Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) represented the most Democratic-leaning district of any member of Congress who voted against health care reform, OR the Stupak amendment. He’s running for Governor of Alabama, and since that announcement, Davis has trended sharply to the right to please the full Alabama electorate rather than solely his district. His primary opponent for the gubernatorial nod, Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, is calling Davis on it – but he hasn’t exhibited a model consistency himself.

Here’s Sparks’ comments today:

Health care legislation in Washington has split the Democratic candidates for governor in Alabama, with Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks accusing U.S. Rep. Artur Davis of betraying his constituents by voting against the bill.

“He was the only Black Caucus member to vote against it. I don’t get it,” Sparks said Tuesday [...]

Sparks said he supports the public option and would have voted for the bill. He accused Davis of siding with political power brokers in Washington and predicted that vote will be remembered as “a defining moment” in the race for governor.

“Artur Davis has failed the people of Alabama miserably,” Sparks said.

However, as Davis pointed out, as did the Alabama progressive blogger mooncat, Sparks appeared at a gubernatorial forum sponsored by the Business Council of Alabama back on August 1 and said, “Do I support the current legislation that we have on the table? No, I don’t. And I commend Congress for slowing this legislation down and not moving swiftly.”

As mooncat says, Davis has had a consistent position – the consistently wrong position, in their view. By contrast, Sparks, for whom the health care issue was “tailor made,” consistently wavered on the issue, not only in August but with a noncommital statement in early October before changing his view and becoming a supporter of the public option. This raises skepticism over whether the position is sincerely found or simply discovered as a useful point of contrast with Davis, only when Sparks is out of view from the business community. Here’s mooncat:

I think this situation is really dangerous for Sparks. He’s running on a combination of gambling revenue, being a known/familiar quantity and leadership, and the conflicting health care statements imperil two of the three legs of his argument. They go directly to trust, which is a character issue that voters really do care about.

It’s good to see that some Democrats have political instincts to attack their primary opponents for voting against the health care bill and the public option, even in Alabama, but there’s a bit more to this story, as you can see.