In the next 41 days, the campaign for the Maryland 5th Congressional District's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives is going to kick into overdrive, and there's going to be a lot of information flying around for you to process in a very short period of time. I want to give you a roadmap of what to expect from the current 30-year incumbent, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, going forward, and when these things actually happen, you can thank me later!
First and foremost, he intends to buy your vote. Count how many times between now and Election Day he points to something he brought to the district, or something that wouldn't be here were it not for him.
For example, it must make the people who work at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, or who served on the Base Realignment and Closure commission for Maryland, feel good to know that nothing they've done shines as brightly as the words and deeds of Steny Hoyer. But I digress.
Think on this. The father who lavishes his wife and children with gifts is much beloved until the bills come due and he can't pay. Then the whole family suffers, and all the good feelings from the gifts he bought won't put food on the table, clothes on their backs, or a roof over their heads.
"[Hoyer] has been at the helm of the biggest expansion of deficit spending in American history."
Steny Hoyer has spent your money by the billions in Washington over decades and, since 2007, when he became majority leader, he has been at the helm of the biggest expansion of deficit spending in American history.
The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) give him a 0% - that's zero percent - score, equal to a taxpayer rating of "Hostile." CCAGW was not kind to the zero-percent crowd:
These members could not manage to support a single fiscally responsible measure out of the 120 House votes analyzed by CCAGW, including four votes to reduce discretionary spending in appropriations bills by a meager 5 percent, and a vote to cut $1 million for the Environmental Science Initiative at Drew University in Madision, NJ, which has an endowment of $171 million and charges $50,000 annually for tuition, room and board.Like all modern Democrats, he'll shame the memory of Harry Truman, for whom the buck stopped at his desk, and blame President Bush.
I marvel at how uninformed he thinks we are. He's been the majority leader since 2007, and his party has been in control of Congress since then. If it's all Bush's fault, then what in the world were they doing?
Are they admitting that they failed to perform their constitutional duties? It is Congress' job to write and pass the budget; the president submits his request to Congress, but the "power of the purse" is theirs.
Therefore, by blaming President Bush, we can conclude that Mr. Hoyer was not doing his job, for reasons he'll have to explain himself, or he in fact voted for the budgets they passed, again for reasons he'll have to explain himself, and he should take responsibility and quit trying to dodge the issue.
Don't let his recent "budget hawk" talk mislead you, either. With our current national debt at nearly $13.5 trillion and climbing, he can talk fiscal responsibility like he wrote the book on it, but by the time the bills come due, he won't be around to pay them. Some of us will be, as will our children and grandchildren, each already saddled with a $43,591.22 debt as of the moment I typed that number, before they even get a job - that is, if they can find a job.
Purveyors of pork like Mr. Hoyer have never addressed the fundamental question about earmarks and other "gifts" to their constituents. Do pork barrel projects do the most good for the most people?
When you're sitting around the kitchen table talking with your family, unsure of whether or not you can pay the mortgage next month, or telling your daughter she has to take online courses because you can't afford to send her to the college of her choice, does a $450,000 grant to a non-profit music organization to develop lesson plans on funk music and Nobel Laureates help you in any way?
No, I'm not kidding. I guess you didn't have $31,000 in campaign contributions to funnel to Mr. Hoyer' s PAC like the owners, associates and families affiliated with this organization did from 2004 to 2006.
Southern Maryland's unemployment rate went up again in July compared to the same time last year - Calvert County and Charles County each from 6.3% to 6.5%, and St. Mary's County from 6.1% to 6.6%.
What is the more responsible behavior for a representative of the people charged with stewardship of your money?
Sound government fiscal policy that relieves the tax and regulatory burden on small businesses, and establishes a degree of economic certainty so they can produce goods and services, and hire people as their demand increases?
Or nearly $72 million in earmarks in one year, which may create jobs for the few, but not the many, and serve mainly as a reelection slush fund?
Don't be shocked if Mr. Hoyer springs an "October surprise", some major project or initiative that makes a big splash in the local papers and compels people to genuflect toward Mr. Hoyer's Capitol Hill office. Being generous with other people's money is the power of incumbency, and his party and the president are motivated to help him in what is shaping up to be a disastrous election year for Democrats.
"He will paint his opponent, Charles Lollar, a Marine officer, ... as a right-wing extremist"
One other thing you can expect from Mr. Hoyer, and that's "divide and conquer." To some constituents, he will paint his opponent, Charles Lollar, a Marine officer who led men into combat in Kosovo to fight for freedom, and who is passionate about individual liberty, as a right-wing extremist who wants to take us back to the bad old days, whatever he thinks you perceive them to be.
In the northern part of the district, he'll imply that his opponent is the ringleader of those "un-American" Tea Party rowdies who hate black people.
To working class constituents, he will portray him as a shill for big corporations and fat-cat financiers, a fascinating charge coming from a man whose top 20 donor list reads like a Wall Street ticker.
The second largest contributing sector to Mr. Hoyer's campaign coffers is the finance, insurance and real estate sector.
"The largest contributing sector to Mr. Hoyer? The health sector."
The largest contributing sector to Mr. Hoyer? The health sector - surprised? I'm not.
I've argued in the past that, for all the rhetoric thrown about during the health care debate, the net effect would be to add millions more customers to an already dysfunctional system. That benefits the health sector, but does nothing to improve the cost or quality of, or access to, health care for you and me.
Look to Massachusetts, the model for the health care bill Mr. Hoyer so passionately defends - longest wait times in the nation to see a primary care physician, highest insurance premiums in the nation, and a state deficit exceeding $1 billion. It looks to me like the health sector gets paid, while the people have to pay more for less.
Let's cut to the chase. The bottom line is that Mr. Hoyer will either buy your vote or scare it out of you. Recognize these tactics for what they are, and don't base this very critical decision on the emotional appeal they carry. You'll thank me for it later.
Ron Miller is a conservative writer and commentator, author of the book, SELLOUT: Musings from Uncle Tom’s Porch, and the president of Regular Folks United, a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of individual liberty, free markets and our nation's founding principles. The nine-year plus veteran of the U.S. Air Force and married father of three writes columns for several online sites and print publications, and his own website, TeamRonMiller.com. Join him on Facebook and Twitter.