Connolly smears Fimian on 17th Amendment
By Alan Moore | Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 | PoliticsAs expected, Congressman Gerry Connolly’s (D-11) playbook to defeat Republican challenger Keith Fimian consists of attempts to label him as a right-wing extremist. In his latest attempt, Connolly’s camp accuses Fimian of lobbying to repeal the 17th Amendment, which states that U.S. Senators will be elected by the people and not through state legislatures.
In an email to supporters Connolly’s campaign claims, “Fimian told WTOP’s Mark Plotkin that he thinks repeal ‘has merit’ and said he is ‘not really sure why it was changed.’”
Connolly’s campaign goes on to say, “Keith Fimian and the Tea Party want political insiders in Richmond to decide who represents us in the U.S. Senate. This radical shift will take us back to a time when a handful of insiders decided our future. Does that seem a little bit crazy to you?”
They have launched a petition site to fight against repealing the 17th amendment, or something. The website claims, “The movement to repeal the 17th amendment is driven by some of the more extreme Tea Party members, including Keith Fimian, a candidate for Congress in Virginia’s 11th District. Repealing the 17th amendment would strip the right to vote for United States Senator from millions of Virginians and hundreds of millions of Americans. That’s just way too extreme.”
It probably would be a little extreme if that’s what Fimian said. In the audio clip Fimian said, “I would entertain both sides of that argument before I would say yes or no, but I am inclined to say no,” in reference to repealing the 17th Amendment.
Connolly’s campaign told the Washington Post this morning that they stand by their interpretation.
You can listen to the audio here and in the subject entitled “Republican Candidates for Va.’s 11th Congressional District,” and it begins around 40.57. Decide for yourself if he supports repealing the 17th Amendment.
Tim Edson, Fimian campaign manager attempted to shift the debate back to Connolly’s record, “When Gerry Connolly’s staff isn’t spending their time condemning ‘fighting wasteful spending and getting the economy moving ‘as ‘extremist’ views, they are simply making things up to shift attention from Connolly’s radical, big government record, including the failed $800 billion stimulus, the job killing cap and trade bill, and the mismanaged, trillion dollar government health care takeover.
“Connolly bankrupted Fairfax County and now he is rubber stamping the
reckless policies that are bankrupting America.”
Attacks such as these on Fimian regarding the 17th Amendment, may seem trivial to most people, but if enough of these types of things trickle down to the casual observer, it can change votes.
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Alan Moore is a conservative activist and public relations expert in NoVA. Follow Alan on Twitter: @SecPress
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9 Responses to "Connolly smears Fimian on 17th Amendment"
Connolly is on the wrong side of the real issues facing Virginians so he hastily misrepresents Fimian’s position on this issue.
What Connolly fails to understand is many Virginians understand that the 17th amendment has resulted in U.S. Senators taking their direction from party leaders and not the states from whence they came.
The yes vote on the extremely unpopular Obamacare legislation by Senators Webb and Warner and the subsequent passage of the Virginia Health Care Freedom Act provides a strong rational for repealing it.
Our Senators were pressured by Harry Reid, Rahm Emmanuel, and others while our General Assembly, the very body, which if not for the 17th amendment would be responsible for electing Senators, was doing all they could in a bipartisan fashion to protect us from this over reach of Federal power. I, and I’m sure Keith Fimian, are not so naive to think that the 17th amendment will ever be repealed but I do not think there is any reason to marginalize as wingnut kooks those with the intellectual fortitude to examine the merits of doing so.
I would question anyone, including Connolly, who fails to recognize that the 17th amendment has weakened our system of Federalism and the dual sovereignty which existed before it’s enactment.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Bearing Drift, BNN_HR. BNN_HR said: [BlogNetNewsHR] Bearing Drift: Connolly smears Fimian on 17th Amendment: As expected, Congressman Gerry Connolly’s… http://bit.ly/9Qm2YK [...]
AND lobbyists. Repeal of the 17th restores the fidelity of federalism. I don’t have a problem with this at all. And just being direct…wouldn’t it force drone voters to pay more attention to state elections? Just sayin’
[...] a web video to combat Gerry Connolly’s (D-11) recent transgressions regarding his most recent deceptive ad and his lack of knowledge concerning what Congress actually [...]
[...] Alan Moore | October 7, 2010 | Comments (0) I thought back in June when Connolly launched a highly unsuccessful campaign against Keith Fimian on the 17th Amendment that he would have learned his lesson on such stupid [...]
[...] Gerry Connolly is in a lot of trouble. First we had the outlandish attacks on Keith Fimian regarding the 17th amendment then about a joke he told. Next we see Connolly losing the fundraising battle BADLY. So bad in fact [...]
The times – they are a changing.
Fimian is now cash even with Connolly – it is now down to the votes.
And the latest polls show Fimian ahead, but don’t let up. We haven’t crossed the finish line yet.
I have lived in the 11th District for over two decades. It is a true delight to see the ever arrogant Gerry Connolly finally on his way out.
The 11th District has, like the rest of the nation, awoken and said “what have we done” and are getting ready to undo this mistake before it gets any worse.
The choice is simple – more of the same nightmare with Gerry (and have no doubt he promises more of the same) or a re-awkening of the American dream and a new begining with Keith Fimian.
11th district it is just a nightmare. It is time to wake up – time to end it. You can do it, but only if you vote on November 2nd.
[...] Gerry Connolly is in a lot of trouble. First we had the outlandish attacks on Keith Fimian regarding the 17th amendment then about a joke he told. Next we see Connolly losing the fundraising battle BADLY. So bad in fact [...]
The 17th is working better than the old system in three ways. 1. There is now no need for the referendum process to determine who the official / correct Senatorial Candidates are when a whole group of them have been sent by the same corrupt Legislator who was bought off (bribed) by these five or six people who wanted to be the Senator. 2. When a question of whom the correct Senatorial candidate came up, it was left up to the people in mass through the referendum process to have the last say. The referendum was a part time 17th Amendment and the 17th is the referendum process on a full time basis. 3. The 17th brings the government closer to the people on a full time basis where the referendum did it on a part time basis. Via the 17th, more power and say-so is now in the hands of “we the people” on a full time basis, and not just in a selection crisis only.
After the 17th was ratified, candidates started spending large amounts of money to advertise their political positions, to which many complained. Thus campaign finance reform was introduced. Make no mistake about it, people being people will find the loopholes in any process. It is just part of the territory and to be expected.
I clearly see the need for the 17th, simply because of what the original metastasized into. The old system morphed from a 6 /10 level into a 2 /10 condition, and then the 17th replaced it with an 8/10 system.
By these numbers, you can see that neither one is a perfect 10/10.
As to the question: Are ANY OF the representatives and Senators in either system doing the will of the people? Depends on Fred (he is a people too) who you are talking with and how he sees things. If Fred DID NOT vote for that person, Fred will probably say that Representative or Senator is incapable of doing anything right. If Fred voted for that Representative or Senator, most likely Fred will say they can do nothing wrong. LOL. And so it goes.
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