Gerry Connolly (D-VA-11) is Fiscally Reckless

Over the past few weeks, I've received a number of snazzy glossy flyers--booklets, really--from the office of Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-Fairfax, VA) touting his fiscally conservative bonafides. His campaign site make similar claims with issues section including headings of "Fighting Wasteful Spending and Budget Deficits" and "Holding the Line on Taxes."

[Begin tangent: The flyers, by the way, apparently meet the guidelines of the House Franking Commission, the congressional body that oversees mailings from representatives to the people they represent to make sure they're constituent service rather than campaign materials. They're obviously campaign materials--I've only received them this summer, despite being "represented" by Mr. Connolly since January 3, 2009. Just another example of the incumbent protection scheme our leaders have established. For our own good, of course. End tangent]

So I wondered, just how fiscally responsible is Mr. Connolly? Let's look at his votes on the big issues. Did he come down on the side of taxpayers? ("No" means he voted "yes," that is, not fiscally responsible.)
- The failed "stimulus" bill: no and no.
- The spendthrift Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Resolution: no, no, and no.
- Cap-and-tax: no.
- A toothless pay-go (touted in his mailers): sure. A decent pay-go: no.
- EFCA, the union payback: no vote, but Connolly is a cosponsor.
- Obamacare: no, no, no.
- The "Homestar Energy Retrofit Act" boondoggle: no.
- "Deeming" the Fiscal Year 2011 budget passed instead of actually passing a budget: no.
- The teacher union bailout: no.
- A resolution to prevent Congress from passing major legislation during a post-election lame duck session, once the voters have rejected the Obama-Reid-Pelosi radical agenda: well, it wasn't a recorded vote, but no.

Want something more rigorous and systematic? Fine. In the first session of the 111th Congress, Gerry Connolly scored a grade of "F" on the National Taxpayers Union congressional report card with a whopping 6%.

Let's face it: glossy flyers notwithstanding, Gerry Connolly is not being responsible with taxpayer dollars. To my fellow residents of Virginia's 11th congressional district, let's encourage him to make a career change after November 2nd.