Archive for the ‘Alan Grayson’ Category

Rep. Grayson Lowers the Bar

The Florida Democrat manipulates video to make his opponent seem to urge wives to ‘submit’ to husbands. He didn’t.

September 27, 2010

We thought Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida reached a low point when he falsely accused his opponent of being a draft dodger during the Vietnam War, and of not loving his country. But now Grayson has lowered the bar even further. He’s using edited video to make his rival appear to be saying the opposite of what he really said.

In a new ad, Grayson accuses his Republican opponent Daniel Webster of being a religious fanatic and dubs him “Taliban Dan.” But to make his case, Grayson manipulates a video clip to make it appear Webster was commanding wives to submit to their husbands, quoting a passage in the Bible. Four times, the ad shows Webster saying wives should submit to their husbands. In fact, Webster was cautioning husbands to avoid taking that passage as their own. The unedited quote is: “Don’t pick the ones [Bible verses] that say, ‘She should submit to me.’ ”

Analysis

The ad compares Webster to “religious fanatics” in Afghanistan and Iran. It says Webster opposes abortion even in cases of rape or incest, which is true. But it also claims that “Webster wants to impose his radical fundamentalism on us,” and to support that claim it blatantly misuses a video clip of Webster speaking at a Christian conference in Nashville in 2009.

⬐ Click to expand/collapse the full transcript ⬏

The ad, which first aired Sept. 25, starts by saying, “Religious fanatics tried to take away our freedom in Afghanistan, in Iran and right here in Central Florida,” cutting to a clip of Webster saying, “Wives submit yourself to your own husband.” Later the ad cuts to a clip of Webster saying, “She should submit to me. That’s in the Bible.” And twice more, it shows him saying, “submit to me.”

We contacted both campaigns to gather information on the claims in the ad and to obtain a copy of the video to better understand the context of Webster’s remarks. We also contacted the Institute of Basic Life Principles, which is a non-denominational Christian organization that runs programs and training sessions. Robert Staddon at the institute provided us with the section of Webster’s speech (see the video below) that deals with the Bible verse in question.

In an e-mail, Staddon said the video was “taken from a talk to fathers” at the Advanced Training Institute regional conference in Nashville in 2009. ATI is a religious-based program developed by the Institute of Basic Life Principles “to support parents in raising their children to love the Lord Jesus Christ.” Bill Gothard, the founder of the Institute of Basic Life Principles, said that Webster home-schooled his children using the institute’s curriculum and has given speeches at the training institute on more than one occasion.

The full context of the remarks make clear that Webster is not telling wives to submit to their husbands. Just the opposite.

Webster: So, write a journal. Second, find a verse. I have a verse for my wife, I have verses for my wife. Don’t pick the ones that say, ‘She should submit to me.’ That’s in the Bible, but pick the ones that you’re supposed to do. So instead, ‘love your wife, even as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it’ as opposed to ‘wives submit to your own husbands.’ She can pray that, if she wants to, but don’t you pray it.

Grayson campaign spokesman Sam Drzymala told us that the campaign interpreted Webster’s remarks to mean that he believes wives should submit to their husbands. As evidence of this interpretation, Drzymala pointed to Webster’s comment to husbands, “She can pray that, if she wants to.”

The phrase “if she wants to,” though, shows that Webster was not imposing his “radical fundamentalism” even on the people at the religious training conference. Also, the Grayson campaign’s interpretation is aided only by selectively editing the video to concoct a phrase that doesn’t even exist in the video: “She should submit to me. That’s in the Bible.” That’s a mash-up of two sentences that read: ”Don’t pick the ones that say, ‘She should submit to me.’ That’s in the Bible, but pick the ones that you’re supposed to do.”

This is the second time in as many weeks that the Grayson campaign has resorted to cheap gimmicks to attack his opponent. As we wrote last week, Grayson falsely claimed Webster “refused the call to service” during the Vietnam War. In fact, Webster received routine student deferments in high school and college, and was disqualified for medical reasons after college.

As for Webster’s position on abortion, it’s true that he would prevent women from obtaining abortions even when the pregnancies result from rape, just as the ad says. And that goes for incest as well. He has been endorsed by the Republican National Coalition for Life, which states: “[W]e have listed the Republican Congressional Candidates whose responses to the RNC/Life Questionnaire indicate they are faithfully pro-life, and do not justify abortion for babies who are conceived through rape or incest, have a handicap, or a genetic defect.” When asked directly by a local television reporter whether he would support an abortion for a woman who became pregnant as a result of rape, Webster said “that’s not the issue we’re talking about” and evaded the question. Grayson’s campaign posted that clip on YouTube.

But the ad’s claim that Webster would “deny battered women … the right to divorce their abusers” is a distortion. The claim is based on legislation he sponsored in the Florida House of Representatives 20 years ago. The bill, HB 1585, would have allowed Florida residents the option of a “covenant marriage,” which would limit their divorce rights. Under the proposal, couples could dissolve a covenant marriage only in cases of adultery. But that would not have applied to anyone who did not choose to enter a covenant marriage. The legislation died in committee in June 1990. Webster has not advocated for covenant marriages as a congressional candidate.

Webster’s positions on abortion and marriage, and his religious views, are certainly fair game. But Grayson crosses the line when he uses manipulated video to cast Webster’s views in a false light, just as he did when he concocted a false accusation that Webster had been a Vietnam draft dodger.

– by Michael Morse and Lara Seligman, with Eugene Kiely

George Soros, Obama, and all their Socialist and Communistic friends Believe this

Manifest Destiny as is practiced today is a term used by the Progressives, Socialists, Elites and Communists that there is a widely held underlying belief among them , that they are the “chosen people,” had a divinely inspired mission to spread the fruits of their beliefs to the less fortunate and unwashed masses.
The idea of an almost religious Manifest Destiny is a common staple in the speeches and newspaper articles of the Progressives. Most of the exponents of Socialism were Democrats.

Critics see the Manifest Destiny rationale as a thinly veiled attempt to put an acceptable face on taking freedom from other peoples. Motives are often described as well-intentioned efforts to improve the lot of backward masses, but in truth the motivators were greed, power and control. The Manifest Destiny crowd are thinly disguised in wonderful names – such as Center for American Freedom.
The American people having derived their origin from many other nations, and the Declaration of National Independence being entirely based on the great principle of human equality and freedom, that we have, in reality, but little connection with anyone trying to take our freedom away. On the contrary, our national birth was the beginning of a new history, the formation and progress of an untried political system, which separates us from the past and connects us with the future as regards the entire development of the natural rights of man, in moral, political, and national life, we may confidently assume that our country is destined to be the great nation of futurity with individual freedom.

Alan Grayson it’s a SCAM

A U.S. judge has agreed to referee a dispute among Florida political activists over who can use the phrase “Tea Party” in their name.

A trial has been scheduled to begin on December 6 in U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach, Florida, in a lawsuit that questions whether anyone has a trademark or intellectual property right to the “Tea Party” name.

Hundreds of groups call themselves part of the Tea Party movement whose name alludes to the 18th century U.S. revolt against tea taxes and British colonial rule. They usually oppose big central government, deficit spending and President Barack Obama, but there is no hierarchy or formal affiliation among them.

While Tea Partiers generally oppose federal government intervention, they have turned to the federal court to resolve a dispute that arose after Fred O’Neal, a central Florida lawyer and longtime anti-tax crusader, and Alan Grayson, registered the “Tea Party” as a Florida political party in August.

O’Neal said the name is an acronym for the “Taxed Enough Already” party and that he hoped to recruit candidates to run against both Democrats and Republicans.

Nearly three dozen people and groups who called themselves part of the Tea Party movement filed suit against O’Neal and two associates in January, accusing them of trying to “hijack” the movement and confuse the public.

“They’re trying to promote candidates that we wouldn’t support,” said plaintiff Everett Wilkinson, who has been active in Tea Party events and groups. “The people trust us more than the political parties. We work hard to keep that trust.”

The plaintiffs said O’Neal’s and Grayson’s group is a “fake” Tea Party, a claim he scoffs at.

“I looked for the rule book but I never found it,” O’Neal said on Tuesday. “I don’t know what it takes to be an authentic Tea Party versus a fake Tea Party.”

The plaintiffs, many of whom have “Tea Party” as part of their group names, said they feared O’Neal would sue them for trademark infringement or violation of intellectual property rights. Florida law says the names and symbols of registered political parties cannot be used without permission of the party’s executive committee.

Each side also questioned the other’s political motives.

Tea Party supporters lean Republican — 59 percent of Republicans support the movement compared with 36 percent of independents and only 9 percent of Democrats, according to a March poll by Harris Interactive.

Wilkinson contends that O’Neal is plotting to run third-party candidates in order to split the Republican vote and help elect liberal Democrats.

O’Neal contends the Republican Party is behind the lawsuit against him and is trying to shut down his political party because “they don’t like the idea of having to compete for fiscal conservative voters.”

O’Neal and Grayson’s tea party is a SCAM

Grayson shows his Socialistic – Communistic- Progressive Doctrine

Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, characterized Gibbs as “Bozo the spokesman” and said he ought to be fired for doing “a miserable job.”

Robert Gibbs, the press secretary complained that the “professional left” would not be happy with President Obama unless the U.S. had “Canadian health care and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon.”

Then Alan Grayson – (some say the leader of the Professional left) countered that he’d prefer “to see Gibbs show some frustration over 15 million unemployed Americans. I’d like to see him show some frustration over 40 million people who can’t see a doctor when they need to. (UN TRUE) I’d like to see him show some frustration over the Republicans, who have blocked the president’s plans and his programs.” (UNTRUE)
Grayson didn’t stop there, saying: “I don’t think he should resign, I think he should be fired. He’s done a miserable job.”

At his press briefing on Wednesday, Gibbs told the White House press corps that he has no plans to leave his job.

Grayson continues to spread his obscured lies and untruths trying to be flamboyant so that someone will pay attention to him.

Orlando — This morning, Conservative candidate for Congress Todd Long filed suit against Alan Grayson in Federal Court in the Middle District of Florida in Orlando over Grayson’s controversial promotional DVD he sent out to 100,000 households at the taxpayers’ expense, costing $77,000. Long’s suit asks the Court to find this taxpayer spending violates The United States Constitution, Article I, Section 8, which limits Congressional spending to “the common Defence [sic] and general welfare of the United States.”

In the lawsuit, Long asks the Court to order Grayson reimburse the public treasury and pay for the expenditures with his campaign funds or personal funds and asks for injunctive relief to bar Grayson from spending any more taxpayer dollars on the DVDs or other promotional materials.

“The Defendant Grayson’s DVDs are clearly outside of what the Constitution allows. The Defendant and his colleagues have already bankrupted us and saddled us with a $13 trillion national debt and they are literally destroying our great nation with this reckless, abusive, and unconstitutional misappropriation of taxpayer dollars. The people in District Eight know I will always fight for them, whether it’s this abuse, securing our borders, or the numerous other areas where they are not doing their job,” said Long.

By Nathan L. Gonzales
Roll Call Contributing Writer
June 22, 2010, 12 a.m.
One of Rep. Alan Grayson’s pollsters is running for the state House in Florida as a Tea Party candidate, fueling Republican suspicions that the Democratic Congressman is using a newly formed third party to boost his own re-election bid.
On Friday, Victoria Torres, 44, of Orlando qualified to run as a Tea Party candidate in state House district 51 in the last hours of the qualifying period.
A call to Torres was returned by Nick Egoroff, communications director for the Florida Tea Party, who described Torres as a “quasi-paralegal assistant who works in a law office.” But apparently, Torres is also a pollster.
According to records from the Florida Department of State office, Torres incorporated Public Opinion Strategies Inc. in December 2008. In the first quarter of this year, Grayson’s campaign made two payments to her firm, totaling $11,000, for polling and survey expenses.
“She’s got various businesses on the side,” explained Egoroff, who confirmed Torres’ work for Grayson. “It’s just a business relationship. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
Egoroff described Torres as a conservative. When asked why she would work for a liberal lawmaker, he said, “It’s quite common.”
The name of Torres’ company is curious, considering Alexandria, Va.-based Public Opinion Strategies is one of the largest and best-known Republican polling firms in the country. Egoroff declined to say if Torres has worked for any other clients, and her company doesn’t appear to have a website.
“We definitely do not poll for Democrats, nor do we have an office in Orlando,” said Glen Bolger of the Virginia-based POS. “However, we do wish Congressman Grayson the worst of luck in November.”
Dave Beattie, a prominent Florida-based Democratic pollster, also said he had never heard of Torres or her polling firm.
A spokesman for Grayson confirmed that Public Opinion Strategies Inc. is one of three pollsters the Congressman has employed. Dr. Jim Kitchens is Grayson’s principal pollster, but his campaign also uses Middleton Market Research. The use of multiple pollsters simultaneously in the same cycle is highly uncommon for a Congressional candidate.
This latest connection between the Florida Tea Party, Torres and Grayson is only likely to fan the flames of an ongoing battle about the tea party in Florida.
“I will not stand for the way Alan Grayson is using this political party to further his own political career,” businessman Bruce O’Donoghue said at a Thursday press conference with other local tea party movement activists.
O’Donoghue, one of the Republicans vying to take on Grayson this fall, is among Grayson’s detractors who believe the Congressman is connected to the Florida Tea Party. Business consultant Peg Dunmire is running as the Tea Party candidate in Grayson’s 8th district and there is concern among Republicans that she’ll take votes from the GOP nominee and help Grayson get re-elected.
The Florida Tea Party has also recruited Congressional candidates to run in two Republican-held open seats that Democrats have some hope of putting into play, including Rep. Adam Putnam’s 12th district and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart’s 25th district.
“There is no proof of any money from the Congressman going to the Florida Tea Party,” Grayson spokesman Todd Jurkowski said. “It’s all conspiracy theory.” According to Jurkowski, no decisions have been made about whether to use the polling services of Public Opinion Strategies Inc. in the future.
According to local Republicans, the whole situation is riddled with coincidences.
According to local Republicans, the whole situation is riddled with coincidences.
The Florida Tea Party was founded in August by attorney Fred O’Neal. Egoroff later signed on as communications director, and the party (including Dunmire’s Congressional candidacy) is promoted by Orlando political consultant Doug Guetzloe. Guetzloe and Egoroff were suspended by the Florida Republican Party late last year, but there are differences of opinion about why that happened.
An extensive June 14 Orlando Sentinel article detailed multiple connections between Grayson and Guetzloe. The Congressman appointed Guetzloe to a small-business advisory panel, and Guetzloe’s son interned in Grayson’s Congressional office. In addition, Republicans note that the two men have a financial connection since Grayson is running campaign ads on Guetzloe’s conservative radio show.
With political accusations being lobbed backed and forth, legal charges are in the mix too.
A group of local tea party activists filed suit against the Florida Tea Party, O’Neal and Guetzloe because they say the party doesn’t represent the movement. Guetzloe claims he is the victim of “character assassination,” according to the Sentinel, and has filed his own defamation countersuit.
Now with a couple dozen candidates in races across the state, the Florida Tea Party is planning to file a “criminal complaint” against the Republican Party of Florida for trying to “intimidate” Tea Party candidates and get them to drop their candidacies.
Darin Dunmire, whom Egoroff described as a relative of Peg Dunmire, is running in state House district 40. Nina Virone, a partner at Dunmire Consulting, is running as a Tea Party candidate against state Speaker-designate Dean Cannon (R). Another Tea Party candidate worked at the same radio station as Guetzloe.
Both Darin Dunmire and Virone contributed to Peg Dunmire’s Congressional campaign earlier this year. Peg and Darin Dunmire and Virone all list Peg Dunmire as their campaign’s treasurer and use the same address on their filings.
The tone and tenor of the Florida Tea Party’s actions are remarkably similar to Grayson’s controversial and colorful comments.
“People who know me know that one of my ‘rules of life’ is to try not to get drawn into fist fights with midgets. But, in your case, I’m going to make an exception,” wrote O’Neal, chairman of the Florida Tea Party, in a colorful four-page letter to O’Donoghue after the Republican started criticizing the group.
“Specifically, if by some fluke you become the Republican nominee for the 8th Congressional district, and if by some fluke Peg Dunmire were to want to withdraw from the race, I, personally, am going to beat her with a stick until she agrees to stay in the race to the end,” O’Neal wrote.
“Mr. O’Donoghue seems to admire Congressman Grayson’s shoot from the hip style because he’s doing a darn good imitation of it,” O’Neal said in a separate June 18 release.
Grayson said the Republicans’ health care plan was for seniors to “die quickly,” called a Federal Reserve adviser a “K Street whore” and compared former Vice President Dick Cheney to a vampire.
Along with the rhetorical similarities, the threats of litigation are reminiscent of Grayson as well.
When someone started the website mycongressmanisnuts.com to satirize Grayson’s congressmanwithguts.com, the Democrat wrote a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder asking him to investigate and prosecute the woman.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010 by theblogprof

This is about as sleazy and slimy as it gets in politics. Similar to what Harry Reid is doing in Nevada, and what Democrats in Michigan are doing in officially forming a ‘tea party’ for the ballot, Alan Grayson is running his own pollster as a ‘Tea Party’ candidate. From Roll Call via FoxNation via Gateway Pundit:

One of Rep. Alan Grayson’s pollsters is running for the state House in Florida as a Tea Party candidate, fueling Republican suspicions that the Democratic Congressman is using to a newly formed third party to boost his own re-election bid.

On Friday, Victoria Torres, 44, of Orlando qualified to run as a Tea Party candidate in state House district 51 in the last hours of the qualifying period.

A call to Torres was returned by Nick Egoroff, communications director for the Florida Tea Party, who described Torres as a “quasi-paralegal assistant who works in a law office.” But apparently, Torres is also a pollster.

According to records from the Florida Department of State office, Torres incorporated Public Opinion Strategies Inc. in December 2008. In the first quarter of this year, Grayson’s campaign made two payments to her firm, totaling $11,000, for polling and survey expenses.
Will the local MSM call him out for such a slimy tactic?

BY ELENA IVES
Everyone knows Alan Grayson’s opinion of conservatives, and it’s not pretty. Heck, everyone knows Alan Grayson’s opinions about everything, and they’re deeply disturbing. But if Grayson wants to be re-elected this November, he must concern himself with his constituents’ opinion of him. And many are sick of their district being associated with this volatile, boorish, unhinged clown, and they want the sorry freak show to “die quickly.” Electorally speaking, of course.
However, things have been looking better for Grayson since a mysterious third party emergedand began busily recruiting candidates – like Peg Dunmire in Grayson’s race – to don phony Tea Party mantles and waylay enough conservative votes to secure Democrat victories statewide.
“Everyone understands the impact a Tea Party candidate could have in that race,” said Tom Tillison, an activist with the tea-party movement who has no connection to the formal political party. “It’s clear that Peg Dunmire’s candidacy stands to benefit Alan Grayson tremendously.”
Needless to say, Florida conservatives and traditional Tea Party activists are protesting, and their howls have gotten louder since connections surfaced between this new Stepford Tea Partyand Grayson himself. An especially blatant example is Grayson’s former pollster, Victoria Torres.
One of Rep. Alan Grayson’s pollsters is running for the state House in Florida as a Tea Party candidate, fueling Republican suspicions that the Democratic Congressman is using to a newly formed third party to boost his own re-election bid.
On Friday, Victoria Torres, 44, of Orlando qualified to run as a Tea Partycandidate in state House district 51 in the last hours of the qualifying period.
A call to Torres was returned by Nick Egoroff, communications directorfor the Florida Tea Party, who described Torres as a “quasi-paralegal assistant who works in a law office.” But apparently, Torres is also a pollster.
According to records from the Florida Department of State office, Torres incorporated Public Opinion Strategies Inc. in December 2008. In the first quarter of this year, Grayson’s campaign made two payments to her firm, totaling $11,000, for polling and survey expenses.
Sounds far-fetched, doesn’t it? Grayson-stein manufacturing fake teabagger zombies to soak up 5 to 7 percent of the conservative vote and secure himself another two years on Capitol Hill? He would have to be nuts.

Posted by bydesign001
While most politicians in the state of Florida are up to their necks in Gulf oil sludge, there is not nearly enough sludge and filth for for that jerk, Alan Grayson, to roll in. Grayson hired his own puppet at the cost of $11,000 to run for office in the hopes of upsetting the election, clearing the road for him and convincing Patriots that the Tea Party supports his candidate, Victoria Torres.
Clearly a lying pig, desperate, devious, low and is what one gets with Alan Grayson. Grayson who despises the right and the tea party has no problems infiltrating, or trying to for the sake of his grimy agenda.
Enter slime ball, liar, $11,000 puppet Victoria Torres. There is just no low to how far liberals will sink.
ROLL CALL
“One of Rep. Alan Grayson’s pollsters is running for the state House in Florida as a Tea Party candidate, fueling Republican suspicions that the Democratic Congressman is using a newly formed third party to boost his own re-election bid.
On Friday, Victoria Torres, 44, of Orlando qualified to run as a Tea Party candidate in state House district 51 in the last hours of the qualifying period.
A call to Torres was returned by Nick Egoroff, communications director for the Florida Tea Party, who described Torres as a ‘quasi-paralegal assistant who works in a law office.’ But apparently, Torres is also a pollster.
According to records from the Florida Department of State office, Torres incorporated Public Opinion Strategies Inc. in December 2008. In the first quarter of this year, Grayson’s campaign made two payments to her firm, totaling $11,000, for polling and survey expenses.
‘She’s got various businesses on the side,’ explained Egoroff, who confirmed Torres’ work for Grayson. ‘It’s just a business relationship. Nothing more. Nothing less.’
Egoroff described Torres as a conservative. When asked why she would work for a liberal lawmaker, he said, ‘It’s quite common.’
The name of Torres’ company is curious, considering Alexandria, Va.-based Public Opinion Strategies is one of the largest and best-known Republican polling firms in the country. Egoroff declined to say if Torres has worked for any other clients, and her company doesn’t appear to have a website.
‘We definitely do not poll for Democrats, nor do we have an office in Orlando,’ said Glen Bolger of the Virginia-based POS. ‘However, we do wish Congressman Grayson the worst of luck in November.’
Dave Beattie, a prominent Florida-based Democratic pollster, also said he had never heard of Torres or her polling firm.
A spokesman for Grayson confirmed that Public Opinion Strategies Inc. is one of three pollsters the Congressman has employed. Dr. Jim Kitchens is Grayson’s principal pollster, but his campaign also uses Middleton Market Research. The use of multiple pollsters simultaneously in the same cycle is highly uncommon for a Congressional candidate.
This latest connection between the Florida Tea Party, Torres and Grayson is only likely to fan the flames of an ongoing battle about the tea party in Florida.”

Slimy Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) was just caught running a fake tea party candidate, Victoria Torres, in the Florida State House District 51 race.

Posted by Jim Hoft on Monday, June 21, 2010, 5:38 PM

Torres is a Grayson stooge.
One of Rep. Alan Grayson’s pollsters is running for the state House in Florida as a Tea Party candidate, fueling Republican suspicions that the Democratic Congressman is using to a newly formed third party to boost his own re-election bid.
On Friday, Victoria Torres, 44, of Orlando qualified to run as a Tea Party candidate in state House district 51 in the last hours of the qualifying period.
A call to Torres was returned by Nick Egoroff, communications director for the Florida Tea Party, who described Torres as a “quasi-paralegal assistant who works in a law office.” But apparently, Torres is also a pollster.
According to records from the Florida Department of State office,Torres incorporated Public Opinion Strategies Inc. in December 2008. In the first quarter of this year, Grayson’s campaign made two payments to her firm, totaling $11,000, for polling and survey expenses.

July 29, 2010 Opinion
By Grant Maloy
Scripture warns us to beware of “false prophets” and of those who would “tickle our ears”. It tells us that we are ultimately responsible for our own actions and decisions and not to blindly follow someone. It is up to us to determine what is true based on our own research. On judgment day you can’t blame anyone else for misleading you.
In politics there needs to be the same warnings. Beware of politicians that make false statements (lie) and will say anything to get elected. These upcoming elections are filled with such examples. If you are not discerning, you will be fooled.
Our founding fathers recognized the failures of man. If you read their writings you will see a common theme. It is a fear of tyranny. They knew that too much power in the hands of politicians would lead to an abuse of power.
They put in checks and balances on politicians and limits on what government could do. The Articles of Confederation that founded this country even had term limits. Three one year terms were enough for congress. The President served only one year.
Many elected officials are driven by an insane desire to be noticed. They act more like narcissistic movie stars than principled statesmen. Getting elected is all that matters. It fuels their egos.
You also can’t believe what they say. A local party chairman once explained to me that some campaign promises were “gimmicks”.
Recently, I received mail pieces from both incumbent Seminole County Commissioners who both claimed they are for lower taxes. That’s strange. I was at the meeting last September where they both voted to raise our property tax rate. I also recall them voting to raise our gas tax and they spent thousands of our tax dollars to devise a new drainage tax. They got cold feet to vote for it when 500 people showed up at the commission meeting to protest.
But that deception fails to match up to what the fake “TEA Party” party is doing. A political consultant who has made a living off deceiving voters has helped create the “Florida TEA Party”. By copying the popular grassroots movement Tea Party name, he plans to fool the voters. News reports show that Democrat Congressman Alan Grayson has helped fund the fake “TEA Party”. The plan is to fool enough conservative and independent voters who dislike Grayson into voting for the TEA Party candidate instead of the Republican. The anti-incumbent vote gets split and Grayson get re-elected.
If a politician wants to fool you, what does he think of you?
What can you do? Don’t be manipulated. Don’t be fooled.
Very few voters call the candidates and ask tough questions. Do it. Many politicians want to give you the answer that they think you want to hear. Play devil’s advocate with them. Ask the question backwards to test them.
Look at voting records and who supports their campaigns. Project Vote Smart is a great resource atwww.votesmart.org.
If you find a candidate that you believe in give them $100 or spend 10 hours helping them.
If you don’t know about a race or question, skip it on the ballot and go to the next one.
Be discerning. This Election Day don’t be misled by politicians who are trying to ‘tickle your ears’. After Election Day you can’t blame anyone else for misleading you.

Alan Mark Grayson (born March 13, 1958) is an American attorney who is currently serving as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida’s 8th congressional district. The district includes just over half of Orlando, as well as Celebration, Walt Disney World and part of Ocala. A progressive Democrat, Grayson defeated Ric Keller, a four-term incumbent Republican in the 2008 congressional election.
Early life and education
Grayson was born in the Bronx, New York. He graduated from Bronx High School of Science and worked his way through Harvard University as a janitor and nightwatchman[2] graduating summa cum laude in three years. He was also a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He returned to Harvard for graduate studies. Within four years, he earned a law degree with honors from Harvard Law School, a masters in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government and completed the course work and passed the general exams for a Ph.D. in government.
Career
Grayson was employed as a law clerk at the Colorado Supreme Court in 1983, and at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals from 1984 to 1985, where he worked with such judges as Abner Mikva, Robert Bork, and two judges who later joined the U.S. Supreme Court: Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia. He was an associate at the Washington D.C. firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson for five years, where he specialized in contract law.
Grayson wrote his masters thesis on gerontology and in 1986, he helped found the Alliance for Aging Research (AAR), and served as an officer of the organization for more than twenty years. AAR is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. that was founded to promote medical research to improve the human experience of aging.
In 1991 he founded the law firm Grayson, Kubli which concentrated on government contract law. He was a lecturer at the George Washington University government contracts program and a frequent speaker on the topic. Grayson also was the first president of IDT Corporation, a publicly traded billion-dollar telecommunications company. Grayson was ranked as the 12th-wealthiest member of Congress based on financial disclosure forms with a minimum net worth of $31.12 million, according to Roll Call.
In the 2000s, he worked as a plaintiffs’ attorney specializing in whistleblower fraud cases aimed at Iraq war contractors. One contractor, Custer Battles, employed individuals who were found guilty of making fraudulent statements and submitting fraudulent invoices on two contracts in 2003 the company had with the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. On behalf of his clients, Grayson filed suit under the False Claims Act and its qui tam provisions. Grayson disclosed his attorney fees and costs for the case exceeded $4 million.
While pursuing the whistleblower cases, Grayson worked from a home office in Orlando where he lived with his wife and five children. In 2006, a Wall Street Journal reporter described Grayson as “waging a one-man war against contractor fraud in Iraq” and as a “fierce critic of the war in Iraq” whose car displayed bumper stickers such as “Bush lied, people died”.
Electoral history
In 2006, Grayson first entered into electoral politics, losing the 2006 Democratic primary for Florida’s 8th Congressional District to Charlie Stuart, a prominent local businessman and center-right Democrat. Stuart went on to lose the general election to incumbent Republican Congressman Ric Keller. In late 2007, Grayson announced that he would run again for the 8th District seat, and again faced Stuart in the primary. During the primary, his campaign retained the services of Bill Hillsman.
In the August 26, 2008 Democratic primary, Grayson prevailed, receiving 48.5% of the vote. Stuart trailed with 27.5%, with three other candidates splitting the remaining 24%. During the general election campaign, Grayson maintained a consistent lead over Keller, who had barely eked out renomination in the Republican primary over attorney Todd Long. On Election Day, Grayson received 172,854 votes, or 52%, to Keller’s 159,490 votes, or 48%. Although Keller won three out of four counties in the district, Grayson won by a margin of 55% to 45% in Orange County, home to Orlando and by far the largest county in the district. Grayson was also helped by a massive voter registration drive that gave Democrats a slight edge in registered voters.
Grayson is the second Democrat to represent this district since its formation after the 1970 census (it was the 5th District from 1973 to 1993 and has been the 8th District since 1993). The only other Democrat to represent this district, Bill Gunter, gave it up after only one term to run for the United States Senate in 1974.
Congressional career
Despite representing a historically Republican district, Grayson bills himself as a progressive Democrat. He is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, of which he is vice-chairman. Grayson came under fire from some Republicans for using nearly $73,000 of taxpayer dollars to create and distribute to his constituents a video of his congressional highlights over the past two years.
Federal Reserve transparency
During his first term in office, Grayson supported Ron Paul’s Audit the Fed legislation.[19] Grayson gained attention for exchanges with Federal Reserve System Vice Chairman Donald Kohn and Inspector General Elizabeth A. Coleman.
In March 2009, following the AIG bonus payments controversy, Grayson joined with fellow freshman Democrat Jim Himes of Connecticut to introduce the Grayson-Himes Pay for Performance Act, legislation to require that all bonuses paid by companies that had received funds under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 be “based on performance”. The bill was co-sponsored by eight other members of the House. On March 26, the bill was approved by the House Financial Services Committee by a vote of 38-22 and on April 1, the bill was passed by the full House of Representatives by a vote of 247-171.
Grayson is a co-sponsor of the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009, which would provide addition provisions to audit the Federal Reserve, including removing several key exemptions.
On a September 2009 Alex Jones Show segment Grayson used the term whore when characterizing Federal Reserve Chair Bernanke’s senior adviser Linda Robertson, stating in part, “I am the only member of Congress who actually worked as an economist, and this lobbyist, this K-Street whore, is trying to teach me about economics!” Grayson’s use of whore was widely criticized as inappropriate; including by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.
[edit] 2009 health care comments
In September 2009, during the debates leading to the passage of the Affordable Health Care for America Act by the House in November, Grayson quipped during a speech that, “The Republican health care plan is this: ‘Don’t get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly.’” His remarks were widely condemned by Republican politicians but, according to Grayson, were well received by his constituents. Grayson reported that his comments resulted in over five thousand campaign contributions and that the positive emails he received outnumbered the negative ones by a four-to-one margin; the comments also generated funds from the Democratic National Committee towards his upcoming 2010 campaign race. Grayson raised $347,000 for his reelection campaign during the third quarter, much of it attributed to his remarks.
He defended his comment and in a House Floor speech stated, “I apologize to the dead and their families that we haven’t voted sooner to end this holocaust in America.” Grayson, who is Jewish by birth, apologized to the Anti-defamation League for those offended by his generic use of “holocaust”. He also maintained that Congressional Republicans have failed to offer a feasible plan. In October 2009 he launched www.NamesOfTheDead.com, a website to “memorialize Americans who die because they don’t have health insurance.” He subsequently read stories of the dead submitted through the Names of the Dead site on the House floor.
He supported the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Grayson also voted for the FDA Oversight of Tobacco Products, which gives the FDA power to regulate tobacco products. He voted in support of Eliminating Adjustments of Medicare Rates of Payment. He also voted against Republican substitutes for the health care amendment and insurance law amendments.
On March 9, 2010, Grayson introduced the Public Option Act, a bill which would allow all citizens and permanent residents of the United States to buy into the public Medicare program. Grayson later that March voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010
Civil rights positions
Grayson voted in support of the Hate Crimes Expansion Act, which expands the definition of hate crimes and strengthens enforcement of hate crime laws. He also voted for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Grayson supported the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill that allows victims of wage discrimination to sue for punitive damages.
Record on defense
Grayson voted for the 2009-2010 Defense Appropriations, which authorizes $681 billion of appropriations for the Department of Defense. He also supported the 2009-2010 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Authorizations, which provided $46.18 billion in appropriations for 2009-2010.
Committee assignments
• Committee on Financial Services
o Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government-Sponsored Enterprises
• Committee on Science and Technology
o Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight
o Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics

Legislation head sponsored by Grayson
• Pay For Performance Act (H.R. 1664)
• Public Option Act (H.R. 4789)
• War Is Making You Poor Act (H.R. 5353)

Why Can’t We Put This Crook In Jail?

By Mark K. Matthews and Mark Schlueb, ORLANDO SENTINEL

WASHINGTON — If U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson were a rock star, his latest PR blitz — a DVD sent to tens of thousands of Central Florida residents — would be called Grayson’s Greatest Hits.

The 90-minute disc features video highlights from his first term in office, including one of him grilling Fed ChairmanBen Bernanke and another in which the Orlando Democrat preaches on the need to teach schoolchildren about the U.S. Constitution.

The DVD comes wrapped inside a mailer covered with promotional slogans: “Congressman Alan Grayson, Hard at Work for You,” “He works hard. He pays attention. He gets things done,” and “Video DVD Inside: Watch Congressman Grayson in Action!”

In many ways, it’s the perfect campaign video — with one key difference.

Thanks to perks given to all members of Congress, it’s not Grayson’s campaign but taxpayers who footed the nearly $73,000 bill to produce and mail the DVD to 100,000 homes in Grayson’s district of Lake, Marion, Orange and Osceola counties.

It’s a stunt that drew howls from Republicans, who complained that Grayson was abusing the congressional privilege of franking that allows lawmakers to send taxpayer-paid newsletters and other mail to residents.

“This is an outrageous abuse of taxpayer dollars, and it goes to show that Alan Grayson is completely out of touch with Central Florida,” said state Rep. Kurt Kelly of Ocala, one of seven Republicans looking to unseat Grayson this fall.

“This is just ridiculous behavior. What congressman would do this in the face of a huge budget deficit?” he asked.

Grayson said he doesn’t see the video as self-promotional and that its intent was to show residents how the sausage is made in Washington.

“Unless you glom onto C-SPAN, you don’t have sense of what congressmen do on a day-to-day basis,” Grayson said. “I told people in my district that I would try to be a watchdog, and I think they have a right to know whether I have kept that promise.”

When pressed, however, Grayson did acknowledge that his office selected clips that make him look good.

“I’m an elected official. Do you think it’s my job to put out misinformation or negative information about myself?” he asked.

The silver disc features clips of Grayson questioning witnesses testifying before the House Financial Services committee, including his well-publicized interrogation of Bernanke. A YouTube version posted on Grayson’s website has drawn more than 216,000 hits.

And, like the director’s cut of a Hollywood movie release, the DVD is sprinkled with narration from Grayson. Of the 31 separate clips on the DVD, 10 feature Grayson wearing an American flag tie and seated in front of a photo of the U.S. Capitol, telling viewers what they’re about to see or criticizing the Fed, bank bailouts and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Hello, I’m your congressman, Alan Grayson,” the video begins. “I’ve put together this DVD so you do not have to sit through hours of hearings or read thousands of pages of transcripts to find out what your representative is doing to combat waste, fraud and abuse in government spending.”

His narration doesn’t shy away from a few pats on the back.

“Of the 53 freshman members of the House, I was the first one to get a bill passed,” he says. And, “Before coming to Congress, I spent many years prosecuting defense contractors who ripped off the government and put our troops in danger just to pad their wallets. When I came to Congress, I wasted no time in using that experience to combat waste, fraud and abuse in defense spending.”

Though Grayson isn’t the first lawmaker to use taxpayer money to send a DVD, aides with the bipartisan House administration committee — which oversees franking requests and approved Grayson’s DVD — could recall only a handful of other examples.

But bucking the norm has been Grayson’s trademark since 2008, when he beat then-U.S. Rep.Ric Keller, an Orlando Republican also known for sending puffy pieces of franked mail.

Last year, Grayson spent about $108,000 on franked mail in 2009 — 32 percent more than the $81,623 spent by his fellow Democratic freshman Suzanne Kosmas of New Smyrna Beach. Among Central Florida veteran incumbents, U.S. Rep. John Mica, R- Winter Park, spent $14,000 — and U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, spent $138,801, records show.

Grayson aides said that the DVD was targeted at senior citizens, who may have trouble using a computer and seeing the long list of YouTube clips that Grayson has put online.

Spokesman Todd Jurkowski said the office also took pains to find a Central Florida company, Horizon Media Express, to produce the video and insisted the company “rely on American subcontractors [because] many companies will use offshore companies to duplicate DVDs.”

Since taking office, Grayson has used speeches and hearings to loudly attack everything that he sees as wrong with America — including giant corporations, financial leaders and Republicans.

He’s best known for a floor speech in which he says the Republican health-care plan was for sick patients to “die quickly,” although Grayson aides were quick to note that the health-care quip was not included on the DVD.

“If we were self-serving, we would have put that one on there,” Jurkowski said.