"But on Thursday, the day after the vote, I received a telephone call from a talk radio host in Congressman Taylor's district. He told me he had asked Mr. Taylor that morning why he didn't vote against CAFTA as he had pledged. The talk radio host told me "Taylor said he had voted 'no'...but somebody changed it and Mr. Taylor was furious." "'I voted NO,' Mr. Taylor announced in a terse statement on Thursday, saying the House clerk's written log showed his vote...." -- New York Times, July 29, 2005.

I didn't even realize that there had been a controversy over Taylor's vote. Neither he nor Hayes is my representative, but it was Hayes' switched vote that garnered all the news reports around here:

WASHINGTON - August 1 - Turning his back on the textile and apparel workers in North Carolina 8th District, Rep. Robin Hayes (R-N.C.) dramatically reversed his previous opposition to the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) expansion of NAFTA to again become a deciding last vote that delivered CAFTA 217-215 passage, after being made vague promises by Republican leaders to help the U.S. textile and apparel industry.

In response to the unprincipled deal-making by Hayes, Public Citizen announced today a new initiative the CAFTA Damage Report to track the fallout from Hayes flip-flop in terms of the negative impact of CAFTA on working families in the United States, the foreseeable failure of his deal to materialize in real change and the political repercussions that Hayes is likely to suffer at the hands of angry constituents.

A week before the vote, Hayes stated that he was flat-out, completely, horizontally opposed to CAFTA,[1] arguing that CAFTA is an extension of NAFTA that was not in the best interest of a core constituency I represent. Every time I drive through Kannapolis and I see those empty plants, I know there is no way I could vote for CAFTA. [2] Hayes initially cast a no vote but then was persuaded by Republican House leaders to change his vote to a yes after the House Republican leadership kept the voting open 45 minutes past the time limit.

Unbelievably, this is the second time Hayes has switched his vote on a major piece of trade legislation. As constituents of North Carolina 8th District know, in 2001, Hayes switched from initially casting an no vote toyes making him the deciding vote that gave President Bush Fast Track trade authority, a measure he had previously (and vehemently) opposed, which was the authority under which the CAFTA NAFTA expansion was negotiated.

Even in cynical Washington political circles, no one can understand how Hayes would elect to irreversibly destroy his voters trust in him by again betraying the clear will of his constituents, and the obvious threat CAFTA poses to them, by doing what the Republican leadership asks of him again after all of the apologies made to constituents for his Fast Track retreat, his 2004 campaign promise to oppose CAFTA, and his vehement public opposition to CAFTA last week, said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. No one can imagine that he is so weak as to have been brow beaten into betraying his constituents again, so many assume he is retiring.

Hayes claims that he obtained a Bush administration promise to support a new Hong Kong Customs Enforcement pact, ostensibly to toughen textile transshipment measures.[3] However, as Hayes himself admitted in a letter to an industry representative after the CAFTA vote, the terms of this promise have not been determined or identified.[4] In a press release, Hayes indicated that his previous concerns about textile rules in CAFTA were addressed sometime in the wee hours of the morning before his vote switch,[5]even though the CAFTA agreement had not been changed at all.

Three years ago, Hayes offered the tie-breaking vote on Fast Track in exchange for a Bush administration promise to secure funds to hire 72 customs officers to fight textile transshipment. While Hayes fought for, and eventually secured appropriations for the agents, the Bush administration, to this day, has still not hired these agents.

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