In both 2016, and 2017, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” presented its original profile of the U.S. House Representative from Oklahoma’s 5th Congressional District, Tom Marino, of Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District. During the Bush administration back in 2007, Marino was elevated to be the U.S. Attorney in Pennsylvania’s Middle District, but he resigned while under investigation for ethics violations. After that, Marino spent three years working as a six-figure lawyer at a private practice, and then like many of the chuckleheads that we’ve covered at CSGOPOTD he was elected in 2010, in the Tea Party Wave, and is now serving in his fourth term in Congress. Maybe someone should have paid attention to the fact that Tom Marino’s as dumb as a post when it comes to a great many things. For starters, geography. You see, back in his first 90 days in office, Marino decided to criticize the Obama administration’s strategy in Libya, asking, “Is there a plan? Is the mission to take Gadhafi out? Where does it stop? Do we go into Africa next?“ which indicates he’s not aware that Libya is actually in Africa. What made that statement even more sad for our country was that Marino was placed by Republican House leadership on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which is a great place for a guy who doesn’t know where the foreign countries actually are.
Where Tom Marino really stands out, however, is how much he loved, LOVED to talk about impeachment even though he doesn’t seem to understand how that works, or who can be impeached. In February of 2013, when he was talking about impeaching Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid… (Senators don’t get impeached. They can be expelled, however, by a 2/3 majority vote.) A few months later, in July 2013, after President Obama announced he wanted to delay the implementation of the Affordable Care Act , Marino again seemed to stumble with the concept of how impeachment worked, talking about indicting Obama for his decision, comparing it to Watergate. (Again, Rep. Marino is not just a lawyer, but a former U.S. Attorney, albeit a Bush administration appointee, who doesn’t seem to know that that’s in no way a crime, let alone an impeachable offense.) Marino called for the impeachment of both President Obama AND Attorney General Eric Holder in February of 2015, insisting that HE wasn’t talking about impeachment, he just kept hearing questions about it at town halls. He then proceeded to talk about how both men were “approaching impeachment” because they were not “enforcing the laws”. He gave no specific laws that he would make a case for impeachment hearings, of course. Mind you, Marino imagined a lot of wrongdoing by Obama and Holder, though, to be sure, like when in January of 2015, when he accused them of using the Justice Department to illegally fund “activist groups”, and of course, provided no evidence of that.
But, in our introduction to Tom Marino, we are proud to include his most partisan and cowardly moment in his three terms in office, from August of 2014. And as debate in the House over immigration reform and how to help migrant children from South America being detained was ongoing, Tom Marino took to the House floor, and laid the blame solely on… Nancy Pelosi? It seems that in the warped mind of Marino, it was not Republicans in the House and Senate voting against immigration reform at every opportunity who were responsible for the DREAM Act not passing, nor was it House Speaker John Boehner blocking later versions of the bill from coming up for a vote for almost two years. By not getting her entire caucus to work together to pass EVERYTHING they wanted, including that legislation, she was at fault. Well, unfortunately for Rep. Marino… Nancy Pelosi was in the room, and she went right after him for invoking her name in such a manner, yelling at him and calling him a liar, as he retreated from her up the aisle like a coward. After the incident, Pelosi’s aides reported she received an apology, Marino of course denied it, and said Pelosi is “a prime example of why we need term limits”.
When last we left Rep. Tom Marino, he was sucking up to the Trump administration, hoping for an appointment to be the drug czar for it, and combat the opioid crisis. There’s just one problem with that… he withdrew his name from the running in shame after an investigation by The Washington Post and "60 Minutes” detailed his years-long efforts to pass a law that critics say allowed the drug industry to profit off people addicted to opioids. Can you believe that? Donald Trump wanted to nominate someone to a post who was revealed to have a financial interest in not just failing to do the job, but a track record of profiting by working against the mission statement of that position? THE HELL YOU SAY. (Also, the latest ethical lapse from Marino).
- May 4th, 2017: Marino votes for the House GOP’s healthcare plan, that would kick roughly 24 million people off their health insurance plans, allow up to 28,000 more people to die a year, give $50,000 in tax breaks to millionaires, and would eliminate coverage for pre-existing conditions which would include such medical conditions as pregnancy (current or past), post-partum depression, or prior sexual assault. Oh, and a provision in the bill would make sure that Marino would be allowed to keep his healthcare plan as it exists under the ACA, which would be repealed for the rest of the country. He and his Republican compatriots threw themselves a beer bash to celebrate taking away healthcare from millions and then gloated about it with Donald Trump at a White House press conference, as well.
- October 3rd, 2017: Marino votes for HR 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, that would try to create an unconstitutional ban abortion at 20 weeks (even though medical science tells us fetuses do not have the capability to feel pain until 29 weeks).
- December 19th, 2017: Tom Marino votes for HR 1, the GOP’s $1.7 trillion tax cut to benefit the wealthiest Americans and corporations permanently that coincidentally also removes the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate and kicks 13 million people off their health insurance.
Tom Marino’s disastrous nomination to be the Trump administration’s drug czar is hardly the only mishap he’s had as a politician of late, as he was also a member of the Trump transition team (the one that was illegally communicating with Russians) and for whatever reason, he’s become quite the absentee Congressman, missing three times the number of votes that the average member of the House does. That’s certainly not winning him any friends back home, where his constituents are wanting him to… y’know, represent them. While Pennsylvania’s 10th District, where Tom Marino was serving was gerrymandered after the 2010 elections so that it safely Republican, the Supreme Court just decided that the gerrymander that was set up was utter bulls***, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court mandated a new map for the state. Thus, Tom Marino’s new District is Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District, and the partisan lean has been slightly reduced in his favor, now only at a +11 Republican lean. Marino will be challenged in the general election by Marc Friedenberg, or Judy Herschel, the latter of whom is a drug and alcohol counselor who is already raking Marino over the coals for his failed bid to be drug czar, and his role in worsening the opioid crisis with legislation he’s passed.
Depending on the strength of the Blue Wave when it lands in 7 months, Tom Marino might be looking for a new job, which we can guess he’ll be fired from within the first year of holding it for some sort of ethics violation, based on his track record.
One Year Ago, April 18th, 2017: Tom Marino (PA)… 2017 Update
Two Years Ago. April 18th, 2016: Tom Marino (PA)… Original Profile
Three Years Ago: April 18th, 2015: Kim Lehman (IA)