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| Tommy Sowers preparing lunch in the East Prairie, MO Nutrition Center as part of his "Boots on the Ground" project. |
Former insurance lobbyist continues to raise hundreds of thousands from lobbyists and corporate PACs
Rolla, MO (February 1, 2010) During the 4th quarter of 2009, former Army Green Beret Tommy Sowers raised $179,127, 98% of which came as contributions from individuals. In stark contrast, incumbent and former insurance lobbyist Jo Ann Emerson once again relied on her special interest friends, raising nearly half her money from corporate PACs and special interest groups.
Sowers said, "Emerson does not represent Southeastern Missouri. She still represents the city where she was born and raised: Washington, DC. People here tell me they are tired of business as usual in Washington. The lobbyists and special interests behind Emerson are exactly what people here are sick of."
Small donors also played a much greater role in Sowers's fourth quarter, due in large part to his national endorsements from veterans groups like VoteVets and General Wesley Clark's Securing America organization. The percentage of Sowers's contributions comprised of small donations was nearly four times as large as Emerson's.
Said Sowers campaign manager, Jonathan Feifs, "While Tommy drives around the district witnessing first-hand the struggles of the people in his corner of Missouri, Emerson is riding up and down K Street to pick up her lobbyists' checks. The 1,000 new contributors this quarter, many of them small contributions from veterans, are helping Tommy get out and work hard to earn every vote. "
Conspicuously absent from this report were any expenses for "political gifts" from Tiffany & Co. Expenditures at the high-end jeweler were a fixture on her reports from 2002-2009, where Emerson racked up expenses totaling over $6,000, shopping there as recently as last August. Full listing of these can be found at www.sowersforcongress.com/joanntiffany
Sowers is currently on Day 13 of a 28-day initiative he calls "Boots on the Ground." Sowers and his dog, Chuck, are traveling the district in his truck to meet his neighbors, work alongside them and listen to their concerns, struggles, ideas and solutions. Sowers said, "This is not a tour -- tours are for tourists and politicians who come in, take a few pictures, then leave. 'Boots on the Ground' is about working, living, and listening to hardworking people in each and every county. It's an opportunity for me to do what many politicians don't - close my mouth and open my ears and eyes."
For more information on the campaign and "Boots on the Ground," visit www.sowersforcongress.com/boots.
Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please 
Sowers is proving that he has what it takes to actually represent us in Congress, and will be well funded to take on Emerson!
I am proud to give him my support.
1. Sowers' assistant wrote this supposed "news article"
2. Sowers brags that 98% of his dollars come from individuals. How many of those individuals live in the 8th congressional district? In typical Sowers style hardly any. Sowers continues to collect his campaign dollars from New York bankers and San Francisco Nancy Pelosi/Barney Frank liberals.
3. Jo Ann Emerson has lived in the 8th Congressional district for 30 years. Until this summer Sowers had not lived in the 8th district for 10 plus years. The only reason Sowers moved to Rolla was to run for Congress. I like Sowers' attempt to connect with people on his "boots on the ground" scheme. Jo Ann's shoes have been on the ground for three decades.
4. Sowers has taken a stance on two issues. He favors Nancy Pelosi's government takeover of healthcare and the government funding of abortion.
5. Sowers refuses to take a stance on:
Cap and Trade
Obama's Stimulus Bill
Immigration Reform
Employee Free Choice, and every other issuse!
Sower's stance on the issues is don't ask don't tell. Don't ask him because he won't tell you!
What a joke!
With all due respect, semoguy85,it seems to me that you're more willing to parrot talking points than actually engage in the process. You have a problem with something like $175,000 of the $179,127 that Sowers raised coming from individuals? That's fine but you should at least reckon with the fact that maybe if the Congresswoman paid more attention to this district there wouldn't be so many Missourians struggling to make ends meet. You can't fault someone who's trying to get by not bankrolling a campaign, Sowers' supporters don't seem to be quite the same folks that Emerson's in DC are. Sowers seems to be trying to reach out and represent SEMO as best as he can, is that such a bad thing? Or would you rather just talk about Barney Frank and not life in MO-8?
Wow, Tommy Sowers is proving what he has to take to lead in Congress?????
What kind of Kool-Aid are you drinking PoplarProud72?
The only thing Tommy Sowers is good at is hiding his past from the people of the 8th Congressional District.
What other assets besides his Volvo did he sell in order to make himself look good in this district? We (the voters) don't know because he has failed to file a personal financial disclosure form with the FEC.
Small donors fuel his campaign? You can't count all the loony liberals from ActBlue (the same folks who give to Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank year in and year out) as small donors.
The only thing Tommy Sowers has been good at is getting his liberal friends in San Francisco and New York to donate to his campaign.
Saturday Night Live fundraiser in NYC? No wonder he's kept that one secret from the voters. That wouldn't play well back home (and I use the term "home" loosely)
He sure hasn't led in donations from inside the 8th Congressional District.
And as far as this "Boots on the Ground" tour, I bet he bought his dog Chuck shortly after selling his Volvo and moving to 8th Congressional District because his liberal friends told him it would make him look folksy to the voters in Southeast Missouri.
Tommy Sowers = Not Ready to Lead
Rolla Proud,
I am more than happy to talk about life in he 8th district, just wish Sowers was willing to do the same. If Sowers wanted to show leadership he would take a stance on an issue, any issue! Driving around in a pretty truck with your dog isn't leadership.
Also, do not have a problem with individuals supporting Sowers. I just find it interesting that the individuals who support Sowers come from New York and San Francisco. You could hardly argue that people living in New York and San Francisco share the same conservative ideals of people in Southern Missouri.
And that opens up the larger question, who does Sowers really want to represent? Wall Street bankers and San Francisco liberals, or the people who live in the 8th district???
If this guy doesn't beat Emerson in the primary you can bet I will be voting Democrat again this election. She is as bad as any of the Democrats and Liberal Republicans like Arlen Spector. Get her a-- out of thier.
I would almost bet Sowers has spent more time in Iraq and other tours of duty in defense of our freedom than JoAnn Emerson has spent in this district in all the time she has been in office. Spin that one semoguy85. And why list your IQ as part of your name? No one likes a braggert.
They both suck.
HowdyDoody,
What a name by the way...
Doesn't it bother you at all that Sowers refuses to take a stance on any issue?
I have nothing but respect for Sowers military service, I just normally expect someone who is running for office to take a stance on issues.
Sowers and his folks are good at trash talkin', but he still stands for nothing except the Pelosi health care bill and public funding of abortion. Just show us the names and addresses of your donors--all of them. Betcha 90% of money raised is from outside the district. But, we wouldn't have to talk about this if he would have the guts to stand for something. And as a Vietnam era vet, I know guts when I see 'em. Man up, Tommy.
Tommy Sowers' and his "Boots on the Ground" campaign are the biggest fairytale anyone in Southeast Mo has ever seen. He and the Obama Internet guys he hired are running on vague themes like leadership, warrior, and student. If this guy were to get in office, he would crap all over us by voting for Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House, cap & trade, health care, and the rest of Pelosi's liberal agenda. His campaign is just a bunch of Internet liberals shooting money to a candidate that lacks substance.
I liked the story about the transvestite running for Senate who is opposed to nuclear power and the five Mary Jansens that live in Leopold better than this one.
If you study "contributions", you'll find I have a bigger personal stake in this camapaign than any other candidate. According to "opensecrets.org", I used $2,151 of my own money. Bob Parker used $1,221 of his own money.
Jo Ann committed ten (10) dollars of her fortune. Tommy committed zero.
Our candidates need to put some skin in this game to be taken seriuosly.
Visit: http://larrybill.com/
Visit: http://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary... to verify these figures.
Thanks,
Larry Bill, Independent Conservative Candidate for Congress, Missouri 8th Disitrict
"Boots on the Ground" is an interesting concept. However, most people would take a tour of a congressional district BEFORE they decide to run for office instead of AFTER they have already announced.
I guess it is nice that Sowers is finally get around to learning a little about the district since he thinks he should represent us in Congress.
What a joke!
"Saturday Night Live fundraiser in NYC?"
Shouldn't Lorne Michaels support a campaign named "Mr. Bill Goes to Washington" instead? We're hurt.
Larry Bill---LOL
Mr. Bill - If someone had limited your thoughts, you wouldn't have come up with that one!
One thing that Larry Bill and Jo Ann Emerson do have in common is that they will both take a stance on the issues. Sowers could learn something about leadership from Larry Bill and Jo Ann Emerson, real leaders take a stand on the issues.
It almost seems like Sowers won't take a stand on an issue because he likes to play both sides of the same card. I can imagine Sowers talking about people in Missouri clinging to "guns and religion" when he is raising money in New York and San Francisco. Then he comes to Missouri, sells his Volvo, buys a Carhartt jacket and tells people in Missouri he "feels our pain."
Sowers is a joke!
Boots on the Ground
By Sgt. Sausage (All rights reserved)
Boots on the ground, boots on the ground. Lookin' like a fool with your boots on the ground. Thinkin' he's a cool cat with that new Carhart jacket, green wrapped truck, raking in all those California bucks! Boots on the ground, boots on the ground. Lookin' like a fool with your boots on the ground.
stands on the issues...hmmm...let's think about Emerson's stands..
Fiscal responsibility: voted for TARP, cash for clunkers, raising the debt ceiling by trillions of dollars, funneling millions of borrowed Chinese dollars back to the district in earmarks. Blows taxpayer money in Europe and contributor money at Tiffany's. Guess we know where she stands on that one! Repubs and Dems both can't stand that kind of behavior and she knows it.
Animal ID: Voted to give it $5.3M. Guess we know where she stands there! Any any of the cattle farmers around here what they think about that!
Foreign trade: Ask anyone who used to have a factory job here how they feel about all the jobs she shipped overseas.
People hate everyone in Congress right now. There wouldn't be three people running against Emerson unless they knew she was weak. That's why some scared people are on here trying to trash Tommy Sowers and Bob Parker. Larry Bill, only a matter of time before they come for you too....
mudbug,
no doubt. But that's ok; sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone for something you believe in, and accept the consequences.
Larry Bill
Mudbug,
I feel the need to point out some inaccuracies inn your comments:
Fiscal Responsibility: Emerson voted against rasing the federal debt ceiling: http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/mo0...
Animal ID: Emerson and then Senator Talent introduced lebislation to make animal ID could never be manditory:
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTI...
Foreign Trade: Do you really think Jo Ann is personally responsible for sending factory jobs overseas? What about the jobs Jo Ann saved when she kept USGS in Rolla, or the jobs she creates with money to build roads and builds in the district, not to mention the further positive economic impact the new infastructure has on the district.
No one is trashing Sowers, we are just asking him to stop his don't ask, don't tell policy on issues and let the voters know where he stands.
I commend Parker and Bill for actually having the guts to take a stand.
Patience. It is well-known in Cape that members of his own family aren't supporting Mr. Sowers - if he can't garner the support of family members, how does he expect to win an election?
His stunts will prove to be only that. His lack of message will not resonate. And his ego will drive his campaign into the ground.
Patience.
"Keeping" USGS in Rolla? From what I heard, USGS kept a skeleton crew while most of the jobs relocated to colorado. Does Emerson want a medal for ONLY losing 80% of the jobs? It's like firefighters wanting a pat on the back when they let the house burn down but save the doghouse.
Government jobs are not the answer, private sector jobs are. Until this part of the country starts making things people want elsewhere, the disastrous effects of Emerson's (non)leadership will continue. All these wonderful roads that have been built just make it easier for people to drive to the unemployment office and to neighboring states to work.
Seriously politicallogic? Did you even both to look at his FEC reports?
Making things up doesnt help anyone.
Did you look at the reports poplarproud72?
Cause Tommy Sowers didn't either.
If he had, he would know that Ms. Emerson had more individuals donate to her campaign than Mr. Sowers. and Ms. Emerson raised more money that he did.
213 individuals contributed to Mr. Sowers during the last reporting quarter
278 individuals contributed to Ms. Emerson during the last reporting quarter
therefore, more individuals donated to the Emerson campaign than they did to the Sowers campaign.
Ms. Emerson also outraised Mr. Sowers during the last reporting quarter 339K to 179K
so, who is making things up now?
that would be Tommy "Green Machine" Sowers
FACT: Sowers did not "outraise" Emerson
FACT: More individuals contributed to Emerson than Sowers
CONCLUSION: this "story" is false
oh, and I haven't even gotten into the fact that all those "individuals" who gave to Sowers were from every state but MO. whereas, Emerson's individual contributors were from Missouri.
The attribute of Sowers to consider is that his military life has been spent taking orders from superior officers. If he gets elected, he will continue his life of taking orders as a subordinate, not a leader. But now he would be taking orders from Pelosi, Reid, and Obama. From my communications with his handlers, not him, is that he will be a politician, not a representative. Emerson has been there too long. My preference would be to send Larry Bill, a real representative of the people.
Notice that Sowers is still refusing to talk about issues.