Monday, January 22, 2007

Still Waiting on Dale Kildee

No news from Rep. Dale Kildee on his position regarding troop escalation, but kudos to him for co-sponsoring a resolution to better protect Congressional pages that recently passed the House.
The sponsors of the resolution are Reps. Dale Kildee, D-Mich., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., two page board members who were never informed by Shimkus of Foley's questionable e-mails to a former page until the lawmaker resigned last Sept. 29. [...]

The Kildee-Capito resolution expands the board membership to eight, including the former page and the parent. There also would be four House members -- equally divided by party -- as well as the clerk of the House and the sergeant-at-arms.

The previous board had five members: three lawmakers -- two from the majority -- plus the clerk and sergeant-at-arms.
Let's hope politics are never put above the well-being of our children ever again.

To get back to the war though, I'm left wondering if Kildee shows a similar concern for our troops serving in Iraq. Twenty-five soldiers lost their lives this past weekend alone, but as I mentioned in my earlier post, Kildee's position on Bush's proposed troop escalation is unknown. We know how other Michigan Representatives lean, so why has Kildee avoided any public statement?

Michigan's residents deserve to know where all of our elected representatives stand simply because they work for us - not the Bush administration - and those officials should be lining up behind public opinion that is overwhelmingly opposed to sending more troops to Iraq.

Kildee demonstrated concern for the pages, now it's time to show concern for our soldiers who are fighting and dying in Iraq too. Besides, as Nirmal at Capital Viewpoint states:
Given that the Iraq war has cost Michigan taxpayers over $10 billion dollars, [pdf file] stopping President's proposed escalation is a priority for Michigan residents. An escalation of the Iraq war would only serve to endanger our service men and women and increase tensions in the region.
If you won't take a stand and oppose escalation for our soldiers, Congressman Kildee, then take a stand and oppose it because Michigan cannot afford to pay for this folly anymore.

5 comments:

Lew Scannon said...

That $10 billion would come in handy right now too, what with the budget shortages projected

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to let you know that your off the BLACK LIST at work

Kathy said...

Lew, that's an understatement!

Anonymous, thanks for letting me know I'm back in your employer's good graces!

His Honor the Mayor said...

I sent an e-mail to the Congressman too, and haven't gotten a response. I sent to him a link to your query as well. Did you see any visits on your SiteMeter from Congress?

Kathy said...

Mayor, thanks for writing and making an inquiry. I haven't had a response yet either. I have had several visits from house.gov though - and one visit lasted nearly 25 minutes. If someone from his office has time to read blogs, I wish they'd take the time to update his website and let us know where he stands on this subject.