Representative Jo Ann Davis, a Republican representing Virginia's First Congressional District, who, from February this year until the August recess and post recess, was listed on the House roll calls at house.gov with an almost 85% "not voting" record during that time which was an unbelievably high percentage of failing to vote on the floor of the House.  You can read about this in the posting, "Are Republican Ethics and Candor Oxymorons?" on this site in the Monthly Archives section, 9/24/07.

Sadly, Ms. Davis passed away last weekend from breast cancer.  But, as mentioned in the posting, her staff gave the impression that she was healthy and working, which was false. 

When politicians pass away, it's a good time to examine their record in order to maintain historical accuracy in the face of Republican revisionism.  This representative's Congressional record falls into the deplorable category, just as do the records of the majority of Republicans in the Republican controlled Congress from 1995 to 2006 (with only a short period early in Bush's first term when the Senate was very briefly and tenuously in Democratic hands).

Some basic research about this former Republican representative, her district, and state is very illuminating and confirms the worst about modern (post-Teddy Roosevelt) Republicans.

Jo Ann Davis represented a gerrymandered Republican district that even Jim Webb didn't carry last year. The only time she ran against a Democrat before 2006 was for an open seat in 2000 which was formerly held by a Republican for many years.

Only three of Virginia's eleven Congressional districts are represented by Democrats. The state legislature is Republican controlled.  The governor is a center-right Democrat but the lieutenant governor and the attorney general are Republicans.

Ms. Davis was a card carrying Republican Party member who, like many Republican officeholders in the state, considers Virginia now and forever a Republican entity by right.  Unlike Ms. Davis, some of these Virginia Republican officeholders are former "Democrats" or Dixiecrats who switched to the Republican Party. However, like her, after having had no Democratic opponents for years they believe the office is theirs by entitlement and become upset (debate, what debate, I've never had to debate before, etc.) when they are challenged by a Democrat (which is happening a bit more often nowadays although not nearly enough by any means).

To give you another example of the Republican mind-set, Ms. Davis' husband has already jumped the gun and thrown his hat into the ring, just three days after her funeral, and even before any official announcement of a special election.  He said, "She had asked me if I'd consider stepping in......I'm seeking this office for the long term.....and not simply to finish out the cycle....I was the back seat driver behind Jo Ann..."  It sounds like he thinks that the seat is a permanent legacy entitlement and leaves open the question as to who was actually making the late representative's decisions.

Many of these Democratic opponents are called "newcomers," a term in the South meaning you weren't born in the state or have only lived there for less than a quarter of a century. Some of these Democrats, many of them originally from the "North," (they are reminders of the dastardly bluecoats in the "War of Northern Aggression" as the Civil War is known in the South) are not afraid to challenge these entitlement Republicans on issues, pointing out that up is not down and confront these Republicans on the illogical, detrimental, and fear mongering fallacies they have been feeding their constituents.

So, these Republican officeholders and their campaigns get nasty and smear, slime, and lie about their Democratic opponents, aided and abetted by the right- wing-leaning to far right conservative media that dominate many of Virginia's districts. Let's not forget the right wing bloggers for whom lying and smearing is obligatory.

A neighboring Republican held district of Virginia's 1st Congressional is also home to Pat Robertson's law school, Regent University, made famous or infamous during the recent House hearings on Gonzalez, the Department of Justice, the US attorneys' firings scandal and the subject of Jon Stewart's on target satire.  Virginia is also home to the late Jerry Falwell and his Liberty University. Falwell and Robertson are also known for their infamous statements
immediately following September 11.

Jo Ann Davis was an avid Republican patterned from this mold.  She was a political figure, a member of the House of Representatives with all that that entails. She was certainly not a leading member of the House and, outside of her district, certain parts of the state, and Republican circles, was not that well known regionally or nationally.  She could be counted on for her usual Bush Republican loyalist lemming vote in the House.

However, she became somewhat "known" when, as the chair of a House intelligence subcommittee, she could not explain to a reporter for Congressional Quarterly the difference between the Sunni and Shia in Iraq.

Ms. Davis was a Bush Republican rubber stamp throughout her six plus years in Congress, although when Bush's poll numbers began tanking, she tried repackaging herself as an independent conservative. 

Here is an historically accurate partial list of her record in Congress:

- Ms. Davis joined with then fellow Republican, paragon of hypocrisy and champion of racism, Senator Strom Thurmond and Republican Senators Lamar Alexander and Susan Collins, Republican Rep. Larry Combest, former Republican Reps. Robert Erlich and Joe Scarborough to file letters of complaint to the IRS against NAACP in 2004 requesting an audit which happened right before the election. This only came to light in 2006. How honorable of these Republicans to employ one of their favorite dirty tricks against an organization that had the audacity to criticize Bush and the GOP! 

- Ms. Davis missed the CAFTA vote. Davis received significant criticism for not voting on CAFTA in July, 2005. Because she and another Republican member, Charles Taylor of North Carolina, failed to vote (both said they were against the agreement), CAFTA passed. Her excuse was that she had to attend a Boy Scout Jamboree in Caroline County at 5:30 p.m. which was canceled due to bad weather. That destination is about 2 1/2 hours from Washington. The vote was scheduled for midnight and occurred at 12:03 a.m.  A 5:30 p.m. event canceled but she couldn't return to Capitol Hill by midnight? Something really fishy there, dontcha think?  No cell phones available???

- Ms. Davis was voted one of the worst representatives for children by the Children's Defense Fund Action Council in 2005.

- Ms. Davis voted for oil drilling and development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

-Ms. Davis voted against raising Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards.

- Ms. Davis voted to sell public lands to mining companies.

- Ms. Davis, of course, voted for the Iraq war and supported US troops remaining in Iraq for decades, parroting the Bush line of standing down when Iraqis stand up.  When challenged about the tragic mess in Iraq she dismissed it as spilled milk.

- Ms. Davis voted against expanding Tricare health insurance to thousands of Reserve and National Guard members relieving our overstretched Army and Marine Corps in Iraq.

- Ms. Davis voted against a $1,800 bonus to every Armed Forces member serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

- Ms. Davis voted to cut $14 billion from veterans' health care and $14 billion more from their other benefits.

- Ms. Davis voted against human embryonic stem cell research.

- Ms. Davis received a vote of 10% by the American Retirees Association on senior issues.

- Ms. Davis voted for Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

- Ms. Davis voted to continue giving contracts to Halliburton even after investigations showed hundreds of millions in questionable "invoices" also known as overcharging or fraud.

- Ms. Davis was an avid supporter of Medicare Plan D, the senior prescription boondoggle that thickened the lining of pharmaceutical companies' pockets at the expense of seniors' limited, fixed incomes.

- Ms. Davis voted against overtime protection for millions of workers.

- Ms. Davis was a member of the House Republican Study Committee which proposed cutting military benefits to pay for Katrina costs.

- Ms. Davis was a co-sponsor of a measure to repeal the income tax, employment tax, estate tax and gift tax (all those yachts!) and replace it with a national sales tax on the use or consumption in the U.S. of taxable property or services.  The tax rate would be set at 23%!  What a wonderful regressive, unfair tax burden for working Americans, but great for the wealthy few! 

- Ms. Davis received $5,000 from that icon of Republican ethics, Tom DeLay and returned it verrrrrrry slowly and somewhat reluctantly, defending Tom to the bitter end.

- Ms. Davis voted with her Republican Party 94% of the time and with George Bush 81% of the time.

And on and on and on...you get the picture.  For more of her depressing Congressional voting record you can go to joanndavis.info, house.gov, ontheissues, the DCCC, etc., etc., etc.

George W. Bush's presidency, when this representative was a GOP member of the House (from January, 2001 to October 6, 2007), will go down in history as a time when Congress abrogated its Constitutional responsibilities as a co-equal branch of government.  It will be remembered for its Republican members' innumerable scandals and crimes.  It will be known as an infamous period when Congressional Republicans' myopic, unquestioning, Constitution trashing, rubber stamp support of an ignominious, prevaricating, scandalous and law breaking Republican Bush and his administration wreaked havoc on the United States