Where’s Frank? – 63 Days to Election

It’s 63 Days to Election Day.  WHERE’S FRANK?

Don’t his constituents have a right to know?

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Frank Kratovil Refuses To Talk With Constituents

First District Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD) really holds his constituents in high regard.  He has refused to hold a public town hall meeting with voters for the last year.  His so called meetings with constituents are tightly controlled affairs more akin to campaign events than actually working with constituents.

Now he has gone so far as to REFUSE to talk to a constituent!  Evidently, Frank’s handlers have convinced him that if it isn’t a photo op or it’s not someone handing him a check, then they just aren’t worth Kratovil’s time!

It’s 67 days until the election Frank.  You’re going to have to come out sometime.  The Obama machine won’t be able to put you over the top this year.  You’ll actually have to talk to people.

In the meantime, all we can do is ask:

WHERE’s FRANK?

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Kratovil Continues To Hide From Constituents

Where’s Frank?

Rep. Frank Kratovil continues to hide from the voters of Maryland’s First Congressional District.  You would think, that in an election year, an incumbent congressman would want to get out there with the folks that will decide his or her fate in November.  Not Kratovil!

Evidently, Kratovil’s experience with town hall meetings scared him pretty badly.  Consequently, Kratovil has consistently ducked constituent town halls since last summer.  Instead, Kratovil has used a series of tightly controlled photo-ops and press events to make constituents think that he’s out and about the district.  However, if you want to ask YOUR congressman questions you are out of luck.

Kratovil’s DC office claims that all of these “events” throughout the district are open to the public and that Kratovil would answer questions there.  Fair enough – EXCEPT – Kratovil’s staff doesn’t make events public until the day of the event.  They even go so far as to state:

“We send these press releases out to the local media.  We can’t help it if they don’t print it.”

While I find myself in a strange place defending newspapers such as Salisbury’s Daily Times, we have to ask – How can they print that Frank Kratovil will be in the area on Friday if Kratovil’s staff doesn’t send the release out until AFTER Friday’s edition is published?

In addition, why should constituents have to traipse around in a cornfield in order to ask their congressman a question?  Again, Kratovil’s cracker jack staff have an answer – you can send them an email and they will respond.  Sorry guys!  We don’t want some canned response from Kratovil’s staff.  We want to look Frank in the eye and ask him a straight question.  We would then appreciate a straight answer!

It appears to me that Frank Kratovil simply doesn’t want to risk being put on the spot by his constituents.  That’s a shame.

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GOP “Outsider” Raises More Questions Than Answers

Reading the lead of this morning’s Baltimore Sun piece by Paul West might make you think, as I did, that we’re about to be treated to another puff piece designed to help freshman 1st District Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD):

For more than a year, Republicans have been carefully plotting the ouster of Rep. Frank Kratovil of Maryland, one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the country.

Party strategists never expected to contend with Rob Fisher, however. An upstart candidate with an outsider message, the conservative businessman has emerged from obscurity, thanks to the most extensive TV ad drive of any Marylander running for Congress.

"We need to change what’s happening Washington," Fisher said in an interview. "The only way we can do that is by changing the kinds of people we send to Washington."

If so, you would be just as mistaken as I was.

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Kratovil Afraid of Constituents?

Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD) seems to be afraid of the very same people he was elected to represent.  Last week we asked the question – “Where’s Frank?”.  Well, true to the word of his staff, Kratovil has released a schedule of appearances.

Are there any town hall meetings?  No!  Are there plenty of appearances that are designed to be photo ops for use in the November election?  Yes!

Just as Kratovil is trying to claim that his vote to appropriate $26 Billion to keep more government workers on the payroll is “cutting the deficit” (only in Washington would someone vote to spend billions and then claim that they are saving money), Kratovil is claiming to represent his constituents while only appearing at tightly controlled events more designed to aid his re-election effort than to actually answer questions.  Is Kratovil afraid of his constituents?  It appears so.

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Where’s That PORKULUS Money Going?

As we noted earlier today, my Congressman, Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD) hasn’t been the most available fellow ever since hordes of constituents let him know last year that they were none too happy with his votes FOR the Obama PORKULUS and “Cap and Tax”.  They were going to be REALLY angry if Kratovil voted for ObamaCare.  Being the courageous fellow that he is, Kratovil reversed himself on one of the few issues he actually took a stand on in 2008 – he voted against the massive takeover of our health care system.

While Kratovil claims to be a “fiscally responsible” Democrat.  I wonder if Frank has been checking on where some of that PORKULUS money has been going?  If so, perhaps that explains why Kratovil has been in hiding – he’s embarrassed!

Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and John McCain (R-AZ) have recently released Summertime Blues – 100 Stimulus Projects That Give Taxpayers The Blues.  I’m definitely embarrassed for Kratovil and I’m not even a supporter!  Here are just a few of the stellar uses of borrowed dollars which our children and grandchildren will be paying off long after we’re gone:

• $141,000 – to study DINOSAUR EGGS in CHINA
• $1.9 Million – to PHOTOGRAPH ANTS
• $144,500 – to study COCAINE USE in MONKEYS
• $296,000 – to study DOG DOMESTICATION

Now these are just some of the low dollar items.  Check out Summertime Blues for some of the rather large, and of course, rather wasteful big ticket “projects”.  I particularly like Pittsburgh’s answer to the “Big Dig”.  A project Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell equated to a black hole – until PORKULUS offered to pony up.

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Where’s Frank?

Ever since large numbers of citizens turned out to express their opinions last summer, first term Congressman Frank Kratovil (D-MD) has been, for all practical purposes, MIA.  If you live in Maryland’s First Congressional District and want to ask questions of your (just barely) elected representative you had better make an appointment.

Since constituents scared the you know what out of Kratovil and his staff, last year, Kratovil’s “public appearances” have been a series of tightly controlled events designed to keep the average voter out of reach.

With the House in summer recess, what is Frank’s excuse now?

Yesterday I placed a call to Kratovil’s DC office to find out if my Congressman would be lowering himself by meeting with people who aren’t waving “Re-Elect Kratovil” signs or writing checks to his campaign.  The exchange (which took multiple attempts because Kratovil’s DC staff can’t seem to get to work on time) went as follows:

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Frank Kratovil – Sign the Discharge Petition

Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD) loves to tell his conservative leaning constituents that he’s “independent”.  While voting for the Obama PORKULUS and “Cap and Tax”, Kratovil got scared and voted against ObamaCare.

Well Frank, was it a bad bill or not?  If it was worth voting against, why haven’t you signed the discharge petition to repeal it?  Could it be that your lords and masters in the House Dem leadership gave you a pass on ObamaCare but would punish you if you signed the discharge petition?

No, that couldn’t be it.  Frank’s “INDEPENDENT”.  Frank’s a “Blue Dog”.

Wait!  Could it be that Frank’s blowing smoke up our collective backsides?

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Harris / Kratovil Race Profiled on CNN

The battle for who will represent Maryland’s First Congressional District continues to grab national attention.  CNN recently profiled the race:

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Perriello to Host Telephone Town Halls

Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA) will host two telephone “town hall” meetings this week.  Perriello, who hosted REAL town hall meetings last summer, claims that this format will allow “thousands” of constituents to listen in.  Technically, this is true.  Of course, Perriello doesn’t have to look thousands of constituents in the eye either.

Perriello, who narrowly defeated incumbent Rep. Virgil Goode in 2008, is considered a ripe target for replacement in this fall’s elections.  Like his Maryland colleague, Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD), Perriello is attempting to moderate his image among voters.  “Telephone Town Halls” seem to help in this matter.  While claiming to be “more inclusive” and “reaching out to the people”, questions from constituents can be more easily controlled and Perriello doesn’t have to face scores of Tea Party activists demanding a saner national fiscal policy.

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