Tisa Blakes, candidate for the 5th Congressional District of Louisiana house seat, performed well at a recent editorial board meeting at the Monroe News-Star, a Gannett paper. The members of the board appeared to be impressed with her ideas, her confidence, and her determination to bring positive change to the impoverished 5th District. The resulting article is below.
Please read on and there'll be a quiz to make it worth your time.
Blakes: Federal funding is best spent at home
Greg Hilburn
ghilburn@thenewsstar.com
October 23, 2004
Zelma "Tisa" Blakes believes it's time for America to pull its troops from Iraq.
"I'm the only candidate against the war," said Blakes, a Monroe homemaker who is also the only Democrat running for the 5th Congressional District seat.
Blakes, 32, told The News-Star Editorial Board on Friday that the war is not only unjustifiable, but it's also draining federal funding that could be better spent on the home front.
She is one of two challengers to incumbent U.S. Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-Quitman, in the Nov. 2 race. The other is Republican Jock Scott of Alexandria.
"Every six or eight months, the reason why we're in Iraq changes," Blakes said. "First, it was because of weapons of mass destruction, of which there were none. Then it was to keep the peace, and now it's to fight terrorism.
"If we're attacked right now, we can't defend ourselves because we're spread so thin in Iraq and Afghanistan."
That's why Blakes believes that President Bush will try to restore the draft, although he has flatly denied it.
"There has to be a draft if we keep up these troop levels in Iraq," Blakes said. "Where else will the extra troops come from?"
Blakes emphasized that the billions being spent on the war efforts could be used to improve the domestic issues facing 5th District residents.
"We're consolidating and closing schools in the 5th District and building schools in Afghanistan," Blakes said. "The money we've found for Afghanistan and Iraq should be found for our schools and health care."
Blakes said her top priority will be finding ways to put a dent in the poverty that dominates many of the 5th District parishes.
"The poverty here affects everything else from the quality of our education to the quality of our health care," Blakes said.
Blakes said she would pay for programs that might improve education and health care delivery and spur economic development by raising the import-export tax on foreign countries.
"The 5th District needs the money as much as any other in the country," Blakes said. "The government needs to give us a jump start so we can help ourselves."
Blakes also said she would support a moratorium on borrowing money from the Social Security Trust Fund. "We shouldn't remove another penny," she said.
©The News-Star
October 23, 2004
If you want to e-mail article author Greg Hilburn, who has been very fair to Tisa and positive about her campaign, I'm sure he would appreciate it. He has to read a lot of pro-Republican hate stuff. And if you want to send money to Tisa, well, that would be fine too. Her TV ads start Monday.
Now the quiz.