This is cross-posted on Ambivalent Mumblings and The Daily Kos. Ever since Senator George Allen welcomed S.R. Sidarth to America a few weeks ago, Virginia+óGé¼Gäós senate race has received attention throughout the country. For example, I heard about the incident through an evening newscast while on vacation in Vermont. Since Allen+óGé¼Gäós remarks were considered to be filled with racism, members of both parties have been distancing themselves from Allen+óGé¼Gäós remarks. Republicans generally say that Allen was just plain stupid for welcoming a lifelong Virginian to America; while Democrats point out that the event was just one of the many blemishes in Allen+óGé¼Gäós history of having a spotty record on issues relating to minority groups.
Despite the fact that Sidarth was from Fairfax County, which is part of Tom Davis+óGé¼Gäós district, Congressman Davis has failed to even address Allen+óGé¼Gäós comments.
If Davis was afraid of alienating his Republican base, he could have simply stated that he believed Allen didn+óGé¼Gäót mean for the remarks to be racist, but in hindsight, probably should have used different terminology or should have simply avoided addressing Sidarth at all. While people might disagree with that argument, they probably would have at least been content with the fact that Davis had denounced racism.
The congressman could have also have claimed that he was upset that one of his constituents was offended by the behavior of one of his fellow Republicans. This also would have allowed Davis to address the situation without directly attacking Senator Allen. After all, Davis would have simply been looking after one of his constituents. Like I said, however, Congressman Davis has decided not to stand up for the lifelong Virginian by denouncing Allen+óGé¼Gäós questionable behavior. I believe this is completely irresponsible because Davis has had several opportunities to make his opinions known.
One of these opportunities has been presented by Senator Allen himself. Over the last few weeks, Allen has apologized both directly to Sidarth and to the whole community on several occasions. After any of these apologies were announced, Tom Davis could have very easily said, +óGé¼+ôHey look, Allen admitted he was in the wrong so let+óGé¼Gäós move on. I+óGé¼Gäóm sure the Senator will clarify what he has done in support of minorities.+óGé¼-¥ The congressman wouldn+óGé¼Gäót have alienated his base by responding in this manner because he would have been simply supporting Allen while, at the same time, not condoning racism. Davis, however, still hasn+óGé¼Gäót addressed the senator+óGé¼Gäós comments.
Another opportunity presented itself when Davis+óGé¼Gäós opponent, Andy Hurst, called upon Davis to denounce the remarks. Davis could have followed Senator Allen+óGé¼Gäós lead by claiming that Democrats and the media have been making way too much of the situation. Republicans, after all, have had a lot of practice trying to blame Democrats for everything that goes wrong even though the Republican Party has control of the White House and both branches of Congress. Davis could have also used this as an opportunity to rally him base by separating himself from some of the negative publicity his party has been receiving lately. More importantly, Davis could have attempted to clarify his record on race related issues because Andy Hurst called attention to Davis+óGé¼Gäós poor ratings on issues relating to minority groups.
Davis received yet another opportunity to react to Allen+óGé¼Gäós remarks when Andy Hurst set up a site through which people could send the congressman an email about their opinions on the situation. Davis+óGé¼Gäós could have very simply responded to these emails by creating a standard reply to send directly to each person who sent the congressman an email. Since I strongly believe Davis should give some sort of reaction to Senator Allen+óGé¼Gäós questionable acts, I took advantage of the opportunity and sent Davis an email. I have yet to receive a response from the congressman. I am not terribly surprised, however, because Davis has a reputation of being horrible at sending replies to his constituents. The father of a soldier serving in Iraq provides one example of Davis+óGé¼Gäós excruciatingly slow responses. Even though the father had hand delivered a letter to his office, Davis had failed to respond after a wait of five months. This father+óGé¼Gäós situation shows that Davis+óGé¼Gäós failure address the current situation is simply one of several times in which Davis has ignored his constituents.
Setting aside all debate over Davis+óGé¼Gäós policy beliefs, it is the responsibility of every Member of Congress to address the concerns of his constituents. Tom Davis, however, has clearly decided not to assure Virginians that everyone in this Commonwealth. All I am asking from Congressman Davis is that he addresses Allen+óGé¼Gäós inappropriate behavior in one form or the other. Doing so would not be going above and beyond his call of duty, but simply accomplishing a task which all policymakers should complete.