It would seem that the democratic party only likes bipartisanship as long as it is republicans voting with them. When one of their own goes against the leadership there is hell to pay as one CA Congresswoman found out the hard way.
Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, has been booted out of her State Capitol office because she did not vote on the state spending plan with her party Sunday night.
Parra's capitol staff were spotted packing up boxes in her fifth floor State Capitol office Monday afternoon, preparing to move the Hanford assemblywoman across the street to her newly assigned office space in the Legislative Office Building on N Street.
Office space is often used as a reward or punishment for state legislators, but rarely - if ever - has a member been moved out of the capitol building entirely.
Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, assigns office space for members of the Assembly. Bass ordered the move as punishment for Parra, because Parra was the only Democrat on the Assembly floor who did not vote for the Democratic budget plan.
Parra, 38, has said she will not vote for any budget unless lawmakers also pass a water bond measure to put on the November ballot.
Parra was first elected to the 30th Assembly District in 2002. She serves as chairwoman of the Agriculture Committee and is also on the Banking and Finance; Water, Parks & Wildlife; and Insurance committees.
Parra is termed out this fall and has announced she would not be seeking another political office.
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Just another example of the infantile behaviors of the people we elect to run our govt.
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We also should be careful to avoid generalizing the actions of individuals to the entire party. That's exactly the kind of division that feeds the current party system, a system that clearly works better to increase its own power than it does to represent the people who elected them.
It is up to us to hold our elected officials accountable. And it is about time we started holding ourselves accountable for doing just that.
And, since you didn't provide any links, I thought I'd do you the favor...........:-)
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-parra19-2008aug19,0,5455666.story
http://calitics.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6247
http://capitolweekly.net/article.php?_adctlid=v%7Cjq2q43wvsl855o%7Cxcd4zml6j4hp0y&issueId=xbyysklac21fpg&xid=xcd4falhtphnd0&_adctlid=d%7Cx0rye2v8gr4ci1%7Cxcd55gjoow4pkc
And here's a link to a photo of Derek Chernow cleaning out her office.........
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/806117.html
So who is wrong here? It appears that the Assembly speaker is being incredibly petty and controlling (and it appears that this is not an isolated case).
But the other fact that is very telling is that the Democrats all voted one way and the Republicans another. Which indicates that both were being partisan. So much for being able to have a meaningful vote if both sides routinely vote "with their party." Perhaps this particular case emphasizes that both parties play power games, forcing or pressuring their members to vote as a block. Ever notice how many votes in the US House and Senate are "party line" votes? I'll give you a hint, with the exception of naming Tuesday as official "eat-a-hotdog day" they almost always are party line votes - usually it is the cross-over voting of a small number of legislators that pushes a bill one way or another, especially in the US Senate where it is essentially split evenly.
try again dear....try harder. as for the unborn....hmm perhaps republicans might also want to think about the born.....
nice picture. cute.
The republican party does not tolerate independent thinkers as proven with Valerie Plame.
The democrats do not have anything to brag about but they are still a few steps above the republican dirty politics.
I agree that both parties need to be straightened out but I still say the republican party has first place when it comes to corruption and dirty politics.
I would not join either party preferring to vote for what I see as best for my constitution and I have seen quite enough of republican neocon rule destroying my civil rights and stomping on the constitution for pure personal profit.
If their is an honest republican politician left the him/her tell me where the billions of dollars that can't be accounted for in Iraq have disapeared to. Did Wolfowitz get it all or is PINAC dividing it up equally?
Delaware GOP's Ting pays price for supporting Obama
Republicans asked for party loyalty; ex-committee member says resignation forced
By SEAN O'SULLIVAN
The News Journal
The Delaware Republican Party's standard-bearer in the 2006 race for U.S. Senate has been expelled from his position in the state GOP.
His crime? Quietly supporting Democrat Barack Obama for president.
"Evidently someone went online and saw that I had been making contributions to Obama," Jan Ting said Friday.
Ting also was captured in a photograph at an Obama rally in Wilmington in February that drew record crowds to Rodney Square. At the time, Ting declined to comment about why he was there.
But apparently that appearance, and about $250 in donations to the Illinois senator, who is now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, was enough for the state party to brand Ting a traitor, according to the former Republican candidate.
State GOP Chairman Tom Ross said Friday he was unaware of details of the situation with Ting, noting it happened before he took over.
"I certainly didn't throw Jan out of the party," he said, adding he was aware of Ting's support for Obama.
After the Obama photo appeared, Ting said he was invited to an April meeting at a coffee shop in Pennsylvania. State GOP regional chairman Bill Sahm and a district chairman informed Ting his Obama activities had been discussed at the highest levels of the state party.Ting said they told him, "unless you are willing to recant that and swear allegiance to the party nominee John McCain, we are compelled to request your resignation from the Republican Committee."
Ting said he had been a member of the committee for 25 years -- and when he was asked to leave, he was a committeeman for the 7th election district of the 11th representative district.
Ting also is a former chairman of the party's Brandywine region and had been in the Delaware delegation to three Republican national conventions.
Party loyalty demanded
Sahm said Friday he hopes Ting still considers him a friend.
He said he told Ting he should show discretion in public, through things like political donations, and "as a prominent Republican you should think of our party's interests and put them above personal interests."
"One word led to another," Sahm recalled.
He said Ting asked if they were looking for him to resign. Sahm said he replied, " 'If you can't be loyal, that might be best for all concerned.' We shook hands and he did."
Sahm said they didn't "cast him into the wilderness ... That wasn't the case at all."
James Soles, a retired University of Delaware political science professor and longtime political observer, said he was surprised by the party's reaction.
"Delawareans seldom cast a straight party ticket," he said, adding he is a loyal Democrat but has supported Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Castle.
"I think people do expect committee people in particular to be loyal to the party," Soles said, but added he never heard of someone being forced out like this from either party. "Mr. Ting has been a very loyal Republican and has carried water for the party on a number of occasions," Soles said. "I guess the Republican Party, in Delaware in particular, feels a little on the defensive."
Sahm said if this incident happened "on the other side of the fence, and a Democrat was supporting McCain, I would hope in the best interests of their party, they would do the same. That is what party loyalty is all about."
Ting said after the April meeting, he wrote an e-mail to then-GOP Chairman Terry Strine, who then told Ting that, essentially, he would be welcomed back when he decided to support McCain.
"I'm still a registered Republican and still have affinity for the Republican Party ... but on the other hand, I'm ticked off," Ting said, adding the demand for his resignation was "uncalled for," and inconsistent with past party practice.
He noted that the man state Republican Party officials enthusiastically supported and expected to be the party's nominee for governor this year -- Alan Levin -- had donated money to Democrats, including Ting's 2006 opponent for the U.S. Senate, Democrat Tom Carper.
Ting said he did not hold the donation against Levin and hosted an event at his home for Levin in anticipation of his candidacy. Levin later decided not to run.
A professor at Temple University School of Law, Ting mentioned his "expulsion" from the party Friday during a phone call about an unrelated legal story.
During the Republican primary for president this year, Ting supported and was an adviser to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and said he could have stood behind several of the other candidates including Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney or even Ron Paul.
Ting also Harvard law grad
However, Ting said he has long had a number of reservations about Arizona Sen. McCain because of the candidate's age, 71. He also has concerns about McCain's temperament and past positions on illegal immigration and the Iraq war.
McCain was closely associated with an unsuccessful immigration reform effort that critics, like Ting, called an amnesty program.
Ting said that, like other Republicans, he has become convinced that the Iraq war is a mistake that is needlessly costing American lives.
Ting said his wife Helen was an enthusiastic Obama supporter, "so I took a closer look." And he said he made his first donation to Obama's campaign around the time of Obama's visit to Delaware.
Ting said he disagrees with some of Obama's positions -- like some tax increases -- but he finds plenty to like in the Democrat.
"He is a law teacher, like me. We went to the same law school and basically he thinks it is a mistake to be so engaged in Iraq when we should be focused on Afghanistan," Ting said.
Soles said he thought Ting's position represented "a form of intellectual honesty that we should have a little more of on both sides of the aisle."
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It's budget crisis time in CA again. It takes a 2/3 majority to pass a budget. Every year the state budget takes forever to pass and everybody suffers. Every year people from both parties commit atrocities during the conflict. Right now the governor is threatening to sue the secretary of state for not immediately reducing all state employees to the federal minimum wage until the budget passes. The Para incident is yetanother business as usual thing in the budget drama.
The corruption is not going on because it is so well hidden that we do not know about it, the corruption keeps going on because we keep voting the same criminals back into office again, and again, and again.
Its the American public that is responsible for the public servants they vote into office and I do not believe anyone that will just keep electing the same known criminals back into office is thinking about what is best for America or even cares about anything except this dumb stance on voting the party.
When was the last time you have heard a politician say I will do the will of the public? Its always what I want that is best for you. These people are just public servants that are highly paid for their services and their service is to do the will of the majority, the public majority not all these wannabe dictators that sit on both sides of the isle.
\\\\Jack, then why is it that when a Republican is caught breaking the rules/law he/she is forced to quickly step down or resign, but when a Democrat is caught, he/she fights tooth and nail, and, unless they are actually put in prison, remains in office until the next election, and in some cases(i.e. William Jefferson for one) is given a committee chair spot?////
You mean like Larry Craig? Oops, he is a Republican, isn't he?