Peter Roskam’s Perfect Report Card…From Big Business

Peter Roskam wants you to believe that he is your voice in Congress, that he represents your interests as a resident of the 6th Congressional District. That is not, generally speaking, true. If you are very wealthy, live in Glen Ellyn or Wheaton and have “CEO” after your name, perhaps. But not if you are a working person living in Bensenville or in Wood Dale or in West Chicago.

Peter Roskam was elected by voters in the 6th, but he is not representing them. Instead he is serving the interests of large corporations and he has worked hand in hand with George Bush during his first year in office to see that they are well-served indeed.

How closely Roskam is aligned with corporate interests can be seen by looking at the evaluation of his voting record by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). According to that NAM’s evaluation, Roskam has voted NAM’s position 100 percent of the time during his first year in office. He has done so even when NAM’s position conflicted with the interests of his constituents as it frequently does. Roskam has been a perfect rubber stamp for NAM.

NAM is a very old and very powerful industrial lobbying organization. It was founded in 1895 and over the course of its history has fought against the right of workers to organize for better pay and working conditions and against any regulation of industry to protect the environment or promote workplace or product safety. They have also fought vigorously against efforts to address global climate change. Maximizing corporate profit seems to be the only thing that matters to this group.

Both Roskam and George Bush have aligned themselves tightly with NAM, so tightly that the best predictor of their stance on a particular legislative question is NAM’s position.

Roskam’s allegiance to NAM over his constituents has led him to:

• Vote against removing the prohibition against the government negotiating with drug companies for lower prescription drug prices for Medicare recipients
• Vote against early versions of the energy bill that would have removed huge tax breaks that the Bush administration granted to big oil companies in spite of their record profits due to the high price of oil
• Vote against the restoration of workers rights to form unions
• Vote against legislation to restore the right of workers to make claims for past wage discrimination

Roskam’s test of a piece of legislation that comes his way seems not to be whether it will help voters and taxpayers in his district, but rather what George Bush and the National Association of Manufacturers want him to do.

It is time we replaced Roskam with someone who will truly represent the people of the 6th Congressional District.

Interestingly, Dick Durbin and Barack Obama scored 19% and 16% respectively in NAM’s evaluation. This goes to show that those who cynically insist there is no difference between political parties are wrong. (Russ Feingold scored 13%, Ted Kennedy 11%, Tom Coburn 79%, Jim Demint 94%, etc). One major party is beholden to corporate interests and one isn’t. In a state that elected Dick Durbin and Barack Obama, there is no reson to believe that we have to be stuck with a corporate shill like Roskam to represent us.