Djou for Hawaii June 22, 2010 www.Djou.com 

Aloha friends,

One month ago, many of you joined me at our campaign headquarters as we celebrated our victory over the political establishment in Hawaii and took the first step toward taking back our government.  We could not have done it without your support and for that I’ll be eternally grateful. But our journey has just begun.

In my speech that night I said we had been given a lease by the people of Hawaii with the option to buy in November.  Since then, I have worked as hard as I can to represent your interests in the nation’s Capitol.

Some of the highlights of my first month in office:

•  I pledged to go to Congress to change the way we did business.  During my first Budget Committee hearing, I was able to question Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and got him to admit that the federal government's spending mentality is unsustainable because we have no fiscal exit strategy. He confirmed what you and I know, that we just can’t continue down this road. The first piece of legislation I co-sponsored as a Member of Congress was the Balanced Budget Amendment and should I be fortunate enough to be re-elected, I’ll continue to do my part to put our country's fiscal house in order. Watch here.

•  I've been an outspoken leader on reforming the Jones Act. In particular, I've spoken out about the need to waive it in an effort to do all we can to clean up the oil spill in the Gulf. Watch an interview I did on the topic here.

•  The first resolution I authored was one urging this Congress to enact a free trade agreement with the Republic of the Philippines.

•  The first floor speech I gave was in support of the languishing free trade agreement with South Korea.

•  Our state is dependent on tourism and so every opportunity I am given I talk about the concerns of the people of Hawaii and encourage mainland news agencies and their viewers to visit us in Hawaii.  I have had the privilege of appearing on CNBC, MSNBC, FOX, and FOX Business, representing the concerns and priorities of my bosses: the voters of the First Congressional District of Hawaii.

•  On the campaign trail, I pledged to listen to my constituents.  To that end, I asked my constituents about the issues that Congress is likely to vote on in the next few months.  I also held a live telephone “talk story” and had the privilege of hearing the thoughts and concerns of thousands of my constituents in the 1st congressional district.  I also plan on holding eight “talk stories” throughout the State in early July.

Friends, we had a historic election on May 22nd and I look forward to hitting the campaign trail again with you and continuing to take our message of job creation and fiscal discipline to every corner of the district.  You can help by donating $30 for our 30 days in office and by forwarding this email to 3 of your friends.

Together, through our Special Election win, we made a huge step in the right direction, but the majority will not relinquish its control of power without a fight.  Help me to continue to fight for fiscal responsibility in our nation’s Capitol.  Help us to accomplish our goal of putting our nation back on track.

Mahalo!

Charles K. Djou

United States Representative