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The signal failure of Ed Towns
In 2005, the Bush budget for fiscal year 2006 passed the House of Representatives by two votes. One key vote was that of Congressman Edolphus Towns of New York's Tenth District.
As I wrote in 2006,
I had a conversation with Congressman Towns' chief of staff last year, after he failed to vote against the republican budget because he was, and I quote, "stuck in traffic on Capitol Hill". This because he had left the chamber to get some rest, it being rather late at night, and was unaware that the vote was coming up; after all, the man is of an age when most Americans, certainly those few of us with retirement benefits as generous as those accruing to Members of Congress, want to be retired someplace on a porch in Florida. So he took the night off, as it were.
She didn't disagree with me that this was a very feeble excuse.
That exchange between myself and Karen Johnson, Congressman Towns' Chief of Staff, was documented in an email I sent to the board of directors of New Democratic Majority on November 18th, 2005.
I just spoke to his chief of staff, Karen Johnson; she apologizes profusely [for Towns absence from the budget vote], and basically reiterates that he was stuck in traffic outside of the Capitol.
That is pretty lame, and I told her so; she didn't disagree. I mentioned that Towns draws a taxpayer salary to do nothing but vote, and that this kind of excuse in a very close vote just wasn't acceptable.
The 2006 Federal budget was notable, per the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, for deep cuts in domestic spending and shifting the Federal tax burden downwards to states and municipalities. Grants to Medicaid declined by $10.7 billion,, or 4.5%; grants for all other domestic programs, at 1.99% of GDP in 2001, were cut to 1.75%; all told, the funding shortfall compared to 2001 levels, whether they were themselves adequate or not, amounted to $31 billion.
That budget passed in part because Ed Towns was too tired to vote on it. Considering how poor his district is, and how reliant on Federal grants, it's fair to ask whether district residents are getting the best representation they can, or whether it's time for a change.
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And yet, the people of Brooklyn re-elected Ed Towns? Clearly he is doing something right for the 10th, since most people felt that his vote wouldn't impact the 10th that they sent him back for 2 more years.
I haven't seen anything about deep cuts since 2006 in the District. In fact, I believe I read somewhere that government grants to the 10th have increased, no? Have you seen otherwise?
I can understand your taking umbrage at his COS trying to explain why a 70+yo man couldn't make a 2am vote over 3 years ago. But, if the vote was not going to negatively impact his District, and since a Congressman's first responsibility is his District, then what does it mean?
I think much more happens behind closed doors in DC than you understand. Have you never considered that the COS's excuse could have been simply a good cover for something else going on behind the scenes? A disagreement within the party, or other tit-for-tat? You might want to consider that before letting your outrage boil over and dwelling on it as you apparently have been doing for 3 years now.
It just seems a bit naive to think that with such a close vote, a Congressman with 25 years experience would simply be "too tired" to vote. That is why parties have Majority and Minority Whips to ensure Congressmen are not too tired to get out of bed and get down to their desks for crucial votes, especially when the margin looks to be in the single digits. And even after not voting for the budget, somehow, he wasn't booted from his Committee once the Democrats took power. If anything, it shows that Towns has an intuition and understanding of the game that comes with experience.
Towns is not the best House member, at all. But then again, none of them are, having to serve their District while adhering to national priorities. Everyone in Congress has taken from special interests, everyone in congress can be accused of neglecting their district, everyone in congress is automatically a "Washington Insider." But, an awful lot of money has come into the 10th, and that happens by having a Congressperson who has the relationships to make that happen. Towns has shown time and again, it seems to me at least, that he can get the job done on that front. So what more does someone like you need of the man?
I know that you clearly think age is a bad thing, that we should eat the old and elect everything new. But, I caution against that because booting Towns now for an unproven, unstable, and incoherent opponent just because he is new is only going to lead to hardship for the 10th.