Congressman Upton wants to Chair the House Energy & Commerce Committee. While I am a big fan of Congressman Barton, and he wants a waiver, I am not in favor of any waivers for House Committees and think the House GOP needs to choose someone other than Upton.
Congressman Shimkus would be great. Joe Pitts (!!!!) would be awesome. And there are others.
But of Upton, let’s review who we are dealing with.
THIS IS THE MAN WHO CAME UP WITH THE IDEA TO BAN THE LIGHTBULB!!
Here is the rest of his sorry voting record:
BAILOUTS
- Voted YES for TARP
- Voted YES on the auto bailout
- Voted YES on Cash for Clunkers
SPENDING
- Voted NO on 7 of the last 9 RSC Budgets
- Voted YES on the Farm Bill
- Voted YES on the 2005 Highway Bill
- Voted NO to cap farm subsidies
- Voted YES four times to extend unemployment benefits
- Voted NO to end milk subsidies
- Voted NO to cut sugar subsidies
- Voted NO to cut NEA spending
- Voted NO to cut AMTRAK spending
- Voted YES to increase funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
- Got a 53% on the Club’s 2009 RePORK Card
- Got a 42% on the Club’s 2007 RePORK Card
TAXES
- Voted YES on Patriot Tax – a surtax on high income earners
REGULATIONS
- Voted YES for Sarbanes-Oxley
- Voted YES to increase the minimum wage
- Voted YES on energy bill with new CAFÉ standards and tax hikes
- Voted NO to waive Davis-Bacon
- Voted YES to criminalize “price-gouging”
POLITICAL FREE SPEECH
- Voted YES to force 527s to disclose their donors
- Voted YES on McCain-Feingold
- Voted YES on the 527 Reform Act
ENTITLEMENTS
- Voted YES for SCHIP
GOVERNMENT REFORM
- Voted NO to privatize postal service for 20 communities
- Voted 7 of 9 times to increase congressional pay
SCHOOL CHOICE
- Voted YES on No Child Left Behind
Moe Lane
PG DeFreese
Victoria Coates
Daniel Horowitz
Dan Spencer
Got my NO vote!
danielbdp (Diary) Tuesday, November 9th at 4:01PM EST (link)Thanks for exposing this menace. Hope the House GOP will listen…
ME TOO!
gumbeaux Wednesday, November 10th at 6:58AM EST (link)I am totally with you!
Shimkus is MY Congressman
teridavisnewman (Diary) Wednesday, November 10th at 7:15AM EST (link)I live in the 19th Illinois and John Shimkus is the biggest RINO there is. He’s co-chair of the RNC mentoring which is supposed to help Republicans get elected and didn’t lift a finger to help me. Every event I saw Costello at, Shimkus was wearing knee pads in front of him to try and get TV coverage. On the day before the election, Bill Brady came through the East St. Louis airport and Shimkus was there stealing TV coverage IN THE DISTRICT I WAS RUNNING IN! He refused to endorse me because “he and Jerry Costello don’t endorse each other’s opponents” and if there was ever a liar about being a Conservative, it’s John Shimkus. He got elected promising to limit himself to 6 years which means he should have gone home in 2002. He’s part of the problem. not part of the solution.
Teri Davis Newman
2010 Republican Nominee for Congress
2012 Candidate for Congress
12th Congressional District of Illinois
www.terinewman.com
SW Michigan Unite....
ChefSWJR Wednesday, November 10th at 8:04AM EST (link)Contact John Boehner and tell him that we, in his district, don’t want him running any committee.
Just for the record. I’m hording incandescent light bulbs. So there FED UPton
drop seniority as the criteria for promotion....
mdd1956 Wednesday, November 10th at 9:46AM EST (link)Seniority = UNION, SOCIALIST thinking.
ABILITY & MERIT = free market thinking.
Got my NO vote!
danielbdp (Diary) Tuesday, November 9th at 4:01PM EST (link)Thanks for exposing this menace. Hope the House GOP will listen…
RINO!
dave2131 Tuesday, November 9th at 4:07PM EST (link)He represents all that is wrong with the establishment GOP.
“Unlike cruel liberty that requires you to stand and take responsibility for your choices, kind tyranny requires only that you kneel and surrender your choices.”
Thank you Fred, for Raising your Visibility.
jimbo51 (Diary) Tuesday, November 9th at 4:12PM EST (link)We can now put you on our list of someone to replace via the Republican primary in 2012. Good Job.
You familiar in the least with his district?
mikefisk (Diary) Tuesday, November 9th at 6:27PM EST (link)MI-6 is no conservative bastion, mainly thanks to my hometown of Kalamazoo, quite possibly the most liberal city in West Michigan. Conservatives tried to primary him this year, and Upton won out (getting almost 60% of the vote in the primary). Even if Hoogendyk won the primary, I’m not sure he would’ve won the general (my guess is he would’ve had a chance, as Cooney, the perennial Democrat challenger, is a lunatic, but it wouldn’t have been a slam dunk).
I’m not going to actively support the idea of finding a challenger for Upton, but keeping him out of any considerable power is probably a good idea.
“Once within the maw of Leviathan, degree of digestion is irrelevant.” – Michael Fisk
9.25, -4.77
Redistricting Is Your Friend (nt)
IJB Tuesday, November 9th at 7:28PM EST (link)Thank you Fred, for Raising your Visibility.
jimbo51 (Diary) Tuesday, November 9th at 4:12PM EST (link)We can now put you on our list of someone to replace via the Republican primary in 2012. Good Job.
Total RINO
TheYeomanFarmer (Diary) Tuesday, November 9th at 4:14PM EST (link)Here in Michigan last year, I saw a car driving around with un Upton sticker on one side of the bumper … and an Obama sticker on the other side of the bumper. Can’t think of a simpler way to sum him up than that.
Cut the guy a break
GT350 Tuesday, November 9th at 4:18PM EST (link)Geez, you guys can be a little unrealistic. Cut the poor guy a break. Each of Fred Upton’s votes was made in order to protect a lil’ bit of pork he was earmarking for the folks back home.
Important things, like infrastructure funds for walking paths, a new community center, and a tax waiver for the hometown employer. These things don’t just get created out of thin air.
// Sarcasm off.
Rush covered the Upton saga today
Scope (Diary) Tuesday, November 9th at 4:23PM EST (link)He talked about his vote to ban incandescent lightbulbs. He talked about Upton for a little while, saying what a total disaster he would be on the Energy Committee. He said that if he does get the appointment, that is a sign that the Republicans just didn’t get it. Upton is the kind of Congressman that we just voted to get rid of. How did he fall under our radar? Did he have any primary challengers? Rush has a huge audience and hopefully many will come out protesting this appointment. Start looking now for his replacement in 2012.
FED UPton or FU for short....
ChefSWJR Wednesday, November 10th at 8:01AM EST (link)Many of us real conservatives in SW Michigan have been trying to get rid of this guy for years. Jack Hoogendyke ran against him in the primaries this year but, alas, twas not to be. The biggest problem is Kalamazoo. A college town, is so much more liberal than the surrounding area….we just can’t shake him. Maybe if we start now, we can find a winning candidate for 2012. Mr. Hoogendyke, maybe you should find the Tea Party in your area.
Who should we call?
TeaPartyPreacher (Diary) Tuesday, November 9th at 4:23PM EST (link)To whom should we direct our thoughts on this matter? Boehner’s office?
TeaPartyPreacher – Jake Porter
1776challenge.com
I just called Boehner and Cantor's offices in DC
Scope (Diary) Tuesday, November 9th at 4:54PM EST (link)John Boehner-
(202) 225-6205 Phone
(202) 225-0704 Fax
Eric Cantor-
(202) 225-2815 phone
(202) 225-0011 Fax
Cantors office staffman assured me that he would pass my message, that I strongly oppose Fred Upton for the Chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, on to Cantor. Of course it helped that I live in Cantor’s district.
Boehner’s staffman was not so receptive. I got an “OK, I’ll tell him.”
Please everyone call before it’s a done deal.
ABSOLUTELY NO TO UPTON!
fpete13527 (Diary) Tuesday, November 9th at 4:26PM EST (link)I can’t believe the House is even CONSIDERING him.
The guy is CLEARLY a pure RINO PORK LOIN.
NO NO NO
Hey Erick, how about Marsha Blackburn?
pilgrim (Diary) Tuesday, November 9th at 4:41PM EST (link)She is a member of the energy committee, and I think she would be an excellent choice for Chair of this committee.
I would support her for that jon, absolutely. nt
TNJim (Diary) Wednesday, November 10th at 12:40AM EST (link)I would support her for that job, absolutely. nt
TNJim (Diary) Wednesday, November 10th at 12:41AM EST (link)Dang. Tried to stop that typo and missed. nt
TNJim (Diary) Wednesday, November 10th at 12:41AM EST (link)So....
paramedichess Tuesday, November 9th at 4:58PM EST (link)Do we have a good primary challenger for Upton in 2012 yet? If not, you folks up in Michigan need to get working on it. With a voting record like that, we need to make him part of the (hopefully soon to be retired) group of republicans that lost us the majority, not the group that is going to earn the right to keep it.
The left is relieved to hear on day 1 the GOP is fine with global warming 'science'
katesmith (Diary) Tuesday, November 9th at 6:51PM EST (link)From Plumline 11/8, they had heard Republicans were going to go after faulty science behind global warming. Not to worry, they caved. After all this, the GOP will not touch the crime. Plumline says, “What a relief.” 2 sources say it’s not at all on the table, via Joe Barton’s spokesman, and via a ‘senior GOP leadership aide’ who says
the ‘leadership is cool to the idea.’ “A spokesman for the leading Republican on the committee that would undertake such hearings tells me that isn’t the plan. And a senior GOP leadership aide says the leadership is cool to the idea.
Rep. Joe Barton of Texas (the same dude who apologized to BP) is in line to be the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. A committee spokesman, Larry Neal, emails that global warming science won’t be the focus of upcoming hearings. Rather, Barton wants to hold hearings to try to get the Environmental Protection Agency to study the impact action on global warming will have on jobs.” After all this, this was the main reason to get the democrats out, and they sell out the entire country on day 1. This proves we do not exist for them.
This all happened yesterday?????
jtlfrommd Tuesday, November 9th at 10:02PM EST (link)Good Lord. Surely this isn’t the end of the story is it? And, another study?? By the EPA on the adverse affects of global warming action? That’ll be a $50,000,000 joke (see Earmark articles interspersed througout the site). Where does it end?
Abolish the EPA
bobmontgomery (Diary) Tuesday, November 9th at 10:32PM EST (link)Abolish the EPA. Abolish the EPA. Abolish the EPA. Abolish the EPA
If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.
George Washington
Erick Upton is
rdelbov Tuesday, November 9th at 7:12PM EST (link)a fairly conventional republican.
10% ADA rating
72% ACU rating
No on Cap & Trade
No on Health care
He supported all of the Budget and Tax plans of Bush 41 & Bush43 plus Reagan
He supported all of the major plans of all of the GOP Presidents since 1986 while he has opposed most if not all of major plans put forth by Clinton & Obama
He has been with the GOP on every major close vote in the house.
Erick if the truth be told many of the liberal measures that you list up there were pushed by President Bush43 and the majority of the GOP house members voted with Upton on these matters.
I for one opposed NCLB, Medicare D, Schip expansion, TARP and Sarbanes/Oxley. That being said Bush43 and the GOP leadership supported them. I think Joe Barton supported most of these measures too (not sure) but most GOP members did.
Upton is not my 1st choice for this post but as I said he fits in quite comfortably with the GOP caucus.
I really John Shimkus but I suspect he voted along side of Fred Upton on 75% of these votes. Perhaps 80%? These bills were passed with mostly GOP support.
and if truth be told that is WHY that "majority" was voted out....
JadedByPolitics (Diary) Tuesday, November 9th at 7:22PM EST (link)now isn’t it! I do believe the message has been pretty standard for the past two years and that is the GOP that once spent and voted like Democrats were NO LONGER acceptable and that if they did so again they would be held accountable. I do believe Senator Marco Rubio has stated that they are on probation and this is one of their tests!
Unified Patriots – How-To:
Activists Taking Action
There is very little doubt about
rdelbov Tuesday, November 9th at 8:18PM EST (link)that. The failure to failure to follow a conservative path -Bush43 & the GOP congress mind you-was a huge part of the 2006/2008 congressional and Presidential losses.
Not a huge fan of Upton but as I suggested Barton-Shimkus-Joe Pitts probably voted the same as Fred on nearly every one of these votes.
In fact Blunt-Boozman-Portman(during his house time)- probably voted the same as Upton on many of these votes.
Upton was not only the GOP member to vote to extend the Schip program.
My point is that Upton and good men like Blunt & Boozman went along with Bush43′s program. That was the problem.
I love Bush43 for a lot of reasons but he was no Reagan.
Now as to the lightblub stuff he I will let Upton defend that.
He Voted To Ban Incandescent Light Bulbs
IJB Tuesday, November 9th at 7:32PM EST (link)That, right there, eliminates him from consideration for Chairman in my book.
Case closed.
Makes Chris Coons look positively Conservative
After Seven (Diary) Wednesday, November 10th at 1:10AM EST (link)n/t
“The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the Federal Government, are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State Governments are numerous and indefinite.” ~ James Madison
(Federalist 45)