Term Limits

I'm not sure how I feel about term limits. Apparently neither are Tom Latham or Jim Leach. Both signed the Contract with America in 1994, one plank of which was the Citizen Legislature Act, establishing six term limits on service in the House. Both are fundraising for races in 2006, which will be the seventh term since signing for each. So much for principles.

Latham and Stem Cells

Nice Letter to the Editor in the Ames Trib today (finally available on the web):

By: Tom Harrington, 3016 Northridge Parkway, Ames
Why would Rep. Tom Latham vote against a bill expanding federal stem cell research to embryos destined to be discarded? The bill had bipartisan support, including that of long-standing abortion critics. It easily passed the House and awaits likely Senate approval.
This promising research would use only abandoned embryos, those left over after in vitro fertilizations. No embryos would be created or destroyed for research.
Latham's vote against stem cell research was a vote in favor of the extremist agenda of Majority Leader Tom DeLay and the radical right. In return for DeLay's contributions of more than $26,000 to Latham's campaigns, Latham is an ardent defender of the thrice-admonished DeLay and has voted with DeLay more than 94 percent of the time.
This time, DeLay had Latham vote against the hopes of thousands of Iowa families with devastating diseases. Instead of voting in DeLay's interest, shouldn't Latham be voting in the interests of Iowans?

Farmer Latham

For someone who reported no income from actually farming on his latest financial disclosure, Tom sure has been raking in the subsidy bucks - he pulled down $438k from 1995 to 2002, which represents 8,429% of the national average subsidy for farmers. That is not a typo.

Tom Latham and the Estate Tax

Not very many real family farmers would ever be affected by the Estate tax, and for those with enough land to qualify, the tax would be minimal. No family farm has ever been lost to the tax.

But one person stands to benefit substantially from the potential repeal. Can you guess who? (I bet you can, given the title of this post.)

According to his 2003 Financial Disclosure (pdf), Tom Latham is worth between $1.7 and $3.7 million. His income was between 250k and 370k, with around half coming to him with no work at all. I'm sure by the time he dies he'll have quite a pretty penny, and thanks to his quick thinking, he'll be able to pass all that onto his kids. What a dedicated public servant he is.

Thanks to Jerry Depew for turning me on to this line of investigation.