Conservative Daily News » karen harrington

Karen Harrington: More than Just the Anti-DWS Candidate

Lauri Bohanan — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 17:44:55 +0000

By now we’ve all heard the popular #FireDebbie meme, and conservatives and Libertarians alike long for the day when Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) no longer sits before us as a spokesperson for the Obama administration…but what do you know about the woman who just might make that happen?

Karen Harrington, businesswoman with a 30-year record of private industry success, is overcoming the DNC machine with her own innovative messaging and is now within striking distance of the Democratic darling. She is getting tremendous support nationwide (including through social media), is raking in the campaign cash, and is very likely to unseat Wasserman Schultz in this year’s election.

The most recent polling data, taken in early October, shows Harrington trailing by just 4.5% (MOE is 5%). This upward trend is happening throughout the GOP, with Connie Mack IV (also running to unseat Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson in FL), Romney-Ryan, and even Todd Akin (R-MO) beginning to see a shift in the tides. Harrington is faring well among Independents, as well (35%), which will work to her advantage since the combination of Republicans and Independents in the district outnumbers Democrats. The most promising piece of data to be extracted from this poll is that 16.1% of voters are still undecided.

Harrington’s first foray into politics was to run against Wasserman Shultz in 2010, but she was defeated by a double digit margin. A few short months ago, with Wasserman Schultz owning a seemingly insurmountable lead, it appeared she might be headed for a similar upset this year. But after a tremendous amount of hard work – and some major public missteps by her opponent – the campaign has begun to see the fruits of its labor.

Much like Mitt Romney, Karen, who identifies as a “conservative by nature,” cites her business acumen as her primary qualification for Congress. She believes that her years in the private sector have made her “fiscally responsible,” one who understands that “you have to rely on yourself to be successful.” Her ideology is as far removed from the “You didn’t build that” mantra as one could imagine.

She says there are three primary issues on which she clearly delineates herself from her opponent:

“1) [Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz] definitely supports bigger government. She supported the failed stimulus plan and has stood by that position. She has tried to convince us that it has saved us from falling off that cliff, which we’re all barely hanging on to.

2) [Wasserman Schultz] believes government-run healthcare will help all Americans have good healthcare. I’m opposed to that for all kinds of reasons: it takes away our choice, our access to good healthcare, and it is not affordable. As a business owner, it adds an enormous tax burden onto all of us. Ultimately, I believe [the Democrats'] goal is to destroy private insurance as a whole and force everyone into a single-payer system.

3) [Wasserman Schultz] believes we should punish success and raise taxes on higher income levels; I want to keep taxes at a flat level for all Americans and get this economy going. She believes jobs will be created through more government interference, and I believe it’s in the hands of the private sector.”

Beyond these issues, Harrington supports the standard GOP platform. She also supports school choice (a state-run vouchers program) in Florida, arguing that “if the public school system continues to fail our children, parents have a right to make another choice.” She advocates for a major overhaul of the 60,000-page tax code. Though she seems to favor the Flat Tax conceptually, she believes that real reform is a must for our economy, so she doesn’t rule out other options, even the FairTax. She explains, “Here we are in October and we still don’t know what our taxes will look like in January, and they expect us to grow our economy, to invest, to expand? There’s so much uncertainty. Nothing should be off the table.”

On the significance of being the “anti-candidate,” Karen acknowledges a great deal of the support she’s experienced comes from citizens who have been willing to speak with her primarily because of whom she’s running against.

“It was absolutely pivotal when we started over seventeen months ago,” she explained, “to build this campaign and make it a national race. Twitter and Facebook were tremendously important in engaging voters, even outside of the district.” While this certainly might have been what caught the attention of Americans to begin with, Candidate Karen Harrington has come into her own. She is a confident, personable, nonsensical woman who articulates her vision for America clearly.

She has been endorsed many sitting Congressmen and women, including former Presidential candidate, Michele Bachmann, and by several key players late in the game, including former Governor Jeb Bush and popular Florida Senator Marco Rubio.

She doubled Wasserman Schultz’s fundraising in the last FEC reporting period ($712K to $369K) and is hoping this trend will continue in the final weeks; the goal is to pull in those last undecided voters, as well as motivate existing Republican supporters to come out and help her unseat Wasserman Schultz.

Harrington summarized her thoughts on why she’s running for office this way: “I’m just very excited for my country. I think it’s been a long four years for all of us as Americans, so much uncertainty, and it would be an honor to serve the will of the people of my district.”

There are many ways supporters can help make this happen: Follow her on Twitter @Karen4Congress or using the hashtag #FireDebbie; check out the Obama-Wasserman Schultz debt clock at firedebbie.com; and Like her Facebook page. Learn more about her at karenforcongress.com, and of course, political messaging costs money, so she invites donations of any size to help her bring home the win in South Florida’s 23rd Congressional disctrict.

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz- Her Final Economic Grade Before the Mid-Term Elections is a Big, Fat “F”

R. Mitchell — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 14:33:48 +0000

After Four Years of Control of Congress, Her Reckless Economic Policies Have Serious Consequences South Florida’s Small Businesses

Pembroke Pines, FL. - Whenever the topic of the economy is addressed by Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, she can always be counted on to blame others for failed economic results, and she has never accepted responsibility for what has occurred during her tenure in Congress. But now that the “Summer of Recovery” has concluded and has shown itself to be a public relations fiasco and a failure in terms of real economic results- the time has come for Debbie Wasserman-Schultz to account for her record to the voters. Unfortunately, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz will never level with the American people and admit responsibility for the failed economic results that have occurred on her watch, and she will continue to spin, misinform, and deceive the public in order to maintain her grasp on power.

The economic policies that Debbie Wasserman-Schultz has supported, which constitute an unprecedented amount of government interference in the American private sector- replete with bailouts, unsustainable federal spending, a failed “stimulus” plan; government takeovers of banks, auto and insurance companies, and student loans; and the massively unpopular takeover over our healthcare system- have literally left our economy on the brink.

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Democrats took control of Congress in January of 2007. Here’s what her policies have left in their wake:

· The Democrat-controlled Congress has amassed more debt in the last four years than nearly the previous 230 years combined

· National Unemployment Rate has climbed from 5.0 to 9.6 percent

· The “Real” Unemployment Rate (U6) measuring unemployed people who are actively seeking work – skyrockets from 8.3 to 17.1 percent

· Florida’s Unemployment Rate- Spikes from 3.7 to 11.7 Percent

· The Failure of the “Stimulus” Plan- approximately 3 million American jobs have been lost since the passage of the “Recovery” Act in February 2009

· The Number of Americans receiving food stamps was 41.8 million in July 2010- up almost 10 million people since Jan. 2009

· Middle-class Americans have made their deepest spending cuts in more than two decades, slashing spending on such discretionary items as restaurant meals and alcohol during the recession

· The poorest Americans are spending more as prices increase for necessities like food and rental housing

· 72,000 “stimulus” checks were sent to the deceased and the incarcerated

The bottom line for our national economy: as the poor and middle class are forced to make substantial cutbacks to their household budgets, our federal government does just the opposite with its budget, and continues with its reckless fiscal policies that very much jeopardize our nation’s prosperity.

“The policies of Debbie Wasserman Schultz are holding the American economy hostage, and persisting with these same failed policies will only result in further damage to our economy that could take years to recover from,” said Karen Harrington, candidate for Congress in Florida’s 20^th Congressional District. “Debbie Wasserman-Schultz does not understand that excessive taxation and regulation causes fear and uncertainty that does enormous damage to both household budgets and to small business owners. Americans have a clear choice in November- continue with the failed policies of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz that will lead to further economic ruin and dependency on government, or return to fiscally responsible policies that allow the ingenuity and industriousness of small businesses to lead us out of the economic wasteland that Debbie Wasserman-Schultz has led us into for the last four years,” said Harrington.

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz- Fundamentally Dishonest About Her Reckless Agenda That Holds Our Economy Hostage

R. Mitchell — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 18:28:23 +0000

Pembroke Pines, FL, September 28, 2010 – It is no secret that Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is one of the most brazen partisan politicians in the country today. In every media appearance, Debbie never deviates from her talking points and her political spin- but the truth is that her misinformation and outright falsehoods cannot withstand scrutiny. Time and again, Debbie-Wasserman-Schultz is routinely tasked with the role of caricaturing and vilifying her political opposition while she fundamentally deceives the American people about the true nature of her Party’s radical agenda that continues to divide the American people.

The hard truth about Debbie’s agenda that she cannot avoid is that it really is more of the same- unsustainable fiscal spending that comes at taxpayer expense, a hostile government takeover of the health care system that threatens the quality of our health care, the creation of massive new bureaucracies and expansion of government power- there is nothing “new” here; Debbie’s agenda is a tried and failed plan of action.

As Debbie has busied herself supporting policies that are sure to fail the American people, her and her Democratic Party have now become derelict in their responsibilities, as they have announced that they will not schedule a vote on extending the Bush-era tax cuts for every American before adjourning Congress at the end of this week.

“All Americans are going to suffer the biggest tax increase in history if Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and the Democratic-controlled Congress do not vote to renew tax-rate cuts,” said Karen Harrington, the candidate challenging Wasserman-Schultz in Florida’s 20^th Congressional District. “There is not one small business owner operating in the United States who knows what their tax rate will be as of January 1^st. Small businesses will not be able to make hiring decisions or determine capital spending in this kind of economic uncertainty. The hard economic reality is that my restaurant business, just like most other small businesses here in South Florida, will unfortunately postpone hiring and expansion decisions until after the beginning of next year.

“If taxes are increased come January 1^st, the current poor economic climate will become even worse, and the chance that new hiring will take place or that businesses will expand their operations will become far less likely. Unfortunately, it is Debbie Wasserman-Schultz’s ignorance about the way business works that is causing needless uncertainty amongst small businesses and doing great damage to South Florida’s economy. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s awards and photo-ops do not help small businesses, and her present inaction on taxes is only doing further damage to the same small businesses that she claims to support. As more people come to understand that Debbie Wasserman-Schultz has nothing to offer other than platitudes and policies that are hijacking our economy, the more people will abandon her and her agenda,” said Harrington.