Posted on 03/12/2014 2:02:23 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
The Senate Conservatives Fund, founded by former South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint, has endorsed Bryan Smith in his campaign to upset eight-term incumbent Mike Simpson in May’s Republican primary.
The fund adds to Smith’s list of endorsements, which so far includes the hard-right Club for Growth, The Madison Project, FreedomWorks, Citizens United, the National Association of Gun Rights and Young Americans for Liberty.
Simpson’s endorsements include some heavyweights, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Rifle Association.
Here’s the full release from the Senate Conservatives Fund:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Contact: Matt Hoskins (202) 888-6191
SCF Endorses Bryan Smith for U.S. House
ALEXANDRIA, VA – Today, the Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF) endorsed Bryan Smith (R-ID) for the U.S. House of Representatives as part of its new House Conservatives Project. Bryan Smith is seeking the Republican nomination in Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District.
“Bryan Smith is a principled conservative who will fight to stop the massive spending and debt in Washington that are bankrupting our country,” said SCF Executive Director Matt Hoskins. “We’re very proud to support Bryan Smith for Congress and we’re excited to do our part to help him get his message out.”
SCF launched a new website today where its members can donate directly to Bryan Smith’s campaign. SCF pays all processing fees so Smith will receive 100% of the funds contributed to his campaign.
Bryan Smith (R-ID)ABOUT BRYAN SMITH
Bryan Smith is challenging Congressman Mike Simpson (R-ID), an incumbent Republican who has voted for bailouts, higher spending, and more debt.
This race has become ground zero for the Washington establishment’s fight to protect the status quo. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is already on the air with deceptive TV ads smearing Bryan Smith because they know his election will threaten crony capitalism
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.idahostatesman.com ...
I’d like to see Bryan Smith’s campaign get more attention. He’d be a real improvement over Establishment hack Mike Simpson. Hopefully, Idaho Freepers will make this a priority.
Sorry, I meant to ping this to you, as well.
bookmark
Simpson needs to go. I can’t think of a worse Republican in a such a Republican seat.
Simpson has been in office continuously for 30 years (14 in the ID legislature, 6 years as House Speaker, 16 more years in Congress).
He also has the distinction of being the 2nd longest continuously serving member from Idaho (behind Republican Addison Smith, who broke the record some 85 years ago, and would’ve served even longer had he not been one of the anti-GOP 1932 casualties). Most ID House members serve an average of 3 terms and move up to the Senate or retire. Simpson’s “turn” as Senator should’ve been in 2004 when Larry Craig should’ve retired.
In any event, Simpson turns 64 this year and has done virtually nothing to slow the growth of government, so it’s time for some new blood.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen ?
GOP_Raider I understand you do the Idaho ping list.
This is a critical House race that needs some of the attention going to certain Senate candidates.
The people of Idaho could do some real good by voting Simpson out and Smith in.
Her seat may still be GOP locally but it was Obamariffic in 2012 (it went for McCain in 2008, it, FL-26, and the Staten Island seat are the only 3 CDs that switched from R to D in 2012, I believe). I fear for it’s future. She is odious though. No primary challenger as of yet, or rat challenger either. She’s quite entrenched, unfortunately.
Simpson’s seat, 64% Romney. No excuses there.
Her seat only gave Romney 46%; Simpson’s gave Romney 64%!
BTW, why won’t the Senate Conservatives Fund create the House Conservatives Fund, for the, obvious, purpose of supporting, endorsing, and giving monies towards House conservative candidates?
The only reason I will be going to the polls this spring is to send RINO Simpson into retirement.
Republican Congressman Mike Simpson is a go-along-to-get-along squish who only seems to stick his head out when he’s stabbing conservatives in the back (such as supporting Obama’s Cash for Clunkers program and funding for ACORN). According to the American Conservative Union (ACU), Simpson’s conservative rating during 2013 was an embarrassing 46, less than half than of conservative Republican Raul Labrador of the other Idaho congressional district (who received a perfect 100).
With a record like that, Mike Simpson would be considered a RINO even if he represented a district in which Romney and Obama basically were tied in vote percentage, but Simpson purports to represent (using the word loosely, I guess) the ID-02, which gave Romney over 64% of the vote in 2012. As such, Simpson is an even worse fit for a district in the GOP House than is the 100% pro-abortion Richard Hanna in the NY-22 (which voted for Romney, but gave him nowhere near 64%).
In the past, Simpson has skated through the primary thanks to his Mormon affiliation (Mormons voters are close to a majority in the ID-02 GOP primary), establishment support and lackluster opposition, but this time he’s facing a top-notch challenger in Bryan Smith, a true-blue conservative endorsed by the Club for Growth and several TEA Party affiliates. Bryan Smith has an excellent chance of unseating Simpson, given that he was able to raise over $500,000 by the end of 2013 (Simpson had raised more than twice as much, but Smith won’t be shut out of the airwaves). Moreover, Simpson won’t be able to count on block support from Mormon voters this time because Bryan Smith is a Mormon as well. This is a race that conservatives can win if we all do our part.
In the past few months, you probably have heard appeals on behalf of self-anointed “TEA Party conservatives” who were challenging “establishment Republicans” whose voting record was deemed to be insufficiently conservative. In many (perhaps most) of those appeals, the candidate being touted as the “true conservative” actually was not as conservative as the incumbent (and would improve the Democrats’ odds of winning), and the incumbent often had done nothing wrong apart from being an incumbent. Perhaps you have read my posts signaling my concerns with the neophyte candidates whose conservatism and electability was in question, and my defense of the incumbents who had compiled conservative voting records in office. But just like in the case of Mississippi’s Chris McDaniel (who is challenging the RINOish Senator Thad Cochran) and South Carolina’s Richard Cash (one of several conservatives running against backstabbing Senator Lindsey Graham), Bryan Smith’s challenge of Mike Simpson is a no-brainer for conservatives.
Smith is a true TEA Party conservative who would be guaranteed to win the general election (heck, no Democrat has announced for the seat, and the filing deadline is this Friday!), while Simpson is a RINO whose voting record would be too liberal for a swing district in Iowa, much less a safe district in Idaho. So forget about Obama’s cousin in Kansas or the carpetbagger with 8 kids running in VA-10: helping Bryan Smith beat Mike Simpson in ID-02 is a fight worth fighting, and one we can win.
How many trial lawyers will be needed when the Chamber of Commerce gets amnesty?
Is Simpson the internet sales tax guy?
I think that you’re thinking of Senator Crapo (whom I believe sponsored the Senate bill).
Bryan Smith is the real deal. There’s no reason whatsoever for a fence sitting Republican to babysit a district that voted so overwhelmingly for Romney.
Check out where he stands on salient conservative issues:
TAXES
I will not support ANY tax increase as a member of Congress and would not have supported the fiscal cliff deal passed by Congress this year that raised our taxes by $600 billion. I believe taxes are already too high. I support lowering taxes on families, individuals and job creators.
SPENDING
The recent growth of spending in the Federal budget is unacceptable. It threatens our national security, and our children’s and grandchildren’s futures. I support spending caps that limit Congress’s ability to spend taxpayer dollars. I oppose making taxpayers pay for wasteful pork projects and special-interest giveaways to political cronies.
THE NATIONAL DEBT
I oppose increasing the debt limit without implementing substantial spending cuts. For too long, we have mortgaged our future by increasing the debt limit to pay for bail outs, government-run health care, the failed stimulus, and a host of other wasteful programs.
PROTECTING THE SECOND AMENDMENT
I strongly believe the Second Amendment guarantees our right to bear arms for sport and protection and will work to protect this vital right.
PRO-LIFE
As a member of the U.S. Congress I will provide a voice to the voiceless and fight to protect unborn children.
ENERGY
It is essential for the prosperity of our nation that we become energy independent. I strongly support nuclear energy. Our country needs a reliable, base load source of energy, and nuclear energy satisfies this need.
I support the use of other energy sources such as natural gas, hydro, oil and coal. Our nation is blessed with an abundance of these kinds of energy resources. I oppose government policy that seeks to overregulate the coal and natural gas industries out of business. The federal government needs to make energy resources available on federal land.
Our country needs a comprehensive energy policy that promotes domestic nuclear power, coal, natural gas and oil exploration. Wind and solar are not reliable base load energy sources.
IMMIGRATION
We are a nation of immigrants and should welcome those who want to work hard and live the American Dream. We must do so in a manner consistent with respect for the rule of law and our tradition of legal fairness. The first step to a sound immigration policy is to secure our borders. It is critical to our country’s security that we know who is entering our country; as long as the border is not secure, we will not be able to achieve this goal.
We need to remove incentives for people to come here illegally. People here illegally should not be receiving benefits from our federal or state governments.
Immigrants should be given a chance to live the American Dream. But that does not mean people who break the law and come here illegally should be rewarded with amnesty. Amnesty is a policy that is unfair to those who come to this country legally and play by the rules.
Glad to see Smith is a FIGHTER!
“Bryan Smith, Idaho, 2nd Congressional District
Not only is Bryan a full-spectrum conservative – from fiscal issues to social issues, guns to illegal immigration – he is willing to fight for those values.
He has watched the failure of the Boehner House in restoring our Republic and is committed to shaking up the core of the establishment when he goes to Washington – even if that means “eating lunch by himself.”
He is willing to articulate the message that rugged individualism, free markets, and productivity raises the level of prosperity for all Americans; that Washington central planning has foisted upon us a 50-year failed experiment in fighting poverty. ..”
excerpt http://madisonproject.com/candidates/
Or not, GOP_Raider has been absent for years.
Former Rat Congressman and failed 1992 Senate nominee Richard Stallings (1983-1992), entered the race on the last day of filing.
This is his second comeback bid, he lost to Simpson in 1998. He’s 73 years old.
I think the district is safe enough that we don’t have to worry about Simpson’s punk *ss RINO supporters throwing the election to Stallings once Smith beats Simpson in the primary.
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