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GREENSBORO — Rep. Howard Coble spent part of the July 4 Congressional recess in Russia chatting up members of the Duma about everything from copyright law to adoption policy.

Because of his work on the Judiciary Committee, the Greensboro Republican has a long-standing interest in helping recording artists, movie makers and the like protect their works. Russia, Coble said, has been one of the leading sources of piracy.

“The Duma folks assured me they have tightened the appropriate statutes as it applies to infractions. They have become more aggressive in prosecuting the wrong-doers,” Coble said. “Now, that’s the good news.

“The bad news is they’re doing it at their own pace. But at least they’re doing it.”

Coble also found himself talking about the adoption of Russian children by U.S. parents. There have been 50,000 such adoptions since 1991.

In a few cases, maybe 10 to 15, those children have died because of the negligence of their American parents.
“It is a hot item over there,” Coble said.

Speaking to a crowd at the Salvation Army’s new Center of Hope shelter on Eugene Street, Coble said that Russians suspected Americans didn’t care much about the deaths.

“They interpret that as American parents being very cavalier and being very casual; after all, they’re only Russian children,” Coble said. He stressed that was not the case and said it would be a mistake for Russians to shut off the adoption pipeline.

Candid

Speaking to that same group of businessmen and political movers, Coble lived up to his speech’s billing as delivering “a candid” update from Washington. Some samples:

He decried the state of repairs to the I-85 bridge over the Yadkin River and noted that nobody in Washington would actually say the word “dangerous” in relation to the structure.

He pledged to help land funding to repair the bridge and poked a bit of fun at the bureaucratic double-talk.

“Folks, that bridge is one of the most unsafe — strike that — one of the most structurally deficient, functionally obsolete bridges in North Carolina, and it must be corrected,” he said, prompting chortles from his audience.

Organizers allowed for a short question-and-answer period at the end of Coble’s talk. Among the questioners was Greensboro City Council member T. Dianne Bellamy-Small.

“My question is: How much of the stimulus monies have you helped bring to North Carolina, specifically to Guilford County?” Bellamy-Small asked, referencing the federal government’s effort to spark the economy through spending on public programs.

“I’ve done virtually nothing,” Coble said bluntly, “because I voted against it.”

Coble noted that he had worked to bring federal funding home through other budget bills. Of course, Coble has voted against many of those bills since Democrats have been in charge of the House.

Healthy relationship

As reported in this space over the past couple of weeks, Sen. Kay Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, had been getting grief from the political left because she was slow to support a “public option” health insurance provider as part of health reform. But late last week, the Senate Health, Education Labor and Pensions Committee rolled out its version of a health reform plan, complete with a public option provider, and Hagan was on board.

So the same people who were giving Hagan grief are now sending kudos, by way of us scruffy media types, of course. A sampling of the canned statements:

“Senator Hagan listened to North Carolina voters who called for a public plan option to increase competition with private insurance companies that have inflated prices and denied coverage for too long,” wrote North Carolina AFL-CIO president James Andrews.

“We thank Senator Hagan for her support of legislation that will give Americans all across this country what they want — a choice of a strong public health insurance option that will provide lower costs and keep the insurance companies honest,” wrote Pastor Frank Beard. Beard works locally with the liberal advocacy group ACORN and was part of a nationwide coalition of interest groups that pushed for public options. That push included airing television ads targeting Hagan.

Even President Barack Obama, who very much favors a public option, got into the act over the weekend. The Washington Post reported that Obama essentially asked Congressional Democrats to call off the dogs.

“We shouldn’t be focusing resources on each other,” Obama said on the call, according to the Post. “We ought to be focused on winning this debate.”

No votes

With Congress on recess for the past week, there were no recorded votes in the House and Senate.

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com