Rep. Green revisits the Coast Guard By Curt Andersen News-Chronicle When I began this column on Thanksgiving weekend, it was to predict that, come January, all of the local TV and radio stations and newspapers would heap treacly praise on Rep. Mark Green, R – Green Bay, for the anniversary of his “heroic” efforts to get the Coast Guard to find the sunken commercial fishing boat, Linda E., allegedly sunk by a barge in December of 1998, costing the lives of three men. At the time of the sinking, Coast Guard rules mandated only a “search and rescue” operation. They gave up the search after two days, despite pleas from family members who wanted to know what happened. The wreck of the boat was not discovered until June of 2000, when a Navy mine sweeper on a Great Lakes training and public relations mission was pressed into service at the behest of Rep. Green. Once the boat was found, it was apparent that it had been rammed and sunk by a large vessel. For once, Green helped someone who was not a high roller or industrial polluter. My surprise this morning (December 19) is that Green jumped the gun on his 2004 campaign dog- and-pony-show by one month. How coincidental that it took two and a half years to propose changes in Coast Guard policy, and that it coincided with the coming election year when Green had nothing else to brag about. The Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter carried two stories about Green’s proposal that Congress require the Coast Guard to search for a sunken or missing vessel until it is found, or until the transportation secretary determines that a search is no longer appropriate. On December 17, a Coast Guard admiral urged Congress to waylay any effort to expand the Coast Guard’s duties, saying his operating budget is already strained due to the extra patrols and inspections at national seaports following the attacks on the World Trade Center. Once again, Green has asked for more federal spending after saying we had to cut federal spending. His most recent spree was to set up a veterans’ clinic in Green Bay, instead of having private clinics all over northeast Wisconsin subcontract the work at much lower cost, resulting in better service to veterans. Veterans were thrilled that they would not have to drive all the way to Appleton, but veterans still have to drive from northern communities to get to Green Bay. It would have been much more efficient and less hassle for veterans if their own communities’ clinics or hospitals could perform the services, and it would have been a boost to local economies. A missed opportunity so that Green could pump up his dismal record of “serving the public.” One more anniversary is coming up this next election year. It’s almost time for Warren Bluhm, editor of the Door County Advocate and columnist for the Green Bay News-Chronicle, to huff about Senator Russ Feingold, D-Wisconsin. During Feingold’s 1998 campaign, Bluhm chastised him in righteous demeanor for taking campaign donations from PACs while intimating Feingold was pretending to care about reform. Of course, since opponent, Mark Newman was still taking money from PACs, so that would have made it easier to beat Feingold, just what Bluhm wanted all along. If Bluhm really wants to demonstrate his own high principles, he might want to reject those perks that were gained by progressive/liberal actions over the last 100 years. He should forego benefits like the 8-hour day, the 40-hour week, sick pay and sick days, vacation pay and vacation days, pensions, health insurance, better safety conditions at the worksite, protection from sexual harassment, and a minimum wage that guarantees him a higher salary. What has happened to the Republican Party? It used to actually have a point about less government. One can understand that viewpoint without agreeing with it. Now, the government is bigger than ever, the debt is climbing, our former allies revile us, and America is less secure than it was three years ago. Both state and federal Republican representatives appear to have gotten into the medicine cabinet. If only it was sedatives they got into, instead of laughing gas.