Dump Mike Ferguson (NJ7)

From the December 29, 2005 Cranford Chronicle:

Ferguson should return contributions The indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff is poised to offer testimony regarding his campaign of bribery and corruption involving several Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives. One recipient of Abramoff's largesse, Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) is likely on the brink of indictment himself. Since 1999, Ney has received at least $31,500 from Abramoff and his cronies (www.capitaleye.org). Representative Mike Ferguson (NJ-7) has received $2000 of Abramoff's tainted money, much of which was obtained by deceiving and bilking Indian tribes. But Ferguson has an even larger connection to the soon-to-be indicted Ney. During the 2004 election cycle, Ferguson received two contributions (June 2003, March 2004) from Ney's Political Action Committee, American Liberty PAC (www.opensecrets.org). These contributions totaled $7500. When you consider the $54,413 that Ferguson has received from the indicted Republican Rep. Tom DeLay (www.dumpmike.com), and the additional thousands of dollars from DeLay's cronies, it sure does appear that Ferguson is somewhat associated with corrupt criminals. That old proverb about "judging a man by the company he keeps" comes to mind. If Mike Ferguson wants to prove that he has no real connection to a bunch of law-breaking Republican thugs, he should return all the money that he has received from Tom DeLay, Bob Ney, Jack Abramoff, and all of their associates. John Cantilli

Posted by admin at 07:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This letter was published in the Bergen Record on December 22, 2005:

On the first day of Christmas my Congress gave to me tax cuts for the wealthy.

On the second day of Christmas my Congress gave to me Medicaid reductions.

On the third day of Christmas my Congress gave to me cuts to student loans.

On the fourth day of Christmas my Congress gave to me loss of child-care subsidies.

On the fifth day of Christmas |my Congress gave to me huge deficits.

On the sixth day of Christmas my Congress gave to me pork-barrel line items.

On the seventh day of Christmas my Congress gave to me fewer resources for states.

On the eighth day of Christmas my Congress gave to me working families struggling.

On the ninth day of Christmas my Congress gave to me people without health care.

On the 10th day of Christmas my Congress gave to me millions going hungry.

On the 11th day of Christmas my Congress gave to me more homeless families.

On the 12th day of Christmas my Congress gave to me seniors and children suffering.

The budget reconciliation bill (HR-4241) makes such cuts, with backing of New Jersey Reps. Rodney Frelinghuysen, Michael Ferguson, James Saxton, Frank LoBiondo and Scott Garrett - all Republicans - voting in favor.

When these and previously approved cuts are fully in effect, 54 percent of their benefits will go to households with annual incomes of more than $1 million. Is this compassionate conservatism?

Bah, humbug to the Scrooges in Congress who voted for the cuts.

Lisa Pitz
Maywood, Dec. 16

Merry Christmas, to all.

Posted by admin at 08:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Apparently Congressman Mike Ferguson feels that the only time to vote his conscience is during an "up or down vote." Newhouse News' Bill Cahir covered Ferguson's flip-flop on ANWR in the Gloucester County Times.

Twenty-five Republicans - including LoBiondo, Saxton, Ferguson, and Frelinghuysen - signed a letter to House leaders saying they would not support the budget-cutting bill if the measure included a provision to open the Arctic refuge.

On Monday, 12 of those Republicans, including Ferguson and Frelinghuysen, reversed course and voted for Arctic drilling as part of the defense measure.

"It's kind of regrettable that this is how the end of the session happened. You see unrelated items get put together onto the same bill," Ferguson, R-7th Dist., said in a telephone interview.

"I had made it pretty well known through my votes over the last several and various communications that I don't support drilling in the ANWR. And through this process, they linked it to this bill that should have been about military funding. At the end of the day, I had to make a decision: Do I support the military pay raise, $1.2 billion for personnel force protection (and) body armor, emergency funding for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan? So I supported it, I voted yes," he said.

"When I've had a chance to vote up or down on ANWR, a clean vote, I've consistently voted against it," Ferguson said.

Blaming this on the House Republican leadership -- which used its "Leadership PACs to contribute $58,000 to Ferguson in 2004 alone -- is specious. If he wanted an "clean vote" Mr. Ferguson, as a member of Congress, and could have proposed an amendment to strip ANWR drilling from the bill. He did not.

Ferguson has been in Congress for five full years now, and has seen bills defeated and reintroduced. The idea that he had no choice but to support drilling in ANWR because it was attached to an unrealed bill is hogwash. Just a month ago enough Republicans opposed provisions in a budget bill that the House Leadership was forced to remove a number of portions of the bill -- including drilling in ANWR. Fellow New Jersey Republicans Frank LoBiondo and Chris Smith did it for the budget bill, and again on this bill.

Smith, R-4th Dist., joined LoBiondo as the two New Jersey Republicans who previously had objected to drilling in the Arctic refuge and also opposed the defense legislation.

LoBiondo "Smith, R-4th Dist., joined LoBiondo as the two New Jersey Republicans who hought the defense appropriations bill was an inappropriate place to put non-defense items, such as drilling in ANWR," said his spokesman, Jason Galanes.

Had he the courage of his convictions he could have joined Smith and LoBiondo in refusing to vote for the bill andforcing the removal of the ANWR provision. [In fact, the Senate is trying to force their leadership to strip ANWR from the same bill right now.] Instead, Ferguson chose to cave to the House Leadership.

With more pressure on House Leadership the ANWR provision could have been removed and the defense spending would have passed on its own. There was no risk that the soldiers would not get the support they need, and Ferguson has shown his true colors on this issue.

Posted by admin at 07:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

From the December 19, 2005 Courier News:

Energy bill ignores environmental fact

Let's try the truth for a change.

If you live in New Jersey's 7th Congressional District, you probably received a slick blue pamphlet from our congressman. This pamphlet portrays him as an environmentalist sponsoring a pro-solar energy bill. As the bill was promptly referred to committee, it's clear that Ferguson's real goal was to try to establish credentials as an environmentalist so we'd believe that he, unlike Bush and DeLay, was actually doing something to reduce global warming and U.S. reliance on foreign oil.

It's a good strategy in a state like New Jersey, where most residents believe there is a connection between the environment and their health, and where most residents believe what real scientists have to say about global warming. But the truth is Ferguson left out a few facts about his record and his party's record with respect to the environment.

While pennies from each dollar in the Republican-led energy bill would go to promote renewable energy, approximately 85 percent -- that's billions and billions of dollars -- will go to big oil, gas and nuclear interests. Even with ExxonMobil's huge profits last quarter, which came from high gas prices, these guys in Washington still want to subsidize these companies. Why?

One reason is that the Bush/DeLay energy bill would give billions to companies run by 22 executives who helped raise at least $100,000 each for Bush's presidential campaigns. Instead of helping to clean up our environment, the Bush/DeLay bill will allow more smog pollution for longer than the current Clean Air Act authorizes. This will mean more sickness and asthma for our children. Instead of actually doing something -- like improving auto or SUV emissions or cleaning up the huge coal power plants in the Midwest which pollute New Jersey's air so badly, it seems that Ferguson, Bush and DeLay listen only to one special-interest group -- the big oil and gas guys who pay to keep them in office to do their business.

Even if he wanted to protect New Jersey's environment, Ferguson has to follow the Bush/DeLay party line. In addition to taking $3 million from lobbyists and PACS, Ferguson has the distinction of taking more money from DeLay and his cronies than other congressman. This faithful support of DeLay and Bush allows Bush to do what he just did last week, walk out of a meeting of 189 nations who were attempting to find common ground on the environment and a way to reduce greenhouse warming. The only "green" thing about Ferguson is the money he pockets from big business and lobbyists.

Bush was wrong when he misled the country into war on Iraq, and he was wrong to put an inexperienced political appointee in charge of Katrina; what if Bush and his cheerleaders DeLay and Ferguson are wrong on greenhouse warming? Wouldn't this be a time to be conservative and prudent rather than taking such a highly risky gamble on our future?

PAUL HOGAN
Summit

On the same day this was published, Mike Ferguson again went against his own "strong" environmental stand to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from development by the oil companies and voted for the fourth time to allow the drilling.

Posted by admin at 05:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From the December 20, 2005 Courier News:

GOP lawmakers aid only the wealthy

Congressman Mike Ferguson, along with the other members of his Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, passed $56 billion in tax breaks last week that would go overwhelmingly to the wealthiest sliver of Americans.

The Tax Policy Center estimates 84.2 percent of the cuts passed by the House would go to the top 20 percent of households by income.

But that's not all. The tax cuts come after this same Republican majority in the House passed $50 billion in cuts to services that struggling working families depend on, like Medicaid, student loans, child support enforcement and food stamps.

These aren't the priorities of America's working families -- and it's time our representatives in Congress knew that they should oppose cuts for working families and new tax breaks for the wealthy.

Where does Congressman Ferguson stand on these issues? Right with his Republican majority.

Working people should keep in mind how little our congressman considers the needs of the people who he purports to represent, by examining his adherence to his parties policies.

BRUNO RIPP
Warren

Posted by admin at 05:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Blue 7th PAC member Kathy called Congressman Mike Ferguson's office to get an answer from them about why he voted to, once again, drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. They wouldn't comment:

I just called his office in DC and the person who answered said he could not comment on this. Or if Ferguson was going to return any money that Delay gave him. And if Ferguson was going to be a real patriot and work to find out why Bush is spying on US citizens illegally.

So these are three questions Ferguson refuses to answer:

• Why did you vote to drill in ANWR
• Are you going to return the $54,413 you received from Tom DeLay?
• Are you going to call for hearings into the Bush administration spying on American citizens without warrents or court orders?

Let's get the answers to these questions. Please call Ferguson's DC office at (202) 225-5361 or his Warren, NJ office at (908) 757-7835 and ask him these questions. Please be polite and clear, and write your answers in the comments section below.

Posted by admin at 02:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Congressman Mike Ferguson has long used his alleged opposition to drilling for oil in the Arctic National WIldlife Refuge (ANWR) as "evidence" that he is a moderate, an environmentalist and independent from President Bush. It is the signature position he and his office references in consituent letters, on his campaign website and to the newspapers when he is trying to hide his radical positions from view.

But Mike Ferguson's public position on drilling in ANWR -- his campaign site call is a national priority -- is a lie. He has proven time and time again that he will vote against his own position to support his party, and this morning at about 5 a.m. he did it again.

Working through the night, the House early today voted to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling as part of a military measure and narrowly approved a $40 billion budget-cutting plan as bleary-eyed lawmakers concluded a marathon weekend session.

Ferguson voted for this bill, and also voted for bills that included that provision in April 2005, and in 2003 and in 2001. He has voted for amendments to strip ANWR from previous bills, but when the amendment failed he stepped up and voted with his party.

This time Ferguson offered no amendment, and so his record on ANWR is now four votes for bills that approve drilling and three votes for amendments against. He could have joined nine other Republicans who voted against the bill, or the 10 Republicans who did not vote for it. But he did not. Instead he cast his vote for the drilling if ANWR for the fourth time.

The people of the 7th Congressional district deserve to know about Ferguson's hypocricy on ANWR and the environment in general. Please write to the Courier News at letters@c-n.com, the Home News Tribune at letters@thnt.com, the Star Ledger at eletters@starledger.com, or the New York Times at letters@nytimes.com and tell them about this consistent record of voting one way in Washington and talking another way in New Jersey.

UPDATE: John C. notes that just last Friday on PoliticsNJ.com Ferguson's spokesman played up the ANWR votes as an indication of how independent he is from the President.

"Voters are evaluating what their congressmen have done for them in their local communities, how they've gone to bat," says Jones.. "When the President is right -- like in lowering the taxes or in fighting the war of terrorism, Mike stands by him. But he's not afraid to oppose the president when he's wrong," referencing Ferguson's opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge . . .

Ooops.

Posted by admin at 07:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It looks like seniors are pulling away from the Republican Congress:

The results can be seen in Americans' attitudes toward Congress 11 months before Election Day 2006. By a 65%-19% margin, Americans age 65 and above disapprove of the performance of Congress; those under 65 are also negative but less lopsidedly, 58%-27%. Moreover, senior citizens say by 47%-37% that they want Democrats rather than Republicans to win control of Capitol Hill. Those under 65 prefer a Democratic victory by a narrower 45%-39% margin.

That disparity, like some other political differences between older and younger Americans, is relatively slight. But it has big implications for the 2006 campaign for two reasons.

The attempt to change Social Security, and the ham-handedness people like Congressman Mike Ferguson in pushing the plan, has really hurt the Republicans with seniors.

If you want a bumper sticker with the slogan, "Save Social Security, dumpmike.com." send an e-mail to info@blue7th.com with your name and address and we'll send you one. Please use it, preferably on a car, because they cost money!

Posted by admin at 08:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Congressman Mike Ferguson voted yesterday to approve the conference report Patriot Act. More to come.

Posted by admin at 08:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Congressman Ferguson is not worried about the challenges he faces from Joe Tricarico, Linda Stender and Matt Linfante and said so in the Express Times:

"The political environment for me is going to remain pretty strongly favorable. I've been pretty fortunate to have pretty strong support in my recent reelections," Ferguson said. The 2000 redistricting plan recast his district to make it safer for a Republican candidate.

Ferguson said the casework he and his staff have done for constituents, his fund-raising efforts and his votes for tax-cut legislation ensure that he will be ready for any challenger.

"The economy seems to be doing well. The market is up; and that's important in my district," Ferguson said.

It's right that Ferguson has won his elections, though the Federal Election Commission determined that he won both the primary and general elections in 2000 with illegally spent campaign money. He's also right that he's done constituent support, though that includes intentionally misleading (some say lying) constituents about his record in congress on numerous occassions. And the claim to tax cut votes is true, but to pay for the tax cuts he voted to close Fort Monmouth and throw hundred of New Jerseyans out of work.

At best Ferguson has a mixed record in Congress, as this site is demonstrating by researching his history in the Congress. But the worst is that Ferguson is consistently wrong about the economic situation facing the country and his district. He was dead wrong in his "facts" presented at a Social Security town meeting earlier this year, and claimed in 2004 that Americans should stop complaining about the five percent unemployment since he was just in Iraq and they have 25 percent unemployment!

And now he claims that the stock market has risen thanks to his and his party's time in Congress, when the facts don't bear it out.

On January 4, 2001 when Congress convened for Mike Ferguson's first term the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 10,912.41. It closed yesterday -- December 12, 2005 -- at 10,767.77.

That's a fall of almost 150 points over almost five years, hardly a good economic record for a time when Ferguson's party has been in complete control.

But that's a long history. How about just the last year under the new Congress? On January 4, 2005 -- when the 109th Congress convened -- the market opened at 10,753.89. That's a rise of less than 14 points in eleven and a half monthsBut for the year, the market is actually down 35 points from the January 1, 2005 market price of 10,803.18, which is hardly an "up" market.

Ferguson's claim that the tax cuts have been good for the economy and will be a boon to his campaign is hardly born out by the facts, though Ferguson is happy to go back into his Washington Republican bubble and claim things are good in Iraq, good in the economy and good for the environment when it is simply not true.

Posted by admin at 07:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Mike Ferguson has, as we've noted before, taken money from some pretty shaky people. Of course, there's the $54K from Tom Delay, but also the $1,000 he just returned to corrupt Republican Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, the $1,000 he took from the indicted Adam Kidan, and plenty more.

There's an excellent site called NEWSMEAT -- yeah, kind of weird -- that has all Ferguson's contributors in alphabetical order for us to check out. Please pick a letter and do some Google searching on the people on that page. There's a lot of smoke coming from Ferguson's campaign finance follies -- including a record fine from the FEC and illegal help from outside groups -- and if we go through all of these pages there will probably be fire.

Posted by admin at 06:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Mike Ferguson did a very good thing in calling for an expansion of health care coverage for Reservists. This blog, called Dump Mike, is obviously not inclined to give kudos to a congressman it wants to replace with someone else. However, this is a very important issue for which politics doesn't matter. Reservists deserve full health care for the sacrifice they make for our country. My town, which I am honored to serve as Council President for, provides full salary and benefits for any borough employees who are called to active duty from the Reserves. Not all Reservists are so lucky to have an employer like that, and this would be an excellent change that would benefit the military, the Reservists and the country.

Posted by admin at 06:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last week Mike Ferguson made news by agreeing to give back money from Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningam after Cunningham plead quilty to accepting bribes and bribing others to steer contracts to his friends. We noted that this was not the only dirty money in Mike's pockets, and that he had repeatedly refused to return it.

Tonight, we found more dirty money tied in with the Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay scandals. Mike Ferguson accepted $1000 from Adam Kidan who is involved in a deal with Abramoff that involved corruption, casino boats and mob-style murders.

Adam Kidan Kidan is a unique figure in the unfolding scandal. A New York native and former Dial-A-Mattress franchisee, Kidan had done business with people who had done business with the Gambino crime family. His mother was killed in 1993 in a mob robbery gone awry.

He and Abramoff gained control of SunCruz, after which the company paid nearly $250,000 to companies controlled by two men with mob ties, Anthony “Big Tony” Moscatiello and Anthony “Little Tony” Ferrari. Soon after, SunCruz’s former owner, Gus Boulis, was ambushed and killed on a Fort Lauderdale street on his way home from work. Moscatiello, Ferrari and another are charged with the murder.

Call Mike Ferguson at (908) 757-7835 or (202) 225-5361 or write to him on his website and ask him to stop taking money from corrupt politicians. Please be courteous to the folks who answer.

You can send letters to the Courier News at letters@c-n.com, the Home News Tribune at letters@thnt.com, the Star Ledger at eletters@starledger.com, or the New York Times at letters@nytimes.com.

Posted by admin at 08:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Federal Election Committee announced today that Congressman Mike Ferguson received illegal help from the ironically named Accountability Project of the "Council for Responsible Government, Inc." during his 2000 primary race in a case brought against them by current Republican Senate candidate Tom Kean, Jr. The below excerpt from the FEC finding has emphasis added:

The complainant alleged that the Council made prohibited corporate contributions which were coordinated with Kean's opponent [Ferguson] and that the Council should be registered and reporting as a political committee. . . In considering this matter on remand, the Commission concluded that there was reason to believe a violation occurred because the brochures distributed by the Council contain express advocacy, and that the Council made a prohibited corporate independent expenditure

The Council was fined $5,500 for the illegal support they coordinated with the Ferguson campaign.

What this means is that Mike Ferguson won the 2000 primary against Tom Kean and Joel Weingarten � with just 44 percent of the vote � with illegal support from outside groups. Ferguson also won a squeaker in the general with the illegal use of a half million dollars given to him by his parents. The FEC fined Ferguson a record $210,000 for that transgression.

Both of his close wins in 2000 were the result of illegal campaign expenditures, which suggests that without the illegal support Ferguson received he might not have won at all.

And it hasn't stopped since he went to Washington, either. Ferguson has:

• Received $54,403 over seven years from former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), indicted for money laundering and conspiracy to violate Texas campaign finance laws;
• Received $132,000 in 2001 from a Retaining Our Majority Program fundraiser coordinated by Jim Ellis, Tom DeLay's treasurer and co-defended for money laundering and conspiracy to violate Texas campaign finance laws;
• Received $1000 in 2001 from Jack Abramoff, indicted for wire fraud and conspiracy in a case involving mob-style executions and floating casinos;
• Received $1000 in 2001 from Adam Kidan, indicted with Jack Abramoff for wire fraud and conspiracy.

UPDATE: Here's a real irony. According to the subscriton only Roll Call (11/2/2000), Ferguson had filed a complaint against Connelly for illegally coordinating with outside groups EMILY's List and NARAL in the 2000 campaign.

The Ferguson camp noted that one of the ads "features footage of Connelly," which the Ferguson campaign to file a FEC complaint accusing Connelly of "illegally coordinating campaign expenditures with a third-party group." Quinonez: "Maryanne Connelly is running an illegally coordinated campaign with a partisan special-interest group in Washington spending millions of dollars to distort and lie about Mike Ferguson's positions"

The FEC did not find against Connolly, though they did -- as noted above -- find that Ferguson was "running an illegally coordinated campaign with a partisan special-interest group in Washington spending millions of dollars."

Posted by admin at 06:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Washinton Post has an excellent interactive tool for reviewing all votes in Congress. You can review every vote Congressman Mike Ferguson cast in his three terms in office easily, and check it against whether he voted with the Republican leadership or not.

For instance, in 2005 he has only voted three times against the Republican majority.

Posted by admin at 11:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The redistricting of 2001 was a blow to competetive races throughout New Jersey, creating largely safe districts for all 13 incumbents. However, a switch of seven percent of the vote will win in the 7th. It will take work and effort and the truth being told, but we can win here.

Mike Ferguson disagrees:

In a telephone interview Friday, Rep. Ferguson said he felt confident that he was poised to win a fourth term.

Ferguson noted that Douglas Forrester, the Republican nominee for governor, won 55 percent of the vote in the heavily Republican 7th Congressional District while losing statewide. President Bush lost New Jersey in 2000 and 2004, but prevailed on Ferguson's turf.

Democrats "need to talk about as many seats as they can that might be in play because they have to assure people for their own credibility that they can win back the House," Ferguson said, deriding the "numbers game" played by Democratic political operatives who claim they will drive him from the House.

"When you look at New Jersey, most of the incumbents -- all of the incumbents -- have done quite well," Ferguson said.

Bush is significantly less popular in 2006 than he was in 2004, and Forrester appears to have just barely won the district. Things are changing here all on their own. The newspaper Roll Call reports that Al Gore won NJ7 in 2000, and would still have won after the state redistricted NJ7. We need to work hard for the next 11 months to help people see that Congressman Ferguson is not right for NJ7:

• Mike Ferguson is so radical on contraception, embryonic stem cell research and abortion that his own Republican House Colleagues call him "Mr. Embryo";
• He has taken more than $54,000 from Tom DeLay and refuses to return it even though DeLay has been indicted for money laundering and corruption;
• After receiving that money from Tom DeLay, Ferguson used his leadership PAC (MIKEPAC)sent $27,000 back to Texas candidates and only $1000 to NJ candidates
• Ferguson voted to change the Republican House Caucus rules to allow Tom DeLay to stay in power if DeLay were indicted;
• Mike Ferguson has also received $1,000 from Jack Abramoff, a corporate lobbyist indicted for fraud in a case involving casino boats and mob-style murder;
• The MIKEPAC treasurer is a corporate lobbyist who makes millions convincing members of Congress to vote for his clients;
• He was called a "wind up doll designed by [pharmaceutical] industry lobbyists by the Star Ledger;
• Mike Ferguson received the largest fine in Federal Election Commission history -- $210,000 -- for illegally using a half million dollars in his 2000 race.
• He refuses to co-sponsor the bi-partisan HR 550 verified voting bill sponsorsed by Rush Holt;
• He has voted three times to allow drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge, and misled constituents about the votes;
• Ferguson repeatedly voted against expanding the child tax credit from $600 to $1000 for working low-income families;
• Ferguson voted to cut Medicaid by $10 billion, then went to a health care event and sympathized with people who could not get health insurance;
• He voted to close Fort Monmouth and throw hundreds of New Jerseyans out of work after doing nothing to challenge the commission that determined which bases would close;
• He misinformed constituents on Social Security and the problems is faces in public meetings;
• Ferguson is a co-sponsor of the Federal Marriage Act which would deny marriage to anyone but heterosexual couples.

These are not the values of New Jersey's 7th Congressional District. When the voters learn about Mike Ferguson's values, they will change their minds.

Posted by admin at 09:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Congressman Mike Ferguson's views on contraception, stem cell research and abortion are so far outside the mainstream that his own colleagues have nicknamed him, "Mr. Embryo."

From the May 25, 2005 Subcommittee On Oversight And Investigations Of The House Committee On Energy And Commerce hearing on Community Health Centers:

Mr. Whitfield: I am 52 today.

Chairman Barton: Today is your birthday, so happy birthday. I need to give Congressman Ferguson, Mr. Embryo himself, credit for that. . . that is going to be on your tombstone.

Chairman Barton is Rep. Joe Barton, chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Mr. Whitfield is Rep. Ed Whitfield (KY-1) and chair of the the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Ferguson sits on both committees.

UPDATE: For those who do not know the history of this, Ferguson made the following statement on May 24th at a hearing on embryonic stem cell research.

Mr. FERGUSON. Mr. Speaker, I thank both gentlemen for yielding me this time.

The debate over embryonic stem cell research is important because there are no more important issues that we deal with in this Chamber than when we debate life and death.

Mr. Speaker, as I stand here in this Chamber today, I am a human being. I am a man, an adult man. Sometime before I was a man, I was a teenager. Before that I was a child. And sometime before I was a child, I was a toddler. And before I was a toddler, I was an infant. And sometime before I was an infant, I was a fetus. And sometime before I was a fetus, I was an embryo. I did not look like I do today, but it was me. That embryo was me.

At some point in our history, every single person here was also an embryo. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), you were an embryo once. The other gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton), the chairman of the committee; yes, sir, you too were an embryo once. The gentleman from Delaware, the sponsor of this bill, you were an embryo once. The gentlewoman from Colorado, you too were an embryo once. The gentleman from Michigan, you were an embryo once. Now, we did not look like we do today, but it did not mean it was not you.

A human embryo is a member of the human family. It has its own unique DNA. It is its own human entity. It is unique. It is irreplaceable, and it is a member of the species Homo sapiens. It is not just a bit of tissue. It is not just, as some have suggested, a couple of cells in a petri dish. It is human and it is alive. It might not look like you or me, but there was a time when you and I looked exactly like that embryo.

Today, we are debating embryonic stem cell research, a type of stem cell research in which a tiny member of the human family must die. That is not just my opinion; that is a scientific fact. The gentlewoman from Colorado would suggest that under this legislation Federal funds would not be used to destroy human life. That is simply false.

Those who conduct human embryonic stem cell research must destroy human life to do so. You cannot conduct embryonic stem cell research without destroying human life, and that is wrong. And it is certainly wrong to fund this unethical embryonic stem cell research using taxpayer money. And that is precisely what this legislation would do. It would use taxpayer money to fund research which destroys human life.

I urge a ``no'' vote.

Posted by admin at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The The Committee on Energy and Commerce -- on which Rep. Mike Ferguson sits -- is responsible for some important issues including gas and heating prices, Medicaid reimbursement rates, consumer rights and more.

So what is it doing next Wednesday at 10 a.m.? Holding hearings on how the national collegiate football champion is selected. Really.

The Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection will examine college football's Bowl Championship Series (BCS) system at a hearing entitled "Determining a Champion on the Field: A Comprehensive Review of the BCS and Postseason College Football" on Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building, Committee Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, announced today. . .

"College football is not just an exhilarating sport, but a billion-dollar business as well that Congress cannot ignore. This committee is vested with the responsibility for overseeing sports," Barton said. "Too often the college season ends in sniping and controversy, rather than clear winners and losers. In fact, four of the BCS' seven seasons have concluded in dispute. The BCS system was created to identify a broadly accepted national champion, but 57 percent of the time it has failed to do so. Most coaches who lose 57 percent of their games would also lose their jobs. Yet that's what we settle for in determining a champion today."

There are a lot of fans of football in the 7th District, and many of us are thrilled that Rutgers will be playing in the Insight Bowl on December 27, 2005. Many follow college football and eagerly await the outcome of the college season to see what team will wind up on top.

Many of those same families are struggling to afford needed prescriptions for their parents, and are worried about how they will feed their children. They like college football, but they need Congressman Ferguson to focus of real issues.

Mike Ferguson should call on The Committee on Energy to postpone or cancel this hearing until they have addressed the real issues that face America's families. This is not a game they are playing in Washington DC, though it seems like it some days.

You can reach Ferguson at (908) 757-7835 or (202) 225-5361 or write to him on his website. Please be courteous to the folks who answer.

You can send letters to the Courier News at letters@c-n.com, the Home News Tribune at letters@thnt.com, the Star Ledger at eletters@starledger.com, or the New York Times at letters@nytimes.com.

Posted by admin at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)