Lets See Some Talk About Democratic Candidates Non-Vote on Pedophilia Study Vote In Congress
http://bama.ua.edu/~sprentic/607%20Garrison%20&%20Kobor-2002.htm
Members of Congress have keen radar for what their constituents will understand and accept. They do not take off their “everyman hats” when they read a scientific article about child sexual abuse. They also knew that a vote against H. Con. Res. 107 (1999) would be viewed by their colleagues and constituents as a vote for normalizing pedophilia. The odds were overwhelming that the resolution would pass.
On July 12, 1999, the resolution passed 355 to 0 in the House, with 13 members voting “present,” and it passed by voice vote two weeks later in the Senate. No member of Congress voted against the resolution. The commentary of Representative Brian Baird (D) of Washington (Baird, 2002, this issue), psychologist and APA member, details the price he paid and the reasons for his vote of “present.”
Although all of the 13 House members who voted “present” were reelected in 2000, a significant number of them (including Representative Ted Strickland [D] of Ohio, the other APA member in Congress) suffered conservative grassroots and media attacks similar to those described by Representative Baird.