Pryce Isn't Totally Right, BoBo

Before I say another word, I should point out that, according to David Brooks of the New York Times in his column today, Ohio Repug Rep. Deborah Pryce lost her 9-year-old daughter to cancer in 1999. I am genuinely sorry for her loss, and I'll respect that, though I must provide some clarifications about Pryce's service that are missing in Brooks' column.

The former editor for The Wall Street Journal and The Weekly Standard spends a good bit of this column lamenting the sad state of political affairs in this country generally with its "me-ism" (probably a trite observation at this point), but aside from Pryce's laughable notion that somehow, people like Denny Hastert could actually be worth admiration, I'd like to point out the following about her legislative history in the House (from here)..

Pryce has been criticized by environmental organizations for what they see as a pattern of anti-environment votes, such as her support for legislation to make the EPA a cabinet department, to expedite forest thinning projects, and to deauthorize critical habitat designated by the Endangered Species Act.[2] The League of Conservation Voters has named her to its “Dirty Dozen” list of environmentally irresponsible federal officeholders; the nonpartisan organization gave Pryce an environmental score of 13 out of 100 for 2006 and 16 out of 100 for her career record.[3] Price has also drawn attention for accepting more than $90,000 from oil and gas companies and for voting in accordance with Energy Lobby interests.[4]

Also...

In 2005, Pryce, along with former Senator Rick Santorum, was one of two cosigners of the GOP plan to privatize Social Security.

In November 2006, when asked about the war in Iraq, Pryce ended an interview with CNN by walking away. In a statement later issued to CNN, Pryce said: "What's happening in Iraq is not a direct reflection on me." The statement also said that "I voted to give the president the authority to use force in Iraq; that doesn't mean I'm always happy with what I see, but I can think of nothing worse for our troops or our prospects for success than having 435 members of Congress second-guessing our commanders."[1] Pryce has voted consistently to support the Bush administration's prosecution of the war.[3]

And...

On September 12, 2003, Pryce wrote a letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton about a Louisiana casino proposal. In the letter, Pryce, the number four Republican in the House, said that Interior Department approval of a casino proposed by the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians would "set forth a dangerous precedent" and encourage "reservation shopping" by tribes. Republican Whip Roy Blunt sent a similar letter to Norton dated May 21, 2003. A third letter, dated June 10, 2003, was signed by Blunt, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and Republican Chief Deputy Whip Eric Cantor. Identical wording appears in all three letters.

Between 2001 and 2004, Pryce reported holding 10 fundraisers at Abramoff's Washington restaurant, the now-closed Signatures, out of a total of 55 reported by members of Congress.[7]

Brooks doesn't bother to provide more information on how Pryce's opponent in the 2006 election, Mary Jo Kilroy, ran a campaign that was somehow "worse" than what Pryce ran, so I won't do Brooks' homework for him on that. And Brooks sticks in a remark at the end about the longer hours of the 110th Congress versus the 109th without providing the context that the former mandated these hours to clean up the work left by the latter, including 9 of 11 spending bills that the 109th simply ignored last November when the Repugs lost control of Congress (see "Trying To Gum Up The Agenda" halfway down here).

The bottom line is that Pryce is one of a growing number of Repugs who are getting out now that their "gravy train" has pulled into the station for the last time (aided by Pryce's realization I'm sure that "the handwriting is on the wall," given the fact that she defeated Kilroy in the recounted election results by barely more than a thousand votes).

Yes, I can respect the possibility that Pryce actually felt that her integrity had been compromised, and for that reason, the time was right for her to leave. But for her to use that as an attempt to sanitize her seamy Repug associations in Congress is a joke.