Thursday, August 21st, we’ll be having a volunteer night at Rosenblatt Stadium for an Omaha Royals game. This is a thank you for all that you’ve done so far in the campaign and all you’ll continue to do until election day.

Tickets are already paid for, and Rosenblatt has $1 drinks on Thursday night. All you need to do is stop by the office, come to the Sarpy County office grand opening on August 18th (more details on that to come), or meet Dan Esch by the CWS statue on August 21st.

On Tuesday, Lee Terry held an energy relief rally, calling for citizens of the second district to bring him gas receipts that he will personally deliver to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on Thursday. While we agree that Congress should have worked until a solution was reached, we also recognize that President Bush denied requests to call Congress back to session. Furthermore, we view this as nothing more than a political gimmick by Terry and here is why:

Let me start out by reminding you that Lee Terry has been in Congress for 10 years. Seven of those 10 years Terry has been a Member of the House Energy Committee.

On June 26, 2000 Lee Terry recognized that this country was staring an energy crisis in the face (click here to read the editorial by Terry). In the Editorial he blames the Clinton Administration for his own lack of ability to come forth with an effective energy plan to address the crisis. For the next 6 years, with a Republican Congress and a Republican President, Terry still failed to come up with an effective energy plan. For the last two years, Terry has again blamed his inability to deliver an effective energy plan on a Democratic Congress and most recently he is pointing a finger at Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Terry need not look any further than the finger print on the finger that he is pointing for a reason as to why, 8 years later, this country still faces an energy crisis. Terry has claimed that his finger prints are all over this nation’s current energy policy. A policy that is currently burning a hole in the pocket books of all Americans and the citizens of the second district.

This brings me back to why this energy rally was no more than a political gimmick.

Lee Terry said it best himself when he said on July 28, 2008, “Congress can no longer sit back and do nothing.” After recognizing the energy crisis our country faced in 2000, Lee Terry sat for 8 years and did nothing. Seven of those years Terry was in position where he could have made a difference and he didn’t and that is why Americans are feeling the pain at the pump.

Lee Terry held an energy relief rally to distract from his lack of leadership and ineffectiveness on an issue he claims his fingerprints are all over. He used the rally as a vehicle to once again, publicly point a finger at someone else.

Joe Sibilia

Communications Director

The National Conservation, Environment and Energy Independence Act was introduced yesterday. Members of Congress worked across party lines and came up with this bipartisan piece of legislation,sponsored by Congressmen Neil Abercrombie (D-HI-1) and John Peterson (R-PA-5).

“It’s a comprehensive bill and it addresses the energy issue head on,” Esch said. “This is a piece of legislation that both parties can be proud of and meets the demands of the American people, much like I have proposed in my EASI plan.”

Jim released his EASI Energy plan on July 17.

“This act addresses both the short term and long term energy needs of this country,” Esch said. “It focuses on conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy research, and environmental restoration.”

To hear Representative Abercrombie talk about the National Conservation, Environment and Energy Independence Act click here.

“Representatives Abercrombie and Peterson got it right. They worked across party lines, explored all options, and devised a plan that encompasses both Democratic ideas and Republican ideas for American solutions,” Esch said. “My opponent is supporting a partisan plan that is all about politics and not about solutions.”