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Josh First for Congress October 28, 2009 Dear Supporter, You belong to a unique place in America, generally central Pennsylvania, and specifically the Pennsylvania 17th Congressional District. What makes the PA-17th unique? For one, it is an all-American, conservative region, with hard working, patriotic citizens who love America and want it to thrive and be safe. Second, it is currently represented in the U.S. Congress by Rep. Tim Holden (D- St. Clair). Holden is a Democrat who has sold out the PA-17th to his far-left political allies, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama, whom he has publicly praised many times. Holden talks like a moderate but acts and votes like a liberal. One quick visit to www.opencongress.org and you’ll learn that 96% of the time Holden votes with Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat Party. A Socialist-in-all-but-name from San Francisco, Nancy Pelosi leads the Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, and Holden’s voting record is completely aligned with her. This means that he is following her values and not your values. That should scare you, or make you mad. Do you agree with Nancy Pelosi 96% of the time? No? Maybe 6% of the time? No? Probably a lot less than that? If so, then what makes Tim Holden qualified to represent this district? Your views are not being represented by your Congressman. Holden is acting as an enabler for the Far Left: HUGE Government, wildly spending our great-grandchildren into debt oblivion, socialist government takeovers of major business sectors, gun control, lists of military veterans and gun owners who are now considered “domestic terrorists” by Obama’s Department of Homeland Security for simply serving their nation, being patriotic, or exercising their Second Amendment rights, and Obama-appointee U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder investigating state law enforcement officials for “racial profiling” when they try to stop cross-border illegal immigration. Where has Tim Holden been during this Liberal barrage on traditional American values and business? He has been silent, because he won’t attack his political friends. Tim Holden talks like a conservative at home but acts like a Liberal in Washington, DC. Holden wants you to stay focused on his charming smile, not his record. When Tim Holden was in the U.S. House minority and we had a Republican president, I, like many others in this congressional district, believed that Holden was a reasonable Congressional representative for the time being, because the Liberal-Left agenda was not being voted on in Congress. Although it may be true that Holden is a likable-enough guy, he is also the WRONG guy for this district now that he is directly enabling that Liberal-Left agenda. You might be thinking that Holden’s voting record is not a complete measure of the man. How he leads, or fails to lead, on important issues is also a key measure of his fitness to represent you and the PA 17th District. For example, when Holden remained silent in the face of the Obama administration’s handing out of the once top-secret CIA interrogation manual to the whole world -- to our enemies and all -- he compromised American security. And the administration’s stated intention to actually prosecute American citizens who were protecting their country - you and me - and who were following U.S. law and policy, has greatly weakened American security. Where was Holden’s voice during these attacks on America? Nowhere to be found. Has he challenged the Obama administration on this, or has he challenged Pelosi on her accusation that American citizens exercising their constitutional rights to petition their government are an “angry fascist mob”? No, and No! Tim Holden has broken his allegiance to the essential character of this district through both his votes and his lack of leadership on key issues that you care about, issues that are essential to our American way of life, a set of values that the Obama administration and their congressional allies are attacking full-force right now. A vote for Tim Holden is a vote for Nancy Pelosi and an endorsement of Barack Obama’s radical agenda with his far-left appointees who defend Marxism and pedophilia, and who push an anti-hunting, animal rights agenda (Van Jones, Obama’s “Green Czar,” Kevin Jennings, Obama's “Safe Schools Czar,” and Cass Sunstein, Obama’s Information and Regulation Director). Have you noticed that Holden has held NO town hall meetings? Wonder why? It’s because he is scared that the people he supposedly represents will wake up and realize that he does not represent their interests and core beliefs. He is afraid of what you might say to him or about him in public, where others can see that his hold on our district is actually tenuous. Holden is cutting deals with the far left and voting against you while hiding from you, right in your own home town, right under your nose. You can choose to ignore this deception and accept it as political business as usual, or you can address it directly. I am addressing it directly. And that is why I have decided to challenge Holden, and return the PA-17th to its citizens and to its core beliefs and values. This district needs someone who will stand up to Obama and the Far Left, not be their enabling buddy. Who Am I? I am a father and husband with three small children, a conservationist, a small business owner, and I hunt and fish as much as my wife will let me. For the past five years I have run a small real estate business, but my experience is deep and diverse. Before starting my business, I spent four years working for non-profit land conservancies to protect the rural landscapes that sustain us and shape our American values and communities. During the Tom Ridge administration, I spent two great years at the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Prior to that I spent seven years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC, where I worked on national policy, legislation, and international projects and learned how federal government can be deeply damaging to our nation. All that time I have been a proud member of the National Rifle Association. As a Penn State University graduate, a State College native, and with my family active in the Republican Party in Harrisburg dating back to the 1800s, I know you’ll understand when I tell you that I love this area, its people, its farms, its mountains, and even the “boney piles” left over from past coal mining. Our landscape and our small towns are in my blood. While I do have extensive policy experience and have worked with legislators at both the state and federal levels, I am also a “Regular Joe.” I have no criminal record, I have never been arrested, never divorced, I have worked hard in normal jobs. Basically I have been a “Regular Joe” for all my life. But I can promise you this: No one is more passionate than I am about America’s great promise and its freedoms. I look forward to introducing myself to you over the coming months, and to receiving your help in returning the PA -17th congressional district to its core values. I stand for less government, lower taxes, more free markets and more personal freedom, fiscal responsibility, more farmland protection and better natural resource conservation, more opportunities for hunters and fishermen, true advocacy for the Second Amendment, stronger and smarter foreign policy that protects American core interests, better environmental protection through energy independence, and support for the businesses that keep our families working. Please visit my website www.joshfirst.com for my policy positions, resumé, frequently asked questions, and feel free to contact me with any questions; I will do my best to respond quickly.
Josh speaking on behalf of sportsmen at a U.S. Senate |
Paid for by the First For Congress Committee