Op-ed by Kansas City Tea Party leader Jim Meyer, endorsing Patricia Lightner for Congress: It’s Time to Get Off the Fence
Jim Meyer helps lead ResistNet, a local tea party site.
It’s Time tot Get Off the Fence
by Jim Meyer
Note: The following viewpoint is solely my own. It does not represent an official endorsement by ResistNet or its partner organizations.
Even if the time hasn’t come for all ResistNet members to decide who should be the “Tea Party” Candidate for Congress in the Kansas Third Congressional District, and even if the time hasn’t come for ICaucus to render its judgment on the matter, I believe that the time has come for me to decide–and to announce–which candidate I personally favor in the Third District Congressional race.
I support Representative Patricia Lightner to represent the Kansas Third Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives.
For all practical purposes, the contest for the Tea Party/9.12 vote in the Third District Republican Congressional Primary has featured three candidates: Representative Lightner, John Rysavy and Daniel Gilyeat. All three of these fine individuals have waged honorable and above-board campaigns. All three have made sound, if not compelling, cases for themselves as candidates. And all three have articulated solid conservative principles and beliefs that are in complete harmony with those of the Tea Party/9.12 Movement. The Kansas Third District would be genuinely privileged to have any one of these excellent candidates as its Congressional Representative.
I should take this opportunity to pay my profound respects to Messers Rysavy and Gilyeat. These two fine gentlemen are both excellent candidates in their own right. Mr. Gilyeat is a genuinely earnest and sincere man, and he has clearly earned the respect and gratitude of an entire Nation with the sacrifices he has made in defending her. Mr. Rysavy is a very thoughtful, intelligent, serious and affable gentleman. He has no shortage of great ideas, especially on the critical issue of health care, and in the absence of a more qualified candidate such as Representative Lightner, Mr. Rysavy would truly be an excellent choice to carry the Tea Party/9.12 banner and represent the Kansas Third District in the US Congress.
There are two factors that tip the scales in Representative Lightner’s favor: Her experience and her desire.
Most of Representative Lightner’s critics have zeroed in on her experience in the Kansas Legislature as a disqualifying factor; as a reason to reject her as a candidate. Because she is a former State Representative, they say, she is part of the “Establishment”, and as such, she has nothing whatsoever in common with the Tea Party/9.12 Movement.
I politely differ.
Representative Lightner’s legislative experience is actually a tremendous asset to her as a candidate. And it would also be an equally tremendous asset to the Tea Party/9.12 Movement in the campaign if she is chosen as the “official” Tea Party Candidate, and in Congress, if she is elected.
In the GOP Primary campaign, Representative Lightner’s experience as a State Representative would enable her to debate on an equal footing with her likely opponents, Kevin Yoder and Nick Jordan. Her experience would serve her equally well in the general election campaign against any of the likely Democrat opponents. And her experience would also give her a dramatically short “learning curve” if elected.
Over the last eight months, no other candidate in the field has courted the Tea Party/9.12 vote more assiduously or more aggressively than Representative Lightner has. She has made her presence known and felt at various Tea Party/9.12 events since last summer. She has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge and the Mount Vernon Statement. And she has publicly and repeatedly pledged her vote to repeal the potentially ruinous Obama-Reid-Pelosi government medical insurance scam if it becomes law and if she is subsequently elected to Congress.
If you attended the Congressional Candidates’ Forum in Overland Park the evening of March 5th, Representative Lightner’s ardent desire to secure the support of Tea Party/9.12 voters in this campaign would have been readily apparent to you. Neither Mr. Rysavy nor Mr. Gilyeat displayed anywhere near the passion that Representative Lightner exuded. She said all the right things, and she said them with sincerity, with conviction and with unbridled enthusiasm.
In short, Representative Lightner has done everything except get on her knees and sing “Mammy” to win the hearts and minds of Kansas Third District Tea Party/9.12 voters. And I have it on very good authority that she could do that, too, if she felt the need or thought it would help!
If there’s anything Representative Lightner has left unsaid in her quest to secure the loyalty of Tea Party/9.12 voters, if there is anything she has left undone, I honestly don’t know what it could be.
So I now ask you, my ResistNet compatriots:
What ARE you waiting for? How much convincing DO you need? What more can Representative Lightner say? What else does she need to do? How can she convince you that she truly does share our beliefs and our concerns? How can she prove to you that she’s NOT a part of the so-called “Establishment”? How can she demonstrate to you that she would always do her level best to act in the best interests of the District and the Nation if we choose her as our Representative in Congress?
I earnestly implore you to cast aside–as I have–any doubts you may have and join me in supporting Representative Patricia Lightner for United States Congress.
Related Posts:
- Patricia Lightner Reacts to Moore Announcement
- Patricia Lightner Responds to Steve Rose Announcement
- Lightner for Congress - Patricia Lightner announces support of Sen. Pilcher Cook, Reps. Olson, Kiegerl, Donohoe, Vickrey, Landwehr, Carter, Morrison, and Hodge
- Lightner for Congress - Change the Congress in 2010 Endorses Patricia Lightner
- Former Speaker of the Kansas House Melvin Neufeld Endorses Huelskamp for Congress
March 9th, 2010 at 11:00 pm
This article is a gross misrepresentation of fact. NONE of what I am writing here is in any way intended to downplay Jim Meyers OR his opinion… Jim is an active and valuable member of ResistNet and contributes daily to our discussions.
Jim Meyer explicitly proclaimed in his post on ResistNet, “The following viewpoint is solely my own. It does not represent an official endorsement by ResistNet or its partner organizations…” YET in the headline YOU state, “Kansas City Tea Party leader Jim Meyer, endorsing Patricia Lightner for Congress…” as if he were acting in a LEADERSHIP ROLE while making this comment.
First of all ResistNet is a NATIONAL organization… NOT a Kansas City local group.
Second, Jim Meyer is NOT the leader or A leader of the organization. He holds the position of KS Event & Coalition Committee, Director. His primary duty is to gather information on and post events relevant to ResistNet activities which would include but not be limited to candidate forums, rallies, legislative hearing schedules and the such.
ResistNet is a social networking and resource POOLING organization for local TeaParty groups so they have an avenue for communicating and sharing ideas and information with each other. As I have said often at rallies, “There is no need to reinvent the wheel so get on ResistNet and see if someone has already done it and shared.”
There are multiple posts such as the one you quoted from Jim on other websites including ICaucus.ning.com yet NO official endorsements have been announced as of yet. Members are discussing the pros and cons and SOME such as Jim have made up their minds, but to quote Jim as a LEADER making and ENDORSEMENT is fraudulent at the very least and poor journalism and shoddy politics.
The origin of our Three Branches of Government…
“For The LORD is our Judge,
(Judicial Branch)
The LORD is our Lawgiver,
(Legislative Branch)
The LORD is our King;
(Executive Branch)
He will save us.”
(Isaiah 33:22 KJV Bible)
Bob Bowser Kansas State Director,
http://www.resistnet.com/
73,111 members +
March 9th, 2010 at 11:41 pm
Mr. Bowser,
I think you’re reading too much into what was said and not said.
You write, “Jim Meyer is NOT the leader or A leader of the organization. He holds the position of KS Event & Coalition Committee, Director.” Yes, many people would consider Mr. Meyer’s role to be that of a leader. That’s a leadership role.
Our first five words are these: “Jim Meyer helps lead ResistNet…” You write, yourself: “Jim is an active and valuable member of ResistNet.” These two sentences aren’t greatly different.
You write, “YET in the headline YOU state, “Kansas City Tea Party leader Jim Meyer, endorsing Patricia Lightner for Congress…” as if he were acting in a LEADERSHIP ROLE while making this comment.” No, it says exactly what it says, that the man — not the organization — endorses Lightner. It’s no different than a pastor or a professor making an endorsement, in that we included a description of his role in the community.
It’s not a workable option, to explain in the headline, “The following viewpoint is solely my own. It does not represent an official endorsement by ResistNet or its partner organizations.”
And you’re critical because of the following, “First of all ResistNet is a NATIONAL organization… NOT a Kansas City local group”? Sir, your group is rather new, correct? And by the very nature that it’s a Tea Party-related group, it has been organized not through a “top-down” structure, but rather through a “grassroots” or “bottom-up” formation, correct? So is it really all that significant that we referred to it as “ResistNet, a local tea party site”?
Again, you write, “to quote Jim as a LEADER making and ENDORSEMENT is fraudulent at the very least and poor journalism and shoddy politics.” Mr. Bowser, I attended a portion of your forum on Friday night, the one featuring candidates Lightner, Rysavy, and Gilyeat. My understanding was that Mr. Meyer played an important role in the organization of the public forum. To repeat, it sounds an awfully lot like Meyer is a key member of your organization, and that therefore, in the common vernacular, one could reasonably refer to Meyer as “a leader” of ResistNet. Finally, yes, it is an endorsement. Very much so.
-Benjamin Hodge on Tuesday, March 9
March 10th, 2010 at 6:35 am
Good analysis Ben. I agree. To circumvent and stab in the back your entire caucus pre-emptively is tanamount to treason. And did you notice Kansas Progress ignored reality. e tu Kansas Progressive blog. Why do I feel like Caesar? Thanks for the knife to the back by intentional, willful and knowing omission that in fact, I was the first filed candidate for United States Congress, have more experience than these other bribed and corrupt yahoos and finally I remain the best candidate of, and by the people.
March 10th, 2010 at 6:55 am
Mr. Scherer,
The answer is quite simple, and that is, it was our understanding that you had stated that you are no longer running for Congress.
If you are still running, then you can expect continued confusion from people with regard to your campaigning status, when it doesn’t appear that you’re campaigning and participating in public events. Please re-direct your frustration toward those who are apparently choosing to not invite you to public forums and the such.
-B. Hodge, Wednedsay, March 10.
March 10th, 2010 at 10:25 am
Mr. Bowser is clearly correct in defining my role in ResistNet for the benefit of Kansas Progress and its readers. I regret that my role in the organization was apparently misrepresented by the individual or organization responsible for bringing my editorial to the attention of Kansas Progress. While the administrator is certainly free to draw his or her own conclusions as to whether my role with ResistNet qualifies me as a “local Tea Party leader”, the headline as written is nevertheless misleading, as is the omission of my disclaimer from the E-mail alerting and linking Kansas Progress leaders to my editorial.
This is all the more reason why I prefaced my remarks by noting that I was expressing my own personal opinion, and that my editorial should not be construed in any way, shape, manner, fashion or form as an official endorsement by ResistNet or by any of its affiliated organizations. While I applaud Kansas Progress for not omitting this disclaimer from the text of the article, I feel very strongly that it should also have been included in the E-mail linking to this editorial, irrespective of whether it was a “workable option” or not.
Finally, while I have expressed my support for Representative Lightner in the Third District Congressional Race, I am neverthelss hopeful that Kansas Progress, in the interest of fairness, would also devote equal space to any editorial from a Tea Party/9.12 Web site supporting other candidates. While I have made up my mind, as Mr. Bowser correctly notes, others on ResistNet and elsewhere have not. It is clearly in the best interests of everyone concerned to evaluate arguments for each of the candidates and let them stand or fall solely on their own merits.
March 10th, 2010 at 11:52 am
To Jim Meyer,
I have one big problem with your position. Patricia has had an election year reversal on her concealed carry vote. 2nd Amendment rights are one of the Bill of Rights and just voting because you polled a few hundred people in your district and then didn’t research the issue and voted against it because 83% of her poll said to is no excuse.
Also she has balked at term limits and eliminating government agencies. I know she has signed AFP Pledge and the Americans for Tax Reform pledge but doesn’t support the FairTax. Lawyers are the problem in D.C. and I can’t support sending another one from the third District.
March 10th, 2010 at 11:57 am
Also, ResistNet does not Represent the whole Tea Party movement. Good luck with that notion Ben.
March 10th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Mr.Bowser apparently needs to “wise up.” His backhanded attempt to paint with a broad brush that the local Tea Party/9-12/ResistNet groups have a “designated mouthpiece” by fixating on the title LEADER in Jim Meyer’s excellent and lucid article is ludicrous. From reading Bower’s rant, methinks it appears to be sour grapes talking.
I know that I’m not in the trenches of any movement, but I’m smart enough to know that there hasn’t been a LEADER designation given publicly to anyone invovled. Had there been a name consistently floated out there, surely I and others to this site would have known and been able to recognize it. Everytime there has been a “gathering” by any of the groups, especially with the TEA PARTY, the person has been described as a “spokesman/woman” making that announcement. That’s hardly a “LEADER” title; in essence, it’s PR work. For instance, those involved in a “LEADER” role that has anything TEA PARTY to it have included the likes of KCMO talker Chris Stigall, and KMBZ talker Darla Jaye. Neither claim the role of LEADER, but beacause of their high profile radio they get the word out to the public. Using the airwaves–should he choose to use it–only makes Jim’s role as a “spokesman” with ResistNet easier.
Mr. Boswer from where I sit, your job is probably that of local AGITATOR, DISTRACTOR and NIT PICKER. The idea of this election is to win back the 3rd District from the clutches of Dennis Moore and his family. This is the PEOPLE’S SEAT, not DENNIS MOORE’S SEAT. Fixating and railing on who is/isn’t the LEADER of this or that group only serves to diminish our efforts and plays right into the hands of those whom we seek to defeat in November. If you don’t care for the endorsement made by Jim, that’s your right and he even said as much in his editorial, or didn’t you–by being myopic because of one lousy word–bother to read that far? I submit you didn’t bother to read past the heading.
Jim Meyer is entitled to his opinion. Others may or may not agree with his choice.
March 10th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
Pam, while I certainly appreciate your spirited defense of my editorial, please note from Mr. Bowser’s original post that he is the Kansas State Director of ResistNet. In other words, I answer to him in my role with ResistNet.
Furthermore, he wasn’t disputing anything I put in my editorial, nor was he taking issue with my espressing the opinions contained in it.
He was objecting, as I am, to the misleading characterization in the headline that I am a “local ResistNet leader”. A casual reader might misconstrue that headline as indicating that Representative Lightner had received an official endorsement from ResistNet, or that I was endorsing Representative Lightner in my official capacity with ResistNet, when in fact, as I note in my disclaimer at the beginning of the piece, neither is the case.
March 10th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
Jim, I noted his “title,” I get it, but feel there was a distinct irritation in Mr Bower’s comments because of the regrettable choice of the word LEADER in the “Headline” of your editiorial. While this unfortunate faux pas is clearly “on the editor” of Kansas Progress, Mr. Bower’s all too emphatic protest over a word would give the casual reader of this site the mistaken impression that he was at issue with your role in the group, or that you somehow commandeered a position of importance, which I know is entirely not the case.
The entire episode is truly childish. How many times did he use the word LEADER in (capital letters)in his comments? Does he feel his LEADERSHIP has been diminished in some capacity because of this glaring error?
I still stand by my comment that there is no real LEADER who has come to the forefront of any of these groups (and more groups like them seem to be popping up daily!), to rally one and all who are of like mind to a common goal. In my opinion, not only is it time to “GET OFF THE FENCE” as you say, but it is high time that all factions come together and stand as a unified front. We will hang together, or we will assuredly hang separately, to loosely quote Ben Franklin. Quibbling over a stupid word only gives the opposition just one more thing to use against us and the one cause that should unite us: to elect a representative who will represent the 3rd District after 12 years of under the radar, “YES MAN” representation in Washington, DC.