Can Scott Brown Survive by Voting Against Liberal Massachusetts?

The election of Republican Scott Brown earlier this year to replace long time Liberal Democrat Ted Kennedy was not, as many conservatives have rejoiced, an end to progressive views in one of the most, if not the most politically progressive states in the country. It was a culmination of the angst and despair many were seeing and experiencing across the country with the job and home losses that resulted from a financial fiasco; much of it brought on by an unregulated system within non-banking financial institutions whose ponzi-scheme bubble burst at the end of 2007.

By the time the Massachusetts Senate seat came up for a special election, the country was experiencing double-digit unemployment for the first time in about 25 years and millions were losing their homes from mortgages they too eagerly signed off on from predatory lenders. The economic conditions in America and around the globe were almost as bad as they were during the Great Depression of the 1930's. Thus voter anger was at a pitch and aided with people who called themselves Tea Party patriots who led the cry to "throw the bums out" in Washing ton, (along with a poorly run campaign by the Democrat contender for the seat), liberal Massachusetts was prime for voting against the grain and to select the Republican to make their feelings known.

Scott Brown's recent victory may last only until 2012 however, when Senator Kennedy's term was to expire. Can Mr. Brown hold onto the seat as a member of a Republican Party that no longer resembles the more moderate GOP that existed in times earlier that allowed some Republicans to win state elections in the Bay State? It was essentially a no-brainer to vote with the minority on the recent health care reform bill as he did since Massachusetts stood to lose nothing on this. They already have health reform legislation, passed while Republican Mitt Romney was governor, that looks much like how the federal legislation is currently written.

However, with issues like energy policy that includes climate change initiatives, financial reform which consists of creating a Consumer Financial Protection agency and Immigration reform where most people in Massachusetts have favored correcting the broken system as it exists, will Scott Brown vote with his Party and face possible rejection in 2012 or will he be forced to curry favor with a progressive electorate who stands opposite of the Party of No's positions on these big ticket items?

If he votes as his past record reflects it appears Mr. Brown will have difficulty holding onto his seat. In the past, as a state senator, Scott Brown voted against legislation that has already passed in the U.S. House that "would put a price on carbon pollution, and prevent industries like coal and oil from polluting for free, while offering incentives for clean energy sources like wind and solar". According to an article by Brian Merchant in Treehugger (1/20/10), "Brown falsely claimed the bill would result in a tax in a televised debate." According to Mr. Merchant this appears to be a flip-flop of Brown's earlier position on the issue.

It appears Brown is in lock step with other views of the Republicans in Congress who have so far shown no attempt to break political grid lock in Washington and find common ground with the Democrats who were swept into power in 2008. According to the watch dog group On the Issues, "Brown has said that he's not in favor of new regulation of the financial markets, preferring to allow 'private enterprise try to get us out of this mess'." He appears to reject the notion that our use of fossil fuels is increasing global warming activity as reflected in Dan Jenkins's comments with the Republicans for Environmental Protection expressing hope that "Senator-elect Brown's arrival on Capitol Hill will foster more bipartisan cooperation in the Senate on pressing environmental issues-particularly efforts to address climate change."

There is not much on his state senate record to confirm where he stands on Immigration reform but we might have a clue based on his opposition to expand bi-lingual classes in Massachusetts schools as was recorded in the Massachusetts House Journals via MassScorecard.org Jul 14, 2003. His record on education is consistent with national Republicans too. Brown supported national standards and testing of public school students and wants to provide parents with state-funded vouchers to send their children to any participating school (public, private, religious) but voted more moderately in 2002 to increase state funds for hiring additional teachers, teacher salaries, full-day kindergarten, Head Start and school capital improvements according to the Massachusetts State Legislative Election 2002 NPAT. Yet strangely he voted no in 2003 on allowing parents on welfare to attend school in a bill designed by the Massachusetts legislature to enable people to transition from welfare to work.

It will be interesting to see if he flip-flops on abortion because in 2002 he held that abortions should always be legally available. There is nothing on record on how he views funding Social Security; a negative for many Republicans who thought in terms of privatizing it back when Bush Jr. was in the White House. He appears to have voted no on a state bill that would have created an International Trade Council to promote exports because it included wording that "promotes fair employment and sound environmental standards by our trading partners."( MassScorecard.org Jan 14, 2004), something that lends itself to the promotion of out-sourcing jobs to cheaper labor markets.

An enigma now perhaps only because of his nascent rise to national politics, the real Scott Brown will be on public display for voters to see as we near the 2012 elections. In one move that seems to reflect typical straw man politics, the Campaign to re-elect Brown has been attempting to rile their base by insisting that the liberal commentator on Air America and MSNBC, Rachel Maddow, is thinking of running against Brown; a claim that Maddow has denied more than once on her cable news program at MSNBC. For all his charm as a former centerfold in a 1982 Cosmo magazine publication, Mr. Brown will have to rely on more than good looks and six-pack abs to convince Massachusetts voters that there is more to him than meets the eye. Then again, people have been swept into public office for equally shallow reasons, so who's to say either way?

RESOURCES:

On the Issues
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