May
23
Vern McKinley Asserts His Conservatism In Interview At Miller Politics Blog
Filed Under 2008 Election, Earmarks, Economics, Frank Wolf, News Items, Republicans, big government | Leave a Comment
Vern McKinley was interviewed by Lee “Ben” Miller for the Miller Politics blog yesterday.
MP: “Why did you decide to challenge incumbent Frank Wolf for the Republican nomination?”
McKinley: “I observed the 2006 election and saw a ‘Big Government Republican’ and a ‘Big Government Democrat’ offered by the two major parties. There was an ‘urban legend’ in the District that Congressman Wolf was a good limited government, fiscal conservative and he perpetuated this myth. I took a Vote-Smart survey that showed I agreed with him only about 25 to 30% of the time. This led me to research his record further and everything I found out about him as well as his votes subsequent to my initial research has shown that my decision to challenge him was a good one.”
Read the full interview at Miller Politics.
May
10
NOVA Townhall asks Who The Heck Is Vern McKinley?
Filed Under 2008 Election, Economics, Frank Wolf, Gun Control, Republicans | Leave a Comment
A nice write up of support for Vern McKinley from “joe” at the NOVA Townhall blog:
Prior to meeting him at the gun show, my only familiarity with Vern McKinley was based on a local Republican event where he addressed the local committee, and my impression was that Vern speaks like a regular guy - not a “political orator.” For me, this is not a negative, because I am more and more interested in the notion that our government is supposed to be one where regular citizens make the decisions. Furthermore, our current political leadership in America is a minefield of “orators” whose heads are firmly implanted where the sun don’t shine.
Vern carries a well-worn copy of the U.S. Constitution in his jacket pocket, and in our conversation he noted first of all that “home rule doesn’t override the Second Amendment.”
But his disagreements with Frank Wolf extend far beyond the issue of gun rights.
Vern is an attorney whose focus is on macroeconomics, advising a client base of international financial institutions. While home from business travel before the 2006 elections, he happened to see a debate between Frank Wolf and Democratic challenger Judy Feder. In the following months, Vern did some online research at Vote Smart and found he only agreed with Frank on 20-25% of his votes.
Vern’s assessment: “It’s an urban legend that Frank Wolf is a good conservative.”
Read the full article at NOVA Townhall.
Apr
30
Loudoun Times: Vern McKinley Challenges Frank Wolf
Filed Under 2008 Election, Earmarks, Economics, Foreign Policy, Frank Wolf, News Items, Republicans, Taxes, big government | Leave a Comment
An article in the Loudoun Times discusses Vern McKinley’s challenge to Frank Wolf in Virginia’s 10th District.
McKinley is firmly against the federal government contributing money to the Metrorail extension out to Loudoun. The main reason, he said, is that voters need to get away from thinking of members of Congress as “ATM machines and Santa Clause.”
“Your oath as a congressman,” he said, “is not to get as much money for your district as possible.”
Read the full article at the Loudoun Times.
Apr
26
McKinley Interview on The Korelin Economics Report [Audio]
Filed Under Economics, News Items | Leave a Comment
Vern McKinley is interviewed by Al Korelin of the Korelin Economics Report. Central Banks, monetary policy, and fiscal policy are covered in the short but interesting interview.
Apr
24
New Vern McKinley Interview On Economics Available
Filed Under 2008 Election, Economics, News Items, Regulation | Leave a Comment
Vern McKinley’s interview with The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter is now available online. The subject matter is economics, specifically, Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, the housing “bubble”, central banks, credit regulation, and bankruptcy are covered.
Read the interview at The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter.
Apr
22
McKinley Mayday Moneybomb Promo Videos
Filed Under Economics, Fund Raising, News Items, Video | Leave a Comment
A couple promotional videos for the Mayday McKinley grassroots originated money bomb have been discovered on YouTube. Watch them below.
Apr
21
Winchester Star Newspaper Covers Vern
Filed Under 2008 Election, Economics, Frank Wolf, News Items, Republicans, Taxes, big government | Leave a Comment
The Winchester Star covered Vern McKinley’s campaign earlier this month in an article about Virginia’s 10th District House race.
McKinley, who appeared at the mass meeting of Winchester Republicans on March 26, said he wants to offer the voters of the 10th District someone with Reagan values and a desire for smaller government.
“Since our launch of the campaign last summer, I have heard from people living in all parts of the district in person, by e-mail, by phone, and through social Web sites,” McKinley said in a statement released by his staff. “Voters in the 10th District want to put an end to big spending and big government as the answer to every policy challenge.
“They think Congressman Wolf is now part of the problem, not part of the solution.”
The GOP and the Democratic Party will each select their candidates for the 10th District race during primaries on June 10.
Read the full article at the Winchester Star.
Apr
18
McKinley Interviewed on Winchester ABC TV 4/18/2008 [Video]
Filed Under Earmarks, Economics, Foreign Policy, Media, News Items, Regulation | Leave a Comment
Vern McKinley was interviewed this morning on ABC TV 3 in Winchester, Virginia. He covers why he is running, the stumbling economy, earmarks, and the Iraq war.
Check out the interview video at the TV 3 web site.
Mar
18
What Should Be Done About the Mortgage Market?
Filed Under Economics, Press Release, Regulation | 1 Comment
Contact: Brad Jansen
703-470-9893
The mortgage market bubble has burst and in Washington efforts continue to find the right solution to falling real estate values that have brought on a weakening economy. The most common spin on the mortgage market has been that private markets have failed and now government intervention is needed to straighten everything out.
This focus on market failure has led to a number of proposals to make fundamental changes to the mortgage market. One such reform is the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2007 which relies on increased federal involvement in the mortgage process. This legislation, championed by Chairman Barney Frank of the Committee on Financial Services, has passed the House and now awaits action in the Senate. The Bush Administration has come out strongly against it noting it would cause greater uncertainty and increased litigation which would worsen the current credit crunch.
The reality is that government meddling contributed to the housing bubble. Government policy since the early 1990s, whether it was the Clinton Administration with its “National Homeownership Strategy” or the Bush Administration, which largely continued these policies, has had its almost sole focus to boost homeownership rates. This focus has seemingly had little concern for whether homeowners could actually afford those homes.
As evidence of this push, homeownership rates (p. 4) were for most of the 1980s at a level of 64% to 65%. The increased aggressiveness of government programs of the Clinton and Bush years, such as the Federal Housing Administration, Housing and Urban Development, and Community Reinvestment Act, artificially pushed this rate up to 69% by 2004. With the collapse of the housing bubble this rate is now headed downward.
Congressman Wolf of the 10th District was the only member of the Republican House delegation in Virginia to vote for the Mortgage Reform Act. Vern McKinley, Congressman Wolf’s Republican primary challenger, has argued for a number of years that a wide range of government programs such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the Community Reinvestment Act have put too much emphasis on directing credit to the mortgage market. “The lack of demand for housing is likely to get worse in the years to come rather than better. Aging baby boomers will be selling their homes in future decades as they downsize or move out of homes. The mortgage market will need to retain its flexibility to absorb these continuing changes in demand,” McKinley concludes.
Feb
18
It’s Still the Economy (Stupid)
Filed Under 2008 Election, Economics, Press Release, Taxes | Leave a Comment
Contact: Brad Jansen
703-470-5042
Ashburn, VA—Voters in last week’s Potomac Primaries in Virginia and Maryland responded that the economy was the top issue of concern to them in the midst of weakening economic growth and a potential recession. The House and Senate passed and President Bush signed into law last week a plan of action or “stimulus package” to address these concerns. What passed was a two-year $168 billion economic stimulus package that is meant to give the economy a boost. At the core of the economic package are one-time tax rebate checks to be handed out over the coming months.
When assessing the sensibility of the stimulus package the first question is whether the economy is actually in a recession. Although the economy is slowing, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is the arbiter of that issue and they have not weighed in one way or another yet. Historically, the NBER weighs in well after a recession starts, as they did not proclaim that the 2001 recession had in fact begun until eight months after it started. So last week’s stimulus package was approved even though it is uncertain whether we are in the midst of a recession. Further, a $168 billion stimulus package in an economy of $14 trillion is insignificant if it is intended to counteract a recession.
Another question to ask is where the money is coming from for this stimulus package. It is a misnomer that the government is injecting money into the economy, as a better way to describe it is moving money around. As the economy has been running at a deficit in the years since the last recession started in 2001, the money is being moved across generations.
“I think that politicians in Washington want to be seen as ‘doing something’ about the troubled economy,” notes Vern McKinley, who is challenging Congressman Wolf for the Republican nomination in the 10th Congressional District of Virginia. Congressman Wolf of Virginia voted for the stimulus package as did most members of the House.
“There are a few good provisions in the package, but the idea that giving out rebates in this manner will give a significant boost to the economy is silly. Any stimulus of this size would not stop a recession if one is already ‘baked in the cake.’ In order to pay for the rebates the government is going to have to borrow in the market. Borrowing from future generations to pay for consumption today is not a good idea. I think we have done enough of that the past few years,” notes Vern McKinley. “We need to focus on longer term issues, like getting the corporate tax rate down or extending the earlier round of tax cuts, which will improve long-term growth prospects,” McKinley concluded.
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