Gabriel Gomez Says GOP-Blocked Nominees ‘Deserve A Vote’

One of the big impediments for Gabriel Gomez in the US Senate race is voters’ concerns that he would join his GOP colleagues in jamming up anything President Obama tries to do. Well, in one important way, he says he will not do so.

Republicans in the US Senate are currently blocking confirmation votes for three important nominees: Gina McCarthy to the Environmental Protection Agency, Thomas Perez as Secretary of the Department of Labor; and Richard Cordray as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

This has particular resonance because of what Scott Brown did in 2010. After seeking (and receiving) a solid share of union-members’ votes in the special election, Brown raced down to Washington to support a filibuster that prevented Craig Becker from receiving a confirmation vote as Labor Secretary. So I asked the Gomez campaign: for each of those three nominees, what would he do—vote to confirm, vote to allow a vote but then vote against confirmation, or vote to block a confirmation vote? His response:

I think all nominees deserve a vote. We need more productivity and less partisan gridlock in Congress. As a Senator, I would have a high threshold for determining a president’s nominee was unfit to be confirmed. I also think Senators have a responsibility to the public to call for transparency and accountability from agencies and departments, not just during confirmations but constantly. Provided each of these nominees convinces me they are committed to transparency and accountability, I will vote to confirm all of them.

That certainly sounds to me like a promise to not join any filibuster preventing a confirmation vote.