I have edited some of the following political advertisement which I received in the mail from Peter Morrison, a self-described Texas "conservative activist" who publishes a state-wide email newsletter, "The Peter Morrison Report". This concerns the Republican primary contest in the 65th District of the Texas House of Representatives, where Mike Murphy is challenging incumbent Burt Solomons. All opinions expressed are those of Mr. Morrison. The Texas State Legislature convenes every other year.

A Plea to Fellow Conservatives:
Please Don't Re-Elect Burt Solomons!

"I have to admit, last year's (Texas) legislative session was very frustrating for those of us concerned about the illegal alien invasion of our state. With the federal government firmly under the liberal control of the Democrats, our only hope of dealing with the problem was at the state level, with our supposedly conservative Republican majority in our state legislature. With the amount of frustration on this issue felt by the grassroots, I though it should be pretty painless to help along some productive legislation filed by some of our conservative friends in the house.

"I was in for quite a surprise. It turns out many Republicans care more about playing nice and brokering deals with the liberals and the Cheap Labor Lobby than doing anything to solve the illegal immigration problem in our state.

"I also hate to have to tell you this, but in the whole House the one Republican who kept getting in the way of doing something to solve the problem of illegal immigration was none other than your state representative, Burt Solomons. You see, early last year he teamed up with every Democrat in the Texas House and betrayed the conservative leadership in the House to support a (edit) liberal Republican for Speaker. This betrayal got him a plum committee chairmanship, the State Affairs committee.

"A lot of bills trying to address the illegal immigration problem went through this committee. As chairman, Solomons had the power to bring these bills up for a committee vote to let them die. He chose to let almost all of them die. (Statistical table provided showing comparable results for bills in Solomons' State House and the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee chaired by Sen. John Carona. Summary - Solomons' House State Affairs Committee had 38 immigration-related bills introduced compared with 13 in the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee. Sen. Carona allowed a committee hearing on all 13 bills; Solomons on only 5. 10 bills were voted out of Carona's Senate Committee; only 1 was voted out of the House Committee. 6 Senate bills were placed on the Legislative Calendar, and 2 were passed into law. NONE of the bills introduced into the House Affairs Committee chaired by Solomons was placed on the Legislative Calendar or passed into law. "Numbers provided by the Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas (IRCOT) www.ircot.com ")

"For bills trying to fix the illegal immigration problem, Rep. Solomons' committee only passed 1 bill out of 38 filed, or less than 3%. By contrast, Senator Carona in the Senate passed over 75% of immigration-related bills out of his similar committee.

"Some people have wondered why the House Republicans, and Burt Solomons in particular, are such cowards when it comes to dealing these issues. Some have said that Solomons and the rest of the liberal Republicans coup cut a backroom deal with the Democrats. If the Democrats would support the ouster of the conservative leadership, then liberal Republicans in positions of power would guarantee no immigration-related bills came up for a full House vote.

"This came to a particularly rotten head on the voter ID legislation, which would have added the simple and sensible step to require everyone to show valid state issued ID like a driver's license in order to vote. (edit) ...when vote ID legislation came up in the House for a vote, the liberal Republicans like Burt Solomons stood by and let the Democrats filibuster it through a process called "chubbing". All the work of conservative activists to get this legislation passed was wasted by the poor,cowardly leadership of Solomons and his allies.

"This brings me to why I am writing you today. I believe the Republican primary election in 2010 could represent a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Voters are tired of back room deal-making incumbents like Burt Solomons and are desperate to elect new leaders who will stand on principle.

" Luckily someone stepped up in your district to challenge Burt Solomons and hold him accountable for his betrayal of conservative principles.... ...Mike Murphy...is challenging Burt Solomons for the Republican nomination in this year's primary election.

"Unlike Burt Solomons, Mike is a true conservative who supports defending our border.... Mike Murphy...will work hard to support common-sense immigration and voter ID legislation.

"I encourage you to find out more about Mike by visiting www.TexansforMurphycom. Correction: www.texansformurphy.com
(Note: this link comes up for me as an error, but here is his "Texans for Murphy" site on Facebook:
http://ko-kr.facebook.com/group.php?gid ... &ref=share )

Sincerely,
Peter Morrison
http://www.PeterMorrisonReport.com

P.S. - "If we keep re-electing people who sell out our conservative principles, nothing is evey going to change for the better. Please take time to examine the issues and hold public officials like Burt Solomons accountable. I've spent quite a bit of time talking with Mike Murphy, and I can tell you he is a true grassroots conservative. ...

Pol. Adv. paid for by Peter Morrison"

Introductory paragraph to all the above:
("My name is Peter Morrison and I am a conservative activist out of Lumberton, Texas. (information about publishing newsletter) In the past two years I've also supported a non-partisan organization called the Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas (IRCOT), an umbrella group run by Rebecca Forest out of Austin that worked in the last legislative session to push along legislation trying to deal with the problem of illegal immigration."

Removed "Fellow" from beginning of title.

Related:
In the interest of fairness, encumbent Burt Solomons's own positions on issues can be read on his official website:
TEXAS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES - MEMBER BURT SOLOMONS
http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/di ... lomons.php