Congress’ passage of its omnibus budget this week provided Congressman Dan Lipinski with another opportunity to try to have his cake and eat it too.
I think he exceeded everyone’s expectations this time around.
He, like many Democrats, voted against the omnibus budget bill. Now take a look at this press release, in which Lipinski takes credit for the federal funding for state, county and local projects included in the bill that he had just voted against.
How can he claim to bring home funds when he voted against the budget bill? This is simply wrong on so many levels, but it’s par for the course for Congressman Lipinski. On top of that, we have here the quintessential back-bencher, someone who is widely regarded as among the most ineffectual member of the House, brazenly trying to take credit for the collective efforts of the entire Illinois delegation.
While Lipinski was taking credit for funding initiatives that he voted against, he was also engaged in another shameless act of desperation, one familiar to those of you who have been following our campaign.
For the past three years, Congressman Lipinski has blindly followed President Bush when it comes to the issue of Iraq. Recently, he’s been scrambling to run away from his Iraq war record and his vote against this funding bill was the culmination of that.
My question is, What about that town hall meeting you hosted last month, Congressman Lipinski? There you told voters that you have supported each and every war funding bill to come your way because you firmly believe that President Bush would just leave the troops high and dry and unprotected if Congress refused to fund the war.
What exactly happened between then, when you were using the troops to justify voting along with Bush and the Republicans, and now, to make you flip-flop?
What seems much more likely is that Congressman Lipinski’s motivation is political. He is worried about losing his seat, and he should be. Democrats don’t want to re-elect a hypocrite to Congress. They want House members who will stand up to President Bush — something this Congress has failed to do — and bring this war to a close by capping funding for it. They want someone in office that they can be proud of and will stand up for them on the issues they care about most. Some members of Congress clearly seem to care about winning re-election and little else.
I pledged at the very beginning of our campaign that when I am elected to Congress, I will do my very best to end this war and to lead on the issues that Democrats care deeply about, regardless of which party controls Congress or who occupies the White House in 2009.
Our campaign has been about drawing differences between myself and Congressman Lipinski and, thanks in part to his behavior this week, I don’t think those distinctions could be any starker.
I will to bring to Washington D.C. the honest, principled leadership that the voters of this district very much want and deserve. What Lipinski wants is perpetuation of his family’s business and more of the same. If you haven’t already, I hope you’ll join us in the weeks before the Feb. 5 Primary Election and help us realize change in IL-03.
For more information, visit visit www.PERA08.com.
