From: alra@governance.net Subject: Kerry Named Enemy of Property Rights Land Rights Network American Land Rights Association PO Box 400 – Battle Ground, WA 98604 Phone: 360-687-3087 – Fax: 360-687-2973 E-mail: alra@landrights.org or alra@governance.net Web Address: http://www.landrights.org Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE – Washington, DC 20003 Kerry Named Enemy of Property Rights FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 14, 2003 CONTACT: Chuck Cushman (360) 687-3087 League of Private Property Voters Names John Kerry and John Edwards Enemies of Property Rights (BATTLE GROUND, WA) – The League of Private Property Voters (LPPV) today released an analysis of the votes of Senator John Kerry (D-MA) and John Edwards (D-SC) from the Private Property Congressional Vote Index from 1999 through 2003. Every Senator and Representative who scores at least 80% receives a "Champion" of Private Property Right’s certificate. Every Member who gets 20% or less is rated an "Enemy" of Private Property Rights. Full size examples of actual "Champion" and "Enemy" certificates are printed in each Vote Index. Senator Kerry achieved a score of “zero” on private property and resource issues all five years. Senator Edwards score was 14% for 2001, 20% for 2002 and “zero” for 2003 the only years he was in the Senate. Senator Kerry was given the prestigious positioning in the scorecard by having his “Enemy of Property Rights” certificate printed full size inside. Senator Kerry voted multiple times to stop death tax repeal and against ranchers with grazing permits. He supported stopping Klamath River irrigation, for political speech restrictions, against oil and gas exploration in national monuments, for international court powers, against forest fire protection funding, against the Healthy Forest Act, for a farmland land grab, for a tax break for land trusts, and co-sponsored the Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA), the largest land grab bill in history. A greater search of Senator Kerry’s record shows that in the late 90’s he opposed working toward energy independence by opposing drilling in ANWR on the coastal plain of Alaska, opposed the Private Property Rights Implementation Act, opposed RS 2477 Rights-of-way, and opposed sales of excess Federal land. Senator Edwards opposed repealing the death tax several times, supported environmental pork projects, and a tax break for land trusts. He supported political speech restrictions, opposed oil and gas exploration in national monuments, supported giving an international court powers over US Soldiers and others, and against fire protection funding. For comparison purposes, President George Bush supported drilling at ANWR on coastal plain of Alaska, supported the Healthy Forest Initiative, supported repealing the death tax, supported exploration for oil and gas in national monuments, was against giving US Sovereignty to international courts, and supported forest fire protection funding. The League of Private Property Voters is a national non-partisan coalition of over 600 co-sponsoring organizations including the American Land Rights Association, Alliance for America, People for the USA, Blue Ribbon Coalition, American Policy Center, numerous Farm Bureaus, mining, grazing, forestry and agriculture groups as well as most national, regional and local private property, multiple-use and taxpayer organizations. The 2003 Private Property Congressional Vote Index is available in both printed form and on our highly regarded landrights.org website. Go to http://www.landrights.org for the complete 2003 Private Property Congressional Vote Index including all the individual scores for every Senator and Representative. Previous editions of the Vote Index are available at http://www.landrights.org as well. From American Land Rights and the Land Rights Network: Of particular interest in light of his debate statements about making America less dependent on foreign oil is his record of having constantly fought against opening up a tiny portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil production. Existing North Slope Production is running down. Opening ANWR seems a prudent place to work toward energy independence. On April 20, 2004 Tony Knowles (D-AK), former Governor of Alaska, now running for the Senate, said: “With all due respect to the party’s nominee, on the issue of responsible development of the coastal plain and meeting America’s energy needs, John Kerry is just wrong,” From a Kerry Press Release. Kerry needs to be confronted with how he is going to make America less dependent on foreign oil. Action Items: -----1. Make plans now to vote. Try not to let anything stand in your way. -----2. Call at least three friends to make sure they are committed to voteing. Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA) lost his bid for re-election in 2000 because a small number of voters in Eastern Washington who would likely have voted for him did not get to the polls. That vote ultimately led to the US Senate changing hands. One vote really makes a difference. -----3. Go to http://www.landrights.org and look at the voting record of your Congressman and both Senators. This will tell you how they really voted on your issues, not how they said they voted. -----4. Print out a copy of the Private Property Congressional Vote Index off the website. Make a few copies for your friends. -----5. At the very least, print out the “Enemy of Property Rights” certificate for John Kerry off the website and hand them out to your friends. They’ll love them. People in past elections have used these “Champion” and “Enemy” certificates as newspaper advertisements. Please forward this message to as many people as possible. -- To unsubscribe from this mailing list; please visit http://governance.net and enter your email address.