Fitzgerald out

Steve Fitzgerald is NOT running for Congress. 

You'll recall he announced his campaign to replace Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins at the Kansas GOP Convention in Wichita last month.

The collective response was largely outrage, because how dare he run against a Republican incumbent, blah, blah, blah.

My response was largely, meh. Who cares? I always thought Jenkins' penchant for repeatedly standing next to the orangest man in Congress wasn't going to win her any favors, and Fitzgerald's short candidacy made my point.

I was kind of looking forward to the massive meltdowns from political insiders, but I'll still have plenty to chuckle about from the Roberts vs. Wolf campaign. (Today's latest meltdown involves comments Wolf made on Facebook in regards to pictures of x-rays of gunshot victims. The timing of the stories, on the heels of the New York Times' story about Roberts not living in Kansas, and not-so-great poll results, was questionable, but whatevs.)

Fitzgerald gives his reasons for not running in an email. Mostly, he says he is dropping out of the race because Congress restored cuts to veterans pensions. In his own words:

Things change:

     Large majorities of both parties in both houses voted to reverse the pension cuts and the President signed the bill last week. Frankly, this issue was a centerpiece of my campaign and it had been my intention to use it to support fund-raising from veterans nationwide. This unexpected reversal not only removed an important plank from my platform, it has severely reduced my ability to raise campaign funds.

     Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins has also issued a statement, which is SHOWN BELOW and is on her website:

  

http://lynnjenkins.house.gov/2014-press-releases/congresswoman-jenkins-responds-to-immigration-overhaul-principles/

 

     In this, she states she does not support amnesty or a pathway to citizenship that will benefit those who came here illegally at the expense of those who followed the law. This is in clear opposition to the Speaker of the House. As the fifth ranking member of Republican Leadership in the House this is significant - even though the Congresswoman has a good voting record on illegal immigration - such public opposition (widely shared by other members of the caucus) makes unlikely any deal prior to the elections in November. This removes the other plank from my platform.