Thank you for joining me today as I officially declare my candidacy to represent the people of Indiana’s 5th District in the United States House of Representatives.

It was just two short years ago that I stood here asking for your support. At that time, challenging an incumbent Congressman was not as popular as it is today.

In fact, many people within the Republican Party were surprised – and upset – that I was challenging a 13-term incumbent Congressman. Concerned Party officials and local pundits asked me to walk away from my campaign. But with every door I knock on, the voters who live in the 5th District, are still encouraging me to run.

In 2008 they encouraged me because it was the first time in over a quarter of a century that they finally had a legitimate choice to choose a representative. Party leaders had been protecting Dan Burton and ensuring him easy re-election. Nobody dared to challenge him – or the Party – until I came along.

The voters were – and still are – hungry for real dialogue and debate in a district that has long been taken for granted.
Just like in 2008, when I travel around the district today, I realize how much the voters want to provide input on the issues that matter to them. During the past year they feel as if they have been totally shut out of decisions our government is making and yet have had to endure some of the most difficult financial conditions since the Great Depression.

During my 2008 primary challenge – despite Dan Burton outspending our campaign five to one – I soundly defeated him in his home precinct, township and county and we came within 3,000 votes from sending him into retirement.

The results of my campaign did not go unnoticed. My 2008 primary challenge has highlighted how dissatisfied voters in the 5th District really are, and that it can’t be ignored any longer.

As I travel around the District voters are asking me why there is a sudden interest to run for the 5th District seat. Just two years ago, the other candidates in this race were silent spectators.

They had no problem with the fact that Dan Burton seemed to have stopped showing up for work.

They accepted politics as usual and supported the incumbent Congressman regardless of his poor performance.

They were afraid to challenge the political system and lose the support of members of the Party hierarchy.

So what’s changed that has made this race so appealing?

• Dan Burton is still the incumbent Congressman…
• Businessmen in Carmel are still wondering why the federal government can’t control their spending of our tax dollars…. What’s changed?
• Single mothers in Indianapolis are still worried about how the rising costs of healthcare are limiting their access to medical care for their children…What’s changed?
• Military personnel in Peru, who work at Grissom Air Reserve Base, still want to know what their future role is in the Global War on Terror…. What’s changed?
• Factory workers in Kokomo and Tipton are still displaced and unemployed because of the problems in the U.S. auto industry…. What’s changed?
• Farmers in Grant and Huntington and Shelby and Hancock Counties see changes in the agriculture industry and are still worried their family farms might be short changed with the reinstatement of the estate tax…. What’s changed?

Like most of the citizens in this country I continue to tire of hearing candidates talk about “new leadership,” “restoring the American dream,” or telling us we should “expect more.” These are hollow campaign themes that are run up the flagpole every election cycle by career politicians who want you to believe they are different and they are not typical politicians.

I’m here to tell you I am not a lawyer, I am not a lobbyist and I am not a career politician. I’m an emergency doctor, and as a physician my patients expect me to be honest with them, I can’t dance around a diagnosis. I have to be up front and I have to be quick to make a decision and implement a cure. Often times those decisions are the difference between life and death.

The voters of the 5th District expect the same from their Congressman. They want honest assessments and uncomplicated solutions. They don’t want political speak. They want the truth and not some spin job.

As a colonel in the Air Guard, I have been to Iraq and Afghanistan. I know what it’s like to have to make decisions that will affect the lives of the men and women under my command. I have heard lots of talk the last few months about leadership. After 28 years in the military, I can tell you a person does not rise to the rank of Colonel by just talking about leadership. The rank is earned when you have demonstrated you are a leader and that the men and women you are leading trust you and your decisions because their life could depend on it.

Similarly, the voters of the 5th District don’t want someone who paints pictures of leadership through TV ads and sound-bites. They have had 28 years of that type of leadership. The voters of the 5th District deserve a candidate who has a proven history of leadership and I believe I have that record.

A Congressional term is only two years long. There is not a lot of time for a person to “learn” how to be a member of Congress. That’s why voters want a candidate that is well versed in three specific areas – international, national and local.

As a soldier in the military I am the only candidate that brings international experience. My boots have been on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am in Europe regularly on military assignment working with Allied governments and our military leaders to ensure that our wounded men and women receive the best medical care possible. I have flown into countries to participate in emergency relief, much like those going on in Haiti right now.

On the national level, our government is struggling with health care reform. I am an emergency physician, and am on the front line and face the problems in our health care system on a daily basis. There are only 16 physicians in Congress today.

When it comes to health care reform that number should bother every citizen. For years, our health care has been prescribed by lawyers, lobbyists and career politicians, not by doctors who know best. I believe the voters in Massachusetts sent a clear message that the American people will not be tolerate it any longer.

On a local level the voters want a Congressman that listen and help his constituents.  For eight years I served as the coroner of Marion County and I dealt with nearly 2,000 families annually at one of the worst possible times in their lives. I know how important it is to not only listen to your constituents but also to see that the infrastructure is in place to help them with their problems.

Indiana’s 5th District is one of the most diverse in the state.  With urban Indianapolis on one end, suburban counties like Hamilton and Hancock in the middle, and rural Huntington, Wabash, Miami to the north, the 5th District provides a broad cross-section of American life and what it means to be a Hoosier. In spite of its proud diversity they all share the same sentiments about what’s going on in Washington and who they want to represent them.

• The voters are tired of politics as usual. They are tired of being forced to choose from recycled lawyers, lobbyists and career politicians. Many of whom have strong ties to political leaders who would rather create a deeper divide between the two parties, as opposed to working together to solve our country’s problems.
• The voters are screaming for candidates that are more independent thinkers that adhere to principles, such as smaller government, fiscal responsibility and a safer United States.
• The voters want someone that brings a different perspective, an “ordinary citizen’s perspective” you might say. Not someone who approaches every problem with the same institutional thought processes that members of both parties use today.

My candidacy offers the voters of the 5th District the representation for which they are looking.

I started this campaign in 2007 and I am here today to let the voters of the 5th District know that I intend to finish what I started. I am reaching out to the almost 40,000 voters that supported me in the last election, and am asking that you to get behind me again. I’m also reaching out to those independent minded voters that are frustrated with Washington and are tired of being forced to choose among recycled lawyers, lobbyists, career politicians and party insiders.

The voters know this campaign isn’t about money, but who is the most qualified.

We have seen what has happened to incumbents and party insiders in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Voters in those states have rejected candidates with the most money and deep ties to their Parties. Ordinary citizens across this great country of ours are fed up and prepared to return the House and the Senate back to “the people” just like our Founding Fathers had intended.

I encourage everyone to learn more about me by going to my website: www.drjohnmcgoff.com. I am confident you will see that I have the experience… the desire…the fortitude to make tough decisions… and I have the qualities that you seek in a representative.

If you vote for me, together on May 4th, we can tell Congressman Burton once and for all, it’s time for him to come “Back Home Again”, to Indiana!

Thursday, February 4, 2010 | 11 a.m. | North Atrium Indiana State House