I AM VOTING FOR DAVID BELLAVIA
Here’s my plan.
Tomorrow I’m voting for David Bellavia.
In the Republican primary for Congress in the district where I live, I’m voting for an Iraq War veteran in his 30s.
If he wins, I’ll vote for him in November.
If he loses, I’ll vote for the Democrat in the general election. That would be incumbent Kathy Hochul.
The third candidate, Chris Collins, won’t have my vote tomorrow or in November. That’s a result of his weaknesses and his opponents’ strengths.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a Republican – I’m a Republican officeholder. I want the Republican Party to keep the majority in the House of Representatives, as well as take the majority in the Senate.
I believe the future of America depends on the election of Mitt Romney.
But you can’t do the right thing the wrong way, and principles are more important than labels. And I can’t vote for Chris Collins.
In part because he won’t talk to me.
More to the point, he won’t talk to the people who listen to my radio show. Since before he announced as a candidate, I have tried to get him to come on the air. Months have passed, staff has talked to staff, and somehow it’s never quite been convenient for him to come on.
At no point over months, on any weekday, between 9 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon, has Chris Collins been able to pick up a phone and come on the show.
And I figure anybody too arrogant to come on talk radio, or too afraid to talk to me, is somebody I don’t want in Congress. Further, if a guy can’t make time to talk to people when he’s begging for their vote, how likely is it that he’ll have any time for them after he’s elected?
He’s a rich guy trying to buy a seat in Congress. It’s a bauble. He’s like Chris Lee, only older. He’s one more millionaire with starched shirts and monogrammed cuffs.
And tomorrow he’s running against a man who is several times his better.
David Bellavia is a young father whose resume is dominated by the fact that in his early 20s he enlisted as an infantryman in the United States Army. Not long after, he was in war zones and hand-to-hand combat. He is well decorated, and wrote a best-selling war memoir, and speaks passionately for the constitutional principles upon which this Republic is built.
And we need somebody like him in Congress.
We already have legions of millionaires with starched shirts and monogrammed cuffs.
See, the House of Representatives is like a football team. You need a variety of people with a variety of strengths and specialties. You need role players.
Voting for Congress is not like picking a mayor or a president. You’re not looking for someone with the broad experience necessary to be the executive of a large organization, you’re looking for someone who brings a unique and necessary perspective to the table.
You want someone who, when the debate moves to his area of specialty, can weigh in with an expertise and insight that others in the Congress may not have. The role of a member of the House of Representatives is to represent – a district and a culture. He is to speak for a point of view which, in mix with a House full of other points of view, will steer our country in the right direction.
David Bellavia’s point of view is rare in the Congress, but common among the people.
He is a former enlisted soldier, a working-class man, a young father. He is from a small town, he has simple Christian values, he is humble and accessible, and he tells it like it is.
He has the NCO’s gift of gab, the talent to inspire confidence in people, and the ability to laugh at himself.
He’s a normal guy.
And there aren’t many of those in Congress.
I am voting for him because I believe that, as America grinds through its second decade at war, the perspective of an enlistedman is essential. As the millionaires with monogrammed cuffs make cavalier decisions about other men’s lives, it is important that a man with David Bellavia’s background have a place at the table.
He can represent America’s sons and daughters in the service because he has been one of them, and his experience forever binds him to them.
Further, when speaking of matters of pure patriotism, he is a powerful voice for common sense and tradition. He will do well in the bully pulpit of congressional office.
And finally, he truly represents the district. I know this area and its people like the back of my hand. I know their values and their varied interests. I have felt and reported on their heart for almost 25 years.
David Bellavia is like them.
Chris Collins isn’t.
One man will represent the district, the other man will represent himself.
Let the rest of America send its monogrammed millionaires. Let this district send an American patriot.
- by Bob Lonsberry © 2012
