During Run for Governor, Tom Suozzi Has Voted in Person Just Three Days in 2022

Experts worry abuses of proxy voting will make it more difficult for the House to consider health and family accommodations.

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Good morning. We’re bringing a special Wednesday edition of Uphill your way today. Our SCOTUS reporting superseded this story yesterday, and we knew you wouldn’t want to wait all the way until Friday for another look at House proxy voting abuse.

Suozzi Among Three Democrats Relying on Proxy Voting Amid Gubernatorial Campaigns

It’s officially a trend: Another Democratic lawmaker is among those using the House’s pandemic voting system to skip work in Congress this year while eyeing a governor’s mansion.

New York Rep. Tom Suozzi has more than aspirations for statewide office in common with Reps. Kai Kahele and Charlie Crist: He’s been overwhelmingly voting by proxy in the House this year, enabling extra time face-to-face with voters. 

The Dispatch’s analysis of Suozzi’s votes in 2022 is striking: He has voted in person only five times since the start of the year, over the course of three days in January. 

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  1. Avatar photo
    Joe Lancaster

    To paraphrase Captain Renault, I’m shocked, shocked that politicians are cynical opportunists. A great argument for why proxy voting needs to be ended in the House as soon as possible.

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    Devin H

    Important reporting. Thank you, Haley!

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    Derekdouglas

    I could support that if you’re a Member of Congress, you should’ve be prohibited from running for other offices. You can’t provide the work for the job your constituents elected you for.

    Especially makes sense for Senators running for President, which is a full time job in and of itself.

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    Ben Connelly

    Another one! You’re right, this is becoming a trend. I knew it as soon as I saw the headline.

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    PJ

    Given how the Republicans work with others I see no reason to be there in person. The two party system is a big problem.

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    John A. Daly

    Haley has become the Life360 of proxy voting, and I like it.

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  7. Thomas C. Passo

    This is quite simply abusive behavior and should be punished.

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  8. Michael Hartley

    Thank you, Uphill, for holding their feet to the fire.

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    Cantorz

    I don't think we can rule out the possibility that Suozzi, and other Dem reps, are avoiding in-person voting because the house GOP is increasingly a twilight zone parody of Congress. If I were unfortunate enough to work with the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene, I'd be taking advantage of remote work options, too.

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      Devin H

      So your response to people you don't like at work would be not to go to work? My response would be to suck it up or get a new job.

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      1. Avatar photo
        Cantorz

        This isn't even a hypothetical for me. I work in tech and my job can 100% be done remotely, so I am working remotely. I have colleagues who miss the camaraderie of the office environment and so there's a cohort that chooses to work in an office.

        Some of that cohort are genuinely objectionable people whom I can't stand to be around, and whose mere presence is enough to make me a less productive worker. I could "suck it up" and subject myself to their presence, or I could find a new job, but it's simple enough for me to avoid them and stay at my current company by working from home.

        Many ways to skin a cat, to each their own.

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      Richard Maxton

      Nope. Sorry. Just no. They're paid quite well to put up with that level of stupidity. I know people paid FAR less to deal with FAR more.

      See, for example, just about any Wal-Mart employee on the face of the planet.

      Adulting is hard sometimes. As is dealing with idiots. That's an excuse, not a reason.

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      1. Avatar photo
        Cantorz

        For this to be a valid rebuttal, you need to convince me that a Wal-Mart (or any other service employee) can do her job remotely (which she obviously can't) or that a member of the House of Representatives cannot do her job remotely.

        The latter is certainly more plausible, but only in a Congress where genuine debate occurs and opinions actually change. In this hyper-partisan environment, I'm not convinced that there is any benefit to attending in-person. In such a context, avoiding MTG is the obvious choice.

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          Luke Sherman

          A valid point, but as this and a previous article noted, some of these people are not always even doing their job remotely. If they aren't remotely attending and participating in their committee assignments, then they aren't doing their jobs.

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          Richard Maxton

          Well, certain service people certainly could. Plenty of customer service employees work remotely.

          I personally think that remote meetings aren't as useful as in-person ones for a variety of reasons: (technical issues, stepping on each others' toes when speaking, etc) but I recognize not everyone feels that way. But another part of it is being available for off-the-cuff get-togethers that build rapport. THAT is what allows the actual good-faith debates and negotiations.

          The further we get from that, the harder it will be to fix the already broken, hyper-partisan system.

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            Cantorz

            Yes, yes. Cross-aisle drinks on Joe Manchin's boat will surely bridge the political divide. I don't disagree with any of your points in contexts where some semblance of sanity exists.

            But I'm going to venture a guess that off-the-cuff get-togethers don't possess the same rapport-building potential in workplaces where employees literally joke about murdering each other (https://www.npr.org/2021/11/09/1053895408/paul-gosar-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-anime-twitter-video-backlash). Oh, and fun fact, those colleagues making the jokes also love to take pictures with their guns. Yeah, I'm all about working from home in that situation.

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  10. Lynda

    "In early April, the Honolulu Civil Beat first reported the number of times Suozzi"
    I doubt Hawaii cares about what Suozzi does.

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      Dave Conant - MO

      I'm guessing the article was focused on Kahele and the Suozzi stats were for context.

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