Voting On Back Burner For House Lawmakers Seeking Higher Office

House legislative business is a low priority for several lawmakers who have their eyes trained on higher office.

Four members of Congress running for the Senate or governor have missed more than half of the votes held by the House since returning from the August recess. A fifth lawmaker has missed half of the scheduled votes.

Some of the votes have been on small bills, such as a proposal to establish the Sedona-Red Rock scenic area in Arizona’s Coconino forest.

But other issues have been top priorities of President Obama intended to create jobs during tough economic times.

The Small Business Lending Fund Act, which the House approved on Thursday, provides $12 billion in tax cuts to small businesses and sets up a $30 billion capital fund for community banks.

Reps. Roy Blunt (R), Mary Fallin (R) and Kendrick Meek (D) missed the vote to send the small business bill to Obama’s desk for approval, according to public voting records.

Blunt is running for Senate in Missouri, leading his Democratic opponent, Robin Carnahan, by about 8 percentage points. The former Republican whip has missed 22 of the 26 votes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has scheduled this month.

Fallin, who is vying to become Oklahoma’s next governor, has missed all 26 votes in the House since it returned from a 6-week August recess.

Meek has missed 24 of 26 votes, including all the votes scheduled during the first week Congress was back in session.

Nate Webb, a spokesman for Fallin, said his boss is prepared to return to Washington if needed.

“The reason she’s missing votes is that she’s been home concentrating on her gubernatorial campaign,” he said. “She stands ready to come back to Washington for critical votes.”

Webb declined to evaluate whether the small business legislation met Fallin’s definition of critical.

While Meek has missed nearly every House vote in September, the aide didn’t hesitate to bash Meek’s opponent, Gov. Charlie Crist, an independent candidate running for Senate in Florida, for skipping out on official business.

Good-government advocates say these Republicans and Democrats are shirking their responsibilities as officeholders as they try to climb the ladder of political power.

“It is unfortunately that these office holders view these campaigns as more important than their jobs legislating,” said Craig Holman, legislative representative of Public Citizen, a liberal-leaning government watchdog group.

“They should really value their job of being an officeholder first and foremost,” Holman added. “Anyone who is missing more than half of these votes is shirking their responsibility as an office holder.”
More