Posted by
Bob Wood aka TrekTek on Wednesday, December 03, 2008 1:01:17 AM
Dear Sen. Chambliss,
Congratulations on your 15-percentage point victory in the runoff election last night. I was one of many who held their noses and voted for you in spite of your recent record of ignoring us voters back home in Georgia.
I had fully made up my mind to vote for your opponent on November 4. It would have been my first vote for a Democrat to Congress in many, many years. I had become convinced that you had forgotten all about your constituents in Georgia and that maybe it was time for you to retire to your law practice in Moultrie.
First, let's talk about that "Gang of Ten" business that you and fellow Senator Johnny Isakson pulled together during the summer when gas prices hit $4.00 per gallon. The supposed purpose was to get Congress to allow offshore drilling for oil in just four southern states while ignoring any drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve or the South Dakota/Montana reserves. In fact, Senator, oil is available off-shore in all of the continental states and Alaska.
President George W. Bush had already lifted the Presidential directive against off-shore drilling. The only impediment was a Congressional ban on off-shore drilling which had been in effect for some thirty years, and it was set to expire on September 30, 2008. With just a couple of months before that expiration date, you and the "Gang" give the Democrats an alternative to rescinding the ban or just letting it expire. Fortunately, they were too dumb to take the bait.
What in the world were you thinking, sir? Were you trying to out-McCain Senator McCain with his "reaching across the aisle" to "work with Democrats?" You should now see the folly of that approach. Sen. McCain, who for all of his faults, would have been a much better President than his opponent, a freshman Senator with no experience who defeated him rather soundly. You almost suffered the same fate in the General Election.
Second, let's talk about the $700 billion bailout for Fannie/Freddie and AIG, et al. Where, sir, in the United States Constitution - which you took an oath "to preserve, protect, and defend" - is the authority for taking money out of my and my fellow taxpayers' pockets and giving it to failed business enterprises which paid their executives exhorbitant bonuses for criminally running their companies into the ground? By the time you and your fellow Senators got through, the bill was up to $850 billion. That is about 25% of the entire FY2008 budget! And you gave it to the administration to be spent by one man, Secretary Paulson, with no Congressional oversight whatever! How irresponsible can you guys and gals be? I would accuse the whole lot of you of spending like drunken sailors, except that would besmirch the reputation of drunken sailors.
For that matter, where was your voice when President Bill Clinton told Fannie/Freddie to make home loans available to people who could not afford them? Where was your condemnation of now President-elect Barack Obama's receipt of campaign contributions or his cozy relationships with Jim Johnson, Franklin Raines, and Jamie Gorelick who made millions of dollars in salaries and bonuses while hiding the corruption of these two "Government Sponsored Enterprises?" Have you once questioned your fellow Senator Chris Dodd about the favorable loans and contributions he has received from Fannie/Freddie?
Third, let's discuss your campaign advertisements. Over the last month, I have been barraged by television ads and robo-calls (I got 12 just this past Sunday afternoon alone), and the only thing they told me was that we can't let Obama have a filibuster-proof Senate. Well, Senator, those first two points above make you look like a Democrat, so what is the difference? The TV ads you ran were all about how bad electing Jim Martin would be - he's a tax-and-spend liberal! You never really focused on your own record of lower taxes and smaller government with less intervention in our daily lives. Oops! Sorry...
As I said, I voted for you - in spite of all of the above. Here's why.
The first commercial for your opponent that I remember seeing claimed that you, Senator Chambliss, wanted to raise sales taxes by 23% and then listed claimed price increases on groceries, gasoline, and other commodities. I recognized this as the lie that every Democrat who knows about The Fair Tax uses to try to destroy it before it gets a chance at a vote. I just figured if Martin would use this transparent a lie to try to discredit you, what else was he lying about that I couldn't catch?
I talked with your office at length about both the "Gang of Ten" and the bailout bill - close to 30 minutes on each call. I had talked to many folks about each of these issues, and we were in agreement. Your staff thanked me for taking the time to call, and I believed that your staff understood my position on both of those issues. They told me I was not the first to call on either issue. Obviously you either did not get the message or you chose to ignore it.
So you see, Senator, my vote was against your opponent more than it was for you this time. I believe that you are an honorable man who really wants to do the right thing in Washington. I hope and pray that you have not been so infected by the political class that inhabits our nation's capital that you have forgotten how your actions affect those of us in Georgia who have to live under the laws you pass there.
Please start by re-reading the Constitution. It provides very specific powers to the federal government. Anything else is off-limits unless and until the Constitution is amended. And the Tenth Amendment says that any power not granted by the Constitution to the federal government is reserved to the people and the States. You are the lawyer. I am just an engineer, but I can understand plain English.
Here is hoping that you and the other forty Republicans can forge together a coalition to prevent further unconstitutional usurpation of power by our government. Let's see you become a leader of a conservative movement in the Senate instead of a go-along-to-get-along Senator. The people of Georgia deserve that.
And you might pass this letter along to Senator Isakson who is next up for re-election. We are watching. Both of you.
Very sincerely yours,
Bob Wood