As you know, the reason I am running for Congress is because the quality of life for Oklahomans is not improving under the existing leadership. Oklahoma ranks 50th in overall health care, 49th in education spending and over 20% of the population in this congressional district is in poverty. Our health care costs are going up at an annual rate of 6.7%. Higher education is inflating at 8.5% per year. Real wages have decreased 1% over the last ten years. As a twenty-five year resident of the 2nd Congressional District, I would like to address some of the issues and reasons I’ve been motivated to run for Congress.



Special Interest Money



You’ve spent a lot of money trying to disparage my character. You have done it by accumulating almost $2 million from special interest including $250,000 from healthcare contributions, over $500,000 from oil contributions and over $200,000 from Wall Street. As Texas pundit Jim Hightower once said, “The water won’t clear up until we get the hogs out of the creek.” MY supporters, the grassroots, working Oklahomans from the 2nd Congressional District, are the ones paying for my response to you.



Liberal vs. Conservative



You’ve called me liberal because I believe in policies that foster decent housing, a good education, adequate and affordable health care, the ability for small business to fairly compete, a living wage, equal pay for women, a living wage, equal pay for equal work and respect for women. I can only guess that when you voted against education benefits for veterans, unemployment benefits, equal pay for women, a living wage and affordable health care, you were merely demonstrating that you were a conservative. How does your brand of conservatism help the people of the 2nd District?



Health Care Quality



You have said that I advocate for changes in our health care system similar to the French health care system. I realize statistical analysis is not the friend of politicians, but the data show that those who are sick with the curable disease will have a better chance of survival under the French health care delivery system. The United State health care delivery system ranks 19th in the world. I certainly want the best health care possible for my family and I’m surprised that you would disregard this data for political purposes. Can you be so blinded by special interest that you can’t even consider why another health care delivery system might work better for District 2 and your own family?



Health Care Cost



You voted against health care reform and told us it would cost too much money. The fact is it will save Oklahomans billions of dollars. Quality will improve because of electronic medical records as well as preventions and early detection. In this district alone 310,000 residents will have improved coverage with health insurance, 137,000 Medicare beneficiaries will have improved care, 128,000 uninsured will be covered, 21,700 residents with pre-existing conditions can obtain coverage and 900 families will not have to file for bankruptcy due to unaffordable health care costs, and we will do it while reducing uncompensated care for providers by $95 million. Since much of this savings comes from overpriced insurance premiums, perhaps those contributions from the insurance lobby have fogged the judgment of our current congressional delegation. By cutting the waste out of the health care/insurance industry we can save every man, woman and child in Oklahoma $2,000 per year. Why wouldn’t you want to do that?



Guns



You suggested I want to take your guns away. I don’t know where you get your fascination with guns or why you think that is the most important issue in this district, but you haven't earned the right to criticize me. I spent a little over a year in the Marine Corps in Vietnam, much of it in combat-- sworn to protect the constitution-- which includes the 2nd amendment. The reason you are on television criticizing me is because I fought for you to have that right. By the way, I also have an ‘A’ rating with the NRA (Project Vote Smart).



30% Sales Tax



You co-sponsored a measure in Congress which would add a 30% sales tax to everything we buy. When we buy $100 worth of groceries, we would have to pay $130. Then you voted to extend the tax breaks for the wealthiest 1% of the population-- those living in luxury in New York and Hollywood and of course millionaires such as yourself. I guess the 30% sales tax is necessary to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy, but it’s coming out of the paychecks of working folks in the 2nd District.



Wall Street Bail Out



You voted to bail out Wall Street and then voted against a bill to regulate it. It’s obvious they can’t regulate themselves. You voted against extending unemployment benefits for the people in this district and you voted against equal pay for equal work.



Veteran’s Benefits



You voted against the GIO Bill for returning veterans along with education benefits and unemployment benefits. Veteran’s benefits are important in this district. I’m a perfect example. Returning from Vietnam, I used the GI Bill to attend OSU.



Pro-Life Claim



You claim you are pro-life. The top two reasons women cite for abortion are poverty and lack of health insurance. It seems that a 30% sales tax will create more poverty-- and of course you voted against affordable health care. Do you not see the hypocrisy of politicians claiming to be pro-life while voting against adequate and affordable health care? Do you no play attention to constituents who are desperate for heath care?



Oil Tax Breaks



You voted for Tax Breaks for Oil Companies, then you voted to lift oil regulations. The BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is directly related to special interests having enough influence to remove regulation.



Summary



It seems you left the working men and women of District 2 behind and have “gone Washington” on us. It is an affront to our intelligence that you think we can be duped into thinking someone wants to take our guns away so we won’t pay attention to policies which deprive us of feeding our families, educating our children and obtaining affordable health care. You and I are different people with different ideas about the role of a Congressman. I have listed some of our differences above while making my case for a change in Congress. I think you have turned your back on the values of the working people in this District. We’ll see what the people think on July 27th.



Sincerely,



Senator Jim Wilson



www.votejimwilson.com

Last night, despite Regina Thomas having won Chatham County (basically, Savannah, the biggest county in the district by far) by better than two to one, Blue Dog John Barrow managed to win the Democratic nomination. Georgia doesn't have paper trails and there is no way to know what the vote really was but I watched the Secretary of State's feed as a clear Regina victory in rural Johnson County turned into Barrow landslide. I've heard from half a dozen people in GA-12 today that Barrow bought off electoral officials and got the vote totals in outlying counties that he needed to make up for the thrashing Regina gave him in Savannah. Did he steal the election? Almost definitely.We have two more progressives we're backing in this cycle with contests against Blue Dogs, Doug Tudor and Jim Wilson. Doug looks like he'll beat Blue Dog shill Lori Edwards in central Florida and Jim is putting up a valiant effort against entrenched incumbent Dan Boren in eastern Oklahoma. This morning Jim sent out an open letter to Boren that I want to share with you. The primary is in 6 days (next Tuesday).

Labels: Blue Dogs, Dan Boren, Jim Wilson, Oklahoma, reactionary Democrats