VansOpinion - WHY IS FORTENBERRY FOOLING AROUND IN FALLUJAH?

One might rightly ask, "What business does a freshman congressman have taking time away from his work in the nation's capital for a junket to Iraq or any other country for that matter. I suggest the honest answer would be to achieve "photo-opps" for future campaign literature. In my opinion it is a blatant waste of money for Jeff Fortenberry to be fooling around in Fallujah!

Less than two months after being sworn in as First District Congressman from Nebraska, Republican Jeff Fortenberry takes a junket to Iraq and is sending back his cute reports from that war torn area. Frankly, Jeff hasn't been in Washington, D.C. long enough to find all of the rest rooms in the building in which he now has an office.

The man Jeff replaced was well know among his congressional colleagues as one of the premier junket junkies in the House. Doug Bereuter not only had trouble balancing his checkbook, but had even more trouble remembering the folks in Nebraska he was supposed to be representing. Granted Doug was on one or more committees of the House of Representatives which dealt in international affairs, but in my less than humble opinion, there was no need for him to be almost perpetually sucking up to one foreign dignitary after another in their countries. We can however see that it paid off for him in his life after congress. Doug now draws a gigantic salary schmoozing the Chinese on a full-time basis.

There are 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Those with years of seniority might have a need to gallivant around the globe from time to time, but there is only one thing in the world of politics lower than a freshman congressman and that is whale crap which is on the bottom of the ocean.

My comments may be perceived as sour grapes since Jeff clobbered me in the last primary election, but, for the record, I think Jeff is an "O.K." guy personally, but experience wise, he was about as prepared to be a congressman as he was to be a piano tuner.

Fortenberry has had no military experience and there is nothing wrong with that, but you would think he would do his home work before interfacing with the men and women who wear the uniforms of our country. Most recently, the Lincoln Journal Star showed him shaking hands with a soldier in battle dress who had three stars on his collar. Foul up Fortenberry referred to him as "Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus." Hey Jeffrey...the guy was a Lieutenant General.

Another reason why I am critical of Fortenberry starting the "Bereuter Boondoggling" so early in his political career is more personal. Jeff has four beautiful young daughters who just might need a dad being around as part of their growing-up years. A former congressman from Omaha had to make a choice of being a congressman or a daddy and he had sense enough to choose the latter after one term. Many of us suggested to Jeff that he wait a few years and give the girls an opportunity to grow up her in the land of the Good Life rather than in one of the highest crime areas of the world. Ego motivated Jeff, however, placed his personal agenda and ambitions ahead of his family's welfare and safety.

A number of Nebraskans, I'm told, went looking for Fortenberry recently while on business trips to Washington, D.C. only to find him absent. If he has a lust for travel, he might consider it better to junket to Beatrice rather than Baghdad. If he chooses to "Tool around in Tikrat" do it on his own money when congress is not in session. He is now making several times more per year salary than he has ever made in his life, so he could afford the cost of travel.

One thing for sure, we'll be keeping track of "Junket Jeff" and the way he uses and mis-uses our money while in office. He can very well suspect that unless he applies himself and does a better job of being our man in the House than it looks like he is being, in less than two years, he may be given the opportunity to move back to Nebraska.