Kerry gets paid for not doing his job?

[Rowsdower]

Can't the public just get some honest representation for once?

Kerry not on roll with voting
By Jonathan Wells and Maggie Mulvihill
Monday, March 1, 2004

Presidential hopeful John F. Kerry has been a virtual no-show in the U.S. Senate over the past 14 months, but he hasn't missed a paycheck, even though a dusty federal law says some of his $158,000 salary should have been withheld.

During his run for the presidency, Kerry has missed every one of the 22 roll call votes in the Senate this year and was absent for 292, or 64 percent of the roll call votes last year, according to a Herald review of Senate records.

That means the Massachusetts senator has been away from his post in the Senate chamber for at least 128 days over the past 14 months.

http://news.bostonherald.com/national/national.bg?articleid=1168

[eileen_d]

1. Are you a MA resident, Rowsdower?

Aren't you supposed to be doing a bad movie somewhere?

[Renew Deal]

2. He's running for president.

It's tough but he has to do it. Hopefully he shows up for more votes over the next few weeks. BTW, Bush is jumping all over the country campaigning and ignoring the work of the american people. What's his vacation day count now? His time on vacation is a big part of why 9/11 happened.

[littlejoe]

3. Flamebait

[leyton]

4. And I suppose Strom remained productive?

Why should he collect a salary?

Why should any member of the House collect a salary? They are constantly campaigning - and using franking priveleges to do it.

And, of course, Bush. Perhaps we could bill his campaign for the use of Air Force one.

[dsc]

5. I wonder if all the people who were oh so outraged

at Dean's absences from Vermont, nearly two thirds of which were weekends, will be as outraged now. Somehow I really, really doubt it. This is a textbook example of why running sitting Senators is such a bad idea. I can see the ad now.

[dorktv]

7. I know, Dean was not a sitting elected official and if his family was

okay with him off being Canidate Dean then who are we to care.

[dsc]

11. In fairness he was for some of the time

but he was there to act on any and all Vermont bills which came up and he was there to deal with the legislature, and to deal with agencies. In short, he was able to do his job.

[dorktv]

14. Yeah...It would be nice to have a President who can do his

job.

[ET Awful]

6. Why not? Bush gets paid for not doing Al Gore's job :) n/t

[dsc]

12. very good nt

[alcuno]

8. He's serving his country by working to get BushInc. out.

At this point, nothing else matters.

[bunk76]

9. A friggin....

no show do nothing unelected fraud,asleep at the switch childrens book reading, sitting on his ass while we are being attacked coward.
This is what bothers you? I suggest you stop drinking the jimmy cool-ade.

:evilgrin:

[arewethereyet]

10. oh shoot, I thought you were talking about

too many nights away from the little lady.

[HalfManHalfBiscuit]

13. The man knows when to abstain

It is a subtle facet of being an effective legislator.

[dorktv]

15. Abstain? The guy is never there!

[HalfManHalfBiscuit]

16. Exactly.

I wouldn't want to play poker with him.

[dorktv]

18. I would rather play with Bill Gates.

[Octafish]

17. LMFAO. Bush is going to jail cause of Kerry.

BTW: The missed votes have not come at the expense of the Democrats passing anything. The pukes have us outnumbered. They also control the timetable for the votes, meaning they give themselves however long it takes to get their drunks from out of the DC bars and into their padded leather chairs. Meanwhile, the Cat-Raper Frist schedules votes for when Kerry plans to be out of town. Tomorrow, Kerry has to stay in Washington to vote, meaning he can't be in Florida, where he was scheduled to watch the returns come in.

Down with the BFEE!

[dorktv]

19. His not voting is showing us that he really only cares about

himself. He also is avoiding being on record for supporting anything.

[Octafish]

22. I disagree. John Kerry has an 19-year Senate voting record.

His first year, for example, he voted against the turd Billy "Operation EAGLE" Rehnquist's promotion to Chief Justice. Thus, if more DEMOCRATS had voted with Kerry, we wouldn't have had Rehnquist rewriting the Constitution and hijacking Election 2000.

That's just one example. The record shows Kerry also went after the criminal bank BCCI and Ollie North (and by extension, George Bush) for running drugs during Iran-contra. Again, where was the help?

[dsc]

21. He has missed every single vote this year

in an institution known for having four day weekends. I admit I haven't looked but I am pretty sure that Boxer, who is running for reelection some 2500 miles away, has made a vote or two this year. The ad will be brutal.

[Octafish]

23. Here's my consolation.

Down with the BFEE!

[zulchzulu]

20. But buried in the big news story is what makes this much ado about nothing

" Kerry campaign spokesman Michael Meehan said the senator has fulfilled his legislative obligations fully while on the campaign trail by maintaining regular contact with his staff in Washington D.C. and Massachusetts.

``In the age of telecommunications, Sen. Kerry is in daily contact with his chief of staff,'' Meehan said. ``Voting is just one small part of being a U.S. senator.''

Meehan said Kerry has missed no roll calls in the past 14 months in which his vote would have altered the outcome. Kerry plans to be in Washington tomorrow, Super Tuesday, to cast his vote on hotly contested gun safety legislation. "