Best known for this term: Being the”quiet and behind-the-scenes” representative. Arizona’s first Hispanic congressman consistently votes with the Democrats, holds regular office hours with constituents and boasted perfect attendance on votes this session, but he generally avoids making waves in the media and on the House floor.
“Immediate withdrawl” from Iraq
Pastor opposed going to war with Iraq in 2002, and early last year he cosponsored a resolution to implement a plan for “immediate withdrawl”. He recently criticized Republicans for avoiding a “substantive debate” on the war and criticized the Bush Administration:
“I also disagree with the dangerous analogy made in this resolution between Iraq and the Administration’s ‘war on terror’ policy. There is not, and never has been, any credible intelligence linking Iraq to 9/11 and Al Qaeda.
He also criticized the military’s handling of Pat Tillman’s death, calling it part of “a pattern of the military not being truthful to the American people when dealing with high-profile situations with a lot of publicity.”
Walks the line
Pastor is a reliably solid Democrat; he touts the party’s New Direction for America, a six-point plan akin to the Republicans’ electorally successful Contract with America. He supported rolling back tax cuts for the wealthy to pay for Hurricaine Katrina relief, granting federal air-conditioning assistance to the needy who live in hot climates, providing $300 million for family housing assistance, and raising taxes on cigarettes to fund programs for children.
He opposed the Private Property Rights Protection Act, the establishment of personal accounts for Social Security, and the Central American Free Trade Agreement. The latter is interesting because Pastor voted for NAFTA; he recently stated that he now regrets that vote.
Funds for Phoenix
Pastor’s biggest appropriations victory this term was helping to procure $90 million for Valley light rail. He also brought back $1.7 million to help residents deal with noise from Sky Harbor airport (that’s a lot of earplugs). His best political move was
procuring $3 million for a pedestrian bridge that had become something of a hot button issue after several school children were struck by cars in the area. But a conservative group pinged him for pork when he got $500,000 added to a defense spending bill for the Translational Genomics Research Institute.
Pastor also tried to buy Phoenix’s Madison Square Garden some more time in the hope that it would be declared a historic site, but the boxing venue was demolished in September 2005.
Traveling Ed
Pastor was “congratulated” in the national media “for courageously attending” an airport conference in Hawaii in the midst of ethics scandals involving gifts from special interests. He is also fond of golfing with lobbyists. He ranked 18th out of 638 Congressional members listed on the PowerTrips website, and defended the trips when necessary: “It was not a joke to me,” he said of a $19,000 jaunt to Barcelona to study nuclear waste management. “It was a working trip.”
Immigration issues
Pastor supports comprehensive immigration reform; he cosponsored the plan introduced by Jeff Flake and Jim Kolbe. He sponsored a private bill to keep four illegal immigrants – all brought to the United States as small children and all award-winning students – from being deported. The students were allowed to stay per a judge’s ruling.
Why you’d re-elect him: If you oppose the war in Iraq, this is your congressman – he’s opposed it from the beginning (though he, like most Democrats, has since voted to fund it.) He is good with constituent services. He has been around Congress for a long time and knows the ropes.
Why you’d toss him out: Pastor wants to bring the troops home from Iraq immediately, and supports a guest-worker program, two sticking points for many Republicans and independents.
Ed Pastor is running against Republican Don Karg.
Not a huge fan for several reasons (He is my Congressman and I am a Dem) but at least he shows up to do the job the voters hired him to do.
Pastor can do all the ‘good’ in the world but if he is supporting the wholesale slaughter of unborn children then what is it worth? We can thank people like Pastor as our labor force decreases, Social Security goes unfunded, and the blood on this nation’s hands goes unwashed.
Roll Over Pastor, voting no on the Child Protective Act really shows your colors!
Abortion Showdown Coming to US Senate as Soon as Friday
By Gudrun Schultz
WASHINGTON, D.C., September 28, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The US Senate will vote on a groundbreaking parental notification bill as early as Friday September 29, in a surprise move to quickly decide the fate of the measure currently sidelined by Democratic opposition.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist filed a “cloture petition” on the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act Wednesday September 27–if the bill receives 60 or more of the 100 Senate votes, it will move directly to President Bush, who has indicated he will sign it into law.
The bill would require all abortionists to ensure a minor girl’s parents were notified before performing an abortion, regardless of what state the girl was from. It would also make it illegal to transport a minor girl across state lines in order to obtain an abortion, if the girls’ parents have a right to be notified under their home state law.
The measure was approved by the Senate in July with 65 senators voting in favor, including 14 Democrats. The bill was immediately blocked by the Senate Democratic leadership, however, through procedural obstruction.
Recent polls have shown the public overwhelming supports parental notification laws, by more than 80 percent. In a survey conducted in 2005 by the polling company WomanTrend, 82 percent of those questioned said they disagreed that a person should be able to take a minor girl across state lines to obtain an abortion without her parents’ knowledge.
The US National Right to Life Committee issued an urgent plea to all US constituents who support the measure, asking that calls be made to senators to encourage them to vote in favour of the bill. NRLC warned that the current legal situation allows young girls to be pressured into out-of-state abortions by older boyfriends or abortion providers, saying many abortion clinics purchase advertisements in neighboring states with parental notification laws, “enticing girls to cross state laws to avoid parental involvement.”
“When the Senate gave initial approval to S. 403 in July, 65 senators voted in favor of it, so this vote is winnable!” NRLC stated. “ALL senators should be called and urged to support sending S. 403 to President Bush!”
Read NRLC statement:
http://www.nrlc.org/Federal/CCPA/UrgentCIANAAlert092706.html
See polls indicating public support for parental notification laws:
http://www.nrlc.org/Federal/CCPA/ParentalInvolvementPolls.ht...
See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:
Parental Notification Bill Passed: Democratic Caucus Moves to Kill Bill by Procedural Obstruction
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jul/06072606.html
Senate Considers Bill Criminalizing Transportation of Minor Girls Across State Borders For Abortion
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jul/06072404.html
70% of Americans Back Abortion Parental Notification Laws: Poll
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/nov/05112804.html
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Know what else kills children?
Contaminated water. And some of your favorite members of Congress don’t want to help keep children alive, apparently.
Republicans don’t care about kids after they are born. After all they are the one cutting College aid and as Stacy stated don’t care about contaminated water.
They probably buy bottled water.
Looks like the forced pregnancy people are trying to dictate their unfounded religious superstitions on the normal American public..again .so sad, such a waste of time. I would suggest they pay more attention to their own miserable lives and straighten themselves out first before bothering real people with a life. And by the way it is a shock to them but the world is not flat, and intelligent design produces ignorant children. Course we should cut them some slack, they think the drunken Tom DeLay is a great christian, well he is Franks big idol.
What else kills children? Maybe wars caused by lying presidents supported by the sicko evangelical extremists, yup that has killed a few children. Darfur has no oil, so the righteous righties forced pregnancy flock does not care about them either, right?
The bill would require all abortionists to ensure a minor girl’s parents were notified before performing an abortion…
If a girl is young enough to have to worry about notifying her parents before getting an abortion, she’s too young to be raising a kid.
Odd you would mention contaminated water….www.junkscience.com/jun00/gorezinc.htm sheds some light on that subject here closer to home. It makes perfect sense that a pro-abortion, lying, hypocritical, psuedo-environmentalist like Gore would pollute the water and threaten the health of the children and people living downstream from his Carthage, TN home.
Wow – touched a nerve with DumPFranks – like a volcano spewing hate…..have a question: is the superstition you speak of the belief that life begins at conception? Or have you cracked a science book in the last 30 years?
Poor Dum..PF..ranks – you must know alot of twisted people (who think the world is flat, etc. etc.) who call themselves Christians. Anyone who knows the slightest bit of what Christ taught knows that He said: “there is no greater love than to give your life for a friend”. Get out a little and find some real Christians (that is, those who practice the teachings of Christ) and don’t just take anyone’s word for it.
So you favor environmental protection legislation, then?
Concentration of power in a political machine is bad; and an Established Church is only a political machine; it was invented for that; it is nursed, cradled, preserved for that; it is an enemy to human liberty, and does no good which it could not better do in a split-up and scattered condition.
– Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
Mark says it best….hang on to your superstitions…reality is a dangerous thing. Work it out Real Science and Polly Anna Get it.
Ed Pastor is the best choice for district 4, the best choice for phoenix, and the best choice for Arizona.
Real Science? What a joke! Apparently you’ve never cracked a science book. Ever read the definition of life? That fertilized egg is alive by all acceptable scientific definitions of life. Now that we’ve established the real fact here, the question is: How many of those fertilized eggs ever turned out to be something other than a human?
Game, set & match.