Corrine Brown Voting Record

[jacksonvilleconfidential]

My favorite thing about Corrine is her delightful collection of wigs.

Mine too.

[rbirds]

Interesting sniping at Rep. Brown but may say more about the snipers than the snipee.  Looking at her voting record she reliably represents mainstream Democratic interests. Here is how interest groups grade her votes:

NARAL Pro-choice -- 100% support for their bills.
Nat'l Humane Society -- 67%-100%, varies across years.
Americans for Tax Reform -- a grade of 5. (not supportive)
National Taxpayers Union -- a grade of 10. (not supportive)
ACLU -- 100%
NAACP -- 100%
American Conservative Union -- 0%
Traditional Values Coalition -- 14%

She votes with the Democratic Party 97.5% of the time. If you are Democrat this record Is A Good Thing.
She has missed 13.7% of votes this session, according to the Washington Post.
Crenshaw, District 4,  missed 8.3% this session.
Brown-Waite, District 5, 9.6%.
Wexler, District 14, 9.4%

All other FL Reps missed far fewer.  Not a good record but I don't see any snarky remarks about Brown-Waite, Wexler or Crenshaw regarding missed votes. Why would that be, I ponder?

Not that FTU helps sort through the quality of our congressional reps.  A recent review of congressional coverage revealed that not a single story including Crenshaw's or Brown's name described what they were doing in Congress,

"A database search of six topics frequently in the news and with which Congress supposedly grapples - health care, Social Security, the federal deficit, the Iraq war, earmarks and immigration - turned up no stories or editorials on those topics in which Crenshaw, R-Jacksonville, or Brown, D-Jacksonville, were seriously questioned." -- FTU 5/16/08.

But no information does not seem to inhibit the criticism of Brown.  Anyone interested in finding real issues to criticize Brown and others on or are we satisfied with superficial sniping?

[Driven1]

question:  have you actually ever seen Brown in action?  she is ridiculous.  it's as if an animated cartoonist could have created the most outlandish,  ridiculous possibility for an elected leader - and WHAM:  there she is - Corrine Brown.  I think that is where a lot of her criticism comes from.  the simple fact of her being in Congress actually says much more about the voters who elected her than anything else.

also, google "Lexus, daughter, Corrine Brown, criminal" and tell us what you find.

[rbirds]

Driven1 asks:

have you actually ever seen Brown in action?  she is ridiculous.

In terms of her consistently supporting Democratic Party programs she is very effective. She is part of the NE FL coalition of congresspeople bringing federal money to Jacksonville and her own constituents support her so solidly she rarely has an opponent on election day.

So in these particular contexts she appears to be doing just fine. She is not ridiculous, she is a consistent party advocate and legislator. Has she had some ethical problems in the past? Yes. Disappointing but hardly ridiculous -- or unique.

Other than a Google search suggestion or her bad behavior during Fay, Driven1, do you have anything in mind when you call her ridiculous?

[Driven1]

i guess it would be mainly limited to her deriding nature in interviews, her demand for preferential treatment during Fay and her fairly consistent history of ethics violations while "serving".  that's it.

[rbirds]

Brown certainly deserves criticism for her bad behavior. I advocate scrupulously watching our representatives. The lure of money and privilege is ubiquitous in Washington and we've all seen people claiming to represent us while assiduously pursuing any and all paths to wealth and whatever else.

But Brown is a good rank-and-file Democrat and she should be recognized for that. Her reward is a lot of help directing federal contracts to her district. She ranks in the top third of all Congressional districts in the amount of fed contract money spent in her district. That is a real accomplishment.

I doubt she'll ever be a real party leader. But she is quite effective in the niche she has carved for herself in Congress.

What do the rest of the contributors to this thread think of this argument?