. He can please everyone.
Now that’s a politician.
Cassandra on 05 Mar 2007 at 7:55 am #
Pays to understand context… It is my humble opinion that the fence sitters and those who appear to jump back and forth are hurting us as much as the extremists are.
Mark A. Jeror Sr. on 05 Mar 2007 at 11:57 am #
How can the Democratic Party still consider Unions to be their “base”, when only about 8% of the public is protected by PRIVATE unions? Research the times that Mr. McHugh has supported Union causes, and you might be surprised to see that he supports only those that encompass the Prison Industrial Complex.
America no longer has a Union based work force.
Take Colorado for example. Since the Democrats have insisted that the border patrol do their jobs for the first time in 6 years, Colorado appears to have a labor problem. It seems that the huge agri-business farms, who only grew to their present size because of their illegal migratory employees, are now demanding to use inmates at .60 cents/day. Since it is a breach of our open competitive markets system to use Government subsidized slave labor, to benefit GOP patronage businesses, like 700 acre corporate farms. How will this affect the farmers who don’t have CO’s in the family? Will they be forced to downsize? Doesn’t it make more sense to use the inmates to benefit the entire State? How many public union jobs can they replace. Janitors, maintenance workers, parks and recreation? If Colorado used slave(inmate) labor to replace dead enders in the state employee system, it would lessen the tax burden for everyone, as it supplies agri-business with low achieving laborers. The North Country is a burden on New York State’s check book because there is no true economy. When our fortunate elite legislators begin the process of justifying the use of our prison population to benefit specific GOP patronage businesses, tell them to lay off a few thousand State workers and the labor pool will increase exponentially. The inmates will be working somewhere. They might as well be used to offset the tax burden caused by their criminal activity. Otherwise, the boiling down process will continue to the point where the only unions left in America will be taxtaking organizations specializing in bleeding every penny from the taxpaying public. Once that happens, I can almost guarantee that Mr. McHugh will vote in support of every Union initiative. With no habeas corpus, empty detention centers waiting for the enactment of theoretical unpopular programs the GOP used to justify their construction, and a Just-Us system that allows for prison terms to be meted out to any victim class(uneducated) member of society with a doobie, as the Catholic Pedophiles of America are allowed to continue hiding the 12,000 repeat pedophile priests they’ve been hiding since the early 50’s, there is nothing equal about the current American Just-Us system. America’s current economic balance is completely out of whack. When sycophants of BushCo, like Derek Champagne DA of Franklin County, call the Prison Industrial Complex, the economic engine that drives the North Country, as he and Chris Ortloff whine about the money the North sends to Albany, it is very apparent that they are either too stupid to understand economics, or think we’re too stupid to catch on to what they’re doing. These people are deliberately trying to bankrupt America. If they weren’t, they’d be talking about State layoffs as a way to regain our economic balance. Let these overgrown welfare pros replace the workers that never should have been here to begin with. We the people pay the costs, we the people should benefit. Having corporations like Halliburton be the sole beneficiaries of the reinstatement of slavery in America, isn’t right. If we’re gonna have slaves, all of society should benefit. If we’re gonna have unlimited detention for repeat pedophiles, the 12,000 repeat pedophiles shuffled around by the catholics, should at least be included on the sex offenders list. How do we know that Tim Foley, Derek Champagne, and my local Judge Bob Main, weren’t groomed by these priests before becoming elected officials, if Congress refuses to tell us where they are? The situation is too delicate to be discussed? Then stop giving them our education money. Pedophiles, based on what our elected leaders are saying, are pedophiles for life. If a 25 year old pedophile priest was shuffled around since 1950, he would be 81 years old today. How many innocent citizens could he have groomed in 56 years? If equality had anything to do with investor class America, we wouldn’t be talking about unlimited detention for victim class pedophiles as a means to provide job security for the Prison Industrial Complex. Not doing the same for the Catholic Priest pedophiles, allows them to create more pedophiles, who will need to be detained forever. Talk about job security and cheap labor. It doesn’t get any cheaper than that. Detain them forever, then use them as slaves. Why not? Who’s gonna stop them? Our Privately Schooled, Catholic educated, politicians? Yeah right, they’re too busy trying to create more charter schools so the grooming can continue.
Publius on 05 Mar 2007 at 2:03 pm #
Let’s hope that the political reporters in McHugh’s congressional district look at this site and learn from the posts by Theophilus. They are informed by his expert knowledge of congressional parliamentary procedure. Moreover, the site offers links to documents that enable anyone to become an expert.
McHugh Watch » Organized Labor’s Adoration of a False Idol on 18 Mar 2007 at 8:44 pm #
[...] Yesterday, Mr. McHugh attended the Northeast Labor Council Legislative Breakfast to bask in their adoration of his vote on HR 800 the Employee Free Choice Act. As noted previously, this affirmative vote came only after trying to frustrate its passage by voting against Ordering the Previous Question. [...]