Post # 320, Bob McKnight's Florida Commentary
"Uh, I forgot how I voted on that."
Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar, Miami
Few things erode public confidence in politics as much as seeing a person who says one thing and then does just the opposite. Our friends on the Republican side have taken attacks and false assertions to a new level, although the Democrats have done the same thing. It is sort of like saying, "Just do as I say, not as I do."
Four particularly brash Congresspersons from Florida stick out today. The first, a first-year Congresswoman from Miami, Maria Elvira Salazar voted against an important bill called the CHIPs and Science Act, arguing it had excessive funding and was not justified. She attacked the Democrats for unnecessary spending. When President Biden signed the bill, the Congresswoman did not know the $40 Million bill had money that was qualified for her district. She immediately requested funding and got it for her district., without any explanation for why she voted against it. When confronted, she said she could not remember voting against the bill. Really.
Three more vocal Republicans from Florida signed pledges that they would not seek "earmarks" which were a way to easily insert additional funding for their district into bills. The three Congressmen said they objected to the practice and would never do it. Sure enough conservative Congressmen from Florida Byron Donalds, Greg Steube, and Matt Gaetz all took millions for their district, bragging about their effectiveness, and said nothing about their signed pledges.
Only two members of Congress from Florida are said to have had the conviction to criticize earmarks and not use them, Congresspeople Kat Cammack and Aaron Bean.
Because we have gotten lazy and disillusioned as voters, all these excellent campaigners will no doubt have slick and persuasive campaigns for re-election. They will have almost unlimited funds because the Courts have removed campaign limits. We will be fooled because we turn our back on working and researching the election process.
I do not advocate any of these Congresspeople being denied re-election. But I do urge all of us to research the issues, and the votes, and then ask blunt questions. I urge that, regardless of the party. Otherwise, it will be "Do as I say, not as I do."