Attention voters of U.S. Congressional District 6:

Don't vote for Joe Barton. Please. This guy is reprehensible. In my brief encounter with him this week at the IPI luncheon honoring Grover Norquist, he deliberately misled a room full of people by attempting to excuse the Bush administration's massive budget increases by relating the increases to national security and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Lies! Even if homeland security and military expenses are excluded from the calculations, the Bush administration (with six years of a Republican Congress) increased spending nearly twice as fast as the Clinton administration. President Clinton famously declared that the era of big government was over, but George Bush brought it back and Joe Barton is both a conspirator and apologist.

it gets worse. When a voter raised a valid question about rolling back the handouts of the nanny state, Barton backed away from the fiscally conservative stance. He said, "People just expect certain things from governement and you don't want to vote against them." In other words, his 24 years in Congress (obviously, he doesn't support term limits) have taught him only to abandon principles and pander to voters. Disgusting. This is what's wrong with Washington.

Barton even admitted that he didn't approve of the Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac bailout, but he voted for it anyway because the Secretary of Treasury asked for his support. So, he basically confessed that he represents the interests of party leaders instead of the interests of taxpayers. He said that when the administration asks for support on a bill, "you don't want to be one of the thirty people who vote against it." Disgusting. I bet that Rep. Ron Paul never faces those kinds of dilemmas.

So, voters of District 6, please try something different this year. Instead of reelecting this slimy career politician, just vote for someone else - anyone else. I know that I am expected to endorse Libertarian Max W. Koch III, but I am not the type of person to endorse someone, even a Libertarian, that I do not know very well. Just don't vote for Joe Barton. District 6 is adjacent to Dallas County, and we can smell Barton's garbage from here. Get rid of him and send a message to the rest of Congress. Remind them that they work for the taxpayers, not their party insiders. Send a message that we want representatives with integrity and principles and character.

-Evan