The North Carolina Democratic Party is taking Senator Richard Burr to task on his right-wing, anti-jobs agenda in a new video released this morning. The video challenges Burr for skipping a crucial vote on the jobs bill to attend a campaign fundraising, siding with Jim Bunning while voting against unemployment benefits, and promising voters that...
"...it is impossible for any candidate to get to the right of me from an ideological standpoint." [2/23/10]
Secretary of State Elaine Marshall -- who is challenging Burr for Senate -- has been holding his feet to the fire for months on his disturbing actions in the Senate. Just last week, Elaine launched a petition with thousands of signees calling on Burr to stop Jim Bunning's filibuster of unemployment benefits:
This week, we've seen the worst of Washington as Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning is single-handedly blocking the extension of important unemployment benefits for thousands of North Carolinians. Our Senator, Richard Burr, remains eerily silent.
It's no surprise really, the same failed leadership we've come to expect - but we can't let him get away it. It's time we speak up, and send Richard Burr a message.
Burr would go on to vote against extending unemployment benefits despite 78 Senators supporting it.
Had the bill failed, thousands of out-of-work North Carolians would have been crippled.
But as the Sunlight Foundation pointed out this morning, Richard Burr isn't working for the people of North Carolina. Instead he's focused solely on the needs of lobbyists and special interests:
Of the 38 parties that raised money for Burr since January 2009, 33 of them were held in Washington, D.C., and featured 54 registered lobbyists and 21 PACs as hosts--all representing interests with business before Congress.
This is exactly why North Carolina needs a Senator who has and will take on the special interests.
Senator Burr's votes increasingly show that he has forgotten who he represents. After 15 years in Washington, Richard Burr has become more concerned about satisfying the people who fund his campaigns than standing up for the people of North Carolina."
-- Elaine Marshall
Elaine Marshall was the first to introduce and enact major lobbying reform in North Carolina, and as Secretary of State has a record of taking on scam artisits and Wall Street. In fact, in the just the last year and half, Elaine helped to return over $340 million from Wall Street banks to the people of North Carolina.
She is the only candidate with that record -- and the only candidate who can take Richard Burr to task.
(Full Disclosure: I am consulting on Elaine Marshall's campaign.)