CD-21 candidates address Central Texas Republican Assembly

"When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice;
But when a wicked man rules, the people groan."
Proverbs 29:2

The Central Texas Republican Assembly held a special meeting this afternoon to hear from Congressman Lamar Smith; Matt McCall, his main opponent in the March primary, briefly addressed the group as well.

Smith's Prepared Remarks:



Highlights:

• Obama bad re: Keystone.

• Budget deal bad

• Paul Ryan -- re: Immigration - Saying the right things though he hasn't done them in the past.
• Something, something, "regular order."
• Phony crises followed by rushed bills: "That time is over."

• Kevin Braday as Ways and Means chair good.

• Iran deal bad.

• EPA bad

• National Science Foundation wasting lots of money.

• Patent Reform -- Sponsored "America Invents Act."
• Sponsored by Democrat Pat Leahy from Vermont in Senate.
• Heritage writes about the 2011 version of the bill: "The patent reform legislation pending in Congress has a serious flaw: It delegates to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) of the Department of Commerce the power to both hike the fees imposed on Americans who deal with the USPTO and then spend the revenue derived from those fees, without any further congressional exercise of the appropriations power. When the House of Representatives considers the patent reform bill, it should, in addition to addressing any other flaws in the bill, adopt an amendment to provide that the USPTO may spend the revenues it receives from fees “to the extent and in the amounts provided in advance in appropriations Acts” and not make the fees available to the USPTO to expend without fiscal year limitation."

Smith Q&A:

Highlights:

• Why should we send you back after 30 years of the problems getting worse?!?
• Blames Harry Reid and John Bohener.
• Seniority -- Typically takes 20 to 25 years to become a chairman.
• Author's Note -- We can think of no greater condemnation of the status quo than the statement above.

• "What assurances did you get" from Ryan re: Amnesty?!?
• Ryan doesn't trust Obama.
• Hastert rule.
• Sends reading material to other members re: Border Issues.

• Attending official candidate forum?!?
• "We'll see who files."

• "America invents" act screws small inventors.
• "I hope you're an outlier."

• How many calls did you get re: Bohenher and Ryan?!?
• Wouldn't answer but did say his office usually gets about 500 constituent contacts per week and that it takes a dozen contacts to get their attention and about 50 to flip their vote.

• Will the pattern we've seen at the state level (coalition of D's and liberal R's running everything) continue at the federal level?!?
• Give Paul Ryan a chance.

Matt McCall's remarks:

Highlights:

• "I'm Matt McCall and I'm running against Mr. Smith."

• "On the one hand he tell us he's this senior powerful member of congress...on the other hand he tells us he's only one out of 435."

• Over 30 years, which one of our values has Mr. Smith advanced?!?
• Debt up from $2 trillion to $20 trillion.
• 60.  MILLION.  ABORTIONS.

• If Paul Ryan can skip several levels of seniority to become speaker, seniority doesn't matter.

• "One man can do a lot."

Bottom Line: The contrast between a 30-year incumbent like Lamar Smith and a grassroots candidate like Matt McCall speaks for itself; thanks to both gentlemen for taking time out of their day to address the group.