Tyberg Launches Salvo - Daily Herald's Bias
According to the Wausau Daily Herald, Jeff Tyberg has released a contract with the 7th district.
From the story:
Among his seven promises are to accept only contributions from property owners or residents in the district, to not accept contributions from lobbyists or political action committees, and to keep no more than $100,000 of annual salary.
"Every point in the contract shows how I will remain connected and a vital part of the district while serving in Washington," Tyberg said.
In addition, Tyberg promised to serve no more than 10 years in office, to not collect a pension, to provide a toll-free telephone number and to post an explanation on his Web site of his votes cast.
We give Tyberg credit for launching a creative press release. In our opinion, his first in over a year of being a candidate.
Here's our analysis of it. First, Reid raised more campaign contributions from inside Wisconsin than Obey did last quarter. Second, is Tyberg saying he wouldn't accept campaign contributions from NRA's PAC or the Fair Tax Committee's PAC or even NFIB (small businesses)? This proves Tyberg isn't serious about winning. You have to take contributions from your friends in order to win. Jeff, you are already going to get outspent by at least 5 to 1, why handicap yourself further?
OK, the rest, no more than 10 years in office. We support the idea of term limits (probably at 12 years, but we won't quible over the time), however, we at Obey Out believe that in order for them to truly be effective, they should apply across the board. Otherwise, those who honorably uphold them would put their districts at a disadvantage over those who chose not to. Reid has taken the position that he would vote for term limits, so we're comfortable with that.
Then pension and the salary would be Tyberg's choice. We aren't a group who think Congressman are overpaid (at least not as a general rule). We think he would be required to pay into his pension even if he opted not to take it and we also think he should cut a check back to the US Treasury every month, not give it to his ministry or something.
Here's our biggest question about the plan: Why do you need a 1-800 number to stay connected? You'll only be in session in Washington about 30 weeks a year for 3-4 days at a time. Are you saying that the other 250 days a year aren't enough to get around the district to town hall meetings and talk to your constituents? Will you not have district offices with local phone numbers so people can call in and talk without paying long distance charges? To us the 1-800 number is a gimmick, particularly because Tyberg won't be able to talk to people who call in anyway. As a Congressman your schedule is jam packed, so you won't be fielding calls at the front desk (if you are, you're shirking your responsibilities of the job you were elected to do).
Finally, we ask this question of the Wausau paper: both candidates have issued press releases for quite some time. Reid's have been particularly astute at pointing out Obey's record and character. The Daily Herald hasn't touched them. We therefore know these reporters are in Obey's back pocket. We also called the Reid campaign and asked about the line of them not returning calls for comment. Apparently, the reporter left a message on an office phone at 7:30pm last evening asking for comment while the Reid team was campaigning in the district. Obviously, this reporter only wanted to be able to print a line saying they didn't return a call for comment or he would have started calling during normal business hours or would have called Nick's cell phone which the Daily Herald has. Clearly, this is a Friend of Obey Reporter getting a dig in at Reid while promoting Tyberg for the primary. Obey already push polled against Reid (not Tyberg). He knows he can trounce Tyberg because Tyberg will have no money to spend against him. It's in Obey's best interest for Tyberg to win the primary. We bet Obey will even get some of his editor friends to endorse Tyberg in the primary in order to give him some more free media (because lord knows he won't have the money to buy any). Ok, ok, we will get to our question, why does the mainstream media have their lips planted firmly on Obey's backside?
From the story:
Among his seven promises are to accept only contributions from property owners or residents in the district, to not accept contributions from lobbyists or political action committees, and to keep no more than $100,000 of annual salary.
"Every point in the contract shows how I will remain connected and a vital part of the district while serving in Washington," Tyberg said.
In addition, Tyberg promised to serve no more than 10 years in office, to not collect a pension, to provide a toll-free telephone number and to post an explanation on his Web site of his votes cast.
We give Tyberg credit for launching a creative press release. In our opinion, his first in over a year of being a candidate.
Here's our analysis of it. First, Reid raised more campaign contributions from inside Wisconsin than Obey did last quarter. Second, is Tyberg saying he wouldn't accept campaign contributions from NRA's PAC or the Fair Tax Committee's PAC or even NFIB (small businesses)? This proves Tyberg isn't serious about winning. You have to take contributions from your friends in order to win. Jeff, you are already going to get outspent by at least 5 to 1, why handicap yourself further?
OK, the rest, no more than 10 years in office. We support the idea of term limits (probably at 12 years, but we won't quible over the time), however, we at Obey Out believe that in order for them to truly be effective, they should apply across the board. Otherwise, those who honorably uphold them would put their districts at a disadvantage over those who chose not to. Reid has taken the position that he would vote for term limits, so we're comfortable with that.
Then pension and the salary would be Tyberg's choice. We aren't a group who think Congressman are overpaid (at least not as a general rule). We think he would be required to pay into his pension even if he opted not to take it and we also think he should cut a check back to the US Treasury every month, not give it to his ministry or something.
Here's our biggest question about the plan: Why do you need a 1-800 number to stay connected? You'll only be in session in Washington about 30 weeks a year for 3-4 days at a time. Are you saying that the other 250 days a year aren't enough to get around the district to town hall meetings and talk to your constituents? Will you not have district offices with local phone numbers so people can call in and talk without paying long distance charges? To us the 1-800 number is a gimmick, particularly because Tyberg won't be able to talk to people who call in anyway. As a Congressman your schedule is jam packed, so you won't be fielding calls at the front desk (if you are, you're shirking your responsibilities of the job you were elected to do).
Finally, we ask this question of the Wausau paper: both candidates have issued press releases for quite some time. Reid's have been particularly astute at pointing out Obey's record and character. The Daily Herald hasn't touched them. We therefore know these reporters are in Obey's back pocket. We also called the Reid campaign and asked about the line of them not returning calls for comment. Apparently, the reporter left a message on an office phone at 7:30pm last evening asking for comment while the Reid team was campaigning in the district. Obviously, this reporter only wanted to be able to print a line saying they didn't return a call for comment or he would have started calling during normal business hours or would have called Nick's cell phone which the Daily Herald has. Clearly, this is a Friend of Obey Reporter getting a dig in at Reid while promoting Tyberg for the primary. Obey already push polled against Reid (not Tyberg). He knows he can trounce Tyberg because Tyberg will have no money to spend against him. It's in Obey's best interest for Tyberg to win the primary. We bet Obey will even get some of his editor friends to endorse Tyberg in the primary in order to give him some more free media (because lord knows he won't have the money to buy any). Ok, ok, we will get to our question, why does the mainstream media have their lips planted firmly on Obey's backside?
posted by ObeyOut2006 at 10:46 AM
2 Comments:
I read this story and had the same reaction. I don't blame Tyberg for doing the interview, in fact I commend him for trying to get a message out finally. However, I watch wispolitics all the time, and the Reid team has press releases out every week on relevent topics. In fact most are on differences between Reid and Obey on key issues that are in the news. And the lazy reporters of the 7th never pick up on them to do a story. It does seem a little suspect that a gimicky deal like this get's covered......
The press is going to have the same favorite in this primary as Dave Obey. Obviously, they would rather push the candidate who will have no money to run a competitive challenge against their guy.
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