This Is The Response I Got From Senator Donnelly About CISPA From My Email To Him

 

April 24, 2013

Dear Ms. Blake,

I appreciate the time you took to express your thoughts about cybersecurity. Like you, I am concerned about the potential use of the Internet and telecommunications technology to cause harm to the nation's economic and security interests.

Similar to other national security challenges in the post-9/11 era, cyber threats are multi-faceted and lack clearly defined boundaries. The source of cyber intrusions is often difficult to determine, but recent reports indicate that many of these attacks or espionage activities may be sponsored by foreign governments. In light of these findings, we have a responsibility to protect critical networks while we protect civil liberties and individual privacy.

Last Congress, in an effort to protect proprietary information stored on domestic cyber networks, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3523, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). I supported this legislation because it gave U.S. businesses the support they need to better protect their customers and networks from a cyber attack, and included provisions to ensure that the private information of American citizens would remain private. This legislation also would have helped to defend our nation's computer networks by making it easier for the federal government and approved U.S. companies to share information about cyber threats and attacks. The 112th Congress ended before the Senate took action on this legislation.

Should future legislation concerning cybersecurity come to the floor of the Senate for a vote, I will be sure to keep your thoughts in mind.

It is a privilege to represent you and all Hoosiers in the U.S. Senate. Your continued correspondence is welcome and helps me to better represent our state. I encourage you to write, call, or email if my office can ever be of assistance. You can also check out my Facebook page and follow me on Twitter by visiting my website.

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My Thoughts: I knew Donnelly would write something like this. I really didn’t expect much from Donnelly.  Here’s why:

When Donnelly was a representative for Indiana, he was a brown noser for Obama. He voted for Obama Care. For this reason I didn’t vote for him. The only thing he has in his favor with me, is he writes back. Which-well-isn’t saying much.

Donnelly And Mourdock Debate Tonight

 

1st Donnelly, Mourdock debate tonight, will stream on WSBT.com

This is How It Looks In The Indiana Race Between Mourdock And Donnelly

 

ELECTION 2012: Expect Mourdock-Donnelly to be a nail-biter by Jon Murray, Indianapolis Star

Now that the national conventions are over, Hoosier voters are tuning in for the contest that's likely to become this fall's hardest fought.,

Unlike four years ago, that doesn't mean the top of the ticket. Hoosiers' votes might as well be an afterthought as President Barack Obama -- unlikely to repeat his 2008 win -- and Republican challenger Mitt Romney take their state-by-state battle elsewhere.

No, the nail-biter is Richard Mourdock vs. Joe Donnelly for U.S. Senate.

The contest figured little in the Democratic and Republican national conventions. The candidates didn't even attend, much less speak, preferring to stump for votes at home.

But the race long ago reached the national radar -- thanks to the political shockwave of Sen. Richard Lugar losing his Senate seat to Mourdock after spending nearly four decades in the office.

Lugar, in fact, received a primetime reference last week at the Democratic convention during former President Bill Clinton's address. Clinton alluded -- though not by name -- to Lugar's loss to Mourdock in the Republican primary as one of two defeats in which Republicans were toppled, in part, for cooperating at times with Democrats.

The conventions fired up the party faithful, and that could trickle down to each side's candidates in other races as they sprint to election day on Nov. 6.

But experts say it will take more than strong base enthusiasm to put Mourdock, the Indiana treasurer, or Donnelly, a Northern Indiana Democratic congressman, over the top.

For one, both candidates still are trying to win over Lugar's backers. And they're aiming at independent voters who are up for grabs in any election.

It's a contest pitting a tea party darling against a moderate Democrat who's distanced himself from Obama -- and from his party's positions -- on social issues.

Polls have portrayed a tight race, with plenty undecided voters. Money is pouring in from outside groups on both sides. Campaign ads are lighting up TVs.

Just as political experts say the presidential election is all about turnout, that's also the case in the final eight-week race for Indiana's open Senate seat.

And Craig P. Anderson knows he's a marked man.

Anderson, 45, calls himself a lifelong Republican. But the Indianapolis man says he can't bring himself to vote for Mourdock -- making him, along with other Republicans who supported Lugar in the primary, into prime targets for Donnelly's moderate appeals.

For Anderson, it was a Mourdock comment just after his primary victory -- a remark about bipartisanship in which Mourdock dismissed any compromise with Democrats -- that left him cold.

But he's not quite ready to vote for Donnelly.

"I'll probably start digging more and more into Donnelly's positions," said Anderson, who works in the finance industry. "I know he's after people like me. I also, quite honestly, need to do more work looking at his record."

It's tough to pin down how many Lugar Republicans similarly are torn.

But Donnelly's campaign thinks there are enough of them that they, along with independent voters, could put him over the top in a state that typically favors Republicans.

Mourdock's campaign, for its part, is betting that Donnelly's frequent support of Obama's policies -- including his health-care overhaul -- will bring most wayward Republicans back into the fold.

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