Public Financing of Elections

This op-ed calls on legislators in Madison to pass partial public financing of elections. They think that passing limits on campaign spending will improve the ethics of those running for office. We at Obey Out want to let Congressman Obey (who supposedly supports this on a federal level) and the other free-speech limiting supporters of this legislation, in on a little secret. If the people aren't ethical to begin with, it doesn't matter if you limit spending on their campaigns.

People who get caught up in scandal generally ignore existing rules. What makes these people think if you change the rules that unethical people won't break them too?

We should not give into the demands of spending our (this is a Republican-based blog) tax dollars to support Democrat candidates. I don't want one penny of my tax money supporting the advancement of the Democrat agenda.

As for Obey, let's remember that he receives most of his campaign financing from DC-based special interests and their lobbyists AND he refused to voluntarily limit his campaign spending when given a challenge from Nick Reid.

Obey's Utopia?

We all have seen Obey's quotes on health care over the years . . . one of which was that he would voluntarily retire if Congress would pass a nationalized health care system. Obey staunchly believes our neighbor to the North, Canada, had it right when it came to providing health care to its citizens. Anyone with an ounce of intellectual honesty knows that other than cheap drugs (subsidized and price fixed by the Canadian government) Canada is not a bastian of good health care. Canadian citizens who could afford it for years came to the United States for needed surgeries rather than sit on endless waiting lists.

Over at Cafe Hayek you'll find this post about the "death" of the Canadian system. After a Canadian Supreme Court decision last year saying the Canadian government could no longer make private health care providers illegal, private clinics are now springing up in Canada at the rate of one per week.

Wouldn't it be sadly ironic if Obey got his way and converted the United States to national single payer health care system and Canada's private system thrived - attracting thousands of U.S. doctors to go across the border and practice medicine?

The fact is, it's time for the government to be less involed in the health care system, not more. (Remember that Democrats pushed the HMO concept on the American people, boy that's been a winner). We should be breaking the old mold. We should have health insurers compete for individual's business rather than for big corporate/union contracts. If these companies had to compete for our business, they would offer a menu of health care options that would meet our needs, and be priced in a competitive way.

Dave Obey opposes this concept because he doesn't believe in the marketplace. He believes the government should solve our problems. It's a classic liberal ideology that has proven to be inoperable over and over again. It's crumbling in Canada (the Canadian people even threw out the liberal government in the most recent elections), and we won't have it here.

Dear Mr. Sexton

here is a ridiculous letter to the editor Our response follows

This is a letter to those who wish to unseat the incumbent, Congressman Dave Obey.

Hopefully they realize Rep. Obey’s party is not the one in power at the moment — their Republican Party is in power.

Hopefully they have been paying attention to the actions of the present administration and understand the issues are coming to light based on facts and those are that we have a Republican President, Congress and Senate.

Indeed, they are even doing everything possible to add the Supreme Court to the mix.

Our federal government has grown more than at any other time and has become more intrusive in the lives of common citizens.

The deficit has reached record levels with no end in sight, corruption is rampant, secrecy is the method of governing, there are more pork barrel items than ever before and the list goes on and on.

Have the Democrats been the party of the perfect in the past?

Certainly not. But as these hopeful candidates make their promises, let’s all be truthful and blame our dysfunctional system.

And don’t forget this was the president and party that was supposed to bring together and unite our country. Instead, the reality is horrible polarization.

The Republican Party is the one that delivered the scam Part D Medicare drug plan — a plan written by and for the drug and health industry.

The Republican Party is the one providing us with total incompetence in areas of security.

The Republican Party has gone to great lengths to provide tax breaks to the industries and individuals who least need them, while taking away from those who can least afford them.

Medical savings plans are great for the healthy and wealthy, but for those who cannot afford basic needs now, they’re hardly a worthy plan. Industries are leaving our country because of high health costs.

Environmental problems made worse because of unwillingness to accept scientific facts. A war that seems to have no end is sapping our money, world and the lives of our brave soldiers and those of Iraq civilians.

Again, the party in power making all of the decisions legislating at the national level and they are the Republican Party!

I believe it was Ronald Reagan who said it best during a debate with a challenger — “I won’t hold your youthfulness and inexperience against you!”

Paul Sexton, Burnett County Democrat Chair, Siren

Dear Mr. Sexton,

Those of us who will support the Republican trying to unseat Obey say, "what was so great the Democrats did when they were in power for 40 years?"

In fact, Dave Obey helped create the dysfunctional system, and he uses the system. Between 2000 and 2005, he took trips around the world to the tune of $75,000 in free travel.

Dave Obey takes 2/3rds of his campaign financing from DC lobbyists and special interests. Hopefully you realize Mr. Sexton, that he is more beholden to them than to us.

Obey likes to talk like he's above the fray of having his palm greased by lobbyists, but nothing could be further from the truth. He also says he supports limiting campaign spending but has refused requests from us and from Nick Reid to voluntarily limit his spending. It's the fine art of talking out of both sides of your mouth that Obey has mastered.

Sure, it was Republicans who passed Medicare Part D, but Democrats gave us Medicare - a system that is horribly bureaucratic and ineffective AND Dave Obey wanted Part D to go farther and be more complicated.

Industries are leaving America because we have the highest taxation burden on our industry of any one in the civilized world and because labor unions would rather see their workers jobless than to work constructively with business. Sure health care is a factor, but Democrats want to continue to add must-carry provisions and other regulations, while backing the right of trial lawyers to bring unwarranted medical malpractice claims. Please stop saying health care is a problem when it's your party who wants to keep making it more expensive and will not negotiate on any idea to make it more affordable.

As for taxes of individuals, the Bush tax plan has made it so a family of 4 that makes less than $40,000 a year pays NO FEDERAL INCOME TAX. So yes, people who are wealthier than that got a tax cut, but you can't cut taxes for people who don't pay them.

Yes, we support putting terrorist sympathizers in America on notice, if you talk with Al Qaeda, we will be listening. What exactly is your problem with that?

We could go on and on, but the fact is: you are hopeless.

Sincerely,

Obey Out
A Catalyst for Change in the 7th District

More Evidence - Obey Out of Touch

Obey votes 100% of the time with ultra-liberal environmental group. Yes, the League of Conservation Voters (don't be fooled by the name, in fact LCV should stand for Lack of Commonsense Voters), gave Dave Obey a perfect score - making him perfectly liberal on environmental issues. He opposes any exploration for sources of oil to get us through the short term as we look for new sources of energy. He opposes forest thinning which prevents widespread forest fires (the burning of which causes far more damage to the environment then harvesting and replanting trees).

The heart of the matter is that Dave Obey cares more about liberal special interests in Washington than he does about common sense conservation. Just ask our local timber industry that provides thousands of jobs in Wisconsin, Dave Obey is not a friend to them.

It's just another example of how out of touch Obey is with us.

Obey Incumbent Protection Plan

Dave Obey is criticized by Green Party for introducing a bill that would exclude them from public financing of elections. First, we oppose this bill because it would cause our tax dollars to support the campaign of Dave Obey, whom we obviously believe is a horrible representative who doesn't share our values. We also would not want our tax dollars to go to the Green Party candidate.

And by the way, this idea Obey is saying about how voluntary taxpayer check-offs on their tax returns would finance the election. That's not true. The check-offs don't cover the Presidential election funds needed every 4 years, so there's no way it will cover 435 Congressional races and 33-34 Senate races.

It's funny that a bill Dave Obey would introduce as a so-called attempt to rid the political system of "corrupt private money" actually further protects his seat. Miles got the most votes for a Green Party candidate in the country against him in 2004, but he wouldn't get a dime of public financing to spend against Obey in 2006 if Obey's bill passed.

He also says his bill is important because it levels the playing field for challengers, yet he has refused to voluntarily limit his campaign spending to $500,000 as Nick Reid challenged him.

Dave Obey has a $1.3 million Congressional Office budget that he spends to help ensure his re-election with mass mailings, press releases, travel around the district and staff to promote him. He doesn't have to fight through a contested primary to get to the 6 week sprint to the general election. He got over 60% in 2002, the last time he had a Republican opponent. So our question is, what are you so afraid of Mr. Obey? Why won't you voluntarily limit your campaign spending? Are you really afraid of the challenge from a 26 year old kid? I thought you were tough. You certainly act tough when you're yelling on the floor of the U.S. House or your constituents in town hall meetings. If you're really that confident that public financing with spending limits is the way to go, why don't you put your money where your mouth is?

Our question to the media is, why aren't you asking this question?

Obey Fear Campaign Continues

Check out this story. Recently, the federal commission examining possible tax code reforms proposed limiting the amount of state income taxes you could deduct from your federal taxes. Most of us think that's a bad idea unless you're going to completely junk the tax code and replace it with something like the Fair Tax or a flat (or mostly flat) tax.

Here's the kicker, according to the story, only 3 states would be harder hit than Wisconsin. What does that mean - our taxes are too high in Wisconsin.

But, instead of saying "your taxes are too high and I intend to do something to reduce your tax burden," Obey is running around campaigning against this proposed tax change - trying to scare people into thinking he can stop it.

Here's a dose of reality for Obey, listen closely, THIS CHANGE WILL NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER HAPPEN! CONGRESS WILL NOT PASS IT, LET ALONE CONSIDER IT! (YES WE'RE SHOUTING)

When it doesn't happen, Obey will probably running around saying, "I fought to stop your federal taxes from going up." What a joke. But it's another example of how Dave Obey campaigns to keep his seat. He doesn't offer his plan for America to his constituents because he knows his values and his plan are out of touch with us. Instead, he tries to scare us with ridiculous things like this.

Our message to Obey, fear and smear won't work in the 7th District anymore. We're going to call you out on it.

Obey at Home in Madison

This fluff piece proves Dave Obey is still most at home in Madison. Our favorite line from the article,

Rep. David Obey is impressed by the job House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has been doing for the Democrats.

For those of you who may not know, Nancy Pelosi is from San Francisco. She has one of the most liberal voting records ever compiled in Congress. She stands for a set of values that are completely foreign to us in Northwest Wisconsin. She sets the agenda for the Democrat Party, and Dave Obey likes what she's doing. This is proof once again that Dave Obey is out of touch with us. He'd rather work for the liberal special interests in Washington, DC and San Francisco, CA.

Let's rise up against his poor representation of us in 2006.

Obey Has No Comment

We found this post at Go Nick Go particularly funny. Apparently a Capitol Hill Newspaper called Roll Call picked up on the challenge to Obey to put up or shut up when it came to limiting campaign financing. Our Congressman, never one at a loss for words, who is running all over the media calling for public financing of elections, refused to comment. Beautiful. Good job. Way to be a stand up guy.

Deficit Reduction Act

Dave Obey joined with all of his Democrat colleagues voting against the deficit reduction act last week.

In this slanted piece by John Nichols, he said the deficit reduction act "slashes almost $40 billion in funding from health care programs for the elderly, the disabled and low-income children, that restricts access to higher education for millions of Americans, and that kicks working farmers in the teeth." (we particularly like the kicking farmers in the teeth line, really creative and brilliant journalism there buddy) He goes on to use "slashed" "draconian" "devastating" to describe it.

We know Nichols and Obey are two peas in a pod. In fact, it sounds like Nichols actually writes Obey's speeches for his scorched earth trips into the district.

Let's actually look at the plan. Before the deficit reduction act was passed, mandatory spending programs were slated to grow at an average of 6.4% per year (double or triple the rate of inflation). After the Republicans passed the deficit reduction act, yes after they pillaged, devastated, slashed and kicked in teeth, mandatory spending programs will still grow at an average of 6.3% per year. Yes, your eyes did not deceive you, we said G-R-O-W.

Some of us believe that we should rein in spending on these mandatory programs so that they only grow at 3-4% instead of 6-7%. We think Republicans should go farther and make more substantial changes in how they spend our money.

People like Nichols and Obey will not be satisfied till we return to the Carter-era days of the federal government taxing as much as 70% of income (we all remember how great our economy was back then, right). They want the government to control more and more of our lives. They want no accountability from bureaucrats to run their programs more effectively and efficiently. They basically want socialism.

At the very least though, at least they should be honest with the people of Wisconsin. 6.3% growth in spending is not now, nor will it ever be a cut.

Let's throw Obey Out of Congress and let him and Nichols tip a few back and grouse about the good ol' days.

FEC Reports

The deadline for Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports to be filed from the last quarter was last Tuesday. In an effort to be fair to all three candidates, we have waited several days past the deadline before posting on it. We wanted to make sure if a filing was mailed instead of electronically filed it had time to be scanned into the system and that we had time to see it before commenting.

As of today, here are the results in alphabetical order by last name:

Nick Reid - Raised $38,968 - Cash on Hand $30,249
Dave Robinson - No Report According to FEC
Jeff Tyberg - No Report According to FEC

By law, candidates are required to file an FEC report if they raise or spend $5,000 on their campaigns. Presumably, only Reid had raised or spent more than $5,000 on his campaign by December 31st.

Reid Making Rounds as Well

Here's a Reid piece as well, from the Chetek Alert.

Excerpts:

If you asked Nick Reid what chance a 26-year-old had against one of the highest-ranking and longest-tenured Democrats in the House of Representatives, he would look you square in the eye and say, "Excellent."

"When people ask about my age, I remind them that Mr. Obey has been an elected member of the House of Representatives for 37 years now," says Reid. "He was sworn in when he was 30. If elected, I would be 27 by the time I'm sworn in. That's three years difference. Not a whole lot."

"I don't think people realize that Mr. Obey is one of the most liberal voters in Congress - even more liberal than Hilary Clinton," says Reid. "His voting record looks like he's a representative from San Francisco [Calif.], not from rural Wisconsin. His record shows just how out of touch he is with his constituents."

Reid says his wealth of experience in Washington, D.C., will serve him, and hopefully his future constituents, well.

Reid says that if elected, he would sit down with small business owners and ask what things he can do to help them out; then, he would sit down with municipalities and draft plans to bring in more jobs and small businesses into the area.

Health care - Crack down on medical malpractice lawsuits, as unnecessary lawsuits bog down the system and increase prices. Creation of tax-free health savings accounts would also be a priority.

To help small businesses and farmers, Reid says he is supportive of a growing movement to allow small businesses and farmers to form associations or co-ops to give them more bargaining power with insurance companies.

Energy - A problem that's on everyone's mind. The problems are 1) lack of refining capacity, and 2) continuing reliance on foreign oil instead of increasing domestic supply. Reid supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to increase domestic supply, but also wants to continue looking into the implementation of ethanol and bio-diesel fuels and the prospects of wind and nuclear power.

National Security - Reid says the country can never do enough for national security. Reid supports increased efforts on immigration enforcement, including building a fence at both the northern and southern borders and doubling U.S. presence at the borders."It's not just a matter of illegal immigration, it's also a matter of national security," claims Reid.

Gun control - As an avid outdoor sportsman and lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, Reid says he is opposed to gun control measures and is a firm believer in Second Amendment rights.

Robinson Making It Official

As we did for Tyberg a while back, here is the link to a Chippewa Herald article about Dave Robinson.

Excerpts:

Robinson, 45, a pilot for Northwest Airlines, formally announced his candidacy for the 7th District seat at a news conference Monday at the Chippewa County Courthouse.

He said he decided to run after Obey ran without Republican opposition in 2004. “That was unacceptable,” he said.

On the Issues:

As your next congressman, I will work and vote consistently to lessen your tax burden,” he said in a prepared statement.

Robinson said he wants to give tax breaks for individuals and small businesses who pay for their own insurance.

“Small businesses should be able to 'pool' their buying power to get lower rates. Dave Obey has blocked such efforts in Congress,” he said.

Robinson said America has to develop long-term energy sources that can be produced in the United States and are environmentally friendly. “That's where I differ from Dave Obey, who has opposed such efforts and hasn't done anything I'm aware of to offer a solution,” he said.

A Challenge to Obey - Put Up or Shut Up

We knew it's where Dave Obey stood, so we're glad he's made it official. According to this Wisconsin Radio Network story, Obey supports public financing of elections.

First, why should we have to give any of our tax dollars to support Dave Obey's campaign? But let's throw that out since Obey obviously disagrees with us.

Moreover, if Obey believes in it that much, why doesn't he voluntarily limit his campaign spending for this fall. I'm sure that all three Republican candidates would take that pledge as well.

Obey Out calls on Dave Obey to take the pledge to limit his campaign spending in 2006 to $400,000 to $750,000. What say you Congressman? What if we do as you say you want and truly eliminate the incumbent advantages. In fact, why don't you also pledge that any mass mailings you send from your Congressional Office will count against that cap?

Dave Obey will never go for it. He won't accept our challenge. Why? Because he's doing this purely for political gain. He's accepted 2/3rds of his campaign contributions from DC-based special interests and lobbyists.

The challenge has been issued, what will Obey do?

[Update: 1:18 Friday, February 3rd] Nick Reid issues this challenge to Obey. Reid did contact us and let us know he would be making it. We're glad to help the cause.
Click here for his release