Susan Collins
The profile on Susan Collins in Down East this month paints her as a rising star and a vital moderate in Washington. But even this love poem hints at some of the real problems with her tenure.
she has agreed with the [Republican] party on issues ranging from the new bankruptcy bill to drilling for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, for example
I was afraid that her vote (I believe Republicans call that a flip-flop) for drilling in ANWR might have passed under the radar. I'm glad to see it hasn't.
In other news, Scott Fish is still mad that he lost his job.
More importantly from Fish's point of view, Collins isn't helping the Republican Party. "Look at the number of [registered] Maine Republicans since moderates like Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe have been in control," he argues. "We're third, after Independents and Democrats. If the moderates are the wave of the future, why hasn't the party thrived?
"What Susan and Olympia have done is cast votes that attract support from across the political spectrum," Fish says, which he admits makes sense in a state that favors political moderation in its U.S. senators, no matter what letter comes after their names. He predicts that strategy could backfire, though, because "I think the future of the Republican base is increasingly conservative, both nationally and in Maine."
Visit the new Maine Politics.
posted by @ 1:17 PM 
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1 Comments:
Is Collins "doing her job" or stonewalling the public?
US: Senate Committee Silence on Halliburton Bemoaned
by Emily Pierce, Roll Call
May 23rd, 2005
Called "spineless," the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has held no hearings on whether civilian contractors in Iraq — particularly Halliburton, the company Vice President Cheney used to head — have mismanaged and overcharged the government by billions of dollars, much to the consternation of Senate Democrats.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has held no hearings on whether civilian contractors in Iraq — particularly Halliburton, the company Vice President Cheney used to head — have mismanaged and overcharged the government by billions of dollars, much to the consternation of Senate Democrats. Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-Maine) has steadfastly refused to hold hearings on the issue in the more than two years since the start of the war in Iraq, despite — Collins says because of — multiple executive branch investigations of Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root.
Posted by Susan