Politicians and media outlets, both conservative and liberal, are notorious for taking quotes and information out of context in order to spin them in a way which best suits their cause. In his Sept. 6 column, “Steele’s cut and run,” Lee Fang, President of the Maryland Federation of College Democrats, proudly continues this tradition.
Fang takes pride in the fact that he was able to stump Lt. Gov. Michael Steele by asking him how his plan for lobbying reform could be considered legitimate given the fact that Steele himself accepted contributions from lobbyists in the first quarter of 2006. First, we need to realize that the Steele is locked in one of the most competitive Senate races in the country and he will likely need whatever contributions he can get in order to be elected. In fact, Steele is not the only one in the race accepting contributions from lobby groups.
Congressman Ben Cardin, one of Steele’s potential Democratic opponents, has received more than $180,000 from labor unions alone. Is there anything wrong or unethical about that? Of course not, unless that contribution directly influences his vote. Second, and more importantly, the basis of Steele’s reform plan does not in any way state that campaign contributions should be banned. He calls for extending the time period that former congressman must wait before becoming lobbyists, eliminating gifts from lobbyists and requiring quarterly reporting of all campaign contributions, among other things. What Steele did was not inconsistent with his positions or even morally suspect. It certainly did not necessitate Fang’s impromptu interview.
Fang also places significant focus on Steele’s alleged inconsistency regarding minimum wage. To prove Steele’s “flip-flop,” Fang borrows a quote from the April 8 Wall Street Journal, in which Steele appeared to have been decidedly against the minimum wage when he stated, “The idea of the minimum wage is almost a fallacy.”
However the preceding seventeen words of the article explain Steele’s point: “Then he [Steele] notes that most businesses pay more than the minimum anyway, so that ‘the idea of the minimum wage is almost a fallacy.'” This, of course, is not incorrect or even slightly illogical. If he had gone even further back in the article, he would have shown Steele saying that he does indeed support a “strong minimum wage” on the condition that the cost to employers is also considered. In other words, the “measly” one dollar minimum wage increase would cost a small business owner who employs five part-time employees for twenty hours a week at minimum wage approximately $100 per week or over $5,000 per year. This, as Steele explains, is a large burden for most small business owners and should not be taken lightly. Hardly a “firm anti-minimum wage stance,” as Fang calls it.
Fang also spends a paragraph in his column discussing Steele’s supposed disingenuousness. Fang creates the impression that Steele believed a household with a $300,000 annual income was average. At no time during that “infamous” episode of Real Time with Bill Maher Fang mentions did Steele say a household with a $300,000 was average as Fang implied. His reference to “Middle America” seemed to be simply geographical in nature. We might have had an opportunity to hear Steele explain himself if Maher did not cut him off in order to move on to another topic.
Though we wish it were not so, it is often the case that partisans barrage the pages of this publication with damning “quotations” and “facts” in an attempt to discredit a candidate and further their own cause. We encourage everyone to monitor the original sources of this information, from all sides of the debate, and for that reason, the College Republicans will provide relevant sources from everything that we write in our Facebook group. Students and other interested parties will then be able to see the quotes in their entirety and make their own decisions.
We are in the midst of an exciting time in Maryland politics and I encourage everyone to get involved even if you’re not sure where you stand on all of the issues. The next few months will be critical in shaping the future of our state as well as our nation, and you deserve your say. If you are interested in joining the College Republicans, feel free to contact me at vp.terpgop@gmail.com or UMD College Republicans President Paul Freeman at terpgop@gmail.com.
Rob Mislavsky is the Vice President of the University of Maryland College Republicans. He can be reached at vp.terpgop@gmail.com.
