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“Out of touch” Castle votes with Republican majority in scolding, intimidating the American press
NEWARK, Del. – Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) has cast yet another vote to empower the President and remove any checks and freedoms that Americans have counted on for centuries.
Last night, Castle joined with Dennis Hastert, Jim Sensenbrenner and other right-wing Republicans in voting to condemn the New York Times and other publications for telling the American people that their bank records were being examined without any disclosure. Eight Republicans crossed party lines and voted against, but Castle was not one of them.
Dennis Spivack, the Democratic congressional candidate, criticized Castle’s vote that lies in stark contrast with Delaware’s priorities.
“Mike Castle has again shown how out of touch a politician can become when he is inside the beltway for sixteen years,” said Spivack. “In the past six months, he has voted to criminalize nuns who help care for immigrants, to extend the President’s tax cuts for the rich, and now to limit the first amendment. At a certain point, enough is enough.”
The vote came after a week of callous criticism by the Bush administration and Congressional Republicans aimed squarely at the media. A series of newspapers had uncovered a Treasury Department program designed to monitor international financial transactions. Washington Republicans then continued their election-year pandering – just like the flag-burning amendment, that Rep. Castle also voted for.
“It is a sad irony that Mike Castle and President Bush believe leaks are OK when they help the administration – like in the Valerie Plame case – but not when they involve informing the American people of infringements on their bank records,” Spivack continued. “This is blatant fear-mongering as an excuse to limit the Bill of Rights, and Delawareans have repeatedly told me in recent months that they have had enough.”
Spivack, a native Delawarean and Vietnam veteran, is a Wilmington attorney who has been involved in Democratic politics for more than 25 years. For more information about Dennis Spivack, visit www.spivackforcongress.org.
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