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Hayes: An independent alternative
By Kurt Hayes/Congressional Candidate
Thu Sep 27, 2007, 06:40 PM EDT
The independent voters of the 5th District finally have their own candidate to support and elect to Congress.
My name is Kurt Hayes. I’m a husband, father of three and a successful IBM businessman from Boxborough. Like 52 percent of 5th District registered voters, I’m not a Republican or a Democrat. I’m an independent. As an independent, I’ve watched in frustration over the years as the two parties have escalated the partisan warfare in Congress to the point that nothing is getting done for the people. Even Marty Meehan recently cited this “poisonous environment” in which there’s an “inability of Democrats and Republicans to put aside whatever their philosophical differences are and try to reach solutions” as a key reason he resigned from Congress.
On June 16 I stood up from among the people and announced that I was joining the race for the 5th Congressional District seat. The independent majority now has their own candidate to support and vote for on Oct. 16. Please compare my side-by-side with the other candidates on the issues and your trust in me as a competent, common-sense candidate whose only interest is to represent you in Congress. You are the independent majority. You are also the Republicans and Democrats frustrated with the partisan bickering, extremists, and special interests that have taken over your parties.
This is the first election for all five candidates. We span the political spectrum.
As you learn where we are on the issues, you’ll see that I am truly an independent “centrist” between the two party candidates. Niki Tsongas agrees with me when it comes to health care. Jim Ogonowski agrees with me on immigration. I don’t agree with either of them on Iraq. Please go to www.kurthayes.com for more details. You’ll also be able to compare us by watching the debates and by reading “Candidate Positions” pieces to be printed in this paper.
The five candidates have varying work and life experiences. My work and political experience inside IBM, a corporation of over 300,000 employees, has equipped me with skills that’ll be valuable in Congress. You don’t forge relationships across the organization and work with disparate groups of customers, partners, and IBM teams towards a common goal without knowing politics.
There’s been much talk from Niki and Jim about the need for a “revolution,” a “change in tone” and the need to “end the partisan bickering.” They’re absolutely right. However, their campaigns are engaged in “politics as usual” partisan warfare that’s the root of the problem. They’ve traded dueling press releases on Iraq and health care that misrepresent each others’ positions. Sending yet another Democrat or Republican to Congress will only perpetuate the bickering. This election won’t be a referendum just on President Bush or a broken Congress. It’ll be a referendum on the two-party system that’s failing the people.
We need a revolution all right, an “independent” revolution that you can start right here in the birthplace of the American Revolution. If you start this revolution by electing me to Congress, the rest of the country will notice. There’ll be more independents elected to Congress in November 2008. The independent base will be joined by moderate Democrats and Republicans. We can then finally change the tone in Congress and restore hope that Washington can work for you.
I call on the independent majority and the frustrated Democrats and Republicans ready for a change to elect me, Kurt Hayes, an independent who has stood up from among the people to be your congressman in the “People’s House.” It is up to the independent majority, now with a candidate of their own, to decide if we get more of the same in Congress, or if we give hope for real change by electing Kurt Hayes.
I ask for your vote on Oct. 16. I’ll spend 100 percent of my time working for you in Congress, not 50 percent for you and 50 percent on “party business.” After one year, you’ll have the opportunity to give me a job evaluation, just like I get every year from IBM. If I haven’t served you well, you can resume voting for Republicans or Democrats.
Please help spread the word about me. Remember to please vote on Oct. 16. I will be honored if that vote is for Kurt Hayes.
Kurt Hayes of Boxborough is a candidate for Congress.
