As the Hill first reported, Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Begich skipped a procedural vote on unemployment benefits to give a speech on Wednesday morning to the American Association of Airport Executives. The vote was tight and he was the only Democrat to miss it. Even so, skipping the vote might not have provided fodder to those seeking to unseat him, had not the speech been in Hawaii.
Cue conservative outrage.
According to Begich aides, plans were made for the speech long before the vote was scheduled. While in Hawaii, he attended two fundraisers and met with Hawaiian governor Neil Abercrombie.
Senate candidate Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell’s campaign sent out the following:
“While Mark Begich was off in Hawaii, raising money for his campaign, the Senate was voting on extending unemployment benefits and considering job creating amendments. But unfortunately for Alaska, Begich was the only democrat to skip that vote and his boss Harry Reid has blocked any amendments that would create jobs. It was reported today that only 62% of adults are participating in the workforce – the lowest number since 1968. It is abundantly clear to everyone but Harry Reid that our country needs more jobs today. Now that Begich is refreshed from his trip to Hawaii, maybe he could leverage all the support he has provided Harry Reid over the last five years to support creating jobs for Alaska.”
Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com
Mark Begich got caught. Alaskans have put up with his condescending trickery for too long. He needs to go.
This is the example of everything wrong in polirixa. I personally don’t want the benefits extended. I sure hope we realize how damaging extending the benefits can be. However, Mark Begich is a member of a party that consistently shoves legislation down our throats, insert Obamacare, insert gun control, insert a litany of social issues, and insert higher taxes….but it appears they do this for their own political power (and because the believe the voting population is not intelligent enough to realize the hypocrisy) not because they believe it is right! We need to get rid of Begich.
Begich is lame. Now, he’ll probably do a television or radio ad telling us how he single handedly lined up the votes to extend benefits. Time for Begich to go. I’m voting for Mead Treadwell.
It’s Begich’s job to do his best to stand up and represent the values of Alaska. By not voting he is shirking his primary responsibility as a Senator. Begich should base his schedule around helping Alaska, not helping himself.
Interesting choice by Begich to not fly back to Alaska for the vote. Don’t understand his decision making here and personally think he should have put Alaska before his campaign and flown back in order to vote.
Why does Begich have to be in Hawaii meeting with airline workers? Doesn’t he represent Alaska?