by Mary C Gesteland

Created on: February 28, 2007   Last Updated: April 30, 2007

Through the Eyes of an Independent Voter.

After the November election, many people sighed in relief that now the Democrats have a chance of passing some of their bills and blocking bills the Republicans put up. I was happy to see that a good balance had supposedly occurred. I don't really believe that such a balance exists.

First of all, the new Democrats are junior members, both in the Senate and the House. This means they will get the most unwanted committees, will have no power on those committees, and will have to tread lightly so they don't step on the toes of the old guards. All of their talk about changing things will be for naught.

We already know that both parties are being funded the same amount by the same corporations. So the Democrats and Republicans will have loyalty issues with those corporations. And since every member of the House of Representatives is up for election every two years, the Democratic Representatives will not want to risk losing those funds for their campaigns.

Nancy Pelosi, the new speaker of the House of Representatives, has made two major moves-both questionable. She backed John Murtha, Representative from Pennsylvania, against Steny Hoyer, Representative from Maryland, for the number two position and was handily trounced 149 86.

She had no choice but to give Hoyer a smile when he won. They have to work together. But Murtha has been under suspicion of taking bribes for some time and was against cleaning up the corruption in Washington. Frankly, her choice doesn't make sense, unless she thought Murtha would buckle under once he won.

Pelosi, looking for the person to head the Intelligence Committee, passed over Jane Harmon from California, the senior person in line for the position, because of a political feud. Pelosi also passed over Alcee Hastings of Florida, who was accused of taking $150,000 in bribes (though he was acquitted in court,he was kicked out of his federal judgeship by Congress.

She picked Silvester Reyes from Texas, a former Border Patrol agent and helicopter gunner, who voted against the war in 2002. That sounds wonderful until you realize that she is left with a very bitter enemy in Harmon and insulted the Black Caucus by not picking Hastings. As if that weren't enough, Reyes is backing the idea of raising twenty thousand more troops for Baghdad.

What Nancy Pelosi wants to accomplish in the first 100 days is the following: 1.Raise the minimum wage.
2. Force Medicare to negotiate lower prescription-drug prices.
3. Cut

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