Tom Latham’s Identity Crisis

The current representative from the Fourth Congressional District seems to be having a bit of an identity crisis. He cannot seem to decide what image he wants to project to the voters, so he is taking a smorgasbord approach. By projecting the image that he is everything, he can then portray himself as anything. An interesting strategy, but it has me wondering?

Here are three examples within the past week that illustrate Tom Latham’s identity problem:

In response to the State of the Union address, he said, “I will not support increasing taxes or the size of government.” That is certainly consistent and a standard Latham position on just about every topic. It is the basis for his “NO” votes, and they are many.

In the Sunday, January 31 Des Moines Register, he said in response to the current voter mood, “The anti-incumbent mood is more palpable now than it was in 1994 . . . The intensity is far greater today, with the disgust that there is with how Washington D.C. has been operating for this last year.” Let’s see, he is a long standing incumbent who is incriminating himself, or is he passing the buck?

Also in the Sunday, January 31 Des Moines Register, Tom Latham offers these thoughts on 2010, “I think now going forward with the change in Massachusetts, there is hope, and it seems like there’s going to be an effort to do things more bipartisan. What we need to do is pursue a positive agenda of jobs, spending and health care reform, and accomplish what people expect.” Whoa, when has Tom Latham ever been bipartisan?

It is his comment on jobs, spending, health care reform, and accomplishing what the people expect that are really puzzling. In this sentence, he obviously wants to be a Democrat. So maybe, Tom Latham is going to cross party lines. In that case, we will have a primary. Come on Tom, the sooner the better!

Bill Maske, Democratic Candidate
United States House of Representatives
4th Congressional District