Ronald Reagan often remarked that America is a “shining city on a hill.” He invoked the Founders’ vision of America as a great experiment in limited government.  They had this crazy idea that the American people could govern themselves.  Not only did the experiment prove successful, but America became the first nation in human history to develop an antidote to poverty: Freedom.

After two centuries of unparalleled prosperity, the American dream is at risk of failure.  The lights of the city are flickering.

We are nearly $16 trillion in debt and are adding more than $1 trillion each year.  Our debt is grinding our economy to a standstill, unemployment is high and our weakening dollar is leading to exorbitant gas and food prices.

Politicians from both parties talk about balancing the budget.  Many even support a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution—a worthy reform.  But these words are empty rhetoric unless politicians get specific on the programs and agencies they will cut, eliminate, or reform to get our fiscal house in order.

Last year, instead of cutting spending my opponent in this spring’s Republican primary voted to let Obama borrow and spend another $2.4 trillion.  And when Congress had just one vote last year for a budget which balanced our books offered by the Republican Study Committee, Tim Murphy joined the Democrats and many Republicans in voting against it.

Hypocritical politicians without real solutions need to be held accountable.  In fact, a litmus test for every elected official or candidate for office should be: “What’s your plan to fix our country?”

As Daniel Horowitz wrote on RedState this week, the Paul Ryan budget is a good start but doesn’t do enough to balance our books.

I am proud to announce that I have a plan that goes far enough to solve our fiscal woes, which I developed without the help of staff or consultants.  I spent many late nights combing through the federal budget for unnecessary or inappropriate expenditures.   My experience working in the U.S. Senate prepared me to do the hard work most politicians are not capable of performing.

This week, I unveiled the plan I call, “Turning the Lights Back On: Restoring the Shining City.” While our problems are great, the solutions are straightforward: slash spending, keep our promises, and grow the economy.

Make a Pledge for the “Terminate Tim” Birthday Weekend Money Bomb

My plan slashes spending by $661 billion in the first year and $9.1 trillion over 10 years.   It balances the budget just three years after enactment (2015) with real cuts instead of just limiting the growth of existing programs.  Altogether, my budget eliminates four cabinet-level agencies and a total of 233 specific programs.

My plan also keeps our promises to seniors and low-income Americans by reforming our bankrupt entitlement programs and repealing the Obamacare monstrosity.  My reforms strengthen Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security to provide better benefits at a lower cost.  I will not let these programs go bankrupt and take our economy down with them.

Finally, my plan grows the economy.  I implement a 17 percent flat tax on individuals and businesses.  Compared to the Congressional Budget Office’s “baseline,” my plan is a $4.5 trillion reduction in the tax burden on Americans.  My plan also lifts onerous regulations, starting with the repeal of Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, Sarbanes-Oxley, and the full repeal of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Make a Pledge for the “Terminate Tim” Birthday Weekend Money Bomb

I sincerely hope this plan can serve as a guiding light to all of our elected officials in moving forward to restore the American dream.  Surely, putting out such a specific, comprehensive and bold plan makes me an easy target.  But the time is now for political candidates to run on specific ideas rather than empty rhetoric.  I challenge my opponent to do the same.

For more information on my budget plan or my candidacy for United States Congress, please visit my website: evanfeinberg.com 

Last week, I announced my “Birthday Weekend Money Bomb” beginning THIS FRIDAY, March 23.  I’ve got another name for it: The Terminate Tim Money Bomb!  Together, we can raise enough money to retire RINO Tim Murphy and replace him with a true limited government conservative.

Erick has made it quite clear: Tim Murphy “needs to be primaried,” and he’s endorsed my candidacy.

You can visit my website, evanfeinberg.com, to pledge your support!

I have been endorsed by conservative Senators Tom Coburn and Rand Paul. They join premier conservative groups like FreedomWorks, the Madison Project, and the Republican Liberty Caucus.

Tim Murphy? He’s a big-government liberal. The Club for Growth ran $125,000 worth of ads calling him, “Liberal Congressman Tim Murphy.” He’s got a 50 percent lifetime rating from the Club for Growth and 67 percent from Heritage Action.

There’s even a website devoted to exposing Tim Murphy: TimMurphyMustGo.com.

But I need your help.  Click here to read the Money Bomb announcement email.  Here’s an excerpt:

Victory is within our sight. We have Tim Murphy on the ropes, and together, we can win on April 24th!

That’s why I am announcing my Birthday Weekend Moneybomb to kick off the last month of our campaign.

Please click here to pledge your support today.

This important online event will start on Friday, March 23, and sets the ambitious goal of raising $24,000 for the weekend.

That’s what my advisors say it will take for us to make our most aggressive television ad buy as we seal this historic victory.  My birthday is Saturday, March 24, and I’d love to celebrate with you by reaching this important goal.

It won’t be easy, but with your generous support, I know we will meet and exceed our goal.

Our campaign’s momentum continues to be unstoppable. National attention is being focused on our race, thanks to prominent endorsements by Senators Rand Paul and Tom Coburn.

Even Tim Murphy has taken notice — he recently committed to a future debate.

Your support is vital as we get close to Primary Day.

Can I count on you to make your pledge today?

Later in the week, we sent out the following update regarding our early success!

It’s been an amazing few days.

Within the first 24 hours after we announced our Birthday Weekend Moneybomb, we received pledges of over $3,000.

Thank you!

If you haven’t pledged yet, there’s still time.

Please consider making your most generous show ofsupport today.

We are closing in on the final – and most important – month of our campaign.

March 24 – my birthday – also happens to be exactly four weeks from the date that voters in the 18th district will go to the polls.

Naturally, we will need to pay for our big ad buys before then, which is why this push is so important.

By meeting our aggressive goal for the weekend of $24,000, we will ensure that we have the funds necessary forour television ad campaign – and surely attract some significant press attention.

I am confident that on April 24, we will retire Tim Murphy for good.

Our momentum continues to surge – whether it’s attention from the release of my Comprehensive Economic Plan or my latest endorsement from the Republican Liberty Caucus.

My upcoming schedule of events is packed, and no event is more important than our online moneybomb.

Can I count on you to dig deep and make your most generous pledge today?

Thank you for all that you do for my campaign!

Onward,

Evan

 

RedState is the hub of the conservative movement.  As you rally behind my candidacy, I’ll be able to raise enough money to beat RINO Tim Murphy. Pledge your support today.

Together in Freedom,

Evan Feinberg

Candidate for U.S. Congress

18th District of PA

This week, Tim Murphy sent out a press release and had the audacity to cite the Club for Growth’s annual Congressional scorecard to claim he’s a conservative. Funny, just last month the Club for Growth spent $125,000 on television ads in the Pittsburgh region labeling him, “liberal Congressman, Tim Murphy.”

So which is it: is Tim Murphy a conservative as he claims? Or a liberal as the Club for Growth clearly believes?

Tim Murphy’s 2011 Club for Growth score was a paltry 69 percent. Compare that to Sen. Toomey’s 97 percent, or conservative stalwarts like Sen. Tom Coburn or Sen. Rand Paul who both scored a perfect 100 percent. A 69 percent is a failing grade on most grading scales, yet it’s 19 percent higher than Murphy’s lifetime score of 50 percent.

Scorecards can be pretty abstract, however, until you look at actual votes. The Club’s 2011 scorecard confirms what we already know about Tim Murphy: he supports Big Government, Big Labor and Big Bailouts.

This year, Murphy voted against a balanced budget put forward by the Republican Study Committee and against rolling back appropriations to 2006 spending levels. In two separate favors to Big Labor, he voted against defunding the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and against limiting Davis-Bacon wage requirements. Rather than working toward privatization and sustainability for AmTrak, he voted to continue bailing them out with more and more taxpayer funding.

Does that sound like the record of a conservative?

Growing up, there was always the kid in school who celebrated when he didn’t get an “F,” even if he just barely passed. Tim Murphy appears to be that kid in Congress—his 69 percent is by far the best grade of his liberal career.

Murphy’s lifetime rating from the Club for Growth is a failing grade of 50 percent. That puts him in the 7^th percentile for all Republicans—the 19^th worst grade out of 247 Republicans.. In past years, he has scored as low as 30 and 32 percent. Apparently, Murphy forgot to sort the table by “lifetime rating” before he sent out an email bragging about his meager 2011 score. Or perhaps he believes his election-year conversation to a 69 percent conservative will save his career.

Our country is $15 trillion in debt and set to double that number over the next 10 years. Taxpayers now realize the importance of examining their representatives’ voting record rather than their rhetoric.  As Tim Murphy’s time in Congress comes to an end, he’ll always be remembered as “liberal Congressman, Tim Murphy.”

The author, Evan Feinberg, is a Republican candidate for United States Congress in the 18th District of Pennsylvania.  You can read more at www.evanfeinberg.com.   

Many Pennsylvanians and conservatives across the country have not forgiven Sen. Rick Santorum for his endorsement of Sen. Arlen Specter. Pennsylvania Republicans are not proud to have sent to Washington a pro-abortion candidate who cast the 60^th vote for Obamacare, and we remember the elected officials who pushed us to do so.

While Santorum’s decision was clearly a mistake, at least he made a conservative argument regarding the need for conservative justices on the Supreme Court. And who knows? Maybe Justices Roberts and Alito will lead the court to overturn Obamacare as clearly unconstitutional.

Tim Murphy, on the other hand, endorsed Specter knowing exactly what he wanted: more wasteful pork barrel spending.

“I try to be a practical guy,” Murphy said when he endorsed Specter. “What does Pennsylvania need? It needs lawmakers with enough clout to bring federal dollars to the state. So much is based on seniority in Congress,” Murphy said.

The logical conclusion of this philosophy is to always vote incumbent, Democrat or Republican, Arlen Specter or Pat Toomey. But it gets much worse.

The hunger for more pork led Murphy to support the “North Shore Connector,” rated among the most wasteful spending projects funded by Obama’s stimulus bill. Before it received stimulus funding, Murphy helped secure the original earmarked funding. Now, the project’s $362 million budget has ballooned to $529 million. Even Democratic Governor Ed Rendell called the entire project a “tragic mistake.”

Murphy is so committed to feeding at the trough that he supported the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere,” in Alaska. The thinking goes: if you scratch the backs of other Congressmen – even if it means sending PA tax dollars to Alaska for a worthless project – those Congressmen will scratch yours when you need a North Shore Connector earmark.

So committed is Murphy to this system, he votes against every single amendment to strip a pork project from a wasteful spending bill. He’s voted in favor of a $200,000 lobster institute in Maine and a $50,000 mule museum in California. He has a perfect “0” score on the Club for Growth’s “RePork Card,” meaning he has never voted to cut a wasteful spending project.

It is a corrupt practice, but even more importantly it is a practice that corrupts. Members of Congress use these earmarks as kickbacks to those who contribute to their campaign. It’s a common practice that Tim Murphy uses in an uncommonly frequent manner: 61.2 percent of his earmarks in 2010 went directly to campaign contributors, the fourth highest frequency in the entire Congress.

No wonder when it became clear the disgraced lobbying firm called the PMA Group used earmarks to break the law, Murphy was one of just five Republicans who voted against investigating corruption related to their campaign donations and earmark kickbacks.

Earmarks and wasteful spending are the gateway drug to big government as politicians vote for bloated spending bills to protect their pork. Our country is $15 trillion in debt. Big spending bills, Obamacare and federal entitlement spending will cause that number to double over the next 10 years. Career politicians in Washington, D.C. are bankrupting this country one Bridge to Nowhere, one massive spending bill and one empty entitlement promise at a time.

There’s a better solution. We should permanently eliminate all earmarks from the federal budget and reduce discretionary spending. I will never take an earmark or support the wasteful earmarks of other Congressmen who spend Pennsylvania tax dollars on wasteful projects in other states. To save our country we must reduce the size and scope of government, relieve job creators of crushing taxes and regulations and elect public officials who will put the taxpayers before themselves.

This vision of limited government, pro-growth economics and honest governance stands in stark contrast to the self-interested politics of incumbents like Tim Murphy. That’s why anti-earmark and conservative stalwarts Sen. Tom Coburn and Sen. Rand Paul have both endorsed my candidacy, and like-minded Sen. Pat Toomey is refusing to endorse Tim Murphy.

Now is the time to replace Arlen Specter Republicans like Tim Murphy with limited government conservatives who will put the next generation before the next election.

Calls Tim Murphy an “Arlen Specter Republican” and Praises Evan Feinberg as the “Fresh Face the Conservative Movement Needs.”

Read Dr. Coburn’s full endorsement letter below.  If you’d like to support the campaign, you can do so at www.evanfeinberg.com/contribute.  

Dear Concerned Citizen,

Consider only 15 out of 100 senators voted for an amendment I offered to defund those infamous Bridges to Nowhere in Alaska. Forty-two Republican Senators voted for the bridges which had come to symbolize the excesses of government waste and stupidity.

Then-Republican Senator Arlen Specter was one of those who voted for the Bridges to Nowhere. Yet Specter had told voters for years he supported a balanced budget. But during our time in the Senate together, he rarely supported my efforts to cut wasteful spending, and behind closed doors, he actually fought to increase spending. Pennsylvania voters caught on and replaced Specter with Pat Toomey, a proven champion of limited government.

Senator Specter’s behavior was not unusual. In fact, he was no different than most of the career politicians in either party I have witnessed in Washington. They put protecting their own jobs before principle and think their next election is more important than the next generation.

We have an opportunity to retire another “Arlen Specter Republican” in Pennsylvania this year with someone I know from personal experience who shares our conservative principles and will stand and fight with me and for you against government waste.

Evan served on my Senate staff for over three years. During that time, Evan helped me develop a free market alternative to Obamacare that would have ensured that you and your doctor—rather than the government—controlled your health care decisions. Evan relentlessly identified government waste and tirelessly pursued innovative solutions.

Evan is the fresh face the conservative movement needs to broaden its appeal. He possesses the vigor and determination necessary to wage the war against entrenched special interests in Washington.

Fixing the problems facing our country starts with replacing the career politicians who are part of the problem. Congressman Tim Murphy, whom Evan is challenging for the Republican nomination, was first elected to Congress a decade ago and gained a reputation for fighting for a bigger piece of the budget pie rather than for you. Just like other career politicians, Congressman Murphy says he is for cutting wasteful spending but then votes to waste your tax dollars on wasteful pork projects. He even voted for the Bridge to Nowhere, just like Arlen Specter.

This should come as no surprise since Murphy has consistently supported wasteful pork barrel projects from coast to coast, like $200,000 for a lobster institute in Maine,to $50,000 for a mule museum in California.

Murphy both voted against investigating corruption between campaign donations from the disgraced lobbying firm PMA Group and against investigating corrupt congressional earmarks. In fact, more than 60 percent of the pork projects Murphy has earmarked himself went into the pockets of his own campaign donors, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Murphy joined Democrats and voted against a balanced budget proposed by the Republican Study Committee. Politicians may say they support a balanced budget, but actions speak louder than words.

Evan Feinberg gives us an opportunity to send someone to Washington whose actions will match his words. Evan has proven he has the courage and integrity to stand up for what is right and to put our children and grandchildren first.

Knowing Evan personally, and having fought side-by-side with him for many years, I have full confidence Evan will be an exceptional leader in Congress. I am making a contribution to Evan’s campaign and ask you to consider making a donation of $100, $250, $1,000, or whatever you can afford (up to the maximum limit of $2,500 for an individual and $5,000 for a couple).

Sincerely,

Tom Coburn, M.D.

United States Senator

I don’t need to tell you how important this upcoming election is. As conservatives, we have a historic opportunity to not just make Barack Obama a one-term president, but to take back the Senate and bolster conservatives in the House. Part of that means getting rid of liberal Republicans.

Back in October, Erick wrote here on Redstate.com that Tim Murphy needed to be primaried.  I agree. In fact that is exactly what I am doing.  I believe it’s time for Western Pennsylvania to have a true conservative representative who will put the next generation before the next election and the Constitution over crony capitalism.

I’m grateful to have the support of conservatives not just at home in Western Pennsylvania, but around the country. Just last week, FreedomWorks endorsed my candidacy, calling me a “serious, thoughtful candidate with a deep commitment to fiscal responsibility, something the incumbent Tim Murphy’s record clearly shows he lacks.”  The Club for Growth has been running television ads that highlight Murphy’s consistent support for Big Labor, Big Bailouts, and Big Government.

And today, Politico listed Tim Murphy second on its list of top five most vulnerable incumbents, showing that my message of limited government, pro-growth policy and honest governance is resonating with conservatives who are fed up with a tone-deaf Congress that is mortgaging their children’s futures.

But, as has been the case from the beginning, I need your help.  We need to prove to the Washington establishment that the national conservative movement can and will raise money for candidates that share our principles.

This is a race that will send a deafening message to career politicians everywhere that the American People will take their government back, one seat at a time. This is a race in which you can make a tremendous difference by contributing as little as $25, $50 or even $100.

You can donate online at www.evanfeinberg.com/contribute or send a check to (include employer/occupation for FEC purposes):

Evan Feinberg for Congress

PO Box 62276

Pittsburgh, PA 15241

From the Diaries by Leon…

Keith Impink runs Westmoreland Electric, a small business in Tarrs, Pennsylvania which was founded in 1988 with two employees and a truck.  His company, now 65 employees strong, is the type of job creator we should empower to move our state and country out of these difficult economic times.

The painful irony for local job creators like Keith is their very own Congressman, Tim Murphy, has consistently voted to make it harder for small businesses to grow, thrive and prosper.

Small business can’t compete against Big Labor, and it’s tough to find a more reliable vote for Big Labor than Tim Murphy.  And it’s really no surprise why: Half of his top ten campaign contributors are labor unions.  In fact, according to a recent report, Murphy receives more money from Big Labor than all but six of his Republican colleagues.

Read More →

Promoted to the front by Erick.

My name is Evan Feinberg, and I am challenging Tim Murphy in the Republican primary for Pennsylvania’s 18^th Congressional District.

I have real experience working in the trenches of the conservative movement. Most recently, I was Senator Rand Paul’s top aide on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, helping to craft free market reforms to Medicare and rein in excessive government spending. Before that, I worked for Senator Tom Coburn, fighting tooth and nail to defeat Obamacare with substantive, patient-centered solutions. I got my start in public policy at the Heritage Foundation, researching education policy and developing conservative initiatives to get the federal government out of our schools and to empower families.

There are a lot of reasons why Tim Murphy needs to be primaried, but it really boils down to this:  Tim Murphy is an Arlen Specter Republican.

Arlen Specter was the epitome of selfish, career politicians who make a mockery of our political institutions while turning their backs on their oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. They do not hesitate to throw taxpayer dollars at special interests that fund their campaigns. They won’t let political party get in the way of political survival.  They make promises they know they cannot keep, hoping to bribe their constituents to vote for them. In each of these ways, Tim Murphy is Specter’s political successor.

Murphy’s record is clear: he is for Big Government, Big Bailouts and Big Labor.

Read More →