Birdwell pledges conservative agenda

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State Senate candidate Brian Birdwell talks at a gathering held Saturday at Kinsloe House in Corsicana. Birdwell faces a June 22 runoff with David Sibley. Daily Sun photo/Bob Belcher
Daily Sun photo/Bob Belcher Retired Capt. Scott O'Grady visits with Bobby Vickery of Frost Saturday at a campaign stop for State Senate candidate Brian Birdwell.

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June 7, 2010

State senate candidate visits Corsicana with war hero

By Bob Belcher Corsicana Daily Sun The Corsicana Daily Sun Mon Jun 07, 2010, 06:52 PM CDT

Corsicana — Brian Birdwell was crystal clear in his talk with supporters Saturday at Corsicana’s Kinsloe House.

“I want to protect you from government, instead of becoming a part of the problem.”

Birdwell is on the June 22 runoff ballot for the District 22 State Senate seat, an election that for now will decide who serves as the district’s senator through the end of the year. He faces a challenge from Waco’s David Sibley.

A retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, Birdwell was honored with a Purple Heart after being badly burned in the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon, where he worked as an aide. Birdwell was accompanied on his Saturday Corsicana visit by another decorated veteran, retired Air Force Captain Scott O’Grady. O’Grady survived in the Bosnian countryside for six days in 1995 before being rescued after his F-16 was shot down.

“Brian and I have been friends for some time now and I know his character,” O’Grady said. “He’s a man of honor and integrity, and he has demonstrated throughout his entire professional life he truly is an unselfish servant.”

O’Grady supports Birdwell’s conservative approach to government, a stance that O’Grady himself strongly believes in.

“The time of ‘politics as usual’ is over now, the stakes are too high,” he said. “When Brian asked me to come and support him I wholeheartedly wanted to do so.”

Birdwell said his military background, and his work with military burn victims and their families over the last six years in a non-profit ministry he and his wife, Mel, operate has served him well in preparing for the state senate.

“Mel and I have been lifelong Republicans, and this was an opportunity to step forward as a candidate,” Birdwell said. “We’re getting a great reception from folks scattered throughout the district.”

Birdwell said he already has ideas on how to approach some of the challenges ahead in Austin, beginning with what he called “the intrusion of the federal government...”

“Particularly with ‘Obamacare’ — you continue to push back (those) by supporting Attorney General (Greg) Abbot, and if necessary ... if it takes a U.S. Constitution Article V Constitutional Convention to do so in a limited scope to make sure we get the federal government back inside its roles.”

Birdwell also sees the state budget — which is facing a shortfall estimated to be as high as $18 billion — as a priority.

“We’ve got to make sure we balance the state budget without raising taxes,” he said. “We’ve got folks who are cutting their own family budgets throughout the district, and throughout the state, and we’ve got to make sure that we’ve got the courage to do so ... we’ve got to make sure we reduce the role and the draw and drain on people’s pocketbooks from state government.”

Birdwell said he is also committed to keep from splitting counties up in the next round of re-districting, on the agenda for the 2011 meeting of the Texas legislature.

“We bring a conservative prospective with a fresh set of eyes to the challenges in Austin.”

—————

Bob Belcher may be contacted via e-mail at belcher@corsicanadailysun.com. Want to “Soundoff” on this story? E-mail: soundoff@corsicanadailysun.com

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