Mr. Smith Limps Home (No Senate bribery says Hastert) NYT

t's no secret that the House Republican leaders went into full arm-twisting mode last month when they kept a midnight roll-call vote open an extraordinary three hours to finally squeeze out a victory for President Bush's Medicare prescription plan. One of the hounded Republicans, Representative Nick Smith of Michigan, was angry enough the next day to write a newspaper column for constituents alleging that "bribes and special deals" had been offered to sway holdouts like himself.

Mr. Smith, who is planning to retire and hopes to be succeeded by his son Brad, followed up with a radio interview in Kalamazoo in which he said the blatant pressures to turn his vote to "yes" had included an offer of "$100,000-plus" for his son's campaign.

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Mr. Smith, so hopeful of keeping the House seat in the family, did not object when Speaker Dennis Hastert concluded "there was nothing of substance there." So everything's back to normal in the Capitol. After 40 years in politics, Congressman Smith can retire, anticipating an easier race for Brad. But the father might privately wonder just what sort of a Washington world he would bequeath to his son.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/16/opinion/16TUE2.html

Look how close a repub Senator came to acting like an American. Now there's something you don't see everyday. :eyes:

I don't see who wrote this.

A repub rep almost acted...

Going toe-to-toe on Medicare

Commentary by Nick Smith

The House passed a deeply flawed Medicare prescription drug bill by a vote of 220-215 at 6 a.m. Saturday.

Votes in the House usually last 15 minutes plus a traditional two-minute cushion, but because the leadership did not have the votes to prevail, this vote was held open for a record two hours and 51 minutes as bribes and special deals were offered to convince members to vote yes.

I was targeted by lobbyists and the congressional leadership to change my vote, being a fiscal conservative and being on record as a "no" vote.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert talked to me for a long time about the bill and about why I should vote yes.

Other members and groups made offers of extensive financial campaign support and endorsements for my son, Brad, who is running for my seat. They also made threats of working against Brad if I voted no.

http://www.lenconnect.com/articles/2003/11/28/news/news08.txt

The republican party is a criminal enterprise.

They are merely using the Republican Party as their Totalitarian vehicle of Orwellian Imperialism...

Congressman Smith kept to his vote, but should have named names. So now it all goes down the memory hole....move on.No problem here.

They would have Clinton/Condit/Gored him at the VERY least.

But for a breach of Imperial Loyalty of this magnitude, Carnahan-Wellstoning might have been the only thing the Imperial Courtiers would accept.

Smith had reason to fear for his safety and that of his family.