Some folks in Mizzou-rah object to Gephardt's absences, it seems (Kansas City Star editorial):
Posted on Thu, Jul. 31, 2003
Gephardt's absence hurt Head Start
U.S. Rep. Richard Gephardt of St. Louis says he's a big supporter of the Head Start education program for low-income, preschool children.
He has a lousy way of showing it.
Only hours before Congress voted 217-216 on a disastrous change to Head Start, Gephardt left Washington to raise cash in South Carolina for his presidential campaign.
Had he rescheduled his fund-raisers or postponed his departure, his actions would have been true to his words.
Without Gephardt present, Republicans mustered enough votes to allow eight states to control their Head Start programs.
Head Start supporters worry that shifting control from the federal government will undermine program quality. Financially pressed states may be tempted to divert federal funds to less successful childhood programs. And many states lack strict performance and training standards for early education.
It's up to the Senate to craft a better bill that saves Head Start for children who desperately need it.
Only Gephardt and Democrat Ed Pastor missed the House vote. Pastor was returning from Arizona after seeing his ill father.
Every other Democrat voted against the bill, including local members Dennis Moore of Kansas and Karen McCarthy and Ike Skelton of Missouri. Republicans Sam Graves of Missouri and Jim Ryun of Kansas voted for it.
Howard Dean, one of Gephardt's Democratic opponents for the presidential nomination, quickly blasted away. Dean's remarks were on target: "If you really consider children's issues a priority, you can't miss votes like this."
Gephardt, a former House majority leader, downplayed his absence, saying, "Republicans tend to produce as many votes as they need to win these things, unfortunately."
His defenders said that Republican House leaders would have forced one of their 12 members who voted against the bill to switch sides if Gephardt had stayed in town.
But if one of them had switched to support the bill, he or she would have had to defend that decision to voters back home who want to protect Head Start.
Erik Smith, a Gephardt press secretary, added of Head Start, "It's a significant issue and it's a bad bill. If he were there, he would have voted against it."
But Gephardt wasn't there -- again. He has missed a stunning number of votes during his presidential campaign.
Gephardt forces implied that they were surprised the bill came up in the middle of the night. And yet 433 of the 435 House members knew enough to stick around for the important Head Start decision.
Too bad Gephardt didn't.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascitystar/news/opinion/6427384.htm