From right, Republican hopeful Cory Ruth speaks to Christine McMahan and an unidentified male Saturday at Brookhaven's Library Coffee Company. Ruth is running for the congressional seat in Georgia's 4th District that is currently held by Democrat Hank Johnson.

ATLANTA — Republican Cory Ruth officially threw his hat into the ring for Georgia’s 4th District U.S. Congressional seat on Saturday. He joins Liz Carter and Larry Gause in the Republican race to unseat Democrat Hank Johnson for the area that encompasses southern Gwinnett County, DeKalb County and most of Rockdale County.

“I felt like I had a clear voice that I could offer to the national dialogue,” Ruth said. “I am a conservative and not a Libertarian. I believe in fiscal conservatism but also in conservative values.”

Ruth said he’s been planning his congressional run since the 2000 election and had originally planned to run in 2012. But he said he felt compelled to run now considering the “current crisis” in Washington D.C.

“The economy is affecting everybody,” Ruth said. “When you look at the Keynesian style solutions that are being offered by the President and the current congressional leadership…it’s a risky undertaking from an economics standpoint.”

Ruth said the Keynesian solutions he was referring to was the use of foreign held, debt-financed public money infused into the marketplace to revive the economy through lower interest rates and investment in infrastructure.

“It allows the government prerogative into our lives in areas that most Americans are concerned about,” he said.  Speaking of the auto industry bailouts and the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), Ruth said, “It’s those types of liberal dispositions that concern me the most.”

 Ruth said the economy was the biggest issue facing Georgia’s 4th District.  To hear more about this, click here. To hear Ruth’s views on the current health care debate, click here.

He said a good conversation starter for fixing health care would be discussing whether or not citizens should have the ability to purchase insurance across state lines. But Ruth said he had concerns with this proposal because first, the government would have to regulate it as interstate commerce, and second, because he doesn’t know how easy it would be to protect Georgians should they become victims of fraud.

“We need scalable solutions that can adapt and change with the pace of society,” he said.

Ruth has worked in corporate America managing information security compliance and standards for a Fortune 500 company for more than a decade. In that time he has also done a considerable amount of charity work. On top of that, he’s also published numerous pieces for various publications, most notably as a conservative political analyst for the Philadelphia-based Reformed Blacks of America. To hear Ruth in his own words state why he’s the person for the job, click here.

Christine McMahan, owner of The Biz Wizard, was one of about 20 or so people on hand Saturday afternoon at Brookhaven’s Library Coffee Company to hear Ruth speak. A supporter of 2008 presidential candidate Ron Paul, she liked what she heard from Ruth and even went as far afterwards as saying she might volunteer to work on Ruth’s campaign.

“I think he’s an exciting young  man,” McMahan said. “I’m willing to look at anyone who comes up with another point of view that isn’t kind of mainstream state and the government is the answer to everything. It sounded like he had an ideology that was basically leaning towards the Constitution and where we should be looking for the answers when it comes to the federal government.”

Darlene Nazaire also liked what she heard. She said she’d like whoever is elected to be more involved in the community and more accountable for their votes on Capitol Hill and how taxpayer dollars are spent.

“The government is too much into what’s going on with the economy. It’s time to take a step back and let the average citizen and businesses do their own thing and that’s what he expounded on,” Nazaire said. “He had some ideas on how to do that and I was pleased to hear that.”

As for Ruth’s first plans if elected to Congress?

“I’d sponsor a bill that requires the federal government to provide a comprehensive, detailed receipt of every dime spent of every income tax paying citizen. That should be required to do prior to paying any income tax,” Ruth said. “One of my guiding principles is deliberate accountability. Not just accountability, but when your elected officials are deliberately developing innovative ways to make themselves more accountable to the people.”

In other news regarding this same congressional race, Ruth’s opponent Liz Carter this past week picked up an endorsement from Gwinnett County Sherriff Butch Conway.

“Liz Carter is fully aware of the daily challenges faced on the frontlines of keeping our homes and businesses safe,” Conway said in a released statement. “I know that she understands the ever-changing role of public safety personnel at all levels…I am confident that she will work harder than anyone as our next representative to give us the support we need to better serve our communities.”

The Atlanta Citizen is planning to interview both Carter and Gause soon. Stay tuned.

For more information on any of these respective campaigns, feel free to visit the candidate’s Web sites.

http://www.lizcarterforcongress.com/

http://www.gauseforcongress.com/support.php

http://www.coryruth.com/

Related posts:

1. Republican Candidate Liz Carter Speaks to Evermore CID Board

Liz Carter is running as the republican candidate in the 4th district U.S. Congressional race against incumbent democrat Hank Johnson

SNELLVILLE — Liz Carter is running as the republican candidate against incumbent democrat Hank Johnson in the 4th district race for a U.S. Congressional seat. That district emcompasses parts of Gwinnett County in addition to parts of Rockdale and DeKalb Counties.

Carter stopped by the board meeting of the Evermore Community Improvement District on Wednesday to speak for a few minutes before things got started. The CID board didn’t endorse her, neither am I. But in fairness to reporting the events of the meeting, Click here to hear what Liz Carter said to the CID board.

If Hank Johnson shows up at an event I’m covering, I’ll post what he has to say, too. Same goes for any independent candidate. It is the policy of the Atlanta Citizen to not endorse political candidates. But it was “news” that she stopped by the event.

For more information on Carter, visit http://www.lizcarterforcongress.com/

Related posts:

1. Cory Ruth Declares Candidacy For Congress
2. Evermore CID Holds First Board Meeting At Former Olympic Tennis Stadium, All Part Of An Effort To Transform The U.S. Highway 78 Business District
3. Evermore CID Approves Move To New Headquarters In Effort To Transform Olympic Tennis Venue