Latest Updates Previous Page | Home"New Poll Numbers - February 25, 2010"New poll results show United States House of Representatives candidate Chris Nelson polling well against the incumbent Representative. The February 23 Rasmussen poll of likely voters shows Nelson trailing the incumbent by only seven points. This is consistent with the results of a Public Policy Poll in December 2009. Among voters 30-49 years old, Nelson beat the incumbent. Other Republican candidates trailed the incumbent Representative by 15 to 18 points. The poll continues to show that the popularity of the incumbent is waning and voters see Chris Nelson as a solid candidate for United States House of Representatives. Nelson said, “Seven points down is a great place to start the general election race. South Dakota voters are telling me that Washington DC is broken. Voters are ready to send a new Representative to solve problems. Voters understand that I know how to run government efficiently and effectively.”
For Immediate Release: February 17, 2010 Herseth Sandlin Hails PAYGO While Democrat Leadership May Ignore New RulesGOP House candidate Nelson Frustrated But Not SurprisedPIERRE – Just a day after a guest editorial from Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin appeared in the Pierre Capital Journal1 hailing the passage of new federal budget rules aimed at curbing the federal deficit, Democratic leaders in Congress are looking for ways to bypass the rules to enact parts of their job creation agenda2. This has added to Republican House candidate Chris Nelson’s growing frustration with the direction of Congress but he says it hardly comes as a surprise. “On Tuesday, our current congresswoman strongly endorsed these budget rules commonly referred to as PAYGO and tried to paint them as the first step towards federal fiscal responsibility. She touted how the Blue Dog coalition had to go to the mat to get these rules passed, “ Nelson said. “But just days after their passage, her own party leadership kicks these rules to the curb and basically makes PAYGO a No-Go.” “While I am highly frustrated by this news, it should not come as a shock that the majority leadership in Congress just doesn’t get it,” Nelson said. “Leading economic observers are sounding alarms about the mounting problems that our national debt will create, but Congressional leaders continue to turn a blind eye to the problem.” Nelson said what is needed in Congress is a new wave of common sense and fiscal responsibility that has largely been absent for a number of years. “Congress is gridlocked because incumbent politicians want to continue to operate as they have done in the past,” Nelson said. “They don’t hear their constituents demanding responsibility. I hear that frustration and anger coming from all corners of South Dakota.” Nelson cited a CNN poll3, released on February 16, which stated that only one-third of Americans (34%) believed that their current federal lawmakers deserved to be re-elected. “People in South Dakota have been frustrated with Congressional inaction and fiscal irresponsibility for some time,” Nelson said. “That aggravation is now nationwide. It’s time for the people to send a message and that starts with new representation from South Dakota.” “Vice President Biden and I don’t agree on much, “ Nelson said, “but when he said ‘Washington right now is broken’4, I couldn’t agree more.” 1 http://capjournal.com/articles/2010/02/17/opinions/columnist/doc4b7a3785391a1709758691.txt 2 http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/81405-pay-go-gets-passed-then-it-gets-bypassed 3 http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/16/incumbents.poll/ 4 http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100217/D9DTU9VO0.html "The Votes Don't Match the Talk"For Immediate Release: February 4, 2010
United States House of Representatives candidate Chris Nelson today highlighted the stark difference between the words and the actions of South Dakota’s incumbent Representative.
Following the President’s State of the Union speech, Representative Herseth Sandlin endorsed the President’s call for a spending freeze on some areas of discretionary spending beginning next year. This call for a spending cap is at least two years too late. Spending in these areas has increased nineteen percent in the last two years. The incumbent easily endorses a cap AFTER the spending has skyrocketed.
Representative Herseth Sandlin continued saying we “must do more” to get spending under control. Unfortunately the words don’t match the votes.
Today our Representative voted to increase the federal debt ceiling by $1.9 trillion dollars. This vote to increase the federal debt to $14.3 trillion dollars adds over six thousand dollars of debt to each man, woman, and child in the United States.
Unfortunately this vote continues a long trend of votes for more federal spending and higher debt by Representative Herseth Sandlin: · $820 Billion on first passage of stimulus spending bill on January 27, 2009. · $787 Billion on final passage of stimulus spending bill on February 13, 2009. Every penny of the $787 is borrowed money. · $410 Billion Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 on February 25, 2009. Increased spending eight percent over previous year. · $3.56 Trillion Congressional Budget for fiscal year 2010 on April 29, 2009. Increases the national debt by at least $1.2 trillion dollars. · $1.1 Trillion Appropriations Act on December 10, 2009. Average increase per department of ten percent over previous year. · $290 Billion increase in the federal debt limit on December 16, 2009. Sets the federal debt limit at $12,394,000,000,000. That debt is about $40,000 per person.
Nelson summarized the inconsistency this way, “The incumbent Representative has painted herself as a ‘fiscal conservative blue dog Democrat’. A review of today’s vote and the Congressional Record shows otherwise. Our Representative has contributed to the exploding federal debt. I am ready to go to Congress and vote to balance the federal budget by cutting spending and shrinking the roll of the federal government. It’s time to bring fiscal responsibility to Congress and limit the size of the federal government.”
"Tip of the Iceberg"January 19, 2010 Pierre, SD - Upon the election of Scott Brown to the United States Senate in Massachusetts, Chris Nelson, candidate for the United States House of Representatives released the following statement: “The unexpected happened in Massachusetts today. In electing Republican Scott Brown to fill the Senate seat previously held by Ted Kennedy, the people of Massachusetts have said they believe the current Congress is taking this country the wrong direction. This vote is the tip of the iceberg of the political change happening in America in 2010. Voters are taking back their Congress. While the Massachusetts electorate is certainly different than South Dakota, it shows that voters on both ends of the political spectrum have deep concerns about where our country is headed. This win shows people’s priorities are for smaller government, less spending and real answers to the economic challenges we are currently facing. As I talk to voters across this state I am hearing that same message. I believe 2010 is the year South Dakota will send a new Republican Representative to Washington who is principled and courageous enough to work towards reducing the size of the federal government and balancing the federal budget. I am prepared to be that Representative.” "Nelson Polls Well"December 15, 2009
Public Policy Polling released independent poll numbers today on the South Dakota House of Representatives race. The numbers validate the strength of the Chris Nelson campaign and message. In a head-to-head matchup with Nelson, the incumbent only leads by seven points. Among those 30 to 45 years old, Nelson actually leads the incumbent by three points. In addition the poll shows the incumbent with a job approval rating of less than 50%. Sixty percent of the respondents disapproved of the job Democrats are doing in Congress. It looks like South Dakota voters want a Representative who will actually vote for fiscal responsibility and a smaller federal government. Chris Nelson is that candidate. The poll also found Nelson's favorable rating is five times higher than his primary election opponent.
Complete poll numbers can be found at http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2009/12/herseth-sandlins-standing.html .
"Cost of Afghanistan"November 25, 2009
Today we hear that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House Democrats are concerned with the monetary costs of the war in Afghanistan. After a year of unrelenting calls by Republicans to exercise fiscal restraint, this sudden "concern" rings hollow. Indications that the "concern" is founded on fears that war spending will set back a liberal domestic spending agenda give me great concern.
Instead of abandoning their spending ways and looking for places to cut the federal budget, these same Democrats are talking about raising taxes to pay for the war. Let me be clear, I understand and support the need to pay for this war and balance the federal budget. I could not disagree more strenuously with the assertion that we should raise taxes instead of looking for areas to cut existing expenditures. Above all, let us not short our soldiers with the armaments they need to do the tasks they have been assigned.
When I think of the costs of defending our freedoms and protecting our country from further attacks on our citizens and our way of life, I think first of the sacrifices of our military families. These families live daily with the reality that their soldier, sailor, marine or airman may not come home. These families sacrifice to keep the home fires burning while their family member is away doing their duty to country. I am thankful every day that we have men and women willing to step forward to defend this country and families who support that decision. Daily I think of and pray for two young marines, Mike Lewis and Noah Torberson, friends of mine who are serving in Afghanistan. May God bless them, watch over them, keep them safe, and guide their units in doing their assigned tasks with excellence.
"Undecided"11-06-2009Last Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled her 2000 page health care bill and announced she wants it passed by the United States House of Representatives in less than two weeks. South Dakota Representative Herseth Sandlin responded that she "remains undecided" about supporting the bill.I agree with our Representative that the details need to be examined and the impact on South Dakota evaluated. What I don't understand is how our Representative can be "undecided" about a bill containing so many clearly harmful provisions. The Pelosi healthcare bill needs to be defeated! South Dakota's Representative should be leading the opposition. The Pelosi bill raises taxes on individuals and small businesses who don't comply with the requirements of the bill and on insurance policies and medical devices. These tax increases include a 2.5% individual mandate tax for failing to enroll in a government approved health insurance plan. Increasing taxes will only pay for a portion of the $900 billion dollar, ten-year price tag for the bill. As taxes are raised on businesses, insurance policies, and medical devices, those new taxes will be passed back to you and me as higher costs for goods, services, insurance and health care. These taxes simply represent a shift in who pays for health care services, not a solution to rising health care costs. Additionally these new taxes on business will make job creation more difficult providing a new drag on the economy, meanwhile, our Representative "remains undecided." The Pelosi plan contains a public option health insurance plan to directly compete with private insurance. While proponents say that this public option is "optional" it is easy to understand that employers who are currently providing health insurance benefits will be inclined to dump that workforce benefit thus pushing employees into the government run health insurance "option". This government run insurance agency is one more example of a federal bureaucracy that continues to grow unchecked, stacking up billions and billions of dollars in debt while our current Representative "remains undecided." Another point in the Pelosi plan expands the requirements for state Medicaid coverage. South Dakota is projected to have a budget shortfall of more than $150 million in the next fiscal year and this bill will force the state of South Dakota to come up with MORE money for its share of the Medicaid match. This bill will force the issue of new state taxes to cover this mandate but our Representative "remains undecided." Advocates for this plan say that the bill will reduce the budget deficit in the first ten years of operation. When was the last time a massive federal government program actually reduced the deficit? History has shown that these programs end up costing many times their initial projections. Quite simply this bill is very likely to further balloon the federal deficit, yet our Representative "remains undecided." Democratic Representative Jim McDermott from Washington State perhaps summed up the heath care debate best in a recent interview. McDermott said the American people can't manage their health care without the government. I say to Representative McDermott, Speaker Pelosi, and every other advocate of more government involvement in our health care system, "Don't insult the people of South Dakota and people across this country with your "big government knows best" approach." The issues of non-portability, pre-existing conditions, rescission, cost, choice of options, unfair tax treatment of health insurance for the self employed, and Medicare solvency need to be addressed. There are targeted solutions to these problems on the table. Let's pursue fixes to these problems by finding smart, private sector oriented solutions. The Pelosi government option solution is not the answer for America. South Dakotans know what is best for their health care, not Nancy Pelosi, and that is something on which I am "completely decided."
For Immediate Release:
As Secretary of State I have enjoyed serving the people of South Dakota for many years. I understand how to run government efficiently and effectively. I've seen how poorly written federal legislation costs taxpayers money. I am eager to bring my experience in running state government to the federal level.
It is time for the right kind of change in Washington. Change for less borrowing and spending, less government intervention in business and society, and more opportunities for economic prosperity. I want to be part of making that change happen! |
