NEWS
From Tribune Staff Reports
Scholars present free market case
for ending the Fed
JEKYLL ISLAND, Ga. — A
number of scholars who are proponents
of Austrian economics presented their
arguments for ending the Federal
Reserve System during a conference,
“The Birth and Death of the Fed” on
Feb. 26-27 in Beachside Hall at the
Jekyll Island Convention Center.
Asheville Tea Party PAC
endorses Eichenbaum
ASHEVILLE, March 9, 2009 –
Amid controversy, the Asheville Tea
Party PAC announced on Tuesday
that it is endorsing the candidacy of
Dr. Dan Eichenbaum, a Republican,
for U.S. House of Representatives.
The endorsement follows a
candidates’ debate last Friday night
at A-B Tech, after which Eichenbaum
finished first in a weighted straw
poll.
“It is our great plea sure to
announce our endorsement of Dr.
Dan Eichenbaum,” the ATP said
in a news release. “As recent history
has proven, a candidate who has the
support of his or her local Tea Party
is a fortunate candidate indeed.
“Our movement’s participation
in political campaigns is a game-
changer for all candidates involved.
The same enthusiasm that we bring
to protesting, rallying and organizing
for liberty, we will bring to the table
in this congressional race.
“In the next several days, we
will be communicating with Dr.
Eichenbaum and his campaign staff
to determine how we can put our
efforts to best use on his behalf. In the
meantime, we will be promoting Dr.
Eichenbaum through out ATPAC
Web site and newsletters.”
The ATP noted that its endorsement
was based upon the candidates’
responses to its questionnaire and on
the results of the ATP Congressional
Candidates’ Debate straw poll. “Both
elements were weighted equally
to determine the winner of our
endorsement.”
Meanwhile, the Hendersonville
Times-News, a daily newspaper
owned by the New York Times Co,
published an editorial on Tuesday
morning, headlined “The cure for
what ails us,” slamming Eichenbaum
for his proposal to scrap the Federal
Reserve.
“God save the republic if scrapping
the Federal Reserve is the best the
Republican candidates for Congress
can come up with,” the editorial
asserted.
“One candidate led the charge at
Friday night’s Tea Party debate in
Asheville, which gave off more sound
than light. Dr. Dan Eichenbaum, an
ophthalmologist from Murphy, is the
darling of the Tea Party wing of the
Republican Party. He makes sense
www.tribunepapers.com
The conference was held at the site
of the conception — 100 years ago
— of the Federal Reserve System in a
secret meeting involving six men who
represented one-fourth of the world’s
wealth at the time. By 1913, they had
persuaded congress to approve the
launch of the Fed.
when he talks the standard fare about
the threat posed by the federal deficit,
which the Republican Party stopped
believing when it took control of
Congress in 1994.”
However, the Times-News said
that “Dr. Dan,” a founder of the
Cherokee County chapter of the
Glenn Beck-created 9-12 Project,
“seems to be adopting the strategy of
the clever Fox commentary himself,
lobbing accusations and promising
change with no detail on how he’d
actually solve problems.
“R epubl ic a n s i ntere sted i n
nominating the best-prepared
candidate to take on Democrat Heath
Shuler in November should demand
more of their candidates than easy
bromides lifted from Glenn Beck
talking points.”
Conversely, the Hendersonville
daily praised the stance of Newman,
the former Hendersonville mayor, for
bringing “everyone back to reality” by
asserting that “the fact of the matter
is that it is our house to clean up.
The responsibility is ours. There are
going to have to be some difficult and
tough votes.”
In other ATP debate developments,
ATP Chairwoman Erika Franzi
addressed a number of issues in
a lengthy Monday news release,
including whether the debate was
skewed toward a particular candidate,
seating order, campaign literature
distribution, question selection,
involvement with campaigns and
general criticism.
“There were occasions when our
volunteer moderator (John North,
publisher of The Asheville Daily
Planet and a Tribune contributor),
on his own volition, strayed from the
debate format to make further inquiry
of the candidates. Our moderator, a
journalist by trade, was perhaps over-
eager to clarify the candidates’ points
at times, but there was absolutely no
purposeful bias in the executive of the
debate,” Franzi asserted.
North said he attempted to
bring out the candidates positions
rather than allow them to issue pat,
oversimplified answers.
She also noted that, despite clearly
stated rules on campaign literature
distribution before the debate, “I,
too, observed during the event at
least three of the campaigns did not
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The scholars, and keynote speaker
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middle-class and that its performance
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heed this restriction. This was very
disappointing.”
Bill Fishburne, a Republican
Party official and Senior Editor
of the Tribune newspapers, said
the limitation on distribution of
campaign literature was a worrisome
and unprecedented restriction on
the candidates at a political forum.
“I support the Tea Party concept,”
Fishburne said, “but their attempt
to muzzle the candidates while
taking advantage of their time
deeply disturbs me. This is a political
campaign, not the coronation of Dr.
Eichenbaum or any other candidate.
The Tea Party made a series of errors
in their forum, including restricting
the right of free speech, dictating a
secretive selection of questions rather
than taking them from the audience,
and the imposition of an inexplicable
top-down weighting system on the
straw poll results.
“Voting isn’t a percentage deal.
You either get a vote, or you don’t.
Weighting votes is either total
nonsense, or there is a motive behind
it.
“Neither of the major political
parties imposes such restrictions
at public events. I don’t think this
speaks well of where their movement’s
leadership is at the present time.”
In a summary of her point-by-point
responses, Franzi said that the ATP
debate “was in no way designed to
favor any one candidate over another.
It was designed to help the audience
determine which of the six candidates
is the best representative of Tea
Party values and the best candidates
from N.C.-11 for U.S. House of
Representatives.”
“We sincerely sought to bring our
membership the most professionally
executed and well-thought-out event
possible. It is a great disappointment
to me personally to know that there
are those who believe we have been
less than honorable in our actions
and intentions. On my word, we
have not.”
“Hopefully, these issues are now
laid to rest and we can move forward
with the common goal of removing
our current congressman from office
and replacing him with someone who
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home.” Franzi said. River Ridge • 298-9277
THE TRIBUNE - March 11 - March 17, 2010 3