In the Syracuse Post-Standard article by Paul Riede on November 28, 2010, shortly after she was declared winner of the House race in the 25th Congressional District, Ann Marie Buerkle clearly spelled out her intent to be inclusive during her tenure.
In the very next line, she abruptly made it clear that there were many stances from which she would never vary.
Then, in the next paragraph, she made her pledge to seek common ground.
Central New York’s first woman elected to Congress says she can bring the residents of her sharply divided district together while standing strong on her conservative principles.
In an hour-long interview Wednesday — the day after Democratic incumbent Dan Maffei conceded the race for the 25th Congressional DIstrict — Republican Ann Marie Buerkle pledged that she would run an open, inclusive office that would renew her constituents’ faith in Washington. And she reiterated her firm stances on issues that bitterly divide the district and the country: defunding and repealing health care reform, making all the Bush-era tax cuts permanent, cutting corporate taxes and regulations, questioning the scientific validity of climate change, and eliminating of the federal Department of Education.
“We may not agree on every issue, but constituents should feel that they can come to me and we can talk and we can find common ground,” she said. “And that’s really my biggest task — to work hard so that the people in this district feel they have a voice in Washington.”
Last night at the public meeting at Bellevue middle school on Geddes St. in the city of Syracuse, Buerkle again spoke of finding common ground. This is from the Post-Standard article this morning by Teri Weaver:
“We appear to be very polarized here,” Buerkle said toward the end of the 90-minute question-and-answer period. “We need to find common ground. We are working to do that ... It doesn’t happen overnight. And it doesn’t happen by yelling at each other. It happens by doing this.”
Is finding common ground speaking at a Pro-life rally in Washington and then claiming her vote against Planned Parenthood (in particular and not against any reproductive health provider that counts abortion among its services ) is just part of trimming the budget? That's just plain bad faith.
Is it publicly admitting that the provisions of the Affordable Health Care for America Act that are already in place are working well, while insisting that "Obamacare" has to go? Would common ground be to work, really work hard, to figure out how to fine-tune the Act so that almost every American will truly have health care within 5 years?
Or is it following lock-step with her bosses in Washington?
Common ground might be admitting that there is no way to balance a budget if all the money that comes in isn't enough, and that reinstitution of a progressive tax that "taxes the rich" is the only fair way to turn the ship around. And really, Ann Marie, admit it: the people who have the level of wealth we are talking about hardly lifted a finger to make their awesome wealth. In fact, the reverse is more true: they've been punishing other people with their greed for a long time.
And admit this too: otherwise the burden is essentially double taxation of the middle class, for whom local and state taxes will necessarily rise. And double taxation and more for the poor, for whom loss of essential services like quality schools, health care, winter heating supplements, and legal services is inevitable.
At home Buerkle says one thing. In Washington she finds she is only in a very minor position to add one vote to the Republican majority in a House that demonizes the Democrats and the President at every opportunity. Where is the middle ground in that? She cannot have it both ways.
If this pattern is to continue, then Ann Marie Buerkle might just as well admit that professing to want to find common ground is a cruel joke.
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