Saturday, September 19, 2015

DCCC denounces the GOP for voting to defund Planned Parenthood. What about the Dems who did, too?

Just over an hour after the House voted to defund Planned Parenthood 241 to 187, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent out a "KEY VOTE ALERT" (Yes, the email subject line had this unnecessary capitalization):
KEY VOTE ALERT: H.R. 3134 – Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2015
VOTE RESULTS: Bill passes in House, 241 – 187.
DENOUNCE REPUBLICANS FOR VOTING YES >>
IMPACT: If enacted, would prohibit federal funding for Planned Parenthood for one year. Sets up potential government shutdown.
ACTION NEEDED: Denounce Congressional Republicans for voting yes. Show that grassroots Democrats do NOT support this bill.
Republicans will be held accountable for voting yes.
Thanks,
DCCC Key Vote Alert
It included an online petition to denounce the GOP.

When reading this, I thought, "Well, but what about the Democrats who did, too?"

Among the 241 votes to defund Planned Parenthood were two Democrats: Dan Lipinski (IL-03) and Collin Peterson (MN-07).

Will the DCCC ask us to denounce them as well? They deserve to be denounced just as much as their Republican colleagues do.

Dan Lipinski, who is far too conservative for his seat and deserves a primary, does not rely much on DCCC money. His seat is safe--the lowest share of the vote he has ever gotten was 64.6%.

However, Peterson is different. According to FEC filings, in the 2014 election cycle, the DCCC gave $9,998 to Collin Peterson (not to mention the money that came in through the at-least-3 fundraisers they hosted for him).

The DCCC also claims that Republicans will be held accountable for their votes. But will they really be?

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen voted for it. She represents the Miami-area swing district of FL-27. She ran unopposed last year.

Charlie Dent voted for it. He represents the Lehigh Valley area swing district of PA-15. He ran unopposed last year.

Those districts come to mind immediately, but there are certainly others, and there are districts where challengers ran but were left floundering by the party.

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