Texas Tea Parties – TAXED ENOUGH ALREADY?

In keeping with our website policy, I strive to provide any and all comments by challengers and incumbants in Texas districts which represent Tea Party principles.

Here’s an excerpt from an email from Bill Flores (challenger R17) which does exactly this:

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This morning Bill Flores sent an email that notes the following issue with his opponent Chet Edwards. Bill is running for District 17 of Texas.

Congressman Chet Edwards (D-TX) provided one of three deciding votes that allowed legislation to pass which protected Democrats from having to vote for an actual budget. As a member of the House Budget Committee, this is one of his most important responsibilities as a Congressman.

For the first time since 1974 Congress will not be passing an annual budget, missing an opportunity to provide spending discipline, cut the deficit, and rein-in out of control government spending. Instead, on July 1, with the help of Chet Edwards, Congress passed legislation which does not responsibly set spending limits and account for deficit projections.

Chet Edwards has abdicated his responsibilities, rather than show leadership and pass a responsible budget that begins to control deficit spending.

You don’t have to live in district 17 to help Bill Flores defeat Chet Edwards, because we all would benefit from this upstart. Not just the people in D-17.

Here is what Chet Edwards stated about Barack Obama:

• “He’s got the kind of solid judgment that our voters and our citizens want in a Commander in Chief. I think he would do an excellent job.” – 3/3/08 Chet Edwards on MSNBC’s Hardball (0:43 mark)
  
• “He has the experience and the solid judgment to be a great leader for our country.” – 3/3/08 Chet Edwards on MSNBC’s Hardball (1:03 mark)
  
• “I personally believe that Senator Obama is going to do very well in Texas, because his message of real change, not change for change’s sake, but change that will impact in a positive way the daily lives of average working families, that message is resonating.” – 3/3/08 Chet Edwards on MSNBC’s Hardball (1:31 mark)
  
• “He is the best voice for change in our country.” – 2/24/08 Chet Edwards in post-debate spin room (1:31 mark)
  

Dear Friend,

One of the biggest problems with our broken political system today is that our elected representatives have essentially become a ruling class that does not directly feel the personal impact of the legislation that they pass.

Today, our Representatives are only truly held accountable every two years. With 97% of all incumbents winning re-election every cycle, they are not being held accountable very often.

This was not what our Founding Fathers intended.

Our forefathers never intended to create a ruling class of elites that make policy and hold power over the people. Rather, they instead envisioned a system where citizen legislators would serve the public for a short time and then return home to live under the laws that they wrote.

We have strayed quite far from our founding fathers’ intentions and it is time that we restore their vision of citizen legislators. I believe that in order to reform our system and restore confidence in the Congress, we must urgently reconnect Congress with the people.

My plan has five simple yet powerful elements, and I will advocate for them if I am elected to Congress:

1. Congressional Pay vs. Public Pain – If Members of Congress felt the pain that we Americans feel everyday, they would vote differently. If we directly linked Congressional pay to specific and meaning targets, it would have an impact. Why should a member of Congress receive a raise when they cannot balance the budget? Does that happen in your family? Of course not! If Social Security beneficiaries do not receive a cost of living adjustment, Congress should not receive a pay raise. If the national unemployment rate rises to excessive levels (as it is today), Congress should directly feel the pain by having their pay reduced. With some of these changes, our Representatives would have a different perspective. Under this element, Congress will be much more in touch with the economic situation that the rest of us feel everyday.
2. All Laws Must Apply to the Federal Government – Congress has exempted itself and most federal government employees from many federal laws and programs. Imagine, if you could write rules that would not apply to you, those rules would likely be different than if they did apply. So, for example, now that Obamacare has passed, it should apply to everyone in the federal government (excluding the Military). In addition, everyone in the federal government (again, excluding the Military), should have no special retirement plans; rather, they should be participating in Social Security and a 401k plan (or equivalent), just like most of the rest of us in the “real world”. If Members of Congress had to live under its own laws and programs, their decisions would undoubtedly be different.
3. Term Limits – As stated earlier, our Founding Fathers never envisioned a ruling class of career politicians, however, that is exactly what we have today. In the House of Representatives, most Congressmen think everyday about how they can selfishly improve their standing for reelection and how they can raise more money to fund their campaigns, rather than dedicating themselves to representing their Constituents and implementing good public policy in a thoughtful way. Also, in order to protect their positions in Congress they shovel pork barrel dollars back into their districts at an ever-increasing pace and they use their mail franking privileges to endlessly campaign for reelection. Legislation enacting term limits, specifically determined by the voters, would end this corrosive practice. Politicians should serve to the best of their ability for a short time then go do something else. The notion of unbeatable 20-year incumbents is not only fundamentally undemocratic; it is incredibly harmful to our country, its economy, and the futures of our children and grandchildren.
4. Servant leadership – If you have ever been around the Congress, it is amazing to witness the high regard in which our Members of Congress hold themselves and each other. The unending genuflection among the ruling class further undermines our democracy, reinforcing the notion that there truly are Two Americas – one for those in politics and another for those of us in the “real world” who are forced to pay for their frivolity and to live under their economically destructive behavior. It should not be this way. We must return to the notion of servant leadership. We should not have to remind Members of Congress who they work for. . . after all, as my Mother used to tell me often, “we all put our pants on the same way.”
5. Replace Earmarks with a Transparent Appropriations Process – While there are important fiscal arguments against the use of earmarks, there is also a more important philosophical one. The unrestrained use of earmarks by Members of Congress is primarily for their own reelection, not for the public good. The notion that the public should appreciate a Member of Congress securing an earmark, which consists entirely of funding from the taxpayer and borrowed money is inherently corrupt. Our system of earmarks, which is wasteful and not sufficiently transparent for the public, further heightens the power and prestige of a Member of Congress and in the process separates them from reality. Those of us in the “real world” recognize that those pork barrel dollars came from our home districts-why do those dollars have to go to Washington in the first place? In addition, today, about 40 cents of every dollar of pork barrel spending is borrowed from foreigners (like the Chinese) and will ultimately have to be repaid by our children and grandchildren. It is insulting to real world Americans that they use our tax dollars and dollars borrowed from future generations to try to buy our votes. Our current earmark system should be ended immediately. In its place, we should establish a transparent appropriations process to fund local projects that are important national priorities, like Homeland Security.

Today our Congress regularly receives the lowest approval ratings in the history of polling. More than ever, the public has lost confidence not just in our politicians, but also in our political system.

Fundamentally, this is directly attributable to most people thinking that their Representatives are not representing them. Most people feel that they do not have a voice.

It is time for our Congress to be made up of regular citizens who wish to serve the public for a short time, live under the laws that they write, and who are held accountable in an open and transparent system.

Our country would be much better off.

If you would like to see these basic ideals reflected in the next Congressman from Texas’ 17th Congressional District, will you help me?

I would be grateful if you would consider making a generous $25, $50, $100, or $250 investment so we can win in November and reconnect Congress to the people.

With Great Respect,

Bill Flores

Dear Friend, Democrats never met a new government job, program, or expenditure they did not like. In many states and in the federal government, they have consistently proven so for decades. At a time when states like California and New Jersey are buried under debt created by a vast public sector employee stranglehold, Democrats in Congress continue to ignore basic economics which say, “Our families, our communities, and our nation need private sector job growth to pull out of this recession.” Even though our economy saw 162,000 jobs created in March, of which 48,000 were jobs for the U.S. Census effort, our national unemployment rate remained at an unacceptable 9.7%. And while Democrats continue to ignore the economy, the real unemployment rate, which combines those who have stopped looking for work, the unemployed and the underemployed, shows that one in six Americans are currently without work. Has the Obama administration and the Pelosi Congress made it easier for businesses to grow and hire more workers? Of course not. So, while national unemployment remains a serious problem, what we have seen in the past few months is a never ending river of higher deficits and increasing national debt to continually extend social spending with no end in sight. It is time to hold Congress accountable. The federal government grew 44% in the past two years and Congressman Chet Edwards voted for both of the Obama-Pelosi budgets that allowed it to happen. Did your family budget grow 44% in the past two years? Of course not. The beltway spending spree has us on track to double our national debt in five years and nearly triple it in ten. It is time that our federal government begins living within our means, ending wasteful and unnecessary spending, and paying for things like our families and our businesses do. We desperately need leaders with business sense, who have taken risks, and displayed real commitment to cut the government budget so that money remains in the hands of families and small businesses because they are the best hope for America’s economic future, not another government worker. Will you help me defeat Chet Edwards so we can return to limited government and fiscal sanity? Please consider joining our team or helping our campaign by making a generous $25, $50, $100, or $250 investment so we can win in November and began to repair the damage that has been done to our economy. With Great Respect, Bill Flores

This email was sent to spendulus@texasteaparties.com.

In Texas, Congressional District 17 is currently held by (D) Chet Edwards. The district starts on the south side of Fort Worth and goes south through Waco, Temple and east through College Station.  Can Edwards be ousted by someone who agrees with the smaller government and anti spending focus of the Tea Parties of 2009?

From Edwards own website

To the Republicans, Edwards’ vulnerability lies not just in recent elections, but in the votes he has cast in recent years.  They contend that the incumbent’s popularity began to decline when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recommended him as a possible running mate during Barack Obama’s campaign for president. Republicans argue that the suggestion underscored the differences in philosophy between Edwards and his Republican-leaning district.

Update as of 3-30-2010. Edwards voted AGAINST the Pelosi/Obama health care plan.  Thank you Chet Edwards!

Hat tip to News 3 -

http://www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/90797534.html

“We need to focus on the economy,” Flores told News 3 following his win. “We need to focus on deficit spending. If you look at my track record, if the voters look at my track record, that’s the record that will help achieve what we need in Congress today. We need to pay attention to creating jobs, getting the budget balanced and getting some fiscal sanity in Washington, and my experience is directly on point in doing that.”

Curnock was the Republican challenger to Democratic incumbent Chet Edwards in 2008. Curnock lost that race by 7.5 percent.

Edwards now awaits Flores in the general election.

Bill Flores’s website his here.

http://www.billfloresforcongress.com/

His facebook page is -

http://www.facebook.com/BillFloresForCongress

Quoting:

The vision of our Founding Fathers, our freedoms, and our children’s future are all being threatened by a Congress dominated by career politicians who care more about serving special interests than serving the people.  From bailout spending, to the trillions and trillions of dollars in deficits – these politicians have literally mortgaged our future and its time we make them stop.

After thirty years as an executive in the energy industry, I am proud of the work I have done to help create more than 500 good paying jobs here in the U.S.  The companies I helped lead were successful because we knew how to balance our budgets, meet a payroll, and make sensible investments in resources that produced much needed AMERICAN energy to power our cars, warm our homes, and fuel OUR economy.