I just read this story which indicates that our new Congressman may sacrifice his reelection for family. As a family man myself I commend him. As a political junkie I think he’s made a serious mistake.
The mistake is that Congressman Chip Cravaack is moving his family to New Hampshire. It seems his wife works and needs to spend a lot of time in Boston. His two children need looking after and so a move out East makes sense. The Congressman Chip defeated, Jim Oberstar, did the same thing for nearly 40 years. But Jim lived in Maryland or Virginia just a hop skip and a jump from DC. New Hampshire is close to Mrs. Cravaack’s Boston work but the symbolism of moving to NH will be tempting for a Democratic opponent to raise Cain about. Minnesota Dems have already fussed over a non issue regarding Cravaack – his leasing of a $1,000 a week van to get around his vast Congressional District. New Hampshire will give their fussing more traction.
Its not even certain where Chip’s new District will be, A final reapportionment plan will probably go to the courts but if the GOP has its way Duluth will say goodbye to Chip and he will find himself the representative of a more southerly district.
The thing I found most interesting in this article was Chip’s boasting about having voted for Labor friendly legislation related to the Davis Bacon Act”
“I’ve taken some very strong stands for union votes for Davis-Bacon,” Cravaack said, referring to the federal law that requires payment of prevailing wages on public works projects. “That definitely set me apart from some of my colleagues on this side of the aisle. I just took a Davis-Bacon vote today in making sure it was not defunded. I represent the 8th District, and the 8th District is heavily unionized.”
Considering that Chip is a Republican and a supporter of Congressman Ryan’s chipping away (no pun intended) at Medicare to balance the budget I can safely predict that a few anti-Republican votes to preserve “prevailing wage” won’t do squat for the ex member of the pilot’s union. Perhaps a more southerly district will save him but it will be tough. The pendulum that got him elected a year ago was at its apogee but its now swinging back. His move to New Hampshire may become permanent. The unions are not likely to be impressed with the ability to collect prevailing wages if the GOP’s keeps killing the stimulus spending that provides them.
