Social Security Debate Moves to Va. Suburbs: Activists .. Challenge Davis

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Social Security Debate Moves to Va. Suburbs
Activists, Residents Challenge Davis

By Michael Laris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 27, 2005; Page A08

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56435-2005Feb26.html

There was placard waving, intense wireless messaging by political activists and a scholarly slide show of retirement projections and fiscal forecasts.

But at the heart of a carefully orchestrated face-off over Social Security in Fairfax City yesterday was an extended public back-and-forth between Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) and a persistent 74-year-old real estate agent named Teddy Goodson.

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"I'm older than Social Security," she began, challenging Davis to distance himself from Bush's idea of allowing younger workers to rely in part on private accounts within Social Security. Workers would swap some government guarantees for the possibility of higher returns and more control.

"We've had that," said Goodson, a Fairfax City resident. "It didn't work. People lost their retirement. It melted away in the Great Depression. It really is going to destroy Social Security as a program."

The headline should have been:

74 Year Old Fairfax Resident Bitch Slaps Rep. Tom Davis, R for Messing with Social Security

A once progressive County Board Chairman, Davis has moved to the dark side. He is not used to being challenged. Well, guess what, it's that time of his career. God bless this retired realtor for standing tall in the face of corporatism and the theft of social security.

[opihimoimoi]

1. Common Sense and Reason SHOULD PREVAIL....the Dark nefarious

side will win only if we run out of 74 year ladies who are pissed off. It is our challenge to BACK UP these Ladies and others who have Reason and Sanity imbedded in their brains....

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2. We have to ack them and also get out of their way. They're flame throwers!

[pinerow]

3. Give 'em hell, Teddy

nt

[cosmicdot]

4. I think he's been on the dark side all along

he was VP and General Counsel to PRC, a military technology contractor, from 1977 - 1994 ... not sure where PRC is today in the corporate beast ... the last I knew, they had became part of what was once Litton ... with all the merging and purging going on, it's difficult to keep up ...

http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=CNIP7775



from "Contracts With America"

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He represents a district in northern Virginia, home to many of the largest federal contractors. Before being elected to Congress, Davis had worked as an executive at PRC Inc., a military technology contractor -- a fact he often repeats in public statements. After leading campaign fundraising efforts for House Republicans in 2002, Davis promptly elevated the concerns of corporate contractors to the top of the agenda.

He pushed legislation to ease oversight rules, expanding, among other things, the exemption from holding open competitions for many services. Davis' staff held "drafting summits" with contractors to produce the bill. Leaked drafts of the legislation revealed that trade groups had suggested specific sections.

Styles, along with auditors at the Defense Department and the GAO, opposed much in Davis' legislation. And Davis was soon working to undermine her. He wrote letters to Styles' bosses at the Office of Management and Budget, Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. and Joshua Bolten, asking them to rein in Styles and frustrate her efforts. Styles said that she could not counter the contracting lobby and found few powerful allies within the Republican Party on her side. "The fiscal conservatives, for reasons I don't completely understand, are not part of that," she said. "We compromised." The bill, which included a small increase in training funds for federal contracting officers, ultimately passed Congress and was signed by the president. Davis is now working with contractors on the next round of "reforms."

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http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2004/05/04_401.html


glad to see someone and Fairfax stand up to this tool ... he should be unseated

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5. Agree, his PRC past is el stinko. He was OK on some key issues

with the Board of Supervisors slot, namely domestic violence initiatives and funding social services. PRC was merged into something else long, long ago. He tries to maintain a moderate image while helping elect the very worst type of people who elect the very worst type of Congressional leaders.

[yellowcanine]

6. The repubs are scared shitless of "granny power". This is a great sign.

Go Teddy!