Challengers offer symbolic ‘no’ votes on bailout

Congressional candidates across the country are lashing out at the bailout package that was presented to the public on Sunday.
 
Challengers and open-seat candidates were the quickest to denounce the package as inadequate, and some are already up with ads on the topic.
 
{mosads}While House Republicans looked to be the most averse to the package, candidates of both parties were saying no to the bailout.
 
Democrats who came out against the bill were casting it as President Bush’s proposal, even as congressional Democrats appear the most supportive of it in its current form.
 
Among the first Democrats to say no were Oklahoma Senate candidate Andrew Rice, New York congressional candidate Dan Maffei, and Miami-area congressional candidate Raul Martinez.
 
Rice, who is running against Sen. James Inhofe (R), said the package didn’t do enough to rein in so-called “golden parachutes” – large compensation for CEOs of bailed-out firms.
 
"This bill gives too much away to the people who created these problems without guaranteeing that it won't happen again," Rice said.
 
Maffei, who is the favorite for retiring Rep. James Walsh’s (R-N.Y.) open seat, said the proposal “simply gives President Bush too much discretion, and we have seen the disastrous effects of these kinds of policies in the past with this administration.”
 
Martinez echoed Maffei.
 
“The same people who rushed us to war in Iraq and rushed us into a stimulus bill that has not worked are trying to rush us into another bad idea,” Martinez said.
 
In Oregon, Democratic Senate challenger Jeff Merkley went up with an ad late last week criticizing Sen. Gordon Smith (R) for supporting a “trillion-dollar blank check for Wall Street.”
 
The offering was similar from freshman Rep. Steve Kagen’s (D-Wis.) GOP opponent. In his ad, former state Assembly Speaker John Gard says the proposal is tantamount to “they break the rules, and Congress hands them more money.”
 
Other GOPers expressing opposition include Rep. Chris Carney’s (D-Pa.) challenger, businessman Chris Hackett, and Rep. Nancy Boyda’s (D-Kan.) challenger, state Treasurer Lynn Jenkins.
 
“Estimates suggest this bailout will increase the debt ceiling by $1.3 trillion, and it doesn't even restrict salaries for CEOs of the failed companies,” Jenkins said. “So, under this bill, the government gets a lot more money, the CEO can get more money and the taxpayer is left holding the bag.”
 
Several incumbents also spoke out against the bill before the vote took place.
 
Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.), who is seeking a promotion to his state’s open Senate seat, lashed out at Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson late last week for Paulson’s time as CEO of Goldman Sachs. He suggested Paulson was the wrong man to be taking on such “broad, unchecked power.”
 
Pearce was leaning against the package before the vote but reserved the right to change his mind, spokesman Brian Phillips said.
 
Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), a freshman who is fighting to keep his seat from Democrat Mark Schauer, said Monday morning that he would oppose the bailout.
 
Walberg defeated centrist Rep. Joe Schwarz (R) in 2006 on the strength of his fiscal conservatism and backing from the Club for Growth. The Club urged members to vote no on the package.