APRIL 1, 2006: JIM GERLACH, BUSILY FOLLOWING THE KARL ROVE CAMPAIGN PLAYBOOK
DODGING THE CENTRAL ISSUES WHILE NAME-CALLING AND DISTRACTING

Jim Gerlach has been sending out e-mails and press releases on a near-daily basis, calling his opponent (Lois Murphy) names like "hypocrite" and "plagiarist", and comparing her to the Three Stooges. Now, as you will see in my posts below, I'm not above a bit of name-calling myself. But, as an independent blogger, I feel free to behave as immaturely as I might want. You would expect a little more from a U.S. Congressman. Wouldn't you?

What are Lois Murphy's crimes, in Jim Gerlach's eyes? Well, Lois asked Jim to sign an ethics pledge to promise not to take tainted money from felons and the like, in exchange for voting for bills that will make the felons more filthy rich. You see, Lois believes that Congress shouldn't be for sale to the highest bidder. Lois believes Congress should work in the public interest, rather than for the financial gain of a few mega-billionaires. Of course, Jim can't sign an ethics pledge like that! After all, a look at Jim Gerlach's campaign finances reveals that Gerlach gets most of his campaign money from industry PACs, as compared to Lois who gets most of her money from individual citizens. (Even the few PACs that do support Lois are mostly public interest PACs, rather than special interest PACs.)

So instead of admitting that he can't sign the ethics pledge because he HAS no ethics, Jim has been whining and crying that Lois didn't write the ethics pledge herself! See, unfortunately, Lois adopted large parts of a well-written ethics pledge from a California candidate. Even though Lois has referenced her multiple sources for the pledge, she has made the mistake of referring to the pledge as "her" pledge. Big deal!!!! So Jim has been harping on Lois' bit of hyperbole for weeks now, all to distract from the fundamental truth of the matter:

JIM GERLACH REFUSES TO SIGN LOIS MURPHY'S- OR ANYONE ELSE'S- ETHICS PLEDGE!!!!

If you'll look at Jim's current campaign finance reports, you will see that Jim's #1 contributor for the 2006 campaign so far is TH Properties. TH Properties is the biggest developer in Montgomery County. TH Properties certainly has a right to protect their interests and try to gain the favor of a local congressman to improve the regulatory climate for their business. And Jim Gerlach has every right to take that money for his campaign. But the public should know that when Jim Gerlach claims at town meetings to be concerned about the environment, and open space, and suburban sprawl, talk is very cheap. His actions seem to be most appreciated by the developers that work against protecting our open space, forest, wetlands and groundwater resources.

Now if Jim Gerlach would sign that ethics pledge to promise not to let those contributions sway his votes on matters of interest to the contributors, he could lay these concerns to rest. Why won't you sign the pledge, Jim, regardless of who wrote it?

An ethics pledge is like the Constitution. I don't really care who wrote it, I care what's in it. And I want my Congressman to abide by it.

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