Since losing his re-election bid last month, Rep. John Salazar has missed more than a quarter of the votes taken in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Salazar has missed 28 of the 99 votes taken since Election Day, according to House records. The total is nearly half of the 63 votes he has missed in the current two-year session, and one-fifth of the total number of votes he has missed in his six years in Congress.
Among the Colorado delegation, Rep. Betsy Markey, a Fort Collins Democrat who also lost her re-election bid, has missed the second-most votes in the last two months, 16. Rep. Jared Polis, a Democrat from Boulder who was re-elected, hasn’t missed any.
Salazar, a Democrat from Manassa, could not be reached for comment Friday. Messages left for his spokesman and chief of staff were not returned.
Salazar was in Alamosa on Sunday, where San Luis Valley Democrats honored the farmer and rancher for his service. At the event, Salazar told The Pueblo Chieftain that he is weighing running for Congress again in 2012 but said he is enjoying spending time at home with his wife.
“Right now, Mary Lou and I are back at the ranch, we’re working our cattle, and we’re loving every minute of it,” he told the Chieftain.
The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, citing anonymous sources, reported Friday that Salazar is close to accepting an offer to be the Agriculture Department director in Gov.-elect John Hickenlooper’s administration. A Hickenlooper spokesman did not return a call for comment Friday.
Salazar was present this month when the House voted on a number of significant measures in the lame-duck session, including a bill to extend tax cuts and unemployment benefits and a bill to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
But Salazar was absent when the House gave its final OK to a number of other major bills, including a bill to fund health benefits for 9/11 cleanup workers and a bill increasing food-safety protections. Salazar did, however, participate in earlier House votes on the measures.
The string of missed votes is out of character for Salazar, who has missed fewer than 4 percent of all votes this session, according to a Washington Post analysis of congressional voting histories.
The man who will replace Salazar in Congress, Cortez Republican Scott Tipton, declined to criticize Salazar for his recent absenteeism.
“But we have to make the effort to be there, especially with the importance of what is going on,” he said.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or jingold@denverpost.com
Voting no-shows
A sampling of Salazar’s missed votes:
B Dec. 22: H.R. 847, James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act.
B Dec. 21: H.R. 3082, which extends the federal budget through March 4.
B Dec. 21: H.R. 2751, FDA
Food Safety Modernization Act B Dec. 17: S. 3874, Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act.
