Emerson hasn't been afraid to stand against the party line

In April, U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson cast a lonely vote of "present" on an Iraq war funding bill, siding neither with the Democrats pushing the bill or the almost solid Republican opposition.

The vote, she explained at the time, was a protest against making funding the troops a political issue. The measure had no chance of becoming law and became instead a test of fealty to President Bush for Republicans and of Democratic solidarity in opposition.

Shortly afterward, Emerson was one of nine Republicans who visited the White House to persuade Bush to change policies in Iraq.

More recently, Emerson joined three other Republicans who sided with Democrats on a resolution calling for Bush to set a date to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq. The withdrawal could be symbolic, Emerson said -- a single soldier brought home.

"I feel very torn about it, as most Americans do," Emerson said in a recent interview. "We have lost thousands of lives in support of the Iraqi government, which hasn't done anything. It is frustrating to ask young Americans to stand up for people who won't stand up for themselves."

While Emerson's war votes stand out because of the acidic effect of the war on political comity, it doesn't represent a major shift in the way the six-term Republican does business. While she's deeply loyal to her party, as would be expected of the daughter of a former national GOP executive director, she has never voted in lockstep with her party.

"She is a fiercely independent person," said Paul Sloca, spokesman for the Missouri Republican Party. "If that doesn't always jibe with standard Republican Party policy, a majority of the time she supports the things important to us."

Emerson was one of 19 Republicans who favored the 2007 Farm Bill in a July House vote. On Friday, she was one of 77 Republicans to vote for a bill cutting subsidies to banks that make student loans and requiring lower interest rates. All 97 votes against the measure were cast by Republicans.

Congressional GOP leaders also aren't demanding the rigid party loyalty they did when the party held the majority, Emerson said. "When you are in the minority, the leadership doesn't whip votes like they used to, the way they did when we were in the majority. It has enabled me to at least be able to vote the way our district wants on issues."

In 2003, it took hard persuading to get Emerson to vote for a Medicare prescription drug bill that didn't allow the reimportation of cheaper drugs from Canada. Her vote sent the bill to the Senate. When the final vote came and the bill still didn't have what Emerson wanted, no amount of persuasion could get her to vote "yes."

"I changed my vote when the speaker [Dennis Hastert] and Tom DeLay promised I would have the reimportation bill on the floor. I was willing to move the process forward," she said, explaining her initial vote.

Drug reimportation was blocked by big pharmaceutical companies and never came up while Republicans controlled Congress. Emerson hoped that would change when Democrats took over in January. Once again, she was disappointed. The pharmaceutical lobby has an ally in the Democrat who controls the committee responsible for the issue.

"It is hard to even get a hearing on that issue," she said. "My Republican and Democratic colleagues who have been working on the issue have been equally shocked."

Emerson said it will take direct action to get the bill to a vote.

Voters in the 8th District have rewarded Emerson's independent nature with overwhelming support. Since winning her first election as an independent -- state law barred her from filing as a Republican to replace her late husband, U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson -- Emerson has easily won re-election. In the past three contests, she has received an average of 72 percent of the vote.

Democrats once held almost every conceivable office in Southeast Missouri. Bill Emerson's election in 1980 broke that control, and as the GOP has built up its organization, the Democratic Party has withered.

Taking the seat from Emerson would be a tall order, and Democrats aren't likely to target the district anytime soon. "It is hard to go from not holding public office to beating an incumbent in Congress," said Jack Cardetti, spokesman for the Missouri Democratic Party.

To pry voters away from Emerson, any Democratic candidate would need to win back support of labor unions that have become an increasing source of help for Emerson's re-election campaigns. In 1996, unions gave Emerson just 0.4 percent of her political action committee donations; in 2006, that share increased to 18 percent.

In 2000, Emerson married labor lawyer Ron Gladney, a Democrat. But perhaps more importantly, in terms of winning the help of labor unions, Emerson has brought substantial federal dollars to the district for construction, including money to build a bridge and a federal courthouse at Cape Girardeau.

14th-poorest district

Ideology isn't going to advance the causes Emerson cares deeply about, she said. For example, the 2007 Farm Bill vote became partisan when it included a $4 billion tax increase on foreign companies with U.S. subsidiaries, money dedicated to expanding the food stamp program. For a week this spring, Emerson limited herself to eating only what she could buy with the average food stamp allotment -- about $1 per meal.

"The 8th Congressional District is the 14th-poorest district in the country," she said. "You can't be an ideologue. I am as nonpartisan as you can get. I don't know what party anyone who comes to talk to me is. I will talk to everyone who wants to talk to me."

In addition to the food aid, the farm bill as passed by the House is good for farmers in the 8th District, Emerson said. It protects support programs while making realistic cuts needed to help balance the budget, she said.

The Missouri Farm Bureau, which helped spearhead the 1996 petition drive that put Emerson on the ballot as an independent after the death of Bill Emerson, agrees with Emerson's vote. Garrett Hawkins, the farm bureau's director of national legislative programs, noted that Emerson was joined in the vote by U.S. Reps. Sam Graves, R-Liberty, and Kenny Hulshof, R-Columbia. "I wouldn't say we were supportive of the tax provision per se, but by and large it is a good underlying bill."

Emerson retains the strong support of the farm bureau, Hawkins said.

Graves will be a target for Democrats in 2008. But the 8th District is Emerson territory for the foreseeable future.

Democrats made some small gains in 2006 in legislative races, and hold a majority of county offices in many of the district's 28 counties. "The 8th Congressional District is not unwinnable," Cardetti said. "But to be realistic, it is going to take a long-term approach."

And Emerson, 56, isn't likely to step aside anytime soon.

"I like so much what I do," she said. "I like having our district. It is big enough, but I can still get up close and personal. It worries me a bit if I did a statewide office that I would not be able to get around as much as I do. ... But I never say never because I have found that is not a good idea."

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126