After 29 House Democrats voted for the SECOND time to gut crucial parts of Dodd-Frank with HR 37, we decided to
amp up the pressure—and have their constituents give them a
piece of their mind, asking why they voted for Wall Street over Main Street.
When Democrats behave badly, we must lay the groundwork to hold them accountable. Even if we don’t field primary challengers to all of them, having active Democrats who live in their districts register their displeasure can put enough pressure to get them to vote the right way.
One hundred phone calls to an office is more effective than 2,000 emails, because it requires staff resources to respond. But as a former Capitol Hill intern, I can tell you that out-of-state or out-of-district calls are counterproductive. Actual constituents, like this one, are gold.
I called & spoke with someone from Sean Maloney's office. I told him I was angry that he voted yes for HR37. That I was particularly upset because I was from his district & had voted for him. The man was polite & professional but sounded slightly concerned when he asked my name & address & realized that I was really from his district. Or so it seemed to me.
Read below the fold to see what some of our folks who called said (and heard).
Some House Democrats—most notably Jared Polis of Colorado, Rick Larsen of Washington and Kurt Schrader of Oregon—have actually made efforts to explain their votes. But the responses were not very persuasive.
I spoke with one of Rep. Polis's staffers and expressed my displeasure with Polis's voting yes on HR37. I was told that Polis supported the bill because it was a bipartisan attempt to make some necessary reforms of the Dodd-Frank Act and because HR37 did not abrogate the Volcker Rule. I said I saw no need to change Dodd-Frank. And I pointed out that such changes move us back to the situation we were in before the crash in 2008.
It’s true that parts of the bill were relatively non-controversial. But to suggest that the House Republican leadership—who were the ones that brought HR 37 to the floor—wanted to “improve” Dodd-Frank when they have vowed to destroy it from day one is suspect.
And with Elizabeth Warren, Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership strongly opposing HR 37, these House Democrats are waging a pretty lonely battle. If the bill was so noncontroversial, why did 153 Democrats oppose it—and only 29 end up voting yes?
Some of the responses that our folks received were downright condescending—especially this one by Gwen Graham of Florida.
I asked the staffer who answered my call if she had any sort of statement to support her vote and his answer was (paraphrased) 'Ms. Graham represents a large number of constituents in Florida and that MANY wanted her to vote the way she voted.'
Conservative Blue Dogs always try to claim we are a conservative country, and that we should be “lucky” that Democrats vote the wrong way on such bills because otherwise they would lose re-election to a Republican.
But did Terri Sewell’s constituents in Birmingham, Alabama, who are being foreclosed on really want her to gut Wall Street reform? The “swing district” canard is used to make liberals sit down and shut up, so Democrats can vote with wealthy interests against the rest of us.
Another response—by Ami Bera of California—basically tried to tell constituents that they just don’t really understand such a complicated wonkish issue like Wall Street reform.
The call went like this - We think it is getting highly politicized, and really it will only postpone some elements of the Dodd Frank Bill. The Republicans will probably try to gut the Consumer Protection Agency in the near future so we have to 'pick our battles' (my words not really theirs). We are really glad that our constituents are holding us accountable but really we know what is best and it will all be ok.
What House Democrats must understand is that these may not be the Wall Street interests who fund their campaigns—but they are everyday people who live in their districts, are politically engaged and do the hard work of going door-to-door and talking to their neighbors to get them to vote.
You can’t vote the wrong way or these folks will not be as motivated to come out in 2016 and do the hard work that makes or breaks an election.
I called Bill Foster's (IL) office in DC informing them how disappointed I am that he voted to gut Wall Street reform. I went into detail how my husband and I went door to door campaigning for him and encountered some angry people, but still kept campaigning.
I wanted to know why he voted against his constituents, the middle class people, but the staff member could not tell me why so I requested a phone call from Bill Foster. I stressed I would not be happy with the standard form letter.
I indicated I will be enlightening my friends and neighbors and I expect him to change his vote; if not, he lost my vote along with my husband.
Or this constituent of Ami Bera …
I reminded his staff that I marched in support of him at the local 4th of July parade, and made a total of 7 contributions totaling $650 to his campaign as well as worked 2 phone banks on his behalf. And that I was NOT pleased to see him support HR 37 TWICE!
If the opportunity comes along to have a serious primary challenger in 2016 or beyond for some of these Democrats, this vote would be a reason why:
I basically used the suggested script, but added a few comments of my own—such as indicating that I have been a lifelong Democrat, that I have voted for Scott Peters in the past, but I will seriously consider anyone else running against him in the Democratic Primary in 2016.
And that their office—like Bill Foster’s—was certainly getting the message.
The person did say they have had a lot of angry calls with people feeling like I do. So that is something.
Every time we get another bad vote in Congress, and a significant number of Democrats who should have known better do the bad thing—our staff here at Daily Kos will use this website as a resource to get engaged. It’s about accountability ...
It helped that I had a script to follow and could clearly express exactly why I was calling. Thank you for that. I feel empowered!
But we're not just beating up on House Democrats after they vote the wrong way. Five of them who voted "yes" on HR 37 the first time responded to pressure by opposing it the second time around. So we had nearly 1,000 of their constituents send them a
thank-you email.