MoveOn members in Texas's 21st District have voted to endorse Lainey Melnick for Congress. It's up to all of us to stop the corporate takeover of Congress-you can volunteer with the campaign here:
We couldn't have chosen a better day to release our first campaign video. Today, many in our district received another one of Lamar Smith's taxpayer funded self-promotion newsletters. This time, he uses a quote from the majority leader, Steny Hoyer, which he claims supports his assertion that the Democratic majority is irresponsible. The quote was lifted completely out of context from an article dated May 11, 2006 and entitled "The American People Are Not the Only Ones Rejecting Republican Policies - So Are the Republicans." The statement was in response to the Republican majority being unable to bring their party together to do the job for America. In this article, he says, "Republicans cannot escape responsibility and accountability for their fiscal failures."
Today marks the 80th day since this crisis began. This disaster is now the largest offshore oil spill in our history. It is estimated that 35,000 to 65,000 barrels of oil are pouring into our Gulf waters everyday, and now we've seen tar balls hit our Texas shores. Our economy, our wildlife, our way of life has been decimated, but BP still finds ways to make even more bad decisions that harm Americans.
Lamar Smith thinks that he has found the winning campaign platform. All he needs to do is rant about how the Obama administration isn't securing our borders, use fear to connect terrorism with immigration, and gamble on your intolerance to accept that immigrants are creating our unemployment problems. The problem is that Lamar Smith has had 23 years of policy-making to show us that he has the solution, that he can make us safe, and that he can grow our economy. He has failed.
Shares Texas Values Lainey Melnick was born on a US Air Force Base in 1962. The second daughter of hard-working parents from the midwest, she has lived in two countries, seven states and has experienced the American Dream. Her search for a permanent home ended when she and her husband found the perfect community to raise their family. Lainey has spent a quarter of her life as a Texan, and is proud to call Austin home.
While Lamar Smith has gained power and prestige in Congress, Texas has become the home to the highest number of uninsured children in America. According to the 2008 Census, almost 30% of children under 18 yrs old, in our district alone, are either uninsured or are already on a government insurance program. In our district alone, the newly passed health care reform bill will give the opportunity of insurance to over 25,000 of our uninsured children, over 93,000 uninsured adults, and almost 2,000 uninsured seniors. In our district alone, over 75,000 young adults, of whom 1 of 4 lives below the poverty level, will qualify to stay on their parents' insurance policy instead of adding them to the pool of uninsured or government subsidized. In our district alone, over 35% of our population of all ages, and 95% of our seniors, almost 300,000 of our neighbors, are either uninsured or are already on a government insurance program. Yet our community suffers from only a little over 4% unemployment. Our neighbors are not trying to get something for nothing. They work hard, and they deserve an opportunity to purchase the security net of affordable health insurance for themselves and their families.
Thank you so much for your amazing support over the past 9 months. Because of your hard work and dedication, we did it. I am now officially the Democratic Nominee for the TX-21 Congressional Seat. In November 2010, I will face the 22-year Republican incumbent, Lamar Smith. Our challenge is really only just beginning. The results of the primary show that he is a skilled career politician who understands the business of re-election. His opponent was able to get about 20% of the Republican vote, denting his base, but not nearly enough to split the support. I think he put himself in a difficult position though trying to run on the right of Lamar Smith, there wasn't much wiggle room there. Smith also lost support that he had from the 2006 primary, so he came away with about 16,000 votes less than he could have had.
The Big Tent Event: Democratic Primary Election Night Watch Party (A multi-candidate, multi-club event)
Supporters, Volunteers, Friends and Family
You are invited to celebrate with ~ Lainey Melnick ~ Candidate for US Congress and Our Co-Hosts:
Capital Area Democratic Women ~ Burnt Orange Report ~ Capital Area Progressive Democrats ~ Capital City Young Democrats ~ Circle C Democrats
Plus These 2010 Democratic Primary Candidates and Their Supporters:
~ Bill White for Governor ~ Farouk Shami for Governor ~ Rebecca Bell-Metereau for District 5, Member State Board of Education ~ Judy Jennings for District 10, Member State Board of Education ~ Valinda Bolton for District 47, State Representative ~ Donna Howard for District 48, State Representative ~ Kurt Kuhn for Place 4, Justice, 3rd Court of Appeals ~ Lora Livingston for District Judge, 261st Judicial District ~ David Crain for District Judge, 331st Judicial District ~ Tim Sulak for District Judge, 353rd Judicial District ~ Eric Shepperd for County Court at Law 2, Judge ~ Olga Seelig for County Court at Law 3, Judge ~ Brandy Mueller for County Court at Law 6, Judge ~ Elisabeth Earle for County Court at Law 7, Judge ~ Sarah Eckhardt for Precinct 2, County Commissioner ~ Daniel Bradford for Precinct 1, Justice of the Peace ~ Yvonne Williams for Precinct 1, Justice of the Peace ~ Karin Crump for Precinct 2, Justice of the Peace ~ Susan Steeg for Precinct 3, Justice of the Peace ~Raul Gonzalez for Precinct 4, Justice of the Peace ~ Herb Evans for Precinct 5, Justice of the Peace ~
The Big Tent Event: Democratic Primary Election Night Watch Party (A multi-candidate, multi-club event)
Supporters, Volunteers, Friends and Family
You are invited to celebrate with ~ Lainey Melnick ~ Candidate for US Congress and Our Co-Hosts:
Capital Area Democratic Women ~ Burnt Orange Report ~ Capital Area Progressive Democrats ~ Capital City Young Democrats ~ Circle C Democrats
Plus These 2010 Democratic Primary Candidates and Their Supporters:
Bill White for Governor ~ Farouk Shami for Governor ~ Rebecca Bell-Metereau for District 5, Member State Board of Education ~ Valinda Bolton for District 47, State Representative ~ Donna Howard for District 48, StateRepresentative ~ Kurt Kuhn for Place 4, Justice, 3rd Court of Appeals ~ Lora Livingston for District Judge, 261st Judicial District ~ David Crain for District Judge, 331st Judicial District ~Tim Sulak for District Judge, 353rd Judicial District ~ Eric Shepperd for County Court at Law 2, Judge ~ Olga Seelig for County Court at Law 3, Judge ~ Brandy Mueller for County Court at Law 6, Judge ~ Elisabeth Earle for County Court at Law 7, Judge ~ Sarah Eckhardt for Precinct 2, County Commissioner ~ Margaret J. Gómez for Precinct 4, County Commissioner ~ Daniel Bradford for Precinct 1, Justice of the Peace ~ Karin Crump for Precinct 2, Justice of the Peace ~ Susan Steeg for Precinct 3, Justice of the Peace ~ Herb Evans for Precinct 5, Justice of the Peace
Today, I received an e-newsletter from my opponent, Congressman Lamar Smith. On the one-year anniversary of the Recovery Act, he outlines the failure of this legislation with partisan sarcasm highlighting only wasteful spending in "The Top 12 Spending Lowlights." Wasteful spending is a huge problem with our government, both during Republican and Democratic majorities and Presidents. We must have accountability for all these programs to assure there are not abuses.
But, as usual, Lamar Smith isn't telling the whole story of the Recovery Act. He omits everything related to our own Congressional District. He has left out the most important information for our own community...What has this Recovery Act done for us here in Central Texas? The highest amount of awards in Texas came into our district, obviously without any assistance from Representative Smith. $2,481,005,612.00 was pumped into our local economy. Our Congressional District also tops the list with the highest amount of jobs created in Texas from the Recovery Act, 20,500 new jobs, just in our district alone.
