JERSEYVILLE - Congressman Rodney Davis has failed to keep his promises to be a fiscal conservative, and that's why 37 year old pharmacist and small business owner Ethan Vandersand, is challenging Davis in the March 15th GOP primary.
It's the second election in a row that Davis has been challenged by a candidate saying Davis is not as conservative in his voting as he leads his 13th CD constituents to believe. In 2014, former Miss America Erika Harold led a charge to unseat Davis.
Vandersand pointed to Davis' vote on the Omnibus budget bill, which has led to conservative political action committee Family Federal PAC from endorsing Davis in the GOP primary.
“A great example of the Davis rhetoric not matching the Davis record was his inexcusable vote for the Obama backed Ominbus bloated budget bill last month. By voting to increase government spending by $130 billion, Mr. Davis forgot his promise to the voters who elected him to keep federal spending in check," Vandersand said in a statement Monday.
"That bill increased funding for Planned Parenthood. It provided no restrictions on Sanctuary Cities, which allows illegal immigrants to live in America and tap into all of her benefits without legal status. No restrictions on EPA regulatory control of every pooling of water in America, all the way down to a drainage ditch. This cripples farmers and small businesses.”
Three key D.C. conservative groups gave Davis a poor score on the last legislative session:
—Heritage Action for America, scores Davis at 34% www.heritageactionscorecard.com
—The American Conservative Union, one of America’s oldest conservative organizations, gives Congressman Davis a lifetime 53% conservative score. www.acuratings.conservative.org
—Conservative Review rated Congressman Davis with a low F grade of 31%. They do a comprehensive scoring of 50 key Congressional votes. www.conservativereview.com
Vandersand said there's no excuse for supporting the budget bill.
"It shows that Congressman Davis was more concerned about pleasing Speaker Ryan and President Obama than doing right by the taxpayers or our district, state, and country. I would have joined conservative Illinois Congressmen Randy Hultgren and Darin LaHood in voting NO on this bill," Vandersand said. "Rodney Davis is a Congressman who makes promises in downstate Illinois but votes to bust the budget caps and increase the debt burden on our children and grandchildren.”
