A politician without principles??

I know, it shouldn't be shocking. Elected officials routinely sell out their principles, and their constituents, on a regular basis. They do it for money, for votes, for power, for any reason at all, basically.

Still, it can be disappointing. And this week, I'm disappointed in Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL), who announced today that he will not vote for the healthcare reform bill pending in the US House of Representatives.

Rep. Artur Davis announces he'll vote against health care bill

Davis has been a member of the Alabama delegation in the House since 2002. We don't actually live in his district; by less than a mile, we're represented by the moronic Spencer Bachus. Still, we've always been supporters of Davis. He's been particularly good to the Jewish community, speaking at our synagogue and to other Jewish organizations. Since his predecessor, Earl Hilliard, was a borderline anti-Semite, this was a welcome change.

In June, Rep. Davis announced he would run for Alabama's governorship in 2010. We attended his "kickoff" event in downtown Birmingham, and were invited to stand on stage behind Davis as he gave his speech.

But after today's announcement, I'm done.

I know what he's doing. He's giving up his principles (he has talked of supporting a public option in healthcare reform in the past) so that the inbred, Fox News-watching hicks who make up the majority of this state will vote for him. I know it, but I don't like it.

Alabama is one of the states that would benefit the most from a true healthcare reform, and a public option. We have a ridiculous amount of people -- mostly children -- in this state without health insurance.

But apparently, Mr. Davis doesn't care. In fact, he apparently cares more about his own political future than he does about what's best for his district, his state, and his nation.

And that's a shame. And what makes it even more a shame is that I doubt it will work. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think Alabama will elect an African-American as governor. Not yet, anyway.

In any case, if he wins the governorship, he'll have to do it without my vote. Because I'm done with Artur Davis.

Before I "unfollowed" Rep. Davis on Facebook (and Twitter!), I posted this to his Facebook page:

Rep. Davis, I've been a supporter of you for a long time. My family and I were on stage behind you when you announced your run for governor in Linn Park.

But with today's announcement that you won't vote for health care reform, I am done with you. Will no longer support you, will no longer donate to your campaign, will no longer follow you on Facebook, and I certainly won't vote for you.

You are well aware that the healthcare bill pending in the House is the ONLY version of healthcare reform that will come up for a vote this year, or probably next year. So by refusing to vote for it, you have explicitly endorsed the status quo, and you'll be on the wrong side of the most important vote of your Congressional career.

Is this healthcare bill perfect? No. In my mind, the public option should be even STRONGER. But it is a thousand times better than our current healthcare system, which wastes hundreds of millions of dollars every year, dooms children and adults alike to early deaths, and benefits no one except for insurance companies and pharmaceutical firms.

You have sold out your principles in an attempt to be "moderate" and a "conservative Democrat," so that the people of Alabama will elect you governor.

In doing so, Mr. Davis, I guarantee you that you've lost at least one vote, that, until now, was about as reliable and rock-solid that you could have asked for.

Senatorially Speaking.

An interesting experience today.

A mass email was sent out to the members of the local chapter of the National Jewish Democratic Council on behalf of Alabama State Senator Vivian Figures. She is running for the US Senate this November against our Republican incumbent, Jeff Sessions.

The email was inquiring about the possibility of Senator Figures speaking to our NJDC chapter, and linked to her website. I looked at her website, and from the site, could not determine whether she was a Democrat challenging Sessions in the general election or a Republican primary challenger. I found that neither of the words "Democrat" or "Democratic" appeared anywhere on her site.

After confirming via other sources that she is in fact a Democratic state Senator from Mobile, I sent the following reply to the PR rep who had sent the original email:

Personally, I'm not particularly interested in hearing anyone speak to the NJDC who can't even place the word "Democrat" or "Democratic" anywhere on her website. (I've Googled the entire figures2008.com site, and neither term appears anywhere within.)

I would love to see Jeff Sessions pack his bags. But even in Alabama, in 2008, we can (and should) be proud to be Democrats.

If your firm is working with Sen. Figures, and trying to get her in front of DEMOCRATIC groups in Alabama, I'd suggest a little more party identification would be helpful.

The representative of Sen. Figures responded quickly, thanking me for my concerns. He also said that the Senator would like to call me and discuss the matter with me.

I provided my cell phone number.

Not 10 minutes later, it rings. And it is Senator Figures on the phone herself, not a representative, not a secretary.

What followed was a 30-40 minute conversation, easily the longest I've ever had with an elected official at the state level (or higher). Senator Figures thanked me for my concerns, and told me that she is certainly not running away from the term "Democrat." She's been a proud Democrat all her life, she said, and promised that the website will soon reflect a more prominent statement of party affiliation.

I know, I know, promises from politicians are a dime-a-dozen. But the mere fact that she called me to discuss my concerns really impresses me. Not only that, she gave me -- as she gives everyone -- her HOME phone number, usually forwarded to her cell phone, and asked me to call her at any time with any concerns.

She seems like the real deal, and if she's half as sincere as she appears to be, she'd be a welcome replacement for our "good ol' boy" incumbent, Jeff Sessions. I related the story of how Raya and I met Senator Sessions in 2003 at the United Jewish Communities Washington 13 conference, and how he was completely patronizing. Not only did he have no interest in signing on to the bill for which we were lobbying, he also made it clear that our opinions were useless to him. I guess he knew that he wasn't getting a lot of Jewish votes in Alabama, anyway.

I also told the Senator that I'd applied to attend the 2008 Democratic National Convention as a member of the State Blogger Corps. She promised to help if there's any way she can do so.

Senator Figures is a strong opponent of the Iraq War, wants to bring our troops home immediately. Sounds good to me.

Look, I would have voted for any Democrat running against Jeff Sessions in November. That moron needs to go. But Senator Figures really impressed me, responding personally to an offhand email comment. She really wanted to take the time to understand why it was important to me, and I appreciated that.

Personal conversations with elected officials? Very rare indeed.