… FIVE QUESTIONS HE SHOULD ANSWER AT HIS FIRST DEBATE WITH ELIZABETH WARREN
“Scott Brown has spent a large part of this campaign avoiding things – difficult questions about his voting record, comparisons to Mitt Romney and all Republicans in general. As Massachusetts voters get ready to see Brown debate Elizabeth Warren for the first time Thursday night, here are some questions that he should be asked. The time for avoiding tough questions and tough issues is over.
- “You are always quick to distance yourself from Republican issues when it’s the easy call—Romney’s ridiculous comment saying he doesn’t care about 47 percent of the population or Congressman Todd Akin’s offensive position on rape. But on the calls that matter to working families you remain silent, like demanding Romney release his tax returns, divulge who his millionaire fundraising bundlers are or offer specifics on what he would do as president. Voters look to their elected officials for leadership. Why are you ducking the tough calls?
- “In your TV ads, you continually claim to represent “us.” But you have voted against equal pay for “us,” against the extension of unemployment benefits several times for “us” until you made sure billionaires got their Bush tax cuts, favored the doubling of student loan interest rates for “us,” and against tax cuts for “us.” Will you finally acknowledge the “us” you really represent are Wall Street millionaires and the special interests who are funding your campaign?
- “You proudly boast that one of your signature achievements is authoring the STOCK Act, which prohibits legislators from profiting in the stock market on the inside information to which they are privy. Yet your staff circulated a memo when they were writing your bill stating specifically that spouses would be exempt from the law. Do you take credit for the bill that allows spouses to benefit from Congressional insider trading?
- “In your short Senate career, you have become a skilled obstructionist, focused on making sure important issues are blocked even before coming to the Senate floor. The biggest example was your pledge to be the 41st vote against the Affordable Care Act, but there have been many others, including your maneuvering to be sworn in early, at the behest of Mitch McConnell, so you could help halt a nomination to the National Labor Relations Board who has a record of supporting working men and women. Did Massachusetts send you to Washington to ensure gridlock?
- “You spent very little time at the Republican National Convention in Tampa – reportedly as little as a couple of hours. But, according to the Boston Globe, one of the meetings you took in your short stay was with Karl Rove, the architect of former President Bush’s administration. What was your meeting with Rove about? Is he an advisor to your campaign?”
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