Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Worth $174,000 Plus Benefits?

Mike Rogers recently popped up on a list of about 150 Representatives who have not been serving their constituents very well.

No, it's not the House Republicans who, like a preschool class deprived of naptime, threw a collective hissy fit and voted in a bloc against the stimulus package.  Well, OK -- he's on that list, too.

It's actually a bipartisan list of legislators who have, as of yesterday, not introduced a single House bill or joint resolution to the 111th Congress.
[A caveat: I'm not counting procedural H.Res or S.Res bills noting that a quorum is present or celebrating Bruce Jones' election into the Football Hall of Fame. I'm only counting actual substantive bills here.]
And we know how Mr. Rogers looooves those sort of bills, like H.R. 997 (to declare English the official language of the United States 2/11/09), and H.R. 913 (to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to strengthen mentoring programs, 2/11/09).

I have a really hard time accepting Mr. Rogers' assurances that he's working hard for us in Washington.  The word "crisis" doesn't begin to describe our economic situation, but Mike Rogers chose to introduce pop-tart bills like these instead of voting for $3 million in funding for local roads,  extended unemployment benefits and aid to local schools.

That same week, he also chose to host a lobbyist shakedown party as part of his efforts to retain GOP legislators.

Apparently, Mr. Rogers has a very, ah, flexible idea of what constitutes public service.

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