Dick Morris Wrong on Obama PAC Payroll Vote?
As near as I can tell, Dick Morris’s allegation in today’s column (”Obama’s first blunder“) that Sen. Obama “made his first misstep” by “opposing a Senate reform banning the increasingly widespread practice of legislators hiring their family members on their campaign or PAC payrolls” is, put quite simply, wrong.
According to the legislation itself, the January 10th vote was a Motion to Table an amendment, proposed by Sen. Vitter (R-LA), that would “prohibit authorized committees and leadership PACs from employing the spouse or immediate family members of any candidate or Federal office holder connected to the committee.” The roll call on the vote shows that Sen. Obama voted Nay — against tabling the amendment, or essentially in support of debating it. He was in the minority, and the amendment was tabled, meaning it will not be able to be considered for addition to the ethics bill.
Is it possible that Morris simply misinterpreted this vote? Or am I missing something here?
Furthermore, Morris claims Sen. Hillary Clinton “voted righteously in favor of the reform and will probably use the Illinois senator’s vote against him in the presidential primaries.” But Sen. Clinton voted Yea — in favor of tabling it.
I’m not an expert on congressional procedure by any means, but this certainly looks fishy to me. Anyone care to weigh in?
UPDATE: Here’s the relevant congressional discussion where they table the amendment. Sen. Obama votes against tabling along with Sens. Tester, Bayh, Cantwell, Kerry, Feingold, Harkin and Mikulski, among others.
UPDATE 2: Media Matters for America confirms Morris’s wrongness in a comprehensive take-down — including a much-appreciated shout out to OBAMARAMA. Next step: Let Dick Morris know (respectfully, as always) that his column is irrevocably flawed, based on a complete misreading of events, and should be redacted. You can email him at this address.
UPDATE 3: Dick Morris has apologized on The Hill’s blog and the column has been removed.
January 17th, 2007 at 4:20 pm EST
Dick Morris needs to get his facts straight!
January 17th, 2007 at 5:05 pm EST
Right on. This is an Obama comment about the bill:Mr. OBAMA: Madam President, in November, the American people sent a clear message to their representatives in Washington. After a year in which too many scandals revealed the influence special interests have in this town, the American people told us that we better clean up our act, and we better do it fast. But it would be a mistake if we conclude this message was intended for just one party or one politician. After all, the votes hadn’t even been counted in the last election before we started hearing reports that corporations were already recruiting lobbyists with Democratic connections to carry their water in the next Congress. This is why it is not enough to just change the players; we have to change the game.
January 17th, 2007 at 8:39 pm EST
Congrats on the Media Matters highlight, JHC!(And they outed you, too, great job bringing your Media Matters-style sensibilities to the Obama media landscape.)