Column for March 26, 2009

Being a gentleman does not equate to being a good representative

For years, I have been both critical and complimentary of our United States Congressman, Bob Etheridge. My philosophy is that if you are willing to complain, you had better be fair and be willing to give credit where credit is due.

I have been very willing to credit Mr. Etheridge positively when he voted against a gun control bill in the House of Representatives. I have also been sharply critical when ol' Bob sponsored bills that are patently unconstitutional or causes that are left wing and socialistic.

I remember when Bob Etheridge ran for Congress years ago. I was working in radio and interviewed him on the air immediately following the Railroad Days Parade in Selma. He dodged straight questions. After election to Congress, he did the same thing when I would interview him on the air. He would call the station asking to be put on the radio but did not want to have anything other than fluffy, soft questions thrown his way.

Last week, a liberal shill for the Democrat Party and staunch supporter of Bob Etheridge wrote a scathing letter to the editor impugning a regular reader and letter writer, David Speckhardt. Leon Lucas of Kenly skewered Mr. Speckhardt accusing him of basically being totally ignorant and uneducated about Mr. Etheridge and stated that the criticism was unwarranted as well as out of touch with reality.

I went back and read Mr. Speckhardt's short letter to the editor. He dealt with the recent voting record of Bob Etheridge. The fact that Mr. Etheridge has aligned himself with Nancy Pelosi and the far left wing of the Democrat Party is not debatable. Mr. Etheridge has continuously voted for and sponsored pork barrel spending that is not allowed by the Constitution, including two bail out bills amounting to trillions of dollars in spending.

Mr. Etheridge recently was quoted as saying, “Traders on Wall Street should not be able to get rich at the expense of folks on Main Street who are struggling. Taxpayer funds should not be used to pay bonuses to the very individuals whose excessive risk-taking caused the financial crisis that has harmed thousands of North Carolina families. When AIG has repaid taxpayers and is footing the bill, it is entitled to award compensation as it sees fit. However, I cannot allow the company to use taxpayer dollars for its executives greed.”

I say that you, Mr. Etheridge, should never have voted for any such bail out scheme at the expense of the taxpayers to begin with. It was government pressure and control upon mortgage companies and system that helped cause the problems. It is government involvement in the economy that is going to prolong the recovery, not help it.

I agree with Mr. Etheridge that it is imprudent of AIG and other companies to pay millions in executive bonuses to leaders of failing companies. However, I find it horrendously hypocritical to be outraged at the paying of executive bonuses that are a mere fraction of the money that the government is bilking out of the taxpayers of this nation in a scheme that is patently unconstitutional to begin with.

Mr. Lucas should perhaps read the United States Constitution. If he does not have one, I will gladly mail him a free copy at my expense. The same offer applies to every reader of this newspaper.

I am not going to defend Mr. Speckhardt's position, as I do not see that he needs any support. The facts do that for me. I will say that as ignorant as he was accused of being towards Bob Etheridge by a shill for a liberal representative, Mr. Lucas is far more ignorant of Mr. Speckhardt. David has actually read the Constitution. I have actually conversed with and met Mr. Speckhardt on several occasions and read his many letters to the editor in this and other newspapers. He is an ardent supporter of one of my favorite proposals, the Fair Tax plan.

In his letter to the editor, Mr. Speckhardt did not call Bob Etheridge names. He only questioned his support of whack jobs like Nancy Pelosi and the far left agenda. I do not care that Mr. Etheridge, "visits Kenly several times a year to check on his people and to determine what our needs and feelings are," as Mr. Lucas stated. I care that Congressman Bob Etheridge is voting totally against his oath of office regarding his support of the Constitution and is aiding the slow death of America with his votes.

Whether you like a politician or not is not the issue. The issue is proper performance. One can be wonderful at being wrong, as is the case here. It just means that ol' Bob is a good politician. It does not mean that he is a good statesman.