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Congressman Neumann Timewarp Two-Steps Away from his Record

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Date: 
Tuesday, May 18, 2010

?Wauwatosa – Keith Gilkes, campaign manager for Scott Walker, today called on Mark Neumann to end his timewarp two-step away from his record of skipping key votes and campaigning on the taxpayer dime.

“Congressman Neumann’s baseless attacks against Scott Walker this week are absolutely ridiculous coming from someone who paid for campaign ads with taxpayer money and skipped the most important vote of his congressional career to go on a hunting vacation,” said Gilkes.  “Congressman Neumann’s selective amnesia proves once again he’s the ultimate hypocrite, and voters won’t be fooled by his timewarp two-step to distance himself from his record of skipping key votes and abusing taxpayer money.”
  • Timewarp Two-Step: In 1995 Congressman Mark Neumann skipped a vote  that has been called the crowning achievement of the republican revolution, to go on a hunting vacation.   Neumann boldly defended his absence from the vote called by then Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich the ‘most important vote since 1933’ how?  He said that even though he didn’t show up to work, that he was putting in 70 hours a week as a Congressman.  Now, Neumann claims that Scott Walker is only serving as County Executive when he’s actually sitting in his desk in the courthouse.  I guess he thinks that elected officials in Wisconsin should be regarded differently than he and his DC cronies. (Vote to balance the budget Neumann missed: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h1995-810, Comments by Gingrich and Dole on the importance of Neumann’s missed vote: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EaMaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GS0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=2960,46081&dq=mark+neumann+missed+vote&hl=en)
  •  Timewarp Two-Step: In 1998, Neumann was caught using taxpayer dollars to tout his achievements in radio ads that were used outside his district.??                                                                                                                                        
*** November 22, 1995: The Hill: “A week ago, freshman Rep. Mark Neumann (R-Wis.) defended his right to his yearly $133,600 during the government shutdown. But Friday and Saturday, he went hunting , in mid-session. "Frankly I've earned my paycheck and I'm not ashamed to say it, " Neumann told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, claiming he would put in 70 hours that week. But he decided a hunting engagement with his son, which he planned based upon leadership's promises that Congress would not be in session, was more important than voting… Friday and Saturday's votes, however, were some of the biggest of the year.  The House gave its initial seal of approval to the GOP seven-year balanced budget plan, the culmination of the GOP revolution.”
 
 
***Copyright 1998 Telegraph-Herald 
Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA)
April 12, 1998, Sunday
SECTION: Wisconsin; Pg. a 11
LENGTH: 399 words
HEADLINE: Ads spark war of words for Neumann staff, Demos
BYLINE: Associated Press
BODY: 
Challenging Feingold: Lawmaker says radio saves money
MILWAUKEE (AP) - A Republican congressman's radio advertisements announcing a town hall meeting this week have sparked a war of words between the congressman's staff and state Democrats.
Larry Martin, executive director of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, criticized Rep. Mark Neumann, R-Wis., for using taxpayer money from his congressional office account to pay for ads running on radio stations outside his 1st Congressional District.
 
Martin said the radio spots essentially serve as taxpayer-funded campaign ads for Neumann, who is running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Russell Feingold.
 
The ads include an announcement of the town hall meeting scheduled in Janesville Thursday and a description of Neumann's work on Social Security and other issues.
 
Martin specifically cited ads that ran on WOLX-FM (94.9), a Madison-based station that broadcasts in an area that is primarily far north of Neumann's district. However, the station's signal does reach into Janesville and other cities within the 1st District.
 
"I ask Congressman Neumann to buy a map and tell us if there is any logical reason that he would be broadcasting radio ads hundreds of miles from his district," Martin said in a news release. "If not, please stop spending the taxpayers' dollars on your statewide Senate campaign and take these ads off the air."
Martin also attacked ads that Neumann has run on a Milwaukee radio station, saying that 80 percent of the station's listeners are outside the 1st District.
 
Feingold's campaign manager issued a simple statement on the ads Friday: "It's obviously an abuse of taxpayers' money."
 
Neumann's campaign manager, R.J. Johnson, dismissed the attack as "absurd and desperate."
"We're not going to stop Mark Neumann from doing his job representing the 1st Congressional District because some geek at the Democratic Party found that the radio stations overlap," Johnson said. "I have no way to put up a wall and bounce the radio waves to confine them to the 1st Congressional District."
Johnson said the ads help Neumann communicate with his constituents without spending massive amounts of taxpayer money on mailings.
 
"Because Mark Neumann is running for U.S. Senate does not change the fact that he has an obligation to talk to his constituents and hold town hall meetings."

 

Script
"Hi folks, this is congressman Mark Neumann; it's time for another round of old-fashioned town hall meetings and I sure hope you'll attend," the ad begins. It goes on to discuss Neumann's "accomplishments" during his first year in Congress.
"At our town hall meetings we will discuss our efforts to preserve and protect Medicare and Social Security, as well as the efforts to balance the federal budget and reduce wasteful government spending and we'll talk about making U.S. history by being the first freshman member of Congress while in the first year to get a vote on a plan to balance the budget.
"The Neumann plan would have balanced the budget in five years, paid off that $5 trillion debt in 30 years and stopped the Washington politicians from stealing the Social Security trust funds. Folks, I went to Washington to solve the financial problems facing our nation so as to preserve this great country of ours for our children and our grandchildren."
The ad then tells listeners to watch their local newspaper for the date of the meeting near them and ends by saying that the announcement was "paid for with official funds from the office of Congressman Neumann."