Over the last 3 years, Democratic Congressman Heath Shuler, who is up for re-election, has accepted over $1.2 million dollars from hundreds of Political Action Committees, a majority of which are located outside of North Carolina. Shuler has accepted an additional $1.5 million in from the NC Democratic Party.
Republican candidate for Congress, Dr. Carl Mumpower, has refused all PAC money in order to send a clear message to voters that he is a principled candidate who cannot be bought and sold. Dr. Mumpower has even refused to take money from his own party, putting “principle before party, power, or popularity.”
“When people actually take the time to look at Congressman Shuler’s record, they will learn that he has personally benefitted more from his position than the citizens of Buncombe County and the 11th District,” said Dr. Timothy Johnson, Chairman of the Buncombe County Republican Party. “He is unwilling to attend political forums with Carl Mumpower in Buncombe County, unwilling to participate in an actual debate with Carl Mumpower, and unwilling to answer the many questions voters have about his voting record, including his lack of commitment to drilling off the shores of North Carolina.”
Due to increasing public concern over the strong influence of special interests in Washington D.C., Dr. Mumpower’s firm stand against taking any PAC money has inspired a solid base of volunteers of varying political affiliations to staff his campaign in order to make up for any advantage his opponent has gained from accepting special interest dollars. Support has been especially strong in Buncombe County.
Financial information for Congressman Shuler and Dr. Mumpower can be found in the Federal Election Commission database at www.fec.gov. Click here for a consolidated view of contributing PACs.
For more information on Dr. Carl Mumpower’s Congressional campaign, visit www.mumpower08.com.
Is there a list of those PACs that you could point us to? It would be great to see which PACs support Representative Shuler.
Why doesn’t Carl Mumpower take money from his own party? It’s because it would be unprincipled to do so? I don’t understand. Is there something about the party that would corrupt him in some way?
Please explain.
Thanks for your comments, Gordon.
There is a link to the spreadsheet toward the bottom on this article that lists all of the PACs. If you are not able to view .xls files, you can go to http://www.fec.gov and search for Shuler to see the list.
We do not speak for Carl Mumpower so if you would like his reasons, you can visit his website at http://www.mumpower08.com or contact his campaign. However, I will do my best to offer his reasoning as I understand it.
The Republican Party stands for solid principles that Carl Mumpower supports, which can be viewed here:
http://www.buncombegop.org/principles/
You may or may not agree with those principles, but that is what the Republican Party believes in and works toward. Unfortunately, the party has lost sight of those principles in far too many cases. Many of our elected officials have allowed government to get bigger rather than smaller, have raised taxes instead of lowering them, have taken power away from the people and/or local governments in favor of empowering the federal government, and have not acted in accordance with the Constitution. In Buncombe County, we agree with Carl Mumpower when he says “the Republican Party has lost it’s way,” and we are working hard to put it back on the right track.
I believe that Carl Mumpower does not want there to be any doubt in the minds of the people that he is speaking his mind with honesty and integrity and that he will not be beholden to ANY special interests, even the interests of the powerful 2-party system that we currently have in this country.
Whether Democrat, Republican, liberal, or conservative, the people know that our representatives are no longer representing us. They are representing those with the money. Carl Mumpower wants to do better than that. We support him 100% in this effort. We would gladly offer him financial support if he would accept it, with no strings attached other than holding him to what he has said he would do, but we fully respect his decision not to take money from the county, state, or national party. Many of our members have instead chosen to volunteer for his campaign and/or give money as individuals.
Whether you agree with his principles or not, I hope you can respect that he is making a very sincere effort to do what is best for the people.