Mickey White Just Doesn't Understand

Mickey's on another rant (I know, that's no surprise) over at Blue Collar Republican. This time, he lumping congressional candidate Tom Leatherwood in with (and I quote) "Marsha 'Queen of Pork' Blackburn".

Yep, Mickey's taking Tom Leatherwood to task while Tom's a candidate who hasn't yet had the opportunity to do any federal pork barrel spending.

And at the local level as Shelby County Register, Tom Leatherwood actually reduced costs, lowered fees, and radically increased services. Just take a look at the Register website that came about due to Tom's leadership. [I often use the GIS feature, and you can too. For instance, here's the house that the mayor of Bartlett lives in. Neat, huh?]

That's right, Tom Leatherwood succeeded in pulling Shelby County into the 21st century, and did it while keeping the Register of Deeds a profit center for the county. Not bad for a civil servant these days.

Now then, let's examine Mickey's "Queen of Pork" accusation leveled at the sexiest woman in congress.

When it comes to measuring pork and looking out for the taxpayers, I have two favorite sources: the Citizens Against Government Waste and the Club for Growth.

According the Citizens Against Government Waste, there were 44 critical spending bills in the 2007 congress, of which Marsha Blackburn voted what they consider to be "the right way" on 43 of them. She has a 98% rating for 2007 from CAGW, earning her the label "Taxpayer Hero". In fact, she could have voted the "wrong" way another eight or nine times and still been considered a Taxpayer Hero.

Marsha enjoys a lifetime rating of 91% from the Citizens Against Government Waste, putting her solidly in the middle of the "Taxpayer Hero" category.

Turning now to the highly respected Club for Growth, let's examine the 2007 Club for Growth RePORK Card where Blackburn earns a score of 94% for her voting record last year.

When Mickey says "Queen of Pork", he means every single member of congress because they don't go up there and consistently vote "no" on every single appropriations bill that ever comes up. Mickey, I love ya like a brother -- OK, maybe more like that crazy uncle that got put in a home a few years ago and nobody talks about anymore at the family reunions but everyone still has a few fond memories.

While I am not yet certain of who I will support in the primary for the 7th congressional district of Tennessee, but I do know that I am privileged to have the choice between two very fine candidates.

I also know that Tom has picked a very difficult fight and I give him about a 3% chance of winning. Not only is Marsha an entrenched incumbent, she is viewed as a rising star in the Republican party, makes frequent appearances on political talk shows and has about a million dollars in her campaign war chest. She's going to be tough to beat.

But I have to admit that it would be nice to be represented by someone from Shelby County instead of someone from over 200 miles away. The 7th district stretches from Mississippi to Kentucky as it weaves it's ludicrously gerrymandered path across the state and Blackburn is from Franklin, just south of Nashville.

 

Posted on Thursday at 10:05 PM in category Blackburn, Marsha
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