Dennis Moore A Sometime Progressive
Today, U.S. Representative Dennis Moore, a Democrat from the 3rd congressional district of Kansas, will announce that he is not planning to run for re-election in 2010. How this retirement will affect the networks of power in the House of Representatives cannot be confidently predicted until we know who will run to replace Moore as the Democratic nominee in 2010.
We can describe Congressman Moore’s record, however, as one of a sometime progressive. Moore seemed to follow the prevailing wind, erring slightly on the progressive side, but often flipping over to support right wing legislation when it seemed the most convenient thing to do.
In 2002, Representative Moore acquiesced to George W. Bush’s push to invade Iraq, voting to allow Bush to rush an invasion with minimal checks on his war authority. However, in the 110th Congress, Moore was among those Democrats who stood against President Bush’s efforts to expand his warrantless wiretapping spy program against Americans. Moore voted against both the Protect America Act and the FISA Amendments Act.
In the current session of Congress, Moore has earned only a 46 percent progressive rating. That relatively low rating is due mostly to a failure to support important progressive pieces of legislation, such as H.R. 104, an attempt to create a bipartisan committee to investigate the criminal acts within the U.S. Executive Branch under George W. Bush. Moore also has helped to thwart progressive legislation by joining the Blue Dog Coalition, which promotes a right wing legislative agenda.
Three Republicans have confirmed their plans to campaign for Moore’s seat in the 2010 election. We’ll be waiting to see which Democrats from the district are willing to seize the opportunity to follow Moore.
