TX-28: Ciro Rodriguez for Congress
by Chris Bowers, Fri Feb 03, 2006 at 11:55:28 AM EST
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I'm sure by now you have noticed that blogs such as Dailykos, Atrios, Americablog and Fire Dog Lake have voiced their support for Ciro Rodriguez in the Democratic primary in TX-28 against Henry Cuellar. I am happy to announce that MyDD is now officially on board with the effort as well. Donate to Ciro Rodriguez
In so doing, I'd first like to add more context to just how bad Cuellar's voting record is. As some of you might remember, during the spring and summer I was engaged in a project to track congressional votes based on loyalty. The project stalled in August when my hard-drive crashed, and I temporarily lost the original spreadsheets I was using. However, I have the data back now, and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Henry Cuellar is one of the worst "Democrats" in the House, and that Ciro Rodriguez would be a tremendous improvement.
My loyalty scorecards track only those votes that were on the passage of an actual piece of legislation where the majority of Democrats voted differently from the majority of Republicans. In other words, these are the key votes that actually Democrats different from Republicans, and vice versa. Through September 2005, there had been 18 such votes in the 109th Congress. On 10 of those 18 occasions, Henry Cuellar actually broke with the majority of his party and voted instead with the Republican majority.
In other words, on the key votes that separate Democrats form Republicans in the House, Henry Cuellar has actually sided with Republicans more often than he has sided with Democrats. He is actually a more reliable vote for Republicans than he is for Democrats. Overall, Cuellar was the 9th least loyal Democrat in the House. He is by far the least loyal Democrat to come from a blue-leaning district, as the eight Demcorats who are actually less loyal than Cuellar are from heavy Republican territory.
By way of contrast, during the 108th Congress, Ciro Rodiguez voted with the Demcoratic majority on 28 out of 32 occasions. His loyalty rate of 87.5% is almost twice that of Henry Cuellar's pathetic 44.4%. In fact, Rodriguez's loyalty was above the Demcoratic average of 82.3%, and identical to the non-blue dog Democratic average of 87.7% in the 108th congress. Republicans essentially gained half of a seat in the House when Cuellar replaced Rodriguez last year. A real Democrat was replaced with a fake one, and I say it is time to gain that seat back.
I'd also like to list the ten votes where Cuellar defected to the Republican side of the aisle--the same side of the aisle where he sat during the SOTU.
It is no wonder that the Club for Growth has endorsed Cuellar--the first Democrat that group ever endorsed. It is no wonder that Cuellar supported Bush in 2000 (and probably in 2004 as well). It is no wonder that Republicans have not fielded a challenger to Cuellar in 2006. Why bother challenging a Republican inbument?
We can win this one. Rodriguez came within 58 votes last time, and I wouldn't be surprised if in that election there was a lot of pro-Cuellar funny business with the ballot counting. There were lawsuits.
The primary is only one month away, so act now. Support Ciro Rodriguez!
Donate to Ciro Rodriguez
Volunteer for Ciro Rodriguez
Learn more about Ciro Rodriguez
Volunteer for Ciro Rodriguez
Learn more about Ciro Rodriguez
I'm sure by now you have noticed that blogs such as Dailykos, Atrios, Americablog and Fire Dog Lake have voiced their support for Ciro Rodriguez in the Democratic primary in TX-28 against Henry Cuellar. I am happy to announce that MyDD is now officially on board with the effort as well. Donate to Ciro Rodriguez
In so doing, I'd first like to add more context to just how bad Cuellar's voting record is. As some of you might remember, during the spring and summer I was engaged in a project to track congressional votes based on loyalty. The project stalled in August when my hard-drive crashed, and I temporarily lost the original spreadsheets I was using. However, I have the data back now, and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Henry Cuellar is one of the worst "Democrats" in the House, and that Ciro Rodriguez would be a tremendous improvement.
My loyalty scorecards track only those votes that were on the passage of an actual piece of legislation where the majority of Democrats voted differently from the majority of Republicans. In other words, these are the key votes that actually Democrats different from Republicans, and vice versa. Through September 2005, there had been 18 such votes in the 109th Congress. On 10 of those 18 occasions, Henry Cuellar actually broke with the majority of his party and voted instead with the Republican majority.
In other words, on the key votes that separate Democrats form Republicans in the House, Henry Cuellar has actually sided with Republicans more often than he has sided with Democrats. He is actually a more reliable vote for Republicans than he is for Democrats. Overall, Cuellar was the 9th least loyal Democrat in the House. He is by far the least loyal Democrat to come from a blue-leaning district, as the eight Demcorats who are actually less loyal than Cuellar are from heavy Republican territory.
By way of contrast, during the 108th Congress, Ciro Rodiguez voted with the Demcoratic majority on 28 out of 32 occasions. His loyalty rate of 87.5% is almost twice that of Henry Cuellar's pathetic 44.4%. In fact, Rodriguez's loyalty was above the Demcoratic average of 82.3%, and identical to the non-blue dog Democratic average of 87.7% in the 108th congress. Republicans essentially gained half of a seat in the House when Cuellar replaced Rodriguez last year. A real Democrat was replaced with a fake one, and I say it is time to gain that seat back.
I'd also like to list the ten votes where Cuellar defected to the Republican side of the aisle--the same side of the aisle where he sat during the SOTU.
- The Real ID Act
- The Class Action Fairness Act
- The Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act
- The Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act
- The Energy Policy Act of 2005
- the child interstate notification abortion act
- The amendment to the Constitution of the United States authorizing the Congress to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States
- All four parts of the Occupational Safety and Health small business acts (here, here, here and here)
- CAFTA
- The bogus Republican-led Katrina investigation committee
It is no wonder that the Club for Growth has endorsed Cuellar--the first Democrat that group ever endorsed. It is no wonder that Cuellar supported Bush in 2000 (and probably in 2004 as well). It is no wonder that Republicans have not fielded a challenger to Cuellar in 2006. Why bother challenging a Republican inbument?
We can win this one. Rodriguez came within 58 votes last time, and I wouldn't be surprised if in that election there was a lot of pro-Cuellar funny business with the ballot counting. There were lawsuits.
The primary is only one month away, so act now. Support Ciro Rodriguez!
Donate to Ciro Rodriguez
Volunteer for Ciro Rodriguez
Learn more about Ciro Rodriguez
Tags: Activism, Ciro Rodiguez, Congress, Democrats, House 2006, Primary Elections (all tags)
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