(Connie Foust) – In regard to the recent OP-ED published in the Desert Valley Times, my opponent Chris Edwards wrote what can only be called a twisted version of what he believes are legitimate votes for taxes and fees.
Mr. Edwards neglected to tell you a few things that I feel you have a right to know as a voter.
Number one, I do not easily intimidate nor will I sit back and allow half-truths be shared by someone who I, as many others in this community, lost confidence in a very long time ago.
My first meeting with him was when he came to my door campaigning. He sat at my table for close to an hour while we talked politics. We talked about taxes and he said “now is not the time to raise taxes,” so not only did I vote for him, I campaigned for him. I was there the night he took his victory lap at the Republican headquarters with his good friend Derek Armstrong who was also elected to the state Assembly and is also currently being challenged in a Republican primary.
I am the former President of the Virgin Valley Tea Party and Edwards used our organization to work in his campaign. We all believed he would not support taxes/fees or increase the size of government and believed in greater freedom for all Americans.
So if Edwards had the where-with-all to check it out, all of the 26 votes are and have been listed on my website and are a matter of public record which has been verified by no less than five (5), well-knowledgeable persons outside of our campaign. I encourage everyone to go to http://conniefoust.com/2016/04/how-do-you-define-establishment/, and see for yourselves. If you then need more “proof”, then you can also go to http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Session/29th2015Special/Reports/ and look up each and every bill and see his votes yourselves.
Is it possible Edwards forgot what he voted for in the 2015, or was he possibly too busy talking to the media and just “forgot”?
In his recent Op-Ed, he went as far to attack Sue Smith who had written a Letter to the Editor, stating she only presented 9 of the 26 votes, as though as if she didn’t know what she was doing. He stated it was only 9 votes she listed, a far cry from 26. There are 26 votes, and everyone of them not only increased taxes and fees, but in several case significantly increased government oversight and increased regulations and added more “government” needed to process the increased role in these 26 votes!.
Mr. Edwards in his Op-Ed also stated his votes for fees were minimal and needed. As I read it he represented special interest groups and not the voters of AD19, many of which have donated to his campaign. To the voter, fees are the same as taxes simply because they are imposed on the User by the government and the final result being, you the consumer, ends up paying for it.
Mr. Edwards also has a lot of explaining to do about his role in the removal of Conservative leadership in the state Assembly, prior to the assignment of Committee leadership positions, why, just after his sole vote that would have kept the leadership, only he and Derek Armstrong, his close personal friend, received each a $5000.00 donation from the Governor himself. When asked about this at a town hall, Edwards response was “because I asked for it.” Really! A freshman Assemblyman just dials up the Governor and asks for money. Really?
Chris Edwards is an “Establishment” politician who moved into AD19 (as a renter even though he owns several properties in Clark County) approximately 30 days prior to filing for the first time. He does not pay property taxes in AD19 nor does he truly have any interest in AD19 unless it is time to get re-elected. Many of the voters I have spoken with have tried to call him and he has not responded, now is he concerned about your vote again, this is how a politician acts when this is their only career path.
It is worth noting that, Edwards, when he feels threatened by his lack of integrity, always “threatens”, and has in the past involved the legal system. I challenge him to stand up like a man and explain, to best of his ability, why he felt he knew better than the voters in AD19 who voted down the Margins Tax by over 80%, why Chris, did you vote for Amendment 1039 to include the Commerce Tax language into SB483 and then vote against SB483, when he saw that it would pass without his vote.
This was a true “John Kerry” moment; “I voted for it before I voted against it.” THIS IS JUST OLD FASHIONED POLITICAL GAMES PLAYED BY THOSE WHO PUT THEIR CAREER AHEAD OF THE VOTERS! Seems like most Republican voters and many Democrat voters are fed up with politicians that say one thing and do another. Aren’t you?
And that is why I am running. I have promised that I will only serve no more than two terms in the Assembly and pass it on at that time to another candidate that steps forward. I want the people of Mesquite and the surrounding area to have a voice in the Assembly process and know they are voting for someone who has invested in the community and truly wants to see it grow and prosper.
I will remind the voter, Mr. Edwards never held public office before and because of his time in the Assembly, and he speaks as if he is knowledgeable on all sorts of issues. I will remind Mr. Edwards that by the time I was 30, I had written two legislative bills, testified, and watched them pass in the State of Montana. Both were to help the handicapped.
So to you readers, I did not just walk out of the corn fields and decide to run. I have been involved at several levels of government over the course of time, I view it as a duty to serve because I have been so blessed in my life, with opportunity and freedom. Both, of which are remarkably fading away by the growth and overreach of government.
Connie Foust is a Republican candidate for the Nevada State Assembly and a Mesquite resident.
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