Judging by the Jobs

I had an unusual experience on Facebook Friday.

I posted something with which both Republicans and Democrats with whom I associate on Facebook all agreed.

This is what we all agreed upon.

Of course, it's easy to agree on a sign. Now, try to agree on how that performance would be measured.

The debate would surely be hotter than the debate over teacher evaluation methods.

It turns out I'm not the only person to have this thought.

The same day I write this, Carl Gibson posted an article with a similar theme in Reader Supported News.

He says if students and teachers will be measured by standardized tests, so too should elected officials.

Gibson wrote:

According to the standardized test we just drafted, all members of Congress would immediately be ineligible for re-election, as they have held as low as a 9% approval rating in the last year, and job growth has slowed to a trickle largely due to Congress's failure to act on job creation bills, like the American Jobs Act in fall of 2011. And seeing as our Pentagon budget has surpassed $700 billion, which greatly surpasses the money spent by Uncle Sam on environmental protection, education and job training, Congress gets a big fat F in the spending category. 

No doubt the members of Congress would have their own very distinct ideas about how their performance should be measured.

It is with these thoughts in mind that I opened up my e-mail Friday to find two press releases regarding local members of Congress, one from each party, that give some indication of the kind of measures they would most likely prefer be used.

JIM GERLACH

 The National Federation of Independent Business, the nation’s leading small business association, today named U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-6th Dist.) a Guardian of Small Business for his outstanding voting record on behalf of America’s small-business owners in the 112^th Congress.

Jim Gerlach

NFIB President and CEO Dan Danner praised Rep. Gerlach for “standing for small business.” In presenting the group’s coveted Guardian of Small Business Award, Danner said, “Small-business owners pay close attention to how their lawmakers vote on the issues affecting their businesses and employees and stand by those who stand for them.”

“In the 112^th Congress, Rep. Gerlach proved that he is willing to stand up and do big things for small business,” said Danner. “Guardian-award winners are genuine small-business champions, consistently voting to promote and protect the right of small-business owners to own, operate and grow their businesses."

In all, NFIB will present Guardian awards to 245 Representatives who voted favorably on key small business issues at least 70 percent of the time during the 112^th Congress.

ALLYSON SCHWARTZ

 U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-13th Dist, received the Claude Pepper Award this week from the Alliance for Aging Research at their 19th Annual Bipartisan Congressional Awards Gala.

The Claude Pepper Award is presented to a Democratic congressional leader for their leadership in health care policy on behalf of seniors. The Alliance for Aging Research is a national citizen advocacy organization working to improve the lives of Americans as they grow older by advancing biomedical and behavioral research in aging and health.

“Rep. Schwartz is one of the prime movers in Congress for bipartisan solutions for better healthcare for older Americans.  She provided our audience with a powerful vision of what we might learn from scientific research and delivery to advance healthier aging for the American people,” said Dan Perry, President and CEO of the Alliance for Aging Research.

Excerpt from Rep. Schwartz’s acceptance speech as prepared for delivery:

“Moving America forward means never going backward on America's great promise of health care for our seniors.

Allyson Schwartz gets her award

“I hope that together, we will fight for policies to ensure the health and economic security of our nation’s seniors – now and into the future.

“I commend the Alliance for Aging Research for their leadership on important health care issues and their willingness to take on tough challenges.”

Schwartz has been a champion for seniors in America and has dedicated much of her professional career to improving our health care system for all Americans. 

As a senior member of the House Budget Committee, she has fought back against efforts to end guaranteed benefits for our seniors, and instead has worked to strengthen and protect Medicare and Social Security for current and future seniors. 

One of her signature pieces of legislation is a bipartisan plan to protect seniors’ access to their doctors by repealing and replacing the flawed Medicare physician payment system that has caused uncertainty and instability for patients, providers, and the federal budget for a decade.

Through the Affordable Care Act, Schwartz successfully worked to expand benefits, increase access to primary care providers, reduce prescription drug costs, and provide free preventive care services to seniors.

The Pennsylvania Congresswoman has also been a vocal advocate for the National Institutes of Health, which plays a significant role in promoting and advancing better health for all Americans. Schwartz is committed to harnessing the power of America’s world class scientific community, cutting-edge technologies, and innovative spirit in order to promote our nation’s health.

So what do you think?

Does this sort of stuff equal job creation?

In a perfect world, it should be more specific, and perhaps tied to legislation they write, sponsor or vote on.

But let's face it, I also think, given their previous history, that the likelihood that any members of Congress will agree to live by or be judged by any kind of standard they happily apply to others is about equal to the chance of me being named Pope any time soon.

Chinese Prostitutes?!? Let the Dirty Campaign Tricks Begin

Chinese prostitutes, soliciting votes ... or something else?!?

Understand, Jim Gerlach and I have our differences, but I feel confident in saying he's not taking money from Chinese prostitutes.


The 6th District Republican, who has battled through three tough reelection races by the slimmest margins in the country to keep his seat, is a regular target of the folks over at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

After all, it's their job is to unseat him and replace him with one of their own.

As a result, I get at least one e-mail a week from them, tying Jim to every reprehensible thing that every House Republican has ever done since the dawn of time.

But the one that arrived July 2 was so far over the line, I couldn't believe it. I thought maybe in came from The Onion.

I mean we've just come off one of the most patriotic holidays on the calendar, feeling good about our country when -- WHAM! -- the DCCC comes out with something so slimy, I feel like I need another shower before I can say the word "democracy" in mixed company.

Sheldon Adelson

It all starts here, where the DCCC extrapolates to the nth degree on a couple of news reports about a rich guy you've never heard of named Sheldon Adelson.

To be sure, he's rich. Really rich.

He's a big business magnate type, casino billionaire, and, according to Wikipedia, the "chairman and chief executive officer of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, the parent company of Venetian Macao Limited which operates The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and the Sands Expo and Convention Center. He also owns the Israeli daily newspaper Israel HaYom. He is listed in the Forbes 400 as the eighth wealthiest American. His personal wealth is estimated to be $24.9 billion as of March 2012."

Venetian Macao is the largest single structure hotel building in Asia.
There was no information available about how many Chinese
prostitutes it can hold, but I'm guessing a lot. It could also hold a lot of
DCCC staffers. Right now, I'm not seeing much difference.

And, according to CBS News, he and his wife "are the single largest donors - $25 million and counting - to what are known as "super PACs," which disclose all of their donations to the Federal Election Commission.

Adelson also reportedly gave $10 million in the last few weeks to Restore Our Future, the super PAC supporting presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney." He's also in tight with the Koch brothers.

So you get the picture. He's a right-wing poster boy for the DCCC to take pot shots at.

Well, apparently, according to the Wall Street Journal, one of his ex-executives, in a wrongful termination suit, says Adelson is OK with prostitutes operating in his casino in Macao, China.

I know, you're shocked that prostitutes could be found in casinos. Me too. I'd write my Congressman, but the DCCC tells me he's in on the deal!

Please.

Well all the folks over at the DCCC needed to hear were the phrases "Chinese prostitutes" and "major Republican fund-raiser" and they were off to the races, painting every Congressional Republican as the happy beneficiaries of allowing Chinese ladies of the evening to wander free in the casinos of Macao.


"It’s past time for House Republicans to reject the support of these groups funded by foreign money from a Chinese prostitution strategy," Jesse Ferguson of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee thundered on the DCCC web site ... presumably with a straight face.

How is this different from half the stuff
Rush Limbaugh says? It isn't.

Me? I would rather have a Rush Limbaugh tweet attributed to me than be quoted saying this garbage.

I guess Jesse Ferguson is made of ... let's just say sterner stuff.

This pablum is then adapted and sent out to the local press corps with the name of the local congressman inserted into the text and headline in the hopes that someone lazy and stupid will run it in their paper.

In some places, maybe it will, which may be the saddest part of this story and an even sadder commentary on my profession.

I briefly contemplated calling Gerlach's office to give them an opportunity to refute this absurd charge, until I realized what an insult it was to even ask them the question.

I might as well ask them where they buried Jimmy Hoffa's body.

People who want to know what's wrong with American democracy, why American voters are so apathetic, need look no further than this.

Want to unseat Jim Gerlach? Try this: Find a better candidate, make a smart case against his votes and positions and convince enough people your candidate is better.

I know it's old fashioned, but hey, we just celebrated Independence Day, a day recognizing the people who gambled their lives and fortunes -- and often lost them -- by signing their name to a document that declared to all the world that a people can determine for themselves how they should be governed.

The DCCC said what?

Throwing scut like this around and calling it political discourse is just reprehensible and, frankly, makes the DCCC look like a ridiculous joke, not a huge leap these days.

Consider their chain of logic:

One person, who was fired, said in a lawsuit against this mega-billionaire who fired him, that the mega-billionaire approved having prostitutes in his casinos; therefore when the mega-billionaire contributes to House Speaker John Boehner's campaign fund and Eric Cantor's campaign fund, he must be using prostitute money; therefore, since that money is going to Republicans, it must be going to all Republicans; therefore, since Jim Gerlach is a Republican, he must be benefiting from Chinese prostitution money.

But just to make sure they don't get sued, the DCCC throws a question mark at the end of the headline, shrugs its proverbial shoulders and says, in essence: "hey, we're just asking the question..."

"What will Congressman Jim Gerlach do when his Chinese prostitution money comes from billionaire Sheldon Adelson?" Ferguson said in the release.

My question is what will Jesse Ferguson do when history uses this as an example of  everything that's wrong with Washington?

Happy freakin' Independence Day everybody.

Gerlach Picks a Pony

A day after Democrats made history in Montgomery County by taking a majority of the county commissioner seats, Republican Congressman Jim Gerlach (R-6th Dist.) made a choice.

He chose moderation.

He endorsed Mitt Romney as the Republican candidate for president.

His choice is very understandable. 

The announcement was made through his re-election campaign, a near-permanent enterprise made necessarily by the razor-thin margins with which Gerlach has won reelection three times.

It is not yet clear (to me at least) what Gerlach's new Congressional district will look like, but if history is any teacher, it will be shifted to include even more loyal Republican voters.

His current district includes Pottstown, but not the three surrounding Pottsgrove townships, which were sliced off and handed over to a Lehigh County-based congressman, Charlie Dent, during the last redistricting 10 years ago.

He has another portion of Montgomery County, which has an increasingly Democratic-leaning voter base, but that has been offset each election by heavy Republican votes in Chester County and, to a lesser extent, Berks County -- but only barely.

As I reported last month, during his entire tenure in the House of Representatives, of all 1,740 general house election races since 2002, Gerlach's reelection has been the only one in the country decided by less than 5 percentage points each time.

Gerlach knows close calls well, which is perhaps why he tried to make lemonade from lemons and parlay his long political career into a brief run for governor. (He also knows, apparently, that as goes Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs, so go Pennsylvania elections.)

It's unclear whether Gerlach offered his support for Romney (or was asked for it) before or after the only Montgomery County candidate associated with the Tea Party (Jenny Brown) also received the lowest vote total of the county commissioner election.

A call to his campaign office seeking comment was not returned.

Nevertheless, when viewing the wild fluctuations and turbulent personalities involved in this year's Republican contest -- Herman Cain, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul -- it's probably not surprising that Gerlach chose safety.

His only other real choice in a year in which more far-reaching Republican initiatives and candidates were defeated at the polls, was Jon Huntsman. But here again, Gerlach was smart enough to pick the candidate more likely to win.

Here is the announcement as it appeared in my e-mail in-box:

Mitt Romney today announced the support of Pennsylvania Congressman Jim Gerlach.

“President Obama’s massive stimulus bills have not helped Pennsylvania,” said Mitt Romney. “Instead of creating jobs, President Obama has just increased government spending. I will work with leaders like Congressman Gerlach to cut spending and get our economy on the right track so that Pennsylvanians know their children will have a bright future.”

“It is clear that President Obama’s policies of the last three years have failed,” said Congressman Jim Gerlach. “At a time when our budget deficits have skyrocketed and unemployment remains dangerously high, we need a radically different approach in Washington. Mitt Romney has demonstrated that conservative leadership and solutions can fix the problems our country faces. I look forward to working with him to address these issues.”