Vacaville Hopeful in Congressional Race
Published by Appeal - Democrat
January 30, 2012

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Send Ray to Congress
Published by The Reporter
Posted: 06/06/2010

Eugene Ray is running for U.S. Congress and it is an honor to vote for a man with moral integrity and commitment. I have known Eugene personally for years. I have seen him spend hours and hours mentoring at-risk youth, helping those in need and encouraging those around him. Eugene is a man of character, determination and courage. He has a clear sense of what is needed to turn this country around and can make a huge difference if given the chance.

This is a day and age when politicians make promises only to break them, tell voters what they want to hear but rarely follow through and negotiate secret deals with special interest groups on a regular basis.

There has been little change in government, and politics are business as usual. At a time when this nation is at such great risk, business as usual can have catastrophic consequences.

A vote for Eugene Ray is a vote for responsibility, sanity and honor.

A vote for Eugene Ray is a vote for economic responsibility and productive, thoughtful change that will steer the country back to greatness. Eugene Ray is a leader who will work tirelessly for all citizens, tackle issues head-on using sound judgment and representing the people he serves. I have every confidence that Eugene Ray is exactly who we need to send to Congress.

Terry Ann Steffen
Vacaville

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Elect Consensus-builder

Published by The Reporter

Posted: 06/03/2010

I won't have an opportunity to vote for Eugene Ray for Congress in the upcoming Republican primary election because I am a Democrat, but I recommend a vote for Eugene to all my Republican friends.

You don't have to look very far to find a person passionate about Eugene because he has touched so many lives in a positive way. Whether it is spiritually, recreationally or through business contacts, he leaves people with a wildly positive experience of him.

He is passionate about everything he does, and I cannot imagine a better consensus-builder to have in Congress than Eugene Ray.

We need congressmen who will work both sides of the aisle, and I believe Eugene Ray is that man.

David Muerle
Vacaville

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Congress needs integrity

When Eugene Ray informed me that he was running to represent the 7th Congressional District, I became very excited. I have done business with him on several occasions, I have studied under his able martial arts instruction, and I have counted him as a good friend for many years. In all my relations with Gene, one quality always stands out: integrity. I have seen him make the tough choices, always choosing what is right instead of what is easier or what will make him money.

More men and women like Eugene Ray are just what this country needs in its government

In his martial arts program, he would refuse to teach kids who were failing in school, knowing, of course, that he would lose a few kids and make a little less money. But instead of just writing these kids off, he organized a team of volunteer instructors who offered free one-on-one academic instruction to anyone who needed help. I saw kids' lives change as a result of his tutoring program. Good kids, who for whatever reason, had been labeled by the system as "slow," would engage in the tutoring program to raise their grades because they wanted to learn martial arts. With a little hard work and someone who believed in them, their grades went up, as well as their self-confidence and self-esteem. I believe their lives will be changed forever as a result of Gene's vision and dedication.

In the real estate business, there are countless ways to take advantage of people to make a fast buck. Gene always is looking for the "win-win" deal, one where everyone benefits. I have observed him as he refused to take advantage or mislead, no matter how alluring the profit seemed.

I need a representative in my government that I know I can trust to do the right thing, not what is expedient or profitable or will give him or her more power. I need someone who is guided by a moral compass instead of what is politically correct. I need someone who has already demonstrated that he cares about Americans and is willing to take action to improve their lives.

Eugene Ray is that representative and I strongly recommend that we vote him into Congress.

Dr. John Crawford
Vacaville

As we all know, there's another election coming, full of empty promises, finger-pointing and name-calling.

I've just about given up on (what's left) of our political system, except for the fact that there is one man entering the race for Congress to represent the 7th District -- my district. His name is Gene Ray of Vacaville.

This man has been a personal friend since 1968. From the time I met him till today, I have never met a more articulate, honest and caring person.

But one thing this guy has that a lot of people just don't have is the ability to inspire. Gene Ray truly is the poster boy for "When the going gets tough, the tough get going."

The way this country's going, I see a lot of negativity and giving up on voting altogether. When I wanted to give up, Gene didn't let me. I'm sure glad he inspired me to hang in there.

Remember Gene Ray this June. You won't regret it.

Dick Pence, San Pablo

The Benicia Herald
Divine Message Spurs Candidate

‘You can gerrymander for politics, but you can’t gerrymander for friends,’ Eugene Ray says

Ray, a Vacaville resident, had never run for office and had little interest in politics.

But when the feeling didn’t subside, he discussed it with friends and relatives. To his surprise, they gave him encouragement instead of derision.
“People said, ‘We’ve been waiting for you to run.’”

So he’s started with a congressional campaign. Ray, 58, is competing against three other Republicans in the June 8 primary for the 7th Congressional District seat. Should he win, he’d face the Democratic candidate in November — and that could mean a showdown with Rep. George Miller, who has held that seat since 1975.

Ray is a real estate agent who has an eighth-degree black belt in karate. He’s won state, regional and world titles in the martial art. His students have won their own championships, including one who is a 10-time World Full-Contact champion.

Competition has taught Ray that a successful candidate knows how to win and what it takes to get there. “I know enough people. I can win this thing,” he said.

He sees five main issues in the campaign: Jobs, cap and trade, illegal immigration, national defense and debt.

The country needs more private sector jobs and fewer government jobs, Ray said, because private sector jobs produce income and taxes, while government jobs require taxes for salaries.

When government becomes so large that the private sector can no longer support the financial weight of government jobs, he said, “the whole thing collapses.”

Ray opposes cap and trade, saying it would add more taxes and regulation to the burdened economy. “It’s absolute insanity,” he said. It’s supposed to combat man-made global warming, he said, but that problem is being depicted inaccurately.

“In the 1970s, they said we were heading for an ice age. Now it’s global warming,” Ray said.

However, he does endorse recycling and “green” practices. “That makes sense.”

Illegal immigration is being addressed in other countries that don’t want unregulated border crossings, he said, and that includes Mexico, which has a closed southern border. He described most undocumented immigrants as “good, hardworking people that just want a better life for their families.”

As a teacher of at-risk children, he said he’s offered free lessons to those who steer clear of trouble and keep up their grades. He’s recruited fellow business people to tutor children and volunteers to teach English to their Spanish-speaking parents. He’s learned to admire Latin-American families.

But some border-crossers are criminals who add to the cost of courts, prison operations and social services, he said. Ray doesn’t condemn Arizona for trying to protect its border when the federal government has failed to do so. “We must control the border,” he said.

But the country also needs to streamline its immigration system. “It shouldn’t take forever to get through the process.”

Ray is worried about national defense. “Not since (President Jimmy) Carter has it been run so badly. And the bad guys know.” Enemies in Iran, North Korea and Venezuela have no fear or respect for the United States. “And you can’t call a Muslim terrorist a Muslim terrorist,” he said.

Yet other countries don’t hesitate to ask for aid from the United States. “We’re the first country they look to for help, and we’re the first that will help. We’ve sent a billion dollars to Haiti, and that’s during tough times. This is the greatest nation in the history of the planet.”

Ray called the national debt “insanity.” He questioned the wisdom of writing a 2,000-page document through the night and voting on it early the next morning without determining how it would impact the nation’s debt. “They’re voting on things they haven’t read,” he said.

He challenged lawmakers to publish bills on the Internet for constituents to read, allow them time to comment, and be responsive to public opinion when they vote on those bills.

He also was suspicious of lawmakers who take thousands of pages explain an issue, saying it’s too easy to hide items among those pages. He said the stimulus package included 5,000 earmarks, which he described as gifts to supporters that could hurt the country’s financial situation.

“We owe our children to leave the United States better than what we got,” Ray said. “We’ve got to get the debt under control.”

He said he’s looking forward to the campaign. “This isn’t Miller’s first rodeo. He knows what he’s doing, and he has money behind him,” Ray said.

“But people are calling me, asking for signs, and a lot of them are Democrats. You can gerrymander for politics, but you can’t gerrymander for friends. I can get enough votes to win.”

Ray The Right Choice

Published by Times Herald
Posted 5/19/10

A very good friend of mine is running for the United States Congress, the 7th Congressional District. His name is Eugene (Gene) Ray. I support him completely in this action. His integrity is irreproachable.

I have known him for years. I can not think of a better candidate for Congress.

He is going up against a staunch rival, George Miller. Mr. Miller has been a representative in that district for 30 years. He is and has been, the Chairman of the Education and Jobs Committee of Congress. The question I would ask is this, how is that working for us?

I think it must be very easy for our representatives to fall into the "Me-and-I" rut. Sometimes the only thing that we can do is vote them out. Not only do I think that this is the right time, I believe Gene is the right replacement.

Jerry Quinn

Peace Officers for Christ Board member

Retired Deputy Sheriff

Fairfield

ELECTION 2010: MEET A CANDIDATE - Eugene Ray
By Greta Mart, Staff Reporter
May 16, 2010

Although he possesses an eighth degree black belt in karate and mixed martial arts, with a strategy of bipartisanship and a little help from his friends, Vacaville’s Eugene Ray is planning on wresting away California’s 7th Congressional District from incumbent George Miller in November.

“Three weeks before Christmas, I was complaining about the government like most people, and I woke up one day with a deep feeling in my heart that I should run for Congress,” Ray told the Gazette on Friday. “At first I just joked that I needed to watch what I eat at night, but by the fifth day the feeling was so powerful I thought, I know enough people, I have more friends than a person is entitled to, I could win this.”

At the time, Ray was unclear on the exact boundaries of the District, but after educating himself on the particulars and speaking to the first 100 of his friends, he was convinced of his plan to make his first bid for public office.

“I never talked about running for office, although I’ve been a campaign manager before,” Ray said, explaining that he helped Solano County Board of Supervisor John Vasquez get elected in 2002. “But the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. I don’t have a lot of money, and Miller has all kinds of money, it’s not his first rodeo; you can gerrymander a district for political parties, but you can’t gerrymander a district for friends.”

Saying he’ll use common sense when it comes to lawmaking in Washington should he win, his first order of business would be to “stop the bleeding” of job loss in California. 

“[The State] is losing 3000 jobs a week, and small business is the backbone of the American economy. You’ve got to make it affordable to do business,” Ray said. “Congress is wanting to put in cap and trade and that’s absolute insanity,” referring to the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, approved last summer by Congress and currently being debated in the Senate. The Act provides economic incentive programs to reduce greenhouse gases. “Taxing a business doesn’t make it come out of recession,” said Ray.

A firm believer that man-made global warming is “nonsense,” Ray said “the same people telling us about global warming in the 1990s were the same people in the 1970s telling us we were causing the next Ice Age. Actual temperatures and studies show that man has very little influence on the weather. When the world is in a cooling phase and we’re doing nothing different, it’s a little difficult to take the idea seriously of giving some third world countries billions of our dollars to solve the problem of man-made global warming.”

Ray supports nuclear power, stating, “Japan and France get approximately 80 to 85 percent of their power from nuclear power plants. The U.S. has had nuclear powered naval carriers for years and they work very efficiently. Nuclear facilities are more efficient and a lot less invasive to the environment than miles and miles of wind generators and solar panels.”

On the issue of illegal immigration, Ray said, America not only needs to control the borders, but to close them too.

“Most of the people that come across our southern border are good hardworking people that just want a better life for their families. But some aren’t. They’re criminal, and they’re costing us a great deal of money in our courts and prison system. We also can’t have masses of people coming across without any control, overwhelming our social services,” said Ray.

Another bone of contention for Ray is the country’s current national defense position. 

“The government means well, but is completely wrong-headed; we haven’t seen the national defense run so poorly since Carter,” said Ray. “Countries like North Korea see that we have no backbone and won’t stand up and fight. Every century there is one or more political leaders that come along and either want what our country has, or they’re just crazy and believe they are meant to rule the world. Whatever their reason, we must be ready. A strong military is a powerful deterrent.”

Now 58, Ray was born in Los Angeles, but moved to Vacaville at age two, when his father, a correctional officer, was transferred to the newly built California Medical Facility.

Graduating as an All-American scholar and athlete from Vacaville High School, Ray dropped out of Chico State University to pursue a real estate career, he said, earning his Realtor certification from the Northern Solano Board of Realtors in 1976. 

“Everyday I solve problems and negotiate settlements.  As a realtor for over 30 years, that’s my job,” said Ray in his campaign literature. “Working with the public I am keenly aware of the employment and financial situation of my fellow Americans.  I am a big believer that the American family and home ownership are core strengths of our society.”

During a phone interview, Ray referred to a martial arts program he founded for at-risk youth, saying that several hundred kids have graduated from the program he taught at various church venues.

A single father of two adult kids, aged 23 and 21, Ray said that “one of the things everyone can agree on is that we want to leave the world a better place for our kids, but that’s not happening. We can’t keep borrowing money leaving our kids and grandkids in debt for the coming decades.”
When asked why voters would choose him over Miller, Ray said, “The main thing is, if I debated Miller, it would take 60 seconds. If you want back room deals, if you want 2000 page documents done at 11 p.m. and voted on the next morning, vote for Miller. If not, vote for someone with backing from both sides.”

Eugene is a sincere individual and would work hard to represent the voice of the voters. It's time we got back to our roots with representation by noncareer politicians. California can take a step in the right direction by electing Eugene Ray, just as Massachusetts did with Scott Brown.

This is a grassroots campaign and your support and prayers will be appreciated. Please visit Eugene Ray's Web site at www.eugeneray.com. And please spread the word.

James E. Downey
Vacaville