Politico is Reporting that Democratic Congressman Parker Griffith is switching Parties to Republican, effective today.
According to two senior GOP aides familiar with the decision, the announcement will take place this afternoon in Griffith's district in northern Alabama.
Griffith’s party switch comes on the eve of a pivotal congressional health care vote and will send a jolt through a Democratic House Caucus that has already been unnerved by the recent retirements of a handful of members who, like Griffith, hail from districts that offer prime pickup opportunities for the GOP in 2010.
http://www.politico.com/...
If you are wondering why he switched, you don't have to look much farther than this quote from August:
You're either a lap dog for Nancy Pelosi or you're a dead dog-she'll give you nothing if you don't do as she says."
http://findarticles.com/...
Griffith plans to blast the Democratic Health Care Bill as a prime reason for his decision to switch parties—and is "expected to cite his medical background as his authority on the subject."
Griffith, a retired Cancer doctor, been a VERY vocal opponent of "Insurance Reform", stating many times that the House bill was, in his words, a "Travesty":
From July 27:
"The (House) bill being presented, with a poorly defined public option, is a Trojan horse leading to government-controlled health care, and it is not in the best interests of the public," he said.
SNIP-
Griffith wants to see insurance companies made to compete across state lines, small-business owners allowed to pool together to buy health insurance plans, and companies prevented from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions.
But he doesn't want Congress to interfere with a system that he said works.
"We need to solve the access and cost problem, but the system itself delivers unbelievably great care," Griffith said. "We don't want to fix the 15 percent of the problem at the expense of 85 percent of the system that is working."
http://blog.al.com/...
He was elected in 2008, and has had "Substantial" policy differences with the Party leadership.
From the Politico Article:
In August — one month after Republicans picked up his former state legislative seat in a special election — Griffith told a local newspaper that he wouldn't vote for Nancy Pelosi to remain as House Speaker because she's too divisive. He joked that if she didn’t like it, he’d provide her with a gift certificate to a mental health center.
MORE AS IT COMES....