A short time ago I wrote a piece simply called “POGO” in which I discussed the fact that the race for the US House seat in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District (KY4) is an example of how our political discourse has gone off the rails. I explained in that Newsletter why I circulate my Substack Newsletters on various Facebook pages that are specifically directed at KY, Northern KY, KY4, and the Greater Cincinnati Metropolitan Area (GCMA). “POGO” was a thinly veiled swipe at the campaign of Thomas Massie (R-KY) the KY4 incumbent. In referring to a Facebook post on Rep. Massie I wrote:
”One of the pieces that I wrote took our U.S. Representative to task for being famous for only saying “NO” and not finding a way to sometimes say “YES”. Sometimes saying “Yes” when your own policy is to say “No” is called the art of the compromise an art and skill in which he is severely lacking. He also has a history of not supporting his party’s President, Donald Trump — an unfortunate circumstance in an area that overwhelmingly voted to send Mr. Trump to the White House and that still has strong support for him today.”
Yesterday I opened my Mailbox and found a Massie hit piece on his leading opponent, Claire Wirth. Why do I call it a hit piece? Very simply because it personally attacks Ms. Wirth in attempt to besmirch who she is and what she has accomplished. Massie does that by establishing a series of straw man “arguments” in which he suggests, that she is a fraud, a liar, a carpet bagger.
For example, he criticizers her for voting by mail in Maricopa County, AZ. Now why would a candidate for a US House seat representing KY vote in Maricopa County, AZ?
Why?
Because that was were she lived at the time she voted. Don’t you vote where you live? I do.
Then Mr. Massie criticizes Ms. Wirth for not “always” voting as a registered Republican in Maricopa County. How did Ms. Wirth vote all those other times? As an independent.
And that is the best that Mr. Massie can muster: Claire Wirth voted as a resident of Maricopa Co., four times as an Independent and twice as a Republican.
That’s the best that Thomas Massie has to offer as to why we should not vote for his opponent and send him back to our seat in our House for his sixth term.
The question now becomes what is there in Mr. Massie’s record as a US Representative that provides a compelling reason to vote for him and not for Ms. Wirth.
The standard way of determining a Congressman’s effectiveness is to look at their record of accomplishment; bills that they’ve introduced and ushered through the process until they became law. We can also look at were he stands relative to his colleagues based on how he votes. In Mr. Massie’s case this is very simple.
In Mr. Massie’s ten years in office he has not been able to obtain the passage of one single piece of legislation.
And what about those bills that he introduced? Congress.gov shows that Mr. Massie has introduced about 11 bills in each of his five sessions. Sounds good. Seems impressive — that is until you examine those bills a bit more closely. A closer examination shows that with a very few exceptions Mr. Massie has introduced the same bills each session. And when it comes to budget matters — he votes “Nay” — every time. In fact, Mr. Massie has voted “Nay” so many times even on non-budget related bills, that he has earned the title of “Congressman No”. As I noted in the opening passage from POGO:
”Sometimes saying “Yes” when your own policy is to say “No” is called the art of the compromise an art and skill in which he is severely lacking.”
Mr. Massie’s mailer includes this statement: “Claire Wirth is not a Kentucky conservative and can’t be trusted.” An assertion that begs for a basis but Mr. Massie offers none. Perhaps he again is using the fact that Claire Wirth voted as an independent in AZ when she lived in AZ. To suggest that Claire Wirth is not from KY and not a conservative because she sometimes voted as an Independent in AZ when she lived there is swamp politics at its worst..
But is Mr. Massie a true “Kentucky conservative”? There is no doubt that just like Claire Wirth, Mr. Massie resides in Kentucky. Now about that claim to be a “conservative”. According to govtrack.us Mr. Massie isn’t even close to a conservative from anywhere let alone Kentucky. Govtrack.us ranks Mr. Massie the “… 8th most politically left compared to House Republicans.”
Govtrack.us also tells us that in the 116th Congress Mr. Massie introduced no bills, held no Committee or Subcommittee leadership positions, and was more absent from votes than any other KY representative from either party.
What about Mr. Massie’s relationship with President Trump. At best — its not so good. In fact, President trump famously railed:
“WIN BACK HOUSE, but throw Massie out of Republican Party!”
Why the strong words? Because Mr. Massie forced House members to return to session for an irrelevant roll call vote on a measure to provide emergency funding for the governments COVID-19 rescue package a move that compelled the President to offer this:
“He just wants the publicity. He can’t stop it, only delay, which is both dangerous and costly…”
Perhaps in retaliation, in a recent interview Mr. Massie, without evidence, accused the President of being responsible for the events of January 6, 2020 at the US Capitol Building.
One final vote of note. H.Res. 317, Condemning the ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity being committed against Uyghurs and members of other religious and ethnic minority groups by the People’s Republic of China, garnered 427 “Yeas” and 1 “Nay” by Mr. Massie. It was a vote that makes no sense.
The point of this entire piece today is that Mr. Massie is part of the Washington problem — not because he votes “Nay” but because he constantly votes in explicable ways that cause harm and embarrassment to his district, wins the enmity of true conservatives, and has dismal record of accomplishment which leads him to run a cynical campaign of personal attacks against his opponent, Clair Wirth.
This is the incumbents record. I didn’t have to make up a single word. Not one. I didn’t disparage his character — I simply had to examine his record.
Union, KY
6 May 2022