Posted on 10/30/2006 5:33:13 PM PST by Pachydermtruth
There’s nothing ‘insensitive’ about Virginia Foxx
By Dwight Sparks - The political wars are fully engaged with the election only two weeks away. I’ve been amused at the off-base attacks on Congresswoman Virginia Foxx. Her Democratic critics have called her out of touch and insensitive. More accurately, she must be the most visible, accessible member of Congress ever to serve this area. She has spent weekends and time when Congress is at recess crisscrossing the district, turning up at public events large and very small. She has the energy of a kindergarten student. Anyone in the 5th district who hasn’t seen her in the past two years must be living under a rock. Critics have called her insensitive because she was one of a handful of Congressmen to vote against the billions of dollars of relief for Katrina flood and hurricane victims. She said the hastily-crafted package didn’t include the proper safeguards against waste and abuse. She proved prophetic. Many subsequent stories have chronicled how federal dollars were spent not on helping the hurricane victims, but for luxury items and wasteful purposes. It would have been easier for her to join the crowd and blindly vote to open the federal money spigots. Instead, she asked for controls to make sure the money didn’t fall into the wrong hands. Now, auditors are trying to chase down that wasted money. She showed courage, not a lack of sensitivity. There is nothing insensitive about a member of Congress who has put her staff to work securing service medals for veterans who didn’t get them during World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Mrs. Foxx has often presented those medals in her Clemmons office to grateful and aging members of this district. Our World War II generation is quickly dying away. Awarding the proper medals to those brave men needs to be done quickly. Honoring veterans and our active military has been an important part of her first term in office. Rare for a freshman House member, Rep. Foxx won approval for a bill she sponsored allowing servicemen to invest in retirement accounts. President Bush signed the bill into law. By any measure, she has had a very productive, very busy first term. She deserves another. She has ruffled some feathers. She established her district offices in Boone and Clemmons. Previous 5th district Congressmen maintained an office in Winston-Salem, but the city no longer dominates the district. The Clemmons office recognized the new voting strength of the suburbs and the fast-growing rural counties of Davie and Yadkin. Her Democratic opponent, Roger Sharpe, is a nice man with a good reputation, but he has not made a convincing case for replacing the incumbent. Two years ago, Virginia Foxx survived a brutal Republican primary with some of the party’s biggest stars. Voters thought she was the best of the bunch. Her performance in office hasn’t disappointed them. She has made close friends among the House Republican circles and spread her influence. She closely toes the party line. Some criticize her for that. They seem to prefer an isolated House member with no respect among her peers. Virginia Foxx didn’t go to Washington and forget who sent her. She didn’t get inside the House chambers and change her way of thinking. She is the same woman we sent two years ago — a conservative mountain girl not afraid to make her voice heard in high places.
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