Over the weekend, the Kennebec Journal ran a letter from Maine GOP Chairman Mark Ellis explaining why pols who miss even a tiny fraction of votes are cheating their constituents.
Ellis, you'll remember, is the guy who stepped in it last fall, snarling via press release that, "Congressman Allen really seems to have lost interest in showing up to work" after Allen missed three votes for what turned out to have been a family funeral.
As far as I know, Ellis still hasn't apologized for the release's language, or retracted the charge. Instead, he clings to the fatuous, kooky idea that this race should be as much about Sen. Collins' perfect attendance as about issues and substance.
(Interestingly, though, the text of the original press release, which Collins staffer Lance Duston excerpted approvingly at Maine Web Report at the time, can longer be found in that blog's archives. At least I can't find it.)
Finally one positive worth noting: The KJ includes Ellis' GOP affiliation in the letter's signature. So I suppose that counts as progress.
UPDATE: For what it's worth, a cached version of Collins staffer Lance Dutson's above-referenced blog post can seen here.
2 comments:
Interesting. I would ask what Sen. Snowe's "voting record" is, and, presuming that she has missed some votes, whether Ellis believes that Sen. Snowe is cheating her constituents.
Another trail to follow: who else in the Congress has perfect attendance?
Allen couldn’t have been mourning too deeply. The day of the funeral, he was busy in Portland in front of TV cameras announcing a piece of legislation he was sponsoring. Perhaps we should give him credit for doing half his job – the easiest part of his job, of course.
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