Monday, November 27, 2006

OH:15 Recount time

After the long wait for the annoucement of the vote totals in the 15th Congressional District, the newmargin annouced today a 1,054 vote lead for Pryce, is within one half of one percent of the total, Thus by law a recount is automatic.

So in short, it aint over till its over.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

John Edwards on Daily Show

Be sure to catch Senator John Edwards on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart tonight. He will be discussing his new book, "Home: The Blue Prints of Our Lives." Of course with Jon Stewart no doubt a few other unexpected things will come up

The Daily show is on Comedy Central at 11 eastern.

Monday, November 13, 2006

First Warner now Fiengold, Get involved before its too late.

Mark Warner decided some time ago he would not be running for President and this weekend, Russ Fiengold posted on his site Progressive Patriots Fund that he too will not seek the nomination in 2008.

One of the frustrations I have had living in Ohio and being a Democrat is it seems all too often the choices are made for us by others. Are you content with Hillary Clinton being "anointed" the nominee from the Democratic Party for President in 2008?

She may or may not be the right choice, perhaps its Obama, perhaps as has happened many times, it will be someone very few are talking about. In fact perhaps it will be someone like John Edwards.

I know I am not content with party bosses, or New Hampshire or Iowa or South Carolina choosing for me. Thus I have gotten involved with the Draft John Edwards Campaign.

I urge you all to use the links to the right and read the information about John Edwards on the One America Committee web site, then to join the Draft John Campaign.

We are currently planning events in the Columbus area to show John's commitment to fight poverty. We can use your help. Contact me at bucki95@aol.com if you can help work an afternoon for the cause.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Thank you Veterans

For putting your lives on hold to fight for us, thank you

For risking your life and limbs to serve, thank you

For being separated from your loved ones, thank You

For enduring boot camp and training, thank you

For showing courage when being shot at, bombed and attacked, thank you

For acting with honor and integrity and leading by example, thank you

For doing your job, regardless of political reasons and opinions, thank You

For watching your brother or sister’s back, thank you

For perseverance through extended tours and early redeployments, thank you

For showing respect to the citizens in the country your deployed, thank you

For representing your country with pride, thank you

For allowing your lives to be changed forever, thank You

The words “thank you” are insufficient to express the gratitude of the country you serve, but its important you hear them today and everyday from all of us regardless of our political opinions on this or any war in which you may have served.

OH 15: No results until the 20th

Apparently Ohio law does not allow the counting of provisional ballots until Nov 18th. One minor problem with that. Nov 18th is the Ohio State vs Michigan game. Anyone that knows Columbus, knows no work will happen that day. Thus the counting will begin on the 19th.

The Franklin County board of elections has also decided not to count the late absentee ballots until that day as well.

It is definitely mathematically possible for Kilroy to have won this race, considering the high number of provisional ballots in the campus area. So keep fingers crossed and relax, we will know in about 10 days.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

National Agenda

Things I will be writing about and urging the Democratic House and Senate to accomplish.

Restore the Constitution:
Do not allow the Illegal wiretapping bill to pass in lame duck session.
Restore the writ of Habeas Corpus.
Stop Torture of anyone by American personal that includes CIA.
Take away the authority of the President to re-interpret Geneva conventions
Stop signing statements

Fiscal responsibility
Stop the unfounded spending spree.
Stop war profiteering with unbid over budget contracts
Stop incentives to Oil industry and Pharmaceutical industries
Eliminate tax cuts for the rich and realign to reduce middle class taxes.

Iraq
Set a plan, with benchmarks for the Iraq government.
Involve other countries to assist
Re-deploy

War on terror
Implement 911 commission recommendations
Secure Borders
Get Bin Laden
Eliminate Unconstitutional aspects of patriot act.
Put in actual preparations for disaster not cosmetic

Stem Cell Research
Pass it

Ethics
Real lobbying reform
Strict rules against even the appearance of impropriety

Oversight
Of Intelligence
Of War planning and execution
Of surveillance
Of nominations for any position

Energy
Real energy policy not written by oil industry
End incentives for Oil companies
Oversight of price gauging
Reduce dependence on foreign oil
Develop alternative energy

Health Care
Complete overhaul
Increase coverage
Reduce costs

Trade
Fix flawed trade agreements
Implement agreements fair to American workers.

Poverty
A mandate to put major resources to fight poverty in the United States

Quite a list for 2 years. We better get busy. (I reserve the right to revise and extend the list)

Agenda for Ohio

Yes I have an agenda. That’s one of the main reason I have this blog. Though I will react to things in the news from time to time and simply comment on the happenings of the day. I will write thoughts, facts and beliefs on issues that are important to me. With that being said, Democrats clearly control the administration of the State of Ohio. I will be holding a fire to them to achieve things while in those offices on the following items.

Election Reform


This to me is number 1 on the list. Jennifer Brunner will have her hands full reviewing all the state procedures, equipment and laws that have been implemented under Blackwell, but also to review the practices of each counties board of elections. We must take away the doubt in Ohio about fairness of elections. As Jennifer promised, she wants things to run so well, no one will know her name.

Redistricting

The Gerrymandered districts for Congress, and State House must be reviewed. A bi partisan procedure needs to be put in place that will work and hold throughout future party changes. We must not take advantage to give Democrats an advantage, as it will be short term, if it is done fairly there is at least a chance the procedure can remain.

Jobs

There needs to be a new approach to bring living wage paying employers to the State of Ohio. Do we need to give away the store to get them, no we don’t. Our state has a great deal of advantages in labor, cost of living, education structure and available facilities. We do need to look at the number of costly fees and licenses that can bury any business and scare them off. There are too many in place that’s man purpose is to provide employment for state, county and local paper pushers. Stream lining and eliminating such things will go a long way toward bringing business to Ohio.

Primary and Secondary Education

Ohio is a mess; we still have not done what it takes to bring our method of funding education to a constitutional level. This will be one of the toughest challenges for the Strickland Administration. But the Republicans did not have the ability or will to do it. We Democrats Must.

Tuition

We are pricing our state universities out of the middle class. If a student gets loans for his tuition and housing expenses for an average 5 years it takes to get bachelors, they could end up starting their career a half a million in debt. This is not acceptable. A strong secondary education system not only helps the youth, it helps the economy and it helps business.

Ethics

The Democrats have won these offices in my opinion primarily on the corruption issue. Things must change and change now. Pay to play must go. State Contracts must be to fair and open bidders; organizations trying to get state contracts should not be tied in any way to the office holders. Finally auditing and oversight and legal personnel must be in place so that if someone does try the road to corruption. It will be caught, stopped and prosecuted quickly and efficiently.

Tax and Spend

With the lower losses due to corruption, with the fair and open oversight of state contracts and with cutting spending we will have a head start. But we have to set the priorities on how our tax money is spent and who bears the burden of that taxation. We will have a balanced budget by law; the question is what is the money spent on, education or million dollar rest areas.

I am sure I have missed a few but this is a good start. If you read this blog often be prepared to hear a lot on this issues from this point on.

My Apologies and Congrats

One of the things that continually annoy me is the rarity of people, especially politically involved people to admit when they were wrong. So rather then being part of that problem its time for me to do just that.

A while back, when Paul Hackett dropped out of the race for Senate, I blew a gasket. To this day I believe Paul is an important leader and will be a force in our party in the future, and I still believe that the primary process should be allowed to work rather then making deals in back rooms. But where I was wrong, was believing that once again we would lose and lose badly because of bad decisions of party leaders and a continuation of the mistakes of the past by the Democratic Party, in Ohio and nationally.

Back then I wrote scathing letters to Chris Redfern, Howard Dean, Sherrod Brown and Senate Leaders nationally. I asked for resignations and a change of course in the party.

Turns out, these leaders had a change in course already in mind. The results speak for themselves. To Chris Redfern and the Ohio Democratic Party, this campaign was a piece of art. We had great candidates, great support, funding and staff in practically every race. The campaigns were fought with efficiency and speed, they were able to get out the message and react to negative slams fast and effectively. All I can say is excellent work.

To Howard Dean at the National Party, to the DCCC, and the DSCC, awesome effort. The fundraising machine, the placement of advertisements, the press releases the events, the traveling speakers, all of it was just unbelievable. For elections in decades to come experts will look back to 2006 to see how it can be done.

Some spin that the Democrats didn’t win this election so much as the republicans lost it. I whole-heartedly disagree. (Well except maybe George Allen in Virginia, chuckles.) Every campaign I watched was run so smoothly, with motivation, clarity and vigor. From the Candidates themselves, to their lowly bloggers behind the scenes, terrific work.

So yes I was wrong in my criticism and predictions back then. I am glad I was.

Ok enough congratulating and on to 2008.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Apparently they are in a mood at the State House

I am not one to gloat or even laugh with glee. But I got a comment posted to my blog annoymously that made me laugh for hours.

It was from the following isp:
Domain Name

state.oh.us ? (United States)
IP Address

156.63.232.# (State of Ohio Network)

The comment (edited to add two * in place of original letters)

"F**K you!"

The big winner on Tuesday: Gerrymandering

Though democrats in Ohio made big gains in the state offices and in the United States Senate, as of now it appears that only 1 congressional seat has changed parties. That being Bob Ney’s seat, which was doomed the moment he plead guilty. Despite the millions spent in the state the incredible campaign efforts made to make several races competitive, the safety of the gerrymandered districts held to form.

In addition limited gains were made in the Ohio House and State Senate also districts set by republicans.

Though there were incidents at the polls reported all over the state, at this point it appears none were significant enough to change the results. Though it may be too early to know that for sure.

These results are clear evidence that a more equitable non-partisan way of redistricting must be conceived. This is not democracy as envisioned by our for-fathers. It clearly won’t be an easy task, and the temptation to skew the districting in our favor will be immense. But that’s were we as Democrats must show the voters of Ohio that we are above the tactics of the GOP.

With Jennifer as Secretary of State we have improved our management of elections tremendously. But that is just the beginning. With the other State office holders, the congressional, state senate and state house districts must be corrected to be fair and equal as much as absolutely possible, to truly reflect the voters of those counties.

Bush admits he is a liar

Last week George W Bush made a statement that Donald Rumsfeld's job was secure for the remainder of his administration. We now know at the time of that statement he was already looking if not decided upon Rumsfeld's replacement.

When asked today about this, Bush responded that he could not tell the truth because of the upcoming election.

Rumsfeld Sacrificed

CNN and NPR as well as other media outlets are reporting that Donald Rumsfeld is stepping down at Secretary of Defense. Not to toot my own horn, but this was my first prediction last night after I saw the democrats had indeed taken control of the House of representatives.

That's the good news, the bad news is why. Bush has no intention of changing his plan in Iraq. But as usual he needs to create the perception there is a change.. Thus by sacrificing Rumsfeld, this will give the administration more stall time to continue their failed policies regardless of which party controls the congress.

After all it will take time to confirm a new Defense Secretary then time for the new one to get up to speed, that's a minimum of 6 more months of "stay the course" perhaps a year. We cannot allow this resignation to remove the pressure from the administration on the war.

This is perception change not substantial change.

Lunch Counter Report: The Day After

The mood at the Lunch counter was subdued today. I was very interested in how these normally “status quo” Republicans voted and how they felt about it. Had they and Ohio Turned Blue. Was I going to be able to gloat a bit?

As expected, some still voted for some republicans, citing “tax and spend” and “all “politicians are corrupt anyway” type reasons. But some did vote for democrats, yet they were not happy about it. It seems the corruption issue had hit home with them on statewide races, they felt the house needed cleaned.

This makes sense when you look at the results. What Republicans lost? With one exception it was the ones tied to the Taft administration and or corruption. This lunch counter is in Bob Ney’s district, usually a very strong safe red district, but Ney’s guilty plea and frankly Padgett’s lack of viability as a congressional candidate changed that this time. Her bankruptcy was cited a number of times by these voters.

These men have not become Democrats by any means. As I analyze the numbers around the state, it appears that Ohio hasn’t turned blue either. The corrupt were tossed, the rest were kept. Look at the congressional races, as of right now only Ney’s district changed to a Democrat. Ohioans didn’t vote against Bush, they didn’t vote against the war, they didn’t even vote to change Congress. They voted against corruption.

But yet, Mike Dewine lost. He wasn’t successfully tied to any of the corruption scandals; surely this had to be a referendum on Bush. Apparently not, amazingly it appears it was instead a referendum on a badly run, negative campaign. If Dewine had stuck to tax and spend, if he had stuck to security, he would have gotten some of the lunch counter votes he lost. Conventional wisdom is that negative ads work. But this time the shear overload of them seems to have backfired. The attacks began to look so ridiculous; voters reacted against Dewine, rather then doubting who was being attacked. If you look back at the numbers the more negative Dewine got, the bigger Brown’s lead grew.

The message I see in the numbers and at the lunch counter is that we Democrats have won a single battle. We have a lot of work to do if we want to win the next one.

So there is no gloating by this blogger. Well ok, I may be smiling a bit more then yesterday, but my sleeves are still rolled up as the work has just begun.

Was Pryce gloating a bit early?

Deborah Pryce stood on the stage at the republican "victory" party grinning broadly and claiming victory late last night. However this race remains too close to call.

Franklin County has yet to count 20,000 absentee ballots that came in Monday or later. In addition as I reported in this blog there is a unknown but high number of provisional ballots since poll workers in the campus area incorrectly directed voters to use a provisional ballot based on voter id and polling place confusion issues.

Pyrce currently shows a lead of about 4000 votes. Frankly I don't see that being overcome however every vote should be counted and when that happens then winner of this race can be declared and not before.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Corruption number 1 Issue

Ok according the the CNN/AP exit polls surprisingly the Iraq war was not the number 1 issue with voters nationally. It was Corruption. This cannot be a good thing for the GOP.

We are seeing what the Corruption issue is doing to the GOP in Ohio, but if thats the number one issue nationally as well, my my my my.

I'm not counting any chickens by any means but it does seem we are in the red zone with a great chance to score.

source:cnn.com

URGENT: OHIO STATE STUDENTS and Others nearby

If you were turned away or told you must vote provisionally because your address on your id did not match your current voting address that is a violation of Ohio Law.

or

If you went to the wrong polling place and were told to vote provisionally instead of being informed you may go to the correct polling place, that too was incorrect.

For Help getting your vote counted contact 1-866-ourvote, attorneys are standing by to assist you.

Be sure to pass this information to your friends and neighbors.

Fundamental Truths for Election Day

Truth: We were lied to about Iraq

Truth: We are not safer

Truth: Our nations respect around the world is severely damaged

Truth: Gas prices were back breaking for us and will be again soon, while oil companies and Republicans rake in the dough

Truth: Health Costs higher and higher

Truth: Tuition costs unbelievable

Truth: corruption corruption corruption

Truth: Katrina showed how inept this govt is to protect its citizens

Truth: Terrorism has gotten worse

Truth: Our constitutional liberties are being stolen

Truth: Middle class incomes are stagnant

Truth: Ford and GM layoff thousands

Truth: Over 2,800 soldiers are dead

Truth: The Republicans have had 6 years to fix these things, they have no desire to

Truth: Democrats have the desire to change things and will

Vote: Democrat!

No excuses

I don't care what the polls say, VOTE!

I don't care if the lines are long, VOTE!

I dont care if its raining cats and dogs, VOTE!

I don't care If your busy with work and family, VOTE!

I don't care if there are only a few candidates you really know about, VOTE!


A great deal of damage has been done to our nation by the unchecked power of Bush and the Republican Congress. We cannot risk two more years.

Many citizens of the world are watching the citizens of the United States to see if we will correct the wrongs that have been done. This is our chance, and possibly our last chance to save the constitution and our nation as we knew it.

There is no excuse, you must get out and vote. You must call your friends, your family, any one you know and tell them VOTE!.

Monday, November 06, 2006

My final Endorsement: OH: Senate

I wrote on this blog several weeks ago expressing my displeasure with Sherrod Brown with his vote on the Torture Bill. My position has not and will not change this bill is a horrible affront to the constitution and Brown was wrong to have voted for it.

However, so did Dewine.

When you look at the history of Mike Dewine as a Senator. His marching in lock step with the Bush Crime family. Approving every one of Bush’s atrocities. Then running the dirtiest, lowest, most dishonest campaign perhaps in the nation, I have to agree with the words of NBC’s Chris Wallace, Mike Dewine “you should be ashamed of yourself.”

Sherrod was one of the few that voted against the war even with the bad intelligence being fed to congress. Sherrod has worked hard even against his own party against trade deals that have since shown to be monumental failures and have done major damage to the economy and the citizens of Ohio. Brown will not march in lock step with anyone anytime. Brown will however listen, respond and do what he thinks is right for Ohio.

I’m sure I’ll be writing many a letter to Sherrod Brown as our New Senator. But I know with him, I’ll be writing the decision maker not the mindless political solider of Bush.

I endorse Sherrod Brown for Senate of the United States.

Endorsements, 2 left:Secretary of State

Whether you believe the 2004 election was stolen in Ohio or not. Just the appearance of impropriety and the continued focus on fair elections within our state, has caused most Ohioans great concern. If the citizens of this state and this country do not believe the elections are not run fairly and above board, the very fabric of our republic is in danger. This is why this year it is imperative that voters look closely at the two candidates for this office and make an informed choice, based on qualifications, experience and honesty.

The web sites of both candidates provide good information on their backgrounds.

Greg Hartman
County Clerk of Courts
Worked hard to elect Republicans

Jennifer Brunner
Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge
Franklin County Board of Elections
Legislative Counsel for the Secretary of State
Private Practice as Election Law Attorney
Special Prosecutor for Election Fraud

No matter your party affiliation, it is clear one candidate for this office is highly qualified to do the actual job and the other is simply another party operative. We have gone the operative route for Secretary of State with Kenneth Blackwell, and it has tied the word “Ohio” to the words “election fraud” forever in history.

I endorse perhaps the most qualified candidate for secretary of state in the entire country and that is Jennifer Brunner

Endorsements, 3 to go: Attorney General

While Betty Montgomery has tried to run away from the corruption of the current republican state office holders, facts are facts. She was responsible as state auditor to be a watchdog over the funds of the BWC as well as other agencies. Under her watch fraud occurred, millions have been stolen. The very man being tried for those crimes provided Betty Montgomery Campaign donations.

Betty run away all you want, but facts are facts. You blew it. It’s clearly not the time to promote you.

Marc Dann as a State Senator has been a bulldog in smelling out and fighting corruption. He has filed lawsuits on behalf of the citizens of the state. The Republicans try to attack him in two ways, one being the ridiculous criticism of who his clients were when he was a defense attorney. Face it; in our system of justice even the most vial character gets an attorney. Marc Dann was doing his job fighting for justice. The second attack is the Supreme Court admonishment. Yes Marc Dann made a mistake in the course of doing his job as an attorney. It was a legal mistake. It involved no corruption, bribery or underhandedness. He was not disbarred or suspended. He made a mistake; he admitted it and took the consequences for it.

On the other hand Betty to this day says, Noe who? I didn’t know anything about it. Wasn’t my fault.

Honesty, Integrity, and a Fighter for the Citizens of Ohio. That’s Marc Dann; he is my choice for Attorney General.

Simplistic Lies & Whole Truths

Simplistic Lie: The Iraq war was justified A. Because they have weapons of Mass Destruction. B. Its part of the War on Terror. C. Sadam was a Threat to the United States.

Whole Truth: A. There were no WMD’s. B. Saddam was an enemy of Al Qaeda and had nothing to do with them or 9/11. C. The Iraq military was devestated, there were hemmed in by no fly zones and sanctions. Saddam was a lot of talk but he was not a threat to the United States.

Simplistic Lie: Republicans are strong on Terror because of the Patriot Act. Democrats are against it.

Whole Truth: Democrats were opposed to certain overreaching aspects of the Patriot act such as access to what books you read at the library.

Simplistic Lie: Democrats are opposed to wiretapping terrorist’s phone calls.

Whole Truth: Democrats feel the FISA act should be followed, which allows the administration up to 72 hours after a tap to obtain a warrant. The only reason whatsoever to go without court oversight at all, is because they are tapping people who they shouldn’t be.

Simplistic Lie: Democrats are against detainee bill thus they want terrorists to be freed.

Whole Truth: Democrats want the rule of law, justice and habeas corpus maintained as well as the Constitution and the Geneva Conventions. For two centuries these principals have not prevented us from prosecuting enemies, we do not need to suspend them now.

Simplistic Lie: Republicans lower taxes, Democrats will raise them.

Whole Truth. Republicans have spent us into the largest deficit in history. The bill will eventually have to be paid. The question is by the Middle class who have received little or no tax breaks or by the wealthy and corporations, who have.

Simplistic Lie: The Economy is Thriving

Whole Truth: For the rich, major stockholders, the oil industry, Halliburton; Defense Contractors, and the Pharmaceutical Industry. While the middle class struggles with rising costs and stagnant pay.

Simplistic Lie: Unemployment is down.

Whole Truth: With massive layoffs by Ford, GM the airlines and numerous other high paying industries, the job growth has been in the low pay, no benefits, Wal-Mart’s of the Country. Lots of numbers of jobs, while average personal income falls.

Simplistic Lie: The Republicans are prepared, strong and make the country safer from all threats.

Whole Truth: One word: Katrina

Simplistic Lie: The facts of how we got into the war with Iraq are old history, but now that we are there we must stay the course.

Whole Truth: History is important to be investigated understood and learned from to prevent bad things from reoccurring. The course we have been on in Iraq has now extended the war to be longer then WWII, cost 2800 plus American lives, 10’s of thousand Iraqi civilians their lives and increased distrust and hate of our country throughout the world. This is a failed course by inept leaders. They must be replaced and the course changed.

Simplistic Lie: All politicians are corrupt.

Whole Truth: With numerous allegations, investigations, resignations, guilty pleas and prison sentences, all among republicans there is one lone democrat under investigation.

Simplistic Lie: A vote for Republicans is a vote for Moral Values.

Whole Truth: In all the years of the Republican Congress exactly what Moral issues have they actually moved forward and not just paid lip service and used for campaigning? None. Meanwhile they have clearly ignored other moral values such as honesty, integrity, caring for the poor, and loving your neighbor as your self.

The biggest truth of all: If you dream of a more safer, prosperous and moral country, the choice is clear.

Vote Democrat on Tuesday.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

4 days to go:Ohio Supreme Court

On the 4th day before the election my endorsement is to be: Espy for Supreme Court.

I know Ben Espy better then any candidate this election. I watched him, as he was a true Leader on Columbus City Council. He fought for his constituents, he obtained facts, he listened and he got things done. When he was injured in a freak accident when a building facad fell and hit him. Ben didn’t skip a beat. He continued to work as a leader an advocate and a citizen.

What we need on the Supreme Court are men of wisdom, fairness, education and experience. Ben Espy has all of these. He will not make decisions based on religious ideology like Cupp clearly implies in his commercials. Ben will get the evidence, review the cases and make the decision that is right, fair and according to the law.

Ben Espy is a clear choice for the Ohio Supreme Court.

5 days to go: OH-15

This district is one the most watched races in the country. Why you may ask? Well first we have Deborah Pryce perhaps the poster child of this Republican Leadership. She follows the party line so closely; she must be wearing the Karl Rove earpiece that Bush wore for the debate.

Her statements about the war are either completely delusional or flat out lies. Her statements about the strength of our economy are clearly from a woman who hasn’t a clue what is going on in her own state. Now she campaigns on the pork she was able to bring back to Columbus in return for kissing the President’s and Delay’s and Hastert’s and oh yea her best friend Foley’s boots. This woman is the textbook party operative and an adept follower.

Then consider her opponent. Mary Jo Kilroy a leader in every position she has held. From the troubled Columbus School board, to County Commissioner. What did she do in those positions? She fought for change. She fought to fix problems not just put them off to the future. She balanced budgets instead of trying to spend away the problems. Her campaign has been tough, it has been fair and it has been the truth.

Pyrce’s Campaign has been full of misstatements lies changing positions and bigwig republicans paying her back for her ass kissing. This woman is the perfect example of the congressional representative that has allowed this administration to lie us into war, dig the damage deeper, attack the bill of rights, reduce our nations safety, all the while claiming to have done the opposite.

Pryce must go!

Vote Mary Jo Kilroy for Congress

Wednesdays Endorsement OH: 12

On the 6th day before the election my endorsement was:

Ohio’s 12th Congressional District was one that wasn’t originally considered competitive. After all Pat Tiberi looks like the cuddly Pillsbury doughboy and had managed to keep his head low as corruption surrounded him. Not only that, he managed to stay out of the news. Though that’s easy when one doesn’t do anything.

What has Pat Tiberi done, well is hard to know since all his campaigning has been about trashing Shamansky. If one digs one can find he did in fact support the Bush Crime Family 91% of the time with his votes, one of the highest percentages in congress. Again that’s why we know little about him. Followers don’t make the press, Leaders do.

A leader is what Bob Shamansky is. This is a man who was happily and comfortably retired. He has given the country a lifetime of public service. But when he watched what this administration was doing. The war, the polarization of our nation based on lies and desires for more power and more greed. This man could not take any more. He dug into his own bank account and came back to do something. And do something he has. He has spoken out against this President and this war, He has spoken about a vision for change. He has spoken against corruption. He has quite simple shown us the leader he is.

All his opponent can do is play games with Shamansky’s name, make some bogus claims about addresses. And use the tried and true fear tactic of taxes. If Tiberi was a leader he would have something to run on, he clearly isn’t, thus the campaign is all about diversion and twisted facts.

We need to return to the days of leadership in the 12th District, its time to put Bob Shamansky back in Congress.