Actually, Mr. Wolfe was referring to two Virginia-class submarines that are being built in Connecticut. In the new defense budget, the Connecticut submarine program will receive $5.4 billion to commission two submarines for fiscal 2011. There is one Virginia-class currently under construction, and six more on order across the country.
Our campaign feels that this is pork barrel spending under the guise of national defense, we currently field 71 submarines in our Navy that are some of the best in the world. We are no longer fighting the cold war, our current inventory of naval vessels can handle any potential attack. It's wasteful spending that could be better spent on programs that actually need funding.
Our national defense is of the highest priority to this campaign, and that's exactly why we need to make smart spending choices when we're budgeting for the Department of Defense.
Regards,
Joda Thongnopnua
Wolfe For Congress 2010
Campaign Manager
I wanted to provide some additional information we thought was relevant to this article. In regards to our FEC reports, like it said, we're in the process of filing them of course, but we're a little behind.
One thing should be clear, despite the low amount we've spent on this campaign, we're playing for keeps. We take this campaign very seriously, but we don't need to spend egregious amounts of money to show the voters that. John is very active within the community, we’re involved with the democratic leadership within the county and we’re organizing on a grassroots level.
The people of the 3rd congressional district nominated John for the Democratic Party not because we bought television ads and hired big-name party strategists, but because we provided a message that resonated with the voters.
Our campaign also feels that the Fleischmann campaign has been spending ridiculous amounts of money on things that, quite frankly, aren't exactly on the level. Here are a few examples:
Chuck is employing Chip Saltsman, who is a Republican strategist who previously was involved with the Mike Huckabee campaign and more recently attempted to run for RNC Chairman, but was forced to drop out of the race after distributing a CD with the racially inflammatory song by Rush Limbaugh and Paul Shanklin called "Barack the Magic Negro". Fleischmann's campaign, who already has a campaign manager, has paid Saltsman and his company, S & S Strategies, some $61,445 according to various Federal Election Commission Reports.
This is in addition to his payments to Axiom Strategies, which this quarter alone, tops $100,500. The multiple charges and descriptions range from having no description to "direct mailers" for various things. The company is run by Jeff Roe, who is a Republican political consultant, and is located in Kansas City, Missouri. He's formerly the Chief of Staff for U.S. Rep Sam Graves. He's known for his negative style of campaigning and is largely considered something of a bully.
Another strategist and media consultant, and so far, by and large, the biggest expenditure is with Strategic Media Placement Inc. and it's parent company, Strategy Group for Media. The descriptions for the disbursements are often vague, like "Regional Media Buy" or something similar. What's troubling is the massive amount of money spent with this company: a whopping $616,028 by our count consisting of 10 separate disbursements. The company is run by Rex Elsass, who was the previous Executive Director of the Ohio Republican Party. That's a whole lot of money to be spending on buying your vote -- and someone should tell him that the job doesn't pay that much.
I hope that the voters will keep this in mind when they go to the polls. Chuck isn't what Chattanooga needs, he isn't what Tennessee needs, and he isn't what America needs.
Regards,
Joda Thongnopnua
Wolfe For Congress 2010
Campaign Manager
In District 3, John Wolfe
@Holdout
Actually, Mr. Wolfe was referring to two Virginia-class submarines that are being built in Connecticut. In the new defense budget, the Connecticut submarine program will receive $5.4 billion to commission two submarines for fiscal 2011. There is one Virginia-class currently under construction, and six more on order across the country.
Our campaign feels that this is pork barrel spending under the guise of national defense, we currently field 71 submarines in our Navy that are some of the best in the world. We are no longer fighting the cold war, our current inventory of naval vessels can handle any potential attack. It's wasteful spending that could be better spent on programs that actually need funding.
Our national defense is of the highest priority to this campaign, and that's exactly why we need to make smart spending choices when we're budgeting for the Department of Defense.
Regards, Joda Thongnopnua Wolfe For Congress 2010 Campaign Manager
Independents outspend Democrat in 3rd District
I wanted to provide some additional information we thought was relevant to this article. In regards to our FEC reports, like it said, we're in the process of filing them of course, but we're a little behind.
One thing should be clear, despite the low amount we've spent on this campaign, we're playing for keeps. We take this campaign very seriously, but we don't need to spend egregious amounts of money to show the voters that. John is very active within the community, we’re involved with the democratic leadership within the county and we’re organizing on a grassroots level.
The people of the 3rd congressional district nominated John for the Democratic Party not because we bought television ads and hired big-name party strategists, but because we provided a message that resonated with the voters.
Our campaign also feels that the Fleischmann campaign has been spending ridiculous amounts of money on things that, quite frankly, aren't exactly on the level. Here are a few examples:
Chuck is employing Chip Saltsman, who is a Republican strategist who previously was involved with the Mike Huckabee campaign and more recently attempted to run for RNC Chairman, but was forced to drop out of the race after distributing a CD with the racially inflammatory song by Rush Limbaugh and Paul Shanklin called "Barack the Magic Negro". Fleischmann's campaign, who already has a campaign manager, has paid Saltsman and his company, S & S Strategies, some $61,445 according to various Federal Election Commission Reports.
This is in addition to his payments to Axiom Strategies, which this quarter alone, tops $100,500. The multiple charges and descriptions range from having no description to "direct mailers" for various things. The company is run by Jeff Roe, who is a Republican political consultant, and is located in Kansas City, Missouri. He's formerly the Chief of Staff for U.S. Rep Sam Graves. He's known for his negative style of campaigning and is largely considered something of a bully.
Another strategist and media consultant, and so far, by and large, the biggest expenditure is with Strategic Media Placement Inc. and it's parent company, Strategy Group for Media. The descriptions for the disbursements are often vague, like "Regional Media Buy" or something similar. What's troubling is the massive amount of money spent with this company: a whopping $616,028 by our count consisting of 10 separate disbursements. The company is run by Rex Elsass, who was the previous Executive Director of the Ohio Republican Party. That's a whole lot of money to be spending on buying your vote -- and someone should tell him that the job doesn't pay that much.
I hope that the voters will keep this in mind when they go to the polls. Chuck isn't what Chattanooga needs, he isn't what Tennessee needs, and he isn't what America needs.
Regards, Joda Thongnopnua Wolfe For Congress 2010 Campaign Manager