Roll call on military tribunals

The House passed the military tribunals bill by a vote of 253 to 168. Republicans voted 219 to 7 in favor, Democrats 160 to 34 against. Here's the roll call. This makes this a pretty legitimate party-line issue for the fall campaign. A Democratic-controlled House might have gone the other way, because the leadership could frame the issue (using its 9-4 margin in the Rules Committee) in a way favoring its preferred outcome, as leaderships of both parties have done for many years.

Here's my analysis of those who voted across party lines. The 34 Democrats first:

Bud Cramer (AL 5): represents culturally conservative Bush04 northern Alabama district.

Artur Davis (AL 6): moderate DLC-type young black from Birmingham.

Mike Ross (AR 4): from rural southern district.

John Salazar (CO 3): from rural 55 percent Bush04 district, ran as a moderate.

Allen Boyd (FL 2): much of the district is rural conservative; overall 54 percent Bush04.

Sanford Bishop (GA 2): moderate voting record, Bush04 district.

Jim Marshall (GA 3): mostly rural and small-town district, redistricted since '04 to help Republicans; has been a solid supporter of Iraq war.

John Barrow (GA 12): mostly rural and small-town district, redistricted since '04 to help Republicans; the Republican incumbent he beat in '04 is running again.

David Scott (GA 13): has had moderate voting record; district with large black percentage but also includes some heavily Republican exurban precincts.

Melissa Bean (IL 8): upset worn-out incumbent Phil Crane in 56 percent Bush04 district; has serious opposition this time.

Leonard Boswell (IA 3): Army veteran 1956-76 with somewhat moderate voting record; has spirited opposition this year in a district that was 50-50 Bush-Kerry.

Dennis Moore (KS 3): moderate representing basically Republican (55 percent Bush04) suburban district; doesn't seem to have strong opposition this year.

Ben Chandler (KY 6): Bluegrass district went 58 percent for Bush in '04; served in statewide office and probably would like to run for senator or again for governor.

Charlie Melancon (LA 3): narrow (569 votes) winner in 58 percent Bush04 district, is on Republican target list.

Michael Michaux (ME 2): blue-collar Democrat in north-country district.

Collin Peterson (MN 7): moderate voting record, north-country district 55 percent Bush04. (The Post roll-call list, which I linked to above, apparently has an error here, recording liberal Martin Sabo as voting yes and Peterson voting no; this list seems to be more accurate, though it's a straight alphabetical list without state affiliation noted.)

Gene Taylor (MS 4): bellicose Jacksonian from Gulf Coast, one of the least liberal voting records of any House Democrat; district 68 percent Bush04.

Rob Andrews (NJ 1): longtime moderate on many issues; possible fallback candidate if Bob Menendez leaves the Senate race, although this vote will rankle left-wing Democrats.

Brian Higgins (NY 27): Buffalo Democrat, won close race in '04 but in no trouble now.

Bob Etheridge (NC 2): moderate from rural and small-town southern district, 54 percent Bush04.

Mike McIntyre (NC 7): moderate from rural and small-town southern district, 56 percent Bush04.

Earl Pomeroy (ND at large): from 63 percent Bush04 state.

Sherrod Brown (OH 13): strong liberal but running for the Senate this year, ahead in most polls; evidently taking no chances (the Post roll call seems to have got this one wrong too).

Dan Boren (OK 2): freshman, ran as conservative Democrat in 59 percent Bush04 district, son of former Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman David Boren.

Tim Holden (PA 17): coal-country Democrat in 58 percent Bush04 district.

John Spratt (SC 5): senior Armed Services member, conservative southern district; Republicans have been raising money for his opponent this year.

Stephanie Herseth (SD at large): from 60 percent Bush04 state.

Lincoln Davis (TN 4): moderate voting record, southern rural and small-town district.

Bart Gordon (TN 6): moderate voting record, district includes fast-growing Nashville exurbs.

John Tanner (TN 8): moderate voting record, southern rural and small-town district.

Harold Ford (TN 9): moderate voting record on some issues, is running for the Senate and leads in one recent poll.

Chet Edwards (TX 17): talented politician, moderate voting record, has serious opposition in George W. Bush's home district; 70 percent Bush04; an overdetermined vote.

Henry Cuellar (TX 28): moderate, appointed secretary of state by Republican Gov. Rick Perry, opposed in Democratic primaries '04 and '06 by liberal Democrat and former member Ciro Rodriguez, district 53 percent Bush04.

Scott Matheson (UT 2): moderate voting record; always has the potential of serious opposition in a 66 percent Bush04 district.

Republicans voting no:

Jim Leach (IA 2): one of the most liberal Republicans, voted against Iraq war resolution, district 55 percent Kerry04.

Jerry Moran (KS 1): moderate voting record on many issues, despite 72 percent Bush04 district.

Wayne Gilchrest (MD 1): a liberal on environment issues.

Roscoe Bartlett (MD 6): libertarian-minded conservative.

Walter Jones (NC 3): has been critic of Iraq war.

Steve LaTourette (OH 14): started legal career as an assistant public defender.

Ron Paul (TX 14): libertarian principles, strictly isolationist on all foreign policy issues.

Note that 27 of the 34 Democrats who voted for the military tribunals have districts that voted for Bush in 2004. Two others are running for the Senate. That leaves just five Democrats from Kerry districts voting yes. Similarly, six Republicans from Bush districts voted no. Otherwise the roll call pretty well tracks the 2004 election results, in which Bush won 255 districts and Kerry 180.

Public-employee unions

Looking ahead, there are two forces that threaten (or promise, if that's the way you view it) to expand government's share of the gross domestic product over the years. One is federal entitlements, Social Security, and Medicare, which have obligations that seem sure to grow faster than the economy. The other is the power in the states and localities of public-employee unions. Fueled with immense sums of dues money, which of course come directly from the taxpayers from whom they are, if necessary, forcibly extracted, then channeled to public employees and deducted from their paychecks and sent to their unions, whether they like that or not. The power of public-employee unions varies by state, but in most states they're a major political force. They had a huge victory in California last year, when they poured in more than $100 million to defeat Arnold Schwarzenegger's ballot propositions, including one (which Schwarzenegger supported only lukewarmly but that got the largest percentage) that would have required public-employee unions to get employees' authorization to pay dues. The public-employee unions fought that hard, and with megabucks, because their leaders know that many public employees don't want their dues sent to unions who spend them on political causes they don't agree with. The huge flow of taxpayers' dollars to the union leaders would be vastly reduced.

Now comes the interesting news. This week the Supreme Court has granted certiorari to review a decision of the Washington Supreme Court overturning a law passed by referendum that would require public employees to give consent before unions would get that portion of their dues money spent on politics. I haven't read the state Supreme Court's decision, but the newspaper account referenced above makes it sound specious: Evidently, it's based on the theory that union members' First Amendment rights are violated if they're not forced to hand over their money to allow their union's leaders to exercise their First Amendment rights the way they want to. It looks very much like the decision of Democratic judges to keep the money flowing to what is probably the state's strongest Democratic lobby, the Washington Education Association (i.e., the teachers union). Congratulations to the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, which has fought to get the law implemented over the powerful opposition of the WEA. And congratulations to Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna, who defended the law by appealing the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. McKenna is a Republican, elected by a 52-to-44 percent margin in 2004. The governor's race that year, as you may recall, was exquisitely close and was litigated over many weeks until Democrat Christine Gregoire, then attorney general, was declared the winner despite much fishiness in the ballots from heavily Democratic King County.

A U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the pro-union ruling of the Washington Supreme Court could have important reverberations for many years. These so-called paycheck protection laws are one way to cabin and reduce the power of public-employee unions, by reducing the flow of taxpayers' dollars into their coffers. And that in turn would tend to reduce the power of public-employee unions to increase their share of the private economy.