From the
Galveston County Daily News:
While admiring [Ron Paul's] idealism, we believe that Paul's district gets punished, even with a GOP majority, when federal dollars are divided.
[...]
Sklar's campaign has been about putting ideology aside and focusing on the financial needs of the district.
He points out that Galveston County has a tradition of representation by strong congressmen, such as Jack Brooks and Tom DeLay, who disagreed wildly on political philosophy but who were aggressive in pursuing federal dollars for the district.
This is a choice in approaches to government.
Our view is that Galveston County's interest would be best served by Sklar.
update below:
The
Victoria newspaper goes point-by-point why Paul is a bad choice.
1. He lies. Straight from
his website it says "One of the 50 most effective members of Congress", according to Congressional Quarterly:
Back in October 1999, Congressional Quarterly published what came to be known as the "CQ 50." The formal title of the special publication was "50 Ways To Do the Job of Congress."
"There is no attempt here to identify the 50 most effective ... members of Congress," that special edition explained.
"The goal is to illustrate the different ways that a diverse, eclectic group of Congress do their job. Others will have to decide whether they do it well or poorly."
2. He voted against funding for hurricane victims:
Last year, the northern part of the district needed fair and adequate Hurricane Rita relief equivalent to that given Louisiana. The district needed fair and adequate compensation for sheltering refugees from Hurricane Katrina.
An effective member of the House of Representatives would carry and secure passage of such legislation. Ron Paul did not.
3. The House doesn't listen to him:
During the past six years, Paul sponsored 223 measures, according to the Library of Congress' THOMAS online service for tracking legislation.
The vast majority of Paul's proposals were referred to committee or subcommittee, never to be heard of again. A handful actually got to the floor of the House in the form of amendments to other legislation. Of those, the House passed only three.
[...]
Most members of the House of both parties, including his own, recognize that supporting Paul's proposals is toxic to their effectiveness.
4. He's just not respected:
Yet another measure of Paul's ineffectiveness on Capitol Hill is that the only leadership position his colleagues entrust to him is the vice chairmanship of an obscure subcommittee that has little to do with the many needs of the 14th District - the Oversight and Investigations Committee of the House Committee on Financial Services.
The subcommittee's chairwoman, Rep. Sue Kelly of New York, has served in Congress for 12 years. Paul has more seniority, having sat in the House a total of 17 years over three different periods. But his colleagues felt that a more effective junior member deserved that subcommittee leadership position more than Paul.
It seems pretty clear to me.