While U.S. Congressman Michael Burgess is grandstanding and using his seat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee to try and lay blame for the oil spill in the Gulf at the doorsteps of anyone but a major oil company in hopes of getting newspaper headlines, constituents in his own backyard are experiencing health issues, air quality issues, and worse. Yet he has done nothing to help the residents of DISH. I want to know why. Why didn’t Congressman Burgess pay enough attention to what is going on in his own district to try and help get federal money for additional testing for DISH residents.  I challenge Michael Burgess to take a break from trying to get publicity for himself, and pick up the phone and call the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies that could help these residents and spur them into action. That’s what people elect their Congressmen for. They don’t elect them to represent the interests of their high-dollar contributors like the oil industry, which has given my opponent more than $140,000 in recent years. In return, he’s voted for them 100 percent of the time.

Neil Durrance
Democratic nominee for Congress in Texas’ 26th Congressional District