Leach a-flippin' and a-floppin'

[rurallib]

Since Dave Franker called our attention to it last fall, I have been paying close attention to our "friend" Mr. Integrity himself, Jim Leach.
Well as Franker pointed out Leach votes one way, then another. Often the vote that gets reported is the one where he votes "moderate" or bucks his party.
So for example last week, Mr. Leach's recorded vote on the estate tax bill elimination was a no. That is what the papers reported. What they didn't report is that Leach had an opportunity to vote against bringing the bill to the floor but voted for it. Were he consistent he would not have voted to bring it to the floor. Leach had also stated he wanted to raise the exemption and lower the tax, yet he offered no ammendment and voted against a Democratic ammendment to that effect. In the end, knowing the bill would pass, he votes against it. Leach pretty much covered all bases on that one.
Later in the week he was one of two Republicans to vote with Democrats in an attempt to review the House rules on ethics. Our papers duly reported Leach's vote with praise. They didn't mention that he'd voted the other way on the same bill in January.
He has however represented us recently by voting for the horrible bankruptcy bill and especially by supporting Jim Nussle's budget that strips most social programs. On the last one he was an instrumental vote in a 218 - 214 vote.
As Franker said, he is there for his party when they need him. Otherwise he's all over the place, scoring points with his faux moderateness.
I just wanted to inform you folks who have supported Leach here of his hypocracies.

[Debi]

1. Thank you for the info

And please keep it up! I'm in the First District, but like to stay informed of what's going on around the state.

I figured Leach must be doing something to keep his party happy, otherwise they would have run a primary against him a long time ago. As long as he's there when they need him it must be okay to catch some headlines on 'MODERATE' votes that don't count.

[Rambis]

2. Here you are folks

He is a master politician.
This is how Leach has played the game for 28 years and if you are lazy (I admit it I was) you get a very different view of his record. If you even bother to scratch the surface you get this type of thing coming out over and over. Leach kills things before he has to make a vote that will be a matter of public record. He is brilliant at it. The only vote that is really going to hurt him is the prescription drug giveaway that goes into effect in 2006. Once a ton of Iowa seniors get thrown out of their pension plans via this thing schite is gonna hit the fan. It will be to late to expose one of the best politicians of our time Jim Leach because he will be collecting the pension that John Kerry wanted to give all Americans the chance to buy into.