Costa Again Rips Malik's 'Voting Record' in 2011

Barrington’s Peter Costa Jr. said last spring when he announced his run for the General Assembly seat in District 67 (Barrington, Warren) on Patch that he was running because of “accountability.”

“Look at the incumbent’s record,” Costa, a Republican, said of Jan Malik of Warren, a Democrat. “I don’t know if he is running again. But he missed 355 votes last year – the second highest number in the House.”

Costa rapped Malik’s voting record again in a recent story in the Barrington Times. He pledged not to miss more than 20 votes.

Malik is running for re-election, and like he said last spring after Costa challenged his voting record, health issues prevented him from voting as frequently as he has in the past.

“That’s the only thing that’s got a blemish … I wish I could have attended, but I couldn’t because of health reasons,” Malik said in the Times story.

Malik pointed out his attendance record in all the years since 1998, when he was first elected.

Only in 2010 when he suffered a heart attack, he said, and in 2011, when he suffered from high blood pressure, did his voting percentage drop below the mid-80s to low 90s, according to the Times. This year it was back up to 95 percent after being at 78 and 59 percent, respectively, he said.

“Maybe he’s young enough not to get sick,” said Malik of his Republican challenger, 22, a student at Roger Williams University law school.