How much does it cost to 'drop a bill'?

I don't know, let's ask Billy.

Remember this?

That was from one of Billy Long's campaign commercials, you remember, the one he called "Doing the right thing", you know, the one where he said he was 'Fed up" with "politicians in Washington and their cronies", the one where he said "I'll do the right thing for the right reason everyday I'm there", yeah, that one.

Here's the whole commercial:



Saturday, at the Joplin Tea Party, now Congressman Billy Long spoke for about 20 minutes to the 150 or so people who came to the party.

Long's speech was noteworthy not only because he avoided the local media afterwards, ("at the moment we are focused exclusively on our district press") but also because at the end of his speech, just before he auctioned off the national debt, he made this comment:

The National Auctioneer's Association called the office and they said, "We want you to proclaim the third Saturday in April, which a lot of states already have an auctioneer's day, a lot of cities already have an auctioneer's day. They say, "We'd like for you to 'drop that bill'.

Here, listen for yourself. You have wade through his explanation for why he has Bozo the Clown on the dashboard of his truck first, though.

Billy Long, our congressman, who wasn't going to Washington to scratch other people's backs, dropped a bill because someone asked him to do so.

I also know that the same group that asked Billy to "drop the bill", the National Association of Auctioneers, their PAC gave Billy Long $5,000.00 that was reported in June, 2010. Some think the lobbying group also gave Long another $5,000 later on in the campaign.

Sort of reminds me of how he co-sponsored this bill because someone asked him to do so. Long, by his own admission, didn't know what was in the bill and that he only co-sponsored it because Peter King asked.

At least King is a representative and is the Chair of the Homeland Security.

Now Long is dropping bills because a lobbying group asked to do so.

I am reminded of how important lobbyists are to Congressman Long. Remember how he skipped the reading of the U.S. Constitution on the House floor because he was meeting with a lobbyist? I do.

Billy Long co-sponsors bills he hasn't read.

Billy Long 'drops a bill' because a big campaign contributor asks him to do so.

Billy Long skips out on House business to meet with a lobbyist.

Something ain't right here."oops!"