by Gary Layton
Illinois District 11 Representative Debbie Halvorson is running full-tilt into the 2010 November election. Unfortunately for her, she's running full-tilt into the brick wall that is Adam Kinzinger. With his wildly popular support from area Tea Party groups to his landslide Primary victory, over 60% of the vote, you would think he is definitely an opponent to contend with.
Surprisingly though, very little has been heard from the Halvorson camp concerning her opponent. The average voter may assume she's just running a 'clean' campaign and that may be the case, however it's also possible that she just can't find anything negative to say about her competition.
Adam Kinzinger is not the entrenched Politician that defines the heart of the problems in Congress today. He's young, at age 31, but not too young (think JFK, not Doogie Howser). He is not, however, new to politics, having been a McLean County board member for 5 years as well as having a Bachelor's Degree from Illinois State University in Political Science.
He was a US Air Force fighter pilot and war veteran with combat experience. He flew refueling jets and surveillance planes during the Iraq war.
He's been a huge supporter of Tea Parties, attending dozens of local events while Rep. Halvorson hasn't even shown up to ease the concerns of her constituents about all the new legislation, nor to defend her voting record to them.
He was the Wisconsin Red Cross's 'Hero of the Year' in 2007 for wrestling a knife-wielding man to the ground and disarming him. (The man had just cut a woman's throat outside of a bar across the street from where Kinzinger was walking with his girlfriend). He also received the US Air Force Airman's Medal and the National Guard's Valley Forge Cross for Heroism medal for that act.
Kinzinger aside, the real question the voters need to ask is whether or not Rep. Halvorson is meeting the needs of her constituents. The answer to that question is in her voting record.
Listed below are all the votes of importance (non-procedural types) that both she and Rep. Nancy Pelosi have voted on, as well as a short summary of the purpose of each Bill in layman’s terms.
| Bill # | Halverson | Pelosi | Bill Name and Explanation |
| H AMDT 509 | N | N | Vote to Prohibit Federally Funded Abortion (taxpayer funded abortion) |
| H J RES 3 | Y | N | Vote to Block releasing the remaining funds of Economic Stabilization Act |
| HJR 45 | Y | Y | Bill to enact PAYGO rules (doesn't apply to Entitlements, only to discretionary spending) |
| HR 1 | Y | Y | Stimulus Bill |
| HR 11 | Y | Y | Vote for Employment Discrimination Amendments (allows lawsuits to be filed on 'alleged' incidents that date back years or even decades and extends the settlement for back pay for years) |
| HR 1106 | Y | Y | Mortgage Restructuring in Bankruptcy (Grants bankruptcy judges extended powers to alter the terms of Private Sector mortgages) |
| HR 12 | Y | Y | Vote for Employment Discrimination Amendments (removes limits on Punitive damages in lawsuits, i.e. 'the sky's the limt', removes limits on Class Action lawsuits) |
| HR 1388 | Y | Y | Bill to establish Community Service Organizations and provide Funding for them (think ACORN), up to 5.7B over 6 years. |
| HR 1913 | Y | Y | Expands Hate Crime Definitions based on Country of Origin, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation (i.e. Islam, Trans-sexuals, homosexuals, Cross-dressing, etc.) (NOTE: Opponents claim that in America, a crime is a crime, and that it shouldn't matter what the criminal was thinking, only that they pay for their crime. Who will monitor the 'thought police'?) |
| HR 2 | Y | Y | Expand coverage of CHIP - Children's Health Insurance Program (This was the first version of what would eventually become Obama care. Also causes government to pay for the healthcare of even wealthy people.) |
| HR 2346 | Y | Y | 2008/2009 Supplemental Appropriations (long title for a Bill that forces the Dept. of Defense to set a time-line for the removal of Troops in Iraq, which the Military said would undermine their Mission by giving the Terrorists the date that our troops would be leaving) |
| HR 2454 | Y | Y | Energy Law Amendments - AKA Cap and Trade (Bill to make companies pay to trade credits to pollute. No limits on what the government can define as 'pollution', also doesn't prevent pollution, just lets the government charge for it, and allows companies to trade the rights to pollute between each other) |
| HR 2647 | Y | Y | Bill to Authorize 680 Billion for the Dept. of Defense and security for the Dept. of Energy (was opposed by Republicans due to Hate Crime legislation that had been 'slipped' into it. See HR 1913 above for more info) |
| HR 2751 | Y | Y | Cash for Clunkers Program (Billions spent to encourage people to buy new cars with taxpayer dollars. No limitations on what country those vehicles came from) |
| HR 2847 | Y | Y | Jobs for Mainstreet Bill (150 Billion in Tarp funds spent on items designed to boost the economy and jobs. However, approx. 27B is slated for 'public sector' jobs which only increases our debt further. Also spends another 79B that goes to extending unemployment benefits another 6 months. Opponents claim the way to get people back to work is not to pay give them incentives to stay unemployed) |
| HR 3221 | Y | Y | Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (This will force education institutes to switch from the FFEL loan system that has been used to great effect since 1965, to the newer DL loan system, that only a fraction of schools use. It will create 10 new government spending programs, and allow more federal control of the education sector. It will also raise interest rates on student loans) |
| HR 3590 | Y | Y | Health Care and Insurance Law Amendments (makes changes to Obama care, including requiring people to buy medical insurance, forcing insurance companies to accept pre-existing conditions, and taxing employers that offer 'cadillac' health plans) |
| HR 3962 | Y | Y | Obama care' (also reduces funding to Medicare - which many senior citizens use - to help fund Obama care) |
| HR 4314 | N | Y | Increasing the National Public Debt Limit (let's Congress spend more money it doesn't have than they previously were doing anyway) |
| HR 4872 | Y | Y | Health Care Reconciliation Act (Obama care, part 2) (This allows the federal government to take over the Student Loan industry from the private banks) |
| S 181 | Y | Y | Employment Discrimination Law Amendments (Senate version of HR 12, see above) |
| S 22 | Y | Y | Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (expands Federally Protected Land and Waters, also makes Bill Clinton's childhood home a National Site, transfer's land from State ownership to Federal ownership, and the main reason: puts new limitations on oil and gas exploration) |
We can't know how Adam Kinzinger will vote. We only know how he says he will vote. As a decorated 'Real American Hero', I'd like to take him at his word unless he proves otherwise.
On the other side of the aisle, as you can see from her voting record, it appears Rep. Halvorson is very in-tune with the voters in California. It's too bad she's not more 'in-tune' with the voters in District 11, but what can you expect from someone afraid to attend a town hall meeting or tea party in their own district.
