12.10.07
Brian Ruiz And Rep. John Carter’s (R-Exxon Mobil) Circle
Democratic candidate for Congress in TX-31 Brian Ruiz is profiled in today’s RRL, Hutto Democrat files to challenge Carter. A primary theme of his campaign so far is that Rep. John Carter is out of touch and only represents a small “circle” of his constituency. That’s hard to argue with.
Stating its time for a change in Congress, Hutto Democrat Brian Ruiz, 31, is scheduled today to announce his candidacy for District 31 U.S. representative. Correction: Press conference is Tuesday, December 11th, not today.
Ruiz’ formal announcement is slated to take place at 11:30 a.m. at Texas Democratic Party Headquarters, 505 W. 12th St., Austin.
The filing period for 2008 elections began Dec. 3 and continues through Jan. 2. So far Ruiz is the only candidate - Democrat or Republican - to publicly express an interest in taking on three-term GOP incumbent John Carter of Round Rock.
“[People] are saying they do not have a congressman they can relate to, one that is visible,” Ruiz told the Leader. “I have lived in Hutto for over four years and I have never met John Carter. If you’re in his circle, he’ll keep you in touch, but if you’re just living the everyday life, he’s not an accessible congressman.”
This is especially true when if you consider a couple of his recent votes. One on the Energy Bill and another on extending the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).
Despite Carter’s rhetoric his constituents, even some of those in his circle, are aware that when things like this are written for by him, that it’s probably just words on a page to him. More than likely it’s been a long time since Carter’s gone grocery shopping, or pumped his own gas. Much less worried that the high price of those items might cause him and his family to sacrifice something in their budget to pay for them.
Most Americans and many of his constituents want the US to become less dependent on, not just foreign oil, but oil in general. It’s not surprising that our Congressman whose circle of friends includes his large stake in Exxon-Mobil would vote against an Energy Bill proposing to do just that. Although the oil corporations may no longer be making record profits, they are still making huge profits.
Making clean energy a national priority like we once did with the space program, would benefit our county in many ways - create manufacturing jobs and new technologies, a stronger economy and a healthier, safer environment. Americans are willing to pay higher taxes if it “..reduced U.S. dependence on foreign oil, if it cut down on energy consumption, and reduced global warming”.
Another battle in the Republicans “War On the Middle Class” is being fought over the plan to extend the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). The Democrats want to extend this middle class tax relief by paying for the cuts with Pay-As-You-Go financing. Not by doing it the Republican way - increasing deficit spending. The Democratic plan would do it by making wealthy private equity fund managers pay their fair share. Making the extremely wealthy pay a little more to balance the tax burden only makes sense. It’s not surprising that Carter voted against this too.
These two examples highlight Carter’s pathetic adherence his party’s policy of deficit spending. This out of touch, greedy, ideological, adherence to the status quo is no longer good enough for the constituents of Congressional District 31. There will be an alternative in November 2008 to voting for our current representative and his circle of friends.
Lee Nichols said,
December 10, 2007 at 4:59 pm
FYI, that press conference announcing his candidacy is actually scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 11.
wcnews said,
December 10, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Thanks for that correction.
remerson said,
December 10, 2007 at 11:51 pm
The Godfather’s first loyalty is not to the voters and taxpayers, but to his “family.” What else could we expect of him, on the urgent issue of energy?
justice is it! said,
December 11, 2007 at 5:11 pm
John Carter is a joke for a Congressman. He is nothing but a BUSH pawn. He won’t write back to mothers of son’s killed in Iraq or veterans. Hows that for a piece of shit Congressman. Carter sends out form letters instead. What an —hole. This liar and phony needs to be remove with the rest of the trash. What a waste tax payers money.
wcnews said,
December 11, 2007 at 6:29 pm
While we all konw Carter is much less than a perfect member of Congress, please try and keep the comments expletive free.
I was not aware that he sent form letters to the fallen soldiers families.
justice is it! said,
December 12, 2007 at 10:50 am
I apologize for using the S—! word. I know many vets that have written him for asistance and they recieved form letters or no response at all. Some received a newsletter rather than a response to the issue the Veteran wrote about.
Several families inquiries he never acknowledged or they simply recieved a form letter. As far as I am concerned this so-called Congressman is an embarassment to our district. Where is he? what does he do? what is his function, if any? Next time I will use a less abrasive word to discribed this worthless waste of taxpayers money.
Eye on Williamson » Texas Blog Round Up (December 16, 2007) said,
December 17, 2007 at 10:17 am
[…] Eye on Williamson, posts on Brian Ruiz, Rep. John Carter’s opponent in TX-31, and two of Carter’s recent votes in Brian Ruiz And Rep. John Carter’s (R-Exxon Mobil) Circle . […]
Texas Progressive Alliance Round-Up Dec 17 | BlueBloggin said,
December 17, 2007 at 12:13 pm
[…] Eye on Williamson, posts on Brian Ruiz, Rep. John Carter’s opponent in TX-31, and two of Carter’s recent votes in Brian Ruiz And Rep. John Carter’s (R-Exxon Mobil) Circle . […]
» Texas Progressive Alliance Blog Round-Up: 12/17/2007 - By ¡Para Justicia y Libertad! said,
December 17, 2007 at 1:03 pm
[…] Eye on Williamson, posts on Brian Ruiz, Rep. John Carter’s opponent in TX-31, and two of Carter’s recent votes in Brian Ruiz And Rep. John Carter’s (R-Exxon Mobil) Circle. […]
Democracy for Texas » Archive » TPA Roundup, Week of 12/09/07 said,
April 21, 2012 at 7:32 pm
[…] Eye on Williamson, posts on Brian Ruiz, Rep. John Carter’s opponent in TX-31, and two of Carter’s recent votes in Brian Ruiz And Rep. John Carter’s (R-Exxon Mobil) Circle . […]