Seriousness Watch

Today we learn that Sen. Collins is working to stall the Real ID Act, which includes national standards for drivers' licenses.

I don't know enough about the act to know if its security benefits outweigh the costs (as Collins seems to believe). But reading about Collins's legislation was a fresh reminder that the junior Senator was the chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs as recently as December.

What does she have to show for her tenure? The record isn't pretty: Under her leadership, the Senate failed to heed the lessons of 9/11 and pass the kind of vital port security, chemical plant security and air cargo security legislation that the country desperately needed.

In fairness to Collins, she was confronting a White House and Republican majority more interested in launching foreign wars than in doing the difficult, boring work of securing the homeland.

But she can't blame the White House for her sordid role in the homeland security funding formula debate of 2005: Collins spearheaded successful efforts to divert homeland security funds from high-risk areas to low-risk ones.

As the New York Times noted at the time:

Before the vote, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff made a powerful appeal to the senators to distribute the money based on risk. But the Senate, led by Susan Collins...put political pork ahead of national security.

Let's be blunt: On the homeland security front Collins has been part of the problem, not the solution.

Anyone who lives in a city or works in a city--or has friends or relatives who do--should have their head examined before lifting a finger to help re-elect Collins.