Thread: Special GOP Election In Southwest Florida Turning Into Bloody Fued

Special GOP Election In Southwest Florida Turning Into Bloody Fued

by JAVIER MANJARRES 12 Mar 2014

The top two Republican congressional candidates in the FL-CD 19 special election, Lizbeth Benacquisto and Curt Clawson, are exchanging blows, as both jockey their respective campaigns into a winning position.

Benacquisto's campaign is calling Clawson liar for attacking her on Medicaid expansion, while Clawson is hitting Benacquisto on being in cahoots with the GOP establishment, and Super PAC's that have been attacking Clawson.

With six weeks left in this primary race, expect both campaigns to go for the political jugular, in their attempt to win over voters. This will get very ugly.


http://www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2...to-Bloody-Fued

Immigration Reform Takes Center Stage In GOP Special Congressional Election

Posted by: Javier Manjarres

on February 17, 2014

Republican voters have pressured the Republican leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives to scrap their for an immigration reform bill that appeared to be nothing more than thinly-veiling amnesty for illegal immigrants.

This issue was at the top of the GOP’s list during the Republican House caucus’ February retreat in Maryland, but after scores of pro-legal immigration-minded Americans took to the phones to press their respected representatives to not go along with leadership, immigration reform in the House died, for now.

Now Presidente Barack Obama is calling on the GOP leadership in the House to disregard the “blowback” they will surely feel from constitutents, and asked them to vote on an immigration reform bill anyways.

Immigration reform is a big ticket issue that will continue to play a significant role in future elections, including this April’s Republican special election in Florida’s 19th congressional district, which has a heavy concentration of illegal immigrant workers.

Because the congressional district leans Republican, the winner of this special election will be the next Congressman or Congresswoman to represent Southwest Florida.

The announced congressional candidates in the race are, State Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, former state Rep. Paige Kreegel ,Curt Clawson, Michael Dreikorn and Gerald Gallagher

Of the five candidates, Benaqcuisto, Clawson and Kreegel, have all expressed their views on immigration reform. All three candidates embrace the safe “secure the borders first” and “enforce the existing laws” talking points.

During the recent Collier Republican Club meeting, where Clawson was the invited guest speaker, no less than three questions regarding immigration reform were asked during the Q&A segment of the meeting. Again, immigration reform is a big deal in Southwest Florida.

Former State Representative Kreegel says that “Americans love immigrants” and that what Americans are looking for are “immigrants who are going to add to our country, not people who are going to detract from our country,” adding that there needs to be a line drawn in the sand of immigration reform.

According to Kreegel, any illegal immigrant arrested for a felony, or arrested for multiple misdemeanors, are not needed, and those illegal immigrants with several children, who are here milking the welfare system and receiving government aid for each child, is probably “not a great benefit to society.”

Kreegel believes the immigration process should be made easier, and should be streamlined, adding that the illegal immigrants that are already here needed to be dealt with.

State Senator Lizbeth Benacquisto voted in favor of the popular E-verify measure that came through the Florida legislature, and says that if elected to Congress, she would oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants. We will assume she means she would oppose “blanket amnesty” for illegal immigrants

“I believe in strong protection of the nation’s borders and tough penalties for those who violate our laws. Since Washington has failed to get tough, I voted for E-verify and measures to crack down on employers who hire illegal labor at the state level. If the men and women of Southwest Florida choose me to serve them in Congress, I will continue my fight to defend our borders and oppose amnesty for those who are here illegally.”-Lizbeth Benacquisto

During a recent interview with “outsider” businessman Curt Clawson, the former Purdue Boilermaker said that we needed to “slow down the train” on immigration reform.

Clawson, who like Benacquisto and Kreegel, opposes any form of amnesty for illegal immigrants, questions why new immigration laws are being discusses, if the current laws are not being enforced.

Clawson describes the U.S. Border as a “leaky sieve” that needs to be sealed off, and said that he would have more “willingness to negotiate” with the Obama administration on immigration reform, if they took the existing immigration laws more serious.

Read more at: http://www.shark-tank.com/2014/02/17/immigration-reform-takes-center-stage-in-gop-special-congressional-election/ | The Shark Tank