Ed Martin on Hodges: He's Obama's candidate

Give Missouri Republican Party chairman Ed Martin credit fof consistency. During his unsuccessful bid for attorney general, Martin immediately began blasting incumbent Chris Koster as being "Obama's lawyer." That did not work for Martin, but that doesn't stop him from trying it again. In the following news release, Martin labels Steve Hodges, the Eighth District Congressional seat given up by JoAnn Emerson when she decided to cash in on her Congressional experience two months into her term by joining a lobbying organization, as Obama's candidate.

Ed Martin, Chairman of the Missouri Republican Party, released the following statement upon the nomination of Steve Hodges as the Democratic candidate for Congress in the 8^th District:

“Barack Obama knows that the only thing standing in the way of his extreme liberal agenda is the slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives. That’s why he will stop at nothing to send more of his allies—allies such as Democrat Steve Hodges—to Washington.

“The people of Southern Missouri value life and liberty, and yet Steve Hodges has a history of standing against both.  Missouri Right to Life recently yanked their endorsement of Steve Hodges after he flip-flopped on a key abortion bill and voted to sustain the governor’s veto of the legislation.  Hodges also supports a federal bill that would strip employees of their rights to a secret ballot in union elections—legislation that would open Missourians up to threats and intimidation by union bosses.  

“At a time when the federal government is encroaching more and more on the freedoms of Missourians, we simply cannot afford to send someone like Steve Hodges to Washington to help advance Barack Obama’s extreme liberal agenda.”

 Background:

Missouri Right to Life yanked their endorsement of Hodges after he flip-flopped on a key abortion bill.  St Louis Beacon, September 20, 2012: Missouri Right to Life has made good on its warning, by withdrawing its support from two state House members – Democrats Linda Black of  Bonne Terre and Steve Hodges of East Prairie – who had opted to stick with Gov. Jay Nixon and not support the General Assembly’s override of his veto of SB 749… The group said in a statement that Black and Hodges were among those who “gave a verbal commitment to vote to protect the religious liberties of people of faith not to have to pay for or participate in the taking of innocent human lives by being forced to provide abortion services, drugs or devices.” “Since MRL PAC endorsements are made on the basis of a candidate's commitment to protect innocent human lives on all life issues, these votes against an override were considered anti-life,” the group said in a statement. “MRL PAC judges this anti-life vote to be a disqualifier for an endorsement.”

Hodges co-sponsored a resolution in favor of the federal ‘card check’ legislation, which would strip employees of their rights to a secret ballot when voting on whether to form a union.  More information on ‘card check’ from the Society for Human Resource Management: The Employee Free Choice Act represents the most dramatic potential change to U.S. labor law in nearly 75 years.  If enacted, the legislation would allow unions to sidestep employees' current right to vote in a private, Federal government-supervised election during organizing campaigns. The legislation would amend the by the National Labor Relations Act to guarantee the right to unions to represent employee units if the union simply collects signed authorization cards from fifty percent-plus-one of employees in a bargaining jurisdiction -- a process known as "card check" -- during a union organizing effort.  Under EFCA, unions would have no incentive to give employees the chance to vote in a secure, private representation election.