Rep. Rod Blum’s votes questionable

To the editor:

If the voters of the 1st District were hoping for a fair, reasonable and independent voice in Washington in Rep. Rod Blum, they can bury that dreamy idea.

In the latest round of votes in the House, Rep. Blum voted lockstep with Rep. Steve King, the perennial embarrassment to the voters of Iowa's 4th District. Why, Rep. Blum did you vote 'no” on the bill that would have tied executive compensation to worker raises? Corporate chief executive officers are bringing home obscenely large pay packages and the disparity in pay between the very wealthy and the rest of us continues to widen. Does it not seem fair and reasonable to bar corporate tax deductions for executive pay packages over $1 million unless the company has done something to raise worker pay?

Sure, Rep. Blum, I know you may have lacked the courage to stand up against the Republican machine and vote 'no” on the ecological nightmare called the Keystone XL pipeline, but why vote 'no” on the bill that would have held TransCanada Corp. responsible for oil spills? The bill you voted down would have required the Keystone XL Pipeline to pay into the treasury department's Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which was established after the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989. Rep. Blum, don't you think polluters ought to be responsible for the pollution they cause? If they don't pay for the cleanup, who do you think will? The taxpayers of Iowa's 1st district who you presumably represent?

Floyd Sandford

Cedar Rapids