Archive for August 5th, 2008

Josh and myself interview Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Lakeville) concerning the Mishawaka firearms restriction that was voted down 5-4 in the City Common Council.

Rep. Walorski will be on Sirius Satellite Radio “The Patriot” (I think it’s channel 144) tonight in the 9:00 PM hour of NRA News. If you subscribe to Sirius give it a listen.

And now — Rep. Walorski on Hoosier Access Radio

 

 Jackie Walorski [18:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This was sent to me, so I thought I would post it.

The RLC is the Republican student group at the Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis. Our focus is on becoming a dynamic force in central Indiana politics. This golf event is our primary fundraiser and is a great opportunity to network and build relationships with attorneys, judges, law students, elected officials, and other business and community leaders.

The outing is scheduled for Friday, August 8, 2008 and will be held at Maple Creek Country Club, a classic Pete Dye course located on the East side of Indianapolis and featuring a brand new fleet of GPS carts. State Treasurer Richard Mourdock will be the Keynote Speaker for the event and we anticipate the attendance of many other state and local political officeholders and candidates.

MAPLE CREEK COUNTRY CLUB South on Post Road from I-70. Left on 21st St. The course is 1½ miles on the right (west of German Church). FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 2008 Registration & lunch will begin at 11:00 AM with shotgun start at 12:00 noon. Awards reception and keynote address to follow tournament.

You can download more information in the link below.

Republican Law Coalition Golf Outing Flyer

This presser was just release by the Puckett for Congress campaign.

Puckett States that He Supports an End to the August Recess Until Energy Reform Legislation is Passed

South Bend, IN-Second district Congressional candidate Luke Puckett issued the below statement today.

“Since Friday afternoon a cadre of Congressmen has gone to the floor of the United States House of Representatives to demand that Congress come back from its August recess to have a debate and vote on legislation that would lower the price of gas. Led by individuals such as Rep. Mike Pence, these members are refusing to take a vacation when they know that Congress has not done its job in passing a comprehensive energy reform bill.

“Americans cannot take a vacation from the high gas prices and Congress shouldn’t be taking a vacation until it has done its part to expand our nation’s access to domestic energy supplies. Joe Donnelly and the other members of Congress should not go on recess until they have earned the right to do so.

“I fully support the actions of those members of Congress who are calling for this Congress to be more responsible and I pledge that when I am elected I will fight for meaningful energy reform that will allow us to access our own oil. It is time for us to stop relying on foreign oil for 66% of petroleum needs.”

Puckett also noted that on Monday, August 11, 2008 he will publicly call on President Bush to call Congress back from its vacation for the specific purpose of debating and voting on a comprehensive energy policy bill.

From Baron Hill’s response to Mike Sodrel’s initiative for a positive campaign and town hall debates across the district:

I am also disappointed that at this stage in the campaign you still have not explained to the people of Southern Indiana why after the last election you closed your official offices early. This left Hoosier families without congressional representation. You also refused to transfer constituent casework, all the while continuing to collect taxpayer’s money in the form of salaries for you and your staff. Quite honestly, I believe this is a poor reflection of your real desire to be a public servant.

When you apologize for closing the offices early, abandoning the citizens of Indiana’s Ninth Congressional Distict and taking a salary for work that you did not complete, we can then sit down and have a productive conversation about the campaign.

These are particularly egregious lies that Baron has been peddling ever since late 2006. They are manifestly and demonstrably untrue, and are a distortion of history.

First of all, regulations set by the General Services Administration require the vacating of “satellite” Congressional offices within the district well before a defeated Congressman leaves office, usually by December 1st. The phone lines to these offices are cut, the office furniture in them is moved out, and rent and utility payments are concluded.

Those offices are closed not by the wish of the defeated Congressman, but by the edict of a government agency and some Federal bureaucrats over which the defeated Congressman has no control. Baron should be familiar with this; his offices were ordered to be vacated by the GSA in 2004, just as Sodrel’s were in 2006.

(Read more after the leap) (more…)

Friends of Hoosier Access, Kurt and Kristen Luidhardt, are in Washington, D.C. covering, live, the action on Capitol Hill. They are currently taking part in a blogger conference in Minority Leader, John Boehner’s office.

Below is just a portion. You can follow their Twitter feeds, as well as Robert Bluey’s of townhall.com fame, after the leap (you don’t need to be a member of Twitter to follow the feeds), plus you can read individual postings of the live blog at Prosper Group Think.

We are joining Conservative bloggers from across the country in Rep. John Boehner’s office to listen to various Republican Congressman who are here in DC urging Speaker Nancy Pelosi to call back Congress to deal with the Energy crisis.

First up in Jeb Hensarling, Chairman of the Republican Study Committee. (Keep in mind, I’m doing my best to quote Hensarling as he speaks- don’t blame him for poor grammar).

Hensarling: We are here to ask 2 things.

(Follow more after the leap) (more…)

Posted in Blogging, Congress, Energy, Friends of Hoosier Access | 3 Comments » | Read more..

(Follow it here)

Mike Pence (R-IN)

“We just want Speaker Pelosi to call members of Congress back from their five week vacation for this vote. If you think you are not being heard, I want you to know you are. I am holding a 1,500 page stack of emails you sent me yesterday. Keep emailing your congressmen.”

Nancy Pelosi just doesn’t like to debate it seems.  First, she cut off the scheduled debate of more drilling last Friday on the floor of the U.S. House, second she shut down congress, though that didn’t prevent Republicans from continuing the debate without her and Congressional Democrats.  But here’s the topper.  Nancy Pelosi has shut off the comments section on her Monday blog post about the differences between the Republican and Democrat plans on drilling.

It’s lights out and comments off for Pelosi and her gang.

Yesterday, State Rep. Jackie Walorski wrote on the proposed gun ban going before the Mishawaki City Council. Last night, the gun ban, originally proposed by Mishwaka’s Republican Mayor, Jeff Rea, was defeated by a 5-4 vote.

From WNDU:

Passion about protecting fellow citizens swayed Mishawaka City Council to vote 5-4 against a weapons ban ordinance.

The ban was actually proposed by Mishawaka Mayor Jeff Rea and City Attorney Cory Hamel.

It would’ve prohibited all weapons from four buildings frequented by the public: Mishawaka City Hall, the police station, the Battel Center, and Mishawaka Utilities main building.

Weapons were defined as guns, knives, explosives, and chemical sprays.

Rea and Hamel were the only two people out of a large crowd to speak in favor of the proposed ordinance.

The article went on to say:

Walorski and the rest of the crowd told the City Council that taking away law abiding citizens’ right to bear arms will do nothing but put everyone in danger.

Walorski says, “We have a Castle Doctrine that says wherever your castle is — house, car — and you have a threat on your personal space, you have the opportunity in this state to defend yourself.”

Sent to Baron last Friday:

Dear Congressman Hill,

If your response to my recent letter is an effort to “raise the level of discourse” in this campaign, it is sorely lacking. However, let me respond to your concerns one by one.

First- I did not ask you to break any commitments. If you think fewer town halls are necessary please advise. Or, if you would like to push some forward to the October break, we are certainly willing to discuss that. Or, if you would like to substitute one or more traditional debates for some of the joint town halls, we can certainly work around your schedule

Second- I suppose since I haven’t barraged the media with negative press releases, that may lead you to believe I have been inactive. In fact we have been actively campaigning since late last year. We are working hard to make our campaign about the issues that affect the people of the 9th District, not about you.

Third- I didn’t ask you to sign any pledges. I proposed that you select two Republicans to serve on a bi-partisan Clean Campaign Committee. Sir, I frankly was ambushed in the campaign of 2006. The minister you used in your campaign ad was an obvious political partisan. There was no evidence that his opinion was even shared by the majority of that group, much less the majority of the faith based community. I would expect better out of a jointly selected committee whose charge would be to sift through any distortions, half-truths and misrepresentations, to make certain the public is presented the truth.

(Read more of Mike Sodrel’s letter plus my commentary after the leap) (more…)

January 2001 - President George W. Bush inaugurated - Gasoline was $1.49 (national average)

January 2007 - Nancy Pelosi became Speaker of the House - Gasoline was $2.33

Today - Nancy Pelosi shuts down Congress for Five Weeks and nothing was done about gasoline prices which is now a national average of $4.04

EDIT TO ADD: Found this bit on Politico - A House Democrat aide is quoted “There is no crisis on our side of the aisle.We have a plan, and we will stick to it.”. Yes we know your side of the aisle has “a plan”. The plan is painfully obvious in the graphic below!

(H/T FreeRepublic)