Reid Ribble and the Stimulus

The latest dust-up in the race for Wisconsin's 8th Congressional District revolves around the fact that Reid Ribble's family roofing business performed work for the Kaukauna school district that was paid for by money from the stimulus package. Apparently, Steve Kagen and the Democratic campaign machine see this as a problem since candidate Ribble has been critical of the stimulus.

The reporting on the issue has revolved around time-lines and whether the figures for the amount received are accurate. If you want to read the details for yourself, check out Politicfact Wisconsin, but this misses the point.

If you are a businessman in the business of providing roofing services to institutions like school districts and your local school district needs a roof, wouldn't it make sense for you to put in a bid on that work regardless of how the school district pays for it? Personally, I think the school taxes where I live are too high but if I was in the roofing business, and my school district needed a roof, I wouldn't refuse to bid just because they are using my tax dollars to pay for the roof.

Once Steve Kagen voted for the stimulus and it became law, who would be served by a qualified local contracting firm not bidding on work funded by the stimulus? Not the people of WI-8, not the citizens of Kaukauna, and certainly not the employees of the Ribble family roofing business.

If you think taxes are too high or the stimulus was a bad idea what do you think the best way to respond is? By having your company avoid doing work it is qualified for or by getting involved in the political process to affect change where it really matters? In this case Reid Ribble chose the latter, and he didn't just write a check, make some phone calls, or write a blog post. He got involved in the biggest way possible, as a candidate. And if you don't think that represents a major commitment, just turn on the television for five minutes and count the attack ads.

This entire issue is a ridiculous distraction from the fact that our current congressman, Steve Kagen, voted for the stimulus bill and it hasn't produced the results promised. The future is uncertain and solutions from Kagen and the Democrats in Washington are in short supply. What's going on at Ribble Roofing won't impact the lives of most voters in WI-8, but the makeup of the next Congress will.

Steve Kagen - Accusations of Dishonesty

"Dishonest" is a word that comes up in many of the responses to Steve Kagen's attack ads.  Here are two recent recent examples.  First from The Weekly Standard:

In Wisconsin, Congressman Steve Kagen Runs on Dishonesty

John McCormack highlights three Wisconsin House races that are ripe for a Democrat-to-Republican flip. In WI-08, Republican Reid Ribble is challenging Democrat Steve Kagen, a doctor whose most notable moment in Washington came when he seems to have invented a confrontation in a White House bathroom with Karl Rove.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel editorial board, known for its liberalism, said at the time that it was hard to know what parts of the story were true because Kagen “apparently was making much of it up.” The paper said the incident raised questions about Kagen’s “judgment and maturity.”

Kagen also raised eyebrows by saying that he was running on “Injun time” during his campaign, something that would have caused a national outcry if it had come from a Republican. But Kagen got a pass.

And this from The Underground Conservative:

The Dishonest Dr. Millionaire

In other words, Kagen’s people are so incompetent they can’t even use a still of the correct article from the newspaper, plus they are so dishonest they can’t even reference the material honestly.

Reid Ribble Answers Steve Kagen's Attacks

The late Wisconsin primary spared us from a long season of campaign attack ads, but as soon as the primaries were through, Democrat Steve Kagen and his allies in Big Labor launched a furious series of attack ads. The intensity of the attacks, I think, took a lot of people by surprise.

It's too bad that's what many people will remember, despite the fact that Kagen's main claim against GOP opponent Reid Ribble has since been found to be nothing but a fabrication.

Ribble is fighting back with a new ad of his own:

Steve Kagen's Confused Attack Ads

I guess when you launch as many attack ads as Democrat Steve Kagen (WI-8) does, it's hard to keep them straight.

I've heard Kagen tell me that GOP opponent Reid Ribble wants to ship jobs to China and that he wants to let illegal immigrants into the country to take our jobs.

Well, if he ships the jobs to China first, then there won't be any for the illegals to take. And if he lets the illegals in first, the jobs that get shipped to China won't be ours.

Kagen's all-out attacks are nothing more than a desperate attempt to hold on to power and have little basis in fact. Voters beware.

Taxes Alone Don't Tell the Whole Story

During tonight's debate between Steve Kagen and Reid Ribble, Kagen made the point that taxes are the lowest they've been since 1950. He held up an article from USA Today trumpeting this news. While this makes for a great debate soundbite, it doesn't begin to offer a complete picture of the fiscal state of the country.

The trick is that there is something that is a very close substitute for taxes: debt.

So while Kagen may want to trumpet the historically low tax bill, I doubt he will be reminding us anytime soon that the national debt in 2010 was six times larger than it was in 1950.

Annual budget deficits tell much the same story. In 1950 the deficit was 0.43% of GDP, in 2010 it was almost 11%. In 2006, prior to the financial crisis, the deficit was 1.85% of GDP, or about four times what it was in 1950.

Substituting debt for taxes allows politicians to tell you they've lowered taxes even while they keep spending on all the programs that are near and dear to the hearts of important constituencies.

Republicans are not innocent in all this. Many of them were deluded by the idea that low taxes would shrink the size of government, the so-called "starve the beast" strategy. The only trouble was that the beast didn't just eat taxes, it also liked to eat debt.

In the end it really is all about the spending. Whether we pay for that spending today through taxes or in the future through debt is a secondary question. Voters need to be vigilant against headlines that sound great, but give a distorted picture of the reality Americans face. Especially when promoted by politicians seeking re-election.

Rep. Steve Kagen votes party line with Democrats

That's why everyone should not only vote for Reid Ribble to replace Kagen, but also pull the Republican lever across the board in November. This is a large protest vote against a party that doesn't represent the people who voted them into office. What a waste of hope and change.

Todd English,

Appleton

via postcrescent.com

That's from a letter to the Post Crescent. Visit the link to read the whole thing. You can also check out the comments section.

Posted via email from rhymeswithclown's posterous

Reid Ribble Counters Kagen's Attacks

GOP candidate for Wisconsin's 8th congressional district Reid Ribble launched a new feature on his website called The Kagen Lie Detector.

Steve Kagen's recent attack ad on Ribble's Social Security stance was so over the top it's nice to see Ribble fighting back. I thought this particular item was quite telling in relation to Kagen's charge about jobs being moved overseas:

Furthermore, if Congressman Kagen’s “Cap-and-Trade” bill became law (a bill he voted for and supports) it would make it harder for Wisconsin manufacturers to compete. According to the National Association of Manufacturers, “cap-and-trade” could results in as many as 56,000 manufacturing jobs lost in Wisconsin. In essence, Congressman Kagen’s vote would have made it easier for Chinese manufacturers to produce goods than manufacturers right here in the 8th District.

For more information about the economic impact of cap-and-trade on Wisconsin:
http://www.accf.org/publications/126/accf-nam-study

Check out The Kagen Lie Detector for yourself.

JS Politifact Rating of Steve Kagen Attack Ad

The JS Politifact judgement of Steve Kagen's Social Security attack ad on Reid Ribble was definitive:

 

To make his case that Reid Ribble wants to "phase out" Social Security, Kagen lifts a choice 14 words from a 2009 forum. Snipped out: The fact Ribble immediately goes on to say he is worried about the future of Social Security and believes the current system will need to be replaced or modified. Kagen’s statement splices and dices -- and leaves the truth on the cutting room floor. Strike another match. We rate the statement Pants on Fire.

 

Go to the link for the whole thing.  It includes the note that Kagen spokesman Allison Jaslow did not get back to the JS on their request for elaboration on the charge.

Posted via email from rhymeswithclown's posterous

Fact-Checking Reid Ribble on Social Security

FactCheck.org today posted an analysis of Steve Kagen's recent attack ad, which claimed that GOP candidate Reid Ribble wanted to end Social Security. They note that Kagen's claim rests on selective editing of Ribble's statements and the video included in the ad is truncated so as to render the ad "misleading."

From FactCheck.org:

Ribble does say he wants to eventually "establish a phase out of the current Social Security system into a new system," but the words "into a new system" were edited out in the ad. Ribble also goes on to make it clear in his response that current retirees should not be part of the new plan — whatever it may be. He doesn’t propose any solutions.

Ribble: There’s been a promise made and for those of you in that are in their retirement years, you lived and planned your life based on a promise by your government. And so somehow we have to establish a phase out of the current Social Security system to a new system, and that will have to happen over time. It could happen in a single generation, it will probably require a fair amount of change in retirement age. … I envision a shift in how that system works so that by the time you get there you are not only responsible for your own, but we’ve made tax law available to help you be responsible for your own, and that the government can’t take that money from you and give it to somebody else. That is in fact, a Ponzi scheme.

In a statement to us, Ribble writes that “Congressman Kagen’s commercial completely distorts my view on Social Security. His highly selective editing implies that I want to end Social Security when nothing could be further from the truth.“

We don’t agree that it "completely distorts" Ribble’s view. But it is misleading to say Ribble would force "Wisconsin seniors to fend for themselves," and to suggest that Ribble would phase out the program without replacing it with a new plan.

I have to admit that I'm a little baffled by that last paragraph. FactCheck disagrees that the ad completely distorts Ribble's view and in the next sentence they say that the claim in the ad is misleading. If the ad is misleading, is that not essentially the same thing as giving voters a distorted view of the truth?

For me, this just underscores the point that voters need to make the time and effort to get informed about candidates and their positions. Operations like FactCheck are one more tool for people to use, but there simply is no substitute for being informed.

Addendum Try2Focus comments here.

Touch of Grey: WI-8 Edition

A quick look at the Brown County unofficial vote totals reveals the following:

In the GOP primary there were over 26,000 votes cast. The winner, Reid Ribble, got a little over 14,000 of those.

At the same time, current Congressman Steve Kagen received almost 7500 votes. Keep in mind that this was an uncontested primary and basically meant nothing for Kagen, yet almost 7500 people voted for him. I'd like to believe that these came from people who were motivated to go to the polls in order to vote for Tom Barrett, but that primary was practically non-contested.

That leaves me to conclude that in Brown County there are at least 7400 committed hardcore Democrats who turn out to vote no matter what. Does anyone doubt what a formidable asset such a group can be in a tight general election?

If you combine Roth's 7000 votes with Ribble's it yields a total of about 21,000 or about three times the number of Kagen's votes. Looking at the total number of ballots cast, there were about three times as many Republican ones as Democratic ones.

In other words, WI-8 is still most likely a closely divided electorate, and the general election could all come down to who shows up to vote.

Ribble has remarked on just how hard he has worked up to this point. I'd say now is when the real work begins.

Terri McCormick Endorsed by a Class Action Lawsuit

Terri McCormick, GOP candidate for Wisconsin's 8th congressional district today announced the following endorsement:

APPLETON, Wisconsin – The PeopleV.US has endorsed Terri McCormick in the Republican primary for the 8th Congressional District.

The principles and values that McCormick represents have attracted the attention and support of the PeopleV.US – a national constitutional group comprised of citizen leaders who are determined to hold lawmakers accountable to their words and actions.

On its website PeopleV.US is described as:

an organization set up by Attorneys, Political Consultants, and Marketing professionals. We have seen from the inside the destructive goals of those who lead this country. We are ready to put our jobs on the line, to defend our Country through court proceedings. The Constitution of the United States is our authority, and we will work diligently to remove from office ANYONE regardless of party that attempts any legislation in violation of the Constitution.

The main thrust of their activity appears to be a class action lawsuit against Obama's health reform, claiming that it violates "60% of the Bill of Rights."

I'm all for supporting the constitution and have serious doubts about the health reform, and I'm glad that Terri does too. I'm just not sure that an endorsement by a group without substantial ties to the district and whose main purpose is to oppose a single piece of legislation through a class action lawsuit is really all that meaningful.

Contrast this endorsement with a recent endorsement announced by rival candidate Reid Ribble:

Robert Keller, Chairman and CEO of J. J. Keller & Associates, endorsed Reid Ribble’s campaign for Congress today. Keller heads one of the largest safety and regulatory compliance firms in the nation. J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc. is based in Wisconsin.

While Bob Keller may not be a name well known to many in WI-8, an endorsement from a business owner with ties to the state seems more likely to have an impact than the one that McCormick is highlighting.

WI-8: Ribble Endorsed by Physician's Group

From WisPolitics DC Wrap:

8th CD GOP candidate and Kaukauna roofing contractor Reid Ribble has won the endorsement of Appleton-based Physicians for Responsible Government.

Ribble's campaign touted that he received the endorsement of the 80-plus physicians in the group despite the presence of two doctors in the 8th CD race: Green Bay Republican and radiologist Marc Trager, and incumbent Dem U.S. Rep. and Appleton allergist Steve Kagen.

Jo Egelhoff at Fox Politics sums it up this way:

We have a real race going on here in northeast Wisconsin. I like to agree with those pundits that see Steve Kagen as in real trouble – and of course I believe the GOP needs to send up the best guy to defeat him.

Fact: As he tells us in every other sentence in his press releases, Steve Kagen is a M.D.
Fact: One of the five candidates in the GOP primary to run against Kagen, Mark Trager, is a M.D.

Fact: A group of more than 80 Northeastern Wisconsin physicians, frustrated as heck with their federal government, joined together to research, interview, select and most likely financially back the candidate they thought would best represent the views of common-sensical Americans in Washington.

With the primary only three months away and still clearly wide open, every piece of news like this helps.

Brief tour of WI-8 Congressional District

Wisconsin's 8th congressional district has been mostly quiet lately. This soon will change as we start the new year and as the 2010 election season gets underway in earnest.

Here are some recent items related to the candidates for WI-8 (in no particular order)

As of 12/17 only Kerry Thomas and Terri McCormick were listed as official candidates by the Government Accountability board.

I couldn't find a website for Joe Stern so I'll link my original post on his candidacy.

Andy Williams For Congress now has a facebook page. Become a fan today.

Marc Trager recently spent three days in Washington meeting with Paul Ryan and others.

Reid Ribble sold his business to campaign full time (H/T Fox Politics), signed AFP's no climate tax pledge, but hasn't yet moved into the district.

Christmas wishes from Roger Roth.

Marc Savard is looking to raise $2,010 for 2010. Doing it $9.14 at a time.

Kerry Thomas offers a strategy for saving money on a Disney vacation. I wasn't really interested so I dove into the archives. His Personal Message to Paul Ryan was scathing but well-written.

Terri McCormick on the issues. She is also featuring a good introductory video on her home page.

Ribble Responds to his Critics

In the comments to my initial post on 8th CD Republican candidate Reid Ribble, an anonymous commenter left two items raising concerns about Ribble's candidacy. You can read the original post and comments here, but here is the crux of Anon's complaint:

Is Ribble just a a carpetbagger picked by the GOP elite for the 8th? I hope we get a fair primary this time around.

Yesterday Ribble left a response in the comments responding to these complaints:

I have heard the "carpet-bagger" claim too often. I do live in Sherwood and I have lived there for 10 years. It is about 2 miles south of the 8th district border. I have been honest and straight forward about this right from the beginning.

Also regarding the "legal requirement" alluded to by anonymous. The US Constitution is pretty clear about residency requirements. It states in Article 1 section 2 "No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained the age of twenty five years, and been a citizen of the United States, and who shall not when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen." Pretty clear.

I have lived in the Fox Valley (and obviously WI) my entire life. That is longer than Steve Kagen, Andy Williams and Marc Savard. My company is in Kaukauna, WI and has been for over a decade. For two decades prior to that it was on Manitowoc Rd just south of Appleton. That location has been in and out of the 8th district a couple of times depending on gerrymandering. So the location where I sleep at night should not be a concern....

Now, onto the claim about me being prepicked by the GOP. NO ONE FROM THE GOP STATE OFFICE OR NATIONAL OFFICE has encouraged me to run. In fact some of the opposite has occured. They seem to have someone picked and rest assured it is not me. (Even though it should be) So let's put that rumor to rest right now.

Finally, let's discuss the money accusation. Congressman Kagen has raised more money from PACs and special interest groups around the country than you can imagine. If we conservatives are serious about winning we need to approach our friends and supporters wherever they live to help. Would it be nice if I raised all of the funds needed in the 8th? For sure. If anonymous is really concerned he/she should send me a check and it will help. Talk is cheap. Raising funds is hard work.

Almost all of my funds have come from personal business friends of mine through out the US.

Again, you can go read the whole comment, the original post, and Anon's two comments here.

Since I'm relatively new to party politics, I will take Ribble at his word until I find out otherwise with regard to contacts by GOP leadership. This seems like a charge that is thrown about quite a bit these days, and, as such, may or may not have any validity.

I looked at Ribble's fundraising and there's nothing there to be concerned about in my opinion. Raising funds from business contacts is no cause for concern. Raising money from Florida sugar growers when you are on the agriculture committee, is another matter entirely.

It still seems early, but this race may turn out to be very exciting. I hope that all of the candidates work hard to make the primary process as valuable as possible and ultimately to defeat Steve Kagen.

Reid Ribble Fundraising

The Ribble campaign issued a press release with the fundraising number for the period that ended September 30th:

Earlier today, Reid Ribble, a lifelong Wisconsin resident and 25 year business owner, filed his first quarterly fundraising report with the Federal Election Commission. Ribble reported raising $130,291 since announcing his candidacy for Wisconsin’s 8^th Congressional District in July.

The reporting deadline was today and these numbers weren't on the FEC site yet, neither were the numbers for any of the other candidates. Once those are up, I will post them as well.

WI-8 Gets Early Look at Candidate Reid Ribble

Reid Ribble is a Republican candidate for the eighth congressional district seat currently held by Democrat Dr. Steve Kagen. Last week Ribble held a question and answer session hosted by a Republican women's group at the Appleton Yacht Club.

While I wasn't sure what to expect from Ribble, I came away feeling quite impressed. It is clear that he is a serious candidate who has thought about what he sees as the issues and has invested his own time and effort in getting his campaign started.

The crowd at the event numbered about thirty. Some there knew Ribble personally and offered a testimonial to his character. Others appeared to be feeling out his positions on various issues. It was clear that all in the room were not supporters of Steve Kagen or of the current Democratic agenda both in Congress and from the White House.

The session consisted primarily of questions from the crowd. These ranged from the tactical to the philosophical.

On fundraising, it appears Ribble has thought about just how much money he believes he will need to be successful. As much as people bemoan money in politics, it is foolish to pretend it is not part of the process. In a line I found particularly thought provoking, Ribble made the point that interest group money flows into politics because average citizens are by and large unwilling to finance campaigns.

Health care was obviously a big topic and one which Ribble discussed at length. He emphasized individual ownership and portability of coverage; drawing on his own experience as a business owner who provides health coverage for his employees.

Someone asked about his campaign's top three ideas to which he replied that we needed to: stop borrowing; stop spending; and stop taxing. During the discussion he emphasized his commitment to fiscal responsibility several times.

A question on foreign policy did arise and while he was able to handle it well, this is an area where a candidate like Ribble has an obvious weakness. When the top issues are the stimulus, cap and trade, and health care, a successful local businessman turned candidate is a great idea. If one year from now major international developments dramatically switch the nation's focus, a candidate like Ribble could seem out of place. Collapse in Pakistan or a nuclear armed Iran could potentially push some of the current domestic concerns out of the minds of voters. Admittedly, I'm not sure how an allergist from Appleton is any more qualified in foreign policy than a roofing contractor from Appleton; but an allergist who has served two terms in the House may hold the edge in this contest with some less ideologically driven voters.

Ribble described himself as a "common sense conservative" and a "reluctant Republican." Both are labels that could appeal to voters unhappy with the current direction of the country, but unwilling to argue for a return to the policies of the Bush administration. I think Ribble was clear that he can't (and wouldn't) support reckless borrow-and-spend policies regardless of which party was advocating them. In what could be the line of the campaign, Ribble said that he wanted to tell Dr. Kagen that he is, "allergic to runaway federal spending."

While it is still early, the 2010 campaign season is apparently underway. The level of interest in the current issues is sure to bring increased focus on races throughout the country. This focus will be even more intense in districts like the Wisconsin 8th, where there is a very real chance that an incumbent could lose. The early indication from Ribble is that he is a formidable candidate and will be tough opponent both for Kagen and the other Republican challengers.