Concerned about Tactics

The emails I posted the other night (about Bern Ewert’s campaign trying to get Al Weed delegates to change their vote at the 5^th District Convention) are making the rounds of the 5^th District, as some county chairmen are forwarding the copies they received to their delegates and alternates. Responses the chairs received are also being sent around the district and will be published here (as they were written) with the authors' permission.

I received your e-mail concerning the efforts on the part of the Ewert campaign to have delegates change their vote at the 5th district convention later in the month. I wish to respond and was hoping you could pass my message on to as many persons that you think would be interested.

As one of Nelson counties delegates to the fifth district convention to nominate a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, I am deeply concerned by the tactics being employed by Marlin Adams on behalf of the Ewert for Congress campaign.

At the beginning of this process to nominate a candidate I was interested to hear what Mr. Ewert had to offer and was entirely ready to shift my support to him had he shown himself to be a better voice than Mr. Weed. This, however, did not occur, as the only thing that came out of the Ewert camp was the same negative rhetoric, which Marlin Adams continues to spout off today in hopes that those of us committed to Al Weed will change our minds. I submit to Mr. Adams that this party in-fighting does not help either candidate and is high up on the list of why my support, and hopefully the support of the other 105 committed Al Weed delegates will not be changing their votes.

I have yet to hear what Mr. Ewert has to offer the citizens of this district and the country in general. I am positive that he has ideas, and I am equally as positive that those ideas may very well be what the citizens of the fifth district are seeking. The problem is I have not heard them. By contrast, I have heard Mr. Weed. Al Weed has spoken of bringing economic and educational vitality back to the district, and replace the rubber stamp vote of Virgil Goode.

The fact of the matter remains," Mr. Ewert"," Mr. Adams", the citizens of the fifth district have spoken and what we are saying is that we want Al Weed as our nominee. While we respect your efforts, what the party needs now is your support, not your disdain. Perhaps it is the Ewert delegates who should change their votes as a gesture toward party unity in defeating Virgil Goode this November. Since Mr. Weed posses enough delegates for the nomination perhaps the Ewert campaign would care to join the effort in defeating the Republican candidate instead of creating turmoil within the Democratic party.

In closing, I would just like to remind the Ewert campaign of a candidate who made the effort and was also unsuccessful many times. At age 23, he lost a bid for state legislature, at 34 was defeated for a nomination to the House, was later elected at 37, but lost the nomination again at 39, at age 40 was defeated in bid for land office (that's right land office), at 45 and 49 defeated in bid for U.S. Senate.

So not everyone succeeds when they run, the point is that they run and it seems clear that the citizens of this district want Mr. Weed to run again. By the way, that candidate above was Abraham Lincoln who was elected President at age 51. So if your argument is Al Weed cannot win because he has failed to in the past, I would say that is a futile argument.

While I do not presume to compare Mr. Weed with former President Lincoln, I am merely pointing out the similarities in circumstance and would argue for the sake of Mr. Weed that there is no reason why he cannot start a string of positive outcomes starting with this November.

Matt Matzeder
5th district delegate
Nelson County

A second response says:

…When I received your letter the other day, I went to the Ewert web site and sent a message that said this; " I find it very disturbing that some one would ask me to renege on a pledge. That is a tactic that Republicans use and I do not want to be a Republican. I have listened to Mr. Ewert's campaign speech and read the literature. To me it sounds too much like a Republican campaign. I am leery that should Mr. Ewert win the nomination he would end up doing what Virgil did after the Democrat's gave him the office.

It is my belief that Mr. Ewert should accept defeat and bow out gracefully and stop embarrassing himself and the Democratic Party by these underhanded tactics.

Gordon A. Koerner
Voting Nov. 7th! Remember
"Jesus DID NOT travel Jerusalem on an Elephant"