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Sowards gets prominent mention as tea party candidate
Greg Sowards campaigning for Congress in 2008. (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
Investors.com is out with a new article asserting that tea party candidates are “rookies no more,” and it’s pointing to Republican Greg Sowards of Las Cruces as one candidate who is ready to rumble in 2012.
Sowards, a declared candidate for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Jeff Bingaman, attended a tea party convention in Phoenix this weekend – the American Policy Summit – and received a prominent mention in the article about the event.
From the article, which you can read here:
“Some GOP presidential hopefuls attended – ex-Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Rep. Ron Paul and businessman Herman Cain. They weren’t the only ones promoting their candidacies.
“‘I want to push power out of Washington and to the states,’ said Greg Sowards, who is running for the GOP nomination for the New Mexico Senate seat.
“Incumbent Democrat Jeff Bingaman won’t run for re-election.
“Sowards, who owns several day care centers in New Mexico, finished fourth in the 2008 GOP primary for the 2nd congressional district. His 1996 bid to ‘primary’ incumbent GOP Rep. Joe Skeen may give him a good Tea Party pedigree.”
The event included training for local tea party activists and discussion of policy issues including the U.S. Constitution, health care and the debt ceiling.
Sowards is one of two candidates who have formally entered the Senate race, along with Republican William S. English. Bingaman’s retirement has a number of high-profile Democrats and Republicans considering entering the race.
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Mr. Sowards:
I really appreciate your personal response, especially since I wondered about this when you recently ran for US Representative. However, it is very unclear. Are you saying you do accept subsidized child care clients? And receive state taxpayer money for them? But just not as much as other child care centers because many of your customers are self-pay? Does “many” mean most or some?
I am a consumer of child care services and I pay for it all myself. It certainly has annoyed me at times to see the parents with the state child care subsidies pay pennies on the dollar for their children to receive the same service. But there still seems to be a disconnect in your conservative free market values and the type of business you are in. Perhaps you should stop accepting any subsidized clients and see how successful your business remains.
You state that you opted out of the state pre-K program which I assume from your comments required at least some of the teachers to have college degrees. While I think it is laudable that you are providing employment to non-degreed individuals, I must assume that you are able to pay them less than degreed individuals. I can’t help but wonder if any of your employees qualify for public assistance of some type due to low wages. If so, this would represent another taxpayer subsidy that has helped to build and sustain your business.
This country won’t be pretty without a social safety net and the type of business you are in is an important part of that social safety net. But you need to be very up front about what you are doing—taking redistributed wealth (taxpayer money) to pay for a service you provide.
Are you willing to be the first to give up subsidies for your industry in order to match your philosophy? I’d be interested to hear.
You make a great point thorlo! I have a saying, “What you subsidize you get more of. What you tax you get less of.” Both facts of life. Remember, a subsidy doesn’t’ have to be monetary. It can be the relaxation or enforcement of a regulation, generally at the whim of government.
Government subsidies are so prevalent that it’s impossible to stay away from them. Whether it is large purchases like cash for clunkers, to “starter” home loans. Some, argue that interest rates are being kept artificially low with subsidies. Others suggest that subsidies maintain an artificial market price, costing us all more than it would without them when you consider the hidden costs, waste and inefficacy of buying something you don’t need, just to take advantage of a tax subsidy.
There is a rebate, (that is code for subsidy), for almost anything “Green,” such as solar panels, personal Natural Gas compressors, NG autos, home insulation and etc. There is a tax on carbon produced energy, forcing higher electrical bills for everyone to help fund the subsidizes for those who can afford to make the investment in “green” energy. A great example of the rich getting richer while the poor get poorer. It’s a real mess. How Washington can figure it all out is beyond me! And, apparently beyond them, as they are bankrupting the nation.
Yes, subsidies are a factor right down to what we purchase in the supermarket, like milk, bread and eggs. I would venture to say that every item in a supermarket has one, of the two, “facts of life,” mentioned earlier, applied to its price. They are all subsidized or punitively taxed at some point in their production by Washington.
As for our, childcare business, my wife and I decided early in its development, that we were not going to get sucked up in the, expand at any price, formula, to take advantage of the subsidies. A practice used by some, now closed or teetering centers. At present, the subsidies have been reduced substantially.
We used a business model that wasn’t build on government subsidies to the point that we would lose our business if they were to stop. What we knew, all of us are now learning, that government spending can’t go on forever for everything. There must be priorities, everything can’t be number one. There may not be enough money for number 48, even if it’s a great program.
If childcare is a priority in our society, then, I imagine the subsidies will continue or increase. If, it is decided that other things are more important, then they will be cut. I do feel that our students are every bit as educated when they go to school as those in the highly subsidized, former Lt. Gov Denish’s Pre-K program. Which is a government insider, double-dip, opportunity we have opted out of. How many degrees do you need to teach a four year old to count, learn colors, say please, thank you and etc.?
We offer a great place for children to come, learn and play. Many of our customers are self-pay and feel they are getting a great value for their money. Their children are happy and learning. Perhaps it is because we subsidize our employees with training in child development!
Heath, if somebody else brings this up, please copy and past the above. Life is short.
Isn’t Mr. Sowards owner of a chain of day care centers which take in a great deal of taxpayer money from the state in the form of subsidized child care clients? That seems to be a big disconnect from his so-called Tea Party conservative values. I would like an explanation as to how he jibes his sucking off the government teat with his anti-government and anti-tax stance.