FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Conservative Congress
10/8/2010 ConservativeCongress.com
info@conservativecongress.com
On Thursday, October 7, 2010, Missouri District 7 Democratic candidate Scott Eckersley’s campaign website boasted the claim that his Republican opponent Billy Long supported harming seniors by eliminating Social Security. Additionally, in televised debates on October 6 and 7, Mr. Eckersley made this claim again. Mr. Eckersley claimed his accusation came from Conservative Congress, which supports reforming Social Security and federalizing it. Given the mischaracterization of their position, Conservative Congress immediately followed up with the following clarification on its website:
“On his website and in two recent debates, Mr. Eckersley made the claim that “Billy Long wants to turn Social Security over to Wall Street.” He made this statement allegedly based upon the Issues Statement on Conservative Congress’ website. Since this is a false characterization of our position, Conservative Congress would like to correct the record. The fact is that we believe Social Security and other federal social programs are in serious financial trouble and will not be able to provide their mandated assistance to seniors and other Americans in the future. As such, we support any reforms to Social Security that make the program affordable and/or bring it to the state level, where it belongs constitutionally.
Mr. Eckersley quoted Conservative Congress on his website- but what he failed to bring up was the full quote he mischaracterized. Here is Conservative Congress’ full Issues Statement regarding De-Regulation and/or Reform of Federal Programs:
“In an ever growing and changing world, it is important that the administration of social programs be kept under the exclusive control of state and local governments. Conservative Congress supports candidates who are committed to de-regulating and dismantling wasteful federal social agencies and programs. Specifically, Conservative Congress supports candidates who seek to dismantle the Department of Education and Social Security, by and through constructive reforms, and who firmly oppose the expansion of federal control over our nation’s healthcare industry.”
In researching candidates that Conservative Congress would endorse the organization looked for candidates that recognized that there is currently a problem and that reforms are needed. The organization recognizes that the solution to this issue is not a silo of a single idea, but that there may be many solutions and many ideas that can lead the country out of the current status quo.
Research for the Long campaign was conducted by phone. The campaign indicated to Conservative Congress via a phone conversation that there is a problem with Social Security and that Mr. Long is in favor of reforms to Social Security. Whether or not the solution to the current problem is to return social programs to the states, introduce privatization, or some other reform is something for the voters of Missouri to decide. Mr. Long clearly understands what Mr. Eckersley and many others on the left do not: that Social Security in its current form will take ‘social security’ away from seniors faster than any reform Mr. Long or Conservative Congress could suggest.
The Eckersley campaign willfully and purposefully misused the mission statement of Conservative Congress in order to scare the voters of Missouri’s 7th District. The act is deplorable and we challenge the Eckersley campaign to remove the misleading article from their website and enter into a real conversation on the issue rather than taking a “politics as usual” approach.”
Nick R. Brown, Co-Founder of Conservative Congress can be reached for questions at:
info@conservativecongress.com.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Conservative Congress
10/8/2010 ConservativeCongress.com
info@conservativecongress.com
