Darguth
Member
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2012
- Messages
- 714
Hi all,
I just kind of had my myself thrown into a cold tank of water, metaphorically speaking. Earlier today after the Speakership vote I had written an email to Rep. Bentivolio expressing disappointment in his vote.
He just called me back to discuss it. On his way to dinner. Not an aide or staffer or anything, he just dialed the cell phone number I had listed in my email signature.
I wanted to pass along what he said to help assuage some of the reaction among the community, if I can (NOTE: Everything in quotes is just me paraphrasing).
1.) He's planning on trying to call back everyone that wrote him about it today, so if you wrote to perhaps you should expect a similar call if you left a number
2.) He'd discussed his plans with Justin Amash previously (as they are "smoking buddies" as he put it), and Amash agreed with his decision to vote for Boehner. Bentivolio mentioned that the party nomination had taken place back in November or so and no one had raised a ruckus then about putting up Boehner. He said that if someone wanted a change, that was the proper time to have done it--within the Republican caucus nominating process.
3.) Being his first day he was a bit unclear on the fact that he could vote for someone that hadn't been nominated (wraps back into the previous point), he expressed that he thought the only options were between Pelosi and Boehner and he certainly wasn't going for Pelosi. When I tried to explain he could vote for anyone and that Pelosi needed a majority and not just a plurality so he would have been safe he said that he hadn't been clear on that.
4.) He said the vote was very much a "you catch more flies with honey than vinegar" vote, and that he needs relationships to be able to not even push an agenda but to even get it up for discussion. Something he said he wants to bring up for discussion is a Constitutional Amendment preventing the Federal government from taxing economic inactivity. Clearly this is aimed at the Obamacare mandate atrocity. The anecdote he used was, "What if you walked into a department store, decided not to buy anything, but the staff tried to charge you a fee at the door for not doing anything."
5.) He plans on posting an explanation online as soon as his staff really gets up and running, as promised.
Anyway, I hope that helps. I know my angst is certainly eased. I'm still floored that he called me.
@MODS: This probably belongs in the sub-forum, but I was just posting it here for visibility. If you could give it a day or two and then punt it that'd be great, if not I understand.
I just kind of had my myself thrown into a cold tank of water, metaphorically speaking. Earlier today after the Speakership vote I had written an email to Rep. Bentivolio expressing disappointment in his vote.
He just called me back to discuss it. On his way to dinner. Not an aide or staffer or anything, he just dialed the cell phone number I had listed in my email signature.
I wanted to pass along what he said to help assuage some of the reaction among the community, if I can (NOTE: Everything in quotes is just me paraphrasing).
1.) He's planning on trying to call back everyone that wrote him about it today, so if you wrote to perhaps you should expect a similar call if you left a number
2.) He'd discussed his plans with Justin Amash previously (as they are "smoking buddies" as he put it), and Amash agreed with his decision to vote for Boehner. Bentivolio mentioned that the party nomination had taken place back in November or so and no one had raised a ruckus then about putting up Boehner. He said that if someone wanted a change, that was the proper time to have done it--within the Republican caucus nominating process.
3.) Being his first day he was a bit unclear on the fact that he could vote for someone that hadn't been nominated (wraps back into the previous point), he expressed that he thought the only options were between Pelosi and Boehner and he certainly wasn't going for Pelosi. When I tried to explain he could vote for anyone and that Pelosi needed a majority and not just a plurality so he would have been safe he said that he hadn't been clear on that.
4.) He said the vote was very much a "you catch more flies with honey than vinegar" vote, and that he needs relationships to be able to not even push an agenda but to even get it up for discussion. Something he said he wants to bring up for discussion is a Constitutional Amendment preventing the Federal government from taxing economic inactivity. Clearly this is aimed at the Obamacare mandate atrocity. The anecdote he used was, "What if you walked into a department store, decided not to buy anything, but the staff tried to charge you a fee at the door for not doing anything."
5.) He plans on posting an explanation online as soon as his staff really gets up and running, as promised.
Anyway, I hope that helps. I know my angst is certainly eased. I'm still floored that he called me.
@MODS: This probably belongs in the sub-forum, but I was just posting it here for visibility. If you could give it a day or two and then punt it that'd be great, if not I understand.
