August 01, 2008 06:56 PM UTC

"Missed Vote" Controversy Completely Bogus

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE #4: You didn’t think Dick Wadhams would go quietly into that good night, did you? Updated from the Rocky Mountain News:

Democratic Rep. Mark Udall voted with Republicans today to keep Congress in session until lawmakers consider a crucial energy bill.

He had promised to do so during a U.S. Senate debate Monday with his Republican opponent, Bob Schaffer.

But whether today’s vote means Udall kept his promise is an issue for Schaffer’s campaign manager, Dick Wadhams…

“Udall did not keep any promise,” said a fired-up Wadhams.

“He’s not going to get away with it. We’re going to shove a bunch of 30-second ads up his a** on this issue over the course of the campaign. [Pols emphasis] This guy was fundraising in Colorado and missing votes. That is reprehensible.”

“What is reprehensible are oil executives like Bob Schaffer who vote to give billions in tax breaks to one of the richest industries in the world – oil and gas, while Coloradans struggle to put gas in their cars and food on their tables,” countered Trujillo…

UPDATE #3: The National Republican Senatorial Committee appears to have wasted a pile of money on an extremely well-produced (meaning costly) minute-and-a-half spot slamming “One man, one vote, one broken promise.” Rapid response, baby–oops!

UPDATE #2: Udall’s congressional office released a statement on his vote against adjournment today (after the jump).

UPDATE: As the Rocky Mountain News reports:

It turns out that Rep. Mark Udall kept his promise after all to oppose Congress taking its summer break without first considering a crucial energy bill.

Udall, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, took a drubbing this week from his Republican opponent, Bob Schaffer, when he missed the vote on whether to recess.

During a debate Monday with Schaffer, Udall vowed to oppose the recess unless energy legislation was considered.

The resolution Wednesday called for Congress to adjourn by Thursday, Friday or Saturday of this week and return to Washington Sept. 8. For that resolution to be official, there had to be a final adjournment motion sometime this week…

In Udall’s remarks, he also criticized Republicans.

“Regrettably, so far our repeated efforts to do that have been thwarted by the refusal of our friends on the other side of the aisle to support any of the proposals that have been considered,” he said.

He also said that a majority of Congressional Republicans have “time and against voted against sensible energy legislation.”

Udall recited a litany of energy proposals Republicans had voted against, including renewable energy.

That’s what it looks like–Senate candidate Mark Udall has been under fire for two days now over his “missing” a vote to adjourn Congress for the summer, after pledging to opponent Bob Schaffer in a recent debate to oppose adjournment until Congress had acted on a comprehensive energy bill.

Only problem is, it appears that the vote everybody’s got their panties in a bunch about was preliminary, and the final vote to adjourn just happened a few minutes ago.

Udall was present for today’s vote to adjourn–and voted “no” with the Republicans. Despite this, the motion passed 213-197.

Now, we’ll leave it to our resident Robert’s Rules experts to say for sure, but doesn’t that mean Udall just kept his “pledge?” Did Schaffer’s two days of over-the-top, sanctimonious lambasting of Udall just disintegrate?

Don’t give yourself whiplash, dear reader, that’s the news cycle for you.

Rep. Udall’s statement on Motion to Adjourn 8.1.2008

Statement of

REPRESENTATIVE MARK UDALL

Of Colorado

On

Motion to Adjourn

August 1, 2008

Madam Speaker, I must oppose this motion to adjourn, because I think the House should continue trying to pass legislation to improve our national energy policies.

Regrettably, so far our repeated efforts to do that have been thwarted by the refusal of our friends on the other side of the aisle to support any of the proposals that have been considered.

They seem ready to put a perceived political advantage over working on a bipartisan basis to achieve results.

Otherwise, I cannot explain their recent votes on energy legislation.

Looking back, we see that a majority of Congressional Republicans have time and against voted against sensible energy legislation.

They have voted against renewable energy, against the first new vehicle efficiency standards in 32 years-saving $1,000 in fuel costs per car per year – and against reducing transit fares for commuter rail and buses.

They have voted against expedited drilling in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve and against adding a due-diligence requirement that could stimulate expedited exploration and development on other Federal lands already leased for that purpose.

They also voted against releasing 10% of the record amounts of oil stored in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (to be replaced with heavy oil that is better suited for that storage) even though that addition to the supplies on the market could ease gas prices.

And, finally, too many of our Republican colleagues opposed better regulation of the commodity markets, to reduce the ability of speculators to artificially increase the price of oil, even though the bill had been approved in the Agriculture Committee by voice vote and was supported by the committee’s ranking Republican Member.

So, I certainly understand why many of our colleagues are prepared to give up for now and adjourn today in order to begin the normal August district work period.

But I think we owe it to our constituents and to the country to stay here at least for now, and to continue working on energy legislation.  And for that reason, I cannot vote for this motion to adjourn.