To: Brumar89 who wrote (686723 ) 12/1/2012 12:43:38 AM From: THE WATSONYOUTH Read Replies (1) | Respond to This is my congressman who said all the right things while running as a constitutional conservative. ..... and I helped get him elected. In less than 1 year of service it was obvious to me this guy got totally co-opted by the Republican establishment. Listen to his bullshit claim that since his district was marginally changed, he no longer is bound to his 2+ year old pledge not to vote for tax rate increases. Never mind the fact that Gibson has one of the worse conservative voting records (about 50%) of any Republican in Congress. Now.....I don't expect the converse of the 5% conservative voting records like most Democrats receive......but 50% for a Republican?...... I've challenged him on numerous votes and his responses have been less than WEAK. He even voted against the bill to help save the coal industry. Since his district is now somewhat more democratic.....he seeks to position himself as the ultimate centrist which he thinks is the best way to get re-elected in the newly drawn NY district. I'm hoping the Conservative party puts up a real conservative primary opponent next election. There is a small chance a conservative could win in a low vote total primary and a good chance a conservative on the Nov ballot would pull more than enough votes for the Democrat to win. I'd rather experience two years of a Democrat who could than be replaced by a real Conservative two years later than establish this Gibson as an ultimate long tern RINO. A similar thing happened to my state senator Steve Saland. He was a 32 year Republican state senator that initially was reasonably reliably conservative. Over time, he gradually changed to a full fledged RINO.....to the extent that he was the deciding vote to raise the NY state tax on the higher/highest income New Yorkers as well as being the critical deciding vote on same sex marriage in NY. (I oppose same sex marriage but think it should be a state rights issue ....decided only by the VOTE of the people in a state) The conservative party warned him not to take these two votes or they would primary him and not support him in the general election. He thumbed his nose at them.....voted with the Democrats......thinking he was untouchable after 32 years. He became a Democratic HERO. Well.....he got primary-ed and barely survived it. The conservatives were so emboldened, they put up their candidate in the general election. Saland then got real worried to the extent that he actually was able to get Cuomo to endorse him over the Democratic candidate. Well.......the conservative got about 1/3 of the non democratic vote and Saland LOST to the Democrat in a close election........AND I"M GLAD HE LOST......because in two years we will get another chance to put up a real conservative. I'll be dammed if I'm going to stand for my own party selling me out. Conservatives should do the same thing to John Boehner.......but for two points.........there may not be enough real conservatives in his district to throw the election to the Democrat........and I think the Democrats would put up a coordinated effort to keep him in office and in Republican leadership. These are very tough times for conservatives. capitaltonightny.ynn.com pledge requires signatories to oppose any efforts to “increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses” and also oppose a new reduction or end to deductions and credits unless there is a dollar-for-dollar match in reducing tax rates.The Congressman signed the pledge as a candidate in 2010 for the 20th Congressional District. As a 24-year veteran of the United States Army, without a legislative record, the pledge was his commitment to the district he was running to represent that he would fight for Upstate families, small businesses, and farmers in Congress, recognizing that high taxes are an impediment to growth in New York and result in less discretionary income for NY families. Since being elected, he has fought for these pro-growth policies that include reforming the tax code to close loopholes that don’t grow the economy so that we can lower rates for families, small businesses, and farms in New York. Gibson’s old district (once represented by now-Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand) stretched around the Albany area and included parts of the Hudson Valley and the more conservative North Country. Now he is in the newly drawn 19th district that lies within the slightly more Democratic Hudson Valley.
