Heath Shuler, ‘Bush Dog Democrat’

Here is my profile of Heath Shuler, ‘Bush Dog’. I’m doing this as part of Matt Stoller’s ‘Leash the Bush Dogs’ campaign which I have previously posted about.

Rep. Shuler throws the ball for NC-11 a supposedly conservative district. For more on ‘It’s the members not the districts…’ kefuffle Chris has been fighting read this awesome post by Paul Rosenberg at OrangeLand. It puts to rest the whine that ‘Bush Dogs’ make to the effect that they are representing their districts. They are not. Not even close.

He most likely owes his ‘career’ thus far in politics to his stint in the NFL as a ‘quarterback’ the quotation marks here signify that his tenure there was undistinguished as we see from the Wikipedia entry:

At the University of Tennessee, Shuler gained national attention as one of the Southeastern Conference’s top quarterbacks. He held nearly all Volunteer passing records at the end of his career, although most of them have since been shattered by Peyton Manning. In 1993, he came in second in the vote for the prestigious Heisman Trophy.

Shuler was selected third overall in the 1994 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins. He held out of training camp until he received a 7-year, $19.25 million contract and subsequently seemed to have a difficult time adjusting to the pro level. With no offensive weapons and an unsupportive group of fans, Shuler never flourished. After the 1996 season, Shuler signed with the New Orleans Saints. With even less talent than in Washington around Shuler, statistics were just as bad. He suffered a serious foot injury during the 1997 season in New Orleans and went through two surgeries.

After being unable to take the field due to his foot injury in his second season in New Orleans, Shuler signed with the Oakland Raiders, where he reinjured his foot in training camp and retired. As a pro, his career passer rating was a low 54.3 and in 2004 ESPN rated him the 17th biggest ’sports flop’ of the past 25 years.^[1]

^{Gee…not too good a rating there Heath…}

So Heath got a pile of money for…well, not doing very much. I’d think he’d be interested in really achieving something in Congress that’s pure speculation on my part but perhaps that’s an avenue he could be approached on.  For reasons I can’t find he decided to get into politics by running for the House seat from the  furthermost west district in North Caroline. Here are the U.S. census demographics from for that district compared to national figures:
North Carolina, District 11 Census Data

Population: 619,177

North Carolina, District 11

National

Gender

North Carolina, District 11	National
Male: 48.3% Female: 51.7%	Male: 49.1% Female: 50.9%

Race / Origin

North Carolina, District 11	National
White: 91.2% Black of African American: 4.6% American Indian/Alaska Native: 1.6% Asian: 0.5% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islands: 0.0% Hispanic/Latino (of any race): 2.6% Two or More Races: 1.0%	White: 75.1% Black of African American: 12.3% American Indian/Alaska Native: 0.9% Asian: 3.6% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islands: 0.1% Hispanic/Latino (of any race): 12.5% Two or More Races: 2.4%

Age

North Carolina, District 11	National
Median Age: 40.6 18 years and over: 78.7% 65 years and over: 17.8%	Median Age: 35.3 18 years and over: 74.3% 65 years and over: 12.4%

Language Spoken at Home (population 5 years and older)

North Carolina, District 11	National
English Only: 94.8% Language other than English: 5.2% Spanish: 3.0%	English Only: 82.1% Language other than English: 17.9% Spanish: 10.7%

Employment Status (population 16 years and older)

North Carolina, District 11	National
Employed: 56.4% Unemployed: 3.1%	Employed: 59.7% Unemployed: 3.7%

Income

North Carolina, District 11	National
Median Household Income: $34,720 Per capita Income: $19,005 Male full-time, year round, workers median income: $29,912 Female full-time, year round, workers median income: $22,294 Families below poverty level: 8.4% Individuals below poverty level: 12.0%	Median Household Income: $41,994 Per capita Income: $21,587 Male full-time, year round, workers median income: $37,057 Female full-time, year round, workers median income: $27,194 Families below poverty level: 9.2% Individuals below poverty level: 12.4%

Education (population 25 years and older)

North Carolina, District 11	National
Graduate / Professional Degree: 7.4% High School / Graduate or Higher: 78.5% Bachelor’s Degree / Higher: 20.5%	Graduate / Professional Degree: 8.9% High School / Graduate or Higher: 80.4% Bachelor’s Degree / Higher: 24.4%

Marital Status (population 15 years and older)

North Carolina, District 11	National
Never Married: 19.5% Now Married: 60.0% Divorced: 9.7%	Never Married: 27.1% Now Married: 54.4% Divorced: 9.7%

Occupations (employed civilian population 16 years and older)

North Carolina, District 11	National
Management and Professional: 28.3% Service: 15.8% Sales and Office: 23.5% Farming, Fishing, and Forestry: 0.8% Construction, Extraction, etc.: 12.3% Production, Transportation, etc.: 19.2%	Management and Professional: 33.6% Service: 14.9% Sales and Office: 26.7% Famring, Fishing, and Forestry: 0.7% Construction, Extraction, etc.: 9.4% Production, Transportation, etc.: 14.6%

Class Of Workers

North Carolina, District 11	National
Private wage and salary: 76.3% Government workers: 14.5% Self-employed: 8.9%	Private wage and salary: 78.5% Government workers: 14.6% Self-employed: 6.6%

^{I’m no Bowers but I’m darned if I can see a big difference in the picture we get of this district from the rest of the nation. NC-11 folks appear to be doing pretty much what everyone else is doing. Divorce rate is the national average…heh! Extractive industries, coal mining and it’s attendant hazards is one, and timber seem to still be something the economy relies on there. More research might be a good idea. How do Mr. Shuler’s constituents view the current ‘regulation’ of the coal industry in his district. Does he view Mr. Bush’s MSHA performance as adequate? Does he support Bush in this area of government regulation? Or is he giving Bush a blank check on this?  Keep in mind that coal mining hazards do not go away once the mine is closed. No they most certainly do not. Soft wood pulp and chip production is also big in the western part of the state; until they cut it all down. I am now told that coal is not very important here and that furniture manufacturing and other industry has been gutted by ‘fair trade’. Recreation and recreation property are now the big things here. Back to coal mining specifically hilltop removal as an issue perhaps.}

Let’s look at PVI then according to Cook on Oct 18, 2006 NC-11 was R+11 so I’d say Mr. Schuler did pretty well to win there. But then he had some help. Here’s who contributed to his campaign:
 
Heath Shuler (D)

Rivercrest LLC	$25,200
Phillips & Jordan	$21,000
Collins & Shuler Management	$12,900
Avisco Inc	$11,900
Nelson, Mullins et al	$11,400
Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers	$10,500
AFL-CIO	$10,000
Air Line Pilots Assn	$10,000
American Assn for Justice	$10,000
American Federation of Teachers	$10,000
American Fedn of St/Cnty/Munic Employees	$10,000
American Postal Workers Union	$10,000
AmeriPAC: The Fund for a Greater America	$10,000
Blue Dog PAC	$10,000
Carpenters & Joiners Union	$10,000
Cmte for a Livable Future	$10,000
Communications Workers of America	$10,000
Forward Together PAC	$10,000
Hope Fund	$10,000
International Assn of Fire Fighters	$10,000
Ironworkers Union	$10,000
Laborers Union	$10,000
National Assn of Letter Carriers	$10,000
National Education Assn	$10,000
New Democrat Coalition	$10,000
Our Common Values PAC	$10,000
PAC to the Future	$10,000
Plumbers/Pipefitters Union	$10,000
Sheet Metal Workers Union	$10,000
Solidarity PAC	$10,000
Teamsters Union	$10,000
United Auto Workers	$10,000
United Steelworkers	$10,000
United Transportation Union	$10,000

Quiet a few labor groups there. RiverCrest LLC is a real estate firm located in Tennessee interestingly enough. I’d have to guess from their website that they are looking for Shuler’s help with ‘recreation property’.

Rep Shuler was also supported by some in the netroots so he might be said to ‘owe us…’ but maybe not. His voting record is really inconsistent from this to this to this. Progressive Punch rating in the low 80s. I’d say the guy has not been doing his homework as it’s hard to reconcile his voting scores with the big time labor support we see above. I suppose he feels the ‘folks’ in NC-11 are really in support of  Bush’s war. Yet clearly some are not as this linked letter to the editor, the only one addressing the issue of Iraq, shows. This one shows that North Carolinians value that which BushCo. does not. Civil liberties that Democrats should be protecting but are not. Haven’t had time to research his FISA vote. Anyone out  there know how he voted?

I’s say that Rep. Shuler is out of step with his constituents on Iraq and can be persuaded to leave the ‘Bush Dog’ pack. Guy should be able to realize when it’s time to ‘run a new play’ to have success for his team. And I’d be pretty sure he thinks of his team as America not BushWorld. So I say let’s try and change his mind. Anyone from his district have some links to local action groups you’s like to share?

Flash Update: Please add  to and/or correct the information in this post in the comments. Thanks.