1st District Candidate Watkins Calls It “Insurgent Campaigning”

Press release from Christy/Watkins for Congress:

How does an insurgent campaign deal with an entrenched incumbent that refuses to discuss the issues? Focus on the facts and take it to the street with volunteers.

Today, volunteers for the Watkins for Congress campaign deployed the first wave of hundreds of new issues-based signs across Washington’s 1st Congressional District in Kitsap, Snohomish, and King Counties. The signs are vivid and highlight one of the issues critical to voters – out-of-control government spending by long-term career politicians is bankrupting the United States and putting our future at risk.



First elected to Congress in 1992, Jay Inslee has voted for huge spending increases, the biggest deficits in U.S. history, huge new programs funded by debt, government bailouts, and huge tax increases we can’t afford. In the 111th Congress alone, he voted with Nancy Pelosi and his party 98.8% of the time in support of the following big spending bills:



· Government-run healthcare that robs $500 billion from Medicare, counts on a 21% pay cut for Doctors, hikes health insurance premiums, and makes healthcare MORE expensive.

· $862 billion in Stimulus Funds that failed to stimulate the economy.

· A $1.4 trillion deficit in 2009, and a projected deficit of $1.3 trillion in 2010 – the largest deficits in our history.

· $80+ billion to bailout car companies.

· An energy tax that will cost each family $1,761 per year and kill millions of jobs.

References to above claims: [1] http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-04-22-health-care-costs_N.htm
[2] http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/23/morning-bell-six-months-closer-to-repeal/
[3] http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/26/tab-stimulus-program-jumps-cbo-says/
[4] http://www.cbo.gov/budget/budget.cfm
[5] http://money.cnn.com/news/storysupplement/economy/bailouttracker/
[6] http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504383_162-5314040-504383.html
“Look – we just can’t afford business as usual in Washington, DC,” says Watkins. “Inslee has been there for 14 years and is part of the problem. The current Congress is old and busted – they won’t even pass a budget or tell us what our taxes will be in three months.”



Watkins continues, “I’ve helped cut spending at the federal agency level and helped create thousands of jobs in the private sector. I’ll be part of the solution.”



The Watkins campaign has also taken the unusual step today of releasing the very first 2010 1st Congressional District Issues Guide, a substantive guide to the top issues of the day. It’s a 17-page summary of Inslee votes and Watkins positions on jobs, federal spending, reforming wall street, building a clean energy future, and the heath insurance reform legislation. Thoroughly researched and documented, the Guide contains 59 links to primary source material.



“Voters are engaged like never before,” Watkins explains. “The guide is my attempt to highlight the critical issues facing us in 2010. I’d prefer an open debate with Jay Inslee, but it’s pretty clear that won’t happen. As a 14-year Congressman, he feels entitled to make the rules. His team has been stringing us along since the primary in August, and he won’t agree to anything resembling a real debate. He’s running out the clock.”



Watkins says, “Our government is broken, our economy is a wreck, we’re losing jobs, and everything seems to be falling apart. Voters need to decide which direction to go – to re-elect career politicians, or vote for newcomers with new ideas. To make a good decision, voters need us as candidates to move beyond sound bites and talking points to a substantive analysis and discussion of the issues.”



He continues, “In this election voters have a clear choice – if they like the current direction of the country, they’ll vote for Inslee. If they want the country moving forward again, I’m asking them to vote for me. Because we can’t afford another two years of Jay Inslee.”



James Watkins is the only candidate that has fostered the creation of new private-sector jobs. At the federal level he helped cut government spending as an FDIC troubleshooter. For more information on James Watkins, visit www.WatkinsForCongress.com.
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For more on the cowardice of Inslee, click here.