During the election this year, Davis is running against Democrat Andy Hurst. Hurst has advocated that in order for Congress to be productive and responsive to the people, there must be some reforms put in place. He has therefore stated that he will not accept money from any PAC. As a result, there will be absolutely no doubt that Hurst has entered politics in order to serve the voters and not a wealthy PAC.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, however, Tom Davis has already accepted $589,687 in campaign contributions from PACs for the 2006 elections, which amounts to 34% of his total contributions. And this is while he is serving as the chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform.
I believe the enormous amount of money Davis has accepted from PACs is a clear example of why voters in Virginia+óGé¼Gäós 11th district should send Andy Hurst to the US House of Representatives.
This is crossposted on Ambivalent Mumblings.
Davis is with Tom DeLay in list of the top eight of "pay to play" politicians. The "Bankrollers" Report by Public Citizen shows Davis is number eight of 435 Congressmen who collect money from PACs and their executives. These industries - Oil, Gambling, Pharma - are not in his district, so what is he selling? His support to prevent investigations by the Government Reform Committee. He decides what goes on their agenda for investigations every year. That is, Subpeonaing Terri Schaivo, not Abu Gharib; subpeonaing Mark McGuire, not Donald Rumsfeld.
Now that DeLay is gone, he would be NUMBER 7.
The Democrats on his Govt Reform committee have been asking Davis to investigate Abramoff and illegally lobbying for four years. Davis has finally agreed this month month to put it on the agenda because he's been shamed into it by a thorough report by John McCain's Indian Affairs Committee that detailed how Abramoff hid his contributions. The Indian Affairs Committee doesn't officially have juristiction to investigate this corruption - Davis and his committee have that. However, the Indian Affairs 373-page reportlays clear the influence, the harm, and insidiuous nature of the corruption that occurred on Davis's watch.