Career politician Mike Ross is starting to feel the heat for all the liberal votes he has cast while in Congress. That is why he sent out his “myth list” Monday. He hopes voters will not go to the record and see that he is not the conservative as he claims.
With the polls showing he has dropped to 49 percent, he is desperate to muddy the waters
Here are the truths to disprove the “myths” he released:
MYTH: Miss Rankin says Mike Ross has voted for Nancy Pelosi four times, but what she doesn’t say is that Nancy Pelosi was unopposed on the Democratic ballot.
TRUTH: The Speaker of the House sets the congressional agenda for the next two years. The question of who is elected Speaker determines if liberal or conservative legislation gets brought up for votes.
Mike Ross can try to run away from his four votes to make Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House by saying there wasn’t another Democrat on the ballot. That does not change the fact that Ross voted for Pelosi. It does not change the fact that voting for Ross in November is giving Pelosi another vote for Speaker in January 2011. A vote for Mike Ross is a vote for Nancy Pelosi.
Look at the issues that are important to Arkansans:
Abortion: The National Right to Life Committee rating on Pelosi is zero.
Gay rights: Pelosi opposes a constitutional amendment defining marriage as one-man-one-woman and votes 100 percent of the time with the Human Rights Campaign, the largest national gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender organization.
Illegal immigration: Pelosi opposes building a fence along the border with Mexico and supports amnesty for illegal aliens.
Gun control: Pelosi has an F grade from the National Rifle Association.
Pro-family: The Christian Coalition says Pelosi votes pro-family only 8 percent of the time.
Taxes: Pelosi doesn’t just want the Bush Tax Cuts to expire; she supports repeal of those tax cuts.
If re-elected, Ross will once again vote to put Pelosi in charge of setting the agenda for the House of Representatives. A vote for Ross is a vote for Pelosi.
MYTH: Miss Rankin says Mike Ross has voted with his party 96% of the time, but what she doesn’t say is these totals include procedural votes, such as quorum calls and motions to adjourn, recess or to approve the congressional record.
TRUTH: What Beth Anne really says – and Ross ought to know this since he has someone video tape each of her public appearances – is that from the start of the current Congress until the day she filed, Ross voted with Pelosi 94.6 percent of the time. That is a matter of public record. Ross says he is a conservative Democrat but votes that often with Pelosi. He talks the conservative talk, but doesn’t walk the conservative walk.
MYTH: Miss Rankin says Mike Ross is not a fiscal conservative, despite local, state and national headlines and a voting record to the contrary.
TRUTH: Does he mean votes like the one of April 29, 2009? Ross voted for the original Obama budget. Ross was one of 223 Democrats who voted to pass Senate Concurrent Resolution 13 and all the fiscal irresponsibility it contained.
Maybe he means the Jan. 28, 2009 vote for the stimulus bill where Democrats promised it would keep the national unemployment level under 8 percent. It has since gone above 10 percent and currently is 9.7 percent. The stimulus bill is a failure that ran up the federal debt. Ross voted for the stimulus bill. There are still millions of dollars provided in that bill that are unspent. Expect Ross and other Democrats to be handing that money out in the next seven weeks to try and buy votes with our own tax dollars.
The “Blue Dog” congressman should be guarding the federal budget, but he didn’t bark while the federal debt swelled to a record $13.3 trillion – the real source of our economic woes. You don’t keep a dog who doesn’t bark to alert you to danger. It is time for the voters to send Ross back to Prescott to live under the laws he has voted on the last 10 years.
MYTH: Miss Rankin says Mike Ross could have stopped the health care bill in committee, despite the fact that the bill that became law never even went through Mike’s committee.
TRUTH: Please check this link to the Washington Post story on Aug. 1, 2009. Ross clearly voted for Pelosi-backed health care bill in committee.
Washington Post
If Ross is so against that health care bill, why won’t he vote to repeal it? Beth Anne will vote to repeal it and replace it. If a Presidential veto blocks this, she will vote to defund it.
Ross claims to be a leader of the “Blue Dogs” and lead that group to vote against it. The record shows most of those “Blue Dogs” voted for it. So much for his claim of being a “leader.”
MYTH: Miss Rankin says Nancy Pelosi “let” Mike Ross vote no on health care reform because she had the votes to pass it without him, despite Mike publicly announcing his vote more than two months before the vote took place.
TRUTH: By the time Pelosi’s heath care bill came to a vote on the floor of the House, she didn’t need Ross’ vote. She needed his vote in the House Energy and Commerce Committee when it passed out of committee on a 31-28 vote. If Ross had voted against it and convinced one other Democrat on that committee to vote against, it would have failed. The fact is Ross gave her his vote when she needed it the most. The Fourth District does not need a congressman who picks party over principal.
MYTH: Miss Rankin says Mike Ross voted for the Obama budget; however, Congress never votes on the President’s budget.
TRUTH: With almost 10 years in Congress one would think Ross would understand how the system works. The President submits a budget to Congress. There is a budget process, but it starts with the President’s budget. As pointed out above, Ross voted for it in Roll Call Vote 216. It is public record and Ross can’t run away from his many liberal votes. His claim that he has to vote certain ways because he is a Democrat is no defense. Fourth District voters have an opportunity to vote for Beth Anne, who is not and never will be Pelosi’s lap dog.
MYTH: Miss Rankin has criticized Mike Ross on his vote for the stimulus package – the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act – arguing it’s done nothing for Arkansas. Tell that to the 232,000 working families in our congressional district that received an $800 per year tax cut, and the state of Arkansas, which received billions in aid for schools, Medicaid, community colleges and universities, roads, bridges, police and fire departments and more.
TRUTH: The stimulus bill failed to do what they promised it would do. The Fourth District will always accept federal dollars, when flowing, for noble causes. But that does not change the face that the bill failed to accomplish the mission used to sell it to the American people. It is a bad bill. It is bad economics. It is bad governing. Ross and Pelosi were among those selling the bill to the American people on the premise it would hold unemployment below 8 percent. Look at the national unemployment figures. Why is Ross so proud of voting for this failure?
MYTH: Miss Rankin says Mike Ross doesn’t listen to his constituents, despite Mike Ross’ intense town hall schedule.
TRUTH: Just because Ross holds town hall meetings doesn’t mean he is listening. Beth Anne has also been holding a series of town hall meetings and people are telling her Ross doesn’t listen to them. When you look at Ross’s pro-Pelosi voting record, you understand they are right.
MYTH: Miss Rankin says Mike Ross isn’t accurate about her position on Social Security, yet she has publicly stated that she would have “preferred” Social Security privatization and wants to either “raise the age limit” or “reduce its benefits.” When asked specifically if she would rise the retirement age, she said “all options are on the table.” Mike Ross has consistently fought off Washington attempts to privatize Social Security and has actively opposed raising the Social Security retirement age or cutting the benefits Arkansas’s seniors have earned through a lifetime of hard work.
TRUTH: “Privatization of Social Security” is the 2010 Democrat scare tactic. Beth Anne has said often she does not support privatization. She said it yesterday (Sept. 13, 2010) at a town hall meeting in Hope. Both the Hope Star and Texarkana Gazette covered the town hall meeting. Check the stories in those newspapers.
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