|
| 10/27/2008 | Email this article • Print this article |
|
Bill Gillespie |
|
Bill Gillespie for Congress in the 1st District
Editorial
This election season demands a change in our priorities as voters, requires an acknowledgement that our economic system is in critical trouble and forces us to ask, "Who got us into this mess?" and should we reward them with re-election?
Coastal Empire News, publishers of Savannah Daily News, The Business Report & Journal and Coastal Family Magazine, is endorsing Savannah's Bill Gillespie (D) for Congress to represent the 1st Congressional District over incumbent Jack Kingston (R).
It is painful to no longer endorse our friend, Jack Kingston. Many of us know Jack and his family personally and cherish their friendship and their public service. Jack Kingston is a good man, personally, but he has never had a viable or credible Democratic opponent to truly consider.
And these times force us to step back, and take a hard look at his actual voting record on critical issues including fighting all measures to set a timeline to get out of Iraq, his failure to fight runaway Federal spending as a member of the House Appropriations committee that develops the budget, his leadership in defense of Tom Delay and President Bush as well as Republican party smear campaigns this election cycle, and his failure to file his personal financial disclosure information due last May 15 even though he was up for re-election. These votes and others lead us to believe that it is time for a change in 1st District representation.
Frankly, Jack began to lose our support last Feb. 27 when he appeared on the Dan Abrams show and said it was okay to "question Sen. Barack Obama's patriotism because he doesn't regularly wear an American flag lapel pin."
Problem was, sitting there on the TV set with the cameras rolling, Jack wasn't wearing a flag pin. These types of smear tactics are repugnant and demean elected officials in an era when voters are begging for straight talk on the issues versus old-style personal attack politics.
Yet, he continues to use such tactics, seeking to smear his opponent Bill Gillespie in this race, accusing him of lying about his educational degrees and other achievements, despite two news organizations having confirmed that Gillespie's resumé is accurate.
Savannahian Bill Gillespie is a highly educated, fiscally conservative Democrat, a war hero of the Iraq War, a recipient of the Bronze Star and a candidate with a vision of how to bring jobs back to the 1st District in manufacturing, alternative energy and the timber industry.
He has a deep resumé of academic degrees, including B.S. and M.A. degrees in environmental science from Towson University and an M.M.A.S. in military history from the Combat Studies Institute at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and spent two and a half years at the Univ. of Maryland as a PH.D candidate in cultural geography with a specialization in immigration studies, finishing all but his dissertation (known as a PHD ABD) because the Army transferred him to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., to the Command General Staff College.
We agree with Gillespie's assertion that his years of living overseas on three continents have given him a "world view" and belief system that the United States needs to respect the governments of foreign countries and cannot be the first responder to solve the world's problems, sacrificing our men and women and our country's economic means.
The military has taught him that government can run efficiently and effectively while cutting wasteful spending - military families and leaders learn to do more with less.
He defines himself as a Blue Dog Democrat, a fiscal conservative with moderate positions on social issues - government should stay out of a woman's right to choose; stem cell research can lead to great achievements in medicine and reduce human suffering; and gay rights should be respected, though he defines marriage as between a man and a woman, supporting only gay civil unions.
He strongly supports investment in the ports of coastal Georgia and believes that within two years, new manufacturing opportunities in non-oil energy technologies such as solar panels can be launched in the district, building on the strengths of the UGA Ag lab in the district as well as the Georgia Tech research labs.
Contrast this to Kingston's voting record and political perspective on U.S. jobs, one that protects large U.S. corporations focused on overseas development, epitomized by his recent position on the Chinese Chicken debate, as silly and simplistic as that may sound.
China's top agricultural export goal is opening the U.S. market to its cooked chicken. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, (D) Connecticut., chairwoman of the House agricultural subcommittee on which Kingston sits, has fought the change, explaining that China does not deserve entry to the coveted, closed U.S. poultry market, one of the few parts of the U.S. job market not yet decimated by foreign imports.
"There is deception. There is lax regulation, and they've got unsanitary conditions," DeLauro has said. "They need to hear from us that they're at risk. Congress has to look at limiting some of their agricultural imports."
Kingston's position?
"I am dismayed by the continued inclusion of language prohibiting the importation of poultry products from China. While I am sensitive to concerns about substandard and even dangerous imports from China, I have watched this style of response to a trade concern that has resulted in retaliation by China against many innocent U.S. companies."
In other words, if we don't let them bring in more chicken imports, including substandard food products, they will retaliate against letting us sell them imports that U.S. companies want to sell to China.
This lack of concern by Kingston to protect one of the few U.S. industries that produces domestic jobs and is not decimated by foreign imports, not to mention the safety of the U.S. food sources, is contrary to our view of the solutions to retool the U.S. economy.
China, as well as Vietnam, for example, have both increased the tariffs that must be paid to sell chicken to their countries, seeking to protect their chicken industry, China primarily through a sea of regulations. So...those countries are smart enough to protect their local industries, but we're not?
Our concern about Kingston's record extends beyond chicken.
This fall he opposed the bi-partisan legislation that would provide an additional 13 weeks of benefits nationwide to respond to the growing number of workers losing their jobs; voted against expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Program supported even by a majority of Republicans; and was a no-show for several critical votes, including a veteran's bill.
Over the past years, he has opposed stem cell research; has sponsored resolutions calling for the 10 Commandments to be displayed in the House and Senate chambers; has supported President Bush's overhaul of the Social Security program and at least partial privitization; was one of the 19 co-sponsors of the 1997 resolution asking for an impeachment inquiry of President Clinton; and has been called by many, including USA Today, "one of the most partisan Republicans in the House," particularly as part of the Tom Delay leadership team.
This type of partisan approach to government is not working, and voters know it.
In September 2006, Kingston voiced his opposition to a House resolution that would require the identification of earmarks' sponsors in tax, authorization and appropriations bills, believing it would unfairly target members of the Appropriations Committee, of which he was a member.
No wonder. As reported by this news company last year, Kingston had one of the longest earmark lists of all the members of Congress from the South, over a million dollars' worth.
Bill Gillespie is a credible candidate and a man in touch with the needs of the military establishment in our region, which is a critical component of our local business economy.
To achieve a change, we must change.
|
Article Comment Submission Form
|
|
|
|
Sponsor Links
|
|
|
Software © 1998-2010 1up! Software, All Rights Reserved
Web Feeds