Maine state legislator leaves GOP over health care reform obstructionism. from Think Progress

 by Alex Seitz-Wald http://thinkprogress.org/2009/12/18/main-legislator-health-care/

Rep. Jim Campbell, a veteran Republican state legislator in Maine, has announced he's leaving the party over its inability to solve his state's and the nation's broken health care system. In a statement, Campbell expresses frustration with the party, saying he wants to "send a message" to Republicans in Washington to stop blocking health care reform for "partisan gain":

This move has been a long time coming for me. I have been very frustrated with the Republican Party in Maine, and nationally, for their failure to address the health care crisis in a meaningful way. Nobody has all the answers, but the Republican Party has none when it comes to health care reform.

This move is about the working people and our seniors who need action. I became a Republican because I believed the party stood for something. I hope to send a message to the Republican Party – and the Democratic Party – that enough is enough; it is time to stop blocking progress in the hope of partisan gain.

Republicans have been brazenly using parliamentary tricks to slow down the health care bill in attempt to kill it before the Democrats' self-imposed Christmas deadline. In October, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), who himself left the GOP, ripped his former party as "a party of obstructionism."