Leonard Lance: Stimulus Hypocrite

by: vmars

Wed Feb 18, 2009 at 07:52:25 AM EST

He even wrote a piece defending his vote against the bill that was run in multiple papers, suggesting that it was a vote of honor rather than a vote of partisanship.

But now Lance is trying to have it both ways, touting his "principled" vote against spending while getting photo-ops for the papers hoping stimulus money will come to his district.

Under the terms of the stimulus plan signed into law Tuesday by President Barack Obama, infrastructure projects that are "shovel-ready" could be the first to be funded with economic recovery money.

That's the hope of Rep. Leonard Lance, R-Clinton Township, who toured the project's construction sites Tuesday morning with Mayor Carey Pilato, members of the Green Brook Flood Control Commission and representatives of the Army Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing the project.

"This is a classic example of a "shovel-ready' project," Lance said after the tour.

You never heard Lance say this before the stimulus vote.  It would have gone against the GOP bosses position that stimulus spending was bad if Lance had suggested we should put the Green Brook Flood Control Project in the stimulus package.  And going against the bosses can be bad juju for a freshman Rep.

Further proof that this was a partisan effort to take credit for a bill he voted against, Lance toured the area solely with Republican Pilato -- former staffer for Mike Ferguson -- and none of the Democratic council members from Bound Brook.  

He didn't invite the Democratic Mayors of Green Brook, Manville or North Plainfield either, three towns that flooded massively in the 1973 storm that spawned the Green Brook Flood Control Project, flooded again in 1999 when Hurricane Floyd hit and gave new impetus to the effort.  Manville again flooded in 1997 when the Nor'Easter hit.

No, after voting in lockstep with his party against the Democrats in the House Lance blocks out Democrats from working with him in protecting their homes and businesses from flooding.

In the State Senate Lance had a reputation for bi-partisanship and working to solve problems without being a blind party follower.  In just a month as a member of Congress he's giving up that hard earned image to become another drone in the national Republican party.

UPDATE: Jay Lassiter shows us that Lance is using Facebook to pimp his wish for more stimulus dollars he voted against to come to NJ.  Sheesh.