Yesterday, on his Official Web Site, my Congressman, Brian Baird (D-WA-03), announced his Yes-Vote on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and stated that, in doing this, he "has taken decisive action to help stimulate the stagnant economy, and rebuild America's infrastructure in the process." He went on to say that, with his Yes-Vote on this legislation; he had "joined with a majority of Members of Congress."

Since I was opposed to the version of the above-mentioned legislation, of course, I was disappointed with Baird's Yes-Vote. However, I wasn't among those voting for Mr. Baird in this past November's election, giving him another term, so I recognize that my views may not always reflect the majority opinion of the district he's charged to represent. But, based on what I was hearing from other sources, it seemed that my Congressman's announcement wasn't presenting a complete picture. Especially, considering his statement that, "We are borrowing this money from our children, and we need to make sure they get something for their investment", that made me wonder why and how this was happening.

First, Congressman Baird didn't mention that as he "joined with a majority", with his Yes-Vote, it was an extremely partisan vote ... every Republican Member of Congress cast a No-Vote on this measure. Since his recent reelection was part of an overall Democrat victory touting Post-Partisan Politics, why the partisan vote on this and why no mention of Baird's role in "reaching across the aisle"?

Furthermore, Mr. Baird's reasoning for his "decisive action" didn't match up with the thinking of 11 members of his own party, who voted against this act. One of these was Allen Boyd (D-FL-02). In Boyd's press release, discussing his No-Vote on this economic package, his stated reasons included:

- He questioned whether the package would create jobs, help small businesses, and truly strengthen the economy in the short and long term.

- In order to fund the $819 billion plan, the actual long term cost will be $1.2 trillion.

- This level of deficit spending will only make our economic problems worse.

I don't know about you but it sure makes me wonder, with Boyd, a colleague from his own party, having these views, what led Baird to take such "decisive action" in "borrowing this money from our children"?

As this legislation has now moved to the Senate, both of the general concerns I've expressed about my Congressman's Yes-Vote in this matter have been further amplified. There, a group of conservative Senate Republicans are vowing to stand against this bill in its present form, saying that they feel shut out of the process of crafting the stimulus despite Democratic promises of bipartisan cooperation. And, Congressman Boyd's concerns are being echoed with comments including:

- "A trillion dollars is a terrible thing to waste." - Senator Roger Wicker, R-MS.

- "This is about spending money that we don't have for things we don't need." - Senator Tom Coburn, R-OK.

Beyond questioning Congressman Baird's partisanship and reasoning in this regard, I'm more concerned about whether or not his "decisive action" is representative. That is what he's getting paid for ... to be representative. Earlier, I mentioned my recognition that my views may not always align with the majority in Congressman Baird's district. But I haven't heard a hue and cry in favor of this legislation in my neighborhood. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case across the Columbia River, in Portland, but I've been hearing just the opposite perspective on this from the folks where I live ... in WA-03. Even more troubling than this is that, prior to his Yes-Vote, I didn't see any evidence of my Congressman reaching out to assure that his Constituents knew his position on this. More importantly, I didn't see any indication of him reaching out to learn the related views of the Constituents themselves ... so he could accurately represent them. On Congressman Baird's Official Web Site, the only "channels of communication" I've found for this needed dialog between the Congressman and his Constituents are these:

- Town Hall Meetings - The last one scheduled was 7/3/2008.

- Email - Maybe its just me but any time I've used this, including for this issue, I've only received automated responses.

Perhaps one reason that other Representatives differ with my Congressman on this legislation is that they have been proactive in knowing the views of their Constituents. I've discovered that many of these actually Follow their Constituents on Twitter, in order to have a current dialog, assuring accurate representation. I, currently, have 568 Followers on Twitter. Many of them are political figures from around the country, including Senators and Members of Congress from both parties. As far as I can tell, my Congressman isn't on Twitter or using any form of social media to connect with his Constituents. And, that's why the title of this article. There's no denying, when looking at the results of this past November's election, Congressman Baird can say, "I Won!" That's the same message our new President delivered to Eric Cantor, the Republican Minority Whip in Congress, in their disagreement over the best approach to stimulating economic growth. Certainly, every Democrat winning election this past November can gather together in this chorus but, if and when they do, they deafen themselves to hearing the will of the people they've sworn to represent and they fail to deliver the Change they promised us all.