Bringing the Stimulus Message Home and Facing the Political Music
The event was billed as a Green Jobs town hall meeting with Rep. Frank Kratovil Jr., a freshman Democrat from Maryland, sharing the spotlight with leaders of environmental groups to discuss such issues as global warming and preserving the Chesapeake Bay.
But it soon became apparent that a central theme of the evening was defending the $787 billion economic stimulus package signed this week by President Obama after an acrimonious and partisan debate that found Kratovil on both sides of the legislation.
“As you know there has been quite a bit of debate over the stimulus package,” Kratovil, 40, told the crowd of more than 100 people in the cafeteria of Broadneck High School near Annapolis. “And some of you know some of the debate included criticism that I had with the bill.”
Kratovil was one of 11 Democrats who initially voted against the stimulus bill when it first came up in the House. But he later joined four other Democrats who switched to vote for the final version negotiated with the Senate. The congressman told reporters after the town hall meeting that the bill had been improved, and that he applauded the package for including what he called “one of the most bold investments in renewable energy that this country has ever seen.”
Kratovil, like many other lawmakers in swing districts, has spent part of his weeklong congressional break explaining his vote on the massive stimulus package that is already being seized on by both political parties as they attempt to position themselves for the 2010 midterm elections. Republicans believe that Democratic members from more conservative districts who supported the stimulus could well be vulnerable if they are tied to a measure they argue is chock-full of wasteful spending…
Gearing Up for 2010
But making the case is a challenging task for a lawmaker such as Kratovil, who last November squeaked to victory in a district in which Republican presidential nominee John McCain bested Democrat Barack Obama by a margin of 58 percent to 40 percent.
Michael J.G. Cain, a professor of political science at St. Mary’s College in southern Maryland, said he was surprised that Kratovil ultimately decided to support the bill, given the political makeup of his sprawling district that covers the Eastern Shore and then jumps across the Chesapeake Bay to take in portions of Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Harford counties.
“It’s been a conservative-to-moderate district for 10 years,” said Cain. He said Kratovil has now set the stage for a Republican challenger to paint him as a “big spender.”
Maryland Republican Party officials are criticizing Kratovil for flip-flopping on the stimulus measure.
“He caved into partisan pressure from Democrats,” said executive director Justin Ready. He also said the congressman was “wined and dined” by the White House in between the first House vote and the final vote on the negotiated compromise. He was referring to a private reception President Obama held before the vote with Kratovil and other conservative Democrats known as Blue Dogs.
Ready said the Republicans were already preparing for the next race against Kratovil.
“We’re going after it hard in 2010,” he said. That race could include a rematch with State Sen. Andy Harris, who barely lost a costly election to Kratovil last year after beating nine-term Republican incumbent Wayne T. Gilchrest in a bitter primary. Gilchrest, an independent-minded Republican who often clashed with party leaders, endorsed Kratovil, a former state’s attorney in Queen Anne’s County. The moderate Democrat now commutes to Washington from his home in Stevensville on the Eastern Shore.
Harris, who has filed papers indicating he will run again for Congress, said people across the district have told him they are upset with the stimulus bill and urged him to take on Kratovil again. Maryland Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley has aggressively supported the stimulus measure, saying it is needed to plug a hole in the state’s budget and will provide $600 million for transportation needs. But Harris said the heavily rural 1st District will not benefit as much as others from the package, which includes billions of dollars for commuter and light rail systems.
“There is not a lot of mass transit on the Eastern Shore,” he said.
On Feb. 20 the National Republican Congressional Committee announced it would be running robocalls in 10 Democratic congressional districts, including Kratovil’s, urging people to call their lawmakers and tell them they made a mistake “by supporting wasteful spending.” The NRCC is running radio spots in 30 Democratic districts, but not Kratovil’s, criticizing lawmakers for voting for what it calls “wasteful pork-barrel programs that will cost taxpayers nearly a trillion dollars,” including funding for smoking cessation and purchases of government vehicles.
The DCCC is also running radio spots in 28 Republican districts, accusing those lawmakers of supporting more schools in Iraq and bank bailouts but not helping Americans deal with their economic struggles.
While all of the House Republicans voted against the stimulus package, some are plugging certain spending items. Rep. John L. Mica , R-Fla., issued a press release, posted on his Web site, that promoted the benefits for transit projects such as the Central Florida Commuter Rail project.
“The timing couldn’t be better,” said Mica, the ranking Republican on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
As he has traveled the district over the Presidents Day recess, Kratovil said he found a mixed reaction to the stimulus plan.
But he said he had no second thoughts about deciding to vote for the measure in the end.
“My view was it wasn’t going to get any better and we needed to do something. It was irresponsible to not act,” he said. As for the political risk of being portrayed as a flip-flopper, he said, “Any bill can be used against you one way or the other.”
Kratovil also said the Democratic leadership had assumed he wasn’t going to support the bill and didn’t pressure him.
“They counted me as a ‘no’ vote and didn’t push me,” he said.
By the Numbers
The congressman was armed with statistics on the measure’s benefits, noting that he has been told it will generate more than 8,000 jobs for his district.
During the question-and-answer period at his town hall meeting, constituents asked Kratovil about certain aspects of the stimulus package, including whether there was money for the Chesapeake Bay. Kratovil responded there was no money for the Chesapeake because the stimulus did not include earmarks, which are funds targeted to specific local projects. The environmental leaders who appeared with the congressman lavished praise on him for supporting the measure.
“The recovery act gives us a lot of money,” said Tommy Landers, with Environment Maryland.
While there were no overtly hostile questions posed to Kratovil about the stimulus during the town hall event, several audience members told a reporter they did not approve of the measure.
“It is irrational. There are a lot of allocations that aren’t necessary,” said Gilbert Moore, a retiree, who joked that he wasn’t going to make a scene at the meeting. However, Moore, a Republican who voted for Harris in November, said he didn’t think worse of Kratovil because of his vote for the stimulus.
“So far he looks good to me,” he said. And he even seemed resigned to the stimulus package.
“It’s a done deal now,” he said.
Down the road, having dinner with his wife at Cantler’s Riverside Inn, a waterside restaurant known for its crabs, John Geddings, who is self-employed in the construction business, said he supported Democratic efforts on the stimulus package, which he hoped would have a “trickle-down effect.”
“It’s a start ” said Geddings, a Democrat. “You could sit there and bury your head in the sand. I am for anybody who is trying.”
His wife, Debbie, an independent, was a little more cautious in her assessment.
“I’m holding my breath,” she said. “Whether it will be the definitive answer, who knows? It is something. Nothing is perfect.”
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