Congressional Candidate Reed: Herger’s Not Working for You

I am Jim Reed, running against 24-year Republican incumbent Wally Herger for Congress in the California 2^nd District. I am an attorney and small business owner with 10 employees. I live on a ranch in Fall River Mills (eastern Shasta Co.). I am a third generation Northern Californian.

I have problems with Wally Herger for the following reasons:

1. He votes the straight party line (96% in 2009).
2. He does not vote for what the people of the district want. Example: He voted for the TARP because party leaders insisted, even though he admitted his constituents were 100 to 1 against it.
3. He does not work hard. He has gotten only one bill he introduced in Congress passed in 24 years. He has allowed the northern six counties of the district to fall farther and farther behind in federal spending, such as Social Security, Defense, Education and Farm Support; this is more than $4.5 billion per year. If we were just getting average federal spending, so many jobs would be created that our unemployment rate, which is always more than 50% above the national average, would plummet.
4. He makes pledges for political gain by throwing the people of the district under the bus. Example 1: He has pledged to no longer seek earmarks for the district. This gives him political capital because earmarks are unpopular (e.g. the “bridge to nowhere”). But it denies the district funding for critical projects that have no other source of funding, when all those other Congressional Districts are getting their earmarks. Example 2:  He has also pledged not to close the loophole that rewards companies who outsource U.S. jobs overseas, because, he says, that would be equivalent to an increased tax on those companies.
5. He advocates smaller government and less spending so long as it does not apply to him. He uses government-paid political mailers, has taken every Congressional pay raise for himself, and has a staff to which the government paid nearly $1 million last year.
6. He advocates tax breaks for the rich, including himself, even if the cost of the tax break must be passed on to our children and future generations.

I believe in the following:

1. A Congressman must vote for the will of the people he represents, even if that means going against personal preference, party leaders, or special interests.
2. Hard work by a Congressman and his staff seeking a fair share of our tax money to be spent in this district from every department in the government will create jobs here and reduce unemployment to at least the national average.
3. I will push for term Congressional limits (the President of the U.S. is limited to 8 years) and have personally committed to no more than 8 years in office.
4. The federal budget must be balanced without increased taxes or cuts to Social Security or Medicare. I have committed myself and staff to no pay raises until the budget is balanced.
5. I support the 2^nd Amendment and the right to self defense.
6. There must be tax reform to close loopholes that reward multinational corporations with tax credits for outsourcing jobs to China and India.

For the specifics of my views and plans, please see my website, reednow.com, which has recently been archived by the Library of Congress as having historical significance.

Read the statement by Reed’s opponent, Wally Herger, here.

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