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Parker Griffith defects
Remember not-so-long-ago when Rep. Parker Griffith was ducking Town Hall meetings and public exposure?
Politico just broke the story about Parker Griffith’s party swap and it’s dominating the tubes at the moment: “POLITICO has learned that Rep. Parker Griffith, a freshman Democrat from Alabama, will announce today that he’s switching parties to become a Republican.”
Here’s WVNN’s Dale Jackson on the topic:
I hope this is true because he is going to get killed in the primary and he will be gone.
Any GOP organization that does not repudiate him immediately will lose my support.
You can not imply a guy a murderer and a man of no integrity and then open your arms.
With Mo Brooks, the front runner, and Les Phillip both staking out solid conservative positions I don’t see how a guy like Parker Griffith, who voted for Pelosi as Speaker and with her a majority of the time, has a prayer in a GOP primary in 2010.
This makes Griffith a dead man walking.
That is a huge blow to Barack Obama. Griffith was an extremely endangered Democrat.
We should now hope him be an extremely endangered Republican in a primary. We will not fix the GOP’s problems if we keep allowing people who are not one of us to suddenly switch the letter next to their name and magically become one of us.
Being a Republican should be about more than just the letter next to a person’s name. We can improve that seat.
Here are Griffith’s earmark requests. He voted for Pelosi for Speaker. He’s actually been more regularly with Pelosi than Jim Marshall (D-GA). We can pick this guy off and get a real Republican in that seat.
Alabama is a run-off state, so Griffith will have to go head-to-head against a seasoned Republican if he wants to stay in office (assuming he doesn’t get 50% of the vote right off the bat).
Griffith’s voting record is far from conservative, too. Granted, he voted against the Big 4 – Obama’s first budget, the Stimulus, Cap and Trade, and ObamaCare. However, his vote on the budget is slightly deceptive since he originally voted for 9 of the 12 spending bills that make up the budget. And he voted against all the Stimulus amendments that would reduce its size.
But just a quick perusal of 2009 shows that he voted YES on the 2009 pork-filled Omnibus; YES on Cash for Clunkers, NO on waiving the harmful Davis-Bacon provision, and had a pathetic 0% score on the 2009 RePORK Card.
This party switch signals Griffith’s nervousness, but it doesn’t signal that his incumbency is safe.
From my perspective, this clearly shows there is blowback from the Democrat’s legislative overreach in DC. Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama are now having to pay a political price for shoving their agenda down our throats.
However, what seems to be a GOP victory at first may well become another liberal victory in the long term. Unless Parker Griffith starts voting like a true fiscal conservative, Alabama could be stuck with another entrenched big-government Republican congressman.
Welcome to the party, Parker. Here’s an electronic copy of the Constitution. Read it well, as you will have to continue to dodge us if you continue to disregard it.
The governor’s race: The Alabama line and an online poll
Doc’s Political Parlor has brought back the Alabama Line for statewide elections. Here’s how they are handicapping the gubernatorial race:
(R) Bradley Byrne (2:1)
Favorite of the state’s GOP establishment is still the one to beat.
(D) Artur Davis (5:2)
Has strong believers and nay-sayers. Running aggressive race thus far.
(R) Tim James (6:1)
Rapidly becoming Byrne’s most serious challenger.
(D) Ron Sparks (9:1)
Strong candidate on paper but rumors of money woes persist.
(R) Kay Ivey (19:1)
Statewide official, only woman, but is PACT mess too much to overcome?
(R) Roy Moore (30:1)
Is his committed base large enough to move him into a primary runoff?
(R) Robert Bentley (>99:1)
Dark horse has impressed but has much ground to make up.
(R) Bill Johnson (>99:1)
Is this flame thrower running to win or just settle scores?
(R) James Potts (>99:1)
In America, they say anyone can grow up to be President, not Governor.
Christian Conservatives of Alabama has an online gubernatorial straw poll here. At this time, the three most fiscally conservative candidates with a reasonable level of name recognition are leading: Tim James, Bill Johnson and Roy Moore. Click here to cast your online gubernatorial preference and to learn more about the candidates.
Barack Obama and Charlie Crist rooting for the same team
It’s no secret that Florida Governor and U.S. Senate candidate Charlie Crist (FL-RINO) has a lot in common with President Obama. Both promise no tax increases, but deliver quite the opposite. They both like to stimulate the federal deficit by bankrupting our children and grandchildren.
Now it seems that both Obama and Crist will be rooting for Florida over Alabama at Saturday’s SEC championship game. Tax hikes and deficit spending are bad enough, but supporting Florida over Alabama takes things just a bit too far. Bear Bryant is surely rolling over in his grave right now.
For obvious reasons, the Alabama Republican Liberty Caucus made no endorsements in the recent Iron Bowl contest. However, it’s fairly certain that few people who maintain Alabama values will be supporting the team of Charlie Crist and Barack Obama this weekend.
How to gain the support of the Tea Party and libertarian crowd
On November 10th, the Rainy Day Patriots and Campaign for Liberty hosted a gubernatorial debate in Springville, Alabama. All of the announced candidates were invited, four committed to the event, and three actually showed. Birmingham talk radio host Matt Murphy was obviously irritated at Bradley Byrne’s last minute cancellation for the event. Robert Bentley, Tim James and Bill Johnson all presented themselves as fiscal conservatives. However, one of these candidates decisively won the straw poll following the debate. Here is how the votes broke down:
Johnson 6%
Byrne 4%
Bentley 12%
James 72%
In my opinion, the key reason James dominated the straw poll results is because he mentioned the Federal Reserve and Keynesian economics in his opening statement, which I clipped for your viewing pleasure. The entire debate is available on video here.
The voice of Alabamians regarding socialized health care
The voice of the people regarding health care
A US soldier demanded an apology from Senator Claire McCaskill at an Obamacare town hall in St. Louis, Missouri.
Congressman Bobby Bright evades questions about health care
Loss of two constitutional rights in one swipe
Here’s current White House Chief of Staff speaking at a 2007 Brady Center event. Here’s the notable quote:
“If you’re on that no-fly list, your access to the right to bear arms is canceled, because you’re not part of the American family; you don’t deserve that right. There is no right for you if you’re on that terrorist list.”
Considering there have been over a million names on the list, many placed there incorrectly, this is an outrage.
The last time I read the Constitution, it said that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. It also had that pesky little clause about due process in the Fifth Amendment. One wonders if the Obama administration is using the same Constitution the rest of us are.
It gets worse. There are already several bills out there which can deprive people of their Second Amendment rights without due process. Of course, they say the bills are aimed at terrorists. We all know who they consider to be terrorists, though.
Let’s urge Senator Shelby to support a Federal Reserve audit
Thanks to you, we’ve been pretty successful in getting House members to support The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 (HR 1207). The bill currently has 222 cosponsors, which is a majority in the House of Representatives. The bill “directs the Comptroller General to complete, before the end of 2010, an audit of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and of the federal reserve banks, followed by a detailed report to Congress.”
Because of national and local online and telephone efforts, we were able to persuade Congressman Jo Bonner to sign up as one of the bill’s cosponsors. Currently, all of Alabama’s Republican representatives support the bill.
We are now starting to work on S 604, which is the Senate companion bill to HR 1207. Again, we’ve got some national assistance.
As before, there are two quick and simple tasks:
- If you have a Twitter account, help us get out the word. It just takes a few seconds. If you don’t have a Twitter account, it just takes a few seconds to sign up and help us out. Once you get there, please retweet the following message: New S 604 Call-A-Thon Target: Richard Shelby 202.224.5744 – demand FULL audit, see: http://bit.ly/yllqR #tlot #tcot #alpolitics
- Give Senator Shelby a call at (202) 224-5744 and ask him to support a full audit of the Federal Reserve by cosponsoring S 604.
It might be helpful to inform Senator Shelby that all of the Republicans in Alabama’s House delegation have cosponsored the House version of the bill and that none of the Democrats have.
Congressman Bobby Bright’s response to HR1207 request
At this moment, each Alabama Republican congressman is now listed as a cosponsor of HR1207, commonly known as the “Audit the Fed” bill. To date, not a single Alabama Democrat wants an open and transparent Federal Reserve process. Long-time Alabama conservative leader John Killian wrote a blog entry entitled “Will Alabama’s Shelby Kill Plan to Audit the Fed?” This article prompted activist Don Seibold to send a letter to his representative, Congressman Bobby Bright.
“I urged Bright to sign on as a co-sponsor of Congressman Ron Paul’s HR 1207 which would require that the Federal Reserve, a private institution that has more power over our nation’s economy than any other institution, be audited,” wrote Seibold in an e-mail to me.
Here is Bright’s response:
“Thank you for contacting me with your views on the Federal Reserve Transparency Act. I appreciate your comments and I welcome this opportunity to share my thoughts.
I believe that our federal government has a responsibility to be transparent and accountable, especially during a time where so many are concerned about the spending deficit. Unfortunately, Congress has recently passed legislation that ignores budget deficits and lacks sufficient fiscal responsibility. For example, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the President’s Fiscal Year 2010 budget took important steps to jumpstart the economy and fund neglected programs, but ultimately incorporated excessive and unnecessary spending. I voted against these bills because I am committed to developing a comprehensive plan that addresses our troubled economy while maintaining vital mandatory and discretionary programs at appropriate levels.
I feel strongly that it should be a priority for Congress to exercise fiscal responsibility. The first thing I did when I came to Congress was join the Blue Dog Coalition because they support measures to implement pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) rules. PAYGO is a provision that would require spending for new government programs to include offsetting cuts in other programs. While I realize many expenditures provide valuable resources to worthwhile endeavors, some spending authorized by Congress could be prioritized more appropriately.
Though I opposed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Fiscal Year 2010 Budget, I truly believe Congress must demand transparency and accountability within the federal government to ensure that these funds are spent wisely. Congressman Ron Paul of Texas has introduced several bills that would require the federal government to operate openly and with more oversight. Specifically, he introduced the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, H.R. 1207, on February 26, 2009. This legislation would change the way the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is audited by the Comptroller General of the United States. It also directs the Comptroller General to complete, before the end of 2010, an audit of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and of the Federal Reserve banks, followed by a detailed report to Congress. This legislation would change the way audits are reported by requiring a copy to be provided to any Member of Congress before the end of the 90-day period beginning on the date when the report is finished. I believe these are steps in the right direction to provide more accountability and transparency to the American people.
Currently, H.R. 1207 is before the House Committee on Financial Services. Please be assured I will monitor this legislation and keep your views in mind if it comes to the House floor for a vote.
Again, thank you for contacting me. I appreciate your thoughts and value your input. Please do not hesitate to contact me or my office regarding this or any other matter that is important to you. If you would like to learn more about my positions on the issues or receive regular updates on what we are working on in Congress, please visit my website at www.bright.house.gov and sign up for my e-Newsletter.
Sincerely,
Bobby Bright
Member of Congress
We’d like to know why Bright didn’t directly address Seibold’s direct question. It was a simple request for him to cosponsor a bill which 200 other congressman already have. Our question for the Congressman is quite simple: Will you, or will you not, cosponsor HR1217?
Congressman Bonner, on which side of the fence will you sit?
All of the Republican members of Alabama’s House delegation have co-sponsored the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 (H.R. 1207) except one: Jo Bonner.
Members of the Republican Liberty Caucus would like to know whether Congressman Bonner prefers transparency and accountability or business as usual in DC. We’d like to know if his political ideology is more in line with Artur Davis, Bobby Bright and Parker Griffith or more in line with Spencer Bachus, Mike Rogers and Robert Aderholt.
We’ll know that Congressman Bonner has rejected the Nancy Pelosi side of the aisle when he signs onto H.R. 1207 as a cosponsor of the bill.
Related posts:
Senator Shelby caught in the act
ALRLC encourages Alabama’s congressional delegation to support Federal Reserve Transparency Act
Resolution regarding HB1207
Senator Shelby caught in the act
The Senate version of The Federal Reserve Transparency Act (HR1207) is being watered down. Not by Democrats, but by two ranking Republicans. One of them is from Alabama. The Huffington Post reports:
Thanks to an overlooked document posted on the website of Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the top ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, voters can virtually watch the water being dumped into the brew that Grassley had hoped to force the Fed to drink. (See the document at the bottom of this story.)
On page five of Grassley’s amendment, he intends to give the Comptroller General of the Government Accountability Office power to audit “any action taken by the Board under…the third undesignated paragraph of section 13 of the Federal Reserve Act” — which would be almost everything that it has done on an emergency basis to address the financial crisis, encompassing its massive expansion of opaque buying and lending.
Handwritten into the margins, however, is the amendment that watered it down: “with respect to a single and specific partnership or corporation.” With that qualification, the Senate severely limited the scope of the oversight.
On the Senate floor, Grassley named the top Republican on the banking committee, Richard Shelby of Alabama, as the man pouring the water.
“Although I would have preferred to include all of the Fed’s emergency actions under 13(3), in consultation with Senator Shelby I agreed to limit my amendment to actions aimed at specific companies,” said Grassley.
The Federal Reserve has a considerable amount of influence over our fiscal status, but there is no tranparency of their actions. It’s so vital that a full audit be conducted that 186 House members have co-sponsored the bill already.
Please contact Senator Shelby and Senator Grassley and let them know we demand a full audit of the Federal Reserve.
Senator Grassley
(202) 224-3744
E-mail
Senator Shelby
(202) 224-5744
E-mail
Mark Sanford provides proof that small-government messaging works
Despite the protestations of folks like Mike Huckabee, Republicans need to get back to basic message of small-government conservativism if they choose to win elections once again. I’ve said this time and time and time and time and time again. Folks much brighter that me (i.e. Richard Viguerie, Ryan Sager, John Dean, Peggy Noonan, Ron Paul, Michael Tanner, Bob Barr) have been presenting the same message since before the 2006 elections.
One of the people I continue to cite as an example of good conservative messaging is SC Governor Mark Sanford. Here’s Frank Luntz analyzing the Republican and Democrat response to a recent Sanford ad:
“Governor Sanford is the most articulate Republican out there right now and the other Republicans ought to pay attention,” said Luntz a couple of days ago on Fox. “Or if they don’t, their numbers will continue to languish.”
Birmingham/Shelby County “Tea Party – A Celebration of Freedom”
Description: The Alabama Republican Liberty Caucus is pleased to announce our support for the upcoming Birmingham/Shelby County Tea Party. “Tea Party -A Celebration of Freedom” will be held on July 4th at the Verizon Wireless Music Center.
Title: Birmingham/Shelby County “Tea Party – A Celebration of Freedom”
Location: Verizon Wireless Music Center (formerly Oak Mountain Amphitheater), Pelham, AL
Link out: Click here
We’ll be announcing additional details soon, but we’re trying to get the word out now so you can place the date on your calendar. Also, the event is in need of volunteers and vendors/sponsors.
Start Time: 5:30
Date: 2009-07-04
Please help us get a regular nationally televised slot for Judge Andrew Napolitano
A bunch of us are trying to get Judge Andrew Napolitano’s online program Freedom Watch into a televised slot at Fox News. According to an e-mail I received from Judge Napolitano’s colleague Shelly Roche, the Fox producers are telling her the two most important things we can do are “flooding Fox with emails and showing high view counts on the videos.”
If you don’t blog, but would like to see more libertarians on national television, please quickly e-mail Fox and let them know you’d like to see the Judge get his own TV slot.
If you’ve got a blog, you can help out even more. The details are here.
The hops are finally free
It’s been reported that Governor Riley has signed HB373, the Gourmet Beer Bill, into law this morning. We’d like to thank the Governor for supporting this basic freedom for beer enthusiasts across the state.
This has been one of the best run positive grassroots campaign I’ve ever seen. It serves as a perfect example of what to do when trying to effect political change.
It also serves as a perfect example of an effective online campaign. Not only the website, but social networking made a lot of difference.
Finally, the Hops could have never been freed if not for the work of thousands of people across Alabama. Congratulations to each and every one of you for a job very well done.
Guns save lives!
A friend and I have been covering this Georgia Second Amendment success story, which is probably the most under-reported piece of news I’ve seen this year. This might be a good time for a refresher course on how many lives might be saved if not for Sarah Brady and her evil ilk. Here’s some background for the upcoming video from Wikipedia:
On Wednesday, October 16, 1991, Hupp and her parents were having lunch at the Luby’s in Killeen. She had left her handgun in her car to comply with Texas state law at the time which forbade carrying a concealed weapon. When George Hennard drove his truck into the cafeteria and opened fire on the patrons, Hupp instinctively reached into her purse for her weapon, but it was in her vehicle. Her father, Al Gratia, tried to rush Hennard and was shot in the chest. As the gunman reloaded, Hupp escaped through a broken window and believed that her mother, Ursula Gratia, was behind her. Hennard put a gun to her mother’s head as she cradled her mortally wounded husband. Hupp’s mother and father were killed along with twenty-one other persons. Hennard also wounded some twenty others. As a survivor of the Luby’s massacre, Hupp testified across the country in support of concealed-handgun laws. She said that had there been a second chance to prevent the slaughter, she would have violated the Texas law and carried the handgun inside her purse into the restaurant.
It’s worth the five minutes to watch her testimony. Even if you’ve seen it before, it’s a good reminder of the price we pay for allowing enemies of the Second Amendment to hold seats in Congress.
You know how the gun-grabbers keep insisting that guns kill? Folks with rational minds know that people, not guns, are the the real killers. We know that a gun is merely a tool. However, as long as they continue to spout their mindless mantra about evil guns running about our streets all willy-nilly killing folks as they please, we may as well remind them that GUNS SAVE LIVES!
Draft the Judge
There’s a new Twitter account to draft Judge Andrew Napolitano to public office.
It looks like there’s going to be a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court which needs to be filled. On the extreme off-chance that the Obama administration has set their litmus test to be a very thorough understanding of the Constitution, then Napolitano’s certainly their man. We won’t be holding our breath around here for a Napolitano appointment from President Obama, though.
ALRLC Secretary to hear eminent domain testimony with US Civil Rights Commission on Wednesday in Montgomery
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Stephen Gordon
stephen@forwardfocusmedia.com
(256) 874-2985
(BIRMINGHAM, ALA. – April 27, 2009) On Wednesday, April 29, the Alabama Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will be conducting a panel entitled “Civil Rights Implications of Eminent Domain Policies and Practices in Alabama.”
“The Commission’s current focus on the ramifications of eminent domain abuse regarding minorities and other protected classes touches on an issue that effects most residents in Alabama,” said ALRLC Secretary and Alabama Advisory Committee member Shana Kluck. “Property rights are a bulwark of a free society and it saddens me that these rights are often ignored or even threatened by the very government that was created to protect them. Considering this is the state where the Civil Rights movement began, it’s time for Alabama to eradicate one of the last bastions of racial inequality and at the same time ensure the protection of property rights for all Alabamians.”
In addition to serving as a member of the Alabama Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and as Secretary of the Alabama Republican Liberty Caucus, Shana Kluck also serves on the state GOP executive committee and is president of the Alabama Republican Assembly. She recently served as the Alabama Field Director and the national Homeschooling Coordinator for Ron Paul’s presidential campaign.
Confirmed speakers include State Senator Scott Beason, Birmingham community activist and City Council candidate Kim Rafferty, Rev. John E. Smith of the Evergreen Missionary Baptist Church, representatives of the Alabaster Alabama community, Montgomery business owner Jim Peera, Montgomery business owner Jimmy McCall, Montgomery attorney Norman Hurst, ADECA Compliance Officer Paula Murphy and Jefferson County Land Development Department representative Michael Morrison. Members of the community negatively impacted by Alabama’s eminent domain policies will be providing testimony to the panel.
The panel will be conducted from 9AM to 5PM on April 29 at the Montgomery Campus of Troy University in the Gold Room of the Whitley Conference Hall. The street address is 231 Montgomery Street, Montgomery, AL 36104.
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Cam Ward provides some good data on the cost of public education
Here are the key points raised by Rep. Ward over at Doc’s:
“One thing that is quite evident from these numbers is that we must reform the pension and public health care system in the education budget,” wrote Mr. Ward. “Every state is facing the same issue as Alabama when it comes to huge reductions in services and available revenue sources.”
Considering the state of Alabama’s projected economy over the next couple of years, perhaps it’s time for teachers to tighten their belts just like the rest of us are having to do.