Got hypocrisy?
Tim Walberg is a member of the “Tea Party Caucus” in Congress and has declared publicly that he “was a tea partier before there was a tea party”. When it comes to wasting taxpayer money by fighting implementation of the Affordable Care Act through obstruction and a laughable number of repeal attempts, you won’t find anyone more determined than Congressman Tim Walberg of Michigan’s 7th district. (Here are three examples from this year alone: May, June, and July.)
Back in December of 2010, after he was reelected to Congress after being replaced by Mark Schauer for two years as the Congressman from MI-07, Walberg put on a big show about rejecting the federal health care coverage provided to all members of Congress by the taxpayers of America. In fact, he never took federal health care coverage, even during his first term. Why? Because he has even better health care coverage from the state of Michigan thanks to his 16 years in the state legislature.
But that’s not all. In an excellent piece of journalism, Charles Crumm of the Oakland Press uncovered the pensions received by a number of former Michigan legislators who are still serving in office. Tim Walberg, as it turns out, gets a pension check from the state of Michigan for $5,109.11 each month. That’s $61,309.32 a year, paid for by the tax payers of Michigan. Keep in mind, that’s in addition to his annual Congressional salary of $174,000.
It’s a pretty sweet gig when you think about it. Nearly a quarter million dollars in payments a year, all paid for by tax dollars.
Tim Walberg hasn’t held a private sector job for over 30 years. Except for a two-year stint when Mark Schauer was the Representative from MI-07, Walberg has been either a state legislator, a member of the U.S. Congress, or unemployed and living off his pension. In fact, he’s been getting free healthcare and either a paycheck or a tasty pension from the taxpayers of Michigan since 1983.
This is a man who claims to be a small-government, taxed-enough-already “tea partier before there was a tea party”. The blatant hypocrisy of Tim Walberg’s career alone is enough to disqualify him from office. While he trots around the 7th district telling conservatives how conservative he is, he’s been living off the largesse of Michigan tax payers for 30 years, even while he was raking in $174,000 more a year from the federal tax coffers during much of that time.
What we really need in the 7th district is someone who is actually there to fight for the tax payers of Michigan. Someone who isn’t wasting tax money simply to harm the president like Walberg has done with his repeated votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Someone who didn’t vote against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Someone who didn’t vote against the Violence Against Women Act and then lie about it. Someone who is willing to compromise and work together with others to get the job done rather than scoring political points against his opponents at every possible opportunity. Someone who is not a blatant hypocrite who has spent three decades living off taxpayer money and will spend the rest of his life living off taxpayer money.
Someone, in fact, like Pam Byrnes.
