Bastard! What a total lack of empathy, compassion, ethics, integrity, or character. GOP personified!

Lee Terry, Republican Representative from NE

No class.
No decency.
No integrity.
Pure greed and selfishness. 
Utter Hubris and arrogance.

Lee Terry on his salary during the federal shut down for which he PROUDLY voted, as a Tea Partier...(and not only that kind of partier):

"Whatever gets them good press. That's all that it's going to be. God bless them. But you know what? I've got a nice house and a kid in college, and I'll tell you we cannot handle it. Giving our paycheck away when you still worked and earned it? That's just not going to fly."

From Nebraska Watchdog.org:

Late Friday a Terry spokesman added, “Congressman Terry has been working tirelessly to keep the government open and ensure that Nebraska families don’t suffer.”
Spokesman Larry Farnsworth went on to blame the shutdown on House Democrats.

That claim about keeping the government open and ensuring Nebraska families didn't suffer was, apparently, glaringly short on specifics. That claim about not making the first statements above - an outright, boldfaced lie.

Not all Nebraska members of Congress are taking their salaries, as noted by local KMTV Ch.3 news; Senator Mike Johanns (R) is not - but then he is also retiring from the senate in 2014 when his term is up.  Congressman Adrian Smith (R) is apparently taking his salary, but promising to donate more money to charity this year than he earns during however long a period the federal government is in shutdown.  Adrian Smith is a Tea Party Republican, but perhaps not for long, as he was outed as gay on September 30th, in spite of voting classically homophobic/anti-LGBT. So his post-shutdown announcement might be more about rehabilitating his reputation with the extremists than it is about generosity of spirit and compassion for those in need in some way -- not that either of those qualities play well with the Tea Party in practice.

The other Nebraska members of Congress, both House and Senate, are also keeping their salaries.  They just have the good sense not to mouth off about it to the media, and then try to bully their way out of it by having their offices demand a retraction when there was blow-back, as reported by comments from angry constituents made to local media.

That tactic resulted in the media producing the actual video of Lee Terry making his blustering statements.  Hey - HE has a nice house and a kid in college, so why should he suffer? It's not like he's one of the peasants employed by the federal government, right? 

Terry then followed up his comment about his nice house and kid in college with the observation he WORKED for that money, and he wasn't giving it away.  Because, apparently in his ideology driven world, other people DON'T work for their money, or deserve a nice house - or any housing - much less having their offspring benefit from the advantages of higher education.  EXCEPT....apparently Terry hasn't actually DONE much while serving in Congress; he has contributed ZERO bills that became legislation other than renaming one post office, and he serves on only one committee, and three subcommittees.

Here is another video of Rep. Terry campaigning, trying to disinform about the ACA, promoting a plan that he has YET to present in any form to congress, and for which he apparently has no funding proposal.  This is what he offers as an alternative to 'Obamacare', over which he supports the federal shutdown of government:




Here's the thing.......while NOT doing anything substantive in the House of Representatives during his tenure in Washington D.C...........Lee Terry DID have an active nightlife, boozing it up and behaving inappropriately with female lobbyists. And screaming obscenities in traffic, creating road rage incidents.
As noted by the New Nebraska Network back in 2010, which shows he has used the topic of college tuition before:

For most politicians, getting into bed with lobbyists is only a metaphor.  However, 2nd District Republican Congressman Lee Terry may have been caught trying to give the phrase a much more literal interpretation. The New York Post reports:

Some Republican congressmen have been warned to keep their distance from the female lobbyists who prowl Capitol Hill. Sources say House Minority Leader John Boehner has told GOP congressmen who partied with lobbyists "to knock it off".... While there's no evidence of anything more than friendly flirtatious behavior, the lawmakers have been told to keep partying to a minimum in this midterm election year.
GOP Rep. Lee Terry of Nebraska -- who's in a tough race against Democratic opponent Tom White -- was witnessed by Page Six in close conversation with a comely lobbyist at the Capitol Hill Club in DC recently. "Why did you get me so drunk?" Terry asked the giggling woman, among other personal remarks. When Terry realized he was sitting near a reporter, he quickly changed the topic of conversation to his three children and the struggle to pay their college tuition.

After this unsuccessful and embarrassing flirtation, Terry has to be feeling pretty unlucky.  It was only a little more than one year ago that another reporter just happened to catch an enraged Terry shouting obscenity in Washington D.C. traffic.  The bars and the streets are no longer safe for Terry's antics as his behavior is once again being called into question by a reporter in the right place at the right time. Of course, this whole incident could be entirely innocent and have no bearing on Terry's family life.  What I'm more concerned about is what this story has to say about who Terry represents and how he operates after six terms in Congress.
The sad truth is that Terry's been in bed with corporate and special interest lobbyists for a long, long time.  No flirtation and no alcohol are required.  In fact, their checkbooks have been the backbone of Terry's re-election campaigns.  His most recent campaign finance report shows 63% of his contributions - a whopping $171,913 - came from Political Action Committees that not-always-so-"comely" lobbyists are either writing checks for or writing checks to.
After 12 years in Congress, Terry can't claim a single significant legislative accomplishment, but he's offered unrivaled access and unquestioning loyalty to those keeping him afloat politically.  You can see this in his recent votes against Wall Street reform and reflexive opposition to any sort of corporate accountability.  The clearest illustration has to be the revelation last fall that Terry had committed outright plagiarism of a lobbyist's remarks and entered them into the Congressional record.  Not only did this plagiarism occur in the course of Terry's duties as an elected representative, it also followed his earlier criticism of 2008 Democratic challenger Jim Esch for a similar but far less serious offense.

Wow.  Just WOW.  For THIS he feels he deserves to keep his salary? His conduct has not only been poor legislatively, he doesn't behave well outside the House either.

SO.....what about that Congressional paycheck? Here's another interesting tidbit from NNN back in 2010, reflecting the right wing greed of Lee Terry:

Lee Terry Isn't Worth 15 State Senators' Salaries  by: Kyle Michaelis Thu Sep 23, 2010 at 08:52:08 AM CDT

As noted earlier, Congressman Lee Terry is on the attack against State Senator Tom White.  The Republican Leavenworth Street blog is featuring Terry's latest TV ad and mailer.  The TV ad states:

"When it comes to Tom White, look at what he does not what he says.  In Lincoln, White voted to give Senators an 83% payraise, saying "A payraise is needed."

This attack is in response to White's pledge to cut and freeze Congressional salaries until there's a balanced budget.  In a press release, the White campaign put Terry's attack into context:

Congressman Lee Terry released a new negative ad this week, distorting Tom White's record in the Legislature. Terry - who makes $174,000 per year as a member of Congress, in addition to high-quality health care coverage and a large pension - is attacking Tom White for White's vote in the Legislature to let Nebraskans decide whether their senators should make more than $12,000 per year. "Congressman Terry has pocketed $37,300 in pay raises and repeatedly voted to raise his own pay - while voting to double the national debt, add trillions to the deficit, bail out Wall Street, and pass only one bill: to rename a post office," said Ian Russell, Tom White's campaign manager.  "With a record like that, no wonder a Washington politician like Lee Terry is going negative to change the subject."

The constitutional amendment White supported placing on the May 2010 ballot would have raised State Senators' pay from $12,000 to $22,000 annually.  Our state's legislative salary hasn't been raised in more than 20 years, asking an incredible sacrifice of anyone who's not independently wealthy. In just the 12 years he's been in Congress, Lee Terry has taken PAY RAISES that are three times greater than our State Senators currently make in an entire year.  It's beyond belief that his campaign would now attack Tom White for believing the power should be placed in Nebraska voters' hands to open the door a little bit wider for those who want to serve in public office.
Unfortunately, this amendment was never placed on the May ballot because Attorney General Jon Bruning challenged the 2007 Legislature's authority to reach beyond the 2008 general election, and there was no appetite from the Legislature to vote on the measure once again at a time when the state budget is already in crisis.  The entire state loses for that timidity, but you can hardly blame State Senators if they'd be opening themselves to attacks like this from a politician like Terry who's already earning 15 times what they do in a year.

So, it's ok for other people who are legislators, at the state level, to make $12k a year, and who haven't had a raise in 20 years for the job..........but hey, don't hold back a dime of HIS compensation? Hypocrisy? Greed? Thy name is Rep. Terry.

Terry is a long time member of Congress. He might finally get thrown out of office in 2014 by an enraged Nebraska constituency.  Like Michele Bachmann, Terry had a close race in 2012. Polls about the unpopularity of the shut down, and who is blamed, don't look good for the GOP and Tea Party in NE:

By a margin of 72-22 voters oppose Congress’ decision to shutdown the government in order to block ObamaCare, according to a Quinnipiac University survey.
Those numbers echo comments Sen. Mike Johanns (R) made to Nebraska Watchdog earlier this week.
The poll goes on to say that looking at the 2014 Congressional races, voters pick a generic Democrat over a generic Republican candidate 43-34, the widest Democratic margin measured so far.
A Democratic insider tells Nebraska Watchdog those numbers and Terry’s pay pronouncement will soon “attract someone good to run” against the seven-term incumbent.

Gee, Nebraska, it's about time your state got rid of Rep. Lee Terry. (Omaha? What is wrong with you?)

If you'd like to give Rep. Lee Terry a piece of your mind and a nice steaming slice of your opinion, over at the Daily Kos they provided the means to do so. 
email: http://forms.house.gov//terry/webforms/issue_subscribe.html  facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/leeterry

and his official congressional web site provides this info:

Office info:

Washington, D.C. Office		Omaha Office
Phone: (202) 225-4155 Fax: (202) 226-5452		Phone: (402) 397-9944 Fax: (402)397-8787
2266 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515		11717 Burt Street, Suite 106 Omaha, NE 68154

Personally, I think Nebraska could do better by sending musicians Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden, and instead of Lee Terry, Terry Lee of the Rockaboogie band to Congress.