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The Norman Transcript Endorses Tom Cole

Wed, 16 May 2012 17:29:00 GMT

From The Norman Transcript...

Our choice: Cole, Tinsley in Republican vote Tuesday

NORMAN — Oklahoma voters on Tuesday are faced with narrowing the field of candidates who will be on their November ballots. There are two local races that will be decided Tuesday since no Democrats filed for them.

In the U.S. House Fourth District, we favor incumbent Congressman Tom Cole. The Moore Republican has represented central and southern Oklahoma since 2002 and has been part of the Oklahoma political landscape for more than 30 years.

A Chickasaw, he is currently the only Native American serving in Congress. He is a fifth-generation Oklahoman and has worked hard to protect the various military interests in the Fourth District and throughout Oklahoma. Rep. Cole is a national player in his party, something that will be increasingly important if Republicans regain a legislative majority.

In the county assessor’s race, we give the edge to David Tinsley. We believe his longtime commitment to the appraisal profession and his continuing education accomplishments make him most qualified to serve. Commissioners appointed him to the post in 2009. He understands the ad valorem tax law and the various court rulings that have been handed down.

Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. In-person absentee voting continues Monday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the election board, 644 E. Robinson.

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Oklahoma U.S. Rep. Tom Cole to seek fifth term in Congress

Wed, 16 May 2012 17:30:00 GMT

From The Oklahoman...

U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, says he wants to continue to fight for smaller and less intrusive government.

U.S. Rep. Tom Cole said Tuesday he is seeking a fifth term to fight against the spiraling national debt and out-of-control spending in Washington, which he called one of the pre-eminent problems facing the country.

"This administration has frankly taken it to a new level,” said Cole, R-Moore, during a news conference held at the state Capitol. "More importantly, they've moved us into a big debate about where the country is going to go in the next half century or so.”

Cole predicted Republicans will do well nationally as a result of President Barack Obama's policies, especially his measure setting up a national health care system.

The health care bill will dramatically expand the federal government, Cole said. Democrats "used every trick in the book” to get it through.

"We're headed toward fiscal disaster unless we have dramatic changes in Congress,” he said.

"I think people are extraordinarily upset, and I think you're going to see that in 2010.”

Cole said it's possible the Republican Party's gains this fall could top the 54 Democratic seats the GOP won in 1994.

"I don't know if we'll gain that many, but it's going to be a very good year,” he said.

"This is an administration that believes that government is too small, that taxes are too low and that government needs to play a bigger role in the lives of individual Americans,” the 61-year-old said. "I think this administration wants to evolve us into a social democracy, kind of what we see in Europe. That's not what America is all about — it's about individual opportunity, personal freedom, achievement and responsibility.”

Cole was elected to the 4th Congressional District in 2002 to succeed J.C. Watts, who did not seek re-election.

Cole's only announced opponent so far is Republican R.J. Harris, an Army National Guard member who has served in Iraq and who said he may be deployed to Afghanistan this summer.

Harris reported he had $328 in campaign cash at the end of March. Cole's report showed he had $627,219.

The filing period for congressional offices is next week.

Cole said he is still passionate about serving in Congress.

"The biggest single issue in front of the country is restoring fiscal balance,” he said. "The spending has just been out of control.”

Cole last year considered running for governor, but said he decided he could help out the state more in Washington.

"I still think the big problems the country faces are in Washington, D.C., not in Oklahoma City,” he said. "I think Oklahoma's been pretty well run and members of both parties can take some pride in that. They've been pretty responsible.”

Cole last year was named to the powerful House Appropriations Committee; that also played a factor in his decision.

"That puts me in a position to work against frivolous spending, but also in a position to protect some things that are important to Oklahoma — military funding being one of them,” he said. "Everybody's got some interest in the appropriations process, and I want to make sure ours are looked after.”

Read more here

Tom Cole announces fifth bid for 4th District seat

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:54:00 GMT

The Associated Press

BY SEAN MURPHY
Tuesday, June 1, 2010

U.S. Rep. Tom Cole says he'll seek a fifth term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Moore Republican formally announced on Tuesday his plan to seek re-election to the Fourth Congressional District, which stretches from south Oklahoma City to the Texas state line and includes Norman, Ada, Ardmore and Lawton.

Cole is a former state senator and secretary of state who headed a political consulting and polling firm before he was elected in 2002 to replace J.C. Watts.

After his election, Cole served as chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Cole will face at least one challenger in the GOP primary — Army National Guard member R.J. Harris, a self-described "constitutional conservative."

Cole Leads Charge Against Government Expansion

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:57:00 GMT

The McCarville Report Online

BY MIKE MCCARVILLE
Published May 9, 2010

Republicans are so determined to stop what they say is abusive and unlawful expansion of the federal government under President Obama that they are willing to abdicate power to the states to do it and Congressman Tom Cole says enough is enough.

Taking its cue from the Bill of Rights, the Republican Study Committee, of which Cole is a member, a group of conservative House Republicans, says that the 10th Amendment dictates that initiatives such as the health care reform law and other massive government programs are the business of state governments, not Washington.

So the RSC this week announced that it had formed a 10th Amendment task force to help "usher in a new era of federalism" and to work to disperse power from Washington back to regions, states and local governments.

Said Cole: "The 10th Amendment places strict limits on federal power, but those limits are enforced so rarely that federal actions routinely supersede states' rights in practice although not under law. Congress is just part of the problem. After a law is passed, the vast federal bureaucracy sets about enforcing the law through a rule-making process. Controlled by presidential appointees, these federal government bureaucrats issue the regulations that put the law into action.

"I recently introduced the 10th Amendment Regulatory Reform Act to ensure that states' constitutional rights are protected during this process. This bill would provide special standing for state government officials -- such as governors, lieutenant governors, and majority or minority leaders in state legislatures -- to challenge regulations issued in conjunction with the implementation of federal laws. Under the legislation, any rule proposed by a federal agency would be subject to constitutional challenges if state officials determine the rule infringes on powers reserved to the states under the 10th Amendment. After a challenge is filed, the agency would have 15 days to withdraw the rule or issue a written declaration certifying the rule's constitutionality. This bill, H.R. 4946, ensures that states can challenge unconstitutional mandates before they take effect so that more authority will reside at the state level where it belongs.

"The 10th Amendment Regulatory Reform Act is just one way to rein in government growth. Congressional conservatives have offered numerous pieces of legislation to cut spending and reform wasteful government programs; however, the liberals in control of Congress have so far refused to allow these fiscally responsible policies to be brought to a vote."

Read more: http://wwwtmrcom.blogspot.com/2010/05/cole-leads-charge-against-government.html

Cole introduces bill on states’ rights

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:17:00 GMT

The Norman Transcript
March 28, 2010

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Tom Cole, R-Moore, has introduced the 10th Amendment Regulatory Reform Act, which would provide special standing for state government officials to challenge regulations issued in conjunction with the implementation of federal laws. Under the legislation, any rule proposed by a federal agency would be subject to constitutional challenges if state officials determine the rule infringes on powers reserved to the states under the 10th Amendment.

The 10th Amendment states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

“The reach of the federal government into citizens’ daily lives has become far more expansive than the Founding Fathers ever intended,” Cole said. “The Constitution places strict limits on federal power, but those limits are enforced so rarely that federal actions routinely usurp states’ rights in practice although not under law. This bill ensures that states can challenge unconstitutional mandates before they take effect so that more authority will reside at the state level where it belongs.”

Under the process created by H.R. 4946, federal agencies would be required to post publicly and rule on challenges filed by designated state officials. After a challenge is filed, the agency would have 15 days to withdraw the rule or issue a written declaration certifying the rule’s constitutionality under the 10th Amendment. State officials empowered to issue challenges under the bill include governors, lieutenant governors, and majority or minority leaders in state legislatures.

The bill, co-sponsored by Tom Rooney (R-Fla.), will now be referred for committee consideration.

Oklahoma’s U.S. House members explain ‘no’ votes

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:43:00 GMT

OklahomanThe Oklahoman

BY CHRIS CASTEEL
Published: March 22, 2010

WASHINGTON — All five of Oklahoma’s U.S. House members voted against the health care bill.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore: "This deeply flawed legislation raises taxes, expands government control and kills job creation, but it fails to cut health care costs or meaningfully reform the insurance system. ... This $1.2 trillion monstrosity increases taxes by $569 billion and cuts Medicare by $523 billion.”

Rep. Mary Fallin, R-Oklahoma City: "I am not done fighting to protect Oklahoma’s families and small businesses from this damaging policy change that will result in higher taxes, higher health care premiums, federal mandates on individuals, explosive deficit spending and crushing unfunded mandates on state budgets. I specifically question whether the congressional action taken today will pass constitutional muster.”

Rep. John Sullivan, R-Tulsa: "This is a sad day in the history of the United States Congress. The American people were clear that they did not want this government takeover of our healthcare system, yet Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi and her liberal allies in Congress didn’t seem to care. They twisted arms and cut backroom deals until they had the votes to pass it anyways.”

Rep. Dan Boren, D-Muskogee: "From my first town hall in August of 2009, which drew audiences exceeding 1,000, to the constant phone calls, letters, faxes, and e-mails to my Washington and Oklahoma offices, the desire for me to oppose this health care proposal has been very clear. For the last 18 months I have said repeatedly that the focus of Congress should be on job creation and getting our economy moving again, not on creating a brand new entitlement program that we simply cannot afford. ”

Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Cheyenne: "This bill is extremely unpopular with the American people, who have strongly voiced their opposition to this legislation over the last year. I am dismayed by the audacity of the Democratic leadership and their attempt to bypass the American people and subvert the will of the majority. Change is needed within our health care system. We can all agree on that. But this bill is simply not the answer. In an effort to pass a health care bill — any bill — this Congress has lost its way.”

News 9 Covers Congressman Tom Cole's December Chickasha Town Hall Meeting

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 18:43:00 GMT

Congressman Tom Cole Talks with Fox Business about the Democrat Government Healthcare Takeover

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 18:40:00 GMT

Incentives will ignite gas sales

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:34:00 GMT

By T. Boone Pickens and Tom Cole, The Lawton Constitution
Oklahoma has been at the center of energy production since the first commercial oil well was drilled at Bartlesville in 1897 – ten years before the Oklahoma Territory became the 46th state.

   For most of that history, it was oil which was the fuel of Oklahoma’s economic engine. But, more recently Oklahoma and the rest of the nation are looking toward natural gas to take its rightful place in the 21st century economy.

   Although one of us has a degree from the University of Oklahoma, and the other a degree from Oklahoma State University, we are united on this: Natural gas is America’s energy future and critical to our national security.

   Not so long ago, reserves of natural gas were limited and shrinking fast. There was competition among industries which needed natural gas – chemicals, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, home heating and cooking and electricity production – to make sure they had a sufficient supply in a crowded market.

   Over the past decade new drilling techniques have made the natural gas contained in the shale deposits under the continental United States available for recovery. There is so much natural gas – perhaps as much as 2,000 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) – that some studies now predict we have enough natural gas reserves to last 118 years.

   Here in Oklahoma the Woodford Shale has already been tapped using these new techniques.

   This is crucial because the amount of oil which is available for drilling on-shore is diminishing. Because our principal transportation fuel is refined from oil and because we don’t have enough oil being produced domestically to support 250 million cars, light trucks, and 6.5 million heavy-duty trucks, we have to import nearly two-thirds of the oil we use every day.

   In September this amounted to 357 million barrels of oil which cost us $25 billion. At that rate we will spend a third of a trillion dollars this year to import the oil we need to drive our cars and trucks.

   Hydrogen fuel-cell technology is a great option, but it isn’t ready yet. In any event, a battery will not power an 18-wheeler today. Only two forms of fuel now available will do that: diesel and natural gas.

   Natural gas is cleaner than foreign diesel – it is also cleaner than gasoline. And it produces virtually no particulate matter, unlike diesel which anyone who has ever waited for a child for the school bus on a cold Oklahoma morning understands.

   Natural gas is cheaper than imported oil and because we have an abundant supply in the continental U.S. we don’t have to worry about being held hostage for oil by our major suppliers, many of whom are from unstable areas of the world, don’t have our best interests at heart, or both.

   Russia supplies a significant amount of the natural gas Europe needs to heat its homes in the winter. This past January Russia, in a dispute with Ukraine, cut off natural gas supplies to much of Europe to bring pressure on Ukraine.

   We do not have to be in the position of worrying about whether Saudi Arabia, or Angola, or Venezuela will decide to try and influence our foreign policy by shutting off some or all of their oil sales to us.

   There is a bill currently in Congress – the NAT GAS Act of 2009 – which will help jump start the natural gas vehicle (NGV) industry in the United States. Around the world there are about 10 million NGVs, but only about 130,000 in the U.S.

   H.R. 1835 will provide tax incentives to replace vehicles burning imported gasoline or diesel with cars and trucks running on domestic natural gas. Any vehicle which goes home to the “barn” every night is a candidate – utility and express delivery trucks, school and municipal buses, and taxi fleets are examples.

   H.R. 1835 has 110 bi-partisan co-sponsors in the House. Because of the importance of energy to Oklahoma’s well being, we are encouraging the Congress to pass and send to the President H.R. 1835, the NAT GAS Act of 2009.

Geologist and Holdenville native T. Boone Pickens has been in the energy business since he left OSU, while O.U. grad Tom Cole of Moore represents southwest Oklahoma in the U.S. Congress.

Tom Cole: house health care bill doesn’t have my vote

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:35:00 GMT

By Justin Lofton, Staff Writer, Ada Evening News
United States representative Tom Cole from Oklahoma’s 4th District said the current version of the House of Representatives healthcare bill doesn’t have his vote.

“It’s 10 pages short of 2,000 pages long and there’s a second companion bill, which is mercifully short — only 13 pages,” Cole said. He said the companion bill is separated from the primary bill to hide the cost of the bill.

Cole said he’s fairly certain a manager’s amendment will be put out next week for the bill.“When they did this on cap-and-trade, the manager’s amendment was 300 pages long,” Cole said. “That bill will probably include whatever last minute deals they’re making with individual members to try and round up the votes for this thing. I can guarantee that it’ll be expensive, it’ll be complex and they’ll try to run it through fast.”

Cole said Republican members of the House of Representatives were not given access to the bill until Thursday, Oct. 29 and he said the bill does include a public option.

“Instead of doing a mandated medicare sort of feature, the government would negotiate the price, if you will, with individual healthcare providers. The government is in an awfully strong position in that negotiation process, to basically impose things,” Cole said.
Cole said the bill will cost more than one trillion dollars.

“They claim the price tag is under $900,000,000 over a 10-year period. If you add the Doc-Fix to it, though, it’s at least 1.1 to 1.2 trillion dollars,” Cole said. “It’s paid for, broadly, by cutting medicare for seniors — especially medicare advantage programs — and applying that money toward this, and by raising a whole raft of taxes.”
Cole said the bill will eliminate an individual’s ability to purchase health coverage.

“There’s one (stipulation) that says you’re not eligible for any of the reimbursement that’s under the program if your state limits liability — if you have tort reform, in other words,” Cole said.
“Finally, we’re going to increase the eligibility for medicare and the states are just going to have to pick that up.”
Cole said the house version of the bill does not include a state “opt-out” option that had been previously discussed.
“We call it the Pelosi healthcare bill,” Cole said. “She certainly didn’t listen to anybody in August. There are no changes in this bill that are the sort of things I heard in my town hall meetings in August. There’s no tort reform in this bill — which wouldn’t have cost anything — there’s no ability for small companies to combine together and purchase insurance across state lines, there’s no national market in insurance, there’s no tax deduction for individuals who want to buy their own coverage so they can use pre-tax dollars. We just ignored all that and all we did was make this more bureaucratic.”

Cole said he doesn’t think Pelosi has the votes required to pass the bill in the House at this point but the bill could end up in the House as early as Nov. 5. He said 85 percent of US citizens are currently estimated to have coverage and this bill claims to raise that to 96 percent.

“It is very onerous. If you’re a small-business owner, just get ready because you’re going to get hit for sure,” Cole said. “If you don’t have healthcare provisions, we’re going to tax you quite heavily and effectively force you to enroll your employees in it whether you want to do that or not and whether they want to do that or not.”

Cole said there would be a link to the text of the bill at www.cole.house.gov.

NY23 Hits Its Tipping Point

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:35:00 GMT

By Bill Pascoe for CQPolitics "In the Right"
"New York 23" ... Them's fightin' words.

These days, whether you're a conservative activist, or a Republican Party official, saying "New York 23" out loud leads to a shortening of breath, a quickening of the pulse, and a tightening of the muscles. Heads whip around to see who said it, and in what context -- friend, or foe?

With less than a week to go before the special election in New York's 23rd Congressional District, tempers are flaring on the campaign trail -- and fingers are being pointed in, and at, a big white building at 310 First Street SE.

The official GOP nominee -- Dede Scozzafava, a very liberal New York Assemblywoman -- now trails her Democratic opponent, Bill Owens, and the Conservative Party nominee, Doug Hoffman, according to a survey released Monday by the Club for Growth.

The survey shows Hoffman surging into the lead with 31 percent, to 27 percent for Owens, with a fading Scozzafava drawing just 20 percent of the vote, and 22 percent of the voters still undecided.

Judging by their spending decisions, it appears the party apparatchiks who run the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee believe the CFG survey -- they've taken down their advertising against Scozzafava, and are concentrating their fire in the final week on Hoffman.

Meanwhile, the apparatchiks at the National Republican Congressional Committee continue to view Hoffman and his candidacy as some sort of flu-like disease -- rather than examine the data, and come to the conclusion that he is the only Republican who can win, they choose instead to fight him off as if he were an invading infection or virus.

For more than two months, Hoffman's momentum has been building, as conservatives of all shapes and sizes and pedigrees -- Old Right barons (Mike Long, chairman of New York's Conservative Party; David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union; Ron Pearson, of the Conservative Victory Fund; Citizens for the Republic), new media conservatives (Erick Erickson of RedState; Michelle Malkin; Patrick Ruffini), social conservatives (Concerned Women for America; the Susan B. Anthony List; Eagle Forum; National Organization for Marriage) and fiscal conservatives (Club for Growth; Steve Forbes; Dick Armey), and political leaders like Rick Santorum, Fred Thompson, Sarah Palin, and Tim Pawlenty -- have come together behind his candidacy.

Those few GOP leaders who have dared speak out publicly in support of GOP nominee Scozzafava -- like Newt Gingrich -- have been roundly criticized by conservatives. (For Gingrich, in fact, the criticism has been especially brutal. Whatever plans he may have had about running for President in 2012 have taken a major shellacking since he dared stand up to the conservatives on this one.)

As the weeks have worn on, and the race has intensified, the campaign has become a proxy war for control of the center-right political apparatus in this country.

Yesterday, New York 23 hit the tipping point -- with a front page story in the national edition of The New York Times, and a shocking endorsement for Hoffman from a respected and pragmatic political professional, the race has now become, officially, The Race To Watch.

The Times story's position in the newspaper, as much as its content, signaled to the Washington-New York mainstream media that they'd better bone up on this race in upstate New York, lest they be caught with their pants down. (Apparently, no one at The Gray Lady wants to see a repeat of Charlie Gibson being asked about ACORN and prostitutes.)

But the truly stunning news was Hoffman's endorsement by Rep. Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican who is, to my knowledge, the only former political consultant currently serving in the Congress.

While he is ideologically conservative -- he boasts a lifetime 94 percent rating from the American Conservative Union -- Cole is a shrewd and canny campaign strategist whose avuncular personality masks a Type A drive and a determination to excel.

He happens to love making life miserable for Democrats.

Before being elected to the House of Representatives in 2002, Cole served as chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party, as executive director of the NRCC, and as chief of staff of the Republican National Committee. In his spare time, he ran one of the more successful GOP consulting firms in the nation.

But, more importantly, in the 2008 cycle, Cole served as Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

He was replaced in that post by Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, under whose leadership the NRCC has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars backing Scozzafava in what increasingly appears to be a failing attempt to hold off Hoffman.

Other Republican members of Congress had endorsed Hoffman -- Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Todd Tiahrt of Kansas had previously endorsed Hoffman, while Dana Rohrabacher of California and Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina joined Cole in endorsing Hoffman yesterday -- but, frankly, I can think of few who look to them for political guidance in a matter like this. Each has established a reputation, to varying degrees, as a political maverick; no one confuses them with the Republican Leadership.

So Cole's endorsement represents the first breach of the Hoffman Flu into GOP leadership circles.

Apparently, Cole is the first Republican insider to recognize the importance of the confluence of two key data points revealed in recent polling -- last week's Washington Post/ABC News poll, which revealed that only 20 percent of the nation answers to the name "Republican," posted against this week's Gallup Poll, which showed that 40 percent of the country identifies itself as "conservative."

In other words, Cole understands which end is the tail, and which end is the dog.

Note to Republican leaders -- when there are twice as many people calling themselves "conservative" as there are people calling themselves "Republican," it makes no sense to nominate as your party's candidate a woman who's so far to the left, ideologically, that she's been endorsed by the nation's premier left-wing blogger.

And it makes even less sense, if you've decided to do that, to go to the next level and try to defeat a Republican who, upon entering the Congress after a victory in the special election, would be virtually guaranteed to cast more regular party-line votes than would the official GOP nominee.

That's the truly remarkable part of this whole story -- look at all the polls taken in this race, and you see that if you combine the Scozzafava vote and the Hoffman vote, you've got a clear majority for one Republican candidate; why should it make a difference to the NRCC whether the Republican who represents the district is the officially-sanctioned (but very liberal) Republican, or the unofficially-sanctioned (but more mainstream conservative) Republican?

Answer: It should not. Either one is going to vote for a Republican for Speaker, and that's all the NRCC cares about -- scratch that, should care about -- in this instance.

Pete Sessions didn't make the choice of Dede Scozzafava, 11 GOP county chairmen in upstate New York made the choice.

Sessions could save his colleagues hundreds of thousands of dollars, and himself a couple of Excedrin headaches, if he would simply pull out of NY23 and let nature take its course -- without the propping up by the NRCC and RNC, the Scozzafava campaign would implode into the black hole that is its true nature, and leave Hoffman to defeat Owens.

Eh, but this is the same team that lost the special election in NY20 six months ago. Don't hold your breath.

DISCLAIMER: CQPolitics says that when I write about the politicians in my past, I have to turn the cards face up. When Tom Cole was chief of staff at the Republican National Committee, I worked under him as press secretary.

Hoffman Nabs Nods From Congressional Republicans

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:35:00 GMT

By Emily Cadei, CQ-Roll Call for CQ Today Online New

Three Republican lawmakers on Wednesday endorsed Doug Hoffman’s third-party campaign for the special House election in New York — a slap in the face to the party’s leadership and the current top brass at the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Endorsing Hoffman in the 23rd District contest were Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Reps. Dana Rohrabacher of California and Tom Cole of Oklahoma, who also served as NRCC chairman from 2006 to 2008.

The party’s preferred candidate is GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava. Hoffman’s name will appear on the upstate ballots as the Conservative Party nominee.

The nods from the three Republicans further cement the fact that Hoffman has moved from fringe candidate to a mainstream alternative on the right.

In his endorsement letter, Cole called Hoffman “the only Republican who can win this special election.” Democrats seem to be coming around to that viewpoint, too, shifting their fire from Scozzafava to Hoffman in the latest Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ad, and seeking to fundraise off the possibility that he could be elected to Congress.

Cole, who is a member of the Republican Steering Committee, wrote that Hoffman “clearly represents the mainstream values and positions of the Republican Party.” He declined to directly criticize Scozzafava, the subject of countless attacks from the right for her moderate record in the state Assembly, but ticked off a number of issue areas where she and Hoffman diverge. “He opposes the stimulus, cap and trade, card check, the Democratic health care bill and the Obama administration’s reckless spending binge. He is a pro-life fiscal conservative who is committed to restraining the growth of government,” Cole wrote.

Rohrabacher called Hoffman “the only candidate in the race that shares my conservative Republican principles” and DeMint wrote in a piece on conservative blog RedState.com that “Doug Hoffman has stepped forward and offered voters a better choice” in the race to succeed Republican Rep. John M. McHugh , who resigned in September to become secretary of the Army.

The endorsements came on the same day the Hoffman campaign launched a new television ad featuring another GOP politician, former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee (1994-2003), who deems the candidate a “principled conservative.” The anti-tax group Club for Growth, whose endorsement of Hoffman in September provided the campaign its initial surge of momentum, also announced it would begin airing a new TV ad Tuesday in Watertown, Burlington, and Syracuse highlighting the differences between Hoffman and attorney Bill Owens, the Democratic nominee. Scozzafava is not mentioned.

“This special election is now between Hoffman and Owens, and their economic records couldn’t be more different,” Club for Growth President Chris Chocola said in a release.

In an e-mail to DCCC supporters Tuesday, veteran Democratic strategist Paul Begala raised the specter of Hoffman’s candidacy in the upstate New York race to solicit contributions. “The inmates have taken over the asylum, and are abandoning the Republican candidate in favor of the extreme conservative,” Begala wrote.

“This could either be a cause for concern or a great opportunity,” he continued, urging readers to contribute to the DCCC and help get a “Democrat elected in a district that hasn’t sent a Democrat to Congress since 1852.”

Doug Hoffman Endorsement

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:35:00 GMT

Congressman Tom Cole
Due to the vagaries of local politics two Republicans are on the ballot in the special election in NY-23. Doug Hoffman, the conservative, clearly represents the main stream values and positions of the Republican Party. He opposes the stimulus, cap and trade, card check, the Democratic health care bill and the Obama Administration's reckless spending binge. He is a pro-life fiscal conservative who is committed to restraining the growth of government. And Hoffman is committed to fighting and winning the war in Afghanistan.

Doug Hoffman is right on the critical issues facing America -- and he is the only Republican who can win this special election. For those reasons I have chosen to endorse Mr. Hoffman and my leadership PAC has contributed to his campaign. I look forward to working with Doug in Congress and welcoming him into the Republican Conference.

U.S. Rep. Tom Cole isn’t able to limit funds for bailouts

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:36:00 GMT

The Oklahoman/AP

WASHINGTON — Rep. Tom Cole tried unsuccessfully Thursday to prevent the Treasury Department from using money next year from the financial bailout program approved in 2008.

Cole, R-Moore, offered an amendment that also would have barred the department from using money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program that had been paid back by banks or other entities that borrowed it.

Cole’s amendment failed on a party-line vote in a House-Senate committee writing the final version of a spending bill for legislative activities.

The $700 billion bailout program, approved by Congress last October, was set to expire at the end of this year, though the Treasury secretary has the option to extend it until Oct. 3, 2010. A senior Treasury official on Thursday said the program may need to be extended because "significant parts of the financial system remain impaired.”

Cole and other lawmakers have criticized the current and previous administrations for using the money for auto company bailouts and for other purposes that were outside the original concept of rescuing troubled banks.

"Our country’s enormous debt is just as much of a threat to the fiscal stability of our nation as the troubles of private companies that received TARP monies were,” Cole said. "Preventing the Treasury from extending the TARP program and stopping the program’s repaid funds from being respent are important provisions that should have been passed.”

The committee also defeated an amendment by Cole that would have prevented funding for so-called "czars,” or advisers hired by President Barack Obama that aren’t authorized by law.

The Senate debated the same issue on Thursday and killed an amendment that would have barred funding for Obama’s adviser on environmental issues. Conservatives have complained that Obama has been appointing advisers that don’t have to answer to Congress.

COLE VISITS CITIZENS IN DUNCAN

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:36:00 GMT

Steve Metzer, The Lawton Constitution

DUNCAN — If the 100 or so people who turned out for a town hall-style meeting here Tuesday were U.S. Senators, health care reform as it’s envisioned by the Obama administration would be dead on arrival in Congress.

The Stephens County citizens, who came close to filling a seminar room at the Red River Technology Center, responded to a public invitation made by U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, who arrived at about noon and visited with them for about two hours.

Cole, a Moore Republican, started out by offering updates and comments on important issues facing the nation, including:

The massive economic stimulus, which he said represents trillions of dollars in borrowed money and so far has resulted in little measurable positive effect on the economy.

The war in Iraq and the eventual withdrawal of U.S. forces. Cole said “combat troops” should be out by the end of 2011 but that the United States will likely retain at least 20,000 to 30,000 people there after that. Iraqi security forces are doing fairly well at keeping the peace, he said. “The real question is if politicians in Iraq can work out their differences.”

The war in Afghanistan and the buildup of troops there. “It probably will stay very tough over there for a long period of time,” Cole said.

“Cash for Clunkers,” which Cole described as a program that turns things with value — older model vehicles — into useless pieces of junk, in order to jumpstart new car sales, to the detriment of the used car industry.

The Obama administration’s “cap and trade” initiative, which the congressman described essentially as an “energy tax” requiring industries to purchase government permits for energy use. “This is the best economic development bill for India and China that I’ve ever seen,” Oklahoma’s 4th District congressman said, adding that cap and trade would be especially damaging to energy producing states like Oklahoma. He said he’s hopeful that the initiative will fail when it comes to a vote in Congress. That generated the first of several rounds of applause offered by those in attendance.

It was clearly health care reform, though, that most people who were there wanted to talk about. Only one young man, a political science student at Cameron University, identified himself as a supporter of the president, and he challenged Cole on past comments the congressman has made about the country’s march toward “Europeanstyle socialism.” Cole said he has never intended to equate Obama with a dictator, but he said he fears the president supports “collective ownership” of assets and government management and rationing of health care, as has been modeled in Europe and Canada. He pointed out that Rep. Barney Frank, a liberal and powerful congressman from Massachusetts, has indicated a desire to see a “single payer” health care system adopted in the United States, with complete government control. If that were to happen, Cole said, the private health care industry, which represents fully one-sixth of the American economy, would be gutted and the American public would end up paying higher taxes for a quality of care that for many would be diminished. Cole said there are reforms that might be made, such as through tort reform, that could bring cost savings to health care consumers at little or no cost.

“(The American people) are demanding reform,” he said, “but not in this bill.”
The idea of socialized medicine clearly angered a number of people at the meeting. One, Duncan resident Lynn Parr, described the administration’s reform efforts as insulting to the wishes of American people.

“I don’t see how any group of Congress people could write this trash,” he said. “How could people who are supposed to represent us write something so detrimental to us? I’ve got an 87-year-old mother and according to this, she needs to be put away.”

Some of those who were there said they had lived in other states and had witnessed efforts at “universal health care” backfire. One, from Massachusetts — which some referred to as “Tax-achusetts” — said he moved to Oklahoma because of the meddling of government there and the “total financial failure” of the government-managed health care system. Cole responded that similar efforts made in Tennessee also were “disastrous.”

The fact remains, Cole insisted, that the system now in place in the United States, imperfect though it may be, still provides for quality, timely care for millions of people who would rather not gamble on a system that would cost them more and deliver less. One man in the audience, Roy Grabman, said it appeared to him that the administration wants to take away from the “haves” in the U.S. and give to the “have nots” and that in the end, instead of making everyone better off it would make everyone “uniformly miserable.” Another, Mike Carter, said he would like to see improvements made, “but we don’t need to overhaul the whole system.”

Cole added that in addition to the trillions of dollars the government is spending or proposing to spend on programs many Americans would find objectionable, he can’t abide by the manner in which bills are being rushed through Congress. He described 1,200-page bills arriving on the desks of lawmakers who are being asked to vote on them that same day.

“We’ve had a lot of people who have voted on things they clearly have not had a chance to read,” he said. “Aside from the policies, the processes bother me a lot.”

He did say, though, that some of the initiatives — like cap and trade — that seemed “slam dunks” for the Obama administration when the president first took office seem to be losing momentum.