Finger-pointing in the Fightin' Fifth
Today's Oregonian includes a letter to the editor from Cathleen Shea of Lincoln City that neatly describes the showdown between Congresswoman Darlene Hooley and her challenger Mike Erickson.
The Republicans control Congress, yet a Mike Erickson campaign ad blames Rep. Darlene Hooley, D-Ore., for the Veterans Affairs employee who violated rules and took home a computer, which was subsequently stolen, exposing millions of veterans to the risk of identity theft.Way to go, Mike. It must have taken great effort to generate such inaccurate copy. Why do people spend more energy on defamation of an opponent than demonstration of their own skills? I do not need a finger-pointer in Congress. I want action.
Here's what Hooley has done. She authored the bill to immediately fix the VA's identity theft risks. Hooley provided body armor to Oregon soldiers to ensure their safety in Iraq; Republican leadership failed to adequately arm combat soldiers. Oops.
Hooley resolved in one hour what the VA couldn't do in a year -- cover a bill for my health care. The VA allowed the bill to go to the threat of collections. Hooley resolved the problem and saw to it that the VA did its job.
We need Darlene Hooley in Congress -- not for any one political party, but for the good of all people.
The Oregonian also reported on the competing ads yesterday.
Discuss.
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Sept. 14, 2006
Posted in letter to the editor. |
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Sep 14, '06
IMO, Mike Erickson is just one in a long line of lying Republicans who campaign on negativity and convince voters who are too lazy to check the facts. Bush has gotten away with these tactics twice, so it's no wonder the underling neocons think they can get away with it too. Let's show them they are wrong in November and re-elect Congresswoman Hooley. She's good for Oregon and the Country.
Sep 14, '06
[off-topic comment deleted. -editor.]
Sep 14, '06
The Republicans control Congress, yet a Mike Erickson campaign ad blames Rep. Darlene Hooley, D-Ore., for the Veterans Affairs employee who violated rules and took home a computer....
Oh, so a Democrat can be blamed for something they had no control over, but Republicans are not responsible for their actions? Anyone visiting the Erickson for Congress site will notice 2 things:
Such flashy graphics that it takes a long time to load if one has a dialup connection (was the campaign clueless or only seeking votes of those with high speed connections?).
On the "issues" page there are a number of issues listed with links to a little paragraph or so about them. But don't look for a Veterans link--it ain't there.
Hate to say this, but Erickson makes the Boquist for Congress campaign look good in comparison.
Erickson is obviously one of those Republicans who loves to attack but finds it hard to state the affirmative (what he would do for veterans--is he even aware of veteran concerns like health care or logistics in the field?, is he promising never to miss a committee meeting because nothing is more important? )
I just sent an email to a couple of Republican (but not right wing) friends telling them that this is a "values" issue. It is not about party. We have an incumbent who does constituent service for veterans and a negative opponent who never mentions veterans as an issue.
Sep 14, '06
I'm a registered republican but after seeing those Mike Erickson adds there is no way in hell I would ever vote for him. I change the channel every time they come on. What a scum bag.
Sep 14, '06
Real progressives need to know that Darlene Hooley is not one. Hooley's war record is abominable, including her open-ended support for the destruction of Lebanon and Gaza. Progressives need to support the ideas if not the campaign of Paul Aranas: http://www.votearanas.org/
Hooley should debate Aranas if she has the guts. Aranas's "radical agenda" is one which the great majority of the people of the world have: Don't do to others what you wouldn't have them do to you.
Sep 14, '06
Howard, if you are voting for Keating for Gov. and live in the 5th District, you have the right to campaign for the Green candidate for Congress.
But some of us have more concerns (incl. agriculture and veterans issues) than you talk about.
After visiting the website I can't see why a young 3rd party candidate I never heard of before now (and my roots go back to the first election in the new 5th District in 1982) would be better than the current Congresswoman. Middle Eastern politics is less important to some of us than local issues.
12:12 a.m.
Sep 15, '06
and i just saw a "HooleyLies.com" ad for the first time, Erickson accusing Hooley of being a "desperate politician" and using a truly nasty picture. the good part is that this kind of thing usually backfires. i hope she, like Wu in 2004, takes the (mostly) high road and promotes herself. it did great for Wu, when he could have gone down in flames; Erickson is obviously the worst kind of slime, and Darlene needs to let him do himself in.
Sep 15, '06
Erickson is obviously the worst kind of slime
you have no idea...the other shoe is about to drop
Sep 16, '06
One of the problems Mike Erickson has is that this town is littered with folks who have first-hand experience with his sleazy ways. So the stories get around. As I was going about my business this week I encountered a DHL employee who mentioned that Erickson used to be a salesman for that company -- and what he had heard is that Mike Erickson ran for political office and claimed erroneously in his campaign materials that DHL endorsed him. And continued to do so after DHL issued a statement denying the endorsement. I guess Mike Erickson would not recognize the truth if it smacked him in the face.
Sep 16, '06
KJ, that sounds like the old Shannon/ Giannella trick.
For those who haven't been around Willamette Valley politics for a long time, here is the story. Marilyn Shannon and Juley Gianella ran as a ticket--one for the st. rep. seat and one for the state senate seat. Fine, except they claimed endorsements they'd never gotten--in some cases they claimed endorsements from groups with bylaws prohibiting endorsement of candidates.
Marilyn and Juley then claimed their records were such that if the groups did make endorsements they would have endorsed these 2 women.
As I recall, neither woman won that election.
<h2>All the money in the world doesn't change the fact that Erickson doesn't mention veterans on his slick but light on substance website. Does have flashy graphics, though.</h2>