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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huckleberries Online

MIA: Have You Seen Raul Lately?

Democratic congressional hopeful Jimmy Farris has all but put Congressman Raul Labrador's face on a milk carton with the frantic headline: "Have you seen his man?" After all, the freshman Republican hasn't just blown off his under-funded opponent or even the independent Project Vote Smart; he's also AWOL much of the time from his day job. According to GovTrack, which follows Congress, the freshman Idaho Republican has missed 72 of 1,531 recorded votes -- 4.7 percent. During the first quarter of this year, Labrador missed more than one in 10 recorded votes. "He owes it to the people of Idaho to tell them why he's missed those votes," Farris said. Labrador's overall absentee rate is nearly double that of his Idaho Republican colleagues. Second District Congressman Rep. Mike Simpson has missed 2.9 percent of the votes during the nearly 14 years in office. Sen. Mike Crapo has missed 2.2 percent in the last 19 years. Since January of 2009, Sen. Jim Risch has missed just 1.5 percent/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. More here. (Wikipedia photo for illustrative purposes)

Question: Has freshman Congressman Raul Labrador already put his personal interests ahead of Idaho's?



D.F. Oliveria
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.

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