Wyoming Vote Tracker

Remember back in June, our esteemed Democrat (moderate of course) Governor appointed conservative Republican Dr. John Barrasso to the U.S. Senate? What was the Governor thinking?

Hmmm, Congress is going to have to take up the SCHIP renewal here pretty soon; Lummis is out of the consideration for the simple fact that we don’t get along and I’d have to talk with her a whole bunch if she were Senator; Sansonetti, a Republican activist….no, to bipartisan a move on my part. Why couldn’t they have at least given me Cale Case who admits to only being fiscally conservative? Hey….Barrasso’s a doctor. I bet he’s helped out a bunch of kiddos in his practice; he has a couple of his own. I bet he’d set Enzi straight on the SCHIP renewal. Looks like Barrasso’s the man…

Well, it seems our “moderate” Governor can’t help but show his true political colors. Sen. Barrasso has the Gov ticked:

Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal sharply criticized Republican Sen. John Barrasso Friday for his vote on children’s health insurance.

Freudenthal, a Democrat, said in a Friday letter to Barrasso that he is disappointed the senator voted against legislation to expand children’s health insurance last month. The governor’s criticism comes a little more than three months after he appointed Barrasso to his Senate seat.

The bill would add $35 billion over five years to allow an additional 4 million children into the State Children’s Health Insurance Program nationwide. The program targets children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to buy health coverage. It would be financed by raising the federal cigarette tax to $1 per pack, a 61-cent increase.

Bush vetoed the bill, saying the legislation is too costly and would entice people now covered in the private sector to switch to government coverage. He has proposed expanding the program by $5 billion. […]

Wyoming’s other senator, Republican Mike Enzi, also voted against the bill. But Freudenthal saved his harshest criticism for the newest senator, saying he misled Wyoming voters by ignoring the bipartisan nature of the legislation in a column published in some state newspapers last week.

The final bill was a compromise between the House and Senate and drew support from several Republicans, including 18 GOP senators.

“The political parties have had their little tug of war over the details,” Freudenthal said in his letter. “Now let’s encourage them to stop the outdated political rhetoric and get together on a compromise solution that achieves what we all want, raising tobacco taxes helping kids.”

Barrasso countered that the Senate bill “encourages individuals who already have private insurance coverage to switch to a taxpayer funded program.“

Sure, Governor, pick on the new guy because you chose him. Nevermind that the Senator who was twice-elected by the people of the state voted the same way. Doesn’t he, in theory, deserve just as much criticism? After all, he’s up for election too, and seeing as he’s been there longer, people might be less forgiving of his “judgment error” (as you see it) than they would of the one who is just learning his way around, and is actually, for the most part, following the lead of his senior colleague. And where do you get off saying that Sen. Barrasso misled Wyoming voters? You’re the one that chose him, Mr. Governor, not us (directly anyway).

For what it’s worth, this Wyomingite supports the opposition votes of our two Senators. They did a fine job in seeing the error of approving this legislation.

Technorati Tags: Sen. John Barrasso, Gov. Dave Freudenthal, SCHIP

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