Perspective: Taking your family to D.C. shows family values
It is my opinion that a person representing the State of Indiana in the U.S. Congress shows character and family values by having his or her spouse and family live in the Capitol with him/her. What person would demand a representative or senator leave his family in his home state and miss out on daily contact with them?
Anne TangemanJasper
I believe Dr. Moss’ point was how Rep. Bucshon moved there and only returns to hit the minimum required days to still stay an Indiana resident. Multiple congresspeople head home a lot as they are given money to do so… whenever they want to.
As with Senate candidate Messer, once you move there, you stay there. Why? You become part of the swamp as a lobbiest or something like that.
So the question really is, can a Congressperson represent our part of Indiana, when he is around enough to know more than some person planning a vacation to that spot? It would be like us representing our favorite vacation spot. If you are OK with that, then OK. Many people are not.
The point Dr. Moss has brought is a valid point. Each person has to ask themselves what do they think about it. Rep. Bucshon well known temper, and his aggressive confrontation with Dr. Moss (that has been widely reported now) is a completely different question to ponder.
It’s called RESIDENCY. It’s what caused Richard Lugar to lose a primary election to Richard Mourdock – Lugar had moved to DC, just as another career politician, Bucshon, has done.
If you are a U.S. Representative, you should be a RESIDENT of the district you purport to represent. If you want to live in DC, you should resign and run for Congress as a representative of DC.
I really hope that the publicity surrounding Bucshon’s confrontation with Dr. Moss will help to finally get Bucshon voted out of office.
Adrian, I think you meant to type Lugar, not Messer, correct? I’m no fan of Messer because of the gas tax/tolls on interstates, but to be fair, I don’t think that Messer (yet) has aspirations to become a DC lobbyist as Lugar has done. Messer’s still in the Indiana State Senate, not in DC.
D’oh. Sorry Adrian – you obviously meant Luke Messer, not Mark Messmer. That’s what I get for typing before the first cup o’coffee. Sorry.
I feel like the expectation of a member of Congress to maintain two residencies, even though they have the ability with special tax breaks, is a bit much.
We can get into the idea of members living in their offices, but that is a whole other thing as well.
I am okay with them living there and not wasting resources to commute back and forth from state to D.C.. As long as I feel like they are meeting the standards I feel are necessary for a member of Congress, I am good.