MEDIA ALERT - August 27, 2008.

A crew from CNN (Lou Dobbs Tonight) will be in Cincinnati on Wednesday, August 27, 2008, following David Krikorian, the Independent, “non-party” candidate for Congress as he campaigns in Ohio’s second district.

This November 4th, David Krikorian plans to make history by defeating his Republican and Democratic opponents sending a clear message to the parties that “America Has Had Enough!”

An Independent candidate being elected to Congress is a news story of national interest and David is receiving national attention as the Independent candidate poised to win this November.

The day of filming will include:

“Coffee with David”
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
7894 Camargo Road, Madeira
at Campaign HQ (open to all)

With David’s election this November, the two parties should begin to realize that they need to start operating based on the best interests of the people or they will be voted out. This is a message for all the ordinary citizens in our country who, too, have “Had Enough” of politics as usual. We, the people, can take back control of our government.

PRESS RELEASE - August 22, 2008.

David Krikorian, the Independent, “non-party” candidate for Congress, Ohio’s second district, believes Congress got it wrong with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by enacting the recent Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act (The Act).

Below is Mr. Krikorian’s analysis of the problem with Fannie and Freddie, Congress’s bailout, and what should be done to address this important issue.

The Problem

Fannie and Freddie continue to lose money on their loan portfolios and the loans they insure. They are levered at better than 60 to 1 and are technically insolvent. Just a one percent decline in the value of their assets will bankrupt the companies. Huge financial risks and unnecessary derivative bets undertaken by Fannie and Freddie have led to enormous financial losses. This practice continues unchecked today.

Fannie and Freddie are currently allowed to lobby Congress to influence legislators who oversee these organizations. Fannie and Freddie have doled out more than $170 million to Representatives from both sides of the aisle since 1998. Top management positions in Fannie and Freddie have become highly paid jobs for favored, politically connected individuals. Most visible was Franklin Raines, former CEO of Fannie Mae and President Clinton’s budget boss, who presided over the most abusive financial misstatements.

The Bailout

The Act recently enacted by Congress burdens taxpayers with enormous costs and does nothing to address the inherent weaknesses in Fannie and Freddie. Ensuring that big Wall Street banks and foreign governments are repaid does nothing to address the root cause of the problem. Their highly leveraged business models are broken. The Act virtually ensures that losses will grow larger and sticks the taxpayers with a huge bill. The longer these two entities remain in business, in their current form, the more bad loans they will buy and insure, and the more taxpayers will lose. To make matters worse, this bail-out pumps massive liquidity into the system which will fuel inflation in food, energy, raw materials, commodities, services and transportation to name just a few.

The Krikorian Plan

Given where we are today, Fannie and Freddie are integral to the mortgage origination process by providing a secondary market. Therefore, these institutions must be reformed in order to be saved.

Instead of the short-sighted legislation rushed through Congress, this is what should be done:

1. The federal government should extend a short-term loan to Fannie and Freddie at a fixed interest rate to help with immediate liquidity concerns. This loan would be senior, and in preference to, current Fannie and Freddie debt and equity. No dividends should be paid on any stock, common or preferred, until the loans are paid back in full.

2. Fannie and Freddie should return to their roots of providing liquidity to the mortgage market. Risky and unnecessary investments in exotic derivative instruments that provide zero benefit to the original mandate of these two institutions should be eliminated.

3. Top management compensation should be adjusted to the federal government pay scale.

4. Those responsible for the mismanagement of Fannie and Freddie should bear the full responsibility of their actions. Management should be held accountable. Current equity and debt holders should not be protected.

5. Fannie and Freddie should not be allowed to lobby Congress.

6. Taxpayers should be told the truth about the full magnitude of the problem and how much capital is required to shore up these institutions.

7. Once these institutions are in sound financial condition, Fannie and Freddie should be publicly listed with the proceeds from the stock offering accruing to the government. Once listed, current and future Fannie and Freddie debt would no longer be backed by the federal government.

Once again, Congress needs to do its job and take a closer look at all the issues relating to this problem. Our country cannot afford the missteps that Congress has so often made in the past. I urge our government leaders to implement the actions I have outlined above to save and reform Fannie and Freddie. It is an important issue and America deserves solutions, not politics.

PRESS RELEASE - August 20, 2008.

Krikorian out in front to protect Americans from looming banking crisis.

David Krikorian, the Independent, “non-party” candidate for U.S. Congress, Ohio’s second district, has already proven to be “in touch” with voters’ concerns and already “in action” to address them.

American Political Polling (APP), an independent polling company, has just conducted a local survey regarding the state of the banking industry in the Cincinnati area (poll results below).

David Krikorian, however, didn’t wait for a poll to tell him our banking industry is in trouble and the citizens are concerned. Last month, he sent a letter to both the House Financial Services Committee and the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, urging them to increase funding for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to protect Americans from this widening banking crisis. The link to David’s letter is below.

The FDIC has been running full page ads in the Cincinnati Enquirer recently trying to calm depositor fears, however, what David says is that instead of wasting their capital on advertisements, they should be asking Congress for emergency funds as their capital position is now down to less than $40 billion and will not be able to withstand even a modest amount of new failures. Yesterday, August 19, 2008, MarketWatch.com ran the following article.

Ex-IMF economist sees large U.S. bank collapsing: report
by Steve Goldstein

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Kenneth Rogoff, the former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, reportedly said Tuesday that a large U.S. bank will collapse in the next few months. “We’re not just going to see mid-sized banks go under in the next few months, we’re going to see a whopper, we’re going to see a big one, one of the big investment banks or big banks,” Rogoff told a conference in Singapore, according to a Reuters report.

David Krikorian commentary…

“This is a major issue for our country. I must, again, urge Congress to take the necessary steps immediately to insure that all depositors have access to their money if and when their bank fails. The FDIC is set-up to handle the occasional bank failure, but the wave of large bank failures that we are starting to experience will overwhelm the system, and given Congress’s penchant for being slow to act , the last thing we need is to see people, who are already struggling with high inflation, lose access to their deposits. Therefore, I am asking Congress to immediately fund expansion of the FDIC.”

“I set out to represent Ohio’s second congressional district, because I saw the financial crisis unfolding across our country, and I intend to be a loud voice for effective action. 37% of the voters polled believe, as I do, the national banking industry is at risk of failing (almost 42% relating to the “local” banking industry). This is an important issue which needs to be addressed before it’s too late. According to public figures on losses, the FDIC is already down to $38 billion in capital. This is not enough. We need Congress to do its job to protect the American people from these pending bank failures.”

An excerpt from American Political Polling’s Media Release:

“Federal and state regulators have closed a total of eight banks thus far in 2008, including four since the start of July. As loan defaults by borrowers continue to increase, primarily as a result of the collapse of the residential real estate market, lenders are also at risk of default. This survey was conducted to gauge the level of confidence that Southwest Ohio voters have in the banking industry, both nationally and locally.”

Poll Summary

“The majority of surveyed voters, 63%, believe the banking industry, nationally, is not at risk of total collapse, while 37% believe the industry is at risk of failure.

Surveyed voters expressed greater concern with the local banking industry. Almost 42% of surveyed voters felt that local banks, with a large Cincinnati presence, are at risk of failing.”

David Krikorian’s letter to both U.S. House and Senate Banking Committees regarding FDIC…

MarketWatch.com Article…

PRESS RELEASE - August 19, 2008.

IndependentPoliticalReport.com has just ranked David Krikorian within the top 5 independent/third-party candidates of 2008 nationwide.

IndependentPoliticalReport.com.
Article - August 15, 2008.
IPR correspondent Trent Hill.

Top 10 independent/third-party candidates of 2008: Bird, Pollina, Sheehan lead the way.

Excerpt:

“4.) David Krikorian is an independent candidate for Congress in Ohio’s 2nd district. He entered the race polling 13.4%, has polled as high as 26.5% in one county and 16.7% in another, and has raised $150,000. Krikorian will face Republican incumbent Jean Schmidt and Democratic challenger Victoria Wulsin on Election Day.”

IndependentPoliticalReport.com Article…

This November 4th, David Krikorian plans to make history by defeating his Republican and Democratic opponents sending a clear message to the parties that America has “had enough”.

David Krikorian is a family man and Cincinnati-based business owner. He is not a professional politician and doesn’t plan to spend the rest of his life in Washington. Like most Americans, David has seen enough partisan bickering, and too little in the way of creative and effective solutions to the issues and challenges ordinary Americans face every day. He has simply “had enough” of politics as usual, and he is doing something about it. David’s campaign is not accepting contributions from PACs or special interest groups. When elected, David, a true Independent, will only be accountable to the people.

PRESS RELEASE - August 13, 2008.

Independent, David Krikorian, chose to run as a “non-party” candidate this November to represent the people of Ohio’s second district, not a political party.

In keeping with his “solutions, not politics” platform, David has assembled a panel of local citizens with experience and knowledge in International Relations to help draft his Foreign Policy. This diverse panel includes veterans, as well as, anti-war activists.

The Foreign Policy panel will meet this Friday, August 15, at 7 p.m., at the Krikorian for Congress campaign headquarters, 7894 Camargo Road, Madeira, OH. Their first task will be to assess different world issues and prioritize them on behalf of the people of the 2nd district. Their overall objective is to craft a Foreign Policy which offers real solutions, not politics as usual.

This meeting will be followed by a similar panel discussion on the topic of veteran’s issues, including medical and education benefits.

For more information, please call 513-271-2987. The press is invited to attend.

RADIO INTERVIEW - August 8, 2008. Bill “Willie” Cunningham interviewed David on his radio program, Friday, August 8, at 12:05 p.m.  The audio clip link is included below.

Audio Clip…

VIDEO - July 29, 2008.

The Krikorian for Congress campaign has just released a video on YouTube titled “Had Enough?”. The link is included below.

This video is also a television advertisement which has been airing on local networks and selected cable stations such as CNN, The Fox News Channel, and MSNBC.

YouTube Video / Television Advertisement…

NEWS ARTICLE - July 21, 2008. PolitickerOH.com.

By David DeWitt.

Independent candidate and entrepreneur David Krikiorian (I) hasn’t been seeing as much attention as his party-backed opponents Dr. Victoria Wulsin (D-Indian Hill) and U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Loveland) in the race for Ohio’s 2nd Congressional district seat. But Krikorian is running to be what he calls a “voice of action.”

more…

PRESS RELEASE - July 18, 2008.

The Krikorian for Congress campaign has raised over $150,000 since joining the race in April.

A local business owner and family man, David Krikorian is on the ballot this November as an Independent, non-party candidate representing the citizens of Ohio’s second district.  David will serve the people, not a political party.

David’s commentary…

“Neither the Republicans, nor the Democrats, are meeting our country’s needs and I believe the people of Ohio’s second district deserve better representation. Having spent years as a professional in finance, economics, and business, I understand that our ailing economy is the most pressing issue facing us today. We have a housing crisis, a credit crisis, and an energy crisis.”

“Right here, in the 2nd district, people are losing jobs and their incomes are falling, while prices for the things they need are skyrocketing. Our federal trade and budget deficits are out of control, yet little is done to control spending. The value of the U.S. dollar is declining and the more the dollar falls, the more our standard of living declines. Gas prices are already topping $4/gallon, while food prices are rising dramatically. We need to act. We can, and we must, improve our economic reality.”

Unfortunately for incumbent Jean Schmidt (R) and challenger Victoria Wulsin (D), David Krikorian is quickly gaining support, throughout the second district, as the better alternative to these two weaker candidates. The only credible poll, to date, performed by American Political Polling, an independent polling company, dated June 5, 2008, shows that the “district race is wide open” and is a “good fit for an Independent candidate”.

This poll is incredibly encouraging to Mr. Krikorian given the amount of money his campaign has been able to raise in such a short amount of time. Even more impressive is that this money was raised without any affiliation to a political party.

David would like to thank his contributors, regular individuals, who have responded to his message and have decided to support his efforts with their generous contributions. The average contribution, to date, is $200.

The campaign is continuing to have great success in raising money to get out David’s message to the voters of Ohio’s second district. If you would like to find out more about David and his views, please visit KrikorianForCongress.com or call campaign headquarters at # 513-271-2987.

Thank you to our supporters!

PRESS RELEASE - July 16, 2008.

With the failure of yet another large banking institution on Friday, David Krikorian, Independent candidate for U.S. Congress from Ohio’s second district, has sent a letter to both the House Financial Services Committee and the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, urging them to increase funding for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to protect Americans from the widening banking crisis.

“Congress has been slow to act on many of the crises we are facing today, and I don’t want to take any chances with the wave of bank failures that we are starting to see all over the country,” said Mr. Krikorian.

“We must take the necessary steps immediately to insure that all depositors have access to their money if and when their bank fails. The FDIC is set-up to handle the occasional bank failure, but the wave of large bank failures that we are starting to experience will overwhelm the system, and given Congress’s penchant for being slow to act , the last thing we need is to see people, who are already struggling with high inflation, lose access to their deposits. Therefore, I am asking Congress to immediately fund expansion of the FDIC.”

“I set out to represent Ohio’s second congressional district, because I saw the financial crisis unfolding across our country, and I intend to be a loud voice for effective action.”