WHY SHOULD YOU CARE ABOUT SOMEONE RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION IN NEW HAMPSHIRE?

"Mr. President, I'd like you to read some legislation Congresswoman Shea-Porter wrote"

If you're a regular DWT reader it would be next to impossible for you to be unaware that DWT, along with our pals at Crooks & Liars and Firedoglake operate an Act Blue fundraising effort for progressive candidates. Last year we raised over half a million dollars in mostly $5 and $10 and $20 contributions at our 3 blogs and helped elect 9 new members of the House and 3 new Senators. This year we've got the backs of progressive members of Congress who are taking tough stands against the pernicious Bush Regime and we're also trying to get more progressives elected by taking on reactionary Democrats like Al Wynn in Maryland and Dan Lipinski in Illinois and by helping some of our candidates who almost made it last time finish the job this time, particularly Victoria Wulsin (OH), Charlie Brown (CA), Angie Paccione (CO), Eric Massa (NY), John Laesch (IL), and Larry Kissell (NC). You can see all of our current candidates here at Blue America

When one of the men or women we help does something especially powerful in Congress, we like to recognize him or her (and sort of pat ourselves on the back a little). Today that person is Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH). Of the 163 online donations that have come in to New Hampshire Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter's re-election campaign so far this year from 11 blogs, 132 have come via our Blue America page. As I mentioned yesterday, the rubber stamp Republican she beat last year, Jeb Bradley, is trying to make a come back against her-- and he's cranking up a nortoriously vicious Republican assault on Carol. But Bradley's threat hasn't made Carol turn into some Republican-lite wimp. She knows eactly why the voters in New Hampshire elected her (and rejected him) and she's staying completely true to her ideals and values.

Yesterday she demonstrated those ideals when she introduced HR 3045, the Presidential Signing Statements Act of 2007. It can be summed up in one line that Carol told her colleagues in the House: "Bush has trampled on the constitutional separation of powers through his abuse of signing statements." Her bill, like the one offered by Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) would prohibit the courts from considering signing statements when interpreting federal laws.

Carol explains that Bush has "attempted to usurp power that was given to the Congress, not the president, and has severely bruised the system of checks and balances. This is an insult to the founders of this country and to the American people, and it cannot be allowed to continue."

This morning Carol's office sent us some background material on the history of signing statements:

Although signing statements have been around since Andrew Jackson, their use has increased dramatically in recent years. As of April of this year, President Bush had issued 127 separate signing statements containing challenges to over 700 specific provisions of various bills. There have also been a number of high profile cases, including the McCain anti-torture amendment and the Patriot Act reauthorization, in which the President has used signing statements to ignore laws passed by Congress.

Some of the most prominent signing statements in which President Bush asserted that he would not follow the law involved:
Congressional requirements to report back to Congress on the use of Patriot Act authority to secretly search homes and seize private papers;
• The McCain amendment forbidding any U.S. officials to use torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment on prisoners (the President said in his statement that as Commander in Chief he could waive any such requirement if necessary to prevent terrorist attacks);
• A requirement that government scientists transmit their findings to Congress uncensored, along with a guarantee that whistleblower employees at the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will not be punished for providing information to Congress about safety issues in the planned nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain

Some additional examples of signing statements in which President Bush has indicated he will not follow the law are:
• Bills banning the use of U.S. troops in combat against rebels in Colombia;
• Bills requiring reports to Congress when money from regular appropriations is diverted to secret operations;
• Two bills forbidding the use in military intelligence of materials "not lawfully collected" violation of the Fourth Amendment; a post-Abu Ghraib bill mandating new regulations for military prisons in which military lawyers were permitted to advise commanders on the legality of certain kinds of treatment even if the Department of Justice lawyers did not agree;
• Bills requiring retraining of prison guards in humane treatment under the Geneva Conventions, requiring background checks for civilian contractors in Iraq and banning contractors from performing security, law enforcement, intelligence and criminal justice functions.

This is why it is so important to elect courageous and progressive men and women like Carol-- and to help them defeat reactionaries and Bush cronies like Bradley. Carol isn't taking any DCCC money and is committed to running another grassroots campaign. Take a look at her voting record, one of the ten best in the entire House. I guarantee you that Jeb Bradley's voting record for this session would have been very, very different. Let's keep Carol in the House. Please consider joining me and giving what you can afford.