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February 14, 2014 02:14 PM UTC

Even the Pot Wouldn't Call This Kettle Black

  • 23 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado Springs).
We see what you did there, Rep. Lamborn. Do you?

Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn was elected to Congress in 2006 with about 16,000 total votes in a 6-way primary. He has never seen a real challenge in the Republican-dominated CD-5, and as a member of the majority Party in Congress, he has a great deal of freedom to champion legislation of his choosing. He just…doesn't.

Entering his 7th year in Congress, Lamborn has seen passage of only 1 bill where he was listed as the primary sponsor:

H.R. 4073 (112th): To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to accept the quitclaim, disclaimer, and relinquishment of a railroad right of way within and adjacent to Pike National Forest in El Paso County, Colorado, originally granted to the Mt. Manitou

The fact that he has even passed one bill is amazing when you consider that Lamborn has only seen 8 bills make it out of the House of Representatives in 7 years. Lamborn's track record of sponsoring successful legislation is due in no small part to the fact that nobody with any power in Washington D.C. wants anything to do with him. According to GovTrack.us, Lamborn had trouble in 2013 attracting the interest of, well, anyone:

0 of Lamborn’s bills and resolutions in 2013 had a cosponsor who was a chair or ranking member of a committee that the bill was referred to. Getting support from committee leaders on relevant committees is a crucial step in moving legislation forward.

compared to…
Colorado Delegation 1st lowest (tied w/ 1) out of 7 0
4 bills View All
House Republicans 1st lowest (tied w/ 72) out of 232 0
12 bills View All
Safe House Seats 1st lowest (tied w/ 123) out of 396 0
14 bills View All
All Representatives 1st lowest (tied w/ 137) out of 439 0
14 bills View All

So why all the Lamborn-bashing? Because the very same Rep. Doug Lamborn authored an op-ed for the National Journal titled "The Do-Nothing Senate." Seriously:

When anyone says it’s a “do-nothing Congress,” they are only half right. It’s actually a do-nothing Senate.

In this Congress, the House has passed and sent over to the Senate 253 bills. In stark contrast, the Senate has sent to the House 63 bills. The Senate produces only one quarter of what the House does.

I am not saying that passing bills is in and of itself an unalloyed good. (See the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare.) But if you want to determine who is doing the actual work of legislating, counting bills is where you start.

Just in case you missed it, here's that last sentence again: "But if you want to determine who is doing the actual work of legislating, counting bills is where you start."

We doubt that Lamborn actually wrote this op-ed himself, but didn't he at least have a staffer read it to him before they sent it off to the National Review? In saying that "counting bills" is the first place to look when you want to determine "who is doing the actual work of legislating," Lamborn is essentially putting himself on the bottom of the usefulness list. The editors at the National Review probably had a good laugh when they read this; perhaps they should have included Lamborn on his own joke.

 

Comments

23 thoughts on “Even the Pot Wouldn’t Call This Kettle Black

    1. Duh, does that mean in a GOP-controlled House, Republican Representatives have a much easier time getting legislation passed, and Democratic bills get quashed by GOP leadership, and Lamborn lays a big fat goose egg, regardless?

      Thanks for the insight.

        1. Yeah, Lamebrain probably couldn't even get a "Repeal Obamacare" bill out of committee.

          But, he gets the same $173k annual salary that the rest of them get. So he's laughing all the way to the bank, even if he is the loneliest congressman in the US.

        1. Hi, rocco. I know yours isn't technically a response to AC (it's a response to Davie's response to AC) but remember, we weren't going to respond at all? After what we learned from Mama why encourage him, even indirectly? I love Mama's shunning idea and, after this friendly suggestion, I'm not going to respond to any responses in a chain initiated by a response to AC either. I'm not telling you what you or anyone else here should do, though. Just asking you and others to think about it. Does this troll troll deserve any feeding at all?

            1. That's not a problem and there's no reason to apologize.

              However………………just the fact that you posted me means you're serious about this. Let me assure you I am as well. I do hold you in great esteem, largely because, unlike me, you hold your water untill composed before posting. Reading you makes me want to get better, less hot headed. Won't allways work, but it has to get better if I try.

              One other thing. Re: Evie. I read your response to my post in the "pot calling the kettle black" thread.

              You're probably right. While the stress, tension, and aggressive tactics by the republicans on the floor and the gun nuts up in the gallery had to be claustrophobic, intimidating, infuriating and stifling, Evie needed to keep her cool, and she didn't. She took the bait and also took her frustration out on a victim, and as you said, opened the door.

              If owen hill never accomplishes another thing in politics, his immature floor antics, jabbing, instigating, blocking and stalling created a perfect storm that Evie let get to her. I guess the point is, she can't control the actions of anyone but herself, and she failed on that one.

              In that instant, she failed to live up the the Democratic principle that "We're better than them".

              Lesson hopefully learned.

               

      1. Let me help you guys.  Seems like a little political science help for the esteemed editor is in order.

        Does the "pols"  in ColoradoPols refer to politics?  Jeez.

        Lamborn gets to vote on legislation.  He does not get to pass legislation.

        "The fact that he has even passed one bill…"

        The House has passed many bills, even things called budgets which the Senate has oftern failed to vote on.  Harry Reid is the one calling the shots over there.  His ennablers include your good buddy, Colorado's 99%er, Mark Udall.

        1. Must get lonely over at CO Peak Politics with a few of your peeps via the FB comments (since you diabled the ability of people to actually comment on your bullshit, afrain presumably to allow such free thought) rambling on about the UN Agenda 21, and not being able to fondle their long hard gun barrels.  But when you are a dispicable person no one really wants you around.  

        2. The house has passed a ton load of bills. Letus be honest though it does not count as doing something in terms of being productive if you know it is dead on arrival in the other chamber. Passing junk bills just to prove how conservative or liberal you are is called wasting taxpayer money. The House has wasted taxpayer money on over forty bills to undo the Affordable Care Act. We get it your plank for election is that poor people should not have health care. I  heard you the first forty times. Next issue please!

           

        3. Harry Reid does not call the shots over there. It is his job to do so. Sometimes it is his job to tell the extremes in his party that he doesn't care what they think about a bill he will bring it and they can vote on it or not. He hasn't done that. He has done what the tea party has told him to time and again. Is Harry Reid really afraid of a primary? Does the tea party really have anyone that can bounce him out of office in a primary? Who cares if they do he is old enough to retire anyway.

  1. Fuck you all — that railroad right of way quitclaim legislation was monumental!

    (Lamborn probably even got some kind of award from the El Paso County GOP for that one . . .  a trophy, or a medal, or a certificate for a free coke with a purchase of any regular size happy meal, or something . . .)

  2. dwyer, all of the shows on knus are converted to podcast. Caplis' are available at http://dancaplis.podbean.com/ – you can listen to them at your leisure.

    KNUS is owned by Salem Communications, which has a mission to spread Christian and conservative values around the country, so maybe they don't even care that much about ratings? I don't know.

     

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