Conlon for Congress Campaign: RNC Newsletter Dear Friends and Supporters of Greg Conlon for Congress, I was fortunate to spend four days at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota last week. Like the other delegates, alternates, and guests, I am back fully energized and ready to bring victory in November to the McCain/Palin ticket and to my own campaign as well! We were treated to terrific speeches by Senator John McCain, Governor Sarah Palin, and other well-known Republicans, but I thought you might enjoy a glimpse into the remarks made by speakers who were not necessarily covered by the Convention press corps. The California Delegation's welcoming breakfast featured a hard-hitting speech by former Governor Pete Wilson, who I have known since the l980s and who appointed me to the California Public Utilities Commission in 1993. Wilson warned of Barack Obama's socialist agenda that offers old, tired policies rather than real change. Wilson believes Obama's plan for universal health care is really socialized medicine, and his talk of redistribution of wealth rather than tax cuts will only grow government. Wilson also noted that the recent events in Georgia simply confirm that Russia is behaving like the old USSR. Obama's call for mutual restraint to solve that crisis "is like urging restraint on the Mafia." Our allies and adversaries both need to know that our leader has been tested and will stand up to bullying and torture. Only John McCain has those credentials, proving over and over again that he does not back down. We also were privileged to hear a moving talk by Captain Gerald Coffee, who was a P.O.W. with John McCain during the Vietnam War. He described the terrible conditions in the "Hanoi Hilton" where prisoners were often isolated from each other, living in small six-by-four-foot cells with only a pot for their personal care. Coffee explained the importance of faith in God, country, and self in getting through each day, and recounted how the prisoners developed an ingenious code that allowed them to communicate through the walls of their cells by taps that signified each letter of the alphabet. At another breakfast for the California Delegation we heard remarks from U.S. Senator Orin Hatch from Utah, urging us to work hard to elect the McCain/Palin ticket. Senator Hatch agreed to endorse my candidacy for U.S. Congress and we shared a laugh when he heard that I grew up in the small blue-collar town of Tooele, Utah-not usually a great claim to fame. We attended a luncheon where we learned about the importance of campaign messaging from author Frank Luntz, whose new book is "Words That Work." Luntz suggested the McCain campaign should emphasize such areas as accountability, wisdom, the need to break our dependence on foreign oil, and McCain's status as an American hero. Hugh Hewitt, host of a show on PBS, addressed the use of new media such as blogs and texting in political campaigns. He also discussed how Sarah Palin is able to connect with the lives of ordinary citizens and is the opposite of Obama's "Beltway elitism." A reception called "Put Veterans First" highlighted the plight of many of our veterans today. As a vet myself who served three years active duty as an Air Force pilot flying large C-124 cargo planes and another six years in the active Air Force Reserve, I was especially interested in hearing what the speakers had to say. We have 25 million veterans in the U.S., and more than 150,000 are wounded or disabled. Of these, 40,000 suffer from PDST, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. There are more than 3,000 homeless vets from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan alone. Advocates from the "Circle of Friends for American Vets" stressed the need for a Veteran's Bill of Rights that will address issues of housing, job protection before being called to duty, job training, and more adequate health care, especially PSTD counseling. Of course the highlight of the Convention were the speeches of Sarah Palin and John McCain, the twin mavericks who pledge to bring true reform to Washington, D.C. Governor Palin practically created spontaneous combustion in the Convention Center with her direct delivery and aroused enough energy and excitement to fully inspire the thousands of delegates, alternates, guests, and volunteers. Everyone could hardly wait to get back home so they could get to work for the McCain/Palin ticket. Finally it was time to experience the most anticipated event of the entire week, Senator McCain's acceptance of his party's nomination for 44th President of the United States. After a video introduction, John McCain delivered a speech from his heart, impressing me as both genuine and sincere. He confidently said his life experiences prepared him to lead as he proclaimed his willingness to fight for all Americans. He concluded with an appeal to Republicans in the Convention Center and to Americans watching at home to fight for him to win. I was actually just quoted about my experience at the Republican National Convention in the San Mateo Times and Politicker CA you can read the article at GregConlonforCongress.com I look forward to capturing the energy from the Convention and spreading that enthusiasm as I walk neighborhoods in San Mateo and San Francisco Counties with the 200 volunteers for McCain/Palin and the 25-50 volunteers for my own Congressional campaign. We are ready to spread the word about our qualifications and strengths throughout the 12th Congressional District! Your dedicated Republican candidate for Congress, Greg Conlon

In Tuesday's special election to replace the late Rep. Tom Lantos, four of the five candidates have a single goal: stop Jackie Speier. In the unusual open primary, all the candidates for the Peninsula/San Francisco congressional seat will appear on the same ballot and voters can pick anyone, regardless of party. If someone gets more than half the votes, he or she jets off to Washington on Wednesday to finish the final nine months of Democrat Lantos' term. If no one collects a majority, the top candidates in each party face off again in a June 3 runoff. Speier, who has represented much of the congressional district as a San Mateo County supervisor, assemblywoman and state senator, is the odds-on favorite to finish on top Tuesday. But her opponents are scrambling to keep her under 50 percent and extend the campaign another eight weeks. "I'm running against inertia," Speier, 57, said Sunday at a community pancake breakfast in South San Francisco. "If at least 57 percent of those voting Tuesday aren't Democrats, we may have to do this all over again in June, which means the district will go longer without representation." That's no problem for her opponents. "It's just fine if the people in the district are not represented for another two months," said Barry Hermanson, the Green Party candidate. "It's more important to have this debate continue." Speier's opponents know it's a longshot to think they can beat the veteran Democrat, who's far better known, much better financed and running in an overwhelmingly Democratic district. Local Republican leaders "asked me to take a bullet for the party," said 75-year-old Greg Conlon, an Atherton accountant who lost the state treasurer's race to Democrat Phil Angelides in 2002. "But I think I could steal it with a low (voter) turnout next Tuesday." Beating Speier is about the only thing many of the candidates agree on. Michael Moloney, for example, is anything but a typical Republican. The retired businessman ran unsuccessfully against Lantos as a Libertarian in 1998 and as a Republican in 2002 and has far harsher words for President Bush than even the Democratic candidates. Bush is an international terrorist, far worse than Osama bin Laden, Moloney said in an interview last week. A longtime peace activist, he wants the country to immediately pull its military forces from Iraq, and he believes Congress should impeach Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. "I'm running because I want to save the country," said Moloney, 67, of Foster City. "If someone doesn't stop Bush and Cheney, they'll bomb Iran back into the Stone Age and start World War III." Conlon joined the race because local GOP leaders "wanted a respectable candidate to run against Jackie Speier," he said. While he's no fan of the Iraq war, he wants "to leave with honor, not haste." Leaving Iraq too quickly could open the way for Iran to take control of its neighbor and send the price of gasoline soaring, Conlon added. "There are economic consequences for leaving Iraq too soon," he said. "Six-dollar-a gallon gasoline would change our economic picture and send unemployment soaring." Hermanson's single issue is the growing economic problem caused by the military budget, including the cost of the war in Iraq. "My goal in this campaign is to draw attention to the obscene amounts of money we're spending on the military," the 57-year-old San Francisco resident said. "I want (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi held accountable for the direction she's taking this country. It's bankrupting the country, morally and financially." Even if Speier ultimately goes to Congress, the campaign could have an effect on her, Hermanson said. "I'm asking Jackie Speier to do a very difficult thing: to speak out against the leadership of her own party." Michelle McMurry, 38, is the lone Democrat challenging Speier. A physician and health policy director, her only political experience is a stint as an adviser to Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, a conservative Democrat turned independent. A former fellow at the Council for Foreign Relations, the San Francisco resident touts her lack of political background as a plus, arguing that she will bring a new perspective to Congress. On Sunday, Speier promised backers she would go to Washington and work to stop the war in Iraq and fight for the same consumer protection measures she pushed in Sacramento. "After 44 neighborhood meetings, I feel I know what's on your minds," she said. "But we have to get everyone out to vote." Whatever happens Tuesday, this is just round one of the fight for Lantos' seat. Even if the special election goes to a runoff, the same candidates still will be on that same June 3 ballot in the separate party primaries for the full, two-year congressional term that will be decided in November.

InsideBayArea.com By Will Oremus Greg Conlon has a tough problem to solve. He's a mainstream Republican running for Congress in a district dominated by liberal Democrats. Not only that — he's up against Jackie Speier, a popular former state senator with big-time name recognition and heavyweight backing from her party. But that's just the type of problem Conlon says he built his career solving. Conlon, an accountant who rose to senior partner in the Arthur Anderson national accounting firm — he retired before it went bust — helped expose public employee fraud in San Francisco's 1978 "Metergate" scandal and put himself through law school while serving on the California Public Utilities Commission. Far from resting easy at age 74, he's spent the past three years trying to resurrect Arthur Andersen. Asked how he thinks he can win election to Congress, Conlon instinctively delves into the numbers. He notes that the 12th Congressional District consists of about 50 percent registered Democrats and 22 percent registered Republicans. "The thing going for me that nobody realizes isthe decline-to-states," Conlon says. "My view is — and I may be wrong on this — that the decline-to-states are really closet Republicans. If I'm right on my assessment, this election could be a lot closer than people think." The many doubters include his own party's national strategists. While local Republican honchos urged Conlon to run, the national party hasn't funneled any money toward his campaign, seeing the district as "safe" for Democrats. But Conlon, who once worked in a Utah smelter to help pay for college, aspires to be more than a palatable patsy for his party to throw against Speier. He knows winning the April 8 open primary is unrealistic; his goal there is to soundly beat anti-war Republican candidate Mike Moloney while blocking Speier from the majority she needs to step into Lantos' seat for the rest of this year. If he does that, he believes party donors may line up behind him. First, though, Conlon must convince voters that his conservative agenda isn't out of step with their values. He defines himself as the candidate of fiscal responsibility and commitment to stability in the Middle East — stances he believes are shared by many San Mateo County voters, if not more liberal San Franciscans. And he's moderate on education and the environment, opposing the rigid, test-based standards of No Child Left Behind and calling for a European-style cap-and-trade program to cut greenhouse gas emissions. On the federal budget, Conlon produces charts that are an exact opposite of the ones Green Party candidate Barry Hermanson likes to hand out. Hermanson's highlight the big share of the discretionary budget that goes to the Pentagon and Iraq; Conlon's focus on the even bigger share of the overall budget tied up in entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare. "Medicare costs are out of control," he says, citing a government report that puts the program's long-term unfunded liabilities at $34 trillion. While most politicians avoid that uncomfortable fact, Conlon says, "I'm beholden to no one. I'll touch that third rail, and I'll get that deficit down." On Iraq, he chides the other four candidates for wanting to "cut and run." For Conlon, it again comes down partly to the bottom line: Gas prices, which he believes could rocket to a disastrous $6 per gallon if the United States exits Iraq without winning the peace. One number Conlon doesn't take seriously is his age. A contemporary of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, he figures he could serve for 10 to 14 years, easy. "I just have so much energy," he says. "I've got to keep solving the problems of the world."