Representatives Betty Sutton and Denny Kucinich Pledge to Vote Against the American People.

Received with far less fanfare than the Kucinich announcement, Representative Sutton (OH-13) has committed to a yes vote on the latest version of health reform.

“Every year more than 40,000 people die because they don’t have health insurance coverage, and in this great nation it should not be that way. The legislation is not perfect and indeed contains provisions that I will continue to strive to improve, but I will vote for the bill. By passing this legislation we will take the long overdue step toward ending the egregious, discriminatory practices of insurance companies that deny care based on pre-existing conditions and impose outrageous premium increases. This legislation will also strengthen the solvency of Medicare, lower drug costs for our seniors, and make health insurance more affordable and accessible for small businesses and individuals.”

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported yesterday that a number of Ohio’s Democrats are actually waiting to read the final bill before making their decisions.  Who has time for that?  There is no reason to actually know what you are voting on.  Words be damned, the President and Speaker said it was a good plan, so it must be a good plan.  Right, Betty?

Well, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey, Americans disagree.  In fact, only 43% of Americans actually favor the health care plan Sutton and he cohorts are forcing upon us. 53% oppose it. These findings include just 23% who strongly favor the plan and 46% who Strongly Oppose it.

Betty, you are running on the wrong side of this issue, and using made up facts to support your stance.  And, just like your vote on Cap And Trade, you are pushing forward on a plan that you have openly acknowledge to be flawed.  You were elected to represent the people of OH-13, not to be a lap dog for house leadership.

Betty Sutton - Hypocrite

One of Congresswoman Sutton’s pet projects has been a push to include ‘Buy America’ language in the house Jobs Bill (H.R. 2847).  Through this, Sutton hopes to create and protect American jobs.  For the moment, I’ll leave aside the opinions of experts and historians who disagree with this approach and believe it will ultimately do more harm than good.   Instead, I want to concentrate on our representative’s commitment to this philosophy.

Last year, on NPR, speaking of her Buy American Provisions, Sutton said,

“It just ensures that American tax dollars are supporting American workers doing the work that we need to have done.”

More recently, on December 16, 2009, Sutton published a press release to her official website in which she said the following,

“At a time when unemployment is at 10 percent in this country, it is critical now more than ever that we stand with American workers and businesses.  As we invest in our nation’s infrastructure and manufacturing, the American taxpayers expect that the projects and products made will be produced in America by American workers.”

If, as Sutton believes, keeping federal tax dollars within our national borders is a positive move for American workers, then it would stand to reason that buying goods and services from the 13th district of Ohio would be good for the worker of the district.

Practice What You Preach

It was not long ago that Betty took $118,838 of your tax dollars to produce a pair of self-promoting mailings.  The publishing company chosen by Sutton to complete this controversial task was the Mount Vernon Printing Company.  For those of you following along at home, the Mount Vernon Printing Company is located in Landover, MD (MD-4).

Certainly, with only a small amount of research, Sutton’s staff could have located a printing company within the borders of Ohio’s thirteenth district. Instead, the Congresswoman took nearly $120,000 which had been entrusted to her, as the representative of OH-13, and spent it to support her own campaign and the workers of Maryland’s 4th district.  This was done at a time when Ohio’s unemployment rate has nearly topped 11 percent.

You cannot have it both ways, Betty.  If your ideas are good, then enact them in your own daily work.

Look-At-Me

Knowing how busy you have been I decided to save you some work and have drafted a “Buy OH-13” plan for you:

1. All business transactions completed by your offices will follow a strict “Buy OH-13” policy.
2. If a project or purchase must be completed by a company from outside our district, then you must publish on the Internet within 30 days a detailed, written justification as to why the product or service cannot be completed by an OH-13 business.  It will also be necessary for you to including the amount of tax dollars being spent.
3. For any wavier to this plan, you shall provide, as part of the written justification, a statement detailing the short and long term impacts of the waiver on OH-13 employment.
4. You can request a waiver based on “unavailability/insufficient district source” only if after publishing your request on the Internet for at least 5 business days a sufficient OH-13 source of the material, product, or service does not identify itself during the period.

My plan will slow down the work of your offices, and I understand that it is an inefficient and expensive way to conduct business, however, as my grandmother use to say,

“ What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”

Betty Sutton assembles expert panel to talk about rust.

Liberalism always generates the exact opposite of its stated intent.
- Quinn’s Laws of Liberalism

Thank the heavens, we have Congresswoman Sutton looking after us. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the representative assembled a panel of Ohio experts on Wednesday to describe how preemptive efforts to fix corroded roads, bridges and other infrastructure could create jobs and improve safety.

“When a bridge rusts away and collapses or when water mains break, filling our streets with water, we’ll read about corrosion, but by then it’s too late.” – Betty Sutton.

Betty, who has yet to hold a public town hall, is seeking legislation that will stick the federal government’s grubby hands even deeper into our lives by requiring states to spend money on rust mitigation and prevention plans for public projects before they are completed.

I have to ask, Betty, did you really need to call in a panel of experts to understand that rust destroys metal? Was it difficult to conclude that anti-corrosive products prevent corrosion?

If you don’t mind, when you have finished creating all these new anti-corrosion jobs, could you come up with a plan for the men and woman who currently make their living dealing with the effects of rust.

Good grief.

Betty Sutton Campaign Literature Scandal

Despite the tireless work of Congresswoman Betty Sutton’s political machine, her recent “Look-At-Me” newsletter scandal is not going away.  With a  price tag of $118,838 it is  going to be around for a quite a while.  The “Look-At-Me” scandal is a priceless example of Sutton’s disconnect with the citizens of OH-13.  Her reckless tax and spend attitude is embodied in these mailings.  This issues is far from over and will remain a thorn in Sutton’s side for some time to come.

Today, Bob Dyer of the Beacon Journal took another well deserved shot at Betty.  In his article, Dyer contrasted Sutton’s recent literature with that of state Senator Coughlin’s.

When it comes to communicating with constituents, U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton could take a lesson from state Sen. Kevin Coughlin.

As we told you a few weeks ago, Sutton, D-Copley Township, recently blanketed her district with two brochures that could have come straight from Madison Avenue. Both — fully financed by you — were glorious, full-color, six-page brochures praising her legislative efforts.

In short, the ”newsletters” were campaign literature.

Last week, the folks in my ZIP code got another political mailing, this one from Coughlin, R-Cuyahoga Falls. His newsletter looks like something the local PTA might put together: a simple, black-and-white foldout with a couple of grainy photos.

One of the interior pages is devoted to asking voter opinions on seven issues. The other discusses two bills he has introduced.

When asked about the bare-bones effort, Coughlin said, ”I try to avoid political rhetoric, opting instead to highlight a couple of legislative initiatives and to survey citizens on a wide range of issues.”

The best part about it: He seems genuinely interested in taking the public pulse. The questions are neutral, such as, ”Do you support or oppose a proposal that would extend the school year by 20 days?”

Read more @ ohio.com

H.R. 3962 Sutton's Plan

Well, she did it again.  Congresswoman Betty Sutton came down in the last hour just as we would have expected, against the best interests of the district, and worse yet, against the will of the people.

In a H.R. 3962 “fact” sheet posted on the congresswoman’s website, Sutton tells us this bill will cut the deficit by more than 30 billion dollars over the next decade and will continue to create a budget surplus over the next 20 years.

A Budget surplus?!? Wow, that sounds great!  Suddenly Betty is interested in fiscal responsibility.  Where was this idea when she and her cohorts spent us into the largest deficit in our nations history?

Now Rep. Sutton comes to us with a “Budget Surplus”.  Does she think anyone will actually believe this?  Even if it were true, Sutton and her band of merry men will quickly waste the “surplus” on other irresponsible spending sprees.  How about a tax cut for every American to prove that this surplus will really exist?  The tax cut can be effective immediately upon the final passage of health reform.

Sutton also tells us the cost of health care reform under the legislation is fully paid for by cuts in services and an additional surcharge on 550 households in the district.

——-

Surcharge?  Betty, are you trying to mislead people again.  The word is TAX.  You are placing an additional TAX on 550 families in OH-13.

I’m not as smart as you, so let me see if I have this right – You are raising TAXES on OH-13 residents to pay for a plan that will create a surplus?

read the story at: www.cbsnews.com

Ok, this makes me laugh a little.  When I called Sutton’s Washington office the evening of the Cap & Trade vote, the congresswoman’s staffer told me that numbers like these were highly inflated.  He even went as far as to suggest that such numbers were nothing more than lies from the bill’s opponents.  “In fact,” he said, “the congresswoman has looked at this carefully and believes it will only raise energy bills by less than a dollar per month.”

Oh, Betty, will you ever wake up and recognize that Ohio’s 13th isn’t in California?