Pete Ashdown

ST. GEORGE, UTAH – The Spectrum and Cedar City Daily News are sponsoring a debate between Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Democratic candidate Pete Ashdown from 10:50 to 11:40 a.m. Wednesday at Tuacahn’s indoor auditorium, 1100 N. Tuacahn Drive in Ivins.

Questions from the community are being solicited through Saturday to pose to the candidates. Please contact editorial page editor Jennifer Weaver at (435) 674-6202 or e-mail jeweaver@thespectrum.com with your questions.

A late night tonight with an infant daughter who woke up in a coughing fit. My wife Robin gives her some medicine while I down another “Airborne” in an effort to ward off potential bugs. My schedule has been extremely busy these days and it is hard to find enough time to eat, let alone sleep. Yet I pick up the laptop tonight because my mind has fallen out of neutral gear.

Sorting through my email, I find another example of immigration service bungling. Another law-abiding individual who tried to go through the legal immigration system is being harassed by INS and readied for deportation. In spite of the media frenzy over Mark Foley, the real scar on America these days is the detainee treatment bill that has gone ignored since ABC made the evening news X-rated. A congress that can’t agree on sensible immigration reform has plenty of time to savage American ideals at the behest of the executive branch, all while they bumble over their inability to monitor their own members’ Internet use inside the capitol complex.

When I was recruited to the Salt Lake Rotary Club, I was a bit taken aback by the reciting of the pledge before the meeting. It had literally been decades since I had said those words. College and business hadn’t given much call for it in the day-to-day. The words are not forgotten, having been imprinted on my mind in grade school, but they mean so much more to me now. As I watch individuals being yanked from the American dream for no good reason and foreign prisoners assumed to be guilty before proven innocent, I look for the simple foundation of the ideals I hold dear.

“With liberty and justice for all.” Did Francis Bellamy make a mistake in 1892? Did he mean to write, “With liberty and justice for only Americans?” I don’t believe so. I don’t believe the founding fathers were ruminating over keeping their ideals bound solely to our shores when they risked their lives to plant liberty in the soil of a new nation. As Americans we are set to a higher standard, not only in how we treat our fellow man, but especially in how we treat the accused and the immigrant.

I believe that those who wish to do harm to the innocent should be locked away for a very long time. I believe that if you commit a felony while waiting for citizenship then that opportunity should be revoked. But justice should be swift and it should be fair. Punishing the guilty does not require abusing the innocent. Throughout the wrangling in our nation’s capitol over how to treat the enemy combatants I never once heard the words, “Do to others what you would have them do to you.” Although many advocate American law being rooted in the Bible, the “Golden Rule” is consistently forgotten, or perhaps it has been replaced by another “Golden Rule”, “He who has the gold makes the rules.”

The final crunch of this campaign is here. The billboards for the incumbent proclaiming his ownership of all good adjectives have appeared. I ask of you two simple things, tell everyone you know and meet of this campaign and always reach out to those who are need. If you wish to help a law-abiding individual doing his best to live and build the American dream, then give some consideration to Guillermo Colmenero. Email his supporters Terry and Ruby.

The campaign is currently engaged in a registration push for new voters. Several stylish and artistic registration flyers for campus bulletin boards, clubs, schools, and elsewhere have been designed by my lovely and talented wife Robin. They are all available for download and printing here.

In addition, the same literature I use for canvassing and events is available for you to download and print. This is especially useful in educating friends, neighbors, and associates about my campaign for U.S. Senate. You can either get it in an 8.5″x11″ size suitable for most printers or use what I use, in 11″x17″. Most print shops can either take these files from you on CD or USB drive, or download them directly from the website if you want to really get busy. Alternatively, if you want to pick up literature for distribution or have us mail you some please contact the campaign staff.

I sincerely hope this PAC knows how to properly verify online votes, even if they don’t know how to list candidates alphabetically. So once again, I ask of you dear volunteers and supporters to lay your email address on the line in the combined effort to turn the Democratic donkey head towards Utah. Russ Feingold’s “Progressive Patriots Fund” is having an online election.

Go to this web page:
http://www.progressivepatriotsfund.com/pickapatriot/vote5.html

Then scroll down to the bottom to find my picture. Fill out the form and vote! Please pass this on to your friends, neighbors, and associates.

Pete Ashdown

Being on the trail has left little time for blogging or even catching up on my email. Sporadic availability of the Internet and my fickle MacBook Pro hasn’t made it any easier. Here are a number of quickies.

The wheels have come off this campaign, literally. While I was returning back from my last day of appointments in Washington D.C. I received the call that the left two rear wheels had come off the motor-home while Field Coordinator Justin Daniels was driving it to Saint George for the Lions Round-Up I was going to attend on Saturday. My father arrived on the scene at “Point of the Mountain” in Salt Lake County and jacked up the motor-home and put the wheels back on. Miraculously, nobody was hurt and although the axle had dragged, the motor-home did not have major damage and was able to get back on the road again.

The reward for catching and prosecuting sign thief is now up to $1550, thanks to a friend in Holladay who woke up one morning this week to find his sign gone. I condemn all sign theft, regardless of party or candidate. I can’t speak for the other pledges, but my $500 will reward anyone who catches a prosecutable sign thief regardless of candidate or party.

My meetings in Washington D.C. were enlightening if not immediately rewarding. One of the best was a 90 minute discussion with Senator Durbin’s chief of staff, Ed Greelegs. His surprising comment was over campaign finance reform when I suggested shared donation pools, “You’ve really thought about this haven’t you?” Isn’t that what Senators are supposed to do? Ed was also crucial in getting us to our next Capitol appointment via the hilarious Senate Subway and Brazil-like steam tunnel passages in the bowels of the complex.

It would seem that 90% of D.C. is 20-something. The fact that most elected officials in congress can’t find their way to the door without a staffer pointing them to it gives way to rampant speculation as to who is actually running the country.

The Lincoln Memorial is awe inspiring. My previous visit to Washington did not afford time to visit many of the sites, so this was the first time I have seen it. I was hoping to be able to conduct the scheduled chat from that location but could not find a wireless signal. A group by the name of Open Park has been trying to establish free wireless on the mall for the last two years. Looks like an opportunity for me to help them.

Marshall Thompson is a former military journalist who served in Iraq. He is walking from the top of Utah to the bottom in October to call for peace. Check out his website here.

The Lions Round-Up in Saint George is quite an event. It is one of the numerous timeless scenes that I have had the good fortune to gaze upon throughout this campaign. Today I am going to spend some time in Zion Park. Be sure to track the progress of the Blue Eagle online at the new Campaign Trips tracker. If you live in an unvisited spot, let me know! Organize a “Meet the Candidate” and I will be there!

The events of this week have turned my thoughts to war. President Bush, Condoleeza Rice, and Donald Rumsfeld all spoke in Salt Lake of the necessity for “winning” the war on terrorism. United they stated that there is no alternative other than absolute victory. What I wonder is whether they, or more importantly, the American people, realize what is required to “win”.

There is no doubt that America and its allies won World War I and World War II. In each case, on all fronts, our enemies deemed themselves divine rulers and militarized their populations right down to the children. The enemy was not only ruthless and aggressive, they spoke as the hands of the almighty, and their countries believed them. No atrocity was out of line, no diplomacy could stop their bestowed destinies. They were on a path to world conquest. It is not much different from the Islamic extremists the United States is locked in a struggle with today.

How did we defeat them? To me the answer is simple. We beat them until they begged for mercy. We bombed their cities, then bombed the rubble. We deconstructed their societies and faith in their leaders brick by brick until there was nothing left. The surrender of Emperor Hirohito was also a dethroning of a country’s divine ruler and an end to a form of worship. Hitler died at his own hand. Mussolini was hung and his corpse beaten in the public square after the hardships his country faced. These victories were delivered to the American people via newspaper and newsreel.

The Vietnam war changed the face of war in that the public became intimate with its intrinsic horrors. The image of naked children running from napalm dropped by Americans was reprinted in every newspaper in the USA. It is an image that burns the cost of war into the minds of anyone who has seen it. As a result, American efforts have been carefully tailored to be more appetizing to the general public. “Surgical strikes” are somehow technologically possible, where bombs only seek out evil-doers and those who wish harm to America. Every bullet finds only the guilty.

Yet the images still come. Dead, blinded, and limbless children. Destroyed homes. Family members crying in anguish over their loss. Transmitted all over the world, the horrific internals of war makes the overall effort unpopular.

It would seem to me that if this administration truly desires victory in Iraq, they should act as the bigger bastard. A roadside bomb equals the loss of a city block, a penetration into secured barracks equals the flattening of the town square. The bombings lose their precision and in turn are escalated to the point of destroying an entire civilization. Is that what was advocated this week by American leadership and applauded by the American legion? Is America ready for the wholesale killing of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people? The victory of World War II came at the cost of 62 million lives. Iraq will spill into Iran, Syria, Pakistan, Israel, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia. The entire middle east will not only be soaked with oil, it will be soaked with blood.

That is what victory demands. There are no other ways to “win” a war.

I do not believe Americans can support such a proposition and neither do I. Since John Murtha proposed withdrawal from Iraq, the debate has been locked in a stranglehold between “stay the course” and “timetable for withdrawal” with no movement towards peace in either direction. This lack of resolution bothered me last year until someone contributed the idea of asking the Iraqi people through referendum on my wiki, which is what I have been advocating for ever since. The Iraqi people can take responsibility for their future, but if they continue to need our help, they should ask for it. Whether or not they slide into civil war is something that Americans cannot prevent by standing in the middle.

War should be robustly debated and declared formally by our congress. If Americans are not willing to bear the humanitarian and financial cost required for victory, then such a declaration should be very rare indeed.

With my nose to the grindstone in this race, it is all too easy to forget the other contributions dedicated Utahns are making throughout this state. One person in particular who has made deep sacrifices for his state and country is Steve Olsen.

Steve was asked by the party to run in the 1st congressional district after Democratic State Committee Chair Wayne Holland received a book authored by Steve titled, “Why Most Utahns are Democrats and Just Don’t Know it Yet”. Steve bravely took on the challenge in spite of full time commitments to his job and his church. We have seen each other at many events and I have marveled at Steve’s ability to build bridges and convince even the most staunch Republican.

He has also shown a healthy dose of humor in his campaign. Many prominent parades have turned down challengers from entering for reasons unknown. Olsen refused to take “no” for an answer and asked instead if they needed someone to clean up after the horses. His presence in the parade is then taken by a small tractor and trailer with “Farmer Steve” cleaning up with a shovel. The trailer is bannered simply and effectively, “Help Steve Olsen Clean Up Washington”.

Steve has blog entries periodically on his race and politics. His entry on “Church and State” is positively luminary. He blogged earlier this week about the Cindy Sheehan visit and was once again spot on.

I will be voting for Steve Olsen this year, even though I live in Salt Lake City. My neighborhood was sliced out of Jim Matheson’s district a few years back. I will be proud to do so, and I am proud to display his sign in my front yard.

This is the kind of congressman Utah needs. Give Steve Olsen your support.

President Bush will be attending a fund raising dinner for my cash strapped opponent, Senator Hatch.

In response to this, I am personally buying dinner for up to 150 people at the Alta Club on August 29th at 6:00 PM. This dinner will be financed out of my pocket and will not draw from campaign donations. What I ask of the attendees to this dinner is to make a sizable donation to a charity of your choice that deals with hunger in America. I will have a list of suggested charities at the dinner and my staff will collect and tabulate and send the donations. No charity is coordinating with the campaign on this dinner, they are simply receiving the donations as designated by the attendees.

Senator Hatch, President Bush, Secretary Rice and anyone else are welcome to attend this dinner.

This is not a campaign fund raiser and donations to my campaign will not be funneled to this event or the charities. If you wish to make a donation to a hunger charity in response to this effort outside of the event on the 29th, please let me know.

If you can attend the event on the 29th, please RSVP by Friday, August 25th. Choose chicken, beef, or vegetarian menu items.

Also, we still have a number of free tickets left for the volunteer event at the Bees baseball game 7:00 PM this Thursday the 24th. Contact Justin at the campaign if you can attend.

It appears that the “sign war” has begun. Last night, all of our signs in the Salt Lake Foothill area magically disappeared, including a 10 foot banner that was zip-tied to a brick wall. All of the signs, including the banner, were on private property.

Equally magical is the fact that Republican signs have suddenly appeared in the same area.

So here’s the deal. First, check out our sign map and let us know if your sign is not on the map. Please consider sending us a digital picture of the sign in your yard. Second, I’m offering $500 to anyone who can get video or a picture of an identifiable individual removing or vandalizing any Democrat’s sign located on private property. I’m sure there are a number of webcam ninjas who will delight in this challenge. Set the bait, spring the trap, and wait for the rat.

The campaign has a lot of signs waiting for deployment at headquarters right now. The office is at 780 East South Temple in Salt Lake. Every time a sign is stolen or taken down, replace it, but also find two additional neighbors to take signs in protest.

Update: Rob Miller has pledged an additional $500 on my bounty. Thanks Rob!
Joe Spencer has pledged $50!

This morning I fell through the looking-glass when I heard Senator Hatch being interviewed on KCPW. It is a strange world, where you can accuse the other side of partisanship and obstructionism while claiming you have never done it yourself.

Lara Jones, the interviewer, asked Senator Hatch if he was going to debate his opponent. I was looking forward to his answer because in spite of requesting a debate via registered letter, I’ve heard nothing in response. The closest thing to an answer is Hatch campaign manager Dave Hansen fumbling the ball in response to Ethan Millard at SLCSpin. Even though Senator Hatch has most of August off, campaign season apparently hasn’t started yet.

Senator Hatch’s answer? “I’ve never refused a debate in my life.” I suppose that is accurate. He didn’t refuse my request for debate, he ignored it. I gave him opportunity to debate anywhere, anytime, and this is written off in the same breath as, “We’re not going to do it to the ridiculous extreme.”

The seven Lincoln/Douglas debates started in August and were held all over the state of Illinois. I ask Senator Hatch to merely match this effort. Instead of waiting until the last week of October to have one or two, let us allow the public to ask us questions in several open debate forums. Note that Democrat Jim Matheson has already agreed to six debates with his Republican challenger. The Utah State Fair falls in Dave Hansen’s “campaign season”, I see little reason not to have the first debate then.

In any case, Senator Hatch and myself are not the only candidates in this race. The other candidates have graciously agreed to debate this Saturday, August 12th, at 10:30 AM in the Salt Lake City Public Library. I hope to see you there.