Round Table Freshman Caucus with Congressman Jason Chaffetz

Dear Constituents, we recently received this information and wanted to share it with you. All are welcome. HI02 Secretary

Round Table Freshman Caucus

with Congressman Jason Chaffetz

Question: If you had the opportunity to meet extensively with some newly-elected Freshman Congressmen before they headed off to Washington, is there anything you would want to tell them?

Answer: I'll bet you would! On Saturday December 18th, iCaucus is hosting a “Round Table Freshman Caucus” for several of the 2010 freshman-elect Congressmen and Senators to meet with Congressman Jason Chaffetz, as well as several guest experts; and with grassroots activists and citizens such as yourself.

We are especially pleased that one of our SPECIAL guest experts will be Anita Moncrief, the ACORN whistle blower who courageously exposed ACORN's massive voter fraud while working at ACORN.

Please Reserve your spot as early as possible: This is only one day and an opportunity you do not want to miss. Your early RSVP allows us to adequately prepare the logistical details for this Round Table!

Where: Challenger School in Lehi (behind Cabela's) 3920 N Traverse Mountain Boulevard Lehi UT 84043

When: Saturday, December 18th, 2010 Begins at 9:00am and runs through 4:30pm, with a Town Hall lunch.

The iCaucus Freshmen Round Table will consist of 3 elements, as outlined below:

1st element: KEYNOTE CAUCUS SESSION:

Congressman Jason Chaffetz (UT-3) will be our keynote "guest speaker". Congressmen Chaffetz is excited to meet and connect with grassroots activists and the Freshman Congressmen to take a unified message to Washington DC … instead of the other way around. I put "guest speaker" in quotes because Congressmen Chaffetz won't be giving us a speech, instead the format of Chaffetz’ time with you will be a combination of a townhall format with a "let’s roll up our sleeves and talk around the table" type of meeting.

2nd element: ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION SERIES:

In addition to meeting with Congressman Chaffetz, you will also attend a series of Round Table discussions with expert resources that have agreed to come and meet with you and the freshmen Congressmen.

Session 1 – Solutions for Effectively Reaching Minority Voters: Presented by Anita Moncrief, American Majority, ACORN Whistle blower, Washington DC

http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-washington-dc/anita-moncrief

Session 2 – Solutions for our Federal Deficit and Debt Reduction:

The Media and the status quo in Washington have framed our budget problems as a series of false choices: Either we must raise taxes, (they say), or enact draconian budget cuts, or default on our obligations, or raise the debt ceiling. The founders of The Independence Caucus categorically reject these 4 false options, and this session will present a real choice: A comprehensive and sequential strategy for eliminating deficits and debt by reversing and eliminating the systemic problems that were built into the Federal Budgeting Process in 1974.

Session 3 – Solutions for Reigning In the Unauthorized Expansion of the Federal Government:

Presented by the founders of the Patrick Henry Caucus. http://www.thepatrickhenrycaucus.org/

Session 4 – Solutions to Intrusive Government Interference in Education:

Presented by Bruno Behrend, Director of the Center for School Reform, The Heartland Institute, Chicago, ILhttp://www.heartland.org/about/profileresults.html?profile=9B1D98727001E6461A5F2A122FC9B19D&directory=0490F571009CFDBBCAA4E62B8A3EBAE2

Session 5 – Solutions for the Unintended Effects of Government Regulations on Foreign Policy:

Presented by Frank Anderson Sr., President and CEO of the Middle East Policy Council, Retired CIA Bureau Chief, Washington, D.C. http://www.mepc.org/media-resources

Session 6 - Recognizing a True Education When You See It:

Presented by Hugh Gorgeon, Regional Director of Challenger Schools, Salt Lake City, Utahhttp://www.challengerschool.com/

3rd element: “TOWN HALL” LUNCH:

The freshman Congressmen will be the guests of honor at a Town Hall Lunch where you will mingle and dine with the Freshman themselves, plus the expert speakers, and your fellow grassroots activists. This lunch will also feature a special presentation to iCaucus endorsed representatives.

Why December 18th?

While Dec. 18th is pretty close to Christmas, it's the earliest date that Chaffetz could commit to meet with the freshman, and the last opportunity for grassroots activists to meet with the freshmen-elect before they get bombarded by special interest groups in Washington.

Cost of the event:

Because this is so close to Christmas, we have worked hard to keep the cost absolutely as low as possible:

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Option 1, Full day plus lunch: $25.00

Includes attendance pass to the Chaffetz Keynote Caucus, plus all six Round Table sessions, plus the Townhall Lunch with the Congressmen...in short, everything is included.

To reserve your spot and purchase Option 1, click the link below: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=66ZFM6AF9XRSY

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Option 2, Full day but skip the lunch: $15.00

Includes attendance pass to the Chaffetz Keynote Caucus, plus all six Round Table sessions, but no lunch To reserve your spot and purchase Option 2, click the link below: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=EY2EJR8T2DEKU

Thank you! Frank Anderson - frank@icaucus.orgCo-founder,

Independence Caucus

Join Independence Caucus and make a difference.

(385) 204-1796 ~ www.icaucus.org

Tell the Whole Truth....

We can all tell it is late in the political season as the very 'negative' ads are flooding the airways. However, negative and untruthful are not synonymous.

I just saw the most recent advertisement by our incumbent Representative. He infers that his opponent did several things that are questionable. Namely, resigning halfway through his term, not voting for over 200 votes, not paying taxes, moving out of state etc.

When I attended the cottage meeting this past weekend, Mr. Philpot reported that this ad was coming and gave the following information:

1. He made a 'life decision' to attend Law school, which prompted him to resign once he got accepted to the school.

2. He attended Law school in Michigan...thus the move and lack of votes after he resigned.

3. Because of his move, he received a tax notice late once it arrived in Michigan. He stated that the late penalty was in the $60.00 range, and he paid it.

Mr. Matheson is inferring that Mr. Philpot is unreliable, a tax evader, and that he 'left the state'. In my view, a half truth is a full untruth. Please take the opportunity to investigate not only these accusations in this race, but any other accusations you find sensational at this point in the season with any race. Find out for yourself what the truth is.....please don't rely on talking points that seem far afield.

If things were as bad as some candidates pose at this point, why wouldn't these points have been raised earlier in the campaign? In my view, stating them any earlier would have allowed you as the citizen to learn the actual truth. By doing it now, perhaps the candidates are counting on you to not have or take the time to learn what the facts truly are.

So the question really is, who is more reliable, and who is more transparent and accessible to the constituency. Again, find out for yourself....be informed.

Morgan Philpot Cottage Meeting on 10/23/10

Yesterday, the New York Times followed certain grassroot political organizations here in Utah. One of the candidates they followed was Morgan Philpot. I attended a cottage meeting in Alpine to hear from Mr. Philpot last night. Although the media did not attend, if Mr. Philpot did as well as he did last night for them, they certainly should have a positive view of the citizen's of Utah.

Here are a few talking points that I appreciated:

1. Negative campaigning: Morgan stated that they looked over the last few campaigns that have been waged against our current incumbent. He said that they all turned negative, and that became the advantage for Mr. Matheson. He and his campaign made a decision early on to not use negative campaigning, and have not done so. He states that he would rather use his opponents factual voting record instead, and has done so.

2. Suggestions from the 'crowd': Several attendees suggested that he call Mr. Matheson the "Democratic Candidate, Jim Matheson" because Matheson's advertisement does not identify him in this manner. Morgan stated that he did do this for a time, but then Mr Matheson came out with ads stated that Mr. Philpot was being "political". That got a laugh from everyone.

Another suggestion was to highlight Matheson's voting record on the stimulus and other spending bills he supported.

Still others asked why he didn't point out, what they felt, were the specific untruths Mr. Matheson was using against Mr. Philpot. Mr. Philpot again stated that he is using facts and that people don't be seem to be buying the innuendo from the opponents camp.

3. Advertising: The question was asked as to why the Philpot campaign isn't advertising on TV. Morgan reported that one weeks worth of TV advertising would cost over $170,000.00. When asked how the Matheson campaign is able to afford this, Morgan reported that over 80% of their funding is coming from sources and special interests outside of Utah. The Philpot campaign is being run on a 'shoestring', but seems to be effective. Even Rocky Anderson reportedly called up Morgan to give support. That is one for the books!

4. Volunteers: Many people asked how they could get specifics on his platform to be more knowledgeable when sharing with others. He gave this link to get this information.

He also spoke about many people who have taken on campaigning without being asked. He spoke of a gentleman in Wasatch County who has organized and lead a campaign there. For the first time in years, Wasatch County is leaning toward someone other than Mr. Matheson. He also mentioned that people were doing many things on their own to campaign and fund raise. He was very specific when he mentioned that a Garage Sale had been held to raise funds. I quickly spoke up stating that this was out precinct and the whole room erupted in applause.

If you want more information about Morgan Philpot's campaign, please go to http://www.philpotforcongress.net/icampaign/index.php.

Philpot - Matheson Debate on Video

This past week, a debate was held in St. George between Morgan Philpot (R Candidate) and Jim Matheson (D Candidate). Please use the link below to view it. It helps differentiate where each candidate stands on various issues. It is a "must-see" view. Please inform you neighbors about it and please plan to vote on or before November 2nd. This is one of the most important elections of our time.

The link below shows the debate held in St. George, Utah between Philpot
and Matheson. The debate introductions don't start until around 15 minutes so
feel feel to skip forward at least that far.

http://vstream.dixie.edu/DSC/Viewer/?peid=cac4131afa2d4fd397fc9e08b7d0b12d

86% of all Congress are up for re-election

See this new ad from Morgan Philpot who is opposing Jim Matheson. If you agree with it, please donate to his campaign @

http://www.philpotforcongress.com/.

US Representative results.......

US Representative results:

Morgan Philpot 60.13% (To become the nominee, the candidate needs to receive 60% or more of the delegate votes).

Democratic Rep Mattheson is in a primary for the Democratic Party!

Results of the 3rd Ballot for US Senate Race

Results for the 3rd Ballot of the US Senate Race are:

Tim Bridgewater 57.28%
Mike Lee 42.72%

Primary will be held June 22, 2010.


Senator Bob Bennett has been eliminated

Govenor Race and US Representative Race...

Governor's Race:
Governor Herbert 70.8%

US Representative Race:
Niel Walter. 42.08%
Morgan Philpot 56.37%

My thoughts currently

My thoughts on the candidates:


US Senate

I have had the opportunity to meet personally with most of the candidates and will most likely be voting for Mike Lee. I respect Mr. Bridgewater but feel that Mr. Lee comes across as well prepared to take on the status-quo. I was never put off by his response to any questions that I put to him, and found his desire to create a shift back to states rights and responsibilities refreshing. Federal spending, immigration and limited federal powers were my main focus in our discussions. I was only sure that I would not vote for Bennett when I pushed him on earmark spending and got the same answer as his mailer that "it is money that is going to be spent any way." No urgency to moving power back to the states where we can have more input.

US House

I am a strong supporter of Morgan Philpot. I researched his Utah legislative background and feel that he has the momentum and backing to give Matheson a serious challenge. Good to hear more stress on serving the citizens of Utah over bowing to national party politics.

Governor

I will be supporting Gov. Herbert, since I have not felt that the other candidates have mounted a very effective campaign

State Senate

I am still undecided and will be attempting on last contact with Mr. Nielson.

I have enjoyed and have tried to take this responsibility seriously, as the consequences of this electoral cycle is critical. Let me know if you have any questions or opinions

Terry Melendez
State Delegate

US House Candidates

Neil Walter

On Thursday April 1 I attended a Neil Walter event at the AF Library. After listening to him for about 40 minutes and asking a couple of questions I came to the conclusion that on most issues he and Morgan Philpot are on the same page. Neil is a supporter of the Constitution and thinks that the federal government has overstepped its bounds. He is passionate and articulate. According to Neil the primary differentiator between himself and Morgan is background. Neil has a finance background and was employed as a risk manager at ConocoPhillips on the natural gas and power trading floor for a couple of years. He returned home to help run the family business (real estate) and now teaches at Dixie College as well.

His view is that financial issues are at the heart of the nations problem and he is going back to Washington to help fix them. This point of view generally scares me. Whenever I here someone say that they are going to Washington to help fix things my first thought is oh no, not another federal program. However, when I listened to him talk, the way he feels that things need to be fixed in DC is to reduce federal regulation and control.

Neil mentioned that he has no political experience whatsoever but he feels that his business background gives him insights that will help him be effective in Washington. His view is that he can beat Matheson in a general election because his oil and gas experience plus being raised in Southern Utah can shift enough votes from Matheson from the southern and southeastern counties to win.

Morgan Philpot

I met Morgan list summer and am much more familiar with him on a personal level so I have a bit more information that I can share about him. He was elected to serve in the Utah House of Representative in 2000 at a fairly young age. He got involved in political after doing a White House internship in 1997. He was an anthropology / environmental policy major at the U of U (not something you would think would lead to conservative thinking).

After returning from the White House Morgan was very much disillusioned with the manner in which the federal government operated. He had seen first hand the contempt that bureaucrats and many elected official had for the constitution and the electorate. He knew the magnitude of the problem and upon his return decided to get involved. He called his precinct chair to find out the location of the upcoming caucus meetings and then found that the meeting would be held in his home. He and his wife were elected chair and vice chair respectively on a unanimous vote (his and his wife's -- they were the only attendees).

Later he was asked to run to fill an open seat in his state house district. He won using a grassroots campaign strategy and campaigned on conservative principles. After joining the house he helped form the conservative caucus to help promote sound legislation. One of his major achievements was drafting and passing the Carson Smith scholarship for special needs kids. He did this after one of his constituents called him to share a challenge she had in trying to get a good education for her special needs son. This is a successful voucher program.

He ran for a second term again as a conservative and won in spite of the fact the people told him he couldn't win as a conservative. Then he left Utah to get a law degree from Ave Marie Law School where he was taught by conservative faculty like Judge Robert Bork. He has since clerked for Attorney General Shurtleff and worked as in-house counsel for a local company.

Morgan's view is that the core problem we are facing today in Washington is that we have strayed from the Constitution. Only by returning to the limited government laid out by our founders can we address the problems we face today. I tend to agree that key issue of our time is a federal government whose power has vastly exceeded the bounds set in the Constitution. The financial crisis we are in is a symptom of this disease rather than the core problem.

Morgan has a proven conservative record and has demonstrated an ability to bring people together and pass conservative legislation. While in office he stayed true to his conservative principles and ran for a 2nd term as a staunch conservative when perhaps it would have been easier to back off a bit and run as a moderate. He has also served the Republican party in both at the local and state levels. To me he has the necessary experience to hit the ground running and tackle the tough issues that face us today.

Net/Net

Both candidates express conservative views and support the concept of a limited federal government bound by the constraints of the constitution. Neil would go to Washington and focus on economic issues while Morgan's approach would be one that would seek to restore constitutional limits to the federal government. Neil has an MBA and business background while Morgan has a law degree and a very good understanding of the Constitution. Additionally, Morgan has served in the Utah House of Representative and been involved in Utah Republican politics.

I think you can tell where my support lies. Let me know your views.