BUSH
WON'T BE ON RHODE ISLAND
BALLOT IN NOVEMBER
* * *
Despite
The Rhetoric, 2006 Turns Out
Not To Be Presidential Election Year
* * *
WHITEHOUSE,
FOGARTY FLEE
RESPONSIBILITY FOR
MESS THEY HELPED CREATE
WARWICK, OCT 19 - The Rhode Island Republican Party announced today that President George W. Bush's name would not appear on the ballot in Rhode Island's Nov. 7 general election.
The Party said the President is bypassing the election here for the simple reason it is not a presidential election year.
Patricia Morgan, GOP state chairman, said it was understandable that voters are confused about this given the campaign rhetoric from Sheldon Whitehouse and Charlie Fogarty.
"Listen to the radio or watch TV and you'd think we were locked in a presidential race. But you can't really blame either Whitehouse or Fogarty for preferring to run against something other than their own records.
"If I were them, I wouldn't want to run on my record either," she said.
Morgan said it was a conscious strategy for Democrats in Rhode Island prefer to run against 'anything or anyone' outside of the state.
"It's been the Democrats, Whitehouse and Fogarty among them, who have effectively controlled Rhode Island since the mid-1950's, and most voters know that under their watch they've turned the place into an economic basket case," she said.
"RI taxpayers bear one of the highest total burdens in the country. Rhode Island's welfare benefits are twice the level of the national average, and we spend twice as much here for fire protection than anywhere else in the country. Teacher and public employee union entitlements are going through the roof. And student performance lags the region and much of the country.
"Rather than deal head-on with these matters, Democrats spend their time finding new ways to gag the public, failing to enact public initiative and most recently, stripping the Governor of his right to ask the public's view through non-binding referenda.
"There is real work to be done in Rhode Island, but no Democrat candidate seems willing to lay the responsibility for Rhode Island's mess for which their fellow Democrats are most responsible. It's easier to run against someone such as George Bush, and pretend Rhode Island's problems don't exist.
"We'd
all be better off if Sheldon and Charlie developed some honest
perspective, and focused their attention on solving the problems they
helped create rather than trying to morph themselves into something
they clearly are not," Morgan said.
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RI
GOP link: http://www.rigop.org