 |
 |
 |
 |
Posted: September 29, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Rocky’s Real Business Partner Speaks Out
Krasula: “There was no fraud, no theft, no bribery — either by Rocky or any person at Star Tickets.”
[Birmingham, Michigan] — Today on the Frank Beckmann show, Rocky’s real business partner backed him up in his defamation lawsuit against Gary Peters. Speaking on the Frank Beckmann Show on WJR this morning, Jack Krasula, Co-Owner of Star Tickets Plus, made it clear that Peters’s charges were lies.
“There was no fraud, no theft, no bribery — either by Rocky or any person at Star Tickets,” said Krasula. “We’ve been responsible for thousands of concerts and events … there’s never been such a lawsuit presented against us. We’ve got a golden reputation, we’ve got great people. We’ve run the company the right way.”
Star Tickets is a Michigan company with 25 employees that competes against other ticketing firms such as Ticketmaster. Star Tickets has sold billions of tickets to millions of customers for thousands of events without any hint of impropriety.
Rocky Raczkowski had this to say, “Strike one: Gary Peters assured Oakland County voters he wouldn’t support a health care plan that increased costs and raised the deficit, but he voted for Obamacare anyway. Strike two: He says he’s an independent voice but votes with Nancy Pelosi 95 percent of the time. And strike three: Peters says he’s a moderate on spending but voted for the failed stimulus and trillions in deficits. When it comes to telling the truth, Gary Peters has struck out.”
“Congressman Peters,” Rocky continued, “hasn’t just stretched the truth. He’s thrown the truth out the window. Apparently, deceiving Oakland County families about his record isn’t enough. Now, he’s lying to them about me.”
“Congressman Peters agreed that he would resign from the campaign if his charges against me were found to be false,” said Rocky. “My real business partner backs me up and says Peters’ charges are bogus. Well, Gary, are you going to resign or did you tell another lie to the voters of Oakland County?”
ROCKY COMMERCIAL
Posted: September 28, 2010 at 7:56 pm
ROCKY COMMERCIAL
Fresh off his victory over Congressman Peters in last night’s debate, Rocky Raczkowski released his new campaign ad today highlighting what Congressman Peters voted for and, conversely, what Rocky plans to do differently when he becomes OUR Representative in Congress. No negative campaigning from Rocky’s side – unless you consider Congressman Peters VOTING RECORD negative.
ROCKY SCORES KNOCKOUT VICTORY
Posted: September 28, 2010 at 1:45 am
ROCKY SCORES KNOCKOUT VICTORY
(Birmingham, MI) – “I am not running to be a congressman. I am running to be your representative, to listen to you, to work for you,” said Rocky Raczkowski at tonight’s candidate forum sponsored by the Oakland Press.
In the debate, Rocky focused on how the incumbent Democrat, Gary Peters, votes 95 percent of the time with Nancy Pelosi, including support for Obamacare and the failed stimulus. “Oakland County has lost 60,000 jobs. We can’t afford another two years of Mr. Peters,” said Rocky.
While Gary Peters followed the Washington playbook of attack and avoid his own record, Rocky emphasized his plan to generate jobs, reduce government and protect America.
“How did you vote on Obamacare? How did you vote on the job-killing Cap and Trade? How did you vote on the failed $800 billion stimulus? Gary Peters voted with Nancy Pelosi on these issues and his only claim to independence is being independent of the needs and views of Oakland County families,” said Raczkowski.
On issues ranging from immigration to Social Security, Peters parroted the liberal Democrat line, while Rocky drew a clear line in the sand. “Social Security is a sacred trust,” said Rocky. “The key to saving Social Security is cutting federal spending so that we can keep that promise to America’s seniors. I don’t represent the Republican Party or the Democrat Party — I represent the people of Oakland County.”
ROCKY TO SUE PETERS FOR DEFAMATION
Posted: September 27, 2010 at 5:58 pm
ROCKY TO SUE PETERS FOR DEFAMATION
Brooks Patterson to Lead “Gary Peters Truth Squad”
(Birmingham, MI) – At a 10:45 a.m. news conference today at his campaign headquarters, Rocky Raczkowski will announce he is filing a defamation lawsuit against Congressman Gary Peters and Michigan Democrat Party Chairman Mark Brewer. The suit is a response to a Peters’ campaign ad that was filled with misleading lies and deceptive language. In the vicious personal attack on Rocky’s integrity, Peters embellished the claims of a bankrupt concert promoter who was recently arrested for possession of cocaine.
“Congressman Peters showed reckless disregard for the truth in running this defamatory ad just as he has showed reckless disregard for Oakland County families when he voted for the failed $800 billion stimulus, for Obamacare and for the Cap and Trade energy tax,” said Raczkowski.
“Defendants Peters and Brewer made the false and defamatory allegations as part of a scheme to mislead and defraud Oakland County voters, particularly those residing in the 9th Congressional District, and to gain an unfair, improper and unethical advantage in a congressional campaign that recent polls show Peters and Brewer’s Democratic Party to be losing,” says a key portion of the suit.
Rocky also announced that Oakland County Executive Brooks Patterson will be chairing the “Gary Peters Truth Squad” and will be exposing Peters’ hypocrisy and willingness to say and do anything to get re-elected.
“When it comes to fraud, Gary Peters puts Bernie Madoff to shame. Peters supported spending hundreds of billions of dollars without the consent of the people of Oakland County,” said Patterson. “Peters votes with Nancy Pelosi 95 percent of the time and then tells Oakland County voters he’s an independent. He watches out for his Wall Street pals and ignores the concerns of business owners on Woodward Avenue. The truth about Gary Peters is that the only job he cares about saving is his own.”
Editor’s Note: Rocky Raczkowski, his attorney and Brooks Patterson will be available for comment at the press conference. Copies of the lawsuit will also be provided. Only media with proper credentials will be admitted.
The Truth About Rocky Raczkowski and Gary Peters — The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Posted: September 23, 2010 at 3:27 pm
The Good
Rocky Raczkowski is running for Congress because he’s frustrated with both Democrats and Republicans who have run up trillions in deficits, mortgaged America’s future and put our security at risk. Rocky is ready to go to Washington to stop out-of-control spending, cut taxes and get our economy growing and creating jobs again. He’ll work for us, not the special interests.
Rocky is proud of his record as a soldier, state representative and CEO. For most of his adult life, Rocky has served in America’s military, defending our freedom on two overseas tours of duty, earning a Bronze Star for meritorious service in combat operations in Operation Enduring Freedom.
In the Michigan Legislature, Rocky was elected by his colleagues to be America’s youngest majority floor leader, where he delivered bipartisan majority votes for tax cuts, welfare reform and budget surpluses. As a CEO at Star Tickets, he helped a Michigan company grow and create jobs despite the down economy.
Now, as a candidate for U.S. Congress from Michigan’s 9th District, Rocky is leading in the polls over liberal Democrat incumbent Gary Peters. An independent poll conducted on September 13th said Rocky was leading 45 percent to 40.7 percent.[1] Meanwhile the campaign’s most recent internal poll indicates an even wider margin of more than seven percentage points.
Rocky is endorsed by the Independence Caucus who thoroughly vetted his positions and his background. Most important of all, Rocky has built a grass roots army of 1,500 volunteers already working the phones and walking door to door.
The Bad
All across the 9th District, Rocky is drawing big crowds at town hall meetings while the incumbent is avoiding the general public and running away from his record of voting with Nancy Pelosi 95 percent of the time, including support for Obamacare, the failed Stimulus and Cap and Trade.[2] Peters even made a “sweetheart” deal with Pelosi to help guarantee his vote for Obamacare.[3]
In recent weeks, it’s become clear that Gary Peters will do anything and say anything to get reelected. The most glaring example of Peter’s deathbed conversion away from his usual lockstep liberalism is his recent support of extending ALL of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts — despite the fact that for more than two years, he had said just the opposite.
Another shocker is Peters’ sudden claim on his website to support a freeze in domestic spending despite his previous support for the failed $787 billion stimulus program and for the 2010 “omnibus budget” — a spending spree laden with more than 9000 earmarks that added $410 billion to the national debt. Yet Peters turns around and claims fiscal responsibility by voting against raising the debt ceiling.
But there’s one thing that Peters won’t claim — and that’s credit for Obamacare. Now that three in five American voters say they support repeal, Peters is silent. It’s no wonder Oakland County voters are turning away from Peters and looking for a representative like Rocky who will actually represent us and work for us.
The Ugly
Since he’s trailing badly in the polls, Democrat Gary Peters is desperate, lashing out at Rocky with negative personal attacks. Since he can’t run on his record, Peters has launched the most vicious negative campaign that Oakland County has seen in years.
On the very day that Republicans make the Pledge to America to undo the damage caused by Democrats like Gary Peters, the embattled incumbent launches a scurrilous and deceitful personal attack against Rocky based on a frivolous lawsuit filed by a bankrupt concert promoter who is charged with cocaine possession. The case has already been dismissed once by the courts and should be dismissed again.
Which brings us to the ugliest fact of all — national unemployment at nearly 10 percent, Michigan unemployment at nearly 14 percent and a true unemployment rate (if you count those who have given up looking for work) of nearly 20 percent.
Gary Peters can try to run from his record, but he can’t hide from the ugly fact that his policies have failed to turn the economy around and failed to create jobs. That’s why it is so clear there is only one job Gary Peters is really interested in saving — his own.
[1] http://www.rossmangroup.com/newsitem.php?newsid=492
[2] http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/111/house/party-voters/
[3] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/15/AR2010031501648.html
Rocky Leads in First General Election Poll
Posted: September 15, 2010 at 10:42 pm
Rocky Leads in First General Election Poll
Independent Polling Shows Incumbent Peters Trailing
Birmingham, MI – The Kelly Rossman Group, an Lansing based firm, issued tracking poll results in the 9th Congressional District today showing challenger Rocky Raczkowski up on Incumbent Congressman Gary Peters.
The automated poll conducted September 13th showed Raczkowski with 45 percent, Peters with 40.7 percent and 10.3 percent undecided. The other four percent were divided among the Independent, Libertarian and Green Party candidates.
“This poll reflects the fact that Gary Peters says one thing and does another. From Obamacare to the stimulus to tax cuts, Gary says one thing to middle class families in Oakland County and then goes to Washington DC and votes the other way,” Raczkowski said. “Voters want a candidate with a rock solid commitment to cut taxes and stop spending so our economy can start creating jobs again.”
Peters voted for the $787 billion failed federal stimulus package, last year’s healthcare bill known publicly as “Obama-care”, the Cap and Trade bill which would have raised taxes and harmed the Detroit area’s auto industry and has recently flip-flopped on his long standing opposition to extending the 2001 and 2003 ‘across the board’ tax cuts which are due to expire at the end of the year.
Rocky Raczkowski is the Republican nominee for Michigan’s 9th Congressional District. Raczkowski is a Major in the U.S. Army Reserves who was awarded the bronze star for meritorious service during combat operations, a successful businessman, and former Majority Floor Leader of the Michigan House of Representatives.
Gary Peters goes silent on Obamacare
Posted: September 13, 2010 at 10:06 pm
Gary Peters goes silent on Obamacare
A few weeks ago, liberal Democrats began making a full-blown retreat from their core arguments about cost and deficit reductions in the new health-care law because “they are not resonating with voters.” Based on advice from prominent liberal politicians and health care activists, Democrat candidates are being advised to discontinue messaging that focuses on health-care costs and deficit reduction, and to move instead to the use of anecdotal support for the bill’s passage while also promising to “improve it”.
Well, Gary Peters appears to have wasted no time in saluting Speaker Pelosi and submitting to this disingenuous change in direction from Democratic message makers: his campaign website is devoid of all references to health care reform, including his highly touted and largely ignored, self-imposed “principles” for voting in favor of Obamacare (which are still displayed, however, on his official House website at http://peters.house.gov/uploads/Peters%20principles%203%2022%2010.pdf).
For those of you who missed it, last year Gary Peters published a set of principles for health care reform, standards by which he promised he would judge health care reform legislation when it was debated on the House floor. In fact, Gary said that if a health care reform bill met these principles he would vote for it and — if it did not — he would vote against it.
So, how did Gary stack up against his own standards, the so-called “Peters’ Principles,” in what now appears to have been a bit of political theater? Not well at all. Seems Obamacare widely missed the mark on a number of his key principles, but Gary took his marching orders from Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman anyway and voted in favor of the bill.
Is there any doubt why Gary Peters seems to have taken the advice of his leadership and is now attempting to cover his tracks while going silent in his campaign on his support for Obamacare? Any politician who could violate his own self-imposed principles in this way and is not above ignoring the fact that 60 percent of all Americans as well as a likely majority of his own constituents oppose this bill needs all the political cover he can find.
Clearly, Gary Peters does not work for us — he works for Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama. Vote for Rocky in November and begin to repeal and replace Obamacare!
WILL THE REAL GARY PETERS PLEASE STAND UP?
Posted: September 9, 2010 at 4:46 pm
WILL THE REAL GARY PETERS PLEASE STAND UP?
(Birmingham, MI) – Rep. Gary Peters (MI-09) has revealed that he will say and do anything to get re-elected. After voting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi 95 percent of the time, including support for the failed stimulus, Obamacare and cap and trade, Peters stunned his liberal supporters yesterday by announcing he is in favor of extending all of the Bush tax cuts and opposed to Obama’s $50 billion second stimulus plan.
“Will the real Gary Peters please stand up?” said Rocky Raczkowski, Republican candidate for Congress in the 9th District. “Is he the liberal Gary Peters who voted down the line with Nancy Pelosi or the desperate politician, Gary Peters, who will say anything to get re-elected?
“Gary Peters claims that he is working hard to create jobs,” Rocky continued. “With this stunning revelation, it’s clear there’s only one job Peters really cares about saving — his own.”
Gary Peters’ Small Business Initiatives Are Too Little, Too Late!
Posted: September 7, 2010 at 11:06 pm
Gary Peters’ Small Business Initiatives Are Too Little, Too Late!
After helping to pass a number of pieces of major legislation that have exacerbated the problems confronting small-business owners nationally as well as here in Michigan, Gary Peters has decided it is time to take a listening tour to meet with owners of such businesses. His purported goal is to “discuss Michigan’s economy, challenges facing local businesses, and what Washington ought to do to foster growth.”
Here’s a suggestion for Gary Peters: Begin discussions by explaining how your support of Obamacare has advanced the interests and fortunes of small business owners you claim to represent and whose votes you are now desperately seeking.
Contrary to his pro-Obamacare rhetoric, in which he claimed that health-care reform would “bring down costs for businesses and middle class families,” Gary’s support for this bill has only helped to exacerbate the financial crisis for families and businesses in Oakland County.
For starters, to solve the problems small firms have with finding affordable health coverage, Obamacare imposed a small-business tax credit. But there’s less to this credit than meets the eye. A recent study by FamiliesUSA shows that only one in four businesses employing 25 or fewer employees will get the full credit—and one in six will receive absolutely nothing. Moreover, the credit is reduced whenever a firm adds workers or raises wages—so it actually provides a perverse incentive not to hire people or give raises. Bottom line, according to the National Federation of Independent Businesses: the credit will do little to help small businesses in dealing with the crushing new regulatory and tax burdens imposed by Obamacare.
What’s worse, Obamacare has other features that do additional harm to small businesses. The employer mandate calls for non-insuring firms with 50 or more workers to pay a $2,000 penalty per employee. New insurance requirements will make it difficult for employers to offer attractive, affordable insurance plans. And the new requirement to file a 1099 form for every vendor paid more than $600/year will sink small firms even deeper into non-value-added, nonproductive administrative regulations and administrative costs and paperwork.
In light of these onerous regulations, small business owners in Oakland County are likely to tell Gary Peters that his recent conversion to fiscal discipline and pro-business policies is “too little, too late”. Gary Peters had his chance, and he chose to listen to Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, and Charlie Rangel instead of his constituents.
No amount of listening will undo the damage Gary Peters has already done by his support for Obamacare. Total repeal and replacement of Obamacare—starting with the election of Rocky Raczkowski—is the best way to begin lifting the burdens that have been imposed on Oakland County’s greatest generators of jobs—our small-business owners.
“Fool Me Once” – Peters’ Hypocrisy Revealed
Posted: September 6, 2010 at 7:56 pm
“Fool Me Once” – Peters’ Hypocrisy Revealed
(Birmingham, MI) – “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me,” goes the old saying. Today, as President Obama announces the “planes, trains and automobiles” spending spree, incumbent Democrat Gary Peters has a choice: oppose this $50 billion boondoggle or support it and try to fool the voters again. On his campaign website, Peters says he supports a freeze in domestic spending, yet he supported the first stimulus, the health care takeover and the recent union bailout bill.
“Shame on you, Rep. Peters, if you support more spending and expect voters to believe your spin about being against more spending,” said Rocky Raczkowski. “Maybe you can say you were against it before you were for it.”
Raczkowski, who is running against Peters to represent Michigan’s 9th district, also criticized the incumbent for continuing to launch negative personal attacks instead of focusing on issues important to Oakland County families.
“The Peters’ campaign is all about money and mud,” said Rocky. “He has scooped up millions in special interest cash and now he is slinging mud to change the subject from an abysmal record of failure, especially the failure of the Obama-Pelosi-Peters economic plan. Mr. Peters, instead of attacking me, tell us where are the jobs?”
 |
 |
 |
 |