As a citizen of the 9th District, it has become increasingly frustrating over the years to hear Congressman Rick Boucher continually boast of his Southwest Virginia “values” when running for re-election. After the elections, however, he has voted in virtual lock-step with the likes of Nancy Pelosi (D) and Barney Frank (D) 96.7% of the time. (Two issues which separate him from “100%” are that of gun rights and coal).
It is difficult to unseat an incumbent due to his access to “press releases” to the local newspapers, fundraising from power brokers in Washington, pork barrel vote-buying, special interest groups, etc. (Please see the category … “FRANKING” … at this website. That is the little known congressional privilege that allows TAXPAYERS’ MONEY to pay for massive mailings of … ”non-political” … er, “newsletters” by Congressmen).
In spite of professional politicians sucking the very life out of our country by creating trillions of dollars in debt thereby assuring their re-elections and control over us, we continue to vote them back into office. Amazingly, roughly 95 percent of all incumbent congressmen and senators are re-elected. It is so rare for an incumbent to be defeated that when it does happen, it makes national news.
Our incumbents spend an incredible amount of time fundraising for the next election. In 2004, the average amount of money spent by incumbent congressmen over his or her challenger was $700,000. In the Senate, the typical senator outspent his or her challenger by four million dollars.
Check out the January publications of local newspapers in the 9th District. Chances are that there will be a front-page “news story” about Mr. Boucher’s accomplishments, for example, in the great number of jobs he has brought to the area!, and/or his grandiose plans for the coming congressional session. These front-page “press releases” – carried as “news” - probably spill over to pages 2 or 3 and contain literally thousands of words and many square inches of free print space. Free, that is, to the Congressman. According to the annual (and predictable) ”news stories” , one might conclude that our 9th District has created the most high-paying jobs over the last twenty-six years than of any place in America!
The average citizen has limited ability to get the truth out as to the actual record of the incumbent. Want equal space? Letters to Editors are generally limited to one per month and the number of words is strictly limited. In addition, most newspapers opt NOT to run the letters-to-editor which are critical of Mr. Boucher. They might risk losing one of their best “customers”.
Huh?
Well, the Congressman spends THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS in campaign ads every two years with local newspapers. Thus he becomes one of the newspapers’ very profitable … clients.
Further, it is relatively difficult to access one source where information about our Representative is easily available. A constituent from Carroll County said that “trying to do research on our Congressman is like pulling teeth!”
It just seemed as though Mr. Boucher could never be defeated. The 2008 presidential election, however, exposed Mr. Boucher like the man behind the curtain in “The Wizard of Oz”. But this time – THIS TIME – he has perhaps finally made himself vulnerable … and he may have arrogantly done it to himself.
He has tied himself to the hip of Barack Obama. Mr. Boucher introduced Mr. Obama as a “friend of coal”, a “friend of gun owners” and “the most Southwest-Virginia friendly President in American history!”.
Really? Well, this time we are not buying it.
This time, Mr. Boucher even betrayed his own party. He endorsed Mr. Obama for President in Janury, ’08 before 9th District Democrats had expressed their preference for a candidate. They overwhelmingly voted for Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democrat primary by a margin of 2 to 1. (In a few counties in the 9th District, Obama received only FIFTEEN PERCENT of the vote). Still, Mr. Boucher endorsed Mr. Obama.
If the majority of the 9th District leans Republican, and if the majority of Democrats in the 9th District preferred Hillary Clinton, then how is Mr. Boucher representing the “majority” of the folks in the District?
The definition of “REPRESENTATIVE” is “a person duly elected to speak for the people represented”. Mr. Boucher has evolved into a Washington insider who pays lip service to his constituents while he listens to the Lobbyists and power brokers in Washington. He has become tone deaf to the folks in the 9th District on any number of issues.
As the votes were being counted on election night of 2008, Mr Boucher made the following statement to the Bristol Herald newspaper: ”WE KNEW HE [Obama] WOULD NOT CARRY THE 9th DISTRICT BUT THE IDEA WAS FOR HIM TO PERFORM WELL ENOUGH HERE TO CARRY THE STATE”.
Questions come to mind. Is that a “representative” who speaks for the people of the 9th District? WHY could Mr. Obama NOT carry the 9th District? What were the reasons?
In the same newspaper article, Mr. Boucher stated that “Obama’s presidency will lead to good things for the region”. In reality, the “region” rejected Mr. Obama in both the Democratic primary and in the general election. Will it lead to “good things” for our region, or good things for ……. RICK BOUCHER?
The 2008 election motivated the creation of this web site by just some average citizens in the 9th District. Perhaps it was the result of what was done to people like “Joe the plumber” or what was done to the family of Sarah Palin. Or perhaps it was due to finally getting fed up with Congressmen who tell us one thing and then do the exact opposite while no one is watching. Or maybe it was due to getting tired over the last 26 years of seeing the job losses in our District or to watch an estimated 15,000 of our college graduates leave the area to seek employment.
Maybe it resulted from the anger of watching Mr. Boucher vote, immediately after 9/11, “NO” to the Anti-Terrorism Act on 10/12/01 (which passed 337-79) …. after having voted “NO” to the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1996. Or “NO” to the Patriot Act on 10/24/01 (which passed 357-66). Or how about a “NO” vote on “Safe and drug free school programs to include information on the risks of tobacco use and risk addiction to smoking resulting from ingestion of nicotine”. That measure passed Congress 353-70 ! Oh wait, wait. “Tobacco” donated $30,600.00 to Mr. Boucher’s 2008 re-election “campaign” even though he ran unopposed.
Or maybe it was just getting fed up over 26 years of watching Mr. Boucher stick his snout in the federal trough to the tune of an estimated total of ONE BILLION DOLLARS of pork which buys votes and gets Mr. Boucher re-elected. While folks in the 9th District have been squeezed financially during the Congressman’s ’07 – ’08 term, he has traveled in the last twenty-four months to, among other places, Oslo, Norway (one week), Tokyo (one week), and Germany (three weeks). Since 200, he and/or his staff members have traveled to Las Vegas (TEN TIMES) to attend “consumer electronics shows”.
During the fiasco of the ’08 “Wall Street bail-out”, a constituent from the Bristol area contacted the congressional offices to voice his disapproval. In response to his question as to how citizens were responding to the crises, he was told that the calls were “running 50-50″ …. “50% NO and 50% HELL NO!”. Mr Boucher voted for the bail out.
Who would have ever thought that our “Representative” in the 9th District would have voted NO to making “ENGLISH THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF AMERICA”. The man voted NO.
At any rate, the purpose of this site is to provide one central location where folks from the 9th District can get and share truthful information about our Congressman. It is a place where your voices can be heard, regardless of your opinion, without the fear of being “slapped down”.
It is time to re-claim our District (and our country) .
The time to start is now.