Tony Zirkle for Congress

Visitor #46522

Why Tony Zirkle is the better choice for the Republican Party

Voters need to know why I deserve their vote over the incumbent. Here are just a few of the reasons why I believe I would make a stronger candidate for the Republican Party in the 2004 fall general election against Donnelly.

1. Highway Bill **** See the Subsequent Press Release for Updates ***

“Transportation is the issue that will be central to Chocola’s general election campaign.” Post-Tribune, 4-25-2004. Should this issue be central for Chocola? Yes, he appears to be about to secure $45 million for this district for the next five years. However, the bill was for $275 billion. If one takes $275 billion and divides it by 435 congressional districts, then one finds that the average congressman should bring home $632,183,908. If we take the $45,000,000 that Chocola will likely bring home and divide it by the $632,183,908 that the average congressman will, we get 7.12%. Either I’m missing something, my math is wrong or Donnelly is fast asleep. If my math is correct and if this really is Chocola’s center piece for the general election, do we really want to run the risk that Donnelly revives before November 2? I’m getting my info here from newspaper reports, so if I’m wrong about him only bringing home 7.12% of the bacon that he should be on average, then perhaps he can clarify the issue for us.

2. No debate

I have tried to engage Congressman Chocola in a debate, but his office has not yet returned my phone call. On Dyngus day, I even personally asked Mr. Chocola to debate. He said he’d consider it, yet I’ve still had no response. The Republican party is supposed to be the party of free market capitalism which promotes a market place of ideas. If "it," whatever that is, is really "all about you," then Mr. Chocola would welcome a public debate in order to greater educate the voters on the issues. This issue will not likely harm Chocola in the fall because Donnelly is probably more guilty of anti-competitiveness because he went through a caucus where no other candidate even had a chance. If I’m elected, I’ll pledge to debate any primary challenger.

3. No party or district mandate

I do not believe that after having spent some 3 million dollars over the last two elections and barely garnering 50% of the vote against a left wing liberal who was endorsed by Emily's list, that Mr. Chocola has either a party or a district mandate at this time.

4. Near monosyllabic, one-issue wonder obsession with “tax cuts.”

He supports further corporate tax breaks even though they are at their 2nd lowest rate for percentage of tax revenues in 69 years. I disagree. He supports making the tax cuts for the top 1-2% of incomes permanent. I would only agree if we can reintroduce the payroll tax for those high incomes in a manner that will lower the medical care costs for all. He votes for tax cuts for the wealthy and for ending the estate tax which already has a 1.5 million dollar exemption. I would vote to increase that exemption to 10 million to preserve family farms and businesses. I'm for the middle class, for limiting the size of mega, monopolistic/oligopolistic anti-competitive, anti-capitalistic corporations that earn more money per year than all but a few nations, and for limiting personal wealth to one billion dollars that will be checked at the inheritance transaction. When 33% of citizens pay zero federal income tax, further tax cuts do not seem to me to be the great issue of the day. We should also expand the definition of “tax” to include high health care costs, record gas prices, and the enormous taxes we pay to house 2.2 million inmates, a number which has tripled since 1975. Additionally, we are running $500 billion deficits. If we continue to cut taxes, then we may find that we are actually increasing taxes because the value of the dollar will likely fall which will make what people possess worth less on the international market. I can see democrats in the fall posed to assert their class warfare like never before because they now have the greatest ammo ever given them. For instance, according to a recent book entitled Perfectly Legal, citizens who make $10 million a year are now paying a lower percentage of their incomes in federal tax than those who make $70-80,000. This means that the tax code has become a regressive tax. The democrats will be saying that President Bush has orchestrated the greatest shift of the tax burden from wealth to work in history and Donnelly will likely paint Congressman Chocola as the poster boy for all that the democrat party economic platform stands against.

5. Campaign Fund Raising

For his March 31, 2004 report, Chocola reported $633,737 cash on hand. If he were to pay himself back his $600,000 personal loan, he would only have $33,737, which is far less than Donnelly. If he paid himself back the interest on that loan that former Congressman Roemer complained about, he might have nothing. Mr. Chocola will spend over a million dollars to get reelected in a congressional race. I won't. A spend thrift campaign is poor training for someone who should be frugal with your tax dollars.

6. Public/Civil/Military Service

Mr. Chocola has never before been a public servant to my knowledge, though it appears he has engaged in honorable voluntary service. I have not only served in the military at the U.S. Naval Academy, but also I have served as a judicial law clerk and as a prosecutor in the three largest offices in North Central and West Indiana. Mr. Chocola has no announced plans for increasing civil service. I do with my plan to establish a U.S. Civil Service Academy.

7. Crime

Mr. Chocola has no announced plan to combat 100,000 child porn Web sites or to reduce mass prostitution. I do. Mr. Chocola has no announced plan to reduce crime or drug addiction. I do. He has sponsored a bill to give up to ten years for those who burn Hummers under the environmental terrorism lingo. According to our local U.S. Attorney, the federal arson statute already provides up to a 20 year sentence for burning even your own vehicle. Chocola's bill just gave a sharp defense attorney an argument to cut the potential jail sentence in half under the "rule of lenity" legal decisions which state that criminal statutes are to be strictly construed against the government and that all vague issues and conflicts in the statute are to be resolved in favor of the defendant.

8. Tort Reform

He appeals to medical professionals to seek votes for himself with the sound bite of "tort reform." I have worked for insurance companies and I understand the real issue is how they invest and what kind of policies they write. The insurance companies got themselves into trouble when they invested in the Michael Milken junk bonds of the 1980s. They have had a difficult time recovering since then. Additionally, CEOs now make, according to a Post-Tribune 4-25-04 article, about 301 times the salary of the average employee. We need to take a look at corporate greed/waste and perhaps single out the medical industry for a public debate on perhaps limiting the CEO pay to a certain number of times, perhaps 40 times, the salary of the lowest paid employee. Certainly, frivolous lawsuits are a concern; however, all states have provisions that allow judges to sanction attorneys for filing and pursuing lawsuits after they have become baseless or groundless.

9. Term Limits

He has promised to serve only 8 more years. I believe that a congressman is most effective when he has seniority. Look at his 7.12% return rate on the highway bill (assuming my math is correct). If the democrats take over the house, he'll have almost no power and in 8 years, we'll have to start over. If I'm elected, I'll stay as long as I'm reelected, unless another position opens up where I can serve in a greater capacity of service.

10. Health Care

Mr. Chocola has no announced health care plan. I do. I will seek to cut premiums by taking the catastrophic claims out of the system and fund them with the payroll tax that will be reintroduced on incomes over $200,000. *** After teh Primary, he did announce a $3,000 tax credit proposal that was being debated in Congress ***

11. Sound Bites vs. Substantive Campaigns

Mr. Chocola speaks in warm and fuzzy sound bites and campaigns on little more than surface issues beyond more tax cuts. I'm campaigning on what is probably one of the most substantive platforms in the nation. If you find a better platform, let me know and I'll improve mine.

12. Budget and Pork -Barrel Spending

Mr. Chocola has also sponsored a bill to reform the budget process to limit the growth of spending on just about everything except for military/security matters. It does not appear that Republican President Eisenhower's warning about the military-industrial complex has been heeded. I say let us look at the excessive tax cuts for the top 1-2% of incomes at the same time that we seek to control spending and cut nonessential programs.

Let's end all excess pork spending and limit the federal government to its constitutionally proscribed powers. One other idea is to prohibit any congressman from introducing any legislation or amendment for spending programs that exist in his/her district. We would also have to prohibit horse trading behind the scenes for this to work. This last proposal has its drawbacks, and I’m not sure I’d support it after having a full public debate. However, it is one idea that just might get spending under control. (For those who have been paying attention, you might have wondered if this position would conflict with my proposal to place the U.S. Civil Service Academy in or near LaPorte County. It does).

13. Residency/Contacts

Some have raised the issue of my living about 12 miles west of the district while Chocola only lives 1-2 miles east of it. If anyone votes for Chocola simply because he lives 10 or so miles closer to the district than I do, then I have failed to raise the quality of political debate for that voter. I had to move to Lake County for medical insurance reasons when my wife was pregnant in 2001. My voter’s registration has never been changed from St. Joseph County, so unlike Chocola, I can vote for myself in the primary. Also, I am closer to the Chicago Midway and Gary airports, so I can more rapidly get to and from D.C. Moreover, after going to school at Annapolis ( the U.S. Naval Academy) which is only 30 minutes east of D.C. and at Georgetown which is in D.C. itself, I have an already established extensive network of resources from which to draw from that will benefit the Hoosiers in this district. Finally, as the only native born Hoosier in this race who was raised in North-Central Indiana, I will represent this whole district, which I proved by keeping my pledge to visit all 12 counties in this district at least once a month from December to April in this primary. However, birth place and residency is not a solid issue in my opinion. I’m offering it only as a defense to those who may have doubts about my being able to represent the district.

Campaign Update.

The last press release, under 4. porn-prostitution, contained at least 5 typos. I have corrected the ones I have found so far and have updated the press release on my Web site, www.TonyZirkle.com.

I am in the process of getting out the last of 330,500 campaign fliers that have been or will be by May 3, 2004, distributed through the Elkhart Truth (2 runs), the South Bend Tribune, the Star Watch (?), the Michigan City News-Dispatch (2 runs), the Chesterton Tribune, the LaPorte Herald-Argus (2 runs), the Times, the Post-Tribune, the Plymouth Pilot News, the Knox Leader, the Bremen Enquirer, the Culver Citizen, the Bourbon News Mirror, the Advance News, the Rochester Sentinel, the Pulaski Co. Journal and the Independent, the Monticello Herald Journal, the Lafayette Journal and Courier, the Carroll County Comet, the Logansport Pharos-Tribune, the Kokomo Tribune, and the Kokomo Perspective. Additionally, I am planning currently for 2 thirty second phone calls to all 35,400 registered Republicans in the 2nd district to run on Friday, April 30th and Monday, May 3rd, 2004.

Should you wish to be removed from further press releases, please contact me at Campaign@TonyZirkle.com or by cell phone at 219-308-1673.

Your presence is welcome.

It's the Kids, Smartie Campaign Committee