Utah Federation of Republican Women
Contacts:
Darcy Kruitbosch, President, UFRW 801-510-2349
Kathleen Handy, President, WRC of SLC 801-755-9795
Dear Republican Women,
We received a copy of the Mike Lee campaign statement regarding his withdrawal from the U.S. Senate debate scheduled for this evening 6 p.m., June 19, 2010 at Merit Medical, 1600 Merit Parkway, South Jordan, Utah.
Because we have received many questions about the discrepancies in our news release and the Lee campaign statement, we wanted to clear up the confusion.
Here is the Lee campaign statement:
"In regards to the UFRW debate, the campaign has had eight joint appearances and debates with the opponent this week alone, including four today. The UFRW changed the venue location from the neutral location of the University of Utah to our opponent's finance chairman's business. We were not allowed to insert a campaign volunteer into the question vetting process. As such, we have determined not to attend the debate, but welcome voters to attend public debates either tonight at UVU or on in Bountiful on Saturday. Details on the debates are on our website http://www.mikelee2010.com/eventsThe event sponsors, UFRW and the RW of SLC, did not change the venue. The event was originally scheduled at the Merit Medical, a location generously provided by Fred Lampropoulos to many community organizations. The candidates confirmed their appearance at this event through their schedulers.
Since the event location, moderator, and questions screeners were all endorsee's of the Bridgewater campaign, and we were not allowed to participate in any of this, along with the fact that there have been 8 other debates this week alone, the campaign decided to cancel this debate.
I hope this does not cause you too much inconvenience, but it was the only choice we could make given our situation.”
Neither the Bridgewater nor the Lee campaigns requested a volunteer to be involved in the “question vetting process.” An email went out to the presidents and board members soliciting suggestions. The moderator, former Governor Olene Walker, was organizing those questions.
The event organizers have not publicly endorsed either candidate.
We have extended an apology to Governor Olene Walker for any inconvenience this change may have caused. We welcome all Republican women and their spouses to join us in a celebration of Republican Women. Tim Bridgewater will be there to meet with us and to answer questions from 6 until 7:30 p.m. We look forward to seeing you tonight. Please RSVP to one of us or on our Facebook page.
Darcy and Kathleen
12 comments:
Over the past seven quarters (back to Q2 2008), Federal borrowings have increased $3.274 TN, or 49%, to $9.972 TN. In just 21 months, Federal Reserve assets expanded $1.387 TN, or 146%, to $2.339 TN.
Over the same period, GDP increased $104bn, or 0.7%, to $14.601 TN.
Add it up. That's $4.661 trillion dollars to prop up the economy to the tune of $104 bl of new growth.
In other words, for each dollar of (borrowed) gummint money poured into the pockets of the ruling oligarchs, we got 2 cents worth of increased economic activity.
Hahahaha! Some deal!
If you look at lots of indicators, home builder sentiment, ERCI index, Baltic Capesize, rail loadings, you can see the big economic blip all this spending caused, but it is collapsing! The ERCI, after reaching +28.5 in Oct '09 is now down to -5.7 in the latest week! You can find the data here and plot it in excel to see a truly staggering falloff in only a few weeks! And this is a LEADING indicator!
Economic Research Institute Leading Indicators
This next collapse will make the one we are in now look like a picnic! There will be no gummint bailouts this time - we are broke! Nationally, state governments are running 35% deficits already! What can the federal government do for a encore after $4.661 TN. Hey Joe Sixpack, did you get your cut of all that money??
The Keynesians are saying, print more! Print more! Only gummint printing of money can stop the end from coming!! It worked after all, for decades. But not this time.
All those "nuts" who said the end is near and money will be worthless were right after all. Indeed, the end is almost here.
Danny,
I'm honored that you hold my opinion so highly, and I wanted to be sure that you saw my answer to you (and others) from the previous article. I just came upon this article about Mike Lee by Bob Lonsberry. I don't believe in telling people how to vote, I think that they should find things out about the candidates themselves. The privilege to vote is just that - a privilege - a sacred privilege! One that comes at a very high cost and shouldn't be taken lightly. However, I do have my opinion and reasons for supporting one candidate over another. The following article is long but very interesting. Maybe it will help you make up your mind.
"A Message from Bob Lonsberry
MIKE LEE, THE 10TH AMENDMENT AND NUCLEAR WASTE
"The ironic thing is, I like Energy Solutions.
"I believe in the technology it uses, I believe in nuclear power, I believe in nuclear medicine, I believe the company runs a safe and useful operation.
"In fact, when it was trying to import nuclear waste from Italy, and 80 percent of Utahns opposed it, I was on the company’s side. I made the argument repeatedly that waste was waste and a billion dollars was a billion dollars and it didn’t make any difference if they came from Italy. I’ve been Energy Solutions' loudest unpaid defender.
"But you can’t do the right thing the wrong way. And if Energy Solutions is to bring in more – or foreign – waste to its facility in Utah, it must do so by convincing Utahns, not forcing them.
"And it must not use the federal government to strong arm nuclear filth onto a state whose people and elected officials oppose it.
"And yet Energy Solutions and its hired lawyer – Senate candidate Mike Lee – have tried to do exactly that. With an annual paycheck of over a half a million dollars, Mike Lee has fought in court to suppress the will of Utahns and the actions of their elected representatives.
"In a year when the state legislature was standing up for the constitutional principle of federalism – as Utah legislators tried to push back the federal domination of their state – Mike Lee was in federal court arguing for just the opposite.
"Utahns had said, “No,” and Mike Lee was in court using his talents to convince a federal judge to overrule the wishes of the people and the decision of the state. The same guy whose campaign basically boils down to waving aloft a copy of the Constitution was hopping up and down in court as if the 10th Amendment didn’t exist.
"It’s kind of like Mike Lee’s love of the Constitution has an on-off switch.
"So, too, it seems do his principles. For example, still on the nuclear waste issue, when he was the chief legal advisor to his political patron, Governor Jon Huntsman Jr., Mike Lee led the state effort to keep foreign waste out of Energy Solutions’ Tooele County facility.
"But then his bread got buttered on the other side, and he changed his position completely. Out of government employ, on the tab of Energy Solutions, he argued exactly the opposite of what he had argued just months before.
"How does someone do that?
"Maybe in the world of big-ticket lawyers that makes sense, but out here where people speak their mind – not their master’s mind – it seems kooky. Either you’re for it or you’re against it, and in this matter, one time or the other, Mike Lee was passionately advocating something he didn’t believe in.
"He was advancing legal arguments he believed to be false.
"And for a guy who promises that every decision he makes as a United States senator will be based on the Constitution, he seems not to have applied that rule to his work as a lawyer.
Continued in Post 2 (hopefully the next post)
Post 2 continued from previous post.
"All we know for sure is that when it was in his personal interest to oppose foreign nuclear waste, he did. And when it was in his personal interest to support foreign nuclear waste, he did.
"Which brings us to one of his endorsements.
The one from the South Carolina senator, Jim DeMint. At the Republican nominating convention, before the final round of voting, Mike Lee played a video endorsement of his candidacy from Jim DeMint.
"Where I sat in the hall, most people looked at one another quizzically, as if to ask, 'Who’s this guy?'
"Maybe in the wonk world of name-that-senator, Jim DeMint is a big cheese, but on the streets of Utah he’s just an old guy who talks funny.
"But he likes Mike Lee. And he swears up and down that Mike Lee is the most conservative guy in this race. Which is preposterous. Though this Freudian fight over who’s the most conservative has gotten old, it is dishonest to say Tim Bridgewater is not conservative. You may not like him, and you may prefer Mike Lee, and you may feel very strongly about that, but whatever flaw you may see in Tim Bridgewater, not being conservative isn’t one of them.
Though I’m sure Jim DeMint is a great patriot, I am even more certain that he is the senator from South Carolina. And as such, his job is to take care of South Carolina and to stay in the good graces of its voters.
"Many of whom work for Energy Solutions.
"See, Utah isn’t the only state with a low-level nuke dump. For almost 40 years, in Barnwell County, Energy Solutions has run a South Carolina dump. Utah and South Carolina are the bread and butter of the Energy Solutions operation.
"And being represented by senators who are very friendly to the nuclear industry and to the nuclear-waste industry is important to Energy Solutions.
"Jim DeMint suits them to a T. And, isn’t this a coincidence, it turns out that Energy Solutions’ favorite senator has decided to endorse Energy Solutions’ favorite lawyer in Tuesday’s primary.
"Don’t that beat all.
"It sounds like a really cozy club – the big nuclear waste company and its two pet senators.
"The only losers could be the people, especially the people of Utah. Energy Solutions is pushing a plan now that would allow it to mix higher-level waste with low-level waste, increasing revenues for the company. The state of Utah has opposed this plan for waste at the Tooele facility and the very real issue is, as a senator, which side would Mike Lee take? The side of the state he represents or the side of the company that helped get him elected?
"Now don’t get me wrong. I’m in favor of the use of nuclear power and materials, and I have complete confidence in Energy Solutions’ ability and commitment to storing waste safely. I am pro-nuclear, pro-storage and pro-Energy Solutions."
I didn't realize this was so long. I'm finishing it in the next post.
Continued from the above two posts. This isn't as long as they were.
"But the cards should be on the table. And this Energy Solutions thread in Mike Lee’s financial and political success should be on the table.
"And somebody who supports the Constitution should not be carrying water for an effort that forces states to take radioactive waste they don’t want. As a serious question: In light of the 10th Amendment, what in the Constitution empowers the federal government to force Utah to accept waste its people and state government don’t want?
"Tim Bridgewater knows that nowhere in the Constitution is that power found. He says it’s a state’s decision, and he’s right.
"This isn’t about nuclear waste, it’s about states’ powers – it’s about the rights of the people of a state to decide whether or not they want to host this material. It’s about keeping the federal government from forcing this stuff, or anything, down a state’s throat.
"Mike Lee is on the wrong side of this issue.
"He’s on the side of the company that made him rich, and on the side of the senator that company likes, but he’s not on the side of the people or the Constitution.
"Not on this one.
- by Bob Lonsberry © 2010"
Hmmm. Good enough for me, future council member Jeske, or should I say mayor?
If Wicks leaves the council, which she probably will (by defeating Bischoff) what will we have left there?
Gochnour is a get-along. VanHooser talks tough but votes soft. Blair just tries to go along with the adults in the room. The other two aren't worth mentioning at all.
When Wicks leaves, they'll appoint somebody like Dusty Chapman, just to avoid the embarrassment of watching Godfrey pee his pants in public, as he would do if they chose someone good.
You have a life, I know, but you are unique. I suppose there are many who need you.
I'll vote for Bridgewater just because you say so.
Here's a clue, Mike Lee. Don't mess with Republican Women.
I think "dumb Mike" just sealed his loser fate, when he blew off The Utah Federation of Republican Women
Mike Lee is bought and paid for before he even gets out the gate. He will sing whatever tune he's paid to sing and the more he gets paid the louder he will sing it. Talking about and waiving the constitution around is his "Schtick". Talk about transparency!
Dorrene
I would be a bit cautious about quoting this Longsberry talking head. While he is definitely interesting to listen to on the radio, he does have a lot of really goofy ideas. For instance his statement in the above quotes:
"Maybe in the world of big-ticket lawyers that makes sense, but out here where people speak their mind – not their master’s mind – it seems kooky"
This is pretty kooky itself. Any one who really thinks the majority of people in Utah "speak their own mind and not their master's" is plain delusional I believe. That is the whole political problem in Utah, people march in lock step with their leaders and pretty much give over their voting decisions to whoever has the "R" behind their name. That of course is why we end up with the cast of doofus characters we have in elected positions hereabouts.
As to this current race for senator. The choice between Bridgewater and Lee is very much like the choice of what you would rather step in - Horse biscuits or Cow pies! A pretty shitty choice any way you cut it.
Enough negative has been said here about Lee, but Bridgewater is a complete phony himself. His main claim to fame in business is as a partner to Neil Bush some twenty or so years ago.
It is well known that Neil Bush is the black sheep of the Bush clan. He is most well known for his scams and schemes that have resulted in honest people losing zillions of dollars. Silverado Savings and loans was one example, there are many others. Google the guy and you will get stories 10 to 1 about his scams -vs- his legit deals. Being in biz with this scum bag is what Bridgewater is bragging about! Apparently all his other so called big biz successes are involved with helping people get money out of the government - no doubt using his Bush connections to do so.
I strongly urge every one in Utah to vote for Grenato in November, he is the only chance of getting some one with integrity in the Senate from Utah. (This from a long time republican)
PS - I am in complete agreement with Danny about Dorrene getting back into the Ogden political scene. She is one of the onliest players in local politics with a lick of sense and a pile of integrity.
It has been reported that Bob Lonsberry has been fired from his radio job due to low ratings.
Blackrulon,
I heard that Lonsbury had been fired also, but it was because he was supporting Bridgewater. But I haven't had a chance to check it out today.
Ozboy, my preference for the U.S. Senate is still Eager, but since she didn't make it past the Convention, Bridgewater seemed to be the better of the two candidates who have a chance of being elected. I'm sorry, but as long as I've been voting, I haven't seen anyone elected from any party except the Democratic or Republican party. I wish I could say that other party candidates have a chance, but I think hell will freeze over before that happens in Utah.
Dorrene
Not sure what your reference to only Republicans and Democrats being elected to office is about. If it is about my comment on Grenato, please be aware that he is running for senate on the Democratic ticket. Also vote for him in November if you want someone with integrity representing us in the Senate. He is a long time biz owner in SLC and is also currently head of the State Liquor commission.
I believe nothing would shape up and instill some dignity and honor in the Republican party here in Zion more than electing a few Democrats to national office. It would also be nice if that realtor/governor of ours was beat by Carroon in November as well.
Without some parity in our public office holders we are destined to have an even more lopsided and corrupt government than we already have, what with the realty lobby controlling most everything for their's and their cronie's benefit.
Thanks for the info, Ozboy. I'll check Grenato out. I agree with you, Utah needs more representation from the Democrats, but we need good Democrats, not cheats, liars and low-lifes like Stuart Reid, who upon Godfrey's instructions at the last minute changed parties.
I'm totally disgusted with the Weber County Republican party for supporting him. They have received the last contribution from me!
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