Jeff Cook, a gay small-government Republican, is challenging Rep. Sue Kelly, a GOP big spender, for New York's Hudson Valley congressional seat. Good for him! Kelly not only supported the pork-laded transportation boondoggle and favors expanding federal government funding for "the arts," but she also voted for the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment. Wrong on everything, she is (as Yoda might say).
"I have become really concerned in the last couple of years about the direction of some of the leaders in our party," Cook told The Hill. "If the Republican Party is unwilling . . . to stand up to the trappings and the temptations of big government, then who will? We've got to have a dividing line."
Cook opposes "larger and larger government" in both the fiscal
and social realms:
he opposes the Federal Marriage Amendment on the grounds that it's unconstitutional and contrary to his small-government philosophy.
Striking a careful ideological balance, Cook said families, not government, should make life's most important decisions - about schools, for instance- but offered an expansive view of "family" including adoption by gay couples.
Beating an incumbent is a tall order, but I'm glad to see someone advocating a consistent view of limited government and calling the GOP home to its roots (as the anti-slavery party, remember?).
More on Cook from Boi from Troi and Rick Sincere. And here's the campaign's website.
Further: A commenter notes this item
on the race from the conservative RedState.org site