Current map of the 5th Congressional District in MO
LEE’S SUMMIT, JULY 8, 2012 – The primaries are coming up quickly and it is time for all of us to start talking about it and prepare to vote by doing our own research and make our own decisions.
The Republican Party has four candidates running for the opportunity to run against Emanuel Cleaver in the November General Election. The four candidates are:
Jason Greene from Raytown: He is a teacher without prior political experience.
Jacob Turk from Lee’s Summit: He is a small business owner and this would be his 4th race against Emanuel Cleaver. In 2006 Turk lost 64% to 32%, in 2008 he lost 64% to 36% in 2010 Turk was outspent $577,000 to $261,000 yet he obtained 44% of the vote to Cleaver’s 53%.
Jerry Nolte from Gladstone: He is Missouri Representative for the 33rd district since 2004 and is currently Term Limited, small business owner.
Ron Paul Shawd from Lee’s Summit: Businessman without prior political experience.
Each of these candidates has registered with the Missouri Secretary of State and in doing a quick search on the internet I found their websites, Facebook pages, and Tweeter pages. Three of the four have very strong pages. Mr. Shawd’s website is very Spartan in nature and I have to question what his financial backing is to compete against Mr. Cleaver in November.
Jason Greene is the least politically experienced of the three best represented on the web. He has a degree in Social Science Education and a graduate degree in Political Science from the University of Missouri Kansas City. He worked for the Department of Veteran Affairs with the National Veterans Business Development Corporation. Jason teaches Social Studies and coaches within the Raytown community.
Greene has done very well to get his name out there for voters to get to know him. He was interviewed on the Greg Knapp morning show where he told the host that his main priority is “to find for sound fiscal policy and economic growth including a constitutionally limited federal government.”
Jerry Nolte is an advertising artist that works out of his own studio and has been doing so since 1978. Mr. Nolte successfully run and won three elections in the 33rd Congressional District for the State of Missouri. He represents Gladstone and a large area covering roughly 31,000 citizens. He has a long voting record that speaks for where he stands on the issues.
Missouri’s 5th US congressional district has a population of 633,887 according to the 2010 census. Mr. Nolte will have to grow his reach significantly. The 5th district has been represented by a Democrat for the last 63 years, since January 3, 1949 when Albert Reeves was defeated by Richard Boling who served from then till January 3, 1983.
Jacob Turk is in his fourth attempt to gain the seat held by Emanuel Cleaver since January 3, 2005. The key issue for Turk is to mobilize his supporters to come out and vote as they did in 2008 when he received his highest vote count at 109, 166 but that was only 36% of the votes cast that year, with Cleaver getting 64%. If his supporters from 2008 had decided to vote in 2010 (when he only received 84,578 votes or 44% to Cleaver’s 102,076 votes or 53%) it would be Jacob Turk running for re-election instead.
In 2010 the Turk campaign gave me the opportunity to interview him at length (you can find the interview by clicking here and scrolling through the various posts).
Jacob Turk has a good start this year, but he has some very good competition for the right to take on Cleaver. If he is able to marshal his troops and bring out the support in August, then things will look good for him in 2012.
The August 7, 2012 primary election and the road to it will be hard fought by these three candidates. Each has a unique perspective on how to fix the economy and the Federal Government. It is entirely up to each of us, as citizens of the 5th Congressional District to do our homework, learn the position of each candidate, and step into the voting booth with knowledge.
The winner of the primary will get to run against incumbent Emanuel Cleaver who is vulnerable right now due to his business venture in Kansas City being bankrupt and using money from the Federal Government to pay off his small business loan – a bill that Representative Cleaver voted for and took advantage of in this case.
Mr. Cleaver’s idea of improving the economy is being at the ribbon cutting ceremony for new state of the art athletic fields at 9th and Van Brunt, for which he appropriated $2.6 million to help fund the 12.4 acre facility; instead of bringing new and productive jobs to the City.
Our congressman is concerned about farm safety net programs, crop insurance and dairy, disaster, nutrition and conservation programs – at least once every two years; instead of helping create productive self-sustaining jobs that give consumers the money to keep buying our farm products.
Mr. Cleaver is the Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, yet the African American unemployment in June of 2012 (by his own newsletter) is at 14.4%, while Asian Americans are at 6.3% and Latinos are at 11% with the overall unemployment stuck at 8.2%. Even as the leader of the hardest hit by unemployment, he is more worried about soccer fields than he is about private sector jobs.
It is time to take on Congressman Cleaver with a solid, well financed, and well organized candidate with solid fiscal conservative credentials and a highly mobilized and enthusiastic base.
Respectfully Submitted,
The Lee’s Summit Conservative
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
Jason Greene
Jerry Nolte
Jacob Turk
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