WOWO APPEARANCE AND ELECTION DAY

Well, Election Day is almost here. I cannot begin to thank each of you for all you have done to assist with this campaign and to explain how proud I am of our efforts. Despite being outspent by more than 10 to 1 by my primary opponents, we have a very strong shot at winning this race.

Please continue to spread the word during these final days and make certain that all of our supporters make it to the polls.

I wanted to alert you to the following events:

Monday, May 3rd @ 7:08 a.m. – I will be appearing on WOWO (1190 AM) with Charlie Butcher for what is likely to be the final interview before the election.

Tuesday, May 4th@ 7:00 p.m. – After you get everyone to the polls, please join us at Don Hall’s Guesthouse at 1313 West Washington Center Road in Fort Wayne for our Election Night gathering. Everyone is invited to come and watch the returns come in.

Thank you again for all of your efforts on my behalf. WE CAN WIN THIS WITH YOUR HELP!!!

Phil Troyer

TROYER CHALLENGES THOMAS ON DEBATE DEMAND

FORT WAYNE — Third District congressional candidate Phil Troyer is challenging fellow candidate Bob Thomas to come clean on his recent demand for a debate with Congressman Mark Souder.

“Bob had the chance to participate in a debate,” noted Troyer. “Several patriot groups were set to sponsor the event at IPFW. When Congressman Souder refused, the groups were willing to go forward without him. However, Thomas then refused to participate. As a result, his attempt to make an issue out of Congressman Souder’s refusal to debate is more than a little hypocritical.”

“If Bob Thomas wants a debate, I will meet him anytime atany place, ” said Troyer. “Unfortunately, Thomas and Souder are content to sling mud at their opponents from the security of a recording studio but are unwilling to debate the real issues in front of live voters. As a result, this campaign has been the ugliest ever seen in northeast Indiana.”

“Bob is currently running ads in an effort to smear me, ” added Troyer. “He ought to be man enough to make the allegations to my face, in front of an audience, with a chance for me to rebut. Unfortunately, I sincerely doubt that he is.”

TROYER RELEASES FIRST SPOTS IN “VIRAL VIDEO” CAMPAIGN

FORT WAYNE — Phil Troyer, Republican candidate for Congress, has launched a “viral video” campaign by posting his campaign ads on YouTube and asking his supporters to promote the site to their friends and neighbors.

“I know I will never be able to match my opponents in fundraising and spending,” admitted Troyer. “However, my strengths are my ideas and the army of like-minded volunteers I have amassed throughout the district as a result of months of grassroots campaigning.”

“I warned my supporters that, if they like all of the mudslinging between Mark Souder and Bob Thomas, they will be very disappointed with my commercials,” noted Troyer. “I actually talk about issues that are important to the voters. Therefore, the question for the voters this year will be whether they are content with politics as usual or truly ready to vote for a congressman they can be proud to call their own.”

Links to two of the ads are listed below:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TroyerforCongress#p/u/2/ua6hEOZZRCA

http://www.youtube.com/user/TroyerforCongress#p/u/4/JhSvdgUjYaE

SPEAKER PELOSI TOPS CONGRESSMAN SOUDER ON ETHICS

FORT WAYNE – Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House Democrat leaders announced Wednesday they were barring Members of Congress from directing federal funds to private companies. The House Republican Conference went a step farther today, adopting a complete ban on all earmarked spending requests for the remainder of the year.

The moves left 3rd District Repreentative Mark Souder in a small minority of congressmen still clinging to the corrupt practice of submitting specific spending requests for political gain. Souder, a 16-year incumbent, proudly lists 40 earmarked spending requests on his official House website and has defended the practice in response to continued criticism from Phil Troyer, his opponent in the Republican primary.

“You know its time for a change when Nancy Pelosi demonstrates higher ethical standards than your own congressman,” exclaimed Troyer. “Not only has Congressman Souder requested earmarks for several private companies, two of them (Zimmer and Raytheon) have contributed significant PAC funds to his campaign.”

“If I tried to raise campaign funds from companies by promising them millions of dollars in federal grants, I would rightly be accused of corruption,” Troyer continued. “According to Congressman Souder, it’s just business as usual in Washington.”

CONGRESSMAN SOUDER DARES VOTERS TO HOLD HIM ACCOUNTABLE ON TERM LIMITS

FORT WAYNE – According to an article in the Warsaw Times Union, 3rd District Congressman Mark Souder dared voters to hold him accountable for his failure to uphold his promise to limit his terms in office.

“I ran on 12-year term limits in Congress,” Souder admitted during an address to the Kosciusko County Silent No More group on Monday evening. “This is my ninth race and I have been through eight primaries, and voters have had the chance to not vote for me.”

“Unfortunately, Congressman Souder has been less than forthright when it comes to his term limits pledge, ” noted Phil Troyer, a fiscal conservative challenging Souder in this year’s Republican primary. “When his 12-years in Washington expired, Congressman Souder claimed he should not be held to his promise because the district had changed. However, as the Fort Wayne News Sentinel recently reminded us, congressional districts are redrawn every 10 years. Therefore, Congressman Souder has essentially admitted he never intended to keep his pledge.”

“If we are going to change the atmosphere in Washington, we need statesmen who will stand behind their word,” Troyer stressed, “not politicians who later claim their fingers were crossed. The voters will have another chance on May 4th to hold Congressman Souder to the pledge he made during his initial campaign 16 years ago. I have faith they will do the right thing.”

FORT WAYNE READER CALLS TROYER THE FIRST SERIOUS CONSERVATIVE TO CHALLENGE CONGRESSMAN SOUDER

FORT WAYNE – The Fort Wayne Reader put 3rd Congressional candidate Phil Troyer on this week’s cover under the heading “Conservative Contender – with Phil Troyer, 3rd District conservatives might have their first serious candidate to challenge Souder.”

“I thought Michael Summers did a great job of capturing the essence of my campaign,” commented Troyer, “If you want to know why I decided to get into the race and what I hope to accomplish if I am elected, you need to read this article.”

The full article can be found at http://www.fortwaynereader.com/story.php?uid=1617.

TROYER DEMANDS CONGRESSMAN SOUDER RETURN MISAPPROPRIATED TAX DOLLARS

FORT WAYNE – Indiana 3rd Congressional District candidate Phil Troyer strongly criticized Congressman Mark Souder as being out of touch with the concerns of the average taxpayer following disclosure the Congressman had used taxpayer dollars for personal luxuries while traveling on foreign junkets.

In an article entitled, “U.S. Lawmakers Keep the Change,” The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that many lawmakers fail to comply with the law by returning unspent daily allowances granted to them by the State Department when traveling overseas. The authors of the story interviewed twenty Members of Congress, and some indicated they had used their daily stipends for “shopping or to defray spouses’ travel expenses.”

One example cited in the story was a $200 painting Congressman Mark Souder purchased while in Turkey. According to the article, Souder originally hung the painting in his office but later moved it to his home.

The amount of the daily allowance varies from country-to-country, but Members can request an additional $50 per day if they believe the standard daily stipend will be insufficient. The money is supposed to be used only for legitimate travel expenses of the Member – not their spouses – but Congressman Souder admitted, “The extra money and the plus-ups are really for the spouses.”

“At a time when northeast Indiana is facing double digit unemployment and many families are struggling to make ends meet, it is beyond belief that our congressman would use taxpayer dollars on shopping sprees for himself and his wife,” noted Troyer. “It shows just how out of touch he has become after 16 years in Congress. He had no legal right to misappropriate tax dollars to his own personal use and needs to repay the money – immediately.”

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Troyer Discusses Need for Fundamental Reform on “The Pat Miller Show”

FORT WAYNE – Phil Troyer, Republican candidate for Indiana’s 3rd Congressional District, discussed the need for fundamental reform in Washington and his impressions of the primary campaign during a half-hour interview on “The Pat Miller Show” on WOWO (AM 1190) this past Saturday.

A podcast of Troyer’s appearance can be found at www.wowo.com.

TROYER DRAWING NATIONAL MEDIA ATTENTION

FORT WAYNE – While local media outlets wait for the “traditional election season” to begin, national media outlets are already noting that the 2010 elections may be anything but “traditional” and they are keeping an eye on Phil Troyer’s challenge of 16-year incumbent Congressman Mark Souder in Indiana’s 3rd Congressional District.

In an article entitled “The Tea Party vs. the GOP” on the blog The Daily Beast, Adam Clymer, former Chief Washington Correspondent for the New York Times,cites Troyer’s criticism of Congressman Souder and his support of congressional earmarks as an example of the insurgent campaigns conservative candidates are mounting against incumbent Republicans.

“Another freelance writer recently contacted me for comments regarding the same topic,” noted Troyer. “Even before Scott Brown’s stunning victory in Massachusetts, some members of the national media had already noticed that a populist ground swell was building outside of the traditional party apparatus.”

“I have received enthusiastic responses from the local 9/12 groups I have addressed, and I am scheduled to appear before additional groups in the coming weeks,” said Troyer. “These are people who are motivated to make a difference in the 2010 elections, and I am working hard to earn their support.”

“It is not enough to simply expose Congressman Souder’s record on spending – although it certainly plays well with these groups,” noted Troyer. “They are looking for candidates to support fundamental reforms in Washington. That is why the Class of 2010 – Compact with America, that I developed with another candidate – Liz Lauber from Missouri – is so important. It not only demonstrates my commitment to these reforms but also is an attempt to provide a platform that like-minded candidates can gather around.”

Clymer’s article can be found at http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-01-26/the-tea-party-v-the-gop/.

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TROYER SIGNS PLEDGE TO REPEAL HEALTH CARE BILL

FORT WAYNE – Republican congressional candidate Phil Troyer today signed the “Repeal It!” pledge circulated by The Club for Growth. The pledge, which has been signed by 21 Members of Congress and 84 House and Senate candidates, reads as follows:

“I, Phillip J. Troyer, hereby pledge to the people of my district (IN-3) upon my election to the U.S. House of Representatives, to sponsor and support legislation to repeal any federal health care takeover passed in 2010, and replace it with real reforms that lower health care costs without growing government.”

“Voters are looking for real commitments from candidates this year, not campaign slogans,” noted Troyer. “With this pledge and the ‘Class of 2010 – Compact with America’ that I announced last Thursday, I am telling the voters exactly what I will do if I have the honor of being elected their next congressman. It is time we hold Members of Congress accountable. If I break any of the promises I make during this campaign, I would hope the voters would throw me out of office and try again with another candidate – just as I am asking them to hold Congressman Souder accountable for his voting record on spending issues and failure to push for real reform during his 16 years in Washington.”

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