Fiscal Responsibility Promised But Not Practiced in Republican Campaigns

I have to admit I am more than a little upset with the GOP these days. They ran on Tea Party promises, promising to restore the Constitution and cut spending, and just after a month in Congress, neither seems to be happening. Republicans almost extended the Constitutional killing Patriot Act yesterday, and they promised $100 billion in spending cuts, but as of this week, they could only come up with $32 billion. Ah jeez!

So with that said, what can we learn about this new GOP class of Congress critters. Are they fiscally responsible? Consider this:

Here in my own district, I have documented how Republican Billy Long spent over $1 million to win an election in one of the safest Republican districts in the country for a job that only pays $174,000 a year. Is this fiscally responsible? To add insult to injury, a majority of the money Long spent left his home district as Long chose not to use local firms to market his campaign. Luckily for Long, he showed he was debt free and went right to work nine days after the election despite with his reelection bid despite making the statement politicians in Washington spend to much time focused on getting reelected.

For a number of other Republicans, debt appears to be the norm as they proved themselves to be big spenders during their campaigns. This worries me considering the shape of this country--of course, this problem isn't just limited to Republicans, but Republicans did run on the promises of fiscal responsibility and reducing debt.

Here are some of the debt reported by new Republican members of Congress:

Joe Walsh (R-IL) $361,000 in campaign debt (vote recount involved)

Joe Heck (R-NV) $203,000 in campaign debt

Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) $129,000 in campaign debt

Dave Reichert (R-Wash.) $137,000 in campaign debt

Blake Farenthold (R-TX) $156,000 in campaign debt

The list goes on. Now I understand how important it was to get these Republicans elected to stop the Obama agenda. What I worry about is how many of them are in debt for almost a year's congressional salary. That doesn't seem fiscally responsible to me, and it worries me--especially when you see how much the enthusiasm for cutting government spending in Washington has lessened since they took office. I mean $32 billion is a long way off from the $100 billion Republicans promised, and Obama looks ready to spend a lot more as he attempts to bailout some states and spend over $50 billion on high-speed rail.

Just saying...