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Abernathy Strategies
RepublicanGazette
Monday, February 4, 2008 "When news breaks, we fix it" Published daily except some days
Submissions welcome
The Republican Gazette welcomes Emails to the Editor and press releases. All submitted items must include the name and contact information for the author of the article, and all articles will only be published with the author's name included. Thank you for reading and participating in The Republican Gazette, another of West Virginia's most biased publications.
All opinions are those of The Republican Gazette and its editor, Gary Abernathy, except letters or commentary signed by others, and do not reflect the views of anyone else, including clients of Abernathy Strategies.
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I supported Fred Thompson for president because I believed that among all the candidates he was the most consistently conservative on all the issues, and had the wisdom, age and experience to be a strong and decisive leader.But Fred's out of the race, and sitting on the sidelines without entering the fray has never been my strong suit. When Fred's campaign began coming to an end, I confided to several close friends and a few other people who my choice would be among the remaining field to win the nomination -- many days before John McCain won South Carolina or Florida. John McCain is not a perfect Republican, or a perfect conservative. But I can find fault with each of the remaining candidates on both those subjects. Simply put, in this age of terrorism and unrest around the globe, I am more confident with John McCain sitting in the Oval Office than any of the remaining candidates.John McCain spent more than five years being tortured and interrogated in Vietnam. It is difficult for me to imagine him being rattled in the least by any catastrophic event that might occur. The economy, crime, health care and social issues are all important, but they are all meaningless if we fail to protect and preserve our very existence and the existence of our sovereign nation. John McCain is the candidate most prepared by his life experiences to protect and defend that very sovereignty.But it is not on safety and security issues alone that McCain's record stands out. He has been a fervent defender of the unborn, and says, correctly, "At its core, abortion is a human tragedy. To effect meaningful change, we must engage the debate at a human level." McCain favors overturning Roe v. Wade, and will appoint judges who interpret, rather than create, our laws. But he understands, as Fred Thompson did, that tossing out Roe would be
only the first step in a state-by-state battle. McCain believes in fighting that battle, and his record proves it.
On Iraq, McCain is right when he says he is the only candidate who argued all along that more troops were needed for victory. Today, he clearly believes, correctly, that the only viable exit strategy from Iraq is victory. America has reached a sad moment in its history when it buys into the misguided notion that surrender somehow equals success -- and pulling the troops out before the job is done is nothing short of surrender.McCain is a strong defender of the right to bear arms. He notes that "gun control is a proven failure in fighting crime. Law abiding citizens should not be asked to give up their rights because of criminals - criminals who ignore gun control laws anyway." To be sure, McCain's long career in the U.S. Senate has seen him cast votes and argue for causes with which I strongly disagree, particularly in regard to campaign finance reform. But there has never been a president with whom I agreed on every issue.Supporters of the other campaigns can make strong points in favor of their candidate on various issues, including some raised here. But for me, what is being said or promised on the campaign trail in 2008 should ideally be coupled with a lengthy history of consistency and performance to back it up. At the end of the day, I believe the global war being waged by terrorists who want to blow the United States off the map -- or at the very least seriously disrupt our freedoms and impose their own ideologies -- is our most pressing issue, and will be for years to come.Among all the candidates competing today, I believe Americans can sleep best at night with John McCain as our commander-in-chief. John McCain for president.John McCain best leader for dangerous world
Unger raised more than $440,000 -- or filed bad reports, according to records
Most news stories reporting on John Unger's last-minute decision to abandon his congressional race have said he raised anywhere from $150,000 to $250,000 for his campaign.But according to Federal Elections Commission records, as shown here, Unger actually raised more than $440,000. According to the latest reports filed Thursday, and available on the FEC website, Unger raised about $260,000 from individuals and another $178,000 from PACS and political committees. But Unger's report seems to contain several errors. For example, it indicates he returned a $2,000 contribution from Kevin Halligen of Washington D.C. But a closer look shows that contribution was returned in two payments, but both on the same date. In other words, Unger's report shows he returned $1,000 to Halligen on July 6, 2007, and again returned $1,000 to Halligen on that exact same date.That scenario is highly unlikely. What is more likely is that whoever filed Unger's report mistakenly entered a $1,000 refund twice. Congressional candidates file their reports electronically, and the system can be tricky. It is not unusual for treasurers or other campaign staffers to mistakenly enter both receipts and expenditures more than once if they are not familiar with the FEC software. Another fact lending credence to this theory is that according to Unger's own reports, his total money raised for the cycle actually decreased from the third quarter to the fourth quarter -- a technical impossibility. Unger's third quarter report says he had raised a total in the cycle so far of $150,312. But his next report, for the fourth quarter, says he had raised a total in the cycle so far of $119,540. Something's wrong with that report. At the very least, the fourth quarter had to reflect at least as much raised in total as the third quarter indicated, even if not another dime was raised after the third quarter report.There are other apparent errors to be found in looking through Unger's various reports, so it's really impossible to say with certainty how much he did raise, and it also leads to wondering whether his decision to abandon the race might have something to do with how badly his records were being kept. It's interesting to examine Unger's contributors in light of his high-minded explanation for dropping out of the race. Unger Unger's payments to his staff add up strangely
For example, on Dec. 31, 2007, Unger dished out payments of $9,000 each to Cara Spaziani, his press secretary, Kimberly Anne Sencindiver, his treasurer, and Ryan Unger, who is apparently John's brother and whose job is not defined. These payments were all described as "quarterly salary" or "fourth quarter salary."But in addition to her "fourth quarter salary," Spaziani -- a former reporter for The Journal of Martinsburg who covered Unger's last State Senate campaign before quitting the paper to go to work for him -- also received additional payments of $1,500 a month for October, November and December, bringing her total quarterly take to $13,500. Neither Sencindiver nor Ryan Unger received the additional monthly payments, although Unger did receive a $495 "repayment for Website newsletter software." Unger also paid David Hammer of Martinsburg $6,000 for "legal consulting."essentially said he was disgusted by a system that required candidates to trade their votes for campaign contributions.
Who was Unger talking about? Was he talking about former State Sen. Oshel Craigo, who gave Unger $2,300 in July? Or maybe Treasurer John Perdue, who gave $1,000 back in September? Or former gubernatorial candidate Lloyd Jackson, who gave $2,000 in December? Or Delegate Locke Wysong, who also gave $2,000 in December? Or Congressman Nick Rahall, whose committee gave thousands in various contributions? Or Democrat power broker Lyle Stowers, who gave $2,300 in September? The possibilities are endless.(Again, the FEC records available online seem to back up the notion that Unger's reports are a mess -- the same contributions from the same donors on the same date show up in more than one entry several times.)Unger's effort to paint himself as too pure for the system should also require him to discuss exactly whose money was connected with pressure to vote a certain way. Otherwise, his self righteousness is not believable, as usual.Blair offers unique idea on area code issue
Delegate Craig Blair is suggesting a unique idea on dealing with West Virginia's area code issue -- simply assign new area codes to all cell phones and leave the land lines alone.As Blair points out, the need for another area code is not due to an increasing population, but rather to the demand for cell phones. Blair's solution would not cost businesses and others the cost associated with other plans to issue new area codes in certain parts of the state. WVGOP convention finally arrives, so let games begin
The experiment that is the West Virginia Republican Presidential Convention will finally be put to its defining test on Tuesday when roughly 1,200 Republican delegates from around the state gather at the Charleston Civic Center during unseasonably warm weather.Delegates will determine which candidate wins 18 of the state's 30 delegates to the Republican National Convention.The outcome is in flux due to a number of factors, Both Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani are out of the campaign. John McCain has emerged as the national frontrunner, but accomplished that feat so late in the process that he has only a handful of committed delegates in West Virginia. Mitt Romney has the most committed delegates, but the majority of the 500-plus uncommitted delegates, coupled with Thompson and Mike Huckabee delegates, could go McCain's way, especially on a second or third ballot. Additionally, the Ron Paul delegates are likely to be an aggressive and noisy bunch who will not step quietly aside. And rumors are rife that the Romney campaign might try to raise issues about procedures. All in all, should be fun.