Ricketts on the soaring budget deficit: In the past five years, the Republican-controlled Congress has turned a huge budget surplus into the largest budget deficit in U.S. history. The national debt now exceeds $8 trillion – over $60,000 for every taxpaying American family. How have they done this? By cutting taxes on the wealthy and increasing spending. Since 2000, they have doubled the rate of growth in discretionary federal spending. This does not count the costs of the war in Iraq.
Randy Neugebauer and the Republican Party say that we should all share the burden of reducing the federal budget deficit. But they refuse to ask wealthy investors to share any burden. They have cut taxes on the wealthy every year since George Bush took office. Indeed, for the first time in U.S. history, they have cut taxes on the wealthy during a time of war. In order to protect these tax cuts in the face of a deteriorating budget picture, they propose cuts in food stamps, Medicaid, student loan programs, and farm payments. To cut farm payments, they voted to open the Farm Bill, which was supposed to remain closed until 2007. This is not how leaders solve problems. We need sensible government.
Ricketts on fair taxes: The tax cuts implemented by the Republican Congress over the past four years have been irresponsible and unfair. If you are a self-employed small business owner, you face a maximum combined federal tax rate of over 40 percent. That figure does not count payroll taxes that you may pay on your employees. By contrast, a millionaire investor pays tax at a maximum rate of 15 percent on his dividend and capital gain income. That is unfair, and it is bankrupting our country, both financially and morally. We can do better than this. Taxing dividend and capital gain income at the same rate as salaries and wages would have a far more significant impact on the federal budget than the spending cuts proposed by the Republicans.
Ricketts on equitable health care: The U.S. health care system covers the smallest percentage of the population, and at the highest cost, of any country in the developed world. One in five Americans, and almost one in four Texans, lack health insurance. Those who are lucky enough to have insurance have it only while they have a job, and they face wildly varying costs and coverage depending on the size of their employers. Retirees are especially vulnerable – as we are seeing in an increasing number of cases, their coverage can be reduced or even eliminated by their former employers with little or no penalty to those employers. How do the Republicans respond? They propose to eliminate the employer deduction for health insurance. It is difficult to imagine a more wrong-headed proposal. It is time for change.
Ricketts on high energy prices: Energy prices have risen substantially since 2000. There are a variety of reasons for this increase: increasing demand from Asia and India, increased risk due to turmoil in the Middle East, reduced supply due to the war in Iraq and the gulf coast hurricanes, and a declining dollar due to the irresponsible tax and spending behavior of the Republican-controlled Congress.
Ricketts on the GOP culture of corruption: Corruption reigns in Washington DC. The indictments of Tom Delay (Republican former Majority Leader), Scooter Libby (former Chief of Staff to Vice-President Cheney), Jack Abramoff (formerly a powerful Republican lobbyist), Bob Taft (former Republican Governor of Ohio),Randy Cunningham (former Republican Congressman from San Diego), and countless others appear to be but the tip of the iceberg. The Republican Party is literally selling our future. Not only does Randy Neugebauer refuse to return the $15,000 he received from Tom Delay’s indicted PAC, he contributed to the Tom Delay defense fund. And he voted to weaken House ethics rules to allow Tom Delay to remain as Majority Leader. We can’t afford to send Randy Neugebauer back to Washington.
We know where Ricketts stands on the issues--he stands on our side. So where does his opponent stand?
Word around these parts is that some folks have taken to referring to Randy Neugebauer as Naugahyde. The name fits. Naugahyde is the most well-known brand name of pleather. Pleather ("plastic leather") is slang for imitation leather made out of plastic. For some, pleather is a derogatory term, implying that its use is a cheap substitute for genuine leather to cut costs.
There is no doubt that Randy “Naugahyde” Neugebauer is a cheap substitute for the real thing, our next congressman from the 19th district of Texas, Robert Ricketts.
From Wikipedia.
Naugahyde marketing includes a fictional animal called the "Nauga" whose hides are supposedly the natural source of all the Naugahyde manufactured. According to the story, which has become something of folk-lore in parts of Connecticut, the Naugas are nocturnal, hairless, aquatic mammals of many colors that live in the Naugatuck River, and can be made to come to the surface at night by shining a flashlight into the water. The Naugas are then captured and sorted by color to be made into the various colors of Naugahyde. Allegedly, when rolled together on a mechanical press, the seams between the Naugas disappear, resulting in a seamless, leather-like product.
Randy “Naugahyde” Neugebauer and his fellow Republicans only come out at night when Karl Rove and Dick Cheney beckon them to come forth and do their dark bidding. They capture them with promises of corrupt lobbyist money, and dire threats of retaliation. Mesmerized, Randy “Naugahyde” Neugebauer and the rest of the GOP delegation vote to seamlessly rubberstamp whatever chicanery Rove, Cheney and Bush have on their dark agenda.
Yes, the name fits. Let’s spread it widely.
Does the 19th District of Texas really want a Naugahyde congressman so ensnared in GOP corruption? From The DCCC.
Some facts about Randy Neugebauer and how tied up Rep. Neugebauer is with the GOP Culture of Corruption...
Representative Neugebauer has a very cozy relationship with the GOP Leadership. * Neugebauer received $10,000 from House Majority Leader John Boehner's "Freedom Project" PAC.
* Neugebauer received $10,000 from GOP Whip Roy Blunt's "Rely on Your Beliefs" PAC.
* Neugebauer voted with President Bush 90% of the time.
* Neugebauer voted the GOP party line 98% of the time.
Why do you think Neugebauer is just rubber stamping the Republican agenda?
How tied up is Representative Neugebauer with the Tom DeLay/Jack Abramoff scandal? Neugebauer has taken: * $15,000 from Tom DeLay's ARMPAC.
* $5,000 from Bob Ney, the first congressman to be implicated based on the Jack Abramoff guilty plea.
* $1,000 from former Tom DeLay chief of staff Ed Buckham, whose consulting firm closed down after Abramoff's guilty plea.
With all of these ties to the DeLay/Abramoff mess, is it any surprise that Neugebauer has: * Voted to weaken House ethics rules when DeLay proposed doing so as GOP Majority Leader.
* Voted with Tom DeLay 94% of the time.
Is Representative Neugebauer serving Texas voters, or the Republican money machine?
Representative Neugebauer has disturbing ties to disgraced and convicted former Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Neugebauer has taken: * $3,000 from "Duke's" PAC.
Should Representative Neugebauer's Texas constituents be concerned about this association with a confessed criminal? <Does the 19th District of Texas really want a Naugahyde congressman who is against public education, against a clean environment, against public health, against worker's rights, and against the elderly? From On the Issues.
Rated 17% by the NEA, indicating anti-public education votes. (Dec 2003)
Rated 9% by the LCV, indicating anti-environment votes. (Dec 2003)
Rated 17% by APHA, indicating a anti-public health voting record. (Dec 2003)
Rated 0% by the AFL-CIO, indicating an anti-union voting record. (Dec 2003)
Rated 13% by the ARA, indicating an anti-senior voting record. (Dec 2003)
Does the 19th District of Texas really want a Naugahyde congressman who is even more mean-spirited than his own party? A congressman who is against pets. A congressman who is against the global war on terror, defense, and hurricane recovery. A congressman who is for price gouging by the big oil companies. A congressman who is against the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. A congressman who is against water for the poor. A congressman who is against hurricane relief for those in rural areas. A congressman who is against stem cell research. And in every one of these cases he voted against his own party. From GovTrack.H.R. 3858: Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act of 2005. This bill passed the house. Neugebauer voted Nay.
H.R. 4939: Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Hurricane Recovery, 2006. This bill passed the House and Senate. Neugebauer voted Nay.
H.R. 5253: Federal Energy Price Protection Act of 2006. This bill passed the House. Neugebauer voted Nay.
S. 2320: A bill to make available funds included in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program for fiscal year 2006, and for other purposes. This bill passed the House and the Senate, and was signed into law by the President. Neugebauer voted Nay.
H.R. 1973: Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005. This bill passed the House and the Senate, and was signed into law by the President. Neugebauer voted Nay.
H.R. 3895: Rural Housing Hurricane Relief Act of 2005. This bill passed the House. Neugebauer voted Nay.
H.R. 810: Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005. This bill passed the House. Neugebauer voted Nay.
Does the 19th District of Texas really want a Naugahyde congressman who has a fancy house in Washington, D.C., or do we want a congressman like Robert Ricketts, who will remember where he comes from and who he works for? From the Abilene Reporter News.
Neugebauer, R-Lubbock, purchased a condominium near Washington's Potomac River. He listed its value from $250,001 to $500,000.
Does the 19th District of Texas really want an imitation congressman, who is nothing more than a corrupt career politician, beholden to Karl Rove and corporate lobbyists? Or does the 19th District of Texas want the real thing, Robert Ricketts, who will serve the people as a citizen legislator? The answer is clear. Vote for Robert Ricketts in November. |
