March - April Update

WHAT GING-PAC CANDIDATES ARE DOING NOW!

CONGRESSMAN RANDY FORBES - On March 17th the House Judiciary Committee voted in favor of the “In God We Trust Resolution, (H.Con.Res. 13) originated by Congressman Randy Forbes (R-VA). The Forbes resolution, supported by 64 bipartisan congressmen, reaffirms “In God We Trust” as the national motto and encourages its public display. On the passage Congressman Forbes said, “Today, the House Judiciary Committee asked two simple questions: Does the United States still have the right to trust in God, and if so, should it? If the answer is “yes” to both questions, then the truths we declare to be “self evident” and the  rights we hold as “endowed by our Creator” are indeed transcendent and cannot be taken away by any government.

Since Randy Forbes came to the House in 2002 as a supported GING-PAC candidate, he has established himself as a leader. Randy formed the Congressional Prayer Caucus which has become a powerful force in the House of Representatives. Currently there are 55 members of the Prayer Caucus including Michele Bachmann, Jim Jordan, Mike Pence and other prominent Representatives.

Because of Randy Forbes, a church service was held in the rotunda of the Capitol Building in 2010. This was thc first time thc Capitol had bccn used as a church since 1868. For more than 100 years after the Capitol was built, church services were held there every Sunday. Did you know that? Thanks to Randy Forbes, “How Great Thou Art” was once again sung in the Rotunda.

CONGRESSMAN TRENT FRANKS - Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ) founded and now chairs the Congressional International Religious Freedom Caucus. With co-chair Heath Shuler (D-NC), he introduced a resolution calling for the U.S. to take action to protect religious freedom. The resolution condemns the intolerance that sanctioned recent high profile assassinations in Pakistan including that of the Minister of Minority Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti, who was the only Christian in the government. Congressman Franks has assisted organizations such as the Religious Freedom Coalition in calling attention to the repression of Christians and other religious minorities in Islamic areas of the world.

CONGRESSMAN TODD AKIN - Congressman Todd Akin (R-MO), along with at least seven other GING-PAC supported candidates, co-sponsored H.R.973 to prevent the misuse of foreign law in United States federal courts. The bill states: “In any court created by or under Article III of the Constitution of the United States, no justice, judge, or other judicial official shall decide any issue in a case before that court in whole or in part on the authority of foreign law, except to the extent the Constitution or an Act of Congress requires the consideration of that foreign law.”

The use of foreign law including Islamic sharia law has become a matter of concern to me and other Christian leaders. Even Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor confirmed she had used foreign laws including UN resolutions to render her decisions. Recently judges in New Jersey and Florida have allowed the use of sharia law to determine the outcome of cases.  (See next  page)

CONGRESSMAN DOUG LAMBORN - The House of Representatives voted 228-192 on March l7th to prohibit direct federal funding to National Public Radio. The bill (HR 1076) sponsored by  GING-PAC-endorsed Colorado Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn, will also restrict local stations from paying NPR dues or purchasing programming with federal dollars. After the vote, Rep. Lamborn issued the following statement:  “This vote sends a strong message that Congress is serious about cutting spending.
With trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can sce, under Barack Obama, we must begin to cut all unnecessary spending. When the federal government gets its spending under control, the small businesses and entrepreneurs of our country will begin investing again with confidence. That, ultimately, will lead to the creation of private sector jobs Americans are looking for.”

NPR was formed in 1970 by then President Lyndon Baines Johnson as a means of combating what he saw as a generally conservative media. Since that time NPR has received many tens of millions of dollars from the government to champion an increasingly leftist agenda that was exposed in the recent firing of commentator Juan Williams and undercover videos showing the left leaning bias and anti-Israel nature of the staff.

CONGRESSMAN JIM JORDAN - Just a few years ago GING-PAC endorsed and funded Jim Jordan (R-OH) for his first run at the House from Ohio. In just three terms he has become a part of the leadership and now chairs the powerful Republican Study Conmiittee which is an organization for the most conservative Republican congressmen. Virtually all of the truly conservative bills, both fiscal and social, come from congressmen who are associated with the Republican Study Committee. For example, other memebers include Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, whom GING-PAC has also supported. Jordan was also named Pro-Life legislator of the Year by the United Conservatives of Ohio and won the Defender of Life award from Ohio Right to Life for his unwavering commitment to protecting the sanctity of human life.

SENATOR ROY BLUNT - Newly elected Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) announced he would head the Senate Values Action Team (VAT). Last year, then-Congressman Blunt stepped down from his leadership postion in the House to run for Senate as a fiscal and social conservative. After the departure of social conservative champion Senator Sam Brownback, there was no one to lead the very valuable Senate VAT. The VAT is an interface for social conservative organizations such as the Religious Freedom Coalition to organize for or against legislation. The House VAT, headed by Congressman Joe Pitts (R-PA), and the Senate VAT were key in passing the Partial Birth Abortion Ban and the Defense of Marriage Act, just to name two pieces of legislation.

MORE OPPORTUNITIES AWAIT US! 

ANOTHER SENATE SEAT IN MISSOURI? - Missouri Democrat Senator Claire McCaskill faces Senate ethics violation charges over the use of a private plane for political purposes and her relationship to a shell company that owns the plane. McCaskill is facing questions over Timesaver LLC, a Delaware-based corporation that was created in July 2006, during her Senate run against Republican incumbent Jim Talent.  She narrowly defeated Talent, with only 50% of the vote, to his 47%.  She and her husband are part owners of Timesaver, and had chartered 89 flights for her - and billed the flights to her Senate budget. 
As soon as her misuse of federal tax dollars was exposed, McCaskill agreed to pay more than $88,000 to the U.S. Treasury. She claims that only one of the 89 flights was political in nature, but she has declined to make any additional records public on her use of this plane.   

ABOUT BARACK OBAMA

During the 2008 election, candidate Obama’s committee officially raised $745 million dollars. After the election, at the end of 2008, his committee still had $15 million on hand. The Democrat Party and independent organizations such as MoveOn.org spent tens of millions more.  More than $500 million was raised on the lnternet to  elect Barack Obama,  and much of the revenue originated from addresses in foreign nations. 

In contrast, Senator John McCain spent a total of only $380 million, or about half as much as Obama and that included $88 million he took from the Federal Matching Funds. Obama refused federal funds because it would have limited by law the amount he could spend.

Government Is Not God – PAC is launching an aggressive membership and fund raising drive in April. Starting in May these campaign updates will be published monthly. In addition our Internet site at www.gingpac.org is now updated almost daily. Please help us elect candidates such as those above, and help us move Barack Obama out of the White House.

February, 2010 Campaign Update

JOHN MCCAIN IN 2010 AND 2012

REALLY BAD NEWS: Senator John McCain has every intention of a rematch with Barack Obama in 2012. He has kept his presidential committee intact and when asked about Gov. Sarah Palin running in 2012 he said, “I’m not dead yet.” Nothing could be worse for the conservative cause and the Republican Party in 2012 than to have Senator John McCain at the top of the ticket again. The Senator will be 74 years old this year and 76 when he runs in 2012. The oldest man ever elected to the presidency was Ronald Reagan; he was 70 years old the day we was sworn in as the 41st president of the United States. Am I saying McCain is too old to be president? No, but I do remember Senator Bob Dole running for president in his seventies against a vigorous, younger Bill Clinton. In 1996 just about anyone could have beat Bill Clinton -- except Bob Dole. I believe the error is about to be repeated with an aging Senator running against a vigorous young president. I believe just about any Republican can beat Barack Obama in 2012 -- except John McCain.

That brings us back to 2010 and the Senate race in Arizona. My good friend Congressman J.D. Hayworth has decided to run against John McCain in the Republican Primary. The race shows what kind of man John McCain really is. Before Hayworth even made the decision to run, John McCain began running hateful negative ads against him. He demanded that the radio station that employed Hayworth as a commentator should fire him. He complained to the FEC about Hayworth having a radio show even though he (Hayworth) was not an announced candidate.

I have seen the vindictiveness of John McCain before. I have watched him turn red-faced and explode on the subway that runs under the Capitol between the various office building. McCain has a vicious temper which has not been tempered with age. On the other hand in his announcement for his run for the Senate, J. D. Hayworth said that John McCain had served the nation with honor, but that it was time for him to go.

THE TALE OF THE TAPE: J. D. Hayworth is far more conservative than John McCain in every area, including social issues. The American Conservative Union shows Hayworth in the top 4% of elected officials, but McCain only in the top 32%. That is a huge difference. Then there is this: McCain sponsored the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act. The law prohibited conservative non-profit groups from campaigning but allowed Barack Obama to raise three quarters of a billion dollars for his presidential campaign. Much of that law has now been found unconstitutional. McCain sponsored the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act, which would have capped CO2 emissions at the 2000 level. He also sponsored the McCain-Kennedy comprehensive immigration bill in 2005. McCain also voted in favor of the $850-billion TARP bailout one month prior to the 2008 elections, sealing the fate of his presidential campaign.

GING-PAC will back the conservative in this race and that is J. D. Hayworth.

OTHER SENATE ACTION: I had not planned on GING-PAC being involved in many Senate races not only because of the expense, but also because for a while it seemed hopeless for conservatives to take back the Senate in 2010. There are eight Republican seats vacant because of retirements and Senators running for other offices, such as governor. Our favorite Senator, Sam Brownback, is running for governor of Kansas. GING-PAC is supporting Todd Tiahrt to replace Sam Brownback in the Senate. Todd has personally promised me that he will take over the Senate Values Action Team and actively promote social conservative legislation, as Sam Brownback has. Dr. James Dobson, among many others, has endorsed Todd Tiahrt for the Senate.

With eight Republicans leaving, things looked a little bleak, that is until several high ranking Democrats also decided to step down. The latest is Senator Evan Bayh in Indiana. Indiana is a red state that has in the past gone blue for the Bayh family. Both Evan and his dad were governors and Senators in Indiana. Without a Bayh in the race, the seat will probably go to a Republican. GING-PAC does not have a candidate in that race as yet. Bayh’s decision comes after Sen. Chris Dodd, D-CT, and Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-ND, announced their retirements in January. Democrats also have to defend the seats of Barack Obama in Illinois and Joe Biden in Delaware. There are also vulnerable Democrat seats in other states.

In Missouri GING-PAC is supporting Congressman Roy Blunt who stepped out of his leadership roll as House Whip to run for Senate. Roy’s son was a popular governor of Missouri who did not seek reelection, but the Blunt name has a very good reputation in Missouri. Congressman Blunt is very conservative and 100% pro-life.

In my position as chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition I have worked numerous times on pro-life and other social conservative legislative issues with Congressman Blunt. This is a man who will help social conservatives once he is in the Senate. The most likely match-up in November appears to be pro-life Roy Blunt against pro-abortion Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan.

THE HOUSE

On the House side we have added another candidate to the endorsed list. Tim Walberg was a true activist for social conservative and pro-life issues who lost his Michigan seat last year to a far left leaning liberal who was swept in with Barack Obama. Tim Walberg has a good chance at getting this seat back. A National Research Inc. poll has Walberg leading Schauer 46-37, and 50-40 with "leaners." It appears that voters in the conservative leaning 7th district of Michigan are having buyer’s remorse after watching Mark Schauer vote consistently with Nancy Pelosi in the House.

GING-PAC will also step forward to defend great conservative spokesmen who will be under attack by wealthy far left organizations such as Moveon-org this year. These include Michele Bachmann in Minnesota, Dr. Paul Broun in Georgia, Trent Franks in Arizona and Todd Akin in Missouri. While we want to get more conservative congressmen elected, we have to watch our back and make sure that some of the conservative workhorses we have in the House keep their seats.

OUR NEW INTERNET SITE

Last year Government Is Not God - PAC’s new Internet site went up. The old site was at www.govnotgod.org, and to archive our old material we kept that site. The new site is located at www.gingpac.org and is friendlier to use and has modern features. As we get closer to elections I urge you to check the site for information and the latest candidates we support.

To have impact in these races GING-PAC must have funds. It is crucial that we have at least an additional $50,000 as primaries begin in earnest. Please send a check to help today, or give an online gift at www.gingpac.org.


William J. Murray, Chairman
Government Is Not God - PAC
P.O. Box 77237, Washington, DC 20013