But not all of the people, all of the time.  My opponent has leveled some serious charges about me and my record during this campaign.  Some of these are malicious, others are just because he doesn’t understand what he reads and doesn’t understand the job he is seeking. Some of the more ridiculous include:

Saying I support “No Child Left Behind” - I DO NOT. 

(http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/254041/58/) or see (http://www.chriscannon.com/issues/education)

Saying I have abandoned conservative principles - I HAVE NOT.

(Would someone who abandoned conservative principles be one of only THREE members of Congress to vote against expanding SCHIP? (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2007-1184) or still maintaining the highest ACU rating in Utah.(http://www.acuratings.org/2007all.htm#UT)

I have serious ethical problems - I BELIEVE IN OPEN AND TRANSPARENT GOVERNMENT.

The only ethical issue ever raised about my office was by the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW.  Not one of their allegations has any merit.  For my opponent to use an organization that prides itself on being , “the progressive counterweight to Judicial Watch” (http://www.billingsgazette.com/newdex.php?display=rednews/2005/10/02/build/state/55-corrupt-label.inc) is beyond the pale for a Republican.  CREW is even funded by George Soros…but my opponent still tries to use their attacks.

But those are not the most recent or the most ridiculous.  My opponent has been on the radio and in print, telling people that “Chris Cannon voted for the largest budget, and hence the largest deficit, in American history.”  THAT IS 100%, NOT TRUE, and I will show you, and my opponent why.  When I do, I call upon him to repudiate his previous comments and stop lying to the voters of the 3rd District.

Here is the truth…

Last year, Democrats were unable to pass the individual appropriations bills needed to fund the government.  They wanted to spend too much and tax too much, and Republicans put a wrench in their plans.  So near the very end of the term, in December of 2007, they packaged all the spending into one bill, called an omnibus budget bill.  This budget was the largest, most expensive bill, and raised taxes on all Americans.

A bill came to the floor of the House on June 22nd, 2007.  To some, it may appear that this is the budget vote, but it was not.  This was just a piece of what eventually became the Omnibus Budget bill.  The vote on final passge of this bill, called the ”Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008″ (Omnibus budget bill) was 247 - 178, I VOTED NO. (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2007-542)  

Since we conservatives do not have a majority, the largest budget in history that my opponent refers to, eventually passed the House, WITHOUT my support.  It contained 9,800 earmarks that cost over $10 billion.  I would NOT vote for such waste.  It then went to the Senate.  The Senate then began the long process of amendment, “speechifying”, and debating.  This lasted until December 17th, 2007.

After that was done, it came back to the House.  We then began voting on a few amendments the Senate added to the bill.  We voted on one Democrat Senate amendment, again I voted NO. (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2007-1171)  We voted on another Democrat Senate Amendment, again I voted NO. (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2007-1172)

Unfortunately, again, because Conservatives like me are not in the majority, those amendments passed and the omnibus budget was agreed to, despite MY OPPOSITION.

Enter my opponent NOT UNDERSTANDING what he reads online or how the House he seeks to join, operates.  The falsehood he continues to tell stems from the following.

Democrats decided, in order to pass the budget, they had to remove funding for the troops and the war, since that was too much of a hot button issue, and left that funding to be voted on another time.  But, in order to be paid for that year, that vote had to take place before we left Washington in 2007.  So Democrats decided to vote on troop funding and war funding as a single amendment, AFTER the budget had already passed.

On Decemmber 19th, 2007, I voted FOR funding the troops. (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2007-1186).  As you can see from the link, MORE REPUBLICANS than DEMOCRATS voted for this amendment.  Common sense would tell you that MORE DEMOCRATS should vote for their budget then REPUBLICANS.    Democrats who favored retreat from Iraq voted against that amendment because it funded the troops.  In other words, the vote that my opponenet hangs his hat on, was a vote FOR FUNDING THE TROOPS - NOT THE BUDGET!

Because the vote is listed as an amendment to the budget, it appears that it is the last budget vote, but as I hope I have explained, it was not.  If you want to see the entire timeline of these votes, you can visit the following link: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes.xpd?bill=h110-2764. 

So here are the FACTS:

1. I did not support or vote for the largest budget in history or the largest deficit
2. My opponent either deliberately misrepresents the facts or doesn’t understand what he is reading when he attempts to read my voting record
3. I have always been one of the most conservative members of Congress when it comes to taxes, spending, and pork
4. I have a higher anti-pork and anti-earmark record than Ron Paul
5. My opponent cannot possibly vote more conservative than I do when it comes to protecting your tax dollars
6. There is one member of Congress in Utah who votes with Nancy Pelosi on the budget and taxes - Jim Matheson.  My opponent, who lives in Mr. Matheson’s district, should run against him if he is truly concerned about the budget.

I hope he will stop using this blatantly false attack among the others I have listed and will list in the future.  The voters of the 3rd District deserve an honest debate.