In 8th District GOP primary, Emerson stands by votes, Parker banking on voter discontent

In most election years, the campaign moments that make U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson sweat occur as she marches in summertime parades at county fairs and hometown celebrations across the 8th Congressional District.

She's never had significant opposition in the Republican primary. In her six re-election campaigns, she has had a primary opponent twice and both times received more than 87 percent of the GOP vote.

And with the exception of 1998, no Democratic challenger amassed anything more than a token campaign treasury. Emerson averages 69.8 percent of the vote.

Bob Parker

But in the 2010 election cycle, Emerson is taking heat from all sides of the political spectrum. In Tuesday's primary, Texas County farmer and rancher Bob Parker says Emerson is not conservative enough. Democrat Tommy Sowers, attacking from the left, has raised more money than any of Emerson's previous opponents. Libertarian Party candidate Rick Vandeven of Chaffee, Mo., will also be on the Nov. 2 ballot. Independent candidate Larry Bill of Jackson is awaiting word whether he, too, will make the ballot based on a petition campaign.

Without a big campaign treasury -- Parker has raised $30,982 versus Emerson's $1.4 million election fund -- he has spent much of the last year traveling the 28-county district. In his travels, he has made numerous speeches, appeared on local conservative radio talk shows and aggressively used free media outlets. He's banking on the voter discontent shown at tea party rallies in the district to turn out the incumbent.

During her 14 years in office, Emerson has charted a moderate-conservative course. She is a member of the Tuesday Group, a band of moderate Republicans who work to find consensus with moderate Democrats, known as Blue Dogs, on important issues such as spending and tax policy.

"We're supposed to seek solutions and consensus," Emerson said in written responses to questions from the Southeast Missourian. "But on both sides of the aisle, members of Congress who feel that way are being ignored by the liberal Democratic majority."

In the past two years, Emerson has voted against the health care overhaul bill dubbed Obamacare, against the $787 billion economic stimulus bill, against cap-and-trade climate legislation, against most spending bills and against bills that would raise the federal debt ceiling.

Her stance on the stimulus bill was that it was too big and spent too little on projects that would immediately generate jobs. On Obamacare, Emerson's position was that it went far beyond what was needed to make health insurance simpler and more affordable.

A replacement bill for Obamacare would require uniform insurance products that are portable between the states, eliminate pre-existing condition clauses and lifetime coverage caps, Emerson said in her written replies. A substitute plan would also include prescription drug reforms, require some payment from low-income people for their coverage and promote preventive care. "I think a bill like that ought to pass Congress in a heartbeat and do a real measure of good," she said. "It would probably be 40 to 50 pages long -- not 2,300 pages like the health care reform I voted against in February."

In Parker's view, however, Congress has no business directing health insurance because it is outside its constitutional responsibilities. The Cash for Clunkers program and the $700 billion Wall Street bailout in October 2008 are examples of the federal government overstepping its authority with Emerson's support, Parker said.

"I am not someone who goes along to get along," Parker said in an interview. "I like to listen to ideas. But when it comes to principle, I don't back up. If people want someone like that in Washington, I am that guy."

Working across the aisle isn't a bad thing, Emerson said. Her efforts to allow the reimportation of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada and Europe, she noted, is a cause supported by libertarian conservative Ron Paul as well as many liberals. "It's something we have broad agreement on across the spectrum with everyone but the pharmaceutical lobbyists," she said. "Compromise doesn't mean abandoning your principles but it means finding common ground. That's sometimes tough, but you have to try."

There is no question of Emerson's Republican pedigree. Born in Bethesda, Md., Emerson is the daughter of Albert B. Hermann, who served as executive director of the Republican National Committee during the Eisenhower administration. She married Bill Emerson in 1975 and was the consensus choice among his supporters to run for his seat in Congress following his death in 1996.

D.C. 'a frustrating place'

In 14 years, Emerson has worked closely with Democrats on several measures. But with what she calls the most liberal Congressional leadership in history in charge and a charged partisan atmosphere, working with the majority is difficult, she said. She shares the anger of many voters over expensive, intrusive bills pushed through over solid GOP opposition.

"Washington is a frustrating place to be right now," she said. "There are so many missed opportunities to be constructive, to do positive things for our economy and to help Americans who are struggling through difficult times. But the major bills brought up for votes by the Democratic leadership are so liberal, so expansive and often so controversial, and they have little interest in consensus."

The Wall Street bailout was pushed through Congress by the Bush administration at a time when financial markets were crashing worldwide and interbank credit had virtually ceased. It was accompanied by dire predictions of a massive economic disruption unparalleled since the Great Depression.

Even with the bailout and other emergency steps like the stimulus bill and government help for Chrysler and General Motors, the country entered the worst recession since the early 1980s. When she voted for the bailout bill, Emerson said she was willing to lose her seat if necessary to prevent a total collapse.

She stands by the vote today, she said. Missouri businesses were struggling to find credit and senior citizens already seeing retirement investments shrink were in danger of losing all their savings. "We have the largest number of senior citizens in the state in the 8th Congressional District, and our economy depends on small businesses. Our community bankers, who I held numerous conversations with, were extremely concerned for their banks and their customers, and I was, too. So I voted for a bill to pull us back from the brink of that economic disaster with temporary relief."

But Emerson said the Treasury Department began using the money in ways she opposed, helping foreign banks and buying preferred stock, and she voted against releasing $350 billion set aside for the program.

System didn't 'reset'

In running for Congress, Parker is seeking his second political office. He's a past member of the Raymondville School Board in Texas County. He's a lifelong farmer and owns 635 acres. He ran a dairy operation from 1983 to 1998, when he also entered the real estate business. Today, he has a beef herd of about 40 cattle.

Parker said he will adhere to constitutional principles if elected, and adds that Congress had no authority to approve the $700 billion bank bailout. A financial collapse and the ensuing disruptions would have been preferable to government action, he said. The bailout bill was an example of Congress caving in to the demands of big-money interests at the expense of constitutional principles, he said. The financial firms saved by the bailout money should have been allowed to fail, he said.

"If you look at the business climate out in the 8th District, much of it is locked up still," he said. "What it really did was turn our system upside down. Instead of having a correction and getting to a floor and rebuilding, it wasn't allowed to reset."

Parker has also sought to develop other themes to undermine support for Emerson among the district's most conservative voters.

Her votes in favor of embryonic stem-cell research in 2005 and 2007 raise questions about her commitment to the pro-life cause, he said. He opposes embryonic stem-cell research.

Votes in favor of free trade have cost the district jobs, Parker said.

And she's too cozy with unions, he said, co-sponsoring a bill that would bring multiemployer pension funds, many run by unions, under the regulatory authority of the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp., Parker said. Fox News called the bill a $165 billion bailout of union pension funds, and Parker said Emerson's support of the measure is an example of irresponsible government.

"When the record is put out there, it is not a conservative record," Parker said.

Going beyond criticism of Emerson, Parker is also calling for elimination of the U.S. Department of Education as well as cuts in farm subsidy programs and entitlement programs such as Medicaid. He wants to replace the progressive income tax and prefers a consumption tax and elimination of the IRS.

Illegal immigrants need to be sent home, Parker said, and the clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution granting automatic citizenship to anyone born in the United States should be repealed to remove incentives for pregnant women to travel here to give birth.

"If you want to have legal immigration, fine," Parker said. "But it seems to me we have a lot of unemployed people who could use jobs. We are a sovereign nation, and we have to control our borders."

Parker had hoped his opposition to embryonic stem-cell research would move pro-life voters away from Emerson, who has voted twice to support federal funding of the research.

But Emerson won the endorsement of Missouri Right to Life based on her opposition to the use of cloning techniques to produce stem cell lines. "Stem-cell research can provide hope for millions suffering from those diseases and fortunately there are many, many ethical opportunities to pursue those cures," she said.

The pension bill is an attempt to make sure the employers who contribute to the funds don't shirk their responsibilities and that companies that fail don't burden other employers, Emerson said. The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. is funded by fees on participating pension funds and taxpayers are unlikely to become liable for shortfalls in any single pension fund, she said.

No single label defines her, Emerson said. "I am probably considered conservative on some issues and moderate on others," she said.

She said she wants to protect property rights, gun rights, make spending cuts and leave education decisions to local boards. "I think illegal immigration is a serious national security risk, so we need to control our borders. All those things I would consider conservative ideas."

She also said she supports open trade with Cuba to help Missouri farmers make sales. "And I believe we have a God-given obligation to care for the truly less fortunate in our own communities and around the world -- working to alleviate hunger, keeping rural health care alive and strong, and protecting Medicare and Social Security from benefit cuts -- some would say those are moderate positions."

rkeller@semissourian.com

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