New SAOVA website (defend against the antis!)
Amy Dahl
The Sportsmen's and Animal Owners' Voting Alliance (SAOVA) today
unveiled
its new website at http://saova.org The site contains additional
research and lobbying
resources, new SAOVA volunteer identities and our endorsements of 182
candidates
running for federal office in November. SAOVA ENDORSED candidates
understand the
animal rightist, anti-hunting threat and have voting records or
exceptionally strong
values that demonstrate their commitment to protecting our interests.
Key non-incumbent
endorsements include
Chuck Blasdel (R-OH6)
Joe Courtney (D-CT2)
Ken Lucas (D-KY4)
Ray Meirer (R-NY24)
Peter Roskam (R-IL6)
Tim Walberg (R-MI7)
Andrea Lane Zinga (R-IL17)
Also displayed there are names of 228 federal and numerous state
politicians that
are Animal Rightist Endorsed. Please take the time to visit and study
our analyses.
We make no pretence of evaluating candidates' positions on national
security,
taxes, education, medical care or social issues. To the degree that
hunting and
animal ownership are important to you, we offer this review to be
combined with
other, personal considerations to determine your vote on November 7,
2006. Control
of the U.S. House and possibly the Senate are on the line. Be Sure to
Vote!
The world is governed by those who show up.
Feel free to distribute this message widely.
Sincerely,
Bob Kane
Sportsmen's and Animal Owners' Voting Alliance -
Working to identify and elect supportive legislators
http://saova.org
Posted by Amy Dahl
Larry Dickey
a much better candidate to watch over the interest of outdoorsmen.
Chris Barnes
> Sorry ,you missed the boat with Chuck Blasdel R OH6.Charlie Wilson
> will make a much better candidate to watch over the interest of
> outdoorsmen.
Normally political posts are discouraged on this newsgroup. But since
they are being discussed primarily of interest to outdoors issues, I'll
let it go.
That said, if you make a statement such as the one above, you really need
to give SPECIFIC reasons for making the statement. Just HOW will Charlie
Wilson be a better canidate to outdoorsmen/women than Chuck Blasdel (and
for that matter, vice versa)?
--
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Chris Barnes AOL IM: CNBarnes
ch...@txbarnes.com Yahoo IM: chrisnbarnes
You always have freedom of choice, but you never have freedom of
consequence.
Amy Dahl
> Sorry ,you missed the boat with Chuck Blasdel R OH6.Charlie Wilson will make
> a much better candidate to watch over the interest of outdoorsmen.
I hope, if he wins, you are correct. I tried and tried and tried to
get a response from his campaign, without success. Almost
always, when a candidate won't tell us his views, it is because
he knows we won't like them.
Blasdel's response was exemplary.
Amy Dahl
Amy Dahl
> Normally political posts are discouraged on this newsgroup. But since
> they are being discussed primarily of interest to outdoors issues, I'll
> let it go.
Chris, thank you for the consideration. I consider SAOVA messages
to be "public service announcements" in this group. We are nonpartisan
and do not engage in any other political issues than opposing the
animal rightists, and attempting to protect the rights of Americans to
hunt, fish, and own (and breed) animals. SAOVA had its beginnings
with hunting-dog people, following (as I understand it) the successful
battle with USFWS to maintain access to Pittman-Roberson lands for
hunting dog training and field trials.
We do consider livestock owners and medical researchers to be our
natural allies, as fellow targets of the animal rights movement.
Legislation that affects them affects us, setting precedents and
strengthening the AR political machine. HR 503, The Horse Slaughter
Prevention Act, which recently passed the U.S. House, is an example.
I will be glad to mention any such issues only in the context of how
they potentially affect hunting-dog owners, or abide by any other
line you care to set.
We do not expect anyone to go out and vote for a candidate just because
we endorse him (or her); we do hope that hunting-dog-owning voters will
figure the candidate's potential effect on animal-rights legislation into
the
mix of issues that are important to them.
We also hope that hunters and dog owners will spread the word, and
visit our site, and learn how broad the reach of the ARs has become,
do some research on some of the links we have posted, sign up to
receive email alerts, and lobby your elected representatives concerning
animal rights legislation in the next Congress.
>
> That said, if you make a statement such as the one above, you really need
> to give SPECIFIC reasons for making the statement. Just HOW will Charlie
> Wilson be a better canidate to outdoorsmen/women than Chuck Blasdel (and
> for that matter, vice versa)?
I've already mentioned that Chuck Blasdel gave strong responses to
SAOVA's issues questionnaire. We tell candidates that the specific
content of their answers will be held confidential, but I can summarize
and say that Blasdel indicates what I would call a Libertarian attitude
toward laws that increase regulation or otherwise limit the rights of
individuals and businesses, and he does not support any of the animal
rights objectives listed in our questionnaire, which may be seen at
http://saova.org/2006question.html
I did a little research on VoteSmart this afternoon, and Blasdel's
voting record is consistent with the answers he gave us. In the
"Business and Consumers" category, he received ratings from the
Ohio Chamber of Commerce and the Ohio Federation of Independent
Businesses for supporting their interests 100% of the time in most
sessions; 97% from the Chamber in 2002. The NRA gave Blasdel
an A rating both times it evaluated him.
The NRA is *not* a reliable indicator of a candidate's position
on our rights vis-a-vis animals. There are a number of pro-handgun
pols who are endorsed by the NRA and by the chief AR organization,
the HSUS, and consistently vote with the ARs.
Charlie Wilson, as I've said, did not return SAOVA's questionnaire,
despite considerable effort on our part. My part, as I covered that
district. We have found non-response to be a very bad sign, in that non-
respondents who are elected almost always turn out to be AR tools.
Wilson was rated four times by the NRA, receiving A+ ratings each
time. In the Business and Consumers category, he had less
consistent ratings, of 71, 57, 96, 83, and 70% in different sessions.
This doesn't mean he is AR, just that his record doesn't indicate the
same "hands off enterprise" attitude as Blasdel's.
At http://www.opensecrets.org I looked at the list of top contributors
to each candidate, and did not see HumaneUSA PAC or any other
recognizable animal rights sponsor on either list. We can't be
sure they aren't on the list further down.
VoteSmart does not have an "Animal Rights" category...yet.
Hope this answers the question, and fits with the group charter.
Amy Dahl
SAOVA's website: http://www.saova.org
Chris Barnes
> Hope this answers the question, and fits with the group charter.
Absolutely. :-)
Warren Lang
news:4517F232...@oakhillkennel.com:
(snip)
>
> Also displayed there are names of 228 federal and numerous
> state politicians that
> are Animal Rightist Endorsed.
(snip)
> Posted by Amy Dahl
7th Ga lists John Linder as fruitcake endorsed. Do you have some
source documentation for that? TIA
Warren Lang
Amy Dahl
> Sorry ,you missed the boat with Chuck Blasdel R OH6.Charlie Wilson will make
> a much better candidate to watch over the interest of outdoorsmen.
Charlie Wilson has received the endorsement of the flagship
anti-hunting, animal-rightist organization, the HSUS.
Don't take my word for it:
http://www.humaneusa.org/humaneusaendorsements.htm#OH
Now, if only he weren't 13 points ahead....
Amy Dahl