Hoekstra: Tea Party Pressure After Health Care Vote Pushed Stupak To Retire

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI)
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Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) thinks outgoing Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) made a “tragic mistake” when he made a last-minute decision to back health care reform last month, according to a local news report.

Hoekstra, who is leaving Congress and running for Governor in Michigan, told a crowd at a Republican gubernatorial forum in Birch Run, MI, on Monday that Stupak voted “against the wishes of his constituents” and, as a result of the ensuing Tea Party pressure, “Bart decided that running for re-election wasn’t a good idea.”

Hoekstra added that Stupak’s actions were an example of why federal lawmakers should be subject to recalls.

“You ought to have the right, just like you have at the state level, to recall federal officials and say, ‘If you’re not serving me today, you’re out of a job tomorrow,'” Hoestra said.

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