Posted on 04/14/2004 11:11:48 AM PDT by AuH2ORepublican
From the desk of Perry A. Atkinson Oregon Republican Party Chairman 1999-2003
Monday, April 12, 2004
Dear Fellow Republican,
It is rare that I get involved in a Republican Primary but when I learned that Senator Jackie Winters opponent in the Fifth Congressional District race, downtown Portland Lawyer Jim Zupancic, had contributed money to Democrat Attorney General Hardy Meyers, it bothered me deeply. This is the same Hardy Meyers that recently refused to enforce the state law banning gay marriage in Multnomah County.
While I was trying to lead the Party, at a time when then candidate George W. Bush lost Oregon by just 6,765 votes, and we were trying to raise money to help Kevin Mannix beat Democrat Attorney General Hardy Meyers, Republican candidate Jim Zupancic was contributing to Democrat Meyers. Not attending a $10 or $20 dollar event, but a $500 contribution. Five-Hundred dollars at crunch time . . . September, right before the election, when it really makes a difference. While you and your fellow Republicans were giving of their time, their money, late nights on the phones getting headaches and neck aches, doorbelling with tired feet, giving endlessly, unselfishly, for a Republican victory, Jim Zupancic was funding a key Democrat that would prove instrumental not on just the issue of gay marriage but also with the redistricting battle which cost Republicans control of the Senate in 2002.
And now, I find out this is not the first time he has helped the Democrats. He actually helped a Democrat in a State House race when I was Vice-Chair of the Party. Jim Zupancics actions had real consequences. Jim Zupancics Democrat won, but luckily we held the House.
In 2000, as Chair of the Party we asked then State Representative Jackie Winters to run for Congress and return the 5th Congressional District to Republican hands. But the timing was just not right. Last year, President Bush asked her to run. Now, I can tell you that when you are asked by the President of the United States to help him, it carries a lot of weight in my book. I am glad she decided to say yes because she is a great candidate and will be a member of Congress that we can look up to and rely on.
In a day and age when our youth need a hero to look up to, Senator Jackie Winters is one person right here in Oregon whose example they can follow ordinary people doing extraordinary things, that is Jackie Winters. Over coming racial prejudice, going from not being allowed to sit in a restaurant, to owning 3 restaurants and 3 franchises. Getting fed up with the red tape of government and its far reaching regulations and deciding to do something about it. Becoming the first Republican African American Woman elected to the Oregon State Legislature.
Now Jackie Winters may very well be, with our help, the first African American Republican Woman ever elected to the US House of Representatives in the history of these great United States. She is truly an American success story.
But Jim Zupancic has sent out nearly 70 news releases attacking Senator Winters, yet he is not willing to tell you about his own tax and spend record. Well, I will.
Just 18 months ago, Jim Zupancic thought that we needed a redesign of our tax system. Zupancic said he would like to take a leadership role in providing the catalyst to bring business and labor together on this issue. What was the issue? A referral to the people that included a consumption tax. That is right, Jim Zupancic wanted a sales tax on the ballot. Well Mr. Zupancic, your Democrat friends like Hardy Meyers may want a sales tax, but the voters of Oregon have turned down a sales tax 9 times and we dont need your leadership in wasting the taxpayers dollars by putting it on the ballot again. No on the sales tax means exactly that.
But that is not the only tax increase Jim Zupancic has supported. He has supported a dozen big tax increases over the last ten years. The list includes a real estate transfer tax, a gas tax increase, increased vehicle and registration fees, he opposed putting the kicker tax refund in the constitution. He opposed Measure 88, the Legislative referral that would have increased the deduction of federal income taxes paid on Oregon state income tax returns. He opposed a constitutional spending limit.
He opposed Ballot Measure 95, which would have implemented school accountability measures like pay for teachers tied to performance. Is it any wonder with his stances that he earned the endorsement of the powerful teachers union. He was even endorsed by the Oregon School Boards Association and the only reason was his strong pro-tax position. And when he had the chance to support Vera Katz and the Katz plan now known as CIM/CAM he took it and supported the plan.
Less than 2 years ago, in his answers to the Coalition for School Funding Now questionnaire, as a candidate for State House District 38 Jim Zupancic said I believe that public schools do need more money to be effective. Then he promised to fully fund it and if necessary, increased taxes. Jim Zupancic is now running ads that say raising taxes are never the answer. To his new ads, I say he should have thought about his position before he ran the old pro-tax ads in the Lake Oswego Review newspaper and filled out the Coalition for School Funding Now questionnaire. His record over the past ten years is very clear to me.
But Jim Zupancics record is not just on taxes. When we had the chance to reform PERS in 1994, he opposed it. I cant begin to imagine what better financial shape the state would be in if it would have passed. He opposed the judicial reform measures that would have reformed our judiciary system. That would have reformed the same justice system that threw out property rights Measure 7, and the crime victims rights measure which finally gave both crime victims and their families a legal voice against the criminal monsters like Scott Dean Harberts who shattered their lives. Just recently Jim Zupancic refused to return a questionnaire to the National Rifle Association. Now as many of you know, our party platform supports the right to keep and bare arms. As President Reagan once said I believe the Republican Party has a platform that is a banner of bold, unmistakable colors, with no pastel shades. The Second Amendment, or as the NRA puts it, Our First Freedom has ensured that this great republic stays free for over 227 years.
In the NRAs recent endorsement of Jackie Winters the NRA wrote you have been a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and have demonstrated a dedication and commitment on this important issue. Jackie Winters earned an A rating from the NRA, Jim Zupancic refused to return the questionnaire. A stark contrast.
But I think what the NRA wrote regarding Jim Zupancics refusal to return the survey quite revealing. They wrote, We are extremely grateful that, unlike your opponent in the primary election, you took the time and effort to complete and return our survey. Our association and its membership rely upon these questionnaires to help them evaluate candidates for public office to determine which ones are in fact Second Amendment supporters, and failure to respond is a clear indication of indifference, if not outright hostility, towards law-abiding gun owners and sportsmen. I think those are the harshest words I have seen written by the NRA about a candidate not returning their questionnaire.
I believe that when a candidate refuses to return a survey they either do not agree with that group, or just do not want to take a stand. We already have enough people in public office who refuse to take a stand.
On the issue of life, Jackie Winters has been endorsed by Oregon Right to Life seven times, including this election to Congress.
One thing I admire about Senator Winters is she is willing to take a stand. Do we agree on every issue, no. But she is willing to take a stand, yes. With her internal compass she can tell you exactly why she feels that way. Open, honest, tough but yet caring, willing to make a decision, yes means yes and no means no. Sounds a lot like President George W. Bush. And not surprisingly so, they have something in common, it is called character.
In 2000 Candidate George W. Bush never abandoned his values and he was elected President. We trust in him because of his internal compass. The issues of today will be gone tomorrow. Tomorrows issues are yet to come. That is why we choose our elected officials not just by judging if they feel the same way we do, but on their character. Can we trust in them to do what is right for the nation? Will they ensure our nation is in better shape for our children or will they act in their own self interest when they cross over the Potomac River? Jackie Winters has the character we need in Congress.
America has faced many challenges. President Reagan said that he considered himself as a Steward of the highest office of the land. We, as a nation, have called on stewards to serve their nation. We ask a lot of them. Preserve the Republic, hold tight our rights so they are not released to some foreign entity, protect our shores. Lead our nation through the easy and the tough times. Leadership is not easy. I know what mettle Jackie Winters is made of. She truly fits the Reagan definition when he said A leader, once convinced [that] a particular course of action is the right one, must have the determination to stick with it and be undaunted when the going gets tough. That is Jackie Winters.
In just 200 days we have the opportunity to return the 5th Congressional District to Republican hands, but only if we have a solid candidate we can trust. Jackie Winters is that candidate. I ask you to join me in supporting Jackie Winters.
In the last few days of the Primary Election, Jackie needs all the help we can give her. Tell your friends, send an email asking them to vote for Jackie, log onto her website and make a contribution at www.jackiewinters.com, use the return envelope to make a contribution, endorse her, request or help with yard signs.
Together, we can help President Bush by sending Senator Jackie Winters to Congress. Please remember to Vote for Jackie on May 18th. Thank you.
Sincerely, Perry A. Atkinson Chairman, Oregon Republican Party 1999-2003
The truth about Jackie Winters is that in the last Senate Session she voted for the LARGEST TAX INCREASE in Oregon's History. She wouldn't even refer this tax increase out to the voters! Oregonians had just rejected a ballot measure, BM28, that would have increased our taxes here and then Sen. Winters votes AGAIN in the Senate for the LARGEST increase ever. She is not the kind of Republican I want representing me in Congress. She CANNOT be trusted to lower any of the taxes on hard working families.
Jim Zupancic on the other hand is a business man who knows the most important thing he can do in Congress is lower the tax burden to get this economy moving and create more jobs in this country.
I am a 5th Congressional District voter who is not letting the wool be pulled over my eyes. Jackie Winters in no friend to working families trying to survive in a state where the recession has hit the hardest. We have had the lowest unemplyment in the state for awhile now and she tried to raise our taxes during that time.
Join me and vote for Jim Zupancic, a businessman, leader, and friend to the taxpayer.
Welcome to FR, "QT."
It appears that Jim Zupancic is pro-abortion, pro-gun-control and anti-religious values, since it was Winters who was endorsed by Oregon Right to Life and the NRA and since Zupancic refused to answer the Christian Coalition's questionnaire. And while I disagree with the decision that Senator Winters, as a committee chairman, felt that she had to take in order to balance the budget (which needed to be balanced, and with which the Democrat governor was not exactly a big help), she has pledged to make President Bush's tax-cuts permanent and not to raise federal taxes. It is easy for Zupancic to say he would have done things differently, because he's never had to make tough decisions, but had he been elected to the state legislature he promised to push for more spending on education, and how was he going to pay for that? And if Winters is so business-unfriendly, why was she endorsed by the agricultural and timber industries in the region? Frankly, I'd much rather have the pro-life, pro-gun, pro-business, experienced Jackie Winters (she has been elected and reelected in both the state house and the state senate) than the pro-abortion, pro-gun-control Zupancic, who lost his only bid for a legislative post. Jackie Winters is the only candidate who can defeat Darlene Hooley in November, and she can be counted on to uphold conservative values in Congress.
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