"By pledge and by performance, Governor Bush has demonstrated that he is the candidate of choice for the American motorcyclist committed to safety and freedom of the road."
Washington, D.C. -- Meeting in convention in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, MRFPAC, the political action committee of the Motorcycle Riders Foundation, endorsed Governor George W. Bush for President of the United States.
"By pledge and by performance, Governor Bush has demonstrated
that he is the candidate of choice for the American motorcyclist
committed to safety
and freedom of the road," said Mr. Tom Pauley, MRF President
and member of the board of MRFPAC. "With MRF's combined
organizational membership of over 250,000, the voting bloc of
American motorcyclists numbers in excess of one million voters
who are now primed to get out the vote for Bush-Cheney."
The endorsement -- the first presidential endorsement ever made by a national motorcyclists' rights organization -- was announced at MRF's premier annual event - the Meeting of the Minds (MOTM) - a political leadership summit attended by some 600 MRF members and key leaders of state motorcyclists' rights organizations in every state and by MRF members and allies from 6 foreign nations.
The endorsement decision was explained by Thomas C. Wyld, MRF Vice President for Government Relations and MRFPAC board member: "We dispatched a letter to the campaign headquarters of Gore 2000, Inc., and Bush-Cheney 2000, Inc., on September 18. The letters contained identical background on issues of paramount importance to rider rights and safety and posed questions to the candidates on how their Administrations might tackle those issues.
"Noting that we were conducting our leadership summit September 21 through 24, we requested that the campaigns make their responses available to us by September 24. Unfortunately, a representative of Gore 2000, Inc., indicated to us in a telephone conversation that the campaign may not be able to respond in the timeframe we had requested.
"On September 22, we received the response of Governor Bush. We telephoned the Gore Campaign to alert them that Governor Bush had responded and that our board was inclined to make a decision forthwith. Later that day, the Board of Directors of MRFPAC chose to endorse Bush-Cheney.
"Across a wide range of issues - from rider road access to health care and the proper role of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration - Governor Bush has pledged to work for rider rights," Wyld explained. "As Governor of Texas, he was a strong, vocal supporter of TEA-21, signed legislation to create a Motorcycle Education Fund Account to enhance rider safety and, in 1997, signed into law the repeal of the state's mandatory helmet law for motorcycle operators or riders 21 years of age or older."
The complete response to MRFPAC September 18 letter from Bush-Cheney
can be viewed here.
(Important: To view the responses letter
you will need a free copy of Acrobat Reader, it can be downloaded
at the Adobe
Website)
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