By Lindy J. Gwinn, Mountain Valley News staff
Grant Pearman of Cedaredge is going to do something he has not done in more than forty years. He is going to change affiliation, register and vote as a Republican in the 2010 November elections.
Pearman told Bob McConnell, who is running against Scott Tipton in the August primary, “Because of you and what you believe, and because I think that you will fight for the people you represent, I am going to do something that I have not done in 40 years. I am going to register as a Republican and vote for you.”
McConnell told the attendees at his meet-and-greet at the Appleshed in Cedaredge last week, that John Salazar is a tough opponent. “He is a tough candidate, he is folksy and people like him. He has a tough staff working for him. We are going to have to fight for this seat. I am angry, frustrated and concerned, and I am running for this seat so that I can fight for all of you who are angry, frustrated, and concerned,” said McConnell.
“I am a historian, and I think about things like what happens when politicians beg for money for their campaigns. Historians think about these things. If we can make a candidate beg, you can break him like a horse. I see every contribution as a sacred trust and I won’t beg, I won’t be broke and I won’t be bought,” he said.
“My belief is that we are one nation under God. There are people that say I am to bull-headed to compromise. I’ll compromise, but not if the compromise is evil,” said McConnell.
“We live in a world full of evil, and no place is it more clear than our national debt. Admiral Mike Mullen, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said that out national debt is the number one risk to national security. I will fight to cut that debt and there are several places I want to start. I want to immediately repeal the Endangered Species Act, and the EPA is completely out of control. We need to de-fund the National Health Care Act, and Repeal the Federal Reserve Act. We need less federal government and to give the states back their rights to govern,” said McConnell.
McConnell says he is a big 10th Amendment guy. “I think that we need to rein in the federal government and ensure the individual states rights,” he said.
“We’re all Arizonians right now. When the federal government files suit against a state, that is wrong. I have a lot of confidence in this Supreme Court, in that it will stand by the state’s right on this issue,” said McConnell.
Because McConnell is a retired Airborne Ranger Colonel, a question was raised over the recent news concerning General Stanley McCrystal’s interview and consequences of that interview with Rolling Stone Magazine.
“McCrystal put himself in a bad situation and he made a mistake. The tragedy is that he is a great war fighter,” he said.
“I have a list of people that I would like to have resign when I get to Washington. I want resignations from Janet Napolitano from her position of Secretary of Homeland Security, Attorney General, Eric Holder for his refusal to respond to the allegations that some high ranking official offered Andrew Romanoff, seeking the US Senate seat now held by incumbent and Obama appointed Michael Bennett, a high ranking position if he would back out of the US Senate race in 2010. I want to add Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Ben Beranke, to my list of people to ask for a resignation. President Barak Obama is on that list and so is Secretary of Agriculture Ken Salazar,” said McConnell.
“This whole Financial Reform Act just created a new consumer protection agency that falls under the Federal Reserve, who are a whole bunch of cartels of banks too huge to fail. That’s like putting the fox to guard the hen house. We need to sharpen the competitive edge, not the way the feds {sic} are going about it. You sharpen competitive edge by risk of failure because they are not motivated to succeed.”
“I have been asked if I would join in to impeach President Obama. I don’t think that is where the fight is. I would rather spend energy impeaching judges. The House of Representatives has two great powers. They control the purse and they have the power of impeaching judges. If we control the purse on this administration and focus on impeaching judges that want to interpret the Constitution rather than apply the Constitution I think it would be more effective,”he said.
Tom Jones shared his concerns about the Tea Party movement with McConnell. “I agree with the Tea Party ideology and principals but I am concerned that now is not the time to split the Republican vote and put forth a third party candidate,” said Jones.
“I shared your concerns about the Tea Party early on. I think that would not be the thing to do at this time. What I saw when I went to the State Assembly, was that the Republican Party is about who shows up as delegates,” McConnell responded.
“I have seen the Tea Party people get involved at the local levels, become delegates, and most of the delegates at the State Assembly were people that had never been delegates before. I think the Tea Party people have created incredible energy in the party. They want conservative values brought back to this party. I think they are sending a loud message and I believe they are getting through to the Republicans that they want to return to those values. They want their elected officials to fight for those values. For far too long we trusted our sacred leaders and they have betrayed us.” said McConnell.
McConnell told attendees that he has finally had a confirmed sighting of current congressman from the 3rd District, John Salazar.
“We were in Kim," McConnell recalled, "And I was standing there at a function wondering out loud if John Salazar would be there. A man who had walked up and stood just behind and beside me said, ‘I am John Salazar‘. He started talking about how he had been working his fields and how he was looking forward to retiring so that he could return to his ranch. I shook his hand told him that in November, he could retire. He then told me that he wanted to serve at least two more terms, and I said, ‘no I think in November.’”
