Kline Failes to 'Hold The Line'

Why is Congressman Kline ‘holding the line’ only when it comes to helping Minnesotans rebuild a bridge but not for the 67 other port laden appropriation bills that he voted for? Can anyone tell me, anyone at all why this would be in any way shape or form construed as 'holding the line' verses...hmm...the petty partisan bullcrap that we're all sick of?


It appears that Kline has the backbone to stand up to Minnesotans but not the oil corporations, special interests, and lobbyists. And yes... there is runaway government spending but Congressman John Kline was a team leader of that runaway spending... with spending increases totally billions for each year John Kline has been in congress! Pot meet the kettle!

‘Hold the line’, yeah right...you do that Kline… but not for the first time with the I35 Bridge. This Democratic congress bill had half as much pork as the Republican bill from the year before and included funding for the I35 bridge! Come on Congressman Kline, this isn’t about holding the line on spending. This is about your being engaged with petty partisan bickering that threatens to undermine rebuilding our bridge. It’s about using a tragic event for political grandstanding and not to bring everyone together. And lastly, it’s about your inability to get things done or show leadership for Minnesotans in times of need.

Listen Up Kline!

On Huffington Post Coleen Rowley gives Republican Congressman John Kline (R-MN2) a talking to regarding supporting war over bridges in Minnesota. It's an issue of priorities and values and leadership and helping Minnesotans.

It's not okay to build bridges in Iraq while Minnesota's bridges are falling down. It's not okay to provide more to private war contractors while not insuring Minnesota's childrens needs are being met at home. It's not right, it's not working, it's time to stop and set priorities. Listen up Kline !

What gives when Kline and company voted for a Republican crony's "Bridge to Nowhere" in Alaska just two years ago but refuse to vote now for a bridge to somewhere in Minnesota? Democratic freshman Congressman Tim Walz, although he seemed fairly exasperated, did a credible job of questioning this strange set of Republican priorities, especially their support for funding of bridges in Iraq while not supporting funding for bridges in their home state.

Kline votes with Bush over Minnesotans

Congressman Kline shows his super-sized loyalty to President Bush when he continues to vote for funding Iraq bridges with all it's cost overruns, lack of oversight, and chronic issues- but then votes against funding Minnesotan’s I35 fallen bridge.

Funny how Kline calls funding money for Minnesota's transportation and road infrastructure pork but didn’t label the famed Alaskan boondoggle ‘bridge to nowhere’ as pork…

Even Republican John McCain said that Congress could share in the blame for the Minnesota bridge collapse because lawmakers diverted billions of dollars in transportation money from road work to pet projects."I think perhaps you can make the argument that part of the responsibility lies with the Congress of the United States," the Arizona senator said.

I couldn't agree more Mr. McCain, the responsibility for the fallen bridge does lie with those in congress that would fund 'bridges to nowhere', or build bridges in Iraq while not funding to rebuild the Minnesota I35 bridge.

No Comment Kline!

A recent Post-Bulletin article gets right to the heart of the issue with the Second Congressional District's dissatisfaction with Congressman John Kline.

To-date John Kline’s challenger in CD2 is a 'Walz-like' democrat (ex-republican) named Steve Sarvi. The article can sum up in two of its sentences why Steve Sarvi is running and what’s wrong with Congressman Kline…

Sarvi: "I get this strong sense that people don't feel like they are being adequately represented in Congress,"

Kline: Kline declined to respond to Sarvi's comments, spokesman Troy Young said.

Am I the only one who finds it funny that in answering questions about ‘not answering’, Kline can’t even say directly ‘no comment’? Kline is showing he’s so removed from daily interactions with his community and fellow Minnesotans that he uses his staff to tell media and constituents alike…NO COMMENT.

Kline Votes Against Funding for Rebuilding I35 Bridge!

Congressman John Kline’s voting against funding for Minnesota’s I35 Bridge shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given his previous votes. Sure Republican Reps. John Kline and Michele Bachmann of Minnesota say they stand against the bill based on the overall funding of transportation and housing projects nationwide. And both Kline and Bachmann said they have signed their names to a separate bill that would provide the $195 million in bridge money. But who are they kidding? Last August, right after the bridge collapsed not only did Congressman John Kline vote to adjourn session right before the bill for funding the bridge rebuild was considered, but he then voted against a resolution to suspend the rules so the emergency aid could be considered.

So the question is, why does John Kline hate Minnesotans so much that he actually goes out of his way to impeded progress and stop the restoring of the I35 bridge?

Kline's voting record shows he doesn’t vote against tax breaks for the wealthy 2 percent and he doesn’t vote against tax subsidy for immensely profitable oil companies. Kline hasn’t vote against funding the costly war with it's add on pork…but Kline does vote against tax breaks for the middle class, health care for children and now funding for Minnesota’s I35 Bridge.

This is just one more example of how Kline votes with Bush and not for Minnesotans. While in August Kline voted against letting the emergency aid bill for Minnesota come to the House floor, I still find it shocking that he votes against a final funding bill. Kline should be pulling together with the rest of Minnesota in restoring bridges and providing for transportation and housing instead of playing more partisan politics. He's an embarrassment to Minnesota.

John Kline Hardly Working...But At Taxpayer's Expense

Are Tele-Town Hall Meetings a good thing or a bad thing? As there is no oversight to such calls, no opportunity to actually know if callers were randomly picked or ‘hand picked’ based on their information/voting records/ privately kept files, and no way to vet who is actually on the call unless you are the moderator, Tele-Town Meetings are rift with fraud potential.

For someone like Congressman John Kline, Tele-Town Meetings are an easy way to totally control input and ‘fine tune’ (can you say manipulate?) the results without anyone being the wiser. In the past John Kline has shuns open forums having held only one in the last several years. Even then, it took several weeks of prodding and a petition of over 400 local constituents to get Kline to agree to a face-to-face public forum! I

nstead now John Kline prefers to rely on a tele-marketing system instead of the time honored face-to-face way of interacting with voters. This isn't too surprising given that Kline is the King of using systems to his advantage. Before Tele-town robo meetings, John Kline used $200,000 in ‘franking privileges’ in just his first term alone! In other words tax payers get to pay for the glossy fliers he sends out. I’m aware of two such mailings in the last two months.

It’s also unclear if Kline will be able to use his tax-funded tele-town robo meetings within 90 days of the election. But one thing is very clear, if it circumvents actual face-to-face interaction where Kline can’t totally control the results, expect Kline to be AOL. As Coleen Rowley and Peter Smith ask on their posting at Huffington Post on this issue:

"Until such time as the rules, regulations and ethics of Tele Town Hall Meetings are made clear we would all do well to ask ourselves whether we want to vote for someone who is reducing our already-compromised political discourse to a telephone marketing tactic better suited to selling time share condos or vinyl home siding."

Kline Plays Trick or Treat With Children's Healthcare

Paul Drotos, Veteran for Peace in Red Wing, got this great letter to the editor (11.01.2007) published in the Red Wing Republican Eagle:

To the Editor:

I would like to personally thank John Kline for his courageous stand against sick children (RE 10/31/07). His consistent budgetary strategy of pouring every available dollar into the Iraq War has proven him to be a hollow voice for the poor and needy in this country.

Am I the only one who reads the “Kline Party Line” without understanding that the Iraq war is a hole in America’s soul where all of the money goes?

And just for the record, Representative Kline: If an illegal alien has a sick child in need of medical attention: It is a sick child. Have we really sunk so low that we can be proud of excluding any sick children from getting better?

Representative Kline’s letter stated, “Congress needs to stop playing political games with children.” He forgot to mention that it’s OK to play those games with certain illegal alien children.

I gave a lot of candy to little kids for Halloween just because they were little kids. If I was in Washington giving out health care I would have to do the same. It’s not trick or treat, John Kline, it’s justice for all.

Score: Steve Sarvi 14- John Kline-1

Hey, here's a great new idea for our Congressman -- go out and talk to the people on a regular basis. Instead of surprising us with a phone call for a tightly controlled "tele-town hall meeting", set up an appointment (lots of them) to meet us face-to-face where so we can discuss the issues.

What? Your Representative does this all the time? You must not live in Rep. John Kline's district. It took a petition from nearly 700 constituents to force him to hold his only face-to-face town hall meeting with constituents this year. His website promised more meetings like this. That was this Spring. The frost is on the pumpkin and we're still waiting for the next one.

We like that Steve Sarvi isn't waiting to be elected to start listening to constituents. He's launching a district wide listening tour with 14 stops in 7 days. We're glad Sarvi is making the time to do this while still holding down a full-time job.

We can only hope Rep. Kline will take some time out from his full time job --meeting with lobbyists for the large drug companies and the defense contractors -- to actually meet with the people he's supposed to represent!

Kline's Misplaced Ideology and Half-Truths

By now most know that Congressman John Kline votes with the president and against the interests of Minnesotans...especially those weakest among us...our children. According to Dr. Allen Horn, president of CentraCare Clinic in St. Cloud:

"Reps. Michele Bachmann and John Kline voted with the president. The justification for the veto is based on misplaced ideology and half-truths.

The bill is not a step toward "government-run" or "socialized" medicine. In fact, it is strengthening a very successful public-private partnership with 77 percent of the children getting their coverage through private health plans funded by SCHIP.

Another unfounded claim is that the bill vastly expands program eligibility to provide coverage for children who live in middle-income families and who already have coverage through their parents' private health insurance. The fact is that more than 80 percent of the children who could be added to SCHIP are already eligible for the program because they are below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

Supporters of the veto have also falsely stated that the bill will expand coverage for adults and will provide coverage for illegal immigrants. In fact, the bill quickly phases out coverage for for childless adults, and there would be no funding for "illegal" immigrants."

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