Who Does Walden Represent?

Some of your readers may be interested in taking a look at the recently passed "American Jobs and Closing Tax Loophole Act" currently pending in Congress. The part I found most interesting is the closing of offshore tax loopholes to large corporations. An estimated $100 billion is lost through these offshore tax dodges each year by companies like General Electric, Bank of America, Halliburton and others. Many of these companies also get huge government contracts while dodging taxes - in some cases, lowering their taxes to around 2-3 percent. Halliburton is an especially egregious example of greedy tackiness. The company hired hundreds of employees through a front company in the Cayman Islands that is little more than a P.O. Box, which allowed Halliburton to avoid hundreds of millions of bucks in Social Security and Medicare taxes. All the while they were getting billions in Government contracts.

Yet, though this bill sounds like it's justified, every Republican in the House, save one, voted against it, including Greg Walden. I called Walden's office in Medford and spoke with an aide named Brett who had no idea why Walden voted against the Bill. What benefit, I asked, did Walden's Constituents in the 2nd District derive from his "No" vote? Brett didn't know how to answer that and, in fact, hemmed and hawed so inarticulately that he sounded more like the office's janitor than Walden's aide. He stammered an answer to the effect that Walden would have to make a public statement as to why he voted against the bill and suggested I write a letter to the Congressman to find out why. He used the term "ambiguous" to describe Walden's possible motive. I couldn't figure out what that meant and poor Brett was tripping over his tongue so much that I took pity on him and let him off the hook by hanging up. At least Brett wasn't an obnoxious combative creep like the Walden aide I clashed with three or so years ago over Walden's vote against the S-Chip bill to cover poor children's healthcare that Bush vetoed. That guy sneeringly assured me that the Dems were playing politics and that S-Chip would be passed in due time. "Due time" turned out to be after Obama was sworn in and signed the bill. Walden is a typical Republican dedicated to helping the very richest tax cheats avoid paying their fair share of taxes that working stiffs have deducted from their paychecks. As Warren Buffet noted in a moment of candor, "If there is a class war going, the Rich are certainly winning it."

- R.T.Tihista, Bend