15 Reasons to Vote for Monica Lindeen

A poster on the DailyKos gave Five Things About Monica Lindeen's Bid for Congress this weekend. I want to expand on that a little. Since the poster did such a good job on the first part, I will start with number 6.

6. Monica Lindeen is the right lady for the job.

You can read my post on my impressions of Monica here. I am convinced that she will work hard for the good of Montana.

7. Denny Rehberg is the wrong man for the job

You can read my post on Rehberg's dismal here. His time in Washington has been a horrible failure.

8. Denny Rheberg is in the pocket of big energy

Rheberg has taken over $200,000 from big gas, oil and enrgy PAC's. What did they get in exchange? He voted for the Bush energy plans which given them over $420 million in tax breaks. Look at our current gas prices and tell me how that has helped Montanans. (HR 6, House Vote 145, 4/11/03; HR 6, House Vote 445, 7/28/05)

9. Denny Rehberg favors the Energy interests over Montanans

Remember the Enron scandal? Remember all the price gouging claims against energy companies? Rehberg voted against legislation that gave the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) anti-fraud authority for electricity and natural gas markets. (HR 6, House Vote 133, 4/10/03). Additionally, Rehberg opposed legislation that gave the Justice Department the ability to prosecute oil companies engaged in gas price gouging and he voted against stricter penalties for gasoline price gouging. (HR 3402, House Vote 500, 9/28/05; HR 3893, House Vote 518, 10/7/05)

10. Denny Rehberg doesn't care about poor people

Do poor people get cold in the winter time? Rehberg doesn't really care. Over 20,000 households in Montana need energy assistance from the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Rehberg voted to slash $170 million from its budget. (HR 3010, House Vote 321, 6/24/05)

11. Rehberg Doesnt care about old people

Rehberg voted against allowing the Department of Health and Human Services to use the purchasing power of Medicare’s 41 million beneficiaries to negotiate discounts for prescription drugs. (HR 1, House Vote 668, 11/22/03)

12. Rehberg doesn't care about education

Rehberg voted to cut student loan subsidies (S 1932, House Vote 670, 12/19/05).

13. Rehberg hates workers

Rehberg showed that he cared more for corporations than Montanans when he supported cutting overtime pay for millions of workers(HR 2660, House Vote 351, 7/10/03). Additionally, Rehberg voted against extending unemployment benefits to workers once they had exhausted their state benefits (HR 1527, House Vote 191, 5/15/03).

14. Rehberg is fiscally irresponsible

Even though he said said it was “high time” government spending was cut, Rehberg voted for the 2005 budget, which was projected to create a $521 billion defecit. Additionally, he voted to increase the national debt by $653 billion.

15. Rehberg has bad ethics

Rehberg is voting for Montanans anymore, he is voting how the lobbyist tell him to vote. Rehberg accepted $20,000 in contributions from convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his clients. Then he tried to cover his trail by voting to kill the investigation into Abromoff. (H Res 746, House Vote 76, 3/30/06; H Res 762, House Vote 87, 4/5/06) Rehberg voted to change Congressional ethics rules to stop an ethics complaint against Tom DeLay. He later voted to reverse the rule changes. He also voted to kill an investigation of DeLay. (H Res 5, House Vote 6, 1/4/05; H Res 240, House Vote 145, 4/27/05; H Res 845, House Vote 526, 10/8/04)


Those are just 15 of the 1000+ reasons to vote for Lindeen. The most important 2 is that she is the right woman for the job and he is the wrong man for the job.