e Lede

HARTMANN Continued from pg 9

low-income Black people.

But let us give Ann Wagner her due. For example, she’s entitled to an unedited and unbiased recounting of the bills that she sponsored in the current session of Congress that have been passed into law.

OK, sorry. There aren’t any. But I’m sure if she had sponsored something, it would have been bold and decisive lie the five bills she has championed that have become law in her eight-year career.

There’s her signature achievement from the 2017-18 session, in which Wagner went out on a limb with a law signed by Trump on April 11, 2018, called the “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online e racin ct o .” It isn’t everyone who is willing to stand up so boldly to the powerful setracers lobby in ashin ton.

Perhaps the timing was accidental, but it occurred precisely on the thirteenth anniversary of the night that Billy Bush co-hosted the annual Miss USA Pageant Trump owned. That was right around that time in 2005 that celebrity Trump was caught on videotape, with Bush, saying, “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anythin. rab em by the pussy.”

Last Friday, October 9, marked four years to the day that Wagner made the following principled stand against Trump less than a month before the 2016 election:

“I have committed my short time in onress to fihtin or the most vulnerable in our society. As a strong and vocal advocate for victims o se tracin and assault, I must be true to those survivors and myself and condemn the predatory and reprehensible comments of Donald Trump. “I withdraw my endorsement (of Trump) and call for Governor Pence to take the lead so we can deeat ilary linton.” aner was among just a dozen Republicans in Congress willing to go so far as demand Trump’s resignation from the ticket.

But I digress. The congresswoman has accomplished so much more than getting a sexual predator to sign a bill targeting sexual predators. This woman has taken on the special interests who oppose namin post oces or ood people.

Yes, in just four years, Wagner forced President Barack Obama to sign laws establishing — in our own 2nd District — the Lance Corporal Phillip D. Vinnedge Post ce, the t. achary . isher ost ce, the t. manda . inson ost ce and the t. aniel . iordan ost ce, each with a separate law.

Wow. Let the cynics say it’s not a great legislative record in Wagners short time in onress” to have sponsored nothing but four such naming laws and one milquetoast measure most notable for the irony of who signed it.

But look at the bright side. If Wagner was actually doing something, it might not be all that great. For example, one of the things Republicans are buzzing about at the state level — covered in this space last week — is the need to bring fairness and honor to the process of redistricting in the state of Missouri.

Wagner actually has a public record on that subject. Speaking on August 2, 2000, from the Republican National Convention — as chairwoman of the Missouri Republican Party — here’s what she promised, out loud, were the GOP to win that November: “We will absolutely have the upper hand in the congressional redistricting process, and I have our dream map on my des,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch quoted Wagner saying in its front-page lead story. The paper described “her eyes glistening with anticipation” as she said the ollowin

“We’ll draw Dick Gephardt a district that’s 62-63 percent Republican, that starts east at the county line and stretches to Town and ountry,” aner said. Jim Talent is governor, it’s a done deal. And Dick Gephardt probably wont run or reelection in .”

Wagner got part of her wish. President George W. Bush won, but Talent, then a member of Congress, lost narrowly to Democrat Bob Holden for governor. Gephardt won reelection in 2002, his last term in oce.

But this rare public insight into Wagner’s character perhaps explains why she so effortlessly became an acolyte of the “predatory” uy she opposed in the name o setracin victims.

It is a shame that voters cannot hear as much this year from Ann Wagner as they heard in 2000 or 2016, were they paying attention. It might be quite revealing.

Let this woman be heard. n

Ray Hartmann founded the Riverfront Times in 1977. Contact him at rhartmann@sbcglobal.net or catch him on St. Louis In the Know With Ray Hartmann and Jay Kanzler from 9 to 11 p.m. Monday thru Friday on KTRS (550 AM).