Published: October 08, 2008 09:57 pm            

MARK BENNETT: Reaching across the aisle not always as easy as it sounds

VINCENNES — Anyone who expected Tuesday’s 8th District congressional debate to turn into the Goode, the Brad and the Ugly probably left Vincennes University disappointed.

The tone used by Rep. Brad Ellsworth and his Republican challenger, Greg Goode, remained relatively respectful, as political duels go. Still, some feistiness emerged. Goode tried to point out the bad in the first-term incumbent’s record, alleging that Ellsworth’s votes haven’t matched his reputation as a conservative Democrat. Ellsworth tried to refute that, accusing Goode of cherry-picking portions of his record to distort it, and defending his questioned votes.

The congressman said Goode’s attacks were the “typical Washington type, what people are sick of. They take a portion of a vote or an amendment on a bill and they spin it the way they want it to come across to the people.”

Goode insisted he didn’t “go negative” during the debate. “What’s sad is his voting record is so bad that there’s the perception of negativity,” he said afterward.

That exchange sums up the decision facing voters. If Goode’s view of Ellsworth reflects the majority, then could any Democrat be an acceptable representative for this traditionally Republican district? After all, at least statistically, Ellsworth’s centrist label fits.

Only 10 of 241 Democrats in the U.S. House voted against their party more than Ellsworth, by percentage. He agreed with the party majority on just 87.9 percent of his 1,861 votes in two years, according to the Washington Post database.

Still, in VU’s spectacular new Red Skelton Performing Arts Center, whose lobby is lined with larger-than-life portraits of the comic legend’s many characters, Goode depicted Ellsworth as a congressman of many faces, and “true conservative” wasn’t one of them.

He used as evidence Ellsworth’s very first vote on Jan. 4, 2007, when the freshman from Evansville cast a yea for Californian Nancy Pelosi to be speaker of the House. Pelosi, of course, is the California liberal who was in line to become speaker when Americans overturned the House in the 2006 congressional elections.

“Nancy Pelosi is brought to the 8th Congressional District by the vote of Congressman Brad Ellsworth,” Goode told the audience.

Ellsworth did indeed vote for Pelosi as House speaker. If he had voted against Pelosi, Ellsworth would have been the only House member — Democrat or Republican — to vote against their party’s speaker nominee. Every voting Democrat endorsed Pelosi. Every voting Republican backed Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, who is now the minority leader.

One glaring drawback of Ellsworth’s predecessor, John Hostettler, was his inability to build significant consensus among his fellow House members in support of his stances, even after 12 years in that seat. Occasionally, Hostettler — a staunch conservative Republican — stood as one of the few voices of wisdom. A prime example is his 2002 speech and vote against the invasion of Iraq, a country he said “poses a threat, but it does not pose an imminent threat that justifies a pre-emptive military strike at this time.” Just as often, though, Hostettler’s unwavering ideology left him, and the 8th District, as the odd man out.

Upon his election a couple Novembers ago, Ellsworth joined the Center Aisle Caucus, a bipartisan collection of House members, co-founded in 2005 by Illinois Republican Tim Johnson and New York Democrat Steve Israel. It includes just 60 members, but it’s a start. While they purposely leave the most divisive issues for full-House treatment, the Center Aisle reps do form some cross-party allegiances.

People often claim they’re tired of party-line politics and gridlock. But deep down, do folks truly want their Congress members to actually consort with the other side of the aisle?

In post-debate news conferences Tuesday night, both candidates said Americans want that cooperation in Washington, and they vowed to participate in it.

At least some of it.

“I come into this with an attitude that I’ll work with anybody,” Ellsworth said. “I’ll work with Democrats, I’ll work with Leader Boehner, I’ll work with John McCain to solve these problems. And it sounded from the tone of [the debate] that Mr. Goode was not willing to work with the speaker of the House.

“Not everybody is going to agree with everybody on everything,” Ellsworth added. “I don’t agree with the speaker of the House on everything, and I vote against her when my convictions and/or I think that’s necessary.”

Goode cast himself as the “rock-solid, reliable conservative” 8th District residents desire, and said Democrats have “had it their way for two years, and I think that the American people will prove on Nov. 4 that time for change is coming.” Still, Goode insisted he could work with Democrats.

“I think so,” he told reporters. “I learned from my mentors, John T. Myers from Covington and my old boss, Ed Pease, that you can be a conservative and have rock-solid conservative convictions and still be able to reach across the aisle and get things done.

“But here’s where I draw the line,” the Terre Hautean continued, “I draw the line when it comes to life. I’m not going to reach across the aisle to try to get something done if it means spending our tax dollars to fund organizations that provide abortions either domestically or abroad. I’m not going to reach across the aisle to support legislation if our Second Amendment rights are at stake. I’m not going to reach across the aisle and support a bipartisan approach that’s going to do anything that’s going to take away the funding and support of our troops serving overseas. There comes a point in time when the 8th District deserves a congressman who’s going to draw that line in the sand and say, ‘Enough’s enough. We’re not going to go there.’”

Sometimes, middle ground becomes a very thin line.



Mark Bennett can be reached at mark.bennett@tribstar.com or (812) 231-4377.

        

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