To anyone who is still undecided about the congressional race between Mike Keown and Sanford Bishop:  I urge you to review the website www.opensecrets.org.  This nonpartisan website organizes financial data from the Federal Elections Commission to provide information about the funding of political campaigns.

The information on the race between Keown and Bishop shows that, through October 13, Bishop’s campaign had raised roughly $1.3 million and Keown had raised $955,000.

The great majority of Keown’s funding, 90%, came from individual contributors.

In contrast, Bishop received only 43% of his funding from individuals—and the majority of this money came from individuals living OUTSIDE our district.

Bishop received most of his funding, $706,000, from Political Action Committees.  The largest sector of this was Labor Unions.  Again, this is primarily money coming from OUTSIDE our district.

I believe that the people who live in southwest Georgia are largely conservative and have little in common with the liberal out-of-state organizations who are backing Sanford Bishop.  These organizations are not supporting Bishop in order to encourage him to listen to those of us living in southwest Georgia—they are supporting Bishop in order to encourage him to listen to them.

This election is critically important.  Please review the information on the website, and carefully consider your choice.

Jane Ashton

Thomasville