Friday, June 30, 2006

Corker, Hilleary, and Bryant Still Clueless On The Issues

The Republican candidates running for the U.S. Senate here in Tennessee still are clueless when it comes to the major issues in this race.

Instead of talking about the real issues that are facing everyday Tennesseans, throughout the whole campaign they have resorted to lies, attacks, and smears on Congressman Ford, the only candidate who is talking about real issues and solutions that can fix them.

Frankly, their actions are below that of U.S. Senate candidate.

Tennesseeans want and deserve a real race on the issues this year. However, the Republicans apparently do not agree with that notion.

Case in point, they have still not told voters what they would do about our nation's energy crisis. At a time when gas prices are at all time high and affecting everything we do and are allowing our generation to be the first to finance both sides of a war we are fighting, they are offering no ideas or proposals to help remedy this pressing problem. (Congressman Ford has been on the forefront of this fight)

Their cluelessness doesn't stop at energy either. Just last week, each of the Republican candidates for U.S. Senate REFUSED to join Congressman Ford in condemning a proposal that would allow Iraq to grant amnesty to those terrorists who kill our brave men and women in battle. How disgusting is that?

They also did not reveal if they supported the proposal that recently came before the Congress that would have finally raised the minimum wage, which in effect would have helped out millions of people across the nation who are struggling. (Congressman Ford did come out in support of raising it.)

But it doesn't stop there. Corker, Hilleary, and Bryant still are unwilling to talk about other pressing issues such as how we are going to reign in spending, how are going to achieve success in Iraq, how we are going to protect our ports, how we are going to stop illegal immigration, among other things.

Their cluelessness and incompetence is simply outrageous and warrants them unworthy of being our next United States Senator.

It is time we had a new generation of leadership that worked to solve the real problems facing our state and nation by offering bold, new, and innovative proposals.

Harold Ford Jr. has done that and will continue to do that when he takes office as our next U.S. Senator.

178 Days

Days of Congressional Inaction on Ethics

Above is the number of days that have passed since Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to bribing Congressman.

It is also the number of days in which Congress has failed to pass an ethics reform bill that would limit private travel, ski and golf junkets, and would call for a full disclosure of expenses by lobbyists on members of Congress.

It is time for Congress to step up and pass an ethics reform bill that would do all of the above. In addition, it is time to end the pork barrel spending system as we know it and establish an independent ethics commission that would review ethics complaints against members of Congress.

I am proud Congressman Harold Ford Jr. is fighting for that reform!

Read Congressman Ford's call for reform of the House rules here!