Below The Beltway

As I noted back in March, Frank Wolf, long time Congressman from Virginia’s 10th District has a challenger in the upcoming Republican primary.

His name is Vern McKinley and he is exactly what the Republican Party needs right now:

One of the most egregious practices has been “earmarking” whereby billions of dollars are spent each year on pork barrel projects through a process lacking in transparency. President Bush has described earmarks this way: “You didn’t vote them into law. I didn’t sign them into law. Yet they are treated as if they have the force of law. The time has come to end this practice.”

Congressman Wolf has “gone native” and during 2006 was one of only 24 Republicans voting against basic earmark reforms, such as identifying the member requesting an earmark. During Republican control of the House, he regularly used his powerful position on the Appropriations Committee to insert pork spending. The problem also goes beyond earmarks to broader spending discipline. The National Taxpayers Union assigns an annual rating to all members of the House based on 200 votes on spending, regulatory and tax issues. From 1995 to 2006 Congressman Wolf’s NTU rating has plummeted from 80 (B) to 45 (C-).

(…)

The role of the federal government has continued to expand in complete contravention to a Reagan vision of a limited federal government consistent with the principles of federalism. Vern opposed these expansions and agrees with the statement on the website of the Loudoun County Republican Party, Vern’s home county party: “We believe fundamentally in a free society with a limited, responsible government. We believe that government does not empower its people, but people empower their government. We believe that individuals, with their vast store of ingenuity and ambition, solve problems far more effectively than does government.”

Congressman Wolf has voted right along with all these continued expansions in the power of the federal government, some of which were led by Speaker Pelosi:

Or, as McKinley noted in the article I quoted back in March:

With limited and smaller government as a guiding principle, McKinley believes he can offer voters in Virginia’s 10th District a legitimate choice among Republicans.

Taxes, spending, and regulatory issues seem to provide the best ways to differentiate McKinley from Wolf. He said Wolf’s own votes show him working closely with Democrats on appropriations bills, changing the overall budget picture to be directly opposite to Reagan-inspired methods.

No Child Left Behind, McKinley said, tries to make the federal government responsible for education. He said that is a challenge, especially when the country has a poor foreign policy agenda.

“I travel a lot in my work, and the closest ally the U.S. ever made in foreign policy doesn’t want to help us,” he said.

McKinley is not a big fan of current U.S. foreign policy, and he said Wolf has not fully thought out the process to improve it.

He said Wolf, like some other members of Congress, does not fully think out issues, forcing him to react to actions rather than come up with a real policy.

The U.S. economy, McKinley said, also serves as a key example of how Wolf and others in Congress react to troubles.

“I think that politicians in Washington want to be seen as doing something about the troubled economy,” he said, adding that the recently approved economic stimulus package does little in offering real help.

McKinley said the economic stimulus package that would offer monetary rebates to most Americans just moves money around, meaning an answer to the country’s tough times still needs to be found.

He added that Wolf voted in favor of the package.

“There are a few good provisions in the package, but the idea that giving out rebates in this manner will give a significant boost to the economy is silly,” McKinley said. “Any stimulus of this size would not stop a recession if one is already ‘baked in the cake.’

Sensible, which is exactly what Congress needs right now.

If you live in the 10th District, I’d encourage you to vote for McKinley and, even if you don’t you can still donate or even volunteer for the campaign if you’re so inclined.