How much did taxpayers pay to get the health care bill passed?

Troy, Mich. - In a little-noticed news story, our Upper Peninsula's congressman, Bart Stupak, and his 10 fellow pro-life Democrats in Congress last week requested a total of $4.7 billion in pork barrel earmarks, following their last minute switch to support President Obama's health care takeover. Stupak alone requested $578 million in earmarks.

Backroom deals in Washington by career politicians are wrong, no matter who is doing them and who is benefiting.

Let's be clear - this was a quid pro quo deal, plain and simple. It was clear - the bill was going down unless these Members of Congress were given the money they wanted. The bill only passed by 3 votes and would have not passed but for this legislative pay off.

Stand With Israel

Like many Americans, I was disappointed and dismayed last week when President Barack Obama undercut one of our country's strongest allies in the Middle East - and indeed in the world - when his administration took a hard, critical line against Israel for its decision to construct apartments in East Jerusalem.

Vice President Joe Biden reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu: "What you're doing here undermines the security of our troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan ... That endangers us and it endangers regional peace." For starters, that's flat out slanderous and untrue and demonstrates a profound lack of understanding on the part of the Vice President on the important issue of America's foreign policy in the middle east as well as the threat of Islamic fundamentalism.

Those who attack U.S. troops abroad are not doing so because of Israel's decision to build housing-- their motivation is terror and their enemy is the United States and all the freedoms it stands for. They are Islamic radicals who have a religious belief that everyone should live by their religious dictates or not live at all.

A Congressional Tongue Depressor Getting Jammed Down Our Throats

You know what I hate the most about going to the doctor when I'm sick? The tongue depressor. Even though I trust my doctor, I just don't like the feeling of having a stick jammed down my throat.

Watching the news today, that's exactly what I feel the politicians in Washington are doing with health care policy.

They're asking us to open wide and swallow their government takeover of health care, and the people of Oakland County, like people all across America, are rejecting their plan.

Now they're coming back with their form of the tongue depressor to try and shove their failed policy down our throats. They call it reconciliation; I call it just plain and simple the wrong thing to do.

We all agree: health care in America needs serious reform. The costs have gotten out of control, and it's hurting plenty of families and businesses. I know this first-hand. I provide my employees with good health care plans, and it costs me more and more to do it every year.

I am the only candidate running for this Congressional seat, from either party, who has provided health care for their employees, for many years, during the most challenging time for auto suppliers like my company.

I have run our company without debt, which has allowed us to not only stay in business, but also to provide health care to our employees.

Had our company done what the federal government is doing - spent itself into a hole and piled up mountains of debt - we would have been out of the business, and those employees would be out of a job and without health care.

Sure, health care costs have increased, but everyone needs and deserves health care. What we do not need is a federal government takeover of health care. What we do need is more "citizen legislators" who have real world experience to deal with the health care challenge.

As an auto supplier who has survived during the roughest time in our industry's history, I have never abandoned the belief that employers should provide health insurance to employees if they can. And I know what needs to be done to provide health care to Americans.

I want to roll up my sleeves and work with Republicans and Democrats alike to address those issues which we need answers to: portability, pre-existing conditions and affordability.

But I also know that a government takeover isn't going to fix the problem - it's going to make it worse. A plan that puts the government in control of health care will lower the quality of medicine and require massive new taxes to be placed on our backs.

This, as much as anything else I've seen, makes me know we can and must do better. As your citizen legislator, I won't use complicated rules and processes to push through legislation you don't like - I'll represent you. I'll go to Washington and put forward a sensible health care reform plan that lowers costs and increases access to high-quality care.

That's what Oakland County families have demanded, and it's exactly what I'll deliver as your next Congressman.

Oakland County's Newest Republican, and My Favorite Democrat

What I would do differently as your Congressman.

Have you gotten one of Gary Peters’ slick taxpayer-funded political mailers recently? Gary’s already raised more than $1.5 of campaign money, a lot of it from Washington special interest groups that lobby to keep the spending spigot on.

Why can’t Congressman Peters spend his own campaign money to send out his political mailers instead of sticking taxpayers with the bill?

It’s this kind of wasteful spending that permeates Washington. The hundreds of thousands of dollars that Gary Peters is spending on these mailers is a substantial amount of money and contributes to the $12 trillion national debt. 

Common Sense from the Factory Floor - What makes me a different kind of candidate.

In another installment of "Common Sense from the Factory Floor," Gene Goodman talks about what distinguishes him from other candidates in the 9th District.

Peters Can’t Fool Oakland County Taxpayers Again!

Gary Peters is trying to pull a fast one on Oakland County voters. Peters knows he’s vulnerable because he’s been one of the biggest liberal spenders in Congress. Voters are rejecting the crazy deficit spending in Washington. That’s why he voted today against raising the debt limit to more than $14 trillion.

Peters thinks he’ll get credit for being a fiscal moderate, but the problem for Gary is that he voted for the spending bills that forced the government to increase the debt limit in the first place.

Peters voted for the $787 billion no jobs stimulus bill and he voted for other Nancy Pelosi budget bills that will triple the national debt over the next 10 years.

The truth is Gary Peters is a Nancy Pelosi Democrat, not an Independent voice for Oakland County taxpayers. Just look at his voting record. He’s been with Pelosi 96 percent of the time.

The No-Jobs Stimulus Bill

We are coming up on the one year anniversary of Congressman Gary Peters' vote for the $787 billion so-called economic stimulus bill. Since this bill was passed into law, the number of unemployed people in Michigan has increased from 583,000 to 700,000.

This bill has done nothing to stimulate our economy. It's just been a budget-buster that is adding to our national debt. According to the White House Budget office's own numbers, the deficit this year will be a record $1.6 trillion. This is money that is being heaped on top of our already $12 trillion national debt.

We can't continue this level of crazy Washington spending and expect to continue being the world's superpower.

Congressman Gary Peters told Oakland County voters in 2008 that he would be a fiscally moderate Democrat. He's been a liberal big spender in his first year in office, voting with Nancy Pelosi 96 percent of the time.

It's time to cut up his credit card.

Rocky signed my no pork barrel earmark pledge. Thank you, Rocky!

VIDEO: "Common Sense from the Factory Floor"

Here's a new feature on my blog and campaign Web site: "Common Sense from the Factory Floor." This is a weekly YouTube video where I talk about the issues that are important to Oakland County voters.

This week, I talk about the common sense values I use in my business and that I'll bring to Washington:



I'm not a slick politician. I'll just talk to you straight.

As my dad used to say, "if you can't reach into your pockets and grab the money to pay for something, then don't buy it." This is the philosophy I will take to Washington in my fight against the big spenders.

Thanks for watching.

- Gene

Scott Brown's Win Spells Peters' Defeat

Scott Brown's amazing upset win in the Senate race to fill Ted Kennedy's seat is bad news for Gary Peters.

U.S. Senator-elect Brown won this election because the Democrat in the race took the Harry Reid/Nancy Pelosi position on health care and big government spending.

Americans are rejecting the Democrats' $1 trillion government takeover of our health care system, their pork-barrel spending and the mountains of debt they have piled on our children's backs.

Gary Peters has voted with Nancy Pelosi's spending agenda 96% of the time. We're going to beat him this November just like Scott Brown defeated the Pelosi-Reid candidate in Massachusetts.

No New Earmarks Pledge

I pledge to the voters of Michigan’s 9th Congressional District that I will not request or accept a pork-barrel earmark in Congress.

I have asked my 2 opponents to do the same and, so far, they have not.  

Signed and Pledged by:







_____________________________________
Gene Goodman

_____________________________________

Paul Welday

_____________________________________

A. Rocky Raczkowski

The Oakland Press Covers Gene Goodman's Campaign for Congress

The Oakland Press covered Gene Goodman's campaign for Congress after his meeting with the paper's editorial board:

“I don’t want my kid to live in a county I can’t recognize,” said Goodman, 40, who criticizes Peters for his congressional voting record.

Goodman, owner of Versatube, an automotive supplier, says he’s a pro-life fiscal conservative and a better candidate than the other Republicans, Andrew Raczkowski or Paul Welday.

“These two guys can’t win against him (Peters),” Goodman said. Welday is a former lobbyist and Raczkowski a former state lawmaker. Peters is finishing his first two-year term in Congress this year after defeating a 16-year incumbent Republican in 2008. The 9th District congressional seat is entirely within Oakland County borders. It includes the communities of Pontiac, Lake Angelus, Keego Harbor, Sylvan Lake, Orchard Lake, Farmington, Farmington Hills, Franklin, Bingham Farms, Beverly Hills, Birmingham, Berkley, Royal Oak, Clawson, Troy, Bloomfield Hills, Rochester, Rochester Hills, Auburn Hills, West Bloomfield Township, Oakland Township, most of Waterford Township and part of Orion Township.