Green catching flak on CAFTA vote

Rep. Mark Green cast the deciding vote last week to pass CAFTA, the Central American Fair Trade Agreement.

OK, 216 other members cast the deciding vote, too, but the bill passed 217-215 after a frantic scramble and a lot of promises and horse trading by Republican leaders.

But if Green had voted no, the bill would not have passed, barring someone else switching his/her vote.

But Green's vote is almost never in doubt, because he is part of the GOP hierarchy in the House, has his nose pretty close to Tom DeLay's rear end, and is actually one of DeLay's assistant majority whips in the House, who helps corral GOP votes. That, along with the $20,000 in PAC contributions DeLay has given Green, helps explain why Green votes with DeLay 91% of the time.

But now Green wants to be governor of Wisconsin. It is reasonable to expect that he might take a broader view, rather than voting what's best for Tom DeLay and George W. Bush.

CAFTA is not good for Wisconsin, as the Capital Times points out in its editorial, "Wall Street vs. Wisconsin." That's why Badger state labor, farm, consumer and environmental groups opposed it. The Cap Times said:

Green did not vote for CAFTA as a Republican. Twenty-seven Republicans, including some of the most conservative members of the House, withstood Bush administration pressure to back the deal.

And Green certainly did not vote for CAFTA as a Wisconsinite.

The case had been clearly and consistently made that CAFTA was a bad deal for Wisconsin. Designed to encourage the movement of manufacturing and warehousing industries from the United States to Latin American countries, the agreement poses a particular threat to manufacturing states such as Wisconsin.

CAFTA will, as well, encourage the development of industrial agriculture in Central American countries, with an eye toward flooding the U.S. market with food products that will undermine the viability of small farmers such as those who continue to form the backbone of Wisconsin agriculture.

So, if Green did not vote as a Republican or as a Wisconsinite for CAFTA, whose interests did he represent?

The man who says he wants to be the chief executive of our state voted as a representative of the Wall Street interests that have abandoned workers and communities in Wisconsin and in Central America to advance an agenda that favors only their corporate bottom lines.

If Mark Green were running for governor of Wall Street, his vote would have been appropriate.

But Green is running for governor of Wisconsin and, as such, his vote should serve as a clear indication that he is the not the man for the job.

"Congressman Green should be ashamed,” said Sara Rogers, Executive Vice President of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO. “He voted against decent treatment for our Dominican and Central American brothers and sisters, and he voted against working families.

Just like NAFTA, CAFTA does not include meaningful protections of workers’ rights -– but it gives trade breaks to countries that violate worker’s rights. CAFTA will expand NAFTA’s legacy of lost jobs, low wages and trampled worker’s rights to six more countries, she said.

“Mark Green knows that CAFTA won’t magically end poverty or terrorism or illegal immigration. He knows that CAFTA will send more decent-paying Wisconsin jobs offshore, not create significant new export markets. He knows that CAFTA will do nothing to improve U.S. or Wisconsin competitiveness and stem our intractable trade deficit. But in the end, Mark Green chose party loyalty and corporate bucks over the people of Wisconsin,” Rogers said.

Think this might be an issue next year?