Republican Nebraska Senator Mike Johanns says he won’t seek re-election in 2014. He says he wants a “quieter time” to focus on his family. He stated that his decision was based on the fact that “it’s time” and not because of any frustration with the Senate.
Johanns served as secretary of agriculture under President Bush and as Governor of Nebraska from 1999 to 2005. He has been praised by Republicans for his strong leadership, thoughtfulness, and congeniality.
Although he started out as a Democrat, in 2008 he became a staunch conservative. He voted in opposition to the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court in the beginning of his first term as well as, Obama’s health care reform that was put into law by some left-leaning legislatures. Even after it was ruled Constitutional by the Supreme Court, he stood by his opinion that it was a bad policy.
Yohanns has voted pretty consistently with Republicans. However when it came to the nomination of Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense, he voted in support of that appointment while Republicans were in bitter opposition of Hagel's appointment.
In 2011 he was a member of the “Gang of Eight” that tried to negotiate a federal deficit-reduction deal. He also spoke out and called for the resignation of the unconstitutional NLRB appointees to resign.
In 1998 he was elected Governor of Nebraska. He was appointed as U. S. Secretary of Agriculture during his second term by left that position to make his bid for the U. S. Senate.
He has been openly against earmarks that give Congress the power to add money to the national debt for special local projects. These are processes that are not open to the public eye.
Senator Johanns experienced a health scare in March of 2009 when a spot was discovered on his lung. Fortunately the spot was not cancerous however the doctors removed the lower left lobe of his lung as a precautionary measure.
U.S. Senator, Jerry Moran of Kansas said that Nebraska will be looking to elect another equally dedicated Republican leader in 2014. www.FoxNews.com/politics/2013/02/18/nebraska-sen-johanns-says-wont-seek-re-election/
Johanns is not the only senator who will not be seeking re-election. Does anyone else think it is strange that five senators have recently decided to resign? Maybe it’s the last four years of deceit and behind closed doors dealings that strikes some curiosity about these resignations to wonder if the powers that be are secretly trying to weed out certain members of the Senate in order to fill the vacancies with their hand-picked replacements come election time. It just seems a bit curious that these announcements are coming so close together. Will there be more in the coming weeks or months?
Tom Harkin (D) Iowa was able to lead the more liberal senators to put their support behind Obama's health care bill. So he was an ace in the hole for Obamacare and was true to the liberal agenda.
Harkin now says that it's time to step aside and allow a new generation of Democrats to step in. Why this sudden change when it was obvious he had already amassed $2.7 million in campaign money and was planning to do a fundraiser next month? Surely he would want to continue to back his fellow liberals. www.huffingtonpost.com/3013/01/30/iowa-senate_n_2584678.html
Jay Rockefeller (D) W.VA has announced after five terms that he has decided not to seek re-election in 2014. This decision comes after realizing that his popularity has dropped because of his support of Obama and a speech last June that raised some conflicts with the coal industry. These conflicts would make it difficult to win the Senatorial race in 2014.
Rockefeller says that retiring was not an easy decision for him to make, but he’s decided it’s time to find other ways to serve the people of West Virginia and, also, have time to spend with his family.
Senator Rockefeller’s decision not to run for re-election has opened the door for Republicans in 2014. However, it’s the opinion of Democrats that they will retain the seat left by Rockefeller’s departure. www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/11/jay-rockefeller-resigns_n_2455812.html
Then, there’s Senator Saxby Chamblisss (R) GA who admits that his reason for resigning is his frustration with Congress’s partisan gridlock. Could that also be part of the reason for the withdrawal from the senate race for the other senators, as well?
Chambliss said in a statement, “This is about frustration, both at the lack of leadership from the White House and the dearth of meaningful action of our nation’s economic health.” www.news.yahoo.com-georgia-republican-senator-chambliss-tetire-aide-1607...
The fifth senator to announce retirement at the end of his term is Frank Lautenberg (D) N J. Having dealt with some health problems lately, at age 89 it seems reasonable that he would want to stay out of the 2014 senate race. However, his plans beyond that are pretty ambitious for the remainder of his term.
Lautenberg said in a statement, “ This is not the end of anything, but rather the beginning of a two-year mission to pass new gun safety laws, protect children from toxic chemicals and create more opportunities for working families in New Jersey.” Is it that he could he not have accomplished those things as a senator because of a partisan government? http://news.yahoo.com/nj/-sen-frank-lautenberg-says-retire...
Maybe there’s no real cause for concern about these senators retiring in the same year, but could there possibly be some well-hidden reason behind this string of confirmed drop outs? The reasons they gave sound reasonable and may very well be the truth.
This Congress and this administration have done so many under-handed acts, keeping the truth from the public until someone ultimately uncovers what the real reason was for doing what they did, it not difficult to be wary even when the truth is told.
Truth is not something we are used to being given by any level of this administration. It is a sad note when we feel that we cannot trust elected officials regardless of how good their record of service may be. We have seen those who have appeared to be doing the right thing do a turn around and do something under-handed at the prodding or even with threats from left-leaning zealots. There’s so much corruption in our government, it’s difficult to know who to believe.
We can only hope that these senators are not being used and pushed out by some unscrupulous actions within the senate or this administration.
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