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September 24, 2010 in City
McMorris Rodgers backs GOP ‘Pledge to America’
Republicans share blame, says Romeyn
House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio, center, holds up a copy of the GOP agenda Thursday at a lumber yard in Sterling, Va. From left: House Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Va., Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah.
(Full-size photo)
U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers was among congressional Republicans making a “pledge” Thursday to change the way the federal government works if they regain control.
But her campaign opponent, Daryl Romeyn, said she and other Republicans should skip the grandiose statements and take some responsibility for things they did when they were in charge.
The House Republicans’ “Pledge to America” promises more fiscal responsibility, smaller government and lower taxes, along with more accountability in Washington, D.C. McMorris Rodgers was on the platform when the 45-page document was released at a suburban Virginia lumber store.
“This is a governing document, a governing agenda,” McMorris Rodgers said in a phone interview later in the day. “This is not a campaign document.”
But to make the changes called for in the document, things like repealing health care reform or making tax cuts permanent, Republicans will have to take the majority in the November elections.
Romeyn, the Democratic challenger in Eastern Washington’s 5th Congressional District, said his cursory reading of the pledge revealed some things that make sense and some things that don’t. But he wonders about some of the verbiage, like its denunciation of “an arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites (that) makes decisions, issues mandates and enacts laws without accepting or requesting the input of the many.”
“I thought we voted people in that make laws in this country,” Romeyn said.
McMorris Rodgers said that’s a reference to federal agencies that have too much authority and not enough oversight. Republicans want any new rule that would cost more than $100 million to come back to Congress for additional approval.
Republicans were as guilty of overspending and running up deficits as Democrats when they held the White House and Congress in the last decade, Romeyn said. “They want government to be honest, but they themselves are not being honest.”
McMorris Rodgers agreed Republicans made mistakes with too much spending when they had control. That’s why so many were “fired” in 2006, she said.
If voters put them back in the majority, they could be voted out in two years if they don’t keep their pledge, she said. But she stopped short of promising to step down in 2012 if Republicans get the majority and don’t deliver on the pledge: “That’s up to the American people.”
Supermajority for taxes unconstitutional, judge rules 
schleufer on September 24 at 5:15 a.m.
they gotta be cringin over this one.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#39336480
mikeln on September 24 at 7:01 a.m.
This is the same crap they had in 94. It has destroyed our country and now they are offering us the same. So now the rank and file republicans will get rid of them and try to elect people that are even more crazy. What a system.
MrNatural on September 24 at 8:52 a.m.
I’ve been searching for the accomplishments of CMR…anybody got a list?..anything?
misjustice on September 24 at 9:19 a.m.
She opposed her party and voted to help pass SCHIP, Mr. Natural, and I applaud her for that. I think that vote had more to do with being a mom, though, than being a politician. And that since her first child was born with downs syndrome I think she appreciated what parents must face when attempting to get health care for their children.
Additionally, she is a snappy dresser!
And isn’t her baby bump cute? She’s pregnant, again.
Other than that, I’ve got nothin’!
eagleproducer on September 24 at 9:41 a.m.
I thought the GOP was about reducing the deficit? The new contract on Americans adds to the defict to the tune of 3.7 trillion dollars over ten years unless there are massive cuts in spending I didn’t see.
Paul Krugman offers some excellent analysis of this latest dog and pony show from the GOP in the article included in this link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/opinion/24krugman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
I’ll leave you with a quote from the article that is worth consideration:
“So what’s left? Howard Gleckman of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has done the math. As he points out, the only way to balance the budget by 2020, while simultaneously (a) making the Bush tax cuts permanent and (b) protecting all the programs Republicans say they won’t cut, is to completely abolish the rest of the federal government: “No more national parks, no more Small Business Administration loans, no more export subsidies, no more N.I.H. No more Medicaid (one-third of its budget pays for long-term care for our parents and others with disabilities). No more child health or child nutrition programs. No more highway construction. No more homeland security. Oh, and no more Congress.”
misjustice: Yeah, Cathy likes her baby bump too. She’s hoping it will reduce the “empty suit” comparisons.
opeled on September 24 at 2:46 p.m.
Why is it that the canidates are able to draw big $$$$ from NATIONAL parties when WE the people of washington are/is who they represent… they should not be allowed to fund their campains with dollars not from this state…MCmorris started out good but became a party mule within two years…
the money issue eliminates most local citizens from running as independents.
also, the supreme court ruling that politicians do not have to tell the truth doesn’t help
misjustice on September 24 at 3:09 p.m.
Mr. Natural, I looked to see what bills McMorris Rodgers had written and passed…
“Cathy McMorris Rodgers has sponsored 23 bills since Jan 4, 2005 of which 19 haven’t made it out of committee and none were successfully enacted.”
I found this little tidbit interesting, her top contributor in the past election cycle was AVISTA Corp. ; )
“The top campaign contribution to McMorris Rodgers in 2007-2008 was $15,550 from employees of Avista Corp. Cathy McMorris Rodgers’s net worth was between $934,027 and $2,626,999 in 2007, according to McMorris Rodgers’s mandated financial disclosure statements. For more information, see the Center for Responsive Politics’ page for McMorris Rodgers.”
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/person.xpd?id=400659
Thayne on September 24 at 3:55 p.m.
If anybody is out of touch it’s the GOP. I really can’t believe they honestly think the majority of voters want the wealthiest 3% to continue to not have to pay taxes. The only pledge they’re going to give is to continue to shaft the middle and lower income earners. I hope voters with common sense wake up and see these idiots for the charlatans they are and send them home - especially “Find me at the golf course” Bonehead.
eagleproducer on September 24 at 7:07 p.m.
I think it’s time for voters in the fifth district to examine their values and align them with the proper candidate in this race. Let me help.
Conservatives supposedly abhor career politicians. When is the last time Cathy had a regular job? Where did all that money she has come from on her paltry salary as a state rep and later a member of congress?
On the other hand, I’ve seen Darryl Romeyn working basically every day for the last twenty or so years on the airwaves of Spokane.
Check one for Romeyn.
Romeyn has a “war chest” of less than five grand before the primary, mostly from small donations and his own money as the local democratic party aparatchik backed a losing horse. McMorris-Rogers is the epitome of big money and mijustice revealed her largest donor: The Avista Corp who are going to demand higher rates from us right around the corner even though their wholesale rates for gas have dipped drastically since their last request for an increase!
Check two for Romeyn.
What, exactly, has McMorris/Rogers delivered for the fifth district? Where’s the pork? Nethercutt was the same way. At least with Foley we saw some of our money coming back this way. As has been pointed out in previous posts, her record as a legislator is absent and EVERYONE NEEDS TO BE REMINDED SHE VOTED WITH THE BUSH WHITE HOUSE OVER 97% OF THE TIME!
Check three for Romeyn.
Where did Cathy receive her higher education? Where did Romeyn?
Check four for Romeyn.
I could go on and on and it won’t matter. The morons who comprise the majority of voters in this district will send the same fool back time and time again to fool them time and time again. Look around people! Tell me with a straight face the district is in better shape than it was when you first sent Nethercutt and then Cathy to congress.
duckinspokane on September 25 at 4:42 p.m.
So she hasn’t gotten one single bill she authored enacted into law. She certainly hasn’t brought in any money back to our district, as has been mentioned. So why is she representing us? All she is doing is posing for photo ops with John Boehner, it seems.
I really hope the people in the 5th district wake up and send somebody NEW to DC.
PlanB on September 27 at 12:00 p.m.
It is incorrect to say the top 3% don’t pay taxes. They pay a lot. The question is how much should they be paying, and since the Reagan years that percentage has gone down.
McMorris-Rogers does nothing other than to read off the GOP menu that has been written for her. She shows no signs of independent or critical thought.