Silently slipped into a defense bill

I thought this administration and Congress was supposed to be different? The expanded hate crimes bill was snuck into a $700 billion defense appropriation so representatives and senators had the choice of signing the bill with the hate crimes bill or not signing it and leaving our troops high and dry. To discourage such lack of integrity, President Obama would have been right to veto this bill, but that would take integrity as well.

I sent this note to both of my senators; worked real well - they both voted for it:

I am completely ashamed of the conduct of the U.S. Congress. That the recent hate crimes bill - which seeks to expand federal hate-crime protection to homosexuals – was slipped into the defense authorization bill to ensure passage is deceitful and totally inappropriate. Hate crimes supporters in the House, realizing that the expanded hate crimes bill could not pass on its own merits, used deceitful tactics to get it passed. And the Senate seems willing to do the same. As it has abandoned its integrity, I am quickly losing confidence in the legislative branch of our federal government. I thought that the new administration and Democrat led legislature were supposed to preside over an exceptionally open and honest approach to government. Those promises have sadly faded.

I implore you as my representative not to succumb to this pressure. Let the debate over additional hate crimes be discussed honestly in the light of day, not in the shadows of another bill which has nothing to do with this issue. Please give me some hope that there is some integrity left in the Senate.

If you do vote for this bill as is, I can assure you that you will never receive my vote for any public office candidacy again, and I will do whatever I can to convince my friends, colleagues, and acquaintances to do the same. I could not support a candidate who lacks the integrity to vote “No” on this bill.