Senate Candidate Rick Lazio has been touted as a "moderate" Republican, who some pundits see as likely to pick up swing votes for his "pro-choice" and "pro-gun control" views.
The real picture is more complicated. While Lazio has a clean voting record on the environment, and has voted to prohibit assault weapons, he also served as Deputy Majority Whip for Newt Gingrich, and supported over 90% of the Contract With America in 1995. His abortion record has been called "mixed" by the National Abortion Rights Action League, which strongly supports Clinton in the race. His record shows support for abortion under some circumstances, but also opposition to providing public funds for abortions (which provide access for poor women) and opposition to late-term abortions.
On many other issues, Lazio comes down firmly on the conservative side. He strongly supports vouchers and has voted against funding new teachers and smaller class sizes. He voted to abolish the Department of Education. Lazio voted to slash Medicare, and voted against health insurance reform. He has voted against numerous bills to expand public housing, against lobbying reform, against Census reform, for the death penalty, and for fast-track trade legislation. He has consistently supported still more funding for the military budget. He has also consistently opposed gay rights legislation.
His lifetime ADA voting record is 30%, and sinks down as low as 15% in 1996. Some of the conservative votes are listed below.
1993 - Lazio voted for NAFTA, against gays in the military, and for a Henry Hyde amendment to an appropriations bill to keep funds from being used for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. He also voted against numerous proposed cuts to the defense budget, including those for Ballistic missile programs, Trident Submarine (D-5) missile programs, and the European Force.
1994 - He voted for a balanced budget amendment, against food
and shelter benefits for illegal immigrants, against benefits for miners suffering from black lung disease, but he voted for ballistic and D-5 missile programs and for European forces. He voted against lobbying disclosure. He also voted to make it easier for courts to impose the death penalty, and harder for inmates to make death row appeals.1995 - Lazio voted for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, against lobbying reform, against cuts to the ballistic missile program, for extra money for defense, against welfare reform, for vouchers, and against a resolution asking for a report from the Ethics Committee on the investigation of Gingrich.
1996 - He voted in support of Most Favored Nation status for China, voted against the right of states to allow same-sex marriages, voted against late-term abortions, and against lobbying reform. He also voted to limit punitive damages in product liability cases, but against capping public housing costs and assisted housing rents. He voted against Dingell health insurance revisions, and against raising the minimum wage. He voted in favor of a proposed constitutional amendment to require a 2/3 majority of the House and Senate to raise taxes.
1997 - He voted against needle distribution, against late-term abortions, against statistical sampling in the Census (a sampling is favored by statisticians to rectify undercounting in minority areas), against low rents for public housing, and for vouchers.
1998 - Lazio again voted against statistical sampling for the Census and late-term abortions. He also voted against a federal test of students' reading and math skills. He voted for vouchers and fast track authority, and he voted in support of an impeachment inquiry (and later, in favor of impeachment).
1999 - He again voted for the constitutional amendment to require a 2/3 vote to raise taxes. He voted against money for teachers and smaller class sizes, and voted for vouchers. He voted against a patients' bill of rights, and to require parental consent to cross state lines for abortions (and to prevent a sibling/religious leader from filling in). And, in a critical tie vote, he voted against representation for the District of Columbia.
While this list seems long, it is in fact a small sampling of the votes in which Lazio decided in favor of Gingrich and the Republican House leadership over the interests of New Yorkers. His votes on impeachment, on education, on health care, on foreign policy, on lobbying reform, on gay rights, and on abortion, do not reflect the views of New York. A few good votes on the environment and assault weapons are better than nothing, but they do not make Rick Lazio an acceptable candidate for our Senate seat. We at NYC ADA urge you to remind your friends and neighbors about Lazio's anti-New York voting record.
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