Re: In Class of Colorful Freshmen, Meet the Most Contrarian

" He added: "Legislation that names a specific private organization to
defund (rather than all organizations that engage in a particular
activity) is improper and arguably unconstitutional."

Uh....actually I have to agree.  That is a better approach.

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On
Behalf Of Bruce Geerdes
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 7:12 AM
To: DADL (off topic)
Subject: [DADL-OT] In Class of Colorful Freshmen, Meet the Most Contrarian

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/us/politics/15freshman.html?_r=1&hp

In Class of Colorful Freshmen, Meet the Most Contrarian By JENNIFER
STEINHAUER

WASHINGTON -Representative Justin Amash does not believe the government
should subsidize public broadcasting, vehemently opposes abortion rights and
thinks Democrats are wrong about spending. Yet he has voted against every
Republican measure that conforms to those views.

Through April 12 Mr. Amash, a Republican who represents a swath of
southwestern Michigan, has not voted with the majority 25 percent of the
time, the most of any House Republican.

Mr. Amash, 30, the youngest member of the freshman class, stands out like a
patchwork quilt among 86 other colorful Republican freshmen. He has voted
against his party on important symbolic measures, like one that would strip
financing from Planned Parenthood, and those most minor, like a measure to
amend the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act to extend its termination
date.

He has even voted against the routine matter of approving the journal of the
previous day's proceedings, because, he says, there is not enough time to
read it. (This is a bit like not clicking "I Agree" on a hotel Wi-Fi
agreement because you don't want to read the fine
print.)

On Thursday, he said, he will vote against an agreement the leaders of his
party hatched with Democrats to keep the government open for the rest of the
year.

Often, when Mr. Amash agrees with the spirit of a measure, but not its
constitutional basis, he votes "present," as he did on a bill to take money
from public broadcasting. If baffled colleagues seek an explanation, they
can find it on his Facebook page, where he assiduously explains every vote.

"I follow a set of principles, I follow the constitution," said Mr.
Amash, who keeps a picture of the seating chart for his Constitutional law
class from the University of Michigan on his office wall. "And that's what I
base my votes on. Limited government, economic freedom and individual
liberty."

He said he did not feel his defections had angered Republicans leaders in
the House.

"I don't think they've been annoyed by the votes," he said during a brief
interview as he walked through Capitol Hill on Wednesday. "I think they
respect my approach, and I respect theirs as well."

If Mr. Amash has any dreams of rising in his chamber, he will have to find a
way to mimic the style of lawmakers who run contrariwise to their leaders
but maintain their respect, like as Representative Jeff Flake of Arizona,
and not that of those who are stars on Fox News but not especially
influential in the upper ranks of their own caucus, like Representative
Michele Bachmann of Minnesota.

In some ways, Mr. Amash's voting record reflects his time as a Michigan
state representative, when he was known as "Mr. No," for his proclivity for
voting against the majority of legislation before him.
In that case, however, Mr. Amash was largely against the policies underlying
most of the bills, which reflected Democratic control.

His contrarian ways sometimes made for odd alliances in Michigan, where he
lined up against his Republican colleagues to oppose tax breaks for the film
industry, and teamed up with a far-left-leaning lawmaker from the Detroit
area to make sure legal-defense budgets for indigent criminal defendants
were more uniform.

But here in the 112th Congress, Mr. Amash says most of his no or "present"
votes generally reflect his lack of constitutional convictions about a bill,
or the fact there was not time to read it.
Some of the constitutional violations in the bills favored by his party
mates "are pretty apparent," he said. "We review each piece of legislation
very carefully," he said. (In the case of the spending bill, he does not
believe it cuts spending enough, in keeping with other conservatives who
plan to vote against the measure.)

Here is what he had to say on Facebook about an amendment to a spending bill
that would take away federal dollars from Planned Parenthood, on which he
voted present: "While I oppose abortion funding, the language, as drafted,
violates my conservative approach to legislating."

He added: "Legislation that names a specific private organization to defund
(rather than all organizations that engage in a particular
activity) is improper and arguably unconstitutional. Moreover, the
legislation is easily thwarted because the organization may simply change
its name."

Facebook is his preferred method of vote explanation over news releases,
interviews or other forms of traditional political expression. "It is
something I started doing in the Michigan statehouse," he said. "I use it to
explain each and every vote."

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