Voice For Liberty

Tag: Elections

  • At RightOnline, John Fund is hopeful, but warns

    At Saturday’s general session of the RightOnline conference at The Venetian in Las Vegas, Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund told the audience of 1,100 conservative activists that they will win in November, but opposition is already planning to derail the victory.

    Fund said he is doing double duty this weekend, covering both RightOnline and the Netroots Nation conference, a gathering of liberal — or “progressive” — activists. He said that the attendees at Netroots Nation are sullen, depressed, and confused. “People don’t seem to want to change America quite the they way they want to.”

    Fund said that at the time of last year’s Netroots Nations conference, the health care bill was sinking in the polls. Liberals were told that all they had to do is to pass the health care bill, and the American people will embrace it. Fund asked “Well, how’s that working out for you?” The health care bill is as unpopular as it was on the day it passed.

    He told the audience that a new poll says that 55 percent of Americans believe that the word “socialist” best describes President Barack Obama. Even his own party is having questions, Fund said.

    He told how pollster Pat Cadell — Jimmy Carter‘s pollster — says that polls indicate the country is in a “pre-revolutionary mentality.”

    In the last 18 months, Fund said that the American people — having been disappointed by both political parties — have decided to take things into their own hands: “Politics is too important to be left just to politicians.”

    Fund said that by harnessing the power of the Internet and new media, conservatives have been able to create a political force that has astonished the entire political community, telling the audience that they now have more power to influence government than any previous generation.

    As evidence, Fund said that conservatives have scared their adversaries into a panic. They have lashed back using scare tactics, including the charge of racism. Referring to BigGovernment.com‘s $100,000 reward for video evidence of an alleged ugly racial incident on Capitol Hill, he noted it has gone unclaimed.

    Fund said there is now evidence as to why the charge of racism is made. Quoting Mary Francis Berry, Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, former chairwoman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, and an influential civil right leader, he said: “Tainting the tea party movement with the charge of racism is proving to be an effective strategy for Democrats. There is no evidence that tea party adherents are any more racist than other Republicans, and indeed many other Americans. But getting them to spend their time purging their ranks and having candidates distance themselves should help Democrats win in November. Having one’s opponent rebut charges of racism is far better than discussing joblessness.”

    Fund said there’s good news: “You’re going to have a big victory in November.” But already the “beltway party” — that being the members of both parties who want to spend your money — is already plotting to thwart you. He said that Trent Lott, the former Senate majority leader, told a newspaper that “We don’t need any more Jim DeMints here in the Senate.” (DeMint is a conservative South Carolina senator who opposed increased spending during the Bush administration, and opposed bailouts.)

    Fund told the audience that a major problem is the upcoming lame duck session of Congress, where members of Congress who have just been defeated may vote on major legislation. He also said we have to be wary of Democrats who campaigned as moderates, but inevitably govern as liberals. President Obama fits in this category, he said.

  • Wink Hartman ad a bust, disservice

    On Tuesday the Wink Hartman campaign began running a television advertisement that contains claims about Mike Pompeo that, so far, are unsubstantiated. See Hartman ad malicious and false, says Pompeo and Pompeo Disputes Claims In Hartman Ads, Demands Hartman Show Evidence.

    Hartman’s campaign manager said he would supply proof of the claims made in the ad by Daniel Lind, a Wichita businessman, by late Wednesday. As of Friday, little in the way of evidence has been provided. The Hartman staff says it is gathering documents and waiting for a bank to provide documents.

    So what can we make of this advertisement, and more importantly, the candidate pacing the ad?

    One thing we know for sure is that the Hartman campaign prepared and aired the ad without having evidence of the claims. If it had evidence, it should have been able to provide it immediately upon request.

    Whether the claims turn out to be true or not, this unpreparedness we can be certain of. This is evidence of recklessness of Hartman, his campaign, and the people — including political consultant Axiom Strategies — involved in his election effort.

    Axiom is a controversial political consulting firm. On its website, it boasts of news coverage of the campaigns it and its head, Jeff Roe, have run: “Controversial campaign tactics are the stuff of political legend,” “Known for his bare-knuckle campaign tactics,” “Political consultant plays hardball and scores big: The pugnacious campaign tactics…”

    Further, these attack ads that are sprung on the voting public at the last moment are a public disservice. With little time to investigate the claims — and with the Hartman campaign dragging out the process — voters are understandably frustrated.

    Additionally, the claim made in this advertisement has nothing to do with public policy. Even if it was true.

    Recent ads placed by candidates for the Republican Party nomination for United States Congress from the fourth district of Kansas have been positive ads, with candidates talking about themselves and their plans if elected to Congress.

    That’s true of all campaigns except the Hartman campaign. He continues to sling mud at the candidate he considers his chief rival. Voters ought to consider this when deciding whom to vote for.

    Remember that political ads are now accompanied the statements of candidates that they approve the ads: “I’m Wink Hartman and I approve this ad.”

    The candidates for this nomination and their campaign websites are Wichita businessman Jim Anderson, Wichita businessman Wink Hartman, Wichita businessman Mike Pompeo, Latham engineer Paij Rutschman, and Kansas Senator Jean Schodorf.

  • Hartman ad malicious and false, says Pompeo

    The campaign for the Republican Party nomination for United States Congress from the fourth district of Kansas has been marked by some hard-hitting commercials. Often commercials are based on subjective claims, such as “Vote for me! I’m great and my opponent is terrible!”

    Now the Wink Hartman campaign has aired a television advertisement that leading rival Mike Pompeo says is objectively false.

    In the ad, an unidentified man says that Thayer Aerospace, a Wichita manufacturing company that Pompeo once headed, failed to pay the man’s small business. As a result the man had to declare bankruptcy.

    In a statement read by Pompeo at a press conference today, Pompeo said that they were able to identify the man as Daniel Lind, and the company as Machining Concepts, Inc.

    Pompeo said Thayer Aerospace had purchased products from the company, and that all bills were paid: “The total volume of the work performed by that company for Thayer Aerospace was approximately $351,000. All of the obligations associated with that work were paid for by Thayer Aerospace.”

    Pompeo said that evidence of the falsity of Lind’s claim of non-payment by Thayer include Lind’s bankruptcy filing — referred to by Lind in the advertisement — in which Thayer Aerospace is not mentioned. In the filing, under “Accounts Receivable,” Lind marked “none.” A debt owed to Lind’s business should have been listed here.

    In a Wichita Eagle news story, Lind stands by his claims. He says he didn’t sue Thayer over the debt because he couldn’t afford it. While that may be true, it wouldn’t have cost anything to list Thayer on the bankruptcy filing.

    Pompeo said he will ask television stations to stop airing the ad based on the falsity of the claims made within. But as explained in a Time magazine article and confirmed in a conversation with a former television station manager, media outlets do not have the ability to pick and choose which candidate advertisements they broadcast. Explains Time: “Broadcasters are actually obligated to run [candidate] ads, even those known to be false. Under the Federal Communications Act, a station can have a blanket policy of refusing all ads from all candidates. But they cannot single out and decline to air a particular commercial whose content they know to be a lie.”

    As of this moment, the Hartman campaign has not responded to requests for documentation or other information regarding Lind’s claims.

    The candidates for this nomination and their campaign websites are Wichita businessman Jim Anderson, Wichita businessman Wink Hartman, Wichita businessman Mike Pompeo, Latham engineer Paij Rutschman, and Kansas Senator Jean Schodorf.

  • Wink Hartman on bailouts, and his own

    Wichita businessman Wink Hartman, a candidate for the Republican Party nomination for United States Congress from the fourth district of Kansas is opposed to government bailouts. Strongly so.

    At a January 15th candidate forum, he said “I am one hundred percent against bailouts of any type, shape, or form. Of all the companies I run, not one time has anybody, including the government, come through that front door and said ‘Wink, you screwed this thing up but I want to write you a check anyway.’”

    Contradicting Hartman’s claim is his 1987 personal bankruptcy filing. It qualifies as a bailout. It’s true that during the process no one wrote him a check, so his claim in the forum is correct on a certain level. But when debt is canceled, it’s just like someone wrote a check. It has the same economic effect for the debtor.

    And while Hartman said that no one — and emphasizing the government — has written a check, it’s government debt that was canceled, according to bankruptcy court records. Both the federal government and the State of Kansas received only 12 percent of their claims against Hartman for taxes owed.

    Investigations by myself and others indicate that Hartman may have repaid some of his creditors, but not all. It’s difficult to tell, as the bankruptcy filing was 23 years ago.

    But even if Hartman did repay all creditors, the government, through the bankruptcy laws, stepped in and gave him the reprieve of time. That’s a bailout, by any measure.

    The candidates for this nomination and their campaign websites are Wichita businessman Jim Anderson, Wichita businessman Wink Hartman, Wichita businessman Mike Pompeo, Latham engineer Paij Rutschman, and Kansas Senator Jean Schodorf.

  • Schodorf poll indicates three-way tie in Kansas fourth Congressional district

    Today the campaign of Kansas Senator Jean Schodorf released a poll that shows her in a three-way tie with Wichita businessmen Wink Hartman and Mike Pompeo in the race for the Republican Party nomination for United States Congress from the fourth district of Kansas.

    The candidates and their campaign websites are Wichita businessman Jim Anderson, Wichita businessman Wink Hartman, Wichita businessman Mike Pompeo, Latham engineer Paij Rutschman, and Kansas Senator Jean Schodorf.

    In answering a telephone question “If the election for congress were today, would you be voting for Jean Schodorf, Jim Anderson, Mike Pompeo, or Wink Hartman?” with the names rotated, Schodorf’s survey shows Hartman in the lead with 19 percent, Schodorf with 18 percent, Pompeo with 16 percent, Anderson at nine percent, and 39 percent undecided.

    As with all polls produced on behalf of a candidate, we need to remember that surveys produced and released by campaigns are just that, and the results would probably not be released by a campaign if the results did not portray the candidate favorably. Without knowledge of the questions being asked, there is always the possibility that a survey is a “push poll,” meaning an instrument designed to influence participants and produce a desired result.

    The Schodorf campaign released the text of the question asked, but other questions asked — or statements made — before the reported question can influence the response.

    The difference between the Schodorf campaign poll and an independent effort conducted last week can be seen in two places: First, Schodorf — in her campaign’s results — is in a statistical tie with Hartman and Pompeo, and the number of undecided voters in Schodorf’s poll is much higher than in the SurveyUSA poll from last week. In that poll, undecided voters were nine percent of the total. That’s less than one-fourth of the undecided voters found in the Schodorf poll.

    Kansas fourth Congressional district poll resultsKansas fourth Congressional district poll results

  • Sedgwick County Commission candidates Burtnett and Ranzau appear in forums

    On Thursday and Friday the candidates for the Republican party nomination for Sedgwick County Commission from the fourth district met in two forums. The Thursday forum was part of the monthly meeting of the Sedgwick County Republican Party, and on Friday the candidates met as part of the Wichita Pachyderm Club luncheon meeting.

    Unlike some campaigns, where voters complain they can’t tell the difference between the candidates, voters in this district should not have this trouble, as the two Republicans offer different perspectives in many areas. The district is currently represented by Kelly Parks of Valley Center, who decided not to run for re-election.

    For the fourth district, the two Republican candidates are former commission member and business owner Lucy Burtnett and physician assistant Richard Ranzau. The fourth district is diverse, extending as far south in Wichita to Lincoln and Broadway, and including College Hill, near northeast Wichita, downtown Wichita, Riverside, north-central Wichita, near northwest Wichita, Park City, and Valley Center. In the Democratic Party primary, Kansas Senator Oletha Faust-Goudeau faces former Wichita City Council member Sharon Fearey.

    On Thursday, Burtnett started with her opening statement, telling the audience that she is a lifelong forth district resident, having grown up in Valley Center and then moving to Riverside after she married. She said she’s been extremely involved in community activities. Referring to her previous experience as a Sedgwick County commissioner, she said she learned a great deal about county government and how it works.

    She said there are many issues the county needs to deal with, including some that were there four years ago and have not been dealt with in the meantime, in her opinion.

    She is pleased with the current commission’s decision to keep the Kansas Coliseum — now named the Kansas pavilions — open. She said we need to make better use of the RV park there and also figure out what to do with the Britt Brown Arena.

    On Friday she expanded on her community involvement, telling the audience that at one time her printing business printed newsletters for 24 neighborhood organizations. She also told of how she was recruited by Kansas Senator Carolyn McGinn, then the commissioner for the fourth district, and how she was elected by the precinct committee process to fill the remaining two years of McGinn’s term.

    In his opening statement on Thursday, Ranzau said he grew up in the Valley Center area and has lived in Park City, north Wichita, and was a student teacher in Maize. He said he is married with three young children and works as a physician assistant. He is a veteran of the Persian Gulf and Iraq wars.

    He said he decided to get involved for three reasons — naming his three children — saying he is concerned about the direction of government at all levels, particularly spending and debt. He said he believes the economy will get worse before it gets better, and so we’re going to have to make some tough decisions, saying no to some programs. He said we need strong leadership at all levels of government, and that’s why he’s in this race.

    On Friday he said he would be very hesitant to expand the role of government, saying he believes in less government, not more government. He criticized Republicans who say they are conservative at election time, then raise taxes once in office.

    Questions for the candidates included these:

    Real estate taxes are rising. How can we keep taxes low and how do we give incentives for builders to build?

    Ranzau said first, stop raising property taxes at the county level. Second, address the problem at its origin, which he said is tax policy at the state level. Businesses pay property tax at the rate of 25% of assessed value, while homeowners pay at 11.5%. This difference should be eliminated, he said, which requires amending the Kansas Constitution. Taxes should be uniform, he said, rather then the system of abatements for some businesses only. “We do it for all, or it we do it for none.”

    Burtnett referred to a Wichita Eagle news story from last year that reported that Sedgwick County property taxes are low compared to other counties in Kansas. She said she believes we can keep property taxes low, but you have to pay a price for that. We need a tax base in order to run government, she said, adding that in order to keep taxes where they are, we will have to make cuts in some places in order to fund other projects.

    A question asked if the candidates lost the primary with they register as an Independent and run a write-in campaign. This question may have been directed at Burtnett, as when she finished in second place in the Republican primary for this office in 2006, she waged a write-in campaign.

    Burtnett said if she loses the primary, she will travel to visit her grandchildren. She said that in 2006 she did not register or file as an independent for the 2006 general election, but simply ran as a write-in candidate. Ranzau said he would not run as a write-in candidate.

    “Should we expand the jail?”

    Saying again that he expects the economy to get worse before it gets better, Ranzau said he would be reluctant to get involved in any big new projects, including projects he might favor in the future. He said the current commission has been able to manage the jail population without an expansion. He said that in the future if we need to expand the jail it could be done through user fees, suggesting a fee on bail bonds.

    Burtnett said that four years ago, the county commission took the advice of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council and decided that the jail needed expansion and new programs to reduce the jail population. The commission voted 5 to 0 that the jail should be expanded and these programs undertaken. Three and one-half years later she said we are still overpopulated in the jail, she said, and while the programs have been started, they are doing some good, but not enough. She said an expansion will most likely have to happen at some time.

    A question asked about the future of the Intrust Bank Arena in downtown Wichita: will it always be self-funding?

    Ranzau said that time will tell, and his goal will be to have the arena fund itself so that it does not become a drain on taxpayers. Burtnett said it will take a couple of years to see how the management company will do, and said the county should not be losing money on the arena.

    A question asked about specific areas in which the commission could reduce spending.

    Burtnett said it’s important for department heads to know what their costs are and to work to reduce those costs. She said it’s possible to reduce costs across-the-board rather than seeing one particular program canceled, adding that all programs are important and it’s very difficult to cancel them. She said she didn’t think that zero-based budgeting would be possible very soon.

    Ranzau said that department heads should prioritize employees and services. He recommended not filling positions as people leave, looking at sharing or consolidating some services, perhaps with Wichita, adding that this is a suggestion he often receives. He said we should get out of some things, like the subsidies for AirTran. Capital expenditures, especially those funded by debt, should be put off until the economy recovers.

    On Friday, a question was asked about the subsidies used to keep discount airline service in Wichita, thereby creating lower airfares on other airlines.

    Ranzau said that these subsidies are called revenue guarantees, and he does not believe it is the role of government to guarantee revenue for any business. He said that conservatives should act like conservatives, calling for less government intervention. “It’s not the governments job to make economic development happen, its job is to let it happen,” adding that we should be able to have good economic development without government subsidy.

    Burtnett said that the airfares subsidy is a good deal, but that the government needs to be careful in what it gets involved in. She cited cost-benefit studies that say every dollar spent on those subsidy produces six dollars of benefit.

    Another question on Friday asked about public-private partnerships such as TIF districts and STAR bonds.

    Burtnett said that in theory, TIF districts and star bonds sound great, but that they don’t always work in real life. She said the job of county commissioners and county staff is to do the research to determine whether a project is good.

    Ranzau said these programs are band-aids on the real problem, which is property taxes. He contrasted subsidized downtown development with other development taking place in the free market without the benefit of subsidy. He said that the way to create jobs and economic development is the free market, not government interference.

    Another question on Friday asked if the candidates would run county government like a business, looking to reduce costs. Ranzau answered yes, as did Burtnett, although she added that some county government programs must be funded, and that “government really shouldn’t be a business.”

  • Kansas legislative candidates to speak in Wichita

    This Friday (July 23), the Wichita Pachyderm Club features Republican Legislative candidates from Sedgwick County. Only those candidates facing a contest in the August 3rd primary election will be speaking.

    The invited candidates and links to their websites (where available) are:

    From District 82 (Derby plus parts of Gypsum, Riverside, Rockford and Salem townships): Joseph Ashby, Jim Howell, and Van Willis.

    From District 83 (Eastborough and parts of east Wichita): Kyle Amos and Jo Ann Pottorff.

    From District 94 (parts of west Wichita and part of Attica, Delano, and Waco townships): Joe McLeland, Roy Oeser, and Wade A. Waterbury. There is no Democratic Party candidate in this district, so the primary will probably decide who next represents this district.

    From District 96 (parts of southwest Wichita and parts of Illinois, Riverside, and Waco townships): Phil Hermanson and Mark Gietzen.

    Additional information about these candidates may be found in the Wichita Eagle Voter Guide.

    All are welcome to attend Wichita Pachyderm Club meetings. The program costs $10, which includes a delicious buffet lunch including salad, soup, two main dishes, and ice tea and coffee. The meeting starts at noon, although it’s recommended to arrive fifteen minutes early to get your lunch before the program starts.

    The Wichita Petroleum Club is on the ninth floor of the Bank of America Building at 100 N. Broadway (north side of Douglas between Topeka and Broadway) in Wichita, Kansas (click for a map and directions). You may park in the garage (enter west side of Broadway between Douglas and First Streets) and use the sky walk to enter the Bank of America building. The Petroleum Club will stamp your parking ticket and the fee will be $1.00. Or, there is usually some metered and free street parking nearby.

  • Kansas first Congressional district fundraising

    In the contest to raise funds for campaigns for the Republican party nomination for United States Congress from the first district of Kansas, figures released this week show four campaigns raising substantial funds, with one campaign far ahead in available funds.

    The Republican candidates for this nomination and their campaign websites are physician and Kansas Senator Jim Barnett of Emporia, educator Sue Boldra of Hays, attorney and mediator Marck Cobb of Galva, farmer and Kansas Senator Tim Huelskamp of Fowler, Salina commercial real estate executive Tracey Mann, and Senator Brownback chief of staff Rob Wasinger of Cottonwood Falls.

    The figures show Barnett, Mann, and Wasinger in a tight group for funds raised in the second quarter of 2010, the months of April, May, and June. Huelskamp was close behind.

    In terms of cash on hand available to use in the sprint to the August 3rd primary, Huelskamp has over twice as much at his disposal. He reports $391,797 on hand, with Barnett, Mann, and Wasinger clustered around half that much cash available.

    Barnett lent his campaign $100,000 last year. If he is able and willing to do this again, that would close much of the cash gap.

    In a recent poll of the Kansas first district, Barnett and Mann are tied, with Huelskamp just behind, within the poll’s sampling error.

    David Ray of the Huelskamp campaign says it is in a good position for the last stretch of the campaign. Its internal polling shows the candidate doing well with conservatives, a group the campaign believes is under-represented in the recent public poll.

    Kansas third Congressional district Republican campaign funds for the second quarter of 2010:

                  Barnett  Boldra   Huelskamp    Mann   Wasinger
Contributions 174,235   4,367    128,091   172,901  160,659
Expenditures  342,369  13,406    266,877   251,886  183,567
Cash balance  214,691  10,271    391,797   183,259  190,865

  • Kansas fourth district Congressional campaign finance reports released

    Campaign finance reports just released by candidates seeking the Republican Party nomination for United States Congress from the fourth district of Kansas show one candidate largely self-financing a massive spending program, and allegations of another candidate being dependent on financing by PACs and lobbyists are not supported by facts.

    The candidates for this nomination and their campaign websites are Wichita businessman Jim Anderson, Wichita businessman Wink Hartman, Wichita businessman Mike Pompeo, Latham engineer Paij Rutschman, and Kansas Senator Jean Schodorf.

    Here are the figures reported for the second quarter, the months of April, May, and June, 2010. Anderson’s report was not available as of late Thursday night.

                         Hartman  Pompeo  Rutschman  Schodorf
Contributions         16,062  279,317       80    20,900
Loans to campaign  1,056,600            30,000     7,000
Expenditures         928,385  267,413   24,464    27,712
Cash balance         179,292  444,515    5,616    17,105

    Notes:

    First, Hartman spent a lot of money, almost 3.5 times as much as the second-largest spender. My analysis of the campaign’s spending shows $739,110 spent on television advertising for the three months of the second quarter.

    Nearly all of Hartman’s expenditures were financed by loans made by the candidate to the campaign. Of the $928,385 spent, only $16,062 (1.7 percent) was paid for by contributions.

    Rutschman’s campaign reported a $30,000 loan to the campaign from the candidate.

    Earlier this year a great deal of attention was paid to an April 20th fundraiser held in Washington DC on behalf of Mike Pompeo (Big D.C. names host Pompeo fundraiser, May 16, 2010 Wichita Eagle). Analysis of his contributions shows that for the second quarter, which covers the time period of this event, Pompeo received $15,000 in contributions from sources the FEC considers to be political action committees (PACs). This is about five percent of his contributions for the quarter.

    There are a handful of contributions from individuals in the Washington DC area, totaling about $7,900, according my analysis. These people may or may not be lobbyists.

    In an analysis of first quarter contributions from OpenSecrets.org, Pompeo’s contributions from PACs was three percent of his total contributions for that quarter.

    These numbers are important because Pompeo’s opponents — both in the Eagle article and in their campaign advertising — raise the issue of a candidate being a “Washington insider” with extensive ties to PACs and lobbyists.