Cypress Times - Texas 10th Congressional District: Michael McCaul vs. Larry Joe Doherty

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Cypress Times - Texas 10th Congressional District: Michael McCaul vs. Larry Joe Doherty

The Texas 10th Congressional District serves a large portion of the Cypress and Cy-Fair area of Texas. The 10th Congressional District of Texas is an extensive district covering ground from the east around Highway 6 to the west along Highway 290 into Austin and includes Elgin, Pflugerville, Giddings, Brenham, Chappel Hill, Hempstead, Waller and Cypress. The 10th runs south of 290 to Sealy, Brookshire, Katy and down to Wallis. The district extends to the north and east as far as Rose Hill, Tomball and Hufsmith.

Michael McCaul is the incumbent Republican Representative for the Texas 10th and is standing for re-election against challenger Larry Joe Doherty (Democrat).

The Cypress Times enthusiastically endorses Representative Michael McCaul for re-election.

I recently spoke to Congressman McCaul to advise him that he will receive the endorsement of The Cypress Times. Mr. McCaul was gracious in receiving our endorsement.

"That means a lot to me. I really appreciate your endorsement," McCaul said.

There are several reasons why The Cypress Times believes that Michael McCaul should be returned to Washington to continue to represent the people of the 10th.

First, and foremost, we applaud the courage that Michael McCaul exhibited when he voted against the $700 billion plus so called, "Economic Bailout" earlier this month.

Congressman McCaul voted against the bill in its first go-round through the House of Representatives, and when the bill came back from the Senate laden with an additional $110 billion of pork designed to sway votes, McCaul stood firm again and voted "NO" a second time. Many of his colleagues with lesser fortitude caved in and grabbed the pork, changing their vote to "Yes" and saddling the people of the United States with a ridiculous financial burden.

Mr. McCaul's courage demonstrates true leadership, and a true desire to serve the best interests of the people of the 10th above personal interest or partisanship. When it really mattered, Michael McCaul put the people first, rather than putting party first.

We need more leaders like Michael McCaul in Washington. We need leaders like Michael McCaul who exhibit courage on behalf of their constituency regardless of the political consequences.

We also endorse Michael McCaul because of his extensive background and knowledge in matters of national security. Mr. McCaul is a member of several key committees in Congress and we need him to continue in his leadership role with these committees.

Michael McCaul's committees include:

* House Committee on Foreign Affairs
o Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations
o Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere
* House Committee on Homeland Security
o Subcommittee on Border, Maritime, and Global Counterterrorism
o Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cyber security, and Science and Technology
o Subcommittee on Management, Investigations, and Oversight
* House Committee on Science and Technology
o Subcommittee on Environment and Energy
o Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight
* House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct

Michael McCaul is a strong advocate for controlling spending in Congress, and supports our local business community. He recently spoke before the monthly luncheon (October) of the Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce and gave a fascinating speech touching on many topics. One topic of great interest was "Cyber-Warfare".

I asked Congressman McCaul about Cyber-Warfare and how it could affect our nation and our people.

Cyber-Warfare involves a capability to shut down computer networks. This could allow rogue elements, or enemy nations, to attack our basic cyber-based infrastructure. Attaining this type of warfare capability would allow our enemies to "Blow-up power grids," Congressman McCaul says.

"The Russians used it in Estonia," McCaul adds. Part of the challenge with Cyber-Warfare is defining it.

"What constitutes an act of warfare? We need the ability to identify the source of threats. Is it coming from a rogue element or is it state sponsored?" McCaul said.

Michael McCaul has worked diligently, via his role with the House Committee on Homeland Security, to establish a bi-partisan commission through the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) to deal with this growing threat.

At stake is the possible disruption of our aviation, power/energy grids, banking and financial institutions — all of which are connected to "the grid".

The U.S. already has the capability to wage Cyber-war; we now have to watch our enemies closely.

"Cyber-warfare is the future of warfare. Cyber-warfare is where it's going to be. We (the United States) already have that capability. Our concern is other nations getting that capability," McCaul said.

In addition to Congressman McCaul's fine work with the House Committee on Homeland Security, he is also very concerned with our economy, as is evidenced by his refusal to vote for the "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008". As noted, Mr. McCaul voted twice against this bill, even when others sent to Washington to protect our best interests found the pork too tasty to resist.

Congressman McCaul realizes full-well that the economy is the number one issue on the minds of the American people.

"There is a lot of anxiety. I've never had a vote that caused more interest than my vote on the economic bail-out," McCaul said.

McCaul voted against the bill because of what it lacked that would have benefited the American people, and the people of the 10th Congressional District.

"Reforms won't be in place that need to be," McCaul said.

He then noted there were other options available to address the economic crisis, "Free market ideas and private capital ideas that wouldn't have put our kids in debt."

Michael McCaul is in favor of suspending or reducing capital gains taxes, which would, "Unleash tremendous amounts of capital in the U.S. and the world."

On the topic of energy, McCaul supports an "all of the above" approach.

"We need to be energy independent and not relying on Venezuela, the Saudi's or Iran. We will have a transition period, and we need to drill offshore, produce more oil, build nuclear plants and use hydrogen — a bi-product of nuclear."

While Michael McCaul supports domestic drilling, he does so coming from a position of protecting the environment in a realistic manner.

McCaul sponsored the Green Energy Education Act (H.R. 1716) which would authorize higher education curriculum development and graduate training in advance energy and green building technologies. The bill passed the house, 416-0.

Michael McCaul has served the people of the 10th Congressional District well and faithfully and we need to return him to Washington to continue to fight on our behalf.

Mr. McCaul's opponent is Larry Joe Doherty, an Austin-based former attorney and television reality show host who played a judge in a "Judge Judy-esque" program that ran in TV syndication in various cities across the U.S.

The Cypress Times urges you to vote, Michael McCaul, Republican, for U.S. Congress.

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