Major Endorsement!

Bill Gillespie snags a major endorsement from newspapers distributed throughout Georgia's First District:

Coastal Empire News, publishers of Savannah Daily News, The Business Report & Journal and Coastal Family Magazine, is endorsing Savannah's Bill Gillespie (D) for Congress to represent the 1st Congressional District over incumbent Jack Kingston (R).

Savannahian Bill Gillespie is a highly educated, fiscally conservative Democrat, a war hero of the Iraq War, a recipient of the Bronze Star and a candidate with a vision of how to bring jobs back to the 1st District in manufacturing, alternative energy and the timber industry.

And as for Jack "flag pin" Kingston:

And these times force us to step back, and take a hard look at his actual voting record on critical issues including fighting all measures to set a timeline to get out of Iraq, his failure to fight runaway Federal spending as a member of the House Appropriations committee that develops the budget, his leadership in defense of Tom Delay and President Bush as well as Republican party smear campaigns this election cycle, and his failure to file his personal financial disclosure information due last May 15 even though he was up for re-election. These votes and others lead us to believe that it is time for a change in 1st District representation.

Frankly, Jack began to lose our support last Feb. 27 when he appeared on the Dan Abrams show and said it was okay to "question Sen. Barack Obama's patriotism because he doesn't regularly wear an American flag lapel pin."

Problem was, sitting there on the TV set with the cameras rolling, Jack wasn't wearing a flag pin. These types of smear tactics are repugnant and demean elected officials in an era when voters are begging for straight talk on the issues versus old-style personal attack politics.

Yet, he continues to use such tactics, seeking to smear his opponent Bill Gillespie in this race, accusing him of lying about his educational degrees and other achievements, despite two news organizations having confirmed that Gillespie's resumé is accurate.

I guess they agree with Larrietta Johnson about that Atlanta debate.

Much more in the endorsement, con Kingston and pro Gillespie.

Concluding statement:

Bill Gillespie is a credible candidate and a man in touch with the needs of the military establishment in our region, which is a critical component of our local business economy.
To achieve a change, we must change.

All that and Bill Gillespie can fly!

Oh yeah: you can, too.

Bill in Valdosta with Jim Martin Thursday Friday

Photo: jimmywayne22 CC

Jim Martin and Bill Gillespie are on the road! As you know, Jim Martin aims to defeat Saxby Chambliss for Georgia Senator. You're probably aware by now that Bill Gillespie aims to oust Jack Kingston from GA-01.

"What is the Road To Change Bus Tour? The Democratic Party of Georgia will tour across Georgia, making 50 stops in 7 days, touting our Democratic candidates."

Friday 31 October 2008. Introductions at 7:30PM, Jim Martin at 8PM, other candidates at 8:30PM, including Lt. Col. Bill Gillespie (Army, ret.), all on the Lowndes County Courthouse steps, 108 E Central Ave., Valdosta, GA 31601.

Come see the new face of Georgia's Congressional delegation!

You can RSVP via mybarackobama.com.

Letter from a Veteran

This one needs no editing:

From: "Larrietta Johnson"
Date: Tue, October 28, 2008 2:02 pm
To: billgillespie@billforgeorgia.com

Hello Bill,

It's Larrietta Johnson. I was the soldier in the accident traveling behind your vehicle in Kuwait. I just wanted you to know that I voted for you today to represent the first congressional district of Georgia as our congressman.

I also watched your debate against Jack Kingston on GPB and I was proud of the way you handled yourself. I remember you saying that no one listened to you when you were in charge. I think the important thing is that you listened to others. I once had a young army captain tell me "Sergeant there is nothing to discuss" when I was trying to explain something to him. You were not like that and I will never forget you telling me that I could always come to you whenever I had an issue to discuss. Thank you for that.

I am currently about to finish my last semester to become a registered nurse. I attend school at the Technical College of the Lowcountry in Beaufort, S.C. Out-of-state tuition, inadequate funding in educational benefits for veterans, and gas prices has left me on the verge of packing it up and leaving Hinesville. I've just about lost everything that I've worked so hard for trying to better myself and my financial situation through education.

We certainly need change here in the first congressional district of Georgia and I wholeheartedly believe that you are the change that we need. I was graded on an assignment in one of my nursing classes and ironically the subject was that I write a letter to my congressman. My nursing instructor was so impressed with the letter that she gave it her seal of approval, asked to speak with me privately about my concerns, and put a cute little sticky on my assignment that read "bet he contacts you." Guess what?

Congressman Jack Kingston never contacted me. I guess the issues concerning soldiers, their benefits, and education incentives for Licensed Practical Nurses to become Registered Nurses were not worth his time.

Thank you Bill for fighting the fight with me that most politicians only talk about. I voted for you today and I wish you all the best!

Sincerely,
Larrietta Johnson
Veteran, US Army

Here's a link to the debate.

Atlanta Debate Video

Look in the GPB election archive, scroll down in the menu to APCD-1st Congressional District Debate, and press play.

A very few snippets are below. You've already seen some other impressions. Now you can watch for yourself.

Bill criticises Jack for not doing anything for the soldiers in his district, and compares Jack to Colonel Sanders: good for the fast food industry; not so good for the chickens.

Jack keeps shifting ground on Iraq and Afghanistan, sounding more like Barack and Bill all the time.

Bill: "This was a war of choice." "We can leave honorably in eighteen months." "Listen: this is a sinkhole." "The Iraqis can start taking care of themselves, and we can start focusing on our own internal problems."

Reporter to Jack: "Wouldn't it be a benefit to connect south Georgia to Atlanta and other cities?"

Jack: "You know there could be a time." "...the critical mass is not there."

Bill: "The time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining." But Bush didn't do that. Ties Kingston to DeLay. "We need to make public transportation a part of our public stimulus package."

Reporter to Bill: How do you propose to pay for the things you want to do?

Bill: "It's time we look at investing in skills for the 21st century."

Reporter asks Jack about earmark reform, given his many earmark requests.

Jack: Why yes! It's all the Democrats' fault that we don't have earmark reform. Jack: #1 have to have strong military! Decisions by generals in Baghdad! "vigilant military" etc. Worked for Tybee beach erosion. (Yet Mr. Zero on the Environment wants offshore drilling.)

30 second closing statements

Bill: Not set up for 21st century. Champion of middle class and working people. Change.

Jack: "He wants to kill No Child Left Behind!" Thump thump!

I'm pretty sure he said something else, but the blatancy of "kill" "child" was over the top even for Jack.

Jack must be scared!

Jack Showed Up! "Like a Chicken Voting for Colonel Sanders"

After saying he DECLINED to debate Bill Gillespie, Jack Kingston showed up Sunday after all!

Jack didn't have much to say, though:

with Kingston primarily charging that Gillespie misrepresented himself as having a Ph.D. Gillespie said he had made no such claim, but said he had completed all of the work necessary for a Ph.D., other than the dissertation.

Instead of picking at trivia, Bill went for substance:

Among other things, Gillespie, the Democratic challenger, said Kingston, the Republican incumbent, had failed to support soldiers and their families.

“A soldier voting for Jack Kingston is like a chicken voting for Col. Sanders,” said Gillespie.

Mainstream media coverage of this debate was lacking. So now we turn to a blogger, who has more to say:

First, Kingston tried to say that Dems love him, since some Dems here in southern Georgia support him.

You can find one or two of those in every election.
Kingston is an experienced politician:

As for the rest of the debate, it mainly consisted of Kingston distorting facts and otherwise smearing as well as employing demagoguery whenever possible--like during his timed rebuttals or during his closing argument, when no one could take him to task for it.

Now to the interesting candidate:

Gillespie, on the other hand, does know what he is about. He is an expert on the environment and, to me, that is absolutely wonderful. We really need that kind of expertise as we move towards sustainable energy--and as we try to fend off the "drill baby drill" wingnuts like Kingston who refuse to see that we simply don't have the oil reserves to meet our energy needs and don't care about the environmental impact of drilling off Georgia's coast.

It goes without saying that he knows more than Kingston when it comes to Iraq and what needs to be done there.

I also see in Gillespie a reasonable person who is not a blind partisan or ideologue. We need reasonable people who can think clearly and make decisions based on rational analysis. What we don't need is more of the same, shouting, fear-mongering, know-nothing governance that we have had for so very long--and which Kingston and others in this state still think represents "good government."

Here's hoping GPB will get the debate up online soon, so we can all see it again (or, in the case of Lowndes County, for the first time, since channel 8 didn't have the feed). So Kingston only had chicken feed, and Bill had substance. That's what this election is about.

Get Married and Work Longer Hours!

Jack Kingston means you! Especially if you're a member of the "Democrat Party":

If the Democrat Party truly wanted to take on poverty, they would have to say what is the relationship between marriage and the poverty level and between hours worked and the poverty level, because the truth of the matter is, if people end poverty, many of them would marry and work 40 hours a week, they would be out of poverty. … It’s not something I have the knowledge of or the information of, but it’s an economic fact that I hope we could have committee hearings on and discuss this. If we want to attack poverty, that’s where we need to go. With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

This is the same Jack who didn't want to work more than three days a week in DC:

"Keeping us up here eats away at families... Marriages suffer. The Democrats could care less about families -- that's what this says."

Keep Jack in Washington? Or make him yield back the balance of any future terms?

Contribute here to get more Bill Gillespie ads on TV, in newspapers, in the mail, and in people's yards.

And don't forget to debate party tonight. Bill goes on the air statewide at 6PM for half an hour, because Jack backed out of the debate.

Debate Parties Sunday!

The Atlanta debate Sunday between Jack and Bill will be broadcast on Georgia Public Broadcasting. Time for debate parties! The debate starts at 6PM, so you can start partying at 5.

Will Jack Kingston show up, or will he be missing like his Republican cohorts Westmoreland, Linder, and Price? Or like Jack himself when he failed to show in Savannah Friday? Maybe Kingston didn't like getting beat by Bill in the Brunswick News debate. Is Jack running scared?

Update: Apparently so! Jack DECLINED to show. So Bill gets half an hour of free TV time to remind us why he's better than Jack for GA-01!

Those of you in Valdosta, the Blue House is hosting a debate party: Blue House, 102 East Adair St.

You can go to Atlanta, if you like:

All debates will take place at Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) before a live studio audience. Members of media, students and the general public are welcome to attend. Please call 404-577-7377 with questions or if you would like to attend a debate.

Georgia Public Broadcasting is located at 260 14th Street, Atlanta 30318.

But why spend four hours on the road when you can have the same fun in your home town? Call your friends, ask your neighbors, host a debate party!

Jack Kingston: Zero on the Environment! (Worse than Saxby)

The League of Conservation Voters rates Jack Kingston
a whopping zero (0)
on his environmental votes in the 110th Congress.

Once again, Jack manages to be worse than Saxby Chambliss, who apparently did good at least once; Saxby got 8%.

Jack isn't just bad, he's one of the two worst of the entire Georgia Congressional delegation.

What do you expect from somebody who wants big tours and roads on Cumberland Island? Jack may flip-flop about earmarks, but now we know Kingston is consistent about something: zero on the environment!

Jack Kingston, ProLogic

(Photo: Waldo Jaquith, CC license)

No, I don't mean Kingston is for logic. This is the same Jack who impugned Obama's patriotism while not wearing a flag pin on national TV. Kingston doesn't wear one back home, either,.

ProLogic is a military contractor in a CBS News on Jan 11th saying the FBI is investigating ProLogic for its use of some public funds.

According this list of political contributions ProLogic provided CBS News, it looks to me like Kingston or his political supporter groups got $9,000 in campaign contributions from people associated with ProLogic. Hm, this writeup says $16,500 since 2002.

In an accompanying story, CBS News says Kingston got ProLogic $2.4 million in earmarks.

Meanwhile, at Armstrong Atlantic State University (AASU),

The government contractor has opened an office at Armstrong Atlantic State University's Cyber and Homeland Security Institute, where it will develop technology for government and civilian clients.

Now there's nothing wrong with high tech jobs for Savannah. Earmarks aren't even necessarily a problem. But earmarks for a company that contributes to Kingston's campaign?

And ProLogic is only one among many: Kingston collected $101,600 for his 2006 campaign from intended earmark recipients, according to the FEC.

Curiously, Kingston proposed earmark reform in a bill (HR 967) introduced 7 Feb 2008, shortly after the CBS News ProLogic story.

More Kingston logic: he was for earmarks before he was against them.