Tag Archives: Scooter Libby

Leadership for a change

LuAnn Bennett for Congress

LuAnn Bennett for Congress

I hear a lot of people saying they wish this election season was over.

As a person who has spent a large part of my life concerned about matters political and legal, I understand the electoral weariness, especially this campaign season.

But how this election is done, how it’s finished, is going to be critically important to the nation and our communities, so, unless we prefer to regret the results at our leisure, we have to pay attention now.

One of my political heroes, Robert Kennedy, was fond of saying when the going gets tough, the tough get going.  This is a tough election and we need to be tougher.

I’ve already decried the Republican presidential nominee as abusive, intolerant, especially abusive of women, and unfit for office.

We must, however, also consider who should represent us in Congress.

Congresswoman Barbara Comstock, the incumbent, is somewhat of a puzzle to me.

I’ve watched Barbara appear at many local events, especially in Western Loudoun, passing out balloons bearing her name, posting those oversized signs that should be banned, and succeeding at remaining as content free of any controversy as one possibly can, offering poll tested nostrums that offend as few voters as is politically possible.

Barbara is a prominent member of a do-nothing Congress directed by her Republican Caucus, led by Speaker Paul Ryan.

The Republican controlled Congress couldn’t move its lumbering “deliberative” self only days ago to grant emergency funds to Flint, Michigan where the health and safety of women and children remain at grave risk.  Continue reading

Taking stock of Comstock

Rep. Barbara Comstock has set her sights on the US Congress (photo by J. Flannery)

Rep. Barbara Comstock has set her sights on the US Congress (photo by J. Flannery)

Virginia Delegate Barbara Comstock was a lobbyist for Carnival Cruise Corporation in 2005, and, while at the lobbying firm, Blank Rome, helped Carnival Cruise get a $236 million dollar payout from the U.S. Congress for ferrying evacuees during Hurricane Katrina.

The rub is that Carnival Cruise got a too large payout because Carnival only filled their boats half full while doubling their usual charges — more than twice what Carnival then charged for a regular cruise.

A chorus of chest-beating bi-partisan outrage followed

Delegate Comstock now wants the voters in the 10th Congressional District to promote her to the U.S. Congress.  How to trust Ms. Comstock when it comes to resisting the hoggish corporate handouts that she successfully lobbied congress to give away? Continue reading