WHO WOULD VOTE FOR LEAD PAINT IN CHILDREN'S TOYS? THE WHOLE GOP-- IF THEY COULD GET AWAY WITH IT

Yesterday the Senate passed--overwhelmingly-- H.R. 4040, the Consumer Product Safety Modernization Act, which many people think of as the act that will protect our children from lead paint and other harmful substances. Basically the bill gives the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a regulatory agency, more resources and authority to catch dangerous products before they can cause harm, something Republicans always oppose as an outgrowth of their laissez faire ideology and their predilection to give corporate donors dangerous self-policing leeway.

Only 13 die-hard right-wing fanatics-- all Republicans, of course-- voted against it. How is that possible, you ask? Let me explain. The American people are demanding this bill to protect their children from the unregulated greed and callous selfishness of big corporations which care more  about their bottom lines than about dead or sick children. So, when has that ever stopped a Republican from voting in the interests of the Big Big lobbyists who bribe them with campaign contributions? Well, if you look at the list of who voted yesterday, you will notice that not a single Republican up for re-election in November-- regardless of past votes against this sort of legislation-- have the cajones to oppose it. Oh, wait... I'm wrong. Two kooks did: John Barrasso and Michael Enzi but they're both from Wyoming and... do they care there? Even the most fanatic right-wing maniacs like James Inhofe (R-OK, who absented himself from the chamber for a few moments while the vote was being taken), John Cornyn (R-TX), Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Ted Stevens (R-AK)... even Miss McConnell, the ultimate proponent of "free" trade with China (meaning free of any restrictions or regulations whatsoever), all voted with the Democrats yesterday. Why? They are all afraid of angry voters. Their ideological twins who are not up for re-election-- like Tom Coburn (R-OK), Jim DeMint (R-SC), David Diapers Vitter (R-LA), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Richard Burr (R-NC), etc all voted against the bill.

But Republicans got to show their true colors earlier in the day when amendments, designed to weaken the bill, were being considered. By a much narrower margin the Senate rejected Vitter's amendment that would have given courts discretion to require losers of consumer product lawsuits to pay attorneys' fees. The bill allows state attorneys general to collect attorneys' fees but does not allow manufacturers that prevail to do the same (i.e., to collect from taxpayers). It lost 56-39. In the amendment process, which is never reported by the media, Republican reactionaries felt safer in letting their hair down and their freak flags fly. The right wing fanatics who feared voter retribution if they opposed the final bill, voted as one giant rubber stamp with Vitter, including James Inhofe, Elizabeth Dole, John Cornyn, Lamar Alexander, Saxby Chambliss, Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell, John Sununu, Norm Coleman, Susan Collins, et al.

Same story on an equally lame amendment by Cornyn which would have prohibited attorneys general from hiring outside counsel and paying them contingent on the monetary outcome of a consumer safety trial. Cornyn, of course, wanted to put up as many roadblocks to consumer safety prosecutions as possible. All the Democrats plus 3 Republicans and Lieberman voted against Cornyn's poison pill. McCain, of course, was off sucking up to religious fanatics and lobbyists but the rest of the GOP supported Cornyn; all of them.

Jim Neal is a Democrat seeking to replace one of these sneaky Republicans who helped in an attempt to gut the bill, Elizabeth Dole (R-NC). Neal, a father of two, feels particularly strongly about this legislation and has been talking with voters about it for weeks. This morning he told DWT that he found it difficult to believe "that Americans tolerate a single member of Congress who is so blatantly in-the-pocket of special interests that they'd frustrate the CPSC from protecting consumer welfare over corporate self-interests that contribute to career politicians like Senator Dole."

"This bill begins to correct the neglect and starvation of the public health watchdogs that has occurred under 3 decades of rigid Republican rule. Ronald Reagan said 'government is the problem.' Republican ideologues gutted the CPSC, FEMA and agencies like them, staffed them with partisan lackeys and then used their failure as evidence to prove Reagan's maxim. 

We need to take our government back from the special interests, and make sure the cop on the block is watching out for us, not bought off to look the other way."

The choice in North Carolina is very clear-- you either get a Liddy Dole using subterfuge to allow her corporate donors to poison us-- and our children-- at will, or you get Jim Neal who sees the problems clearly and wants to take them on and solve them. Last week Blue America endorsed Jim Neal and we encourage you to donate what you can to his campaign through Blue America. Even a $5 or $10 donation will go a long way towards building a fund to counterbalance the big money that is rolling into Dole's campaign coffers from K Street lobbyists who appreciate her blind support for their masters' selfish interests.