I just finished reviewing a letter with signatures quite surprising (Both for who signed it... and who didn't sign it) wherein 65 REPUBLICAN freshmen House members, including members like Allen West (Who I have been a personal fan of since his rise) put their names to this missive... a letter requesting the return of earmarks.
Currently, House GOP rules state:
GOP rules state that “it is the policy of the House Republican Conference that no member shall request a congressional earmark, limited tax benefit or limited tariff benefit, as such terms have been described in the rules of the House.” House rules say a bill has to list all of the limited tariff benefits in it or carry a certification that there are no such benefits in it.The "reasoning" of the hypocrites?
That’s where supporters think they’ve found a loophole. The benefits aren’t “limited,” they say, because they don’t specify a particular company. If that’s the case, the bill could move to the floor with a certification that it doesn’t include a “limited tariff benefit” — a nifty loophole just big enough to squeeze thousands of earmarks through.This is the parsing of a genuine slimeball like Tim Leavitt or Steve Stuart. The GOP was supposed to be better than that.
How many of these turn coats ran on a platform of opposing earmarks?
Who didn't sign the letter?
Our own Jaime Herrera.
How bizarre is that? Herrera, who has shown her politics to be somewhat charitably "malleable." But I reviewed every signature on the letter, a pdf located here, and hers is not on it.
I would have bet my dog it would have been there, and it wasn't. I was, and am, stunned, that one of the least likely people I've ever known to take a principled stand would actually do so against the tide of the rest of her class.
There may well be hope for her yet.
Cross posted at Clark County Politics.
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Let's keep it civil, people.