The Coastal Empire News, which publishes the Savannah Daily News, The Business Report & Journal, as well as Coastal Family Magazine, has endorsed Lt. Colonel Bill Gillespie to represent Georgia's first district in the House of Representatives.
Coastal Empire News gives its reasons for its endorsement, starting with
It is painful to no longer endorse our friend, Jack Kingston. Many of us know Jack and his family personally and cherish their friendship and their public service. Jack Kingston is a good man, personally, but he has never had a viable or credible Democratic opponent to truly consider.
And these times force us to step back, and take a hard look at his actual voting record on critical issues including fighting all measures to set a timeline to get out of Iraq, his failure to fight runaway Federal spending as a member of the House Appropriations committee that develops the budget, his leadership in defense of Tom Delay and President Bush as well as Republican party smear campaigns this election cycle, and his failure to file his personal financial disclosure information due last May 15 even though he was up for re-election. These votes and others lead us to believe that it is time for a change in 1st District representation.
Also mentioned as reasons why CEN will not endorse Kingston are his manufacturing of the flag pin (non)issue smear campaign, as well as his continued smears aimed at Gillespie himself, in which he asserts that Gillespie has not been truthful about his educational achievements. We saw some of this at the last debate.
The CEN explains:
...[Kingston] continues to use such tactics, seeking to smear his opponent Bill Gillespie in this race, accusing him of lying about his educational degrees and other achievements, despite two news organizations having confirmed that Gillespie's resumé is accurate.
The CEN then expounds upon Gillespie's substantial credentials, which would uniquely suit him for the job. These his strong background in environmental science (B.S. and M.A., Towson University). Also discussed are his extensive experience with the US Army and his positions on fiscal, agricultural and social policy; all of which make him an excellent choice for south Georgia as we look toward bringing sanity to foreign and fiscal policy, protecting our food supply, supporting south Georgia's farmers, and as we work toward a more perfect society, which upholds the dignity of all human persons.
These are but a few points discussed by the CEN. To read more about Bill Gillespie, just click on the link above and/or go to http://www.billforgeorgia.com/