Francine Busby Delivers Democratic Radio Address

Francince Busby, running in the special election in California's 50th Congressional District (San Diego County), delivered the Democratic weekly radio address on Saturday. (On the small chance that you missed the news last week, former 50th CD rep Duke Cunningham was sentenced to 8 years 4 months in prison for accepting bribes.)

Let's give Francine all the help we can -- see below -- in claiming this seat for the Democrats. It's a golden opportunity to turn a traditionally Republican area bright Blue.

"My home county of San Diego is both a border city and a port city. We're proud of the jobs our port and border bring but we're also aware of the dangers that come with living and working at the nexus of two security checkpoints of our great country.

I was outraged to learn that the President wanted to outsource operations at some American ports to the United Arab Emirates. And like many of you, though I was outraged, I unfortunately was not surprised.

This secret deal didn't contain many of the provisions commonly found in other port deals.

That may be typical for business-as-usual in Washington, but it is not in the best interest of our national security.

This is of course the same team that brought us an immigration policy that has done little to secure our borders -- why would we imagine that they'd bring us anything more when it comes to the security of our ports?

At our ports, like our borders, Americans expect and deserve a Congress committed to stopping people who are intent on breaking the law.

There's a lot of rhetoric on both sides so it's important that we talk about the facts. Here's the first important fact: the United Arab Emirates was one of only three countries that recognized the terrorist-run Taliban as a legitimate government in Afghanistan.

Another fact: the U.A.E. served as a financial staging ground for the 9/11 attacks on our nation.

Even before this port deal with the U.A.E. was announced, here are the facts about the Republican record on port security: In 2003 and again last year, Republicans in Congress voted against funding for stronger port security. Last year, Republicans in Congress voted against funding for stronger border security. This record and this new deal with the U.A.E. reflect a perilous pre-9/11 world view that we can no longer afford.

We've now learned how they ignored a proven threat with Hurricane Katrina - starting with the White House. On this port deal, they also ignored the concerns of the Coast Guard about the lack of information.

Read the full transcript/listen to the audio....

More on the Busby campaign here.

Saturday, March 18th event: Buses for Busby - Friends from all over Southern California are headed on buses to the 50th district (coastal and northern San Diego County) to walk precincts for Francine Busby for Congress. We will be needing as many local volunteers as possible in order to pair up our visiting volunteers with local walkers. To Volunteer: Adam @ (760)479-0114 or volunteer@busbyforcongress.org