Richard Shelby shameless, disingenuous in reelection bid

Last week while most people attuned to politics were paying attention to the
Republican presidential primary debate and the latest Donald Trump sound bite
the House of Representatives and the Senate approved a $1.1 trillion tax and
spending package, averting a government shutdown and funding federal agencies
through the fall of next year.
For many, that bill and others like it represent everything that is wrong with
Washington. The 2,009-page bill full of government spending programs was
released to the public 48 hours before Congress voted it. Under regular order,
Congress would have deliberated each piece of the funding package individually.
With little fanfare, it cleared the House by a 316-113 vote, then the Senate by a 6533 tally.
Of the entire Alabama House and Senate delegation, only Reps. Robert Aderholt
(R-Haleyville) and Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham) were the only two "yes" votes.
While it was expected Sewell would vote with her party, one would think Aderholt
should be denounced for his vote in that goes against conservative values.
But it was Aderholt who cast one of the most honest votes of any of the Alabama
congressional Republicans.
Following Fridays vote, Shelby, who is up for reelection next year, put out a
statement feigning moral outrage over what he had deemed to be a blank check
given to the White House.
Today I once again said no to handing over a blank check to President Obama
with this 2,000 page, trillion-dollar spending bill filled with liberal victories. Not only
does this fiscally irresponsible bill allow the President to continue his dangerous
Syrian refugee resettlement plan, it does nothing to stop funding for lawless
sanctuary cities that protect criminal illegal immigrants. It also does nothing to end
taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. Simply put, this bill represents a victory
for President Obama and his liberal allies not for the American people.
You tell em, Senator Shelby! Thank you for not letting those pinko commies run
roughshod over the country without putting up a fight and raising a fuss in protest.
If only that were the case.
Before voting no on the omnibus last week, Shelby larded the bill up with other
pet projects for the state. Among those pet projects was a measure worth hundreds
of millions to rocket manufacturer United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between
Lockheed Martin and Boeing, which has a massive operation in Decatur, Ala.
and employs roughly 800 people.
The problem is, the ULA uses Russian-made engines and lawmakers had wanted to
phase out the use of those Russian-built engines as a way to punish the Russian
government for invading Ukraine and annexing Crimea.

That drew ire of Shelbys colleague, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who on a number of
occasions took to the media to criticize Shelby.
However, aside from the geopolitical ramifications of what Shelby had done
might be, it doesnt seem like something a bona fide rock-ribbed conservative would
use his position as a senior member on the Senate Appropriations Committee to
insert language the sake of a business interest in his home state.
For whatever reason, Shelby seems to be worried about his reelection bid coming up
next year, at least as far as winning the Republican Partys nod to run in the general
election for the U.S. Senate seat he occupies.
For this election cycle, Alabamas senior senator is trying to portray himself as the
second-coming of Glenn Beck, which is seems very awkward for a nearly 29-year
member of the U.S. Senate who would buck ideology if it meant securing a HUD
grant for a Dairy Queen on McFarland Blvd. in Tuscaloosa.
Last week, many Alabamians received a mail flyer picturing Shelby alongside Sen.
Jeff Sessions headlined Alabamas Conservative Fighters and urging recipients to
vote in the March 1 GOP primary.
I suppose you could do a lot worse than having to ride your states junior senators
coattails to reelection.
Shelby, or someone on behalf Shelbys reelection campaign, lobbied earlier this for
shorter Republican ballot qualification periods and higher qualification fees, which
would have made it harder for anyone to put up opposition to Shelby on the
Republican side.
Nonetheless, it didnt deter four other candidates -- John Martin, Shadrack McGill,
Jonathan McConnell and Marcus Bowman from qualifying to be on the Alabama
Republican primary ballot for the U.S. Senate.
Even with a crowded field, would anyone seriously bet against five-U.S. senatorial
election win streak, and a nine-congressional election winning streak if you include
his four terms as a member of the House from 1979 through 1986?
There seems to be something missing here.
Is Shelby seriously worried about not winning reelection or the possibility of a repeat
of what happen in Mississippi during the 2014 midterm election cycle with
incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and his upstart opposition State Sen. Chris
McDaniel?
Cochran barely hung on to win his partys nod before sailing through to reelection in
the general election.
The other possibility is that Shelby wants to hold on to as much of his war chest as
possible through this election. According to the Center for Responsive Politics
website OpenSecrets.org, Shelby is sitting on over $19 million in campaign cash and
another $4.5 million in his leadership PAC.

Its difficult to imagine Shelby will need to spend $24.5 million to win reelection over
the next 11 months. So there should be some amount of that money remaining
headed into 2022, the next time Shelby would be up reelection, and by then he
would be 88 years old.
Whatever the reason is for Shelbys intensive reelection bid, its disingenuous for
Shelby to portray himself as some sort of uber-conservative Tea Party candidate.
Its not necessarily a bad thing to not be a Tea Party candidate. Shelby has done a
lot for the state and there are a number of buildings named in his honor to prove it.
Otherwise, this effort to be something Shelby isnt is nothing less than cringe
worthy.