Gibbs V. Lampson Round One

I was going to take a look at the TX GOV candidates tonight, but instead I was inspired by something I received in the mail. Something that frightened me and left me with questions. Yes, I received campaign flyers from Shelley Sekula Gibbs. (These are actually paid for by the NRCC, because Gibbs really doesn't have the funds for this type of material.) Of course, I was frightened by Shelley's creepy face in my mailbox. And I was left with questions like "Is Nick Lampson the only issue she cares about?" and "What the hell does Shelley Sekula Gibbs stand for?".

Basically, Gibb's material features provocative statements like "Mr. Lampson, why wouldn't you keep our schools safe?" and "FACT: Nick Lampson voted against improving our health insurance." If you dig deep into the material, you'll find vague references to some of Lampson's votes. Specifically Vote 227 1999 and Vote 174 2003.

Why did Nick Lampson 'vote to keep our schools safe?' The ad says:

While in Congress, Nick Lampson voted against allowing school authorities to suspend or expel disabled students who bring weapons or illegal drugs to school.

From what I can tell, Nick Lampson voted against the Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 1999. I suspect there's a reason why he and the majority of Democrats voted NO. Basically Section 1201 that declares the State has the authority to display the Ten Commandments on its property. However, I guess it is possible Lampson was voting specifically Section 118, but surely the NRCC wouldn't be trying to mislead us, eh?

The second vote was against the Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2004. It's a nice little piece of legislation that would create Associated Health Plans (AHPs) that would basically be exempt from all the usual consumer safeguard mechanisms and oversight. Basically, the NRCC is upset that Nick Lampson voted against Enron-style health insurance. I don't have a problem with that. Or in other words:

Shelley Sekula Gibbs would vote for Enron-style Health Insurance for all Texans.

That has a nice ring to it.

Tomorrow I will continue looking at a few more differences between Nick and Shelley...