Possible Billy Long Congressional Opponent Ask if Long is Meddling in Redistricting Plans to Better his Reelection Chances

Billy Long will be challenged in the Republican primary. Many Republicans are whispering they are growing tired of Long's antics of self-promotion in Washington, which has observed Long using the FBI in hopes of silencing his critics, the increasing influence of special interest over Billy Long that led to Congressman Long's speech on pushing for a National Auctioneer Day and National Golf Day while Long has spent no time introducing spending cuts on the House floor, and of course his support of continuing funding for NASCAR teams and expanding the size of government and the power of the Department of Homeland Security isn't sitting well with conservatives either. One of Long's possible challengers is now accusing Long of meddling in the affairs of redistricting Congressional districts in Missouri for his own political gain. Considering Long said too many politicians in Washington spend too much time worried about getting reelected, well Long's hypocrisy is once again on display.

Will Lynch, a University of Missouri law student and Joplin resident, is expected to announce he will challenge Congressman Long later this year for his seat in Congress. Lynch has written an excellent op-ed accusing Billy Long of meddling in the affairs of Jefferson City in order to gain an advantage in his reelection bid next year--once again showing Billy Long is more worried about his own political career than actually going to Washington and following through on his promises.

As the AP reported last week, U.S. House members Akin, Luetkemeyer, and Emerson met with top ranking GOP members of the Missouri legislature. Congresswoman Hartzler joined by phone and Congressman Billy Long was spotted at the State Capitol later in the week. The purpose for all of this is to influence the legislators in getting the new Congressional maps drawn in a way that would optimize their chances at re-election.

Aside from being an affront to standards of personal decency and ethics, the meddling of our Congressional delegation also flies in the face of Missouri’s Constitution, which clearly states that “the general assembly shall by law divide the state into districts corresponding with the number of representatives to which is it entitled.” Our federal delegation should have no further say in the proceedings than any other citizen of the state, and limiting their entanglement may be good for the state as a whole.

Congressmen having to maintain positive professional relationships with legislators from their district could have a positive impact on the entire political dialogue and clean up ugly election rhetoric. With Congressmen at the mercy of their state senators and representatives, we would be less likely to see personal attacks and outright lies during election season as potential candidates may actually have face consequences for what they say. Besides with the economy in the tank and three military conflicts, don’t Congressman have better things to than worry about being re-elected?

I guess the question is, when is Long going to show that he is really serious about cutting spending in Washington, DC other than just giving voters an example of one vote. Because if voters were to look at the real Long record, they would see a truth far different than Long's vote against the Boehner compromise. They would see a man who went to Washington fed up who quickly became the same people we are fed up with--growing government and incapable of making real cuts to the federal budget while abusing their Washington power.