What would you say if I told you that in less than two weeks, FlashReport readers have an opportunity to defeat a liberal in Congress?
His name is Joe Schwarz and along with other liberals in the House of Representatives, he is standing firmly in the way of moving our conservative Republican agenda in Congress. Actually, Schwarz is uniquely situated to sabotage the GOP agenda, and I will explain why in a moment.
But first let me take a moment to tell you just how liberal Schwarz is… Schwarz (pictured to the right):
- Has repeatedly advocated higher income, business, property and gas taxes.
- Has suggested suspending or rescinding the President’s income, capitol gains and dividend tax cuts to pay for more government spending.
- Voted against a proposal to reduce non-security spending by 2%.
- Opposed slowing the rate of mandatory spending increases to 6.1%.
- Also voted against a 1% across-the-board spending reduction, but sadly voted for taxpayer-funded Viagra purchases.
- Joined the Democrat leadership in their call for President Bush’s Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation.
- Does not believe the Second Amendment of the Constitution gives individuals the right to keep and bear arms.
- Called his state’s right-to-carry law "nuts"
- Voted against Alaska oil drilling even announced he would oppose the Republican budget if Congress approved Alaska oil drilling.
- Sent a letter to the House Rules Committee opposing Republican efforts to provide school vouchers to low-income families hit by Hurricane Katrina.
- Voted to make it easier for local government to take private property from one landowner and give it to private landowner, under the law of eminent domain.
- Voted against the federal legislation to overdue the Supreme Court’s Kelo decision.
I could go on at length – I haven’t even gotten to Schwarz anti-life stands or his opposition to the federal marriage amendment.
"But Jon," you ask, "why is this particular liberal, Schwarz, any more of a threat to our Republican agenda than any of the other liberals in Congress like Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Lee, Henry Waxman?"
The answer is simple, and unbelievable. Joe Schwarz is a registered REPUBLICAN. That’s right, all of those liberal positions I have outlined above belong to one of the most liberal Republicans in Washington, making Schwarz much effectively situated to stop a conservative agenda on Capitol Hill than any Democrat in Congress!
If you aren’t amazed at how "anti-Republican" Schwarz is from the points above, here are a few more, taken from the Joe Schwarz is a Liberal website:
- The National Taxpayers Union rated him a dismal 47%, which was more than 20% below the average of all House Republicans
- He voted to fund the National Endowment for the Arts
- He voted to fund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
- He even voted for the infamous pork-barrel Alaska "Bridge to Nowhere."
- Schwarz is exactly the kind of big-government politician that we don’t want in Congress.
One of America’s premiere conservative activist groups, The Club for Growth, has declared Schwarz to be the most vulnerable liberal in Congress. You see, Schwarz, who is from Michigan, is facing a primary challenge in less than two weeks from conservative former long-time State Legislator Tim Walberg. I learned about this whole issue because, on behalf of the FlashReport, I participate (via phone) in a weekly conservative bloggers national meeting hosted by The Heritage Foundation and Human Events. The Club for Growth’s main blogger, Andy Roth, participates in these meetings as well. And in one recent meeting, CfG President Pat Toomey (a great conservative former Congressman) specifically called upon bloggers around the nation to carry a message — (to paraphrase…) ‘if you believe like we do that liberal Republicans are keeping us from key achievements like making the Bush tax cuts permanent, reforming social security, and reigning in federal spending, you need to be part of our effort to target Schwarz for defeat.’
Here is some great news. According to Andy Roth whom I just spoke with recently on this race — Schwarz is in the political battle of his life. One political expert in the district said, “The Schwarz people are running scared”. How is this possible? When you look at Schwarz record, imagine the opportunity for an articulate, values-oriented conservative candidate to really draw a contrast to the voters. And Walberg is doing just that.
The Club for Growth has this to say about Walberg:
TIM WALBERG – ONE OF THE GOOD GUYS 
Former Michigan State Rep. Tim Walberg (pictured) just announced he will challenge Congressman Schwarz in the Republican primary in Michigan’s 7th congressional district.
Tim had a stellar record in the State Legislature, repeatedly advocating pro-growth economic policies and fighting for taxpayers. He’s also a candidate with a backbone, who defied his own party’s leadership when it wouldn’t side with taxpayers.
Tim believes in limited government and is sharply critical of the Supreme Court’s Kelo decision, which weakened private property rights.
When he ran for Congress last year, the Lansing State Journal quoted Tim as saying "I will work continually to leave more resources with our families, businesses, and non-profit organizations. First, I will seek to reduce government spending so more resources can be left directly with the people. Every dollar the politicians spend is one less dollar in the pockets of American families and businesses. Second, I will strive to cut tax rates to increase incentives to work, save, and invest."
We can use a lot more of that common sense pro-growth medicine in Congress.
You can also see the contrast between the two candidates right here on Walberg’s website.
THE CALL TO ACTION
As I have said all along, the biggest danger we have to losing our Republican majority in Congress is if we squander it by not keeping our promises as a party. Taking down a leftist "Republican" like Schwarz would send a chilling message to any remaining Republicans on the Hill who want to stand in the way of reducing the size and scope of the federal government. We need to send a message that if you can’t support a mere 1% cut in the amount of federal spending, you are endangering our majority.
Of course electing Walberg and defeating Schwarz is something that will have to be done by Michigan voters far from the Golden State. But we can still make a difference. The Club for Growth is raising tons of money from thousands of grassroots folks like YOU to help fund independent efforts (such as these commercials) to help put Walberg over the top. Today I went to the CfG website and I made a donation to help their effort. I want to encourage each of you to do the same. While $50 or $100 would be awesome, even $15, $10 or $5 would help – and you can give to Club for Growth via credit card here. This is really important.
A RACE WE CAN WIN (from the CfG site)
Running as the most liberal Republican in a field with six strong candidates, Schwarz finished first in the 2004 GOP primary with just 28% of the vote – that is, 72% of the voters cast their ballots against Schwarz.
Unfortunately, Michigan does not have a runoff election, so 28% was good enough to win the nomination.
Walberg ran in the same race and finished a strong third, despite having been outgunned by richer (one candidate put in over $500,000 of his own money) or better-funded candidates.
Both our analysis of that race and a poll we recently conducted in the district convinces us that Walberg has a very good chance to win if he has the funding to carry his Reaganite pro-growth message to the voters.
Here’s where Club members like you come in.
You have the power to help Tim Walberg defeat Schwarz. The incumbent will be raising money from special interests here in Washington. But Club members can be the great equalizer in this race, donating the funds to provide Tim with the resources to upset this incumbent…and put all other liberal Republicans on notice that they, too, are vulnerable in a GOP primary.
This is a heavily Republican seat – Bush beat Kerry by nine points.
When Tim first ran for the State Legislature, he ran against a liberal Republican incumbent in the primary, and won.
We think the odds are good for that history to repeat here.
Now is the time for all good men and women to stop complaining about a Republican Congress that won’t limit government and start donating to Republican candidates who share our pro-growth values.
WHY SHOULD WE IN CALIFORNIA PITCH IN?
We have some liberal Republicans here in California. And if Schwarz is successfully removed from office in Michigan, you can be sure that if our California RINO’s (Republicans In Name Only) don’t shape up, then our blogger colleagues from around American will be pitching in to help us get rid of our problem legislators!
DONATE NOW
Again – the link to donate is right here. You can also go check out the Club for Growth website right here.
Let’s make a difference, and take on the biggest threat to our Republican Majority — the liberal "registered" Republicans who make a mockery of our party platform.
I would appreciate if you sent even a small donation. Email me and let me know if you do, or better yet, post a comment and challenge others! Together we can all make a difference.
Take care,
Jon
PS: Just so you know, labor unions have given over $125,000 to Schwarz. Environmentalist have given over $300,000. And the Republican Main Street Partnership (the ‘home team’ for the band of liberal GOPers on the Hill) is supporting him as well. If your character is defined by the company you keep, Schwarz is a BIG TIME liberal
Click here to go to the FR Weblog, where this Commentary has its own blog post, and where you can read and make comments.