Cardoza denies being Nancy Boy

6-22-07
Modesto Bee
Rules Committee position gives Blue Dog's bark more bite...Dennis Cardoza, 18th Congressional District, which includes part of Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties and all of Merced County
http://www.modbee.com/opinion/community/story/13715696p-14302358c.html
I am writing to set the record straight about my role on the House Rules Committee in response to "Cardoza walking fine line in House" (June 18, Page A-1). The overall tone of the piece suggested that I agree with Democratic leadership 100 percent of the time. While I am proud to be a Democrat, I don't agree with anyone 100 percent of the time and I will continue to put the interests of my district before party politics. My seat at the leadership table has enhanced the position of moderates and conservatives in the Democratic caucus, not undermined them. My moderate and independent views have not changed. The most important work on the Rules Committee happens behind the scenes... I act to rein in elements of the agenda that are objectionable to conservative Democrats, many of them Blue Dogs. Since every piece of legislation comes through the Rules Committee... I have a direct line to tell House leadership... This direct access and role is something that Blue Dogs never enjoyed before I joined the Rules Committee. This is not to say that leadership adopts every change I ask for, but when they hear me bark, they know there are problems that need to be addressed before the legislation arrives on the House floor. Therefore, I am often able to prevent bad legislation that would hurt districts like mine from ever making it to a vote. More importantly, my position on the Rules Committee is crucial for my district because I have increased leverage to propose and induce votes on amendments that I know are priorities back home...I help decide what amendments are adopted and look for opportunities to address problems in the valley. ...Be assured, however, that my beliefs remain the same and serving in this capacity provides greater strength to moderates in the House and affords me many additional opportunities to address the needs of my district.

6-17-07
Fresno Bee
Cardoza's ties divide voters. Democratic congressman often walks a fine line with conservative district....Michael Doyle, Bee Washington Bureau
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/61656.html
Dennis Cardoza wanted a seat at the table, and he got it...the third-term Democratic congressman from Merced is a Capitol insider, setting the rules for House debate. But in a political twist, the very position that grants Cardoza clout could also estrange some San Joaquin Valley voters. A moderate, Cardoza is nonetheless a lieutenant to liberal House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He has her ear. She, in turn, often has his vote. The result is a fine line to walk for a congressman representing an often-conservative district. "In exchange for having a seat at the table," Cardoza said, "you agree that at the end of the day, you're all going to be on the same page." Cardoza and other members of the House Rules Committee decide how legislation is debated and what amendments can be offered...the 13-member panel shapes every bill considered by the House of Representatives. Rules Committee members have extra leverage with their colleagues, because they have their hands on every bill. Cardoza said the position gives him an opportunity to offer more amendments of his own. On the House floor, Cardoza and other Blue Dogs are generally the Democrats most likely to dissent from the party. But in the confines of the House Rules Committee, which meets on the third floor of the Capitol, Cardoza's voting is uniformly Democratic. Behind the scenes, moreover, Cardoza said the story is even more complex. "If you're on the Rules Committee, you vote with your party," Cardoza said. "That does not mean I'm a lackey for Nancy Pelosi." Cardoza likened his role to a "canary in a coal mine." In essence, he is a designated liaison to the Democrats' moderate wing. He lets House leaders know what might cause trouble for centrists. In turn, he gives the 47-member Blue Dog caucus an early heads-up on bills.

6-23-07
The Nation
No Confidence in a Congress that Bends to Bush
by John Nichols
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/06/23/2058/
Confidence in Congress has hit an all-time low. A mere 14 percent of Americans tell Gallup pollsters that they have a great deal or quite a lot of faith in the US House and Senate.Since Gallup began using the current measure of confidence in Congress in 1973, the worst rating had been the 18 percent figure accorded it in the early years of the 1990s, when the House was being rocked by scandals that would eventually see a number of top Democratic lawmakers rejected in their own party primaries and the “Republican revolution” vote of 1994.
To give a sense of just how bad things are for Congress, consider this notion: Americans express more confidence in corporate HMOs–the most despised manifestation of a health-care industry that lends itself to all of the scorn heaped upon it by Michael Moore’s new film Sicko — than in their elected representatives at the federal level.
It is true that confidence in Congress had been sinking in recent years, in large part because of frustration by the American people with the acquiescence by the formerly Republican-controlled House and Senate to the neo-conservative foreign policies of the Bush administration and to the Wall Street-driven domestic policies.
But the shift in control of both chambers after last November elections was supposed to change that.
No one expected Democrats to fix everything that was wrong with the United States, let alone the world.
But there was an expectation of progress–especially on the central issue of the moment: ending the war in Iraq.
That expectation, a basic and legitimate one in a functioning democracy, has not been met. And it has created a sense of frustration, and in many cases anger, on the part of Americans who really did want the Democrats to succeed–not in gaining partisan advantage but in the far more essential work of checking and balancing the Bush administration. Some leading voices of opposition, including anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, have simply given up on the Democratic Party. And no one should underestimate that, even if Sheehan says she no longer wants to be the face of the anti-war movement, Sheehan’s denunciation of the Democrats for failing to seriously challenge Bush’s management of the war is an honest and clear expression of the sense of betrayal that a great many Americans who voted Democratic in 2006 are now feeling.
That’s the bad news for Democrats.
The good news is that they still have time to change course...