Posted on 02/12/2004 10:44:29 AM PST by anymouse
Austin, TX - The Young Conservatives of Texas today announced the following endorsements for the United States Congress in the March 9th Republican primary for which early voting begins February 23rd:
District 1: Wayne Christian District 2: Clint Moore District 3: Sam Johnson District 4: Ralph Hall District 7: John Culberson District 9: No Endorsement District 10: Michael McCaul District 11: Bill Lester District 17: Arlene Wohlgemuth District 24: Kenny Marchant District 25: Rebecca Armendariz-Klein District 31: John Carter
Mark McCaig, YCT Communications Director stated, "In Congressional District 1, we were faced with a very difficult decision between several capable candidates. While both Justice Louis Gohmert and John Graves are impressive, we endorse State Rep. Wayne Christian because of his exceptional track record of advancing the conservative cause. During the last legislative session, Rep. Christian received the highest YCT rating of any legislator and his career rating of 94% places among the top five legislators on our Historical Honor Roll."
In Congressional district 17, YCT is pleased to endorse State Rep. Arlene Wohlgemuth. David Rushing, YCT State Chairman, commented, "Rep. Wohlgemuth has been a great friend to our organization for many years and has been the leading conservative voice in Austin when it comes to reducing wasteful spending on social programs. With the federal deficit ballooning, Texas needs Rep. Wohlgemuth in Congress to help bring fiscal sanity to the federal government. Wohlgemuth will also stand up for the Second Amendment, fight illegal immigration, and work to protect human life."
In District 11, YCT endorses conservative Professor Bill Lester. McCaig observed, "Dr. Bill Lester is the clear conservative choice in this race. Lester supports a strong national defense, parental choice in education, the right to life, lower taxes, the repeal of extreme environmental regulations that hamper domestic energy production, and President Bush's plan for private investment accounts for young workers as an alternative to the failing Social Security system."
In other contested congressional primaries, YCT endorsed Clint Moore in District 2, Congressman Sam Johnson in District 3, Congressman Ralph Hall in District 4, Congressman John Culberson in District 7, Michael McCaul in District 10, Bill Lester in District 11, State Rep. Kenny Marchant in District 24, Rebecca Armendariz-Klein in District 25, and Congressman John Carter in District 31. Comments regarding these endorsed candidates are available upon request.
Voters who are not sure which district they live in can visit the Vote-Smart website and enter their nine digit zip code to find out who represents them in Congress and at other levels of government. This site also features biographical data, voting records, and ratings of elected officials by YCT and other groups, as well as information on candidates.
Rushing concluded, "For more than two decades, the YCT endorsements have served as a seal of approval for true conservatives seeking public office. We are honored to lend our support to a distinguished group of conservative leaders who will promote real conservative values in Washington. Later this week, we will release our endorsements in legislative, state board of education, and court of appeals races."
YCT only endorses in contested primary races. YCT members who work for elected officials do not participate in the endorsement decisions in their races.
The Young Conservatives of Texas, a non-partisan conservative youth organization, has been fighting for conservative values for more than two decades in the Lone Star State and publishes the most respected ratings of the Texas Legislature. In the past year, YCT's conservative student activism has been featured on Good Morning America, Nightline and CNN, and in The Washington Post and The New York Times.
YCT will hold its annual statewide convention Feb. 20-22 in Fort Worth, which will be attended by over 100 members, alumni, and conservative leaders. Speakers will include Congressman Joe Barton, Congressman Pete Sessions, and State Senator Dr. Bob Deuell. For more information on the convention, please contact YCT Vice Chairman for Events Jon Gimble at (254) 498-7995.
YCT has chapters at Texas A&M University, West Texas A&M University, Baylor University, University of Texas at Austin, Southern Methodist University, University of Texas at Dallas, University of North Texas, Hardin-Simmons University, and Stephen F. Austin University.
Hmmm. . . I think I may have heard the same ad, but it didn't stick with me, either. If I catch it I'll holler.
I would support a law that says a politician must remain in the party he is elected for the duration of the term. It screws the voters to vote for one party and then lose it.
Me too!
. . . after redistricting. Chris Bell won't miss me.
Agreed. I also like Clint Moore. I just think he's a long shot in that district, so I'm planning on voting for Poe.
For the record, I don't know for certain what made YCT go with Moore first but I did urge some of their members I spoke and emailed with to support Poe with Moore as a second choice. Apparently there has been some concern among conservatives about that article from the Houston Press last month alleging that Poe had an extramarital affair back in the 80's. Problem is that the Press, which is as left wing as it gets and certainly didn't shy away from defending Bill Clinton for all those years, gave NO specifics in its story and provided ZERO corroborating evidence for what they printed - they were all unnamed sources. The story may have still been unsettling to some YCT people for whatever reason, though I tend not to put too much credibility into what the Houston Press says (and IMHO nor should they). I also have strong reason to believe that the Press got the story from a certain political consultant (hint: he's the only person quoted by name in that story) who works for another certain candidate in the district 2 race (hint: think enron). And it's not the first time that consultant has engaged in smear tactics alleging unsubstantiated extramarital affairs before either.
From what I've heard of McCaul he's got some monied family connections. But that's true of practically everybody in the CD 10 race, which is unfortunate. They're practically all a bunch of rich guys trying to buy themselves a seat in Congress. Not one of them has ever done anything substantial in his or her careers to merit that sort of thing.
CD 10 is almost the same and Fastuca there is BAD news period. Moore is a good guy but also a long shot. Poe is the only real choice for conservatives in that district.
I think it would be nuts to change a vote based on the Houston Press who knows Judge Poe well, and certainly doesn't like him.
But what do I know? Redistricting put me into Ron Paul's district and he didn't draw an opponent on either the Republican or Democrat side. Free pass.
Was it a DU'er? Cause that's about as delusional as it gets. Look at the Harris County election data and you will find that Poe consistently gets the highest reelection numbers of any judge on the bench (and there are about 100 of em, so that's saying a lot). The district is solidly Republican and Poe probably has more name ID among the average voter there than any other candidate, Lampson included.
The reason he probably thinks Poe is "wierd" stems from the fact that Poe made a name for himself as a tough on crime judge who got lots of media attention for what is often called "creative sentencing" - things like making public spectacles of shoplifters by making them hold signs on streetcorners saying what they did. To your average left wing kook who thinks criminals should be "counseled" and "rehabilitated" that kind of stuff is "cruel and unusual punishment" of a kind that strikes at the very heart of their political philosophy. To your average suburbanite and rural east Texan (which pretty much covers that district's majority - Houston suburbs and rural east Texans) its an entirely different story. Tough-on-crime rulings like Poe is known for are the kind of stuff that will even get some union members in Beaumont cheering.
Please urge them to vote for Poe if at all possible.
I think the real danger in District 2 is George Fastuca, who is simply BAD. He's one of those rich guys who has never done anything serious for the Republican party (he says he went to a couple SD conventions - big deal) and now wants to get himself into congress. Fastuca is supported by the "public education" crowd - the schoolboard types who con taxpayers into funding their expansion projects, cave when the homos want a "lesbian student association" at the local high school, then run for cover and pass the buck onto somebody else when the parents in the district get mad. I also suspect that he is supported by the teacher's unions crowd for the simple reason that his yard signs may be observed in virtually all of their members' yards in the neighborhoods I've driven through. Fastuca is also an ex Enron exec who "retired" with a huge package about a year before they went belly up. He has been bragging that he worked in the Reagan administration, but he also worked in the Carter administration and appears to have been some sort of a holdover bureaucrat (which says to me that he plays both sides of the fence). Anyway, as you can probably tell I'm not too impressed with the guy.
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