Has your representative accepted money from the NRA? It’s easy to find out at Who is my voice?. I discovered that my rep, Collin Peterson, did not, which is about the first good thing I’ve heard about him…although it may be because, as the representative of a small rural area, the NRA didn’t feel the need to bribe him. My senators, Franken and Klobuchar, also did not — and there, it’s safe to say, it’s because they wouldn’t support an organization that is basically Murder, Inc.
But look yours up, and if they’re free of the NRA taint, write and let them know you appreciate it. And if they are owned by the NRA, let them know of your displeasure, and most importantly, NEVER VOTE FOR THEM AGAIN.
Here’s another site that lists the recipients of NRA money. It also tells you their approval rating from the NRA, and whether they’re up for re-election.
Unfortunately, this site does say that Peterson has received NRA money. I guess I won’t be voting for him again!
I have no problem with politicians taking money from the NRA…as long as it is a bad investment.
My Representative checks- zero NRA money (no surprise there, they’ve been pretty vocal against him).
My Senators, OTOH, are taking money, though one isn’t taking much from them. I’ll probably have to vote for him just because his opposition is even worse.
My representative, Jackie Spier, and California’s two Senators have not taken money from the NRA. In fact, all the California politicians shown on the second site who have received NRA money are Republicans. Imagine.
Three for three here in western Washington: Rep Larsen and Senators Cantwell & Murray all untainted by the NRA. All Democrats, as well.
PZ, I agree totally with your sentiments, I don’t want our legislators to be in the pockets of the NRA either. But how exactly is this “never vote for them” thing supposed to work? If I were to find that my Democratic senator was taking money from the the NRA am I supposed to abstain or vote for a Republican candidate? What if the result of this is to prevent the Democrats winning back the Senate?
Realistically the only way I can to see to “punish” our representatives in this way without punishing ourselves even more is to vote against them in the primaries. It’s too late for that this year.
Annoyingly, that site won’t let me choose my representative from a list; it expects me to enter my street address (as if I didn’t already know who my representative is) and I don’t want to give that information to some website.
Unless they’re a Democrat, in which case failing to vote for them as the “lesser evil” is wrong and bad and immature and the same thing as voting for a Republican who is ten million times worse.
Mine are absent. Not that I’d have expected otherwise.
What strikes me is how small the NRA contributions are. Are representatives really for sale for $1000 an election? Perhaps an anti-gun organization willing to provide similar levels of funding would be more effective than simply not voting for them? Don’t vote for them, having the NoNationalRifleAssociation (NNRA) throw a couple of thousand at their opponents’ campaigns, perhaps we could get some progress on this issue. Actually, it might be best to start by trying to get a representative in who is strongly anti-gun and willing to keep throwing bills that ban or restrict guns into Congress until one of them sticks.
@1:
I’m sorry, but this reminds me of a Molly Ivins joke. Or maybe a bit of Ivins’ reporting. It’s Texas, so you just don’t know. Anyway…
A man gets elected to the Texas lege from a small town in west Texas. He’s never been to a big city like Austin before and is spending his time partying it up. A lobbyist of the Texas chiropractic association comes to him and offers him $100 to vote for a bill legalizing chiropractors in Texas. He takes the money, offers the lobbyist a drink, and promises to vote the way he wants.
The next day, the hung over legislator votes against the chiropractic bill. The lobbyist stalks into his office, angry as can be, and demands to know why the legislator voted against him.
“Well,” the legislator says. “You only gave me $100. The doctors’ lobbyist gave me $200 to vote against the bill.”
At which point, the lobbyist, of course, starts swearing and screaming. The legislator, who, as you may recall, is quite hung over, eventually takes offense. “Oh come off it!” he says, eventually. “You knew I was weak when I took your money.”
I miss Molly Ivins.
That was cool, the site had their emails. None of my representatives accepted money from the NRA, so I emailed all of them and thanked them for that and told them it was high time to quit praying and start doing something concrete with some common sense gun laws, and that I fully supported better gun legislation. Who knows what they will do but at least I got to have my say.
but wait! there’s another possibility… you could vote for… ANOTHER DEMOCRAT. because this is a vote for a legislative seat, and you can in fact have two democrats vying for the same seat.
fuck you and your inane comparisons.
Neither the incumbent republican Senate candidate or House candidate took NRA money, which is good. The fact that they maintained party discipline wayyyy to often is why they won’t receive my vote in the fall.
@Dianne, as I understand it, they don’t have to give you a lot of money, simply threaten to fund campaign ads against you and or look for a more compliant politician with which to primary against you at the appropriate time.
I thought the NRA’s MO was that they fund the opponents of successful gun reformers. I don’t think they spend their money as much on gun rights supporters, as it’s more of an implicit threat.
I’m skeptical of such websites, though. Where’s the citations? How can I double-check? With hundreds of people in congress, I’m sure a site like that makes mistakes.
@#10, Ichthyic
And if there doesn’t happen to be another Democrat running for that seat, which seems to be the case in at least one listed contest? What then? Do you hold your nose and vote for the one who has been bribed by the NRA, thus supporting the gun fetishists, or just stay home from the polls, which people like Nerd of Redhead assure us is exactly the same as voting Republican?
Obviously you anti-gun people like PZ are making the perfect the enemy of the good. You’re just a bunch of naive dreamers who are applying purity tests. You should just get over it and vote for the NRA candidates, because Donald Trump Supreme Court gay marriage.
Okay, enough satire. What about other pro-gun funding? I know the NRA is the main one, but IIRC the manufacturers do a bit of
briberylobbying directly, too, and then there are the various groups involved in war (which boost weapons sales), and the private prison industry which is pro-gun as well. Are there any listings for those?On the other side of the coin, my representative in the House is Joe “Only God sets the thermostat” Barton. I expect the NRA has a regular direct deposit to his numbered account in the Caymans, but even if he was throwing all of their cash back in their faces, he’ll get my vote when Hell freezes over. Or at least northern Greenland.