Not long ago, I received a full-color “public document” from my congressman, Doug Lamborn of Colorado Springs. The front featured a gorgeous scene of rugged snow-capped peaks above a verdant forest (no beetle kill or drilling rigs) behind a lake.
If I had to guess the location, I’d go for the view of Quail Mountain from Twin Lakes, which is in Lamborn’s 5th Congressional District, but that’s not what caught my eye. After all, I get to admire great peaks every day. What drew my attention were the words, “This mailing was prepared, published and mailed at taxpayer expense,” and that this was a “Family Issues Update.”
On the other side were two color photos. One was of four white children lying on a lawn, all staring at the camera with their hands under their chins. At least two of them appeared to be attempting to smile, but there was no explanation or identification.
The other photo showed our first-term congressman receiving a “True Blue Award” for “his 100% scorecard rating for supporting pro-life, pro-family legislation.” He was flanked by Tom Minnery of Focus on the Family Action and Tony Perkins of Family Resource Council Action.
The text of this “Family Issues Update” listed eight “measures in Congress that protect life and families.”
The term “update” implies that we’re getting fresh information from our representative in Washington. Of the eight measures, all were introduced in 2007. There was nothing from 2008. This is a “rehash,” not an “update.”
As for some “family issues,” Lamborn’s stance is perplexing. He tells us that he supports HR 618, which provides that “The terms ‘human person’ and ‘human being’ include each and every member of the species homo sapiens at all stages of life, including, but not limited to, the moment of fertilization, cloning, or other moment at which an individual member of the human species comes into being.”
Note that it covers human clones. But Lamborn also brags on his support for HR 2564, which would prohibit human cloning. He wants to both outlaw clones and protect them? How does that work?
At least that has something to do with life and families. Now consider HR 2104, the Public Prayer Protection Act. It would deprive federal courts of jurisdiction in cases “involving an entity of the Federal Government or a State or local government, or an officer or agent of the Federal Government or a State or local government, acting in an official capacity, concerning the expression of public prayer by that entity, officer, or agent.” In other words, if the mayor insists on starting every city council meeting with a 20-minute plea to Allah to smite all the infidels in the room, Doug Lamborn wants to protect him from lawsuits. This is a “family issue”?
Another Lamborn “family issue” is HR 699, which “prohibits federal courts from reviewing cases that alter the Pledge of Allegiance.” Weren’t there families — some of them strong, healthy families — before 1892, when the pledge first emerged? Is there something wrong with the families of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who do not say the pledge? If so, can Lamborn tell us what it is?
Maybe in his next tax-funded mailing. Meanwhile, we have paid for producing and mailing a “Family Issues Update” that is not an update and goes well beyond family issues.
But on the bright side, Lamborn did assure us of his support for HR 2084, the Family Budget Protection Act, which has an entire section devoted to “Combatting Waste, Fraud, and Abuse” in federal spending. And Lamborn has provided us with an excellent place to start.
Ed Quillen (ed@cozine.com) is a freelance writer, history buff, publisher of Colorado Central Magazine in Salida and frequent contributor to The Post.
