At the end of last year Congresswoman Betsy Markey (CO 4) joined the Blue Dog Coalition, a self described group of 54 conservative and moderate Democrats that focus on fiscal issues including a balanced budget and the national debt.   A review of Markey’s voting record leaves one to wonder if her support for fiscal reform is all bark and no bite.

Markey is a freshman democrat lawmaker from a conservative district (voter registration favors republicans by nearly10 percent) that voted for John McCain in 2008.  She is the first democrat to represent the 4th CD since Wayne Aspinall in 1973.  The Cook Political Report calls the 4th CD a “toss up” for 2010, which is why Markey has tried so hard recently to appear as a fiscal conservative.

Early in 2009 she voted for or supported unpopular legislation such as the stimulus package, card check, and cap and trade.  My friend and fellow blogger Randy Ketner did an excellent job of highlighting Markey’s short legislative tenure.  His lengthy “Colorado Political Analysis 2010” appeared on Red State.

It seems that Markey is reading the tea leaves, which are telling her to move to the right or at least look like she is moving to the right.  Recently Markey has voted “against” her party on both health care and raising the debt limit, but in reality she voted with party leadership on all procedural and amendment votes only voting against leadership on the final vote.  That way she can position herself as independent of the democrat leadership without upsetting them.

Take health care for instance. Markey says she voted against H.R. 3962 Affordable Health Care for America Act because she claimed it did not do enough to “cut health care costs that crushing our businesses and families.”  She claims to support health care reform just not this specific piece of legislation. 

If that is true, then why did she vote no on a motion to recommit the bill?  According to GovTrack, Markey voted no on House Vote #866 which was “a final opportunity to revise” it before passage.  A motion to recommit sends legislation back to committee with instructions on how to fix the bill.  It can be used constructively or can be used to kill a “bill before it moves to a final up-or-down vote in the House.”  If Markey is serious about health care reform but not this bill, why vote to move it along instead of fixing it in such a way that she can support it?

Another example of Markey voting with democrat party leadership on rules and procedures for unpopular legislation then voting against them on the final tally is H.J. Res. 45 to increase the statutory limit on public debt.  This one is interesting because 38 Democrats voted not to raise the debt limit, 22 are freshman lawmakers facing competitive races in the fall, 17 are Blue Dogs.  Of the 17 Blue Dogs, only four enabled party leadership with procedural votes that allowed the debt limit resolution to go to the floor of the House.  Markey was one of those four. 

Markey voted yes on Roll Call Vote #45, which ordered the question: “Providing for consideration of the Senate amendment to the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 45) increasing the statutory limit on the public debt.”  She then voted no on Roll Call Vote #46 on “agreeing” to an increase. 

Markey played the same game with H.R. 1106: Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, which allows bankruptcy courts to modify mortgage contracts.  She enabled democrat leadership when she voted no to recommit and yes to proceed.  On the final vote she said no. 

These aren’t the only examples.  I’ll highlight more as we get closer to the November vote.

The 4th CD is the heart of Ag country in Colorado.  Weld County is the 8th largest Ag producing county in the United States.  While Congresswoman Markey can claim to be a fiscal conservative, our sensitive olfactory receptors can detect a load of manure when we smell it.

From Coloradoan editor Bob Moore’s blog:

The first debate among Northern Colorado’s four congressional candidates is coming up Feb. 4, and we’re asking voters to submit some of the questions.

The debate will be from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 4, at Windsor High School. The public is welcome to attend but if you can’t make it, the debate will be livestreamed on coloradoan.com and 9News.com.

Is there a question you’d like to see asked in the debate? If so, e-mail it to me at bmoore@coloradoan.com by Tuesday. I’ll forward the questions to Adam Schrager at 9 News, who will be the moderator of the debate.

We have just a couple of guidelines for the questions. Phrase the question so it can be asked of all four candidates, and include your name and hometown in the e-mail. We want to give proper credit to questions submitted by voters.

The four candidates appearing at the debate are Loveland businessman Dean Madere, University of Colorado Regent Tom Lucero, former Fort Collins City Council memberDiggs Brown and state Rep. Cory Gardner.

Also, KFKA will be airing the debate live. 

Congresswoman Betsy Markey’s pivotal yes vote on the controversial cap and trade legislation may come back to haunt her as she seeks re-election  to represent Colorado’s 4th congressional district.

Within Markey’s district is Weld County, the country’s  eighth largest producing agricultural county in the United States.  Reuters just reported that  Bob Stallman, head of the American Farm Bureau Federation, made the following statement about cap and trade:

American farmers and ranchers ‘must aggressively respond to extremists’ and ‘misguided, activist-driven regulation … The days of their elitist power grabs are over.’

Despite pleas from the global warming alarmist crowd, Stallman warned Americans that cap and trade would destroy farmers, ranchers and those who rely upon them.

Vast amounts of farmland could become carbon-capturing woodlands under cap-and-trade, “eliminating about 130,000 farms and ranches,” said Stallman. One federal analysis says 8 percent of crop and pasture land could be turned into trees by 2050 because trees would be more profitable than crops.

Good luck defending your vote Congresswoman Markey.

My friend and fellow blogger Randy Ketner, a.k.a.  Night Twister, did an extensive (and very good) analysis of Colorado’s political landscape for 2010.   Check it out at RedState.com.  For an analysis of Colorado’s state house and state senate visit my friend Ben DeGrow at Mount Virtus.  Both are must reads!

According the Pew Hispanic Center 15 percent of the nation’s 47 million uninsured are illegal immigrants as reported in USA Today.  That means over 7 million uninsured are illegal immigrants.  That’s no news flash. The Left loves to toss around the number of uninsured in United States as a reason for health care “reform,” but with that number comes a lot of illegal immigrants.

Congresswoman Betsy Markey wants health care for EVERYONE, which by definition must include illegal aliens.  In a letter asking for physician support during her 2008 campaign against incumbent Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave, Markey wrote:

The United States spends approximately 15% of our GDP on healthcare, and yet 45 million Americans are uninsured and many more underinsured.  The current system of coverage is expensive, unsustainable and highly inefficient. We must address how to provide healthcare to everyone in the most efficient and equitable way.

Doctors who endorsed Markey did so because “Markey believes that the most efficient and equitable solution to health-care reform is basic health-care benefits for everyone…”

From my experience, health care coverage for illegal aliens is not a popular position in the 4th CD.  Markey responded to a constituent who challenged her about coverage for illegals.  According to the Greeley Tribune Markey said “the current [health care] proposals don’t include federal funding for illegal immigrants…”  Then she expressed her “hope” that everyone would “take a look at the bill for themselves.”

However, H.R. 3200, the health care legislation currently available for everyone to read on Markey’s Web site, does not exclude coverage for illegal aliens, despite her statement to the contrary.

To be fair, a quick document search reveals that on page 143, section 246, line 3, H.R. 3200 says “NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS.”  The language immediately following then clarifies, “Nothing in this subtitle shall all Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.

That’s just affordability credits.  Other parts of the bill can be interpreted either way.  On page 50, section 152, line 21, “PROHIBITING DISCRIMINATION IN HEALTH CARE,” the bill states:

Except as otherwise explicitly permitted by this Act and by subsequent regulations consistent with this Act, all health care and related services (including insurance coverage and public health activities) covered by this Act shall be provided without regard to personal characteristics extraneous to the provision of high quality health care or related services.

The public has little reason to trust Congresswoman Markey’s interpretation of the legislation given the pressure put on Congress by special interest groups.  Just before the August recess, the House Ways and Means Committee rejected an amendment to require verification of immigration status in order to enroll in a public plan. 

La Raza and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) have urged that illegal aliens be included in the legislation.  One member of the CHC, recognizing the politics of bill drafting, said:

the organization’s leaders are not asking Speaker Pelosi to “specifically spell something out” in the bill, but instead to seek to ensure that the bill does not actually prohibit illegal aliens from receiving benefits. “We’re pushing to include everyone in the health care bill. Everyone,” the CHC member who asked not to be identified said. “Sometimes if you don’t say something, something happens.”

In other words, make the language vague enough that it can be interpreted either way.  Maybe that’s how Markey wants it since she believes we must fund health care for all.

Congresswoman Betsy Markey released her Congress on Your Corner schedule.  According to a press release on her Web site, Markey will hold the following events to discuss health reform:

08/18     Congress on Your Corner      Ft Collins         9am – 12pm      
08/19     Congress on Your Corner      Greeley           11am – 1pm      
08/20     Congress on Your Corner      Longmont        3pm – 5pm      
08/21     Seniors Day Event                 Greeley            1pm – 3pm
08/22     Congress on Your Corner      Ft Lupton        10:00am – 12:00pm     
08/24     Tele-Town Hall Meeting         District-wide     7:30pm – 8:30pm
08/26     Congress on Your Corner      Ft Collins         10:30am – 12pm      
08/28     Congress on Your Corner      Ft Morgan        9am – 10:30am      
09/01     Congress on Your Corner      Johnstown        8:30am – 10am      
09/02     Congress on Your Corner      Windsor           1pm – 3pm      
09/03     Congress on Your Corner      Estes Park        3:30pm – 5pm

Note on Congress on Your Corner listening session format:
In order for as many 4th District residents as possible to speak directly with Rep. Markey, residents will join groups of 15 -20 people for public listening sessions. 4th District residents are asked to arrive no more than 30 minutes in advance of the meeting, to accommodate residents’ work and family schedules and so that everybody who would like to ask a question has an opportunity to do so.

A lot of details still are missing.  I will post those as soon as I get them.

On Saturday, Coloradans northof I-70 continued to show their displeasure with Obama Care.  According to Complete Colorado:

One day after Congressman Jared Polis was “mobbed”at a Boulder coffee shop by constituents wanting to talk health care issues, between two andthree hundred people showed up for a similar “Q & A” session with Representative Ed Perlmutter. Perlmutter held his meeting outside the King Soopers grocery store on Bromley Lane in Brighton.

Polis and Perlmutter are Democrats respectively representing the 2nd and 7th congressional districts. 

Residents of the 4th congressional district may wonder where their representative is during this August recess.   According to the Fort Collins Coloradoan, Congresswoman Betsy Markey is in Israel on a “fact-finding trip.”  After her return, residents anxious to speak with her will get their chance.

Markey’s office is finalizing plans for “Congress on Your Corner” events in August in Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley, Fort Morgan, Sterling and southeast Colorado. She also plans two town-hall style forums during the recess, one in Greeley focusing on the impact of health-care reform on Medicare and another on the Eastern Plains focusing on agriculture issues.

Face the State reports that Markey’s office is citing “’security concerns’ before setting any firm plans.’” That may explain why 4thCD residents don’t have any firm dates to meet with their congresswoman.  There is no question that No CO residents have been loud and clear about “hands off my health care,” and that Markey will face tough questions on the issue.

A note about press coverage on Markey and the 4th CD (and politics in general).  For good reporting, check out Coloradoan editor Bob Moore’s blog.  He does a thorough job with his research, is unafraid to admit when he has made a mistake and gets criticism and praise from all sides.  Agree or disagree, his blog is worth reading.

For the second time in as many weeks, opponents of ObamaCare rallied in Fort Collins.  The Loveland 9-12 Project and Tea Party of Northern Colorado organized the protest that saw some more 400 attendees according to the Coloradoan.   That’s an incredible number of people for a protest on a Wednesday afternoon that was organized in just a few days.

The rallies are meant as a very strong message to freshman Democrat Congresswoman Betsy Markey, who I already think is going to have a difficult time getting re-elected due to her horrific vote on the Waxman-Markey bill (a.k.a. Cap and Trade).

What’s funny is how the left is potraying these grassroots protest.  Michael Huttner of ProgressNow, in a press release available on Face the State, called the rally “about as grassroots as Kim Jong Il’s last birthday party.”  I give him credit for being humorous, but he’s also arrogant and misinformed.   A warning to the arrogant Left, you ridicule this movement at your own peril.  The Left, with all its money and power, has become the establishment, and now they must protect their turf.  They underestimate the passion and organization of the limited government movement.

Check out listener and photographer Jerry Long’s photos of the rally.  You’ll see men and women, old and young.  This is “hands off my health care No CO style.”

BTW — I was in Denver for the Hands Off My Health Care rally at the Capitol.  About 500 to 600 people attended.

The horrific piece of legislation known as “Cap and Trade” is also referred to as the Waxman-Markey bill, named for its sponsors Congressmen Henry Waxman (D-California) and Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts).   Despite a strong majority in the House, the bill narrowly passed with only a seven vote margin on Friday, June 26.  Forty-four House Democrats opposed the legislation including Colorado’s 3rd CD Representative John Salazar.

Congresswoman Betsy Markey voted yes.  Markey gave her reasons  during an interview on my show last week citing “green jobs” and protections for agriculture.  One thing she didn’t cite, a $2000 campaign contribution from Waxman on Thursday, June 25, the day before her yes vote on his legislation.  She also received $2000 from Congressman Jim Clyburn (D-South Carolina), House Whip, on June 24.

As I have done for the previous four years, my Independence Day started  with a  broadcast of the Greeley Stampede Independence Day Parade.    I do this each year with  George Gray from AM Colorado on News Talk 1310 KFKA.  As usual, I have a couple of observations about the parade.

First, it’s boring.  There are very few “floats.”  Most are entries that include people riding in an classic car or a truck pulling a flat bed trailer full of people or people walking with a banner.  That’s it.  It’s tough to call a boring parade.  It’s even harder to make it sound exciting for listeners.

The parade participants can’t throw candy or give out literature.  It’s one dimensional with almost no interaction between parade participants and the audience.  Stop with the nannyism.  The Stampede needs to bring back the fun.  Bring back candy and water gun fights. 

The other observation involves our Congresswoman Betsy Markey.  First, her carbon footprint for July 4th was much larger than mine because I rode my bike while she rode in a very cool but not very eco-friendly corvette.  Also, when she went by there was awkward silence.  No booing. No cheering.  Nothing.  The street sweepers got more reaction.   I don’t know how she did along the rest of the parade route but when she passed my position in front of Cache Bank and Trust, she got  no response what so ever.   It seems that she has not connected with Weld County.

Markey has to win Weld County to win re-election in 2010.  She beat incumbent Republican Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave in Weld County by a margin of 53-47 percent but a look at the vote totals tells an interesting story.  Weld County didn’t suddenly shift to the left. 

According to the Denver Post,  in Weld County Markey received 44,790 votes to Musgrave’s 39,056.  Obama and Udall both got more votes than Markey (46,644 and 44,948 respectively) but lost the county.  John McCain received 55,913 votes.  Do the math.  That means 16,857 McCain voters did not vote for Musgrave and 11,123 didn’t vote for Markey.  If the next GOP contender wins those nearly 17,000 votes back and makes a slightly better showing in Larimer County where Markey got almost 61 percent of the vote, then the GOP candidate can win.  The other counties in the 4th CD all favored Musgrave by large percentages, and I don’t see that changing.  I realize this sounds like a very big “if” but from someone who lives in the 4th CD, it’s really not.

Congressional Quarterly  reports that Markey votes with her party a mere 92 percent of the time and with the President 88 percent.  I guess that is supposed to indicate Markey’s “independent” streak.  Problem is she votes with her party and Obama  when it’s important to them despite the wishes of her constiuents.  Markey’s yes vote on cap and trade proves that.