View :Sep 29 News Release | Sep 25 News Release | Sep 19 News Release | Sep 03 News Release | Aug 28 News Release

October 30, 2008

                                TIAHRT LIES IN COMMERCIALS AND STAFF CALLS CONSTITUENT “RETARDED”
WICHITA, Kans. – Rep. Todd Tiahrt began airing commercials on local Wichita radio stations saying that State Senator Donald Betts, Jr. (D-KS), voted against expanding oil refineries, is opposed to lowering gas prices, and voted against a bill that allowed sexual predators on the street. These are outright lies as Betts wants to maintain refineries, is not opposed to lowering gas prices and has in fact voted for “Jessica’s Law” to enforce stronger sentencing for sexual offenders – 1st offense 25 years; 2nd offense 40 years; third offense life in prison. “These are malicious lies that have no basis in fact and are meant to scare voters into voting for Tiahrt,” said Betts. Betts’ Campaign Manager, Lisa Reiss, further clarified the record “Tiahrt is saying that Don voted against ‘Jessica’s Law’ and there were only 2 legislators opposed to it – not Senator Betts- who voted for the bill. Furthermore, while he was opposed to drilling in ANWR as it would not produce oil for a minimum of 10 years according to a study done by the Department of Energy. This does not imply that he is opposed to lower gas prices. That is the most ridiculous statement ever – who is opposed to lower gas prices,?” said Reiss.

As of today, Joe Niblett, a voter who lives in Wichita, contacted the Betts for Congress office to tell us that he called Tiahrt’s campaign office and spoke with staff member, Pat Ream (sp?), about why Rep. Tiahrt won’t debate Betts. Ream responded “Are you retarded?” and the constituent asked her to repeat what she said. At that point she went on to say “Todd Tiahrt is too smart to debate someone that has no character, no common sense and is not a Christian.” Furthermore, she said they are having a rally this weekend for Tiahrt to “vote for someone with common sense.”

It is shameful that a member of Congress condones this type of behavior for his staff. Betts has been a Christian since he was born and is an active member of the St. Mark United Methodist Church in Wichita since 1999. His grandfather, Rev. I.W. Wilson, baptized him in 1988 at True Love Missionary Baptist Church in Las Vegas, Nevada. Futhermore, he is a statesman with common sense, honesty, and integrity. Senior Pastor at St. Mark, Junius Dotson said “Senator Betts is a faithful and committed Christian. As his pastor, I have witnessed firsthand his dedication to the many ministries and community outreach efforts of Saint Mark. His servant spirit benefits not only our church and community but also the entire state of Kansas.”

“I can’t believe that Tiahrt’s staff would stoop to this level. I love the Lord with all my heart and would never question someone’s faith. Furthermore, I am disappointed that his staff member would refer to a Kansas voter in this way,” said Betts

Betts is running for the 4th Congressional seat currently held by Tiahrt, who has been in office since 1994. Betts has been actively working for Kansans since 2002, when he was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives. He went on to serve in the Senate, bridging party lines to focus on the important issues that affect everyone including support for education through the Workforce Kansas Quick Careers. Betts took a stand against the practices of genocide with Senate Substitute for HB 2457 which was signed into law divesting Kansas Public Employee Retirement Funds from Darfur. “It has been my pleasure to represent Kansans in Topeka but I believe that now is the time to make their voices heard in Washington, D.C.,” said Betts.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Go to top >>

October 17, 2008

                              BETTS TO HOLD AUGUSTA TOWNE HALL MEETING ON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22

 WICHITA, Kan. – State Senator Donald Betts, Jr. (D-Wichita), candidate for U.S. Congress, 4^th Congressional District, announced today that he will be holding a free public “Towne Hall Meeting” event in Butler County on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 in Augusta.  The event will be held at the Bank of America Building, 2^nd Floor, at 1420 North Ohio in Augusta from 10:00-11:30 a.m.  The event is free and open to the public.

Wednesday, October 22:
10:00 – 11:30 am

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Go to top >>

BETTS ENDORSED BY ESQURE MAGAZINE AND QUOTED IN EBONY MAGAZINE

WICHITA, Kans. – Esquire Magazine endorsed State Senator Donald Betts, Jr. for U.S. Congress in their November Election issue stating that “Tiahrt, knee-deep in Abramoff and Delay cash, deserves to be dumped for this sin alone.  But let’s keep things positive.  His opponent is as accomplished a state legislator as you’ll ever find,” according to the Betts campaign today. 

In the article in Ebony Magazine’s November issue about an Obama presidency and the difference it could make on the nation, Betts said “…He gives me inspiration...but, it’s not about Barack; he’s just the vessel.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Go to top >>

October 03, 2008

                        TIAHRT TAKES MONEY FROM NORTHROP GRUMMAN DURING 2008 ELECTION CYCLE

WICHITA, Kans. – State Senator Donald Betts, Jr. provided information at last week’s press conference that Rep. Todd Tiahrt had taken $3,000 from Northrop Grumman during the 2008 election cycle. Additionally, Tiahrt voted for on the Fiscal 2008 Department of Defense Authorization Bill HR 4986, PL 110-81, Section 804 which allowed the Secretary of Defense the ability to waive “Buy American” Provisions. It passed by the House 369-46 with Representative Tiahrt voting Aye. This vote by the entire Kansas delegation effectively allowed the Air Force to make decisions on outsourcing military work to other countries. Campaign donations to Tiahrt can be reviewed by at The Center for Responsive Politics (a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization) website at this link: www.opensecrets.org

“Todd would have you believe that he has been an opponent of ‘outsourcing’ but the truth is he voted for the bill that allowed foreign companies to bid on defense contracts.” “Most people would be shocked to learn that he voted for a bill a few years ago that undermined the ‘Buy American Act’ established in 1933 by giving the Secretary of the Defense the opportunity to let out contracts to foreign governments.”

“I am sure that Representative Tiahrt doesn’t want the public to realize that it was ‘him’ and other members of Congress and not this contract that opened the door to sending our jobs and security overseas,” said Betts. “It is an outrage that he is acting as though he supports Boeing and opposes Grumman when the truth is that he took campaign donations from Grumman,” said Betts. “We should absolutely never outsource our military contracts. The Department of Defense should always use American manufacturing for the sake of insuring the best possible products for our servicemen and women and for our nation’s defense and security.”

In addition to this legislation opening the process to foreign companies, it is important to note that in 2001, both Representative Tiahrt and Senator Roberts started receiving contributions from Grumman’s Political Action Committees (Grumman is the partner with EADS (Airbus) on the tanker project). Shortly thereafter, McCain mounted a campaign to force the Congress and Air Force to drop the Boeing tanker leasing deal introduced in October 2001. McCain bragged during the 2008 campaign for President that he had “saved” the American taxpayer 30 billion dollars by forcing the cancellation of the contract. In May 2003, Roberts voted for the John McCain amendment to the Fiscal Year 2004 military budget (Senate Bill S1050) allowing the Department of Defense to buy military equipment and services from foreign companies, including EADS, undermining the “Buy American Act”. It passed with a 50-48 largely Republican party line vote.

Senator Roberts and Representative Tiahrt are on the Senate and House sub appropriations committees for military spending, yet there is no evidence that they spoke out or tried to stop the cancellation of the Boeing contract in May 2004. Furthermore, the House and Senate in a series of continuing motions eroded the 50% USA content rule used by the Department of Defense by making agreements with 21 foreign countries to grant a waiver from the 50% rule. In other words, the House and Senate declared even if military equipment was manufactured in one of the 21 foreign countries it would be counted as “MADE IN THE USA”. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and President Bush supported these motions as did Roberts and Tiahrt. These motions passed without any reported opposition from Roberts or Tiahrt.

In Fiscal Year 2006 Defense Authorization Act (HR 1815, S1042) contained the authorization for the tanker contract. HR 1815 contained 3 strong Buy American provisions:

a. Section 817 banned the Secretary of Defense from buying military hardware from any foreign company who receives subsidies from a foreign government when that government is a member of the World Trade Organization and applied only when the US is involved in an unresolved WTO dispute over the subsidies or the WTO has ruled the subsidies are illegal. The sole purpose of the amendment was to prohibit Airbus from winning the tanker contract over Boeing.

b. Section 818 required military purchases contain at least 50% USA made content. It would have invalidated the special agreements with 21 foreign countries allowing them to manufacture more than 50% USA military equipment and count it as “made in the USA”

c. Section 1212 would have prevented the US military from buying equipment from foreign companies who have sold items on the USA’s Munitions List to China.

HR 1815 passed the House and was referred to the Senate Armed Services Committee on which Senator Roberts sat. Senator Warner tried to attach the 3 “Buy American” amendments to the Senate defense appropriations bill, but in May 2005 Roberts as a member of the committee dropped the “Buy American” provisions. Grumman teamed with EADS (Airbus) to bid on the tanker in September 2005. The Senate Armed Services Committee stripped “Buy American” provisions out and it passed the Senate Armed Services Committee without any recorded objection from Roberts. On November 15, 2005, the stripped bill passed the Senate with unanimous consent with no recorded objection from Roberts. On that same day, Roberts was named to serve on the conference committee to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate bills. On December 21, 2005, the Senate agreed to the Conference Committee Report by a voice vote, again without the “Buy American” provisions.

Roberts and Tiahrt did not voice their opinions objecting to military contracts involving bidding from foreign companies or foreign countries, yet they have been very vocal as of late to show the voters of Kansas that they are the advocates of keeping military work in the U.S. “Voters need to be alert to realize this is not how they have voted and to realize this is just the latest in their campaign ploys to the public to present a different image,” said Betts.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Go to top >>

September 29, 2008

                                    BETTS TO TIAHRT: YOU VOTED FOR LEGISLATION THAT CAUSED THIS CRISIS

WICHITA, Kan. – State Senator Donald Betts, Jr., issued a statement today that Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) failed consumers when he said that he wouldn’t support the bailout plan without “addressing the reasons our markets are in this situation.” Betts said he was disappointed that Tiahrt is pretending he has no idea of how Wall Street ended up in this predicament. “Tiahrt knows what caused these problems, he voted for the 1999 Financial Services Modernization Act that effectively gutted protections and regulations for investment and commercial banking authorized by President Franklin Roosevelt,” said Betts.
“When you look at all the problems we are facing with our economy today with 143 Americans losing their homes in the next hour and consumers suffering from rising grocery and gasoline prices, it is disgusting that our Congress is not claiming responsibility for passing the legislation that precipitated the Wall Street bailout,” said Betts. “The members of Congress that created this monster, including Congressman Tiahrt, should be held accountable.” I want to assure you that I will always fight for the voice of the people and put people over politics,” said Betts. “People deserve to have a voice in our government and it seems that the special interests and big business have had too much control in Washington D.C. and I plan to change all that when elected,” he said.
Following the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Glass-Steagall act in 1933 to protect our banking system. This legislation addressed the concern of over-speculation by banks and set up regulations for investment and commercial banking. The 1999 Financial Services Modernization Act essentially destroyed the 1933 legislation. With the bailout of Bear Stearns by Congress in March (legislation Tiahrt voted for), the takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in September, and the Federal Reserve’s help to AIG, the focus of the entire world is on the U.S. market which continues to teeter erratically. “It is such a shame that our great leaders such as President Roosevelt spent so much time ensuring legislative controls were put into place, only to have them shattered in 1999,” he said.

With the Stock Market falling over 700 points today with news of Congress not approving the bailout, many Americans are concerned about how it will affect their savings, retirement and long-term future. Senator Betts said today, “People in this country need to be reassured that they will not lose their life savings, retirements, and mortgages in lieu of the chaos on Wall Street.” “There is concern and the people need to be sure that Congress is on-the-job,” he added.
Betts is running for the 4th Congressional seat currently held by Todd Tiahrt who has been in office since 1994. Betts has been actively working for Kansans since 2002, when he was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives. He went on to serve in the Senate, bridging party lines to focus on the important issues that affect everyone including support for education through the Workforce Kansas Quick Careers. Among his many accomplishments, Betts took a stand against the practices of genocide with Senate Substitute for HB 2457 which was signed into law divesting Kansas Public Employee Retirement Funds from Darfur. “It has been my pleasure to represent Kansans in Topeka but I believe that now is the time to make their voices heard in Washington, D.C.,” said Betts. “Our nation is in an economic crisis and people are hurting – it’s time to make some choices to make our country strong again and to be fair to everyone, not just the special interests.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Go to top >>

                                   TIAHRT RECEIVED OVER $500,000 IN BANKING INDUSTRY CONTRIBUTIONS

WICHITA, Kan. – Two days ago, The Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C., noted that Congressman Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) received $542,631 in banking industry campaign contributions while in Congress and voted for the 1999 legislation which dramatically altered the U.S. banking industry. The Centers’ website, www.opensecrets.org, listed Members of Congress who voted for the passage of the 1999 Financial Services Modernization Act (also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley bill) which essentially allowed for the mega-growth of the largest banks in the U.S. and their subsequent risky lending practices. The website also listed other members of Congress which voted for the legislation and the subsequent financial contributions they received from the industry.
Following the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Glass-Steagall act in 1933 to protect our banking system. This legislation addressed the concern of over-speculation by banks and set up regulations for investment and commercial banking. The 1999 Financial Services Modernization Act essentially gutted this historic legislation in 1933. With the bailout of Bear Stearns by Congress in March (legislation Tiahrt voted for), the takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in September, and the Federal Reserve’s help to AIG, the focus of the entire world is on the U.S. market which continues to teeter erratically.
In reviewing the votes from the 1999 legislation, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, found that members of Congress that voted for the lifting of restrictions on commercial banking, investment banks and insurance companies, received over two-times more financial donations from them as the legislators that opposed it. Further information also showed that Tiahrt received the following contributions: $24,700 from commercial bank contributions; $6,500 from Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac; $4,050 from Morgan Stanley (one of the world’s top investment banks); $3,000 from Citigroup; $1,000 from Merrill Lynch; $2,000 from Bank of America. With companies such as Morgan Stanley which favors privatizing Social Security and deregulating the banking industry, you can see the effects of that in today’s Wall Street market.

As President Bush and members of Congress work out the details for a $700 billion taxpayer bailout of financial markets, many Americans are concerned about how it will affect their savings, retirement and long-term future. Senator Betts said today, “I believe the recent developments on Wall Street prove that without proper regulation, greed runs rampant and can undermine the economic foundation of this country. “A stable economy that people can depend on is one of the most important factors in America’s security equation, said Betts. Former SEC chairman William H. Donaldson told Bill Moyers on October 31,, 2007, that without proper regulations in place, capitalism will become dysfunctional. I agree with him,” Betts continued.
“We’ve tried deregulation,” said Betts, “and that has led us to our current economic crisis. Now that we are in a crisis mode, however, we need to be very careful because each bailout invites the next round of speculative excess. And, every time we repeat this cycle, we get bigger and riskier bubbles.” “Every bailout,” explained Betts, “is a two-edged sword that we need to handle very carefully so we don’t injure the economy any more than it is already injured.”
Betts said it is unfortunate that taxpayers will have to foot the bill for the banking crisis to avoid financial disaster for this country. “However, because the taxpayer is being called on to bear the brunt of this fiasco,” said Betts, “I think it’s only fair that the taxpayer’s representatives in Washington have the right to monitor the mechanisms that will be put in place to correct this deregulation-caused fiasco and Congress has a right to legislate strict controls to protect the taxpayers’ investment.” “When you look at all the problems we are facing with our economy today with 143 Americans losing their homes in the next hour and consumers suffering from rising grocery and gasoline prices, it is disgusting that our Congress is not claiming responsibility for passing the legislation that precipitated the Wall Street bailout,” said Betts. “The members of Congress that created this monster, including Congressman Tiahrt, should be held accountable.” I want to assure you that I will always fight for the voice of the people and put people over politics,” said Betts. “People deserve to have a voice in our government and it seems that the special interests and big business have had too much control in Washington D.C. and I plan to change all that when elected,” he said.
Betts is running for the 4th Congressional seat currently held by Todd Tiahrt who has been in office since 1994. Betts has been actively working for Kansans since 2002, when he was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives. He went on to serve in the Senate, bridging party lines to focus on the important issues that affect everyone including support for education through the Workforce Kansas Quick Careers. Among his many accomplishments, Betts took a stand against the practices of genocide with Senate Substitute for HB 2457 which was signed into law divesting Kansas Public Employee Retirement Funds from Darfur. “It has been my pleasure to represent Kansans in Topeka but I believe that now is the time to make their voices heard in Washington, D.C.,” said Betts. “Our nation is in an economic crisis and people are hurting – it’s time to make some choices to make our country strong again and to be fair to everyone, not just the special interests.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Go to top >>

September 19, 2008

BETTS  HOLDS HARVEY COUNTY TOWNE HALL MEETING ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 AT 10:00 A.M.

 WICHITA, Kan. – State Senator Donald Betts, Jr. (D-Wichita), candidate for 4^th District Congressman, today announced that he will be holding a free public “Towne Hall Meeting” event in Harvey County on Tuesday, September 23, 2008.  The event will be held at the Daylight Donuts Woody’z, 349 N. Old 81 Highway in Hesston from 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. and is free and open to the public.

Contact:  Lisa Reiss, Press Secretary - (316) 312-7777

BETTS  HOLDS COWLEY COUNTY TOWNE HALL MEETING ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 AT 10:00 A.M.

WICHITA, Kan. – State Senator Donald Betts, Jr. (D-Wichita), candidate for 4^th District Congressman, today announced that he will be holding a free public “Towne Hall Meeting” event in Cowley County on Monday, September 22, 2008.  The event will be held at the Graves Drugstore at 212 S. Summit Street in Ark City from 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. and is free and open to the public.

TIAHRT’S ENERGY COMMENTS OUT OF TOUCH

WICHITA, Kan. – State Senator Donald Betts, Jr. today said that Rep. Todd Tiahrt is the one being foolish about Kansas energy needs.  Senator Betts was responding to comments by Rep. Todd Tiahrt yesterday at the Republican National Convention where Tiahrt called Governor Kathleen Sebelius’ actions “foolish” in blocking construction of a coal-fired power plant in western Kansas. Betts said, “We would have been foolish to approve a bill that would not have positively affected Kansas, or our future energy needs.”

Senator Betts,  who served in the Kansas Senate during the hearings on the coal-fire plant,  said that  85 percent  of the power that would have been generated by that plant would have been sold to power companies in Colorado and Texas.  The 15 percent of the energy that would have remained would not have satisfied our needs in the future.”

Betts  said that Tiahrt has little knowledge of the Kansas Legislature’s actions and his comments show that he did not  know where the energy would have been exported.  “It is interesting that Todd is focused on state matters instead of solving our federal energy needs.  For example, why did he vote to kill a bill (HR6264) that would have ended speculation in the oil industry?”

“We need to expand the use of clean, renewable types of energy and raise energy efficiency standards,” said Betts.  “After 14 years in Congress, its interesting that it just now occurred to Todd that we need to plan for the future with regards to energy needs and the increasing price of gasoline,” said Betts.

“Encouraging dependence on oil, a finite natural resource, delays the hard, long-term solutions to the energy crisis,” said Betts. “Our challenge is not easy. The problem has been brewing since the deregulation of oil during the Reagan administration. So, the solutions are tough. They involve changing our behavior and finding alternatives to the current situation,” said Betts.

“I favor tightening controls on oil speculation, motivating alternate fuel production, decreasing demand for oil and creating incentives for the use of electricity in public transportation.  These and other creative initiatives will provide comprehensive, realistic, longer-term solutions to the energy crisis,” said Betts. “Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is not the answer, and even Senator McCain agrees with this,” he added.  “Children born in the year 2000 will not feel the affects of drilling in ANWR until they get to college, if they can afford to attend at that time.” 

“Representative Tiahrt’s solution tries to treat the symptoms of a much bigger problem – what is happening with our economy,” continued Betts.  “We must take on the Big Oil companies that reported record profits in May of this year – Exxon Mobil reported profits of $10.89 Billion and this is just one company,” said Betts.  An Associated Press report recently in the Wichita Eagle says, ‘the five biggest international oil companies plowed about 55 percent of the cash they made from their businesses into stock buybacks and dividends last year…. ‘
Betts said that “gasoline prices are symptomatic of a much bigger problem, such as the high prices of groceries, the health care crisis, and the costs of the Iraq War.”  “We must deal with the economy first and foremost – we cannot stop the blood-letting with duct tape.” 

Betts is running for the 4th Congressional seat currently held by Tiahrt, who has been in office since 1994. Betts has been actively working for Kansans since 2002, when he was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives. He went on to serve in the Senate, bridging party lines to focus on the important issues that affect everyone including support for education through the Workforce Kansas Quick Careers.  Betts took a stand against the practices of genocide with Senate Substitute for HB 2457 which was signed into law divesting Kansas Public Employee Retirement Funds from Darfur.  “It has been my pleasure to represent Kansans in Topeka but I believe that now is the time to make their voices heard in Washington, D.C.,” said Betts.

Downloads :

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Go to top >>

BETTS TO SPEAK AT
OBAMA NOMINATION PARTY IN WICHITA:

To Introduce A Member of Senator Barack Obama’s Family

WICHITA, Kan. – State Senator Donald Betts, Jr., will speak at the Barack Obama Democratic Presidential Nomination Party tonight at Torre’s Pizza, 131 Rock Island Street (Old Town) in Wichita at 6:00 p.m.  Betts will be introducing a member of Senator Obama’s family at tonight’s event.  Doors open at 6:00 p.m. and Senator Betts will speak between 7:30 and 8:00 p.m. 

It is free and open to the public.  “There is a great movement sweeping this nation to change the course of our future.  The policies of the last eight years have damaged this country, our economy, our future, and our reputation.  This is our year to change the course,” said Betts.