In 2016, 2017, as well as 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” presented its original profile of the U.S. House Representative from Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District, Tom Marino. 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. 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. However, he doesn’t seem to understand how that works, or who it is that can be impeached. The first instance where he did so was back in February of 2013, when he was talking about impeaching Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, for… reasons. (Where he’s a bit off…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 (which supposedly the GOP wanted so they could try to repeal it before it took effect), 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 have 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 he 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. Republicans were in lockstep, campaigning hard on two issues in the mid-term elections… fears about Ebola Virus, and of course, anti-immigrant sentiment. 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).
So instead, Tom Marino ran for a fifth term in Congress in 2018. He won the election with 66% of the vote, mostly because of the partisan lean gave a +11 Republican advantage.
However, about two and a half weeks into the new session of Congress, Tom Marino resigned to go take a job in the public sector, likely enraged at the prospect of operating as a member of the minority party in the House.
We here at CSGOPOTD would like to wish Marino our heartiest of “GOOD RIDDANCE!” greetings.
One Year Ago, April 18th, 2017: Tom Marino (PA)… 2018 Update
Two Years Ago, April 18th, 2017: Tom Marino (PA)… 2017 Update
Three Years Ago. April 18th, 2016: Tom Marino (PA)… Original Profile
Four Years Ago: April 18th, 2015: Kim Lehman (IA)