Following up with my attempt to catalog the records and positions of Congressional Democrats, my next subject is the Jr. Senator from Arkansas, Mark Pryor. Again, I encourage everyone to try their hand at one of these. The more Democrats and Republicans we catalog, the easier it is for us to access their records/positions, the better it is for all of us, except maybe for some of the bums we profile. Also, for this project I use On the Issues and Vote Smart. Neither are perfect, but they're still good.
A little biography here. Mark Pryor is the son of the former Arkansas governor and senator David Pryor (who was a much better Democrat than his son is, as you'll soon see). He was a state representative for some time in the nineties and was elected Attorney General of Arkansas in 1998. In 2002, he ran against Republican Tim Hutchison and became the only Democrat to take down an incumbent Republican that year. Of note, Hutchison lost some support from his base when he divorced his wife and married a congressional aide, though Pryor (honorably) didn't make that an issue of his campaign.
On social issues, Pryor is far more conservative than most Democrats. He's largely prolife, supporting abortion only in cases of rape, incest, and maternal life (I always wonder how they can leave off health in that list...). He's been generally supportive of affirmative action, and he voted against writing the gay mairrage ban into the constitution, though he's not about to stick his neck out on gay rights. He's a pro-gun Democrat, though from Arkansas that's to be expected. He did take a rather courageous vote against the flag burning amendment and making English the official language, so I guess we have to give him props for that. He was also one of the Gang of 14, as most people probably know.
On economic issues, Pryor is horrible. He voted for CAFTA and other free trade agreements and the 2005 Bankruptcy Reform Bill and he voted against limiting farm subsidies. He also supports NAFTA and the President's fast track authority on trade. On healthcare, he voted yes for the Republican's prescription drug benefit but has sense voted to let the government negotiate with drug companies. Notably though, he didn't indicate support of universal healthcare on his Project Vote Smart form. On education, Pryor's more or less a generic Democrat with support for higher standards, teacher testing, charter schools, and more aid to college students. He's also stood with the Democrats on protecting social security. On taxes, he says on Vote Smart that he wants to "Greatly Decrease" inheritance taxes.
When it comes to the environment and energy policy, Pryor supported Cheney's energy policy and coauthored the toothless Hagel-Pryor Bill which supported a voluntary cap on emissions by polluters. He did oppose drilling in ANWR, but by and large it's clear he doesn't get it. On Vote Smart, he makes the following comment: "I am a supporter of states rights, I believe states should arrive at a system to compensate farmers and landowners when their property rights are compromised." I'm not in disagreement that ordinary folks who are adversely effected by environmental protections shouldn't be justly compensated, but doesn't that sound just a little bit Richard Pomboish?
On foreign policy, Pryor doesn't raise his voice much. He opposes the withdrawal from the anti-ballistic missile treaty and generally is supportive of foreign aide and international cooperation. He's also for engagement with Cuba, but that's probably true for every Arkansas politician not running for President as they want to sell farm products to Cuba.
If we lived in any other time period, Pryor would probably be a boring, conservative Democrat. Unfortunately, we're living in the Days of Dubya, and Pryor's Bush Dog status is almost unrivaled, making him an incredibly insufferable irritation. He voted for the Iraq war and has been against redeployment as recently as last year when almost every other Democrat had come to their senses. He was one of six Democrats to vote for confirming Alberto Gonzales and then had the audacity to be stunned with the result (a prosecutor from Arkansas named Bud Cummins got rapped up in the prosecutor firings). What's more, Pryor was one of twelve Democrats to support the nightmarish Military Commissions Act. Most recently, he supported telecom immunity. Then, on Vote Smart, he writes the following: "Law enforcement officials should be allowed greater discretion to read mail and email, tap phones and conduct random searches depending upon the legislation. It is important that our national security is protected while not sacrificing American's Constitutional rights." Thanks for looking out for us Mark! The bad thing is, all that makes his support for Joe Lieberman seem rather insignificant...
(Okay, I had to use this linkto get Pryor's voting record as ontheissues.org sucks. I also used his wikipedia entry and pulled a little bit from memory. If I got anything wrong, please be sure to correct me.)