Many senators and representatives who voted for President Obama’s failed economic stimulus program, as well as his proposals to nationalize the automobile, banking and health care industries, and an attempted energy industry takeover will go down to richly deserved defeats next Tuesday. Two local congressmen deserve special opprobrium for helping prepare the Obama Kool-Aid.
Reps. Steny Hoyer of Maryland’s 5th Congressional District and Chris Van Hollen of the 8th District are among House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s top lieutenants and were key cogs in her drive to jam one legislative disaster after another through the lower chamber. The results have been well chronicled in The Examiner and include nearly $3 trillion added to the national debt in two short years, layer upon layer of oppressive new government bureaucracy, continuing high levels of unemployment, and a stagnant economy. Pelosi, Hoyer and Van Hollen are also determined to impose huge tax hikes when the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 expire come Jan. 1. And Washington swirls with rumors this talented trio will try to slip legislative monstrosities like “card check” and the union pension bailout bills into law during the coming lame duck session.
When Hoyer blamed the GOP for the entire $13 trillion national debt during a recent debate, Republican businessman Charles Lollar slam-dunked him: “Congress holds the purse strings, not the president. … When President Clinton had the biggest surplus in our nation’s history, [it] was because of a Republican Congress.” Lollar’s right — and his spirited defense of the Constitution earns him The Washington Examiner’s endorsement. Hoyer and Van Hollen could have been moderating influences on Pelosi and the Chicago Alinskyites now occupying the White House, but the Marylanders put party loyalty first. They should now be held accountable.
Also in Maryland, William Campbell, the recipient of a lifetime award from the Association of Government Accountants for his outstanding service ferreting out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government — including the Pentagon’s $600 toilet seats — is uniquely qualified to protect citizens from being robbed blind by rapacious legislators, so we endorse him for Maryland comptroller. As one of three members of the Board of Public Works, which controls all spending in Maryland, Campbell promises to “raise the alarm” about the $35 billion unfunded liability for state employee pensions and health care plans and immediately start auditing billion-dollar state programs. Incumbent Comptroller Peter Franchot collected $162 million in unpaid taxes, but he has done nothing on the public pension issue, which could soon put Maryland in the same sinking fiscal boat as California.
