Open Thread (11/3/2009)

Posted November 3rd, 2009 at 07:20 AM by IlliniPundit

Tuesday, November 3, 2009.

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On November 3rd, 2009 at 09:06 AM, pattsi said:

Featherbedding stimulus job numbers
Washington Examiner Editorial
-
November 2, 2009  http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Featherbedding-stimulus-job-numbers-68389392.html
I looked for more information on factcheck.com  but found none. If anyone else discovers more articles on this topic by all means post them.

Pattsi Petrie

On November 3rd, 2009 at 09:14 AM, pattsi said:

Politico  3 Nov 2009   

Racial disparity: All active ethics probes focus on black lawmakers   http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29055.html

Pattsi Petrie

 

On November 3rd, 2009 at 09:19 AM, pattsi said:

Any background information as to what triggered this: 

Governor's deputy chief of staff quits amid investigation  http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2009/11/03/governors_deputy_chief_of_staff_quits_amid_investigation

Pattsi Petrie

On November 3rd, 2009 at 09:32 AM, Anonymous (not verified) said:

The homicide victim whose body was found in Mahomet had previously petitioned the court for an Order of Protection, twice against the same man.  For reasons not clear by a review of the record, both requests were denied.  It may be that the man she named as a respondent (twice) in her petitions for OP's, had nothing whatsoever to do with her death, but it would seem like an interesting place to start asking questions.

 

On November 3rd, 2009 at 01:04 PM, Anonymous (not verified) said:

http://www.jg-tc.com/articles/2009/11/03/opinion/columns/doc4af04c5780e36177934441.txt

What the hell is this?

On November 3rd, 2009 at 01:38 PM, Anonymous (not verified) said:

Tim has become liberal enough that Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck might get him in their sights, find some ultracon, and run him against Tim.

I just hope Sarah Palin speaks at the Champaign Public Library, last visited by another nut job, Matt Hale.

On November 3rd, 2009 at 02:30 PM, A is for Anonymous said:

This is Johnson's technique to stay in office.  He has the votes of the outlying areas in the bag, but he can't afford to lose too many votes in the urban areas where a lot of progressives live.  So every couple of years he throws out a "maverick-y" little stance like this one, or voting against ANWAR.  He probably believes it (I guess), even if he is less-than-passionate about much of anything, but it is definitely smart politics.

It gets progressives to go, "Oh, I guess ole Tim aint so bad after all."

Meanwhile, anyone want to guess how successful ole Tim has been getting original legislation passed in the 111th Congress?  The paucity is shocking.

Oil Man's picture
On November 3rd, 2009 at 02:31 PM, Oil Man said:

Johnson voted for the Iraq war with 'W' then against the 'W' troop surge.  This set the stage so his legislation against more troops for Afghanistan follows his lastest voting trend.  It may be his way of gaining GOP party favor if Obama decides to send additional toops.  Who knows want he will do next.  I gave up on him when he decided to stay in DC to play more politics.

On November 3rd, 2009 at 06:58 PM, Run4cvrlib said:

Tim Johnson can't afford to lose votes of urban people no I don't think someone up for election wants to make any voter mad. I don't know what your talking about in 2008 he won %63 to %36 and has a rematch against someone he has beat before.

On November 3rd, 2009 at 07:57 PM, Anonymous (not verified) said:

There is basically only one urban area in Johnson's district and he could loose every vote there. He can't afford to loose the rural areas and the urban areas.

On November 3rd, 2009 at 08:03 PM, A is for Anonymous said:

I don't know what your talking about in 2008 he won %63 to %36 and has a rematch against someone he has beat before.

Sure, he beat Steve Cox pretty soundly, but he can't take anything for granted.

He has worked very hard to project himself as a moderate in order to peel off progressive votes that might otherwise go to the Democrat.  So while he votes against workplace protections for gays and lesbians, he occasionally also votes against the surge, or against ANWAR, or whatknot in order to strike a more moderate tone.  And it works for him.

Honestly, I'm not begrudging him the technique.  It is stunningly effective.  I get in a lot of conversations with people about Johnson's record and they are literally shocked to find out how conservative he is.  But they still vote for him because he's Good Ole Tim, who doesn't do much of anything but doesn't make anyone very mad either.

On November 3rd, 2009 at 09:30 PM, Anonymous (not verified) said:

You're upset with Johnson because he does not introduce enough legislation (or extra government as I like to call it).  Why do you think that this makes someone a successful legislator?  Does the legislator with the most legislation passed win something?  Have you ever stopped to think that when it comes to law making that less is more?  Is Charles Rangel a better member of Congress because he has introduced 38 bills to Johnson's 3?  These are all serious questions and I'd be curious to see your answers. 

Also, I'm not sure that I would compare votes that decide whether or not to send more troops into Iraq or Afghanistan as a "whatknot" vote.  The same goes for the decision of whether or not to drill for oil in the arctic.  When I think of those two issues, the misspelled word "whatknot" does not come to mind.

On November 3rd, 2009 at 10:38 PM, Poor Richard said:

There is basically only one urban area in Johnson's district and he could loose every vote there. He can't afford to loose the rural areas and the urban areas.

In addition to C-U, TJ has a rather large chunk of  of Bloomington-Normal, the growing east side including State Farm corporate headquarters, the part that is pretty reliably R.

I thought there was a chance that TJ might face a serious challenge from the right in the person of Adam Kinzinger, but young Kinzinger chose to run in District 11 (Halvorson).  Kinzinger seems a darling of the Tea Party crowd.

IMHO,  Johnson, barring some completely unexpected scandal,  is safe in his district for as long as the district survives in it's current form and he wants to continue.

On November 4th, 2009 at 07:34 AM, A is for Anonymous said:

According to govtrack.us:

Timothy Johnson has sponsored 26 bills since Jan 3, 2001 of which 25 haven't made it out of committee and 1 were successfully enacted. Johnson has co-sponsored 596 bills during the same time period.

Note the part where 25 never made it out of committee.  This is the sign of a legislator who has very, very little pull in the Congress.

He's been there nine years.  He has never chaired a committee.  He's had one piece of original legislation pass the House.  His pull in Congress is minimal, if it exists at all.  He can usually be found walking around the mall or CRCE.  He appears to live out of the trunk of his car.

Moreover, the only national attention he ever manages to bring to his office is for walking a lot, or wearing weird clothing.

I guess I'm under the impression that people expect a little more from their Representative.  I know I send quite a chunk of cash to DC every year.  I wouldn't mind seeing some of it come back to the district.  I lack the confidence in Representative Johnson to advocate for us in that way.

It's not that he's done a bad job in his nine years.  It's more that he doesn't seem to do the job much at all.

redstatewannabe's picture
On November 4th, 2009 at 10:08 AM, redstatewannabe said:

I know I send quite a chunk of cash to DC every year.  I wouldn't mind seeing some of it come back to the district.

One thing he does do is vote for tax cuts, which means you send a little less to DC.  

Glock21's picture
On November 4th, 2009 at 10:28 AM, Glock21 said:

"One thing he does do is vote for tax cuts, which means you send a little less to DC."

 

That seems preferrable imo too. Is it better to keep more money in the State to begin with or to have to keep begging for our money back... or used as de facto bribes for votes via pork? Since deficits apparently don't matter anymore, I suppose we could have both! The Afghanistan position Johnson's taking is upsetting though. I'm fairly annoyed at it seeming to pop up right after the filing deadline for primary opponents.

 

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Glock21 Op/Ed

On November 4th, 2009 at 10:38 AM, Anonymous (not verified) said:

Johnson wants troops out of Afghanistan

Author: TOM KACICH

tkacich@news-gazette.com
Date: September 22, 2009
Publication: News-Gazette, The (Champaign-Urbana, IL)
Page: B-1
Document ID: 120090923145741000

GIBSON CITY – U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Urbana, told a town hall meeting Monday night that he plans to sponsor legislation calling for the immediate withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.

"I want to protect America, but I don't want to lose lives senselessly," Johnson said following a one-hour, open-air session with about 300 people at a park pavilion in Gibson City. "And we cannot police the world."

 

Glock21's picture
On November 4th, 2009 at 11:31 AM, Glock21 said:

Well in that case, I'm annoyed I didn't hear about. [kicking self] Thanks for the flashback info.

 

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Glock21 Op/Ed

Toldja So's picture
On November 4th, 2009 at 12:46 PM, Toldja So said:

 He could dress like Bozo the Clown and sleep on the hood of his car for all I care if he's doing his job. What's your point? This isn't a Mr. Illinois pageant. We already sent one of those to the White House and look what a whiz-bang job he's doing.

mjerryfuerst's picture
On November 4th, 2009 at 12:43 PM, mjerryfuerst said:

 He could dress like Bozo the Clown  ....

Hmmmmm......    The thought of the congressional representative of Urbana dressing like Bozo the Clown is intriguing

 

Michael Fuerst             

Go here for Urbana postage stamps, T-shirts and bumper stickers:
      http://bozourbana.org/wordpress/?page_id=3

On November 4th, 2009 at 11:03 PM, Anonymous (not verified) said:

A is for Amusement Your posts are among the most comical on this blog. Thank you. I had hoped you'd answer the questions in Anon 9:30 p.m. but instead you find a way to criticize someone for exercising. Very representative of today's broken-down dialogue. Good luck convincing people to adopt your views.

On November 5th, 2009 at 07:58 AM, A is for Anonymous said:

I am starting to think I need to write things really slowly, or really simply or something.  Let's try it ...

I am not criticizing making fun of Representative Johnson for walking.  I am not making fun of his clothing.  I am complaining just sad that these articles stories are the only national attention big news he makes.

Here are the previous questions:

Why do you think that this makes someone a successful legislator?  Does the legislator with the most legislation passed win something?  Have you ever stopped to think that when it comes to law making that less is more?  Is Charles Rangel a better member of Congress because he has introduced 38 bills to Johnson's 3?  These are all serious questions

I think Representative Johnson is not a successful good legislator government person because nobody listens to him, and nobody cares what he is saying.  That is bad for a government person.  No other government people will vote for his bills laws.  That is bad.  It would be better if he got other government people to vote for his laws.

Maybe he is lazy.  I know I don't like working hard every day.  I don't like producing results making stuff at my job every day.  It would be nice to only have to make one thing every nine years.  Do I have to be a multi-millionaire really rich guy like Representative Johnson to get this job?

On November 6th, 2009 at 06:22 AM, Anonymous (not verified) said:

Thanks for typing slowly A is for Amusement. Let me try to summarize your argument. If I get it wrong, I guess you'll have to type slower. The only way to be a "good government person" is to introduce more legislation and create more government.

I am of the opinion that Congress should be doing even less. In the first 9 months of the Obama Presidency we have seen more domestic spending than in 8 years of President Clinton. But because Democrats run the show in D.C. it's good to know that we have a check, and consistent vote in Tim Johnson. He's a consistent vote on cutting taxes, anti-bailout, against the "stimulus", pro-gun and a strong environmental record (provided it isn't an energy tax a la cap and trade).

I don't know how you can prove that "nobody cares what he is saying", but on the off-chance that you're right, maybe they should. He and a Democrat co-founded the center-aisle caucus, a bi-partisan group that tries to find common ground on the issues and promote civil debate. I think that is a good idea. http://www.aspeninstitute.org/node/3043

Johnson calls his constituents, I suspect because he cares what THEY have to say. When he calls you, tell him about all the legislation you would introduce if you were in Congress.