For Immediate Release, 4/26/04

Contact: Kerry Kantin (202) 682-3137

Washington, DC – Today the Republican Main Street Partnership Political Action Committee announced it is airing a new ad to inform Pennsylvania Republicans that Sen. Arlen Specter is the loyal Republican in the April 27 Senate primary.

“Arlen Specter is the true Republican choice in this primary,” said RMSP PAC Advisory Board Member Rep. Doug Ose (R-CA). “He has served as a loyal Republican in the U.S. Senate for 24 years and has earned the support of President Bush and GOP leaders both in Congress and in Pennsylvania.”

The ad notes that Specter’s challenger’s campaign has received substantial financial backing from an organization that “does not care about the Republican Party.” RMSP PAC is referring to the Club for Growth, which has poured millions of dollars into the primary to benefit GOP challenger Pat Toomey’s campaign.

“The Club routinely rebukes President Bush and the Republican Party,” Ose added. “How can Pat Toomey claim to be a true Republican when he is running for the Senate against the White House’s will and when his campaign is reaping millions of dollars in benefits from an organization that is constantly bashing the President? A vote against Specter is a vote against the Republican Party.”

In an interview with the New York Times Magazine, Club for Growth President Stephen Moore said he “doesn’t like the Bush people very much.” Moore, who is a self-described Libertarian, called the education bill “wretched,” vowed to “quash” the appointment of White House Economic Advisor Stephen Friedman, and even mocked Bush’s policy of compassionate conservatism as “never having to say no.”

The 30-second radio ad is airing in Philadelphia and York during the final 48 hours before the polls close. A transcript is attached.

The Republican Main Street Partnership PAC is a registered political action committee that supports Republican candidates who are fiscally conservative and take a pragmatic, common-sense approach to social issues. For more information on the PAC and our candidates, visit www.mainstreetpac.com

Here’s what the Club for Growth’s leaders really think of the White House and the GOP
 

“We have no loyalty to the Republican Party” -- Executive Director David Keating, New York Times, 4/11/04.

“We've had too much compassion from government, thank you. That is the biggest impediment to freedom and economic growth in America today. The State of Bush's Union has become in some ways a State of Dependency and a State of Entitlement” – Stephen Moore, National Review, 1/20/04.

“It’s a rather anemic goal, actually,” -- Stephen Moore on Bush’s deficit-reduction plan, AP, Dec. 18, 2003.

“George Bush doesn’t have an anti-government bone in his body. Compassionate conservatism means never having to say no”  -- Stephen Moore, Time, 12/08/03

“My term for this is fiscal child abuse. Somebody is going to pay for Granny's drugs, and it's going to be Granny's grandkids”  -- Stephen Moore on the Medicare-Rx bill, USA Today, 11/25/03.

“With the war over in Iraq and Saddam gone for good, we should be giving Iraq a hand up through capitalism, not a hand out through welfare.” – Stephen Moore on Bush’s request for Iraq reconstruction funding, National Review, 10/17/03

''I don't really like the Bush people very much. 'I was never part of a fraternity or anything like that, and the Bush White House is like a club'' – Stephen Moore, New York Times Magazine, 8/10/03

“ … we already have a Department of Homeland Security and that is called the Defense Department.” – Stephen Moore on the Department of Homeland Security, Fox News, 12/21/02

“We are doing everything we can to quash this appointment ... but who knows what will happen.” -- Stephen Moore on the appointment of White House Economic Adviser Stephen Friedman, USA Today, 12/11/02

“So we wound up last year with a wretched education bill that nearly doubled federal education spending and further implanted the Department of Education as a fixture in local school policy. The bill was a conservative policy setback that it will take years to dig out from under.” -- Stephen Moore on No Child Left Behind, Human Events, 5/27/02

"We're not well liked by [Republican National Committee] types.  We do not have a good relationship," Stephen Moore, The Hill, 7/31/02