"Wrong but not heartless?"

The Journal Sentinel editorial board has chastized the Wisconsin Democratic Party for calling Rep. F. Jim Sensenbrenner "heartless" for his vote against aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The Democrats did make that charge in a Sept. 9 news release and another on Sept. 14.

But I am happy to shoulder some of the blame. I think I'm the one who used the word first, in this Sept. 9 post. For good measure, I threw in uncaring and unfeeling, too. I said then, in part:

F. James Sensenbrenner, as a member of Congress, has the opportunity to do something in his official capacity. But he has refused.

I don't know what he has done personally to help victims. I hope he has been generous. He certainly has the means, if he chose, to write a million dollar check. Maybe he and Cheryl are preparing their extra rooms right now to take in some survivors. I hope so.

But it is his role in the House of Representatives that is at issue.

His title is Representative. But who does he represent?

Does his vote represent the people of his district?

Are we to believe that the people of Cedarburg, Whitefish Bay, Shorewood, River Hills, Wauwatosa, West Bend, Mequon, Brown Deer, and other communities in his district wanted him to vote no?

Do you think the people of his district want to turn their backs on the survivors of Katrina?

Of course they don't.

So who is it, exactly, that Representative Sensenbrenner is representing?

It's not the Republican Party. Only 11 Republicans voted against the bill. It's certainly not his leader, President Bush, who asked for the money.

I'm hard-pressed to explain. Any possible answer seems too callous to be true.

Is he representing the super-rich, who stand to benefit from proposed tax cuts that may never happen now because of the cost of Katrina? You'd like to think not, since he is one of the potential beneficiaries of the tax cut.

If and when he explains himself, I suspect we will learn that he is representing some misguided, esoteric principle that only he can understand.

I've seen no evidence since then to suggest that I was wrong. Maybe he's had some privqte chats with the editorial board, but Sensenbrenner has done nothing to demonstrate any compassion for the victims, and has continued to oppose any relief, even in the bankruptcy laws. He has complained about accountability, but proposed nothing to improve it, He just voted no. In a radio interview, asked if he was uncaring, Sensenbrenner said he cared about money being spent wisely.

If the Journal Sentinel has seen some evidence I missed, I'd be happy to hear about it. The newspaper attributes his votes to "philosophical inner voices speaking to Sensenbrenner." So now he's hearing voices?

The latest report is that Sensenbrenner has resigned, after two days, from a panel the Republicans named to "investigate" the response to Katrina. Why? Too busy, schedule conflicts, the usual. Or maybe he just didn't care.