I need Goobergunch AND a speechwriter ASAP!

[AWD]

Today, Congress voted to give themselves a payraise.

My opponent, Ral
Goobergunch, can you get me some stats on Regula's votes in bills involving pay for workers.

Then, if somebody feels up for it, hit me with a short, to-the-point speech on how Regula has screwed the common man but rewarded himself.

I can handle letters to the editor, I was a journalism major....but I know people offered to speechwrite and I want to open up that opportunity if anybody's feeling frisky.

I can call a PC for next week if it all works out.

[Plaid Adder]

1. I got your sound bite right here, AWD:

"It's not that good leadership is not worth any price...but what do we get for the money?"

Followed by laundry list of opponent's spineless faithlessness in truckling to all and sundry while hoovering his own boondoggles.

Good luck,

The Plaid Adder

[AWD]

2. Oooooooohhhhhhhhh

Did it get cold in here, or was that your icy ZING?????

[Plaid Adder]

3. Join me, AWD, and I will be Cyrano to your Christian!

Roxane will never know!

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[liberalhistorian]

9. Here are a couple off the top of my head:

You know how hard you work for YOUR money. Do you know how hard your congressman works for his?

You're careful with YOUR money. Is your congressman careful with it as well?

You're tightening your belt in this uncertain economy. Is your congressman doing the same?

Then the same kind of list that Plaid Adder suggested; start with the smaller items and build up to the larger, more offensive ones. That way, you'll build momentum and keep attention. Then be positive about what YOU will do, don't just put forth the negatives about Regula. Show the problem, then, in a positive, upbeat manner, discuss your specific solution.

[sandnsea]

4. Uhm, excuse me????

Congress voted themselves a pay raise today??? Do you have a link on that story because I am flabbergasted. I want to know the exact details on that little beauty because that is absolutely unacceptable right now.

And I'd be glad to help you write something up, but it would be more helpful if you had a short outline of what you were thinking.

Going off to find what Regula thinks of all of this. :eyes:

[AWD]

5. OK, not official yet....

...but do you think they'll vote it down???

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/09/04/congress.payraise.ap/index.html

Lawmakers include themselves in proposed raise
If approved, salaries to reach $158,000
Thursday, September 4, 2003 Posted: 12:55 PM EDT (1655 GMT)




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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Members of Congress, along with more than 1 million other civilian government workers, are in line for a 4.1 percent pay raise next year under legislation moving through the House Thursday.

The legislation, if approved by Congress and signed by the president, would mark the fourth straight year that lawmakers have included themselves as part of annual pay raises for federal employees. It would boost salaries for representatives and senators to about $158,000 a year from the present $154,700.

MORE

Sure, I'd like to make 158,000 a year. Help me get there, please??

But as somebody who has spent years dreaming of making 35,000 a year, then having the overtime bill shoved at us, then seeing this???

Oh, I am gonna have a FIELD DAY!!!!!

[Plaid Adder]

6. Yes, you might go so far as to suggest

that they were working OVERTIME on getting this pay raise through...and that it's nice at least that SOMEONE in this country can still get paid for working overtime.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[nostamj]

7. find out the average constituent salary...

(for those who are working...)

you won't need to say much.

[Warren Stuart]

22. Funny you should suggest that

I went to the Labor Dept. website to look up average wages, and under Professional and Business Services came up with a weekly wage of $596.85 for the period of June 2003. Multiply this by 52 and you get $31,036.20. Percentagewise the salary increase the lawmakers are voting for themselves would be over 10% what the average wage earner in this category is making.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t16.htm

A good zinger - Q. How are the lawmakers going to pay for their raise?

A. By cutting overtime benefits for everyone else.

[sandnsea]

8. $158,000? hell yes!

You better not forget the 'little people'. Ha ha! Okay, I see what the rat bastards have done. They just stuck themselves into the regular pay raise that lowly government workers get. We need to find out what he does with his pay raise because I know my Congressman has set up a scholarship fund that he has put his in for years and years. I did a little research and Regula has voted yes on this for quite some time. But we need to see what he's actually said about it. Voting no means voting no against government workers and that's not a place to be either.

See, if you get into the House, you're going to have to decide whether to have a no vote against government workers raises or a yes vote played off as giving yourself a raise. Not a happy place to be!

Ah'll be back!

[AWD]

10. Or....

...a "Yes" vote on raises, followed with a speech in the record, promising to donate the amount of the raise to the AFL/CIO or another organization to help working families that struggle.

Or a "No" vote on raises, followed by a press conference next to a single mother with 2 jobs.

[SoCalDem]

24. They often "justify" their increases because DC is expensive

and they have to maintain two households.. one in their home state and one in DC..

My take would be this:

"They" have , as a group been meeting in DC for over a 200 years, and the problems we have seem to never get solved, so just what are WE getting for our money??

They work for US.. WE should get to decide what they are worth.. Does the assemblyline worker get to decide what HIS pay is?? No way..

Why should the very people who WE hire to do our "work", not only refuse to have our best interests at heart, but tell US how much money we wil pay them??

Our government has no problem telling the ordinary person to be frugal,save for their future, and live within their means, but in DC, they seem to have forgotten their own advice..

[sandnsea]

11. Another angle

If I recall, they want to cut the government pay raises in half because we can't afford them in this time of war, or some such. But they can afford to give oil and nuclear companies billions of dollars of tax credits in the energy bill? Is this a government for the people, or corporate elite?

[BrewCrew]

13. personalize it

Today, the US House and Representative Ralph Regula voted themselves a pay raise. I'd like Mr. Regula to explain this vote to the 214,300 Ohioans who have lost their job since President Bush took office. Thats 214,300 people who will not be receiving a pay increase of any kind any time soon. My opponent's support of this pay increase and the Bush tax cuts are just two prime examples of how "out of touch" he has become after 33 years in the US House.

[sandnsea]

15. Unless

His constituents know he has consistently opposed the amount of money Congress makes, opposes Congressional pay raises, donates the raises somewhere and only voted yes because it gives government employee's their raise.

Gotta get the facts and it's tough on Regula. He voted for a minimum wage increase, but possibly turned around and got it buried in a bill he may have known would never pass. He is either the most wonderful Republican ever, or very very SLICK.

[AWD]

18. Constituents...

...around these parts have not paid attention in the past. I did plenty of sampling atthe fair last week. No Regula supporter could tell me his stance on anything (except one, who knew he had a zero percent from NARAL, but they weren't a supporter of him).

Proposing bills will not get him points, especially if he can't get them passed in the Repub-dominated US House.

[newyawker99]

25. Hi BrewCrew!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[sandnsea]

12. Uh oh, Here's something...

From 1994, but still, let's make sure you hit him correctly.

When I see my rep supporting a bill, my eyebrows raise. Totally liberal.

H.R. 212 is sponsored by Representative Andy Jacobs Jr. (D-
IN) and co-sponsored by Representatives Cliff Stearns (R-FL),
Ralph Regula (R-OH), Alfred McCandless (R-CA), Peter DeFazio (D-
OR), Dick Swett (D-NH), John Mica (R-FL), Jay Kim (R-CA), Robert
Andrews (D-NJ), Bob Stump (R-AZ), Peter Blute (R-MA), Howard
Coble (R-NC), Fred Upton (R-MI), Nick Smith (R-MI), Mel Hancock
(R-MO), and Jim Leach (R-IA).

Citizens should call or write their House member urging then
to co-sponsor H.R. 212, which would cut the pay of members of
Congress from $133,600 to $89,500. Citizens should call or write
their Senators urging them to introduce and actively support a
companion bill to H.R. 212.

[AWD]

16. I can be careful with that one....

...but I won't say how. Eeper-Frays are atching-way.

[sandnsea]

19. Just my opinion

The guy hasn't been in Congress for 33 years for nothing. He's smart and he's slick. I wouldn't be saying a thing against this guy that couldn't be backed up 100%. It would be terribly embarrassing for you to make this statement and then have him come out with a photo of all the kids who have gone to college because he donated his pay raise to the scholarships they won. But that's just my opinion.

[goobergunch]

14. These are the COLA pay raises

that are automatic unless they are blocked. However, there are usually amendments offered to stop these "Cost of Living" pay raises.

This is contained in what used to be the Treasury/Postal/Gen. Gov't appropriations bill and is now the Treasury/Transportation appropriations bill (being considered today). I can't find any amendments regarding the pay raise...however, a vote for the base bill is a de facto vote for a pay raise. I'll have that vote when they take it...it's still pending on the House floor.

[Gordon25]

17. Don't forget...

...how necessary it seems to have been to cut veterans' benefits by 25 billion dollars over the next five years, and cut combat pay for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan while they are at war...in order to finance a congressional pay raise?
How sick can they get?
Gordon25

[Stephanie]

20. The bush* admin is AGAINST these raises for the fed employees

If Congress goes along w/ bush's wish to cut the raises to 2%, will they cut their own raises too?

http://news.nasdaq.com/news/newsStory.aspx?&cpath=20030827\ACQDJON200308271947DOWJONESDJONLINE000926.htm

Bush: Fedl Pay Raises Over 2% Would Jeopardize Terror War

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP)--Giving civilian federal workers a pay raise of more than 2% next year would jeopardize the war on terrorism, President George W. Bush said Wednesday.

In a letter to congressional leaders, Bush reiterated his support for giving the nation's 1.8 million federal workers the 2% raise he outlined in his 2004 budget proposal.

But a House appropriations subcommittee has included a 4.1% raise in its version of the legislation. Military pay is not affected.

"Such cost increases would threaten our efforts against terrorism or force deep cuts in discretionary spending or federal employment to stay within budget, " Bush wrote.<more>

Dow Jones Newswires
08-27-031947ET

[goobergunch]

23. federal employee pay raises aren't congressional pay (n/t)

[sandnsea]

21. Totally off this topic

I am really trying to help you, AWD, really!!!!

Somebody else posted that there's an amendment in the budget bill, also up for a vote soon, that would give land sellers a 50% tax credit when they sell land to environmental groups or the government. Wildlands etc. Remeber I PM'd you about Old Growth and how Ohio doesn't have much. This bill would (might) help Ohio set aside more wetlands and wildlands and it looks like Regula opposes it, or would be likely to oppose it. I don't know your area's view on wanting more protected wildlands, but I'd be glad to work this one up if you want.

http://www.freedom.org/prc/legis/wallop.html

[AWD]

26. Interesting stuff....

...there is a land fill that Regula has been protecting (he's on the good side of this one). For years, Regula has been putting up a fight that would make an environmentailst proud.

But the deal made to protect this land expires next year, and Regula has not yet said if he'd call for renewal. Many on the inside think Bush is forcing him to let it lapse.

[sandnsea]

28. He's a peculiar one

I'm trying so hard to find something BAD about this guy!!! Look at this link. He has no leadership PAC, he doesn't raise alot of money, rarely takes PAC money. And good on the environment too? And he even voted against an amendment to block an NIH health study that supposedly studies 'gays in Alaska' or something the righties were in a bunch about. The vote was a margin of 2, and he voted with the Dems and defeated it. Geez.

http://www.republicanmainstreet.org/news.asp?record_no=2315

I'll try to find something on the land thing and keep on scouring. I did see an interview on funding National Parks and he was very 'noncommittal' shall we say. Build a case from the ground up I guess!

[NewJerseyDem]

27. Regula didn't vote

Jim Matheson's procedural attempt to have a vote on the pay raise failed 240-173. Regula was one of 21 congressmen who didn't vote.

[goobergunch]

29. LINK

http://clerkweb.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.exe?year=2003&rollnumber=463

[cmd]

30. AWD, you are going to need to run against the top

Ralphie is pretty much a centrist. If he makes a mistake soon, it will be on the land fill issue. Unless the landfill is in your backyard, even that won't be much of an issue.

It appears he defaulted on the pay raise issue. A for the raise vote would have been better, but a default makes it more of a toss up.

Too bad you aren't running against Mary. She is the most unpopular woman in Canton right now. Perhaps you can autograph some faux bricks with literature on them.

Any way, back to my point, run against Bush. Get the progressive message out there and don't make to much of an issue of Regula. He's a good old boy who's been around so long that no one wants to question him. It is time to retire him. Go with your message.