Georgia U.S. Senate Candidate Buckley says Other Candidates in the Race Who Have Not Stated Their Positions on the Major Issues Should Do So or Drop Out

    ATLANTA, GA, June 16, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Allen Buckley, a fiscal conservative independent candidate in the special election race for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Kelly Loeffler, says the other candidates in the race for the seat who have not stated their positions on the major issues should do so or drop out of the race. That's wrong when traditional forums have been largely eliminated due to the coronavirus. Almost all of the candidates take no stand whatsoever on the most significant issues.

Including Mr. Buckley but excluding write-in candidates, 20 candidates have qualified for the race. Three of them, Joy Felicia Slade, Annette Davis Jackson and John Fortuin, have no campaign website. Thus, they apparently have not made their positions, if any, known in writing.

Of the remaining 17 candidates, all of whom have a campaign website, five candidates, including Stacy Abrams-endorsed Raphael Warnock, do not cover issues at all on their websites. Also included in this group are Deborah Jackson, A. Wayne Johnson, Kadiss Taylor and Elbert Bartell. Mr. Johnson includes on his website his Opportunity Plus Plan, that is designed to deal with student loans, higher education financing and tax credits for senior in-home care. That leaves 12 candidates.

Of the remaining 12 candidates, five cover six or fewer issues on their campaign website. These persons are Matt Lieberman, Ed Tarver, Derrick Grayson, Congressman Doug Collins and Valencia Stovall. Liebermann briefly covers in overview-type language his pro-environment stance, his guns safety stance, his support for quality affordable health care, his pro voting rights position and his support for Roe v. Wade. In relatively few words, Mr. Tarver covers the needs for criminal justice reform, removal of barriers to Georgia farmers while protecting the environment, responsible taxation and responsible utilization of taxpayer dollars and to provide/improve affordable, accessible and equitable health care. Derrick Grayson covers abortion (stating he is both pro life and pro choice), freedom from everything, the Second Amendment, marriage, human trafficking and the role and power of the Federal Reserve Banks. Doug Collins lists six "feel good" positions regarding supporting President Trump, being anti-abortion, defending the Second Amendment, supporting veterans and law enforcement, cutting taxes and spending and assisting farmers. (Seeking a spending cut proposal in a Collins bill is a hopeless task.) Ms. Stovall lists three points of concern: (1) continuum of care; (2) economic opportunity; and (3) global stewardship. Including Buckley, that leaves seven candidates.

Of the remaining seven candidates, with the possible exception of Michael Todd Green, no one other than Mr. Buckley tackles the tough issues, including simplifying the tax system and reducing health care costs. Only Mr. Buckley proposes specific spending cuts and means of solving the nation's financial problems. The incumbent, Kelly Loeffler, covers eight very generic areas in very general "feel good" terms, by stating she is pro-agriculture and farmers, pro-taxpayer and private sector solutions to healthcare problems, anti-regulation and pro-business, for enforcement of the immigration laws, pro-education, and pro-military and veterans. No substance whatsoever is provided. Her section on the budget and debt has the exact language of her education section. Perhaps this was a mistake, but perhaps not. Given that it has existed since April, presumably it is not a mistake, and Ms. Loeffler is ducking the issue. The other four candidates, Jamesia Jackson, Tamara Johnson-Shealey, Richard Dien Winfield and Brian Slowinski, take positions with respect to many significant issues, but none of them deal with the financial issues, the tax system or how to cut costs in general. Mr. Slowinski says the income tax should be repealed and the FICA tax should not apply for the rest of 2020, but he provides no suggestion how these sources of virtually all federal revenue would be replaced.

Buckley said: "The candidates in the race who have not publicly stated where they stand on the major issues that our nation faces should do so immediately or drop out of the race. Our nation has significant challenges. Most candidates either don't know where they stand on the major issues or they're not making it known in writing. That's not right in a race for U.S. Senate, particularly when traditional forums, etc. have been largely eliminated due to COVID-19. None of them get 'under the hood.' In contrast to them, I propose solutions to all of the nation's major problems, the most significant of which is the growing national debt. The solutions include a simpler tax system, reasonable entitlements reforms, addressing climate change, means of reducing the power of the Executive Branch and means of better protecting consumers."

Mr. Buckley's "Save Tomorrow" campaign is about living for today and tomorrow, instead of living for today to the detriment of tomorrow. The focus is on doing things to make tomorrow as good as or even better than today, by acting now to address the nation's financial challenges and confronting global warming in a practical way.

Mr. Buckley is an attorney/CPA. He can be reached for comment at (404) 610-1936. Mr. Buckley's campaign website is www.buckleyforsenate.org.

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