We are thrilled President Barack Obama has finally decided to openly support gay marriage. As we always say it isn’t about the word marriage it is about EQUAL RIGHTS.

Catholic Public Affairs Conference -
In your response to Face the State you continually mention “natural law”.  As a Roman Catholic I am confused. Do you mean the “I Dream of Genie” type of natural law or the scientific law of evolution?
As a Roman Catholic you embarrass me with your political attempts to make this issue a “War on Religion”. I do not recall one candidate saying they wanted to force you to do anything.
Like I stated in my opening statement, “listen”. Quite frankly if you define “forcing” as me stating “If they are going to take the money they have to provide the service” then I should find another religion because you are less then honest.
If you are so worried about “religious liberty” perhaps we the citizens of the United States should do away with the tax exemptions you enjoy so much?
Perhaps you should be paying for the medical care and mental health care of all the victims of the predators the Church has employed?
You state in your letter that you are disappointed? As a Roman Catholic I was disappointed when the sex abuse scandal broke out and continues to this day. I am disappointed that the Church thinks a rapist in Africa would consider chastity in order to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.  And finally your flat out lying about anyone on WFSB being ready to violate religious liberty.

You are using smoke and mirrors like the Republicans. Your dishonesty is appalling and I will pray for you all.  In the end it is not you who should be disappointed in us, you sirs should be disappointed with yourselves.

Regards,

Matt

I have recently been asked to clarify some issues or positions from the past few debates. While not as vocal in my outrage I find it offensive that Lee Whitnum used the WFSB debate to actually make fun of Secretary Bysiewicz’s voice. As a regular fella I was taken aback that it actually happened. Have we sunk so low that we make fun of how people talk now? What’s next? The way I walk?

I am personally against the death penalty but being elected to office by people means you should represent the people. Polls indicate 65% of Connecticut residents support a death penalty. That, not our personal feelings, should be taken into account.

WFSB Debate

Ten years ago I was attacked. My leg was broken in 3 places. My back was broken as well as my right hand. I was responsible for a store deposit. It was stolen. The day I woke up at Hartford Hospital I called and told the district manager what had happened the night before. At no point did any part of the management team or the police department come to interview me. I did make the Hartford Police aware of what happened. Fast forward 6 months later I was finally interviewed while in a rehabilitation facility. Six months later. So we can fast forward a few months later I was informed because I did not make the deposit at the proper time I was responsible. I accept that. I still stand by my “not guilty” statement but I paid back every cent because of my personal responsibility. The State ignored over 2000 pages of medical evidence with the assumption I hurt myself for a pitiful amount of money. Looking back on it I see it as both tragic and laughable. I embrace my past it taught me that the system does not work for the middle class or the poor. We need to make a criminal justice system that is equal to all not just those who can afford representation.

I clearly stand by my statement that marijuana should be legal. It works in other civilized countries and it will work in ours. The benefit would enormous. For a person convicted of possession to receive a prison sentence and the citizens to pay $27,000 a year for that person is RIDICULOUS. Do you remember that bar fight that the guy smoking marijuana started? Remember that smoker who robbed the innocent citizen to get money for his weed? Yeah, I don’t either. Real talk.

Finally, as a Roman Catholic it offends me how out of touch the Church is with it’s members. Specifically I say this, if you are going to accept the money of our citizens via the federal government then you should be prepared to follow guidelines. Perhaps if we start forcing men to get vasectomies they would have a better understanding of what it means to force things on a woman.

I hope this answers the questions I got in my email. As always I wish you all the best!

I felt the need to directly address something that happened during the NBC/CT debate last night. First, let me say thank you for allowing me to participate. It was my first debate since high school. I know I stumbled a few times, I have no excuse but with my sister going into cardiac arrest and being in the ICU at Hartford Hospital during the debate my mind did wander, especially when we discussed healthcare.

The issues we discussed are all close to my heart. I have addressed several of them here. Violent crime, Social Security, Medicare, a broken criminal justice system, the economy and JOBS! JOBS! JOBS! And even though Secretary Bysiewicz, Representatives Tong and Murphy, Lee Whitnum and myself discussed some very serious issues facing us the entire event was overshadowed by childish name calling.

I am not politically correct. Part of my appeal to my supporters is that I helped create and toured with a group of Latinos, African Americans, Asian, Gay and white human beings. We toured the state briefly before I was disabled showing people how to defuse tension with humor. Speaking for the majority of my supporters we feel that openly discussing offensive statements takes the power away from the “offender” and gives it to the person who was meant to be “offended”. Something similar happened this evening.

I disagree with the other candidates on something and we all agree on other issues. I can state with certainty they have made being politicians into careers. When I decided to run I swore to myself I would never personally attack the others. I can state facts, I can discuss their records but I will not personally attack anyone.

It is my opinion after tonight Lee Whitnum should no longer be invited to debates. I say wild and crazy things all of the time because I have a sense of humor but I would never call a sitting United States Representative a “whore” a State representative “ignorant” or a former Secretary of State a “zealot”. We must ask ourselves if Ms. Whitnum, who I had no issue with until last night gets so angry during a debate as a candidate what would happen if she actually won?

The real sad thing is one word, “whore” has now overshadowed the good we did and the positive ideas we all had. I was the “lesser known” candidate preaching to reporters “include us all” well I think I will rephrase that to “include me”. Not because of her ideas. They are hers, but for her blatant attempt to grab a headline.

U.S. Senate Candidate Matthew Oakes  Attending Second Annual Fight Back Cancer Event
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Matthew Oakes, Fighting Back : Wrestling Cancer

DATE: April 2, 2012

Democratic Candidate for United States Senate Matthew John Oakes will once again be participating in the second annual Fight Back: Wrestling Cancer fundraiser in Danbury, Connecticut. All Democrats are invited to attend.
Last year the event contributed to over $10,000 in donations. This year organizers and volunteers, including Mr. Oakes are hoping to top that. “Organizing and leading these successful events for such heartfelt causes demonstrate to the citizens of Connecticut that I am the right guy for the job.”
The event will be held on April 7, 2012 in Danbury at the Heirloom Arts Theater 155 Main Street (around the back).  Head shaving and brief words from Matthew as well as a family friendly  wrestling event will be held.
Head shaving, if you wish to participate starts between 5-5:30. Matthew Oakes will briefly speak afterwards and doors for the show opening at 7 pm.
For directions please visit. http://heirloomarts.org

Reminder News: http://www.remindernews.com/article/2012/03/16/oakes-is-candidate-for-us-senate

CT Post: http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Oakes-cites-life-experience-in-Senate-bid-3416268.php

Interview with Dennis House on Face The State

The Democratic Party the Party of Exclusion?

I have been a life long Democrat. In the 90′s I attended East Hartford Democratic Town Committee meetings with my neighbor Dick Torpey. I tried to stay active but life did not deal me that hand. It happens. People that know me know that I am not a bitter or mean spirited person. I am actually generous to a fault. But I am also honest to a fault. Being brutally honest, in elections I have found can be a hindrance.

I used to think that people who claimed a “machine” exists were crazy. I have discovered the hard way that they are not crazy. It would shock you if I posted the emails from some of the Democratic Town Committees (DTC) around Connecticut. I emailed 95% of them. Some just had no contact information or no web site at all. There is such a disparity over how they replied. It is amazing.

The very first group to reply and invite me were the Brookfield DTC. I gave up a chance to appear on state wide television to speak to them because they were the first group to welcome me. Loyalty means a lot to me. I will always be grateful to them. Even though it was my first time and I personally think I could have done a better job, they gave me a chance. On the other end of the gauntlet another DTC I will not name but do have the reply from replied “LOL”. The disparity is amazing.

One of my largest bases so far is Danbury. As a matter of fact Danbury is where this campaign was hatched. It was in Danbury that I was part of a small group of people who got together and were part of raising over $10,000 for cancer research.

In mid January I messaged the Danbury DTC. I received a reply from Linda Da Silva asking me to contact them again March 6 when they organize a new DTC. So I marked the date down and continued my campaign. Earlier this week one of our volunteers mentioned a “conversation” style event being held tomorrow. I called Lynn Taborski to be part of it and she informed me that I should have introduced myself sooner and it was to late.

Several Danbury residents were annoyed by this. They knew the Danbury DTC was contacted and they encouraged me to contact Linda again. I asked Linda if she could get me included and she gave me the number of the new chairman, Joe Da Silva Jr.. But what was more telling was that she asked why we hadn’t sent a bio, a campaign link or picture. We did send a link to our web site in the original contact form.
I am not to worried about it because the residents know me and some are outraged at how I was treated by the Danbury DTC but this is an example of how there is this maddening disparity in the system.

This brings us to the debates. Yesterday, February 23, 2012 we were invited to the Quiet Corner Democrats forum. Chris Pitts is an amazing person. While we couldn’t be included in the actual forum we were allowed a table. After the forum several people approached us asking why we weren’t on stage and I was honest. We will discuss these reasons below. Of all the people who approached us both Chris Murphy and Susan Bysiewicz stated that they wanted me to be allowed to participate in the debates. I didn’t get much time to chat with William so I don’t know how he feels. But the fact that 2 of the 3 “major” candidates have stated they want me to participate should be enough for people to take notice.

I can see why other candidates decided to sue for inclusion, even though I do not agree with it. The host of the first debate, the Norwich Bulletin is an interesting entity. They never replied to our request to be included. Not even a no. Just simply ignored us. According to published reports they declined other candidates because they have not raised enough money. Aren’t the Democrats running on campaign finance reform? Hypocrisy, yes.

To slap us in the face even more, assuming that Chris and Susan were 100% honest and wanted us included and have said so, the Norwich Bulletin is simply ignoring their requests. I urge Chris and Susan to back out of the debate. I urge them to put their money where their mouth is. With their combined influence they could have me included. I have said for years it is not what you do in life, it is how you do it. Will Chris, Susan and possibly William stand up for the “common man”? We will see.

The other reason is that I am not notable. I say notability is subjective. If you walk around the North End of Hartford I am EXTREMELY notable yet they have no idea who the other candidates are. And while I am working with the people of Hartford, Waterbury, New Haven and Bridgeport I have found that they feel sidelined. I have tapped into a group that Susan, Chris and William are not notable too. On top of that I already have lined up the signatures I need to get on the primary ballot and can’t wait to collect them in May. Yes, I have knocked on that many doors. My feet hurt. We already have collected more then the required number of signatures to appear on the General Election ballot.

I do not intend to be a spoiler but as the title states, for a common, disabled, gay American who was raised in the “ghetto” the Democrats have not proven to be the party of inclusion but exclusion. I do however believe we are the party of optimism and will “keep on walking cause I got 25 miles to go, my feet are hurting awfully bad.”

Best Regards,
Matt

So today has been a little rough but interesting. It has shown me more and more about people and their character. I have never been as disappointed in people as I have been since I started this campaign.

Peter Lumaj, a conservative Republican candidate is more then a dirty player. I see he learned how to play dirty politics real fast. I am disappointed that he thinks that using me, my name and my campaign is fair game. He should be ashamed. In my humble opinion he should be forced out of the race for his antics.

Mr. Lumaj has taken my name and used it to create a “tag” attached to his website. This enables his website to be listed in any online results when people do a search for “Matthew Oakes US Senate”. When people click the link http://www.lumaj2012.com/tag/matt-oakes/ (and the screen shot below in case they decide to disable the link) they will be brought to his campaign website.

Dirty Tricks Peter Lumaj

This can lead to two different types of confusion. One being that some people who are not computer literate would think his views are my views. I am so far away from what he “thinks” it actually saddens me to write about him.

Secondly some people might think I endorse him. This is NOT TRUE. I do not think he represents Connecticut Republicans, conservatives or citizens at all.

Peter Lumaj has shown that he can play dirty. What he has done is underhanded and sneaky and he should be ashamed. We think he should stand up and step out of the race. A cease and desist letter is on it’s way.

Matthew John Oakes

The Hypocrisy of William Tong

Once again the Democrats of Connecticut are faced with the hypocrisy of William Tong. Representative Tong sent out a fundraising e-mail to supporters, Tong points out how Lin, also the son of Chinese-American immigrants, was an underdog, with no one willing to give him a shot.

We have messaged Mr. Tong and the other candidates in order to be included in the forums/debates. They not only have not answered, they have ignored us. Using the ideal that “no one is willing to give him a shot” is hypocrisy on the highest level considering he is not giving anyone else a shot.

William Tong is a fraud. He, Chris Murphy and Susan Bysiewicz do not consider the voice of a common man worth hearing. This is a direct message to you hard working citizens of Connecticut.

These three are afraid of a “regular Joe” because as I have said in the past, I am honest. Chris Murphy does not care about the Democratic Party. During the debate over the CLASS Act one Democrat after another stood up and said that the Republicans did not care about elderly or disabled Americans. Chris Murphy voted with the Republicans. One could infer through this action he also does not care about the elderly or disabled. Being disabled, I feel this way.

William Tong’s pet project the Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission shows he does not care about the citizens of Connecticut but a select group. The director of this Commission will be making $100,000 a year in a time when we should be combining these Commissions to save money. He is in favor of big government and since this has been his pet project for years it indicates he loves pork barrel spending.

As I travel the state I hear the same complaints. No job, no money, no help. Well William Tong, Chris Murphy and Susan Bysiewicz may tell you to your face that they care but their actions, or lack of, state otherwise. If they truly cared about the residents of Connecticut they would include all FEC registered candidates. But clearly they are running for office for the power and prestige not to represent citizens.

Another candidate, Lee Whitnum recently contacted me because she has filed a lawsuit to join the forums/debates. I politely declined her offer. While the fact remains Chris, William and Susan feel I am not “worth” being included because I am just an average citizen and not super heroes like they are I am not suffering from the mental anguish she is. Of course there is more to the suit and I urge you all to read it if for no other reason but to be informed.

William Tong = Hypocrite and big government.
Chris Murphy = Hypocrite, Republican and missed 92 votes, doing your job much?
Susan Bysiewicz = Hypocrite, used her office as SoS for campaigning
Matthew John Oakes = Honest and just an average guy with a cold.

Regards,
Matthew John