Published on: Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Casting a vote for Bailey

I will never again vote for double-talking politicians who know how to play to the television camera. I will never again vote for the politician who moves to the middle, the right, the left to get votes then promptly forgets his constituents, “the small people,” when he gets back to Washington, D.C. and makes the rounds at all those cocktail parties thrown by the Washington elites. I will never again vote for a career politician or for the same old Republican establishment candidate. I will cast my vote for a person of character and conviction, or I will not vote at all— I will stay home on Election Day.

But on Sept. 14, I definitely will not be staying home, and I will proudly cast my vote for Collins Bailey. I look forward as well to voting for him in November. My reasons for supporting Collins are straightforward and uncomplicated.

Bailey is not a career politician and has pledged to serve for two terms without pay or benefits. He has pledged to serve no more than two consecutive terms in Congress. In fact, he has signed a bonded term limits pledge and will donate $100,000 to wounded veterans if he defaults on this promise.

Bailey wants to restore political power to the people who can govern themselves locally, in their cities and towns, counties and states.

He wants to be the “taxpayer’s best friend in Congress” and wants to end corporate welfare. He says “no” to more bailouts for private businesses. And, he believes, if Congress cannot eliminate budget deficits, then Congress should not get paid. He also wants to eliminate Congressional pensions.

Unlike Congressman Eric Cantor (R-Va.) who had a lot of trouble answering “yes” or “no” when Laura Ingraham asked him if he opposes earmarks, Bailey answers that question with a resounding “yes” because he has taken a stand against “all earmarks and pork barrel spending.” 

The sheer bulk of recent bills passed by Congress is tyranny itself, and no one on Capitol Hill seems to have read them. Bailey has vowed not to vote for a bill he has not read and supports requiring our lawmakers to do the same.

He will not support amnesty or welfare payments for illegal immigrants.

Bailey says we do not need to be dependent on foreign oil or Middle Eastern countries that resent us and our way of life. He says there is sufficient oil in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming to supply America with energy for a century to come.

There are many other reasons I support Bailey, but the most important reason is that I can trust him. He is an honorable man with high standards and a love of constitutional liberty.

Joyce Bennett

Clements

Vote for engaging candidates

We are less than one week away from going to polls and early voting has already begun. We were bombarded with robo calls and campaign literature. I received 23rd District Team literature last week. I did some research on the team and this looks like a disjointed team coming together to win an election.

As a voter, I want candidates to run independently and once elected work as a team.

They team up before elections and work against each other.

I did some research on the delegate slots for District 23A and found out that two members on the team, Geraldine Valentino-Smith and James Hubbard are completely opposite on their issues. One candidate is very liberal and the other one is very conservative.

I do not believe this is a winning team to win an election. I doubt we will have a voice in Annapolis if we vote for these two candidates.

I do believe Shukoor Ahmed is very moderate and not on one extreme and will be able to work with any other candidate. I personally commend Shukoor and also David Murray, for school board, who actually took the time and effort to show up to my doorstep. Ahmed actually set up many lunches and meetings to meet with community members and is always available online. We really need candidates like these who reach out to the community and see what concerns we have. After all, a leader is supposed to represent his people, and only then can changes occur for our betterment.

I was born and raised in Prince George’s County and recently bought a home in Bowie. It is sad to say that I have not seen much improvement in this county since I was growing up. Now that I am a mother, I am really concerned about whether or not I can continue to reside here. The schools have not improved much, crime is still high and services in this county are minimal. Along with that, our property taxes are rising! Where is this extra money going?

It is really time to change the leadership and administration. We need new, energetic and devoted individuals who reach out to the community and are willing to work together and make a change once and for all.

This is a very important election and I encourage citizens to do independent research online by Googling them, visiting their website and asking questions to them on issues of concern via emails to us. You can get more information by visiting this link: http://pg-politics.blogspot.com/p/candidate-profiles.html .

I also found an interesting application built by couple of high school students from our county which allowed me to make my own sample ballot for my family and neighbors. You can do as well on www.pgballot.com.

Let us do our civic duty and elect those candidates who will engage, empower and share information with us than those who dictate and control us by suggesting a group of candidates to us.

Aatifa Khan

Bowie