The Third Congressional District of Nebraska (the western 2/3 of the state) has had a Repignican representative each and every year since the inception of the District more than 50 years ago. That almost changed in the 2006 election when wonder kid Democrat Scott Klebb came very close to winning the seat. His opponent in the race was a smarmy Repignican named Adrian Smith. Anyone who watched this race knew that Smith was in bed with and in the pocket of Grover Norquist's "Club for Growth," a rabidly anti-government anti-tax, pro-business gathering of Repignican swine who care most deeply about their own personal wealth.
Midway through the race last fall, Klebb was beating Smith handily; to the point where Deadeye Dick Cheney had to fly to Grand Island Nebraska not once but twice to campaign for Smith. By the end of the race however, a majority of staunchly Repignican constituents just couldn't vote for a Democrat no matter how repulsive was the Repignican candidate, so Smith won. But not by much.
The group Smith Watch in my old home town of Grand Island has published a scorecard on the first six-months record of Adrian Smith. Not surprisingly Smith has voted the way the Club for Growth wanted him to vote 100 percent of the time. The results of the analysis follow. I hope that the residents of CD 3 in Nebraska are happy with what the Club for Growth has purchased for you. Maybe in 2008 you'll realize that Smith isn't representing you, but instead he's representing the Club for Growth. With luck Scott Klebb will run against this sniveling little prick again in 2008, and maybe the Club for Growth's representative from Nebraska will be sent back to the corn fields of Gosper County.
This information comes from the folks at Smithwatch. Their link is
http://nethirddistrict.blogspot.com
"Smith Watch - Nebraska's 3rd District" - 1 new article
Smith's Job Performance: A mid year summary
Since we have reached mid-year on Adrian Smith's first year in Congress, I thought this would be a good time to do an analysis. I will look at his voting habits, the bills he sponsoring and cosponsoring, and his performance in the eyes of the Club for Growth.
CLUB FOR GROWTH KEY VOTES
Given that the Club for Growth paid out over $500,000 to Adrian Smith during the campaign, in contributions and ads, I felt it would be a good idea to see if they are getting their money's worth.
The CFG has what they call their Key Votes. They track the votes of their paid representatives to see if they are voting the way the CFG want them to be voting.
So just how is Smith doing? Let's take a look:
1. "NO" on Minimum Wage Hike (H.R. 2)
Adrian Smith voted NO
The bill passed 315-116-4
2. "NO" on "Employee Free Choice Act" (H.R. 800)
The purpose of this bill is to establish an efficient system to enable employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to provide for mandatory injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing efforts, and for other purposes.
Adrian Smith voted NO
The bill passed 241-185-8.
3 "YES" on Sessions Amendment to the "Rail and Public Transportation Security Act of 2007" (H.R. 1401)
The purpose of this amendment is to prohibit funds from being used by Amtrak for any of the Top 10 worst revenue losing long-distance routes as noted by its September 2006 monthly performance report, unless the Secretary deems a route or a portion of a route as critical to homeland security.
Adrian Smith voted YES
The amendment failed 130-299-9.
4. YES on the Ryan Substitute Amendment (H. Con. Res. 99)
This amendment was basically a whole new budget to replace the one put forth by the Democratic-controlled House Budget Committee.
Adrian Smith voted YES.
The amendment failed 160-268-10.
5. "NO" on Medicare Fair Prescription Drug Price Act of 2007 (S. 3)
The equivalent bill in the House would be H.R. 4. If passed, would allow the government to negotiate prices.
Adrian Smith voted NO
The bill passed 255-170-10.
6. "NO" ON SHAREHOLDER VOTE ON EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION ACT (H.R. 1257)
This purpose of this bill is to require a proxy, consent, or authorization for a shareholder meeting occurring on or after January 1, 2009, to permit a separate shareholder vote to approve executive compensation.
Adrian Smith voted NO
The bill passed 269-134-30.
7. "YES" on Bachus/Biggert Amendment to the Federal Housing Finance Reform Act (H.R. 1427)
This amendment would strike section 139 which establishes an affordable housing fund.
Adrian Smith voted YES
The amendment failed 148-269-20.
7. Signing the Campbell/Ryan Letter to President Bush. The letter offers support by the signers to sustain any Bush veto on FY08 appropriations bills that go over the President's request.
As the CFG reported, a letter was signed by 147 Republicans vowing to uphold all Bush vetos. That is enough to stop a veto override.
Adrian Smith signed the letter.
8. "NO" on the Federal Price Gouging Prevention Act (H.R. 1252)
When the President declares an energy emergency, it would be illegal to sell petroleum products that is excessive, and indicates the seller is taking an unfair advantage of the circumstances to profit.
Adrian Smith voted NO
The bill passed 284-141-7.
9. "YES" ON CULBERSON/FEENEY/KING/McHENRY AMENDMENT (#57) TO THE DHS APPROPS BILL (H.R. 2638 / H. RES. 473)
The amendment was actually list as sponsored by Rep. Rogers, but the purpose was to prohibit use of funds in the bill to implement section 536 relating to Davis-Bacon provisions.
Adrian Smith voted YES.
The amendment failed 145-277-15.
10. Sponsorship of the "Tax Increase Prevention Act" (H.R. 2734)The Club for Growth plans to positively score the sponsorship and co-sponsorship of Rep. Tim Walberg's "Tax Increase Prevention Act" (H.R. 2734) that would make all of the Bush tax cuts permanent.
H.R.2734 was introduced on 6/14/2007.
Adrian Smith signed on as one of the original cosponsors.
11. "YES" on 4% Across the Board Cut on the Leg. Branch Approps Bill (HR 2771)
Rep. Jordan's amendment would have cut the Legislative Branch Budget by 4%.
Adrian Smith voted YES
The amendment failed 177-231-29.
12. "YES" on Pence-Flake-Hensarling Fairness Doctrine Amendment to the Financial Services Approps Bill (H.R. 2829)
The purpose of the amendment is to prohibit the use of funds to be used by the Federal Communications Commission to implement the Fairness Doctrine
Adrian Smith voted YES
The amendment passed 309-115-1-12.
SUMMARY: Adrian Smith is voting 100% of the time in line with the Club for Growth. They are getting what they paid for.
VOTING PATTERN
There have been a total of 606 Roll Call votes cast in the first 6 months of the 1st session. Here is how the votes look so far:
94.39% (572 ) - Smith's votes match the GOP majority.
33.66% (204) - Smith's votes match the Democrats majority.
38.12% (231) - Majority of GOP votes match the Democrats majority.
40.26% (244) - Smith's vote is the same as the result of the vote (passed/failed).
44.72% (271) - GOP's vote is the same as the result of the vote.
93.40% (566) - Democrats vote is the same as the result of the vote.
0.5% (3) - Smith has voted with the Democrats, but against the GOP majority.
5.61% (34) - Smith's vote is in the extreme minority of the GOP, voting opposite of the majority.
To get a much better look at these numbers, however, it's best to remove the votes that are unanimous or near unanimous (less than 10 votes in opposition). These usually consist of ceremonial type votes, such as pledge the support of veterans, praising a sports team, or changing the name of a post office, etc. There are 143 unanimous/unopposed votes. The follow statistics represent the remaining 463 votes:
92.66% (429) - Smith's votes match the GOP majority.
13.17% (61) - Smith's votes match the Democrats majority.
19.01% (88) - Majority of GOP votes match the Democrats majority.
21.81% (101) - Smith's vote is the same as the result of the vote (passed/failed).
27.65% (128) - GOP's vote is the same as the result of the vote.
91.36% (423) - Democrats vote is the same as the result of the vote.
0.65% (3) - Smith has voted with the Democrats, but against the GOP majority.
7.34% (34) - Smith's vote is in the extreme minority of the GOP, voting opposite of the majority.
Smith continues to join his party as a true partison, and even has taken the position of being even more right-wing than the rest of the Republicans over 7% of the time.
BILLS SPONSORED AND COSPONSORED
As of mid-year, Adrian Smith is a sponsor on 4 bills, and cosponsor on 63 bills.
Among the 53 Freshman members of Congress, the average number of bills sponsored is 6, and the average number cosponsored is 134, the total average being 140.
Given those numbers, Smith has less than half the number of bills than the average among the Freshmen.
The median total number of bills is 122.
Smith's rank, at this point, is 50 out of 53. He's at the very bottom of the group.
Now some statistics on these bills:
Of the 4 sponsored bills, 1 was a House Resolution only, the other three deal with very targeted and very specific tax cuts. One of those was originally introduced by Tom Osborne in the 109th, and Sen. Chuck Hagel in both the 110th and 109th, so Smith did not write it. The targeted tax cuts affect:
- Concentrated animal feeding operations
- Non-residential property in rural areas
- Independent College Students (to a point)
Regarding the 63 bills cosponsored:
17 - the number of bills Smith was one of the original cosponsors at introduction.
46 - the number of bills he added his name after it was introduced.
3 - The number of Concurrent Resolutions (used merely for expressing facts, principles, opinions, and purposes of the two Houses)
2 - The number of Resolutions (considered only by the body in which they were introduced)
1 - A Joint Resolution that would amend the Constitution.
57 - Actual number of bills that, if passed, would be laws.
5 - the number of bills introduced by Nebraska's Reps together
41 - Average number of days between the time a bill was introduced and when Smith signed on. 10.5 - Average number of bills signed on to each month.
22.3 - Average number of bills the other Freshmen signed on to each month.
11 - Number of bills related to targeted tax cuts.
11 - Number of bills that are ideological or highly partisan, geared toward one-issue voters.
Progress of all the bills so far:
2 Resolutions have been passed.
1 Concurrent Resolution has been passed and sent to the Senate.
3 have passed in the House and been sent to the Senate.
50 have not progressed since being referred to committees.
10 have had hearings, markups or requested executive comment.
The pattern continues. Adrian Smith is not a leader (as the Omaha World Herald stated during the election). He's highly partisan, and one of the more extreme members of his own party. He puts the interests of his biggest campaign contributors ahead of the interests of the people of Nebraska .
He may like to pretend he's a man of the people, but his actions (or lack of) speak much louder than words.
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