Sullivan supports students

Over the past week, congressional candidate Jim Sullivan has made two appearances at UConn. In the first, he stormed hundreds of dorm rooms encouraging students to register to vote. In his second campus appearance the next day, Sullivan spoke at the Student Union along side former presidential candidate Howard Dean.

It is not every day that universities see congressional candidates identifying on a personal level with young voters. However, Sullivan is not an everyday congressional candidate. His appearances at UConn highlight his idealism and his commitment to the young voters of this district.

Repeatedly, candidates for office fail to talk about issues important to youth because the college generation is supposedly not engaged in politics. Nevertheless, Sullivan realizes that the youth are the future of America and if given a compelling reason by a candidate, young voters will vote. For this reason, Sullivan decided to bring the energizing Dean to UConn rather than to the hundreds of other venue options around the district.

Sullivan has shown a commitment to the student body by appearing on campus and engaging students one on one. In addition to his commitment to engage the college generation, Sullivan has been a strong advocate of sensible policies important to students.

Given the fact that college tuition has skyrocketed over the past four years, Sullivan supports simplifying the college loan process, in addition to fully funding Pell grants. He believes college education is essential to a strong and stable economy. For this reason, he believes students should not be worrying about whether or not they can afford finishing college - and if the federal government takes a better stance on loans and grants, some of the current financial problems will be solved.

Furthermore, with many college students fighting in Iraq, Sullivan believes changes need to be made in regards to foreign policy so that our troops can be brought home as soon as possible. Jim believes in a real and true handover of sovereignty in Iraq. He would also work on getting NATO involved in Iraq to help relieve the United States' military burden. He would encourage the president seek out diplomatic means to help strengthen alliances so that America does not continue to be burdened with 90 percent of the casualties and 90 percent of the costs.

Sullivan makes distinctions between the War on Terror and the war in Iraq. He realizes that the two wars are not the same. While Saddam Hussein was an evil dictator, he did not possess the weapon capabilities the Bush administration claimed he did. In the process of fighting a false threat, the War on Terror has fallen to second priority.

Sullivan believes politicians in Washington should be striving to make America safer - a goal accomplished by seeking out the terrorists who attacked this country, working with nations to abolish radical Islamic schools where students are taught to hate America and funding security measure for the homeland.

Much is at stake in the 2nd congressional district this year. With a highly polarized nation and an evenly divided Congress, the majority party in Congress may be determined by only a few seats across the country. The 2nd congressional district is one of the districts being identified nationally as a targeted race. At stake in this election is more than just whether or not eastern Connecticut will have a Democrat or a Republican representing the district. At stake in this election is whether Nancy Pelosi is elected the first female Speaker of the House or whether Tom Delay will maintain his hammer-hold on the House of Representatives.

Dean spoke of the decency of Republicans like Lincoln Chaffee of Rhode Island. However, Delay is no Lincoln Chaffee and the policies of the Texas congressman would never even stand a chance in eastern Connecticut. Delay has stood steadfast with Bush and in cases has dared to even move further right. Certainly, eastern Connecticut is far better off with Pelosi controlling the agenda.

Despite the current House leadership having values and ideals completely different from eastern Connecticut, Congressman Rob Simmons has repeatedly voted with the Republican leadership in the House. The non-partisan Congressional Quarterly report shows that Simmons has voted with the Republican Party on nearly a supermajority of key votes.

When Bush and Delay need the votes, Simmons is willing to put the interests of the 2nd congressional district aside in order to vote with a party leadership that is out of touch with Connecticut values. Granted, Simmons has broken with his party on some key votes, but push come to shove, if Delay needs a vote, Simmons will be at his aid.

Sullivan will be a congressman who represents the interests of eastern Connecticut before the interests of Texas. He is a man who believes in putting the people he represents first. He is a man who will be guided by the pulse of the district he represents, not by the requests of any president or congressional leader.

The reality of this election is that the challenger Sullivan and the republican Simmons have huge differences. Bush and Simmons both arrived in Washington four years ago. Since then, paying for college has become exponentially harder, Connecticut unemployment has nearly doubled with 50,000 Connecticut jobs lost and members of the college generation have been shipped overseas without the proper precautions. The need to change the president is becoming increasingly obvious and the need for a change of leadership in eastern Connecticut is highly evident.

Sullivan will be a congressman who fights for change, he will fight for Connecticut. Moreover, even closer to heart, he will fight for the interests of students. For all of these reasons and more, I proudly support Jim Sullivan for Congress and hope that students will heed his advice to become engaged in the political process.

Sources:

http://www.sullivanforcongress.com/