| Tancredo Cannot be Trusted
A few years ago Tom Tancredo - a Congressman from Colorado's Sixth Congressional District first elected to the House in 1998 - not only supported term limits but was the head of the Colorado Term Limits Coalition. "We want to reinvigorate the electoral process by introducing people into the system who think of government service as a temporary endeavor, not as a career," he told the Associated Press back then ("As More States Push Term Limits, Congress Wades in Nervously," John King of Associated Press, Aug. 2, 1994).
In 1998, Tancredo solemnly pledged that he would serve no more than three terms as a Congressman. "Tancredo was a leader of the term limits movement and has pledged to stick to the three terms that Colorado voters tried to impose on congressional representatives in 1994," the Rocky Mountain News wrote in endorsing Tancredo ("Tancredo in the Sixth," Rocky Mountain News, Oct. 17, 1998). Several years later, in a 2001 interview with the Rocky Mountain News, Tancredo again swore to keep his promise to the voters: "For me, the issue of giving one's word and promising to do something like this is more important than the rest of it... The overriding motivation for me today to adhere to the term limits pledge is that I made a pledge... I took the pledge. I will live up to the pledge. That's it. That's the overriding issue."
Even while the Republicans controlled Congress, Tancredo's tenure there wasn't exactly a bright, shining beacon of intelligence and accomplishment. Tancredo has a reputation as an utterly neffective gadfly - indeed, often an outright embarrassment to his party and district. He is so extreme and controversial in his views - especially in his self-anointed role as Crusader against the Alien Hordes - that he has been consigned to the political margins by his very own party. The Republicans trot him out now and then, but only to make the rest of them look statesmanlike and moderate by comparison. And now that the Dems control Congress, Tancredo has zero influence whatsoever.
The media enjoy but generally don't respect Tancredo: he's always a good bet for a soundbite. Yet Tancredo's real-life accomplishments in Congress have been slim to none, prompting one of the biggest employers in his heavily-Republican district to back his 2004 Democratic challenger.
Even President Bush and Karl Rove have little use for Tancredo: Rove once famously told Tancredo that he'd never darken the door of the Bush White House again. Now that the Democrats control Congress, don't count on seeing Tancredo anywhere near the White House for the rest of his career.
While the Congressman apparently takes great pleasure in orchestrating high-profile, headline-grabbing stunts such as saddling up for border patrols or bullying ICE to get a 14-year-old honor student deported, he is simply not a recognized leader in the House of Representatives. He is adept at snaring headlines and airplay, and he's the titular head of an immigration caucus that has no real power. He has no influence where it counts - with his peers. He's viewed as a buffoon, a Republican Al Sharpton.
In spite of the facts, Tancredo and a few deluded supporters see his role very differently. Despite having had virtually no real, practical effect on immigration policy in his half-decade in national office - not to mention any other particularly noteworthy results on matters of greater relevance to his specific district - Tancredo has experienced a profound conversion on the issue of term limits - but only insofar as they apply to one Thomas Tancredo.
Somewhere between 2001 and 2004, when the time for him to honor his three-term pledge came due, something mysterious occurred that led Tancredo to believe that he is now absolutely irreplaceable in Congress as a fighter against immigration and "multiculturalism." The scales fell from Tancredo's eyes, and he suddenly realized that the term-limits principle that got him elected in the first place - a principle that he more than any other single person had ardently championed in Colorado - was wrong. At least as applied to him.
Tancredo decided to break his pledge and run for a fourth term in Congress in 2004.
It was as if the Pope had decided he no longer wanted to be a Catholic - yet wanted to keep his fancy Vatican digs.
Tancredo won re-election in 2004 despite his utter betrayal of his supporters, and even though former friends like Jon Caldara and the Rocky Mountain News condemned his breach of faith. Tancredo took a calculated gamble, and he won.
Now memories of his breach of trust are fading: the same newspapers that called for his ouster in 2004 endorsed him in 2006, totally ignoring the integrity issue. Given the realities of modern-day Congressional incumbency and gerrymandered districts, Tancredo will probably be stuck in the Capitol like a tick on a horse's rump for years to come, drawing his fat Congressional paycheck and obscene pension while doing everything in his power to draw out and postpone any serious resolution to the issue of illegal immigration so that his self-proclaimed reason for staying in Congress remains a self-fulfilling prophecy.
So much for politics as a "temporary endeavor."
One might have a little more respect for Tancredo had he said, "Sorry folks: I lied. That's what you get for trusting a politician." But instead Tancredo tried to clothe his breach of trust and lack of integrity in a pathetic little mantle of virtue and even self-sacrifice. Tancredo laughably claimed - with a straight face - that as a matter of principle he was "forced" to break his oft-repeated, solemn pledge to his constituents and instead remain chained to his desk in the House of Representatives for the foreseeable future.
In a display of deluded self-importance that borders on outright megalomania, Tancredo actually tried to excuse his breaking his term limits pledge with these words in a 2004 letter to his supporters:
"It is my deeply held, and now tremendously reinforced belief that our nation is confronted with a physical, spiritual, and philosophical threat that will require every ounce of our individual effort in its defense... I believe with all my heart that massive immigration through porous borders combined with the corrosive effect of radical multiculturalism will not only determine what kind of a nation we will be (united or balkanized), it will determine if, indeed, we will be a nation at all. I find myself in a position of leadership with regard to this issue... I represent [the] best hope for change. I dare not abandon this cause. The U.S. House of Representatives is the forum I have been given in which to use my limited skills for this purpose."
Well, at least he got the "limited skills" part right.
But seriously, is there any other American politician in recent memory who has dared to describe his personal role in the fate of the nation so pompously? "I find myself in a position of leadership ... I represent the best hope for change ... I dare not abandon this cause ..." You'd expect to hear rhetoric like that from some tinpot dictator-for-life, not a mediocre three-term Congressman.
It's instructive to contrast Tancredo's overblown, messianic rhetoric with what he's actually accomplished in the past seven years. The disconnect is simply stunning. In his own mind and that of a few gullible supporters for whom "tough talk" about immigration is all that matters, Tancredo is a Churchillian statesman. But when you look at the facts and at what he's accomplished, he's just another sleazy, Machiavellian politico.
"Sleazy." Yes, that's a harsh word. But no harsher than what Tancredo's former supporters have to say about him now that he's broken his term-limits pledge:
In 2002 the Rocky Mountain News attacked Tancredo's lack of "credibility and integrity of political leadership... Tom Tancredo had every right to change his mind about term limits, but he had no business breaking a solemn pledge. He should be booted out of office."
Paul Jacob, Senior Fellow at U.S. Term Limits, the national organization that had worked so closely with Tancredo to pass Colorado's term limits laws, has said: "Voters can count on one thing: They'll never be able to count on Tom Tancredo."
Joanna Conti, a moderate former Republican who became so disgusted with Tancredo that she ran against him in 2004 as a Democrat, stated: "Tom Tancredo's website claims that he offers 'principled conservative leadership.' I would assume that with his acceptance of the nomination, breaking his term limit pledge, he will remove the reference to 'principled' from his materials."
Even Tancredo's buddy at the Independence Institute, ultra-conservative Jon Caldara, criticized Tancredo as being dishonorable for running for a fourth term, declaring in 2004 that Tancredo should have stepped down and supported someone else who shared his values for the position.
Maybe Tancredo really believes his new claptrap about how he "dares not abandon" the sacred cause of immigration reform, just like he supposedly used to believe his own statements about the virtue of term limits and the importance of keeping one's word. But if so, how does one explain that Tancredo has recently said that the issue of immigration now "has legs" of its own, and that his leadership on the issue isn't vital? If that's so, why can't he belatedly honor his term limits pledge and pass on the torch to a new generation?
Actions speak louder than words. It's far more likely that, like so many others before him who come to Washington with idealism in their hearts and who then sell their souls, Tancredo has merely become intoxicated by the perquisites of high federal office and "dares not" give them up.
Tancredo insists that he is now bound, seemingly against his will, to keep "serving" in Congress for term after pledgebreaking term. However, Tancredo could be JUST as effectual, f not more so, in bashing immigrants (um, I mean, "fighting multiculturalism") in other capacities outside Congress. His former supporter Jon Caldara said as much in 2004.
Given the effective one-party rule within Colorado's Sixth Congressional District, if he really wanted to, Tancredo could easily have mentored and recruited someone else within his own district to continue "the sacred cause" as his anointed successor. That way, Tancredo could have acted with integrity and honored his term limits promise. But that would mean giving up his six-figure salary, expense account, and perks galore.
Tancredo argues that he can't leave Congress because any successor would have to "start all over again." But it's not as if we're talking about some venerable Congressional Institution here: a Kennedy or a Thurmond (take your pick: each of them two great poster children for term limits). For crying out loud, Tancredo's merely a poor-to-middling politician in a minority party who's only served a little over six lackluster years as a House backbencher, and who has ticked off so many of his colleagues that he'll never get any position of real power. The Republic would likely survive, the world would still spin on its axis, were Tancredo to act honorably and belatedly honor his term-limits pledge.
Tancredo is fat and happy in Congress and doesn't want to budge from his $167,000 a year job with its perks and fat pension. That's all there is to it. After all, consider another Colorado Congressman who was no less fervent than Tancredo in his stated belief that Washington needed to change: conservative Republican Bob Schaffer. Like Tancredo, Bob Schaffer was elected on a term-limits platform and pledge. Unlike Tancredo, conservative Republican Bob Schaffer had the personal integrity to stick to his term limits pledge regardless of the personal hardships that decision caused him. Whether you agree or disagree with Schaffer's politics, you have to respect and admire his personal integrity: he was true to his word. Tancredo, by contrast, was a liar. There's no other way to put it.
There are so many people who have become corrupted by Washington D.C. Randy Cunningham was a brave patriot before he succumbed to greed. Jack Abramoff was, by all accounts, a good father and devoted to his religion - but then he was able to rationalize his crimes in his own mind. Mark Foley acted abominably - yet he rationalized that he was just dealing in his own sick, twisted way with the abuse he himself had suffered as a child. There's always an excuse, a reason: and Tancredo's excuses for breaking his own solemn vow is as shopworn, pathetic and contemptible as anything proferred by Cunningham, Abramoff and Foley for their own misdeeds.
There is no other way to say it: Tancredo has become corrupted by Washington, D.C. He is the very embodiment of the permanent politician he condemned throughout his political career until it came time to fulfill his own term-limits pledge.
By your works are ye known. Tancredo can protest loud and long that he actually does have integrity and candor. His website even pathetically proclaims that he's "known" for his candor. But his actions speak louder than even his shrill words. Until and unless he belatedly honors his term limits pledge, Tancredo is branded with shame and corruption. He can simply never again be trusted to tell the truth. His own former friends and supporters will be the first to tell you that.
Tancredo: Not Just a Liar, but a Coward
If there is one thing that Tancredo claims he is even more than trustworthy, it's fearless. Tancredo constantly positions himself as the leader who's Not Afraid to Tell It Like It Is. He is oh, so very brave.
And reneging on a solemn pledge to his supporters: that's "merely" being untrustworthy, isn't it? It's not an example of personal cowardice as well, is it?
In Tancredo's case, his corruption and lack of integrity has been accompanied by rank cowardice. Tancredo has also behaved like an abject coward in trying to conceal his about-face on term limits from his constituents. Here is the sordid "rest of the story":
Back when he led the charge for term limits, Tancredo and his allies succeeded in getting Colorado voters to amend the State Constitution to include a poorly thought out, deeply flawed (and likely unconstitutional, if push ever comes to shove) "Term Limits Amendment." Under that amendment (Art. XVIII, Sec. 12a of the Colorado Constitution), candidates in Colorado for federal Congressional elections are asked to submit "declarations" to the Colorado Secretary of State as to whether they will, if elected, limit their stay in the U.S. House to no more than three two-year terms. Depending on which declaration a Congressional candidate submits, the ballot and official educational materials will contain one of the following statements immediately after the candidate's name: "Signed declaration to limit service to 3 terms," or "Chose not to sign declaration to limit service to 3 terms."
For example, in 2002, Tancredo's Democratic Party opponent, Lance Wright, was open and honest with the voters as to his position on term limits. As the Term Limits Amendment contemplates, Mr. Wright submitted a declaration that stated: "I have voluntarily chosen not to sign [the] Term Limits Declaration." As a "reward" for his candor and honesty, Mr. Wright was branded with the pejorative "Chose not to sign declaration to limit service to 3 terms" language immediately after his name on the ballot and in voter educational materials.
What about the brave Tom Tancredo? After all, he had personally championed the Term Limits Declaration as a way to give the voters information. Well, in 2002, 2004 and 2006 the good Congressman has repeatedly and blatantly failed to submit the Term Limits Declaration that he himself had peddled to the voters as the solution to our problems! He has repeatedly refused to submit any Term Limits Declaration one way or the other, in hopes that his breaking his personal term limits pledge will go unnoticed.
Tancredo actually took unfair advantage of a gigantic, unstated loophole in the very amendment he had championed: If you don't affirmatively submit a declaration stating that you will or will not abide by term limits, nothing appears after your name on the ballot or in voter education materials!
So, even though Tancredo was a leading force in getting this amendment into the Colorado Constitution in the first place - supposedly with the aim to "inform the voters" - when it came time for Tancredo to use the law he had crafted to make his own position known, he failed to submit any declaration at all. He effectively issued a big, fat "no comment" rather than giving voters any clue about his so-called change of heart on term limits.
In a classic display of chutzpah, one of the excuses Tancredo has made for reneging on his term limits pledge is that he has "for some time now" supposedly been making public statements questioning the efficacy of term limits. In fact, in 2006 he claimed in a radio interview that almost as soon as he'd been elected, in 1999, he was hinting to his hoodwinked supporters that he might not abide by his term limits pledge after all. That is an outright lie: in 2001 he was still assuring the Rocky Mountain News that he'd honor his pledge because doing so was "the overriding issue."
In defending his about-face, Tancredo has shamelessly claimed to his supporters that "even my opponents usually give grudging acknowledgment to my candor." However, when it came time for Tancredo to make the most public display of candor of all - a statement on the ballot itself right next to his name, visible to every single voter, just like he himself had called for - Tancredo cravenly refused to submit a Term Limits Declaration to try to keep people in the dark about his position. What a coward!
Tancredo obviously had not forgotten about the Term Limits Declaration he was instrumental in getting into law. Instead, Tom Tancredo consciously decided to avoid coming clean with the voters. What other reasonable explanation can there be for his action than rank cowardice?
Is Tancredo the Best the Republicans Can Offer in His District?
Tancredo is a bully and a hypocrite. He got national attention after he learned about a 14-year-old honor student who had let slip to the media that his parents were undocumented aliens. Tancredo promptly called the federal immigration authorities in an apparent effort to get the boy and his family deported.
Tancredo is an irresponsible blowhard. Practically while the crime scene tape was still up, he was frantically sending out press releases trying to capitalize on the tragic 2005 murder of Denver police officer Donnie Young by an illegal immigrant who escaped back to Mexico. His performance utterly disgusted Denver's crimefighting authorities, who went so far as to criticize him for hampering their efforts to solve the case and get the murderer back to the U.S. He immediately introduced resolutions in Congress - which, like anything else Tancredo touches, didn't accomplish anything but were merely designed to look good on a press release - to supposedly force Mexico to extradite the murderer back to the U.S. While others worked diplomatically and professionally to try to get the problem solved, Tancredo acted like a bull in a china shop.
Tancredo's "chicken hawk" attitude on national defense sickens and disgusts fellow Republicans like Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman, a decorated Vietnam and Gulf War veteran who refused to share the stage with Tancredo at a pro-Iraq-war rally - since Tancredo avoided service in Vietnam by getting a medical deferment for mental health reasons. Despite not having served in the military, Tancredo likes nothing more than running around with a U.S.S. Ronald Reagan "gimme cap" on his head: a reminder of his Congressional tour of the warship. He even has the gall to question the personal courage of his most recent opponent, decorated Marine and Navy veteran Bill Winter.
Tancredo is a leech. The power of federal incumbents to get re-elected is well known. Only a small fraction of incumbents in any district ever lose an election. Tancredo's district is normally a safe Republican seat, and it will get even safer for Tancredo over the years now that he has actually broken his term limits pledge and been elected to a fourth term. Tancredo now has job security unlike anything remotely enjoyed by the vast majority of his forgotten constituents.
Unless, that is, the voters finally get wise and decide that somebody else could do a better, more effective job for the district's inhabitants, and that Tancredo is all hat and no cattle.
Tancredo panders to racists. He likes to talk in apocalyptic terms about the forces of "radical multiculturalism" threatening to knock down America's doors. For example, according to commentator Paul Jacob, Tancredo recently said: "There are places right now in East L.A. and southern Texas that you would honestly - there is absolutely nothing that you would say makes them part of the United States of America. They are a separate country - it is a separate country - right now, at this moment." (Mr. Jacob responds: "Uh . . . how about a desire for freedom and to build a better life, Congressman Tancredo? Isn't that what makes these people Americans - regardless of the language they speak or their race or creed?") Tancredo's support by racist groups and heavy funding by known racists was exposed by the Bill Winter campaign in 2006.
Tancredo disparages American Muslims in general: "Now how many people in their heart of hearts in (the Islamic Community) want to see the demise of this country? How many would cheer, not out loud maybe, but in their hearts when things like 9/11 occur? I'll tell you; it's a majority." (Mr. Jacob replies: "Cripes. I guess if you can't prove your lineage going back to the Mayflower, you're some kind of traitor.")
Of coure, it's attitudes like that - all Muslims are bad - that make it easy for Tancredo to slip into mind-blowing "hypothetical" suggestions to "take out" Islamic "holy sites" in response to a terrorist attack on America. Tancredo is truly at war, in his heart, with the entire 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, including patriotic American citizens - not just the few extremists who are responsible for terrorism.
Tancredo pandered to racists by attending a rally in South Carolina in 2006, speaking from a Confederate-flag-bedecked podium to an audience that included people in Confederate uniforms and "redshirts" from a local white-supremacist group, and even - he admits this! - joining his audience in singing "Dixie"! No wonder racist groups like American Vanguard and Stormfront absolutely love him.
Tancredo is out of touch with what his constituents need. Most of Tancredo's constituents are in no imminent danger of having illegal aliens at their doorsteps. (Unless, like Tancredo, they've actually paid such aliens to remodel their homes). If Tancredo wants to be a modern-day, single-issue crusader, he can damn well do so on his own nickel, and instead let someone else represent the many, varied needs of the 6th Congressional District's residents. At a time when Colorado is losing more tax money to Washington than it gets back, maybe, just maybe, his district's voters will someday conclude that Colorado can afford "losing" Tancredo and his paltry few years of Congressional seniority so that a more effective and trustworthy candidate can replace him...
But don't count on it anytime soon. Tancredo will likely be in office for years to come, feeding at the public trough, occasionally uttering controversial statements so as to stay in the public eye... yet continuing to accomplish nothing of substance.
Want more details? Visit the Tancredo Watch blog for the continuing pathetic saga that is Congressman Tom Tancredo.
Do you agree or disagree with the above? Do you have more evidence of Tancredo's depredations? Click here to email Tancredo Watch. Unlike pro-Tancredo blogs that don't even allow public comment and provide no way to contact their authors, this constituent of Tom Tancredo's welcomes opposing views.
(Website last revised 10/29/07). |
