A Message from Congressman John Culberson

Politics can be dirty. Mistakes are made from time to time. Sometimes the mistakes are accidental. Sometimes they are not. In this case, a mistake was made in a mailing piece by Congressional Candidate Bill Tofte, running for CD 7 against an outstanding Conservative Congressman John Culberson. In the mailing, Tofte cited some votes incorrectly which cast dispersions on the record and character of Mr. Culberson. Tofte has posted a retraction on his website.

Following I will post both a response from Congressman Culberson and the retraction from Bill Tofte.  I have known Bill for a few years and believe this to be an honest mistake.  My goal is not to make him look bad, but to help him correct the mistake made in his campaign mailer.

Message from Congressman Culberson:

Dear Friends:

My parents and grandparents taught me that my good name is my most valuable possession and is worth more than all the gold or silver in the world.  This is especially true in my work as your Congressman.  Because Washington is literally and physically so far removed from your lives, and you are busy with your family and your job, you need to know you can trust me to represent you consistently as a true conservative.  That is why after I was elected, I updated my message to "Culberson Keeps His Word" on my yard sign, my letterhead, and my other communications to you to remind you that you can count on me to keep my word.

It is especially disappointing that my opponent's first advertisement in the Republican Primary maligns my good name and falsely accuses me of breaking my word to you.  He even admits that what he has said about me is not true, but he only retracts the false mailer that was sent to thousands of homes in a web site posting that may be read by only a handful of people.

 I expect liberal Democrats to falsely represent my record but NOT fellow Republicans.  My opponent's falsehoods are so blatant and so easy to discover that he had to retract them immediately.  The Heritage Foundation web site that he professes to use as his source shows, of course, as you would expect that I have ALWAYS voted against higher taxes and against Obamacare and its expansion. 

 I am sending you this personal email to ask for your help in two ways. First, please round up as many friends and family members as you can to vote for my re-election as your Congressman this week and next in early voting or on Election Day, Tuesday, May 29.  Please let your friends and family know that my opponent admits his mailer contains falsehoods and that they can trust me as they always have to do the right thing for the right reasons.  Please forward this message to your personal email lists, post highlights or link it to your Facebook page, Twitter account, and your blog. You can focus on your family, your life, and your job and know that I am working every day to restore the America we know and love and to defeat President Obama and every one of his destructive left-wing policies and appointees.

As a Subcommittee Chairman on the Appropriations Committee, I am in a senior leadership position that will become even more important next year with a Republican Senate and a Republican President.  I will be one of the principal leaders in the House driving us aggressively toward a balanced budget, lower taxes, less regulation, more drilling for American oil and gas, secure borders, tort reform, and above all, the restoration of the 10th Amendment, the American Republic, and true individual liberty.

 Your trust is my greatest asset.  I will always keep my word to represent you as a true fiscal conservative.

Please look at my entire "report card" which is on my web site here.  I designed the "bar chart report card" so you could see, left to right, liberal to conservative, how national organizations rate my most recent votes or an average of my voting record since I first began voting in January 2001.  Since we face the most extreme left-wing President in American history, and a left-wing liberal Senate, we conservatives in the House can only push things so far until we get reinforcements in January 2013 with a more c onservative Senate and a Republican White House.  In the meantime, we cannot get everything we want, and final passage of Appropriations bills are going to contain some provisions we don't want, and national conservative organizations are going to occasionally score passage of those final spending bills negatively.  I will sometimes get penalized in ratings for amendments I would not expect them to score, like an amendment to eliminate virtually all Department of Energy scientific research, which I opposed because I support peer-reviewed scientific research.

The other vote that conservative groups counted against me was for increasing the debt ceiling a few months ago. 

 However, my opponent also falsified my record on the debt ceiling.  The truth is that since 2002, I have voted against raising the debt ceiling six times and for it six times.  When I can see a tangible result such as genuine cuts or spending caps, and America also faced default on our debt and a catastrophic collapse of our credit rating and skyrocketing interest rates, I voted for the debt ceiling. (I also co-authored the recent Cut, Cap and Balance legislation). If there was no tangible benefit, and America faced no real threat of default, I voted against raising the debt ceiling. Every vote is very different, with many different variables. 

 Unfortunately, this most recent debt ceiling vote was unavoidable.  House conservatives had no choice because America faced imminent default.  Plus we are still badly outnumbered. Until we get a Republican Senate and Republican White House and can actually reverse the looming bankruptcies of Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid.  These three programs, plus interest on the national debt, and veterans’ benefits, consume about 104% of our national income.  Every dollar we spend on the military, law enforcement, border security, and every other function of the federal government, is borrowed.  All of it.

 I have no problem shutting down the bureaucracy of the federal government if we can achieve the specific goal of cutting spending dramatically, but if the debt ceiling is not raised, the entire federal system collapses, along with America's credit rating. Imagine every source of food, water, fuel, and money to run your life stopped, and your credit was destroyed in the process for a long, long time.  There was no choice but to raise the debt ceiling temporarily until we get reinforcements in January and can actually turn around massive social safety net programs that are bankrupting America.

 If an occasional vote does not match up with the template of a conservative organization, you can be sure I had a very good reason to vote the way I did. You can see from the bar chart report card that my overall conservative record is very strong, one of the best in the U.S. House, and that I have a 100% rating and endorsements from the National Rifle Association and Texas Right to Life.  I have won numerous conservative, free market, small government awards, and I am a founding member of the House Tea Party Caucus. 

 On very vote, on every issue, you can always count on me to represent you consistently as a Constitutional conservative and a free-market Jeffersonian Republican who is totally committed to the restoration of the 10th Amendment and true individual liberty.

 Thank you for the privilege of representing you in the United States Congress.

Sincerely,

John Culberson

Retraction from Bill Tofte:

Retraction and Apology

One thing I have learned in following this election closely is, when a person decides to run for office, they make a huge sacrifice on our behalf. They spend a great deal of time away from their families and businesses. They spend a great deal of their personal finances and they put their personal reputations on the line. I have profound respect for these patriots who seek to serve us in government.  It is sad when mistakes are made that affect someones record and character because they are not accurate. I appreciate Bill Tofte for making the effort to correct his mistake.