Bush Dog Watch: Jim Costa

Costa should do better (0.00 / 0)

It's disappointing to see him bowing to fear in voting for both of these bills. I hear the whole, but it's not a dark blue district, yada, whatever.  Two words: Jon Tester. The man talks openly about repealing the Patriot Act.

People care about liberty. It's not a red/blue issue.

I think?

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by: Brian Leubitz @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 16:13:12 PM UTC

Congressional ratings (0.00 / 0)

aren't at 18% (and 21% among Democrats) for nothing.  People want ral change, not this garbage.

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by: David Dayen @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 16:58:57 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I gather he has a challenger next year (0.00 / 0)

Jim Lopez, chairman of the California Republican National Hispanic Assembly.  Should be a good twist on the racial identity issues in the district.  It's tough to imagine that these votes are what people in the district sent him to DC for.

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by: Lucas O'Connor @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 16:26:16 PM UTC

won't be the first time (0.00 / 0)

It was more of a twist in 2000 when Dooley faced a latino local news anchor. It was a helluva fight, but Dooley still came out on top.

Twitter: @BobBrigham

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by: Bob Brigham @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 16:33:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Lots of farm money too (0.00 / 0)

Not that surprising given the district. But, wow, that list reads like a who's who of PACs in DC.

I think?

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by: Brian Leubitz @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 16:31:24 PM UTC

Actually (0.00 / 0)

That looks like the list of PACs who give to every member of Congress, with an emphasis on Ag groups, because, well, he's on the Ag committee. 

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by: slowpitch @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 18:01:32 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yup (0.00 / 0)

That's what I meant by a who's who of DC PACs. These are the folks that give to every Congressman. And, I certainly wasn't surprised by the Ag stuff either, given the district and his committee assignment.

I was just responding to the AT&T stuff. AT&T isn't all that huge of a donor, comparatively.

I think?

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by: Brian Leubitz @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 18:11:10 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

they give a grand (0.00 / 0)

religiously, every quarter, despite not having an opponent in 2006.  And he's not on a telecom committee.  There are a few Bell South donations, too.

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by: David Dayen @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 18:39:23 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

True (0.00 / 0)

AT&T has spent lots of money for Congress critters. As Edwards said at yKos, they aren't doing that for their own health.

I think?

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by: Brian Leubitz @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 19:09:11 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

2 million (0.00 / 0)

In the 2005-2006 cycle, thats a hefty chunk of change, although I know there are bigger fish out there.  Their money was concentrated primarily on Blue Dogs, at risk Reeps, and members of Energy and Commerce. With a cool 30k for the RNC...

However, I've never bought the insinuation that donations directly contribute to votes on major pieces of legislation likely to get someone into hot water in the district.  Obviously, I'm not privy to Costa's logic (has anyone asked?) but I would assume/hope that he considered what he was doing when he cast that vote, and that he cast it knowing it would be unpopular.  That doesn't let him off the hook, but I bet he didn't look at it and think "My buddies at AT&T have given me $10-15k over the years, I'm going to help keep them out of the fire on this one."

Of course, I might just not be cynical enough, but where has he stood in the past on Defense issues?  My experience has been that MoCs have a way of showing nuance on particular issues that isn't always in keeping with the main party vote.  Where did he vote on S-CHIP? The energy bill?  These are big issues too and progressives should be screaming about defections there as well. 

Personally though, I find the stuff he did at the state level more worrying, those are some really bad pieces of legislation. 

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by: slowpitch @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 18:39:55 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Remember Costa-Hawkins? (7.00 / 4)

Costa-Hawkins was the state law that completely gutted rent control in California.  It has allowed real estate speculators to use any means necessary to kick out long-term tenants, because the law requires a new tenancy to be set at whatever the market will bear.

Costa-Hawkins passed in 1995, and was phased in over 3 years to be implemented Jan. 1, 1999.  Coincidentally, that was right when the dot-com boom hit the Bay Area.  I lived in Berkeley at the time, and rents shot up 40% in one year.  It's the reason why I became a tenants' rights activist.

Anyway, Costa-Hawkins was named after ... you guessed it ... State Senator Jim Costa.  Costa ran for Congress in 2000, and raised an obscene amount of money from landlord and real estate interests.  I tried to raise a little money for his opponent (Lisa Quigley), but it was too little, too late.

I hate Jim Costa, and will do everything I can to see that he gets a primary challenge.  Thanks Dave for bringing up this particular Bush Dog.

Oh, and I believe that Costa also authored the state's Three Strikes Law.

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by: paulhogarth @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 17:10:01 PM UTC

That he did (0.00 / 0)

Costa was a co-author along with Republican Bill Jones of the Three Strikes law that passed in 1994.

You can check out any time you like but you can never leave

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by: Robert Cruickshank @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 17:16:59 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Wow, it's like the ridiculous junk laws just keep coming (0.00 / 0)

Anybody else got any other bad laws that Costa helped author in California?

I think?

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by: Brian Leubitz @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 18:13:39 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

With you on this one (0.00 / 0)

Costa is a very conservative guy who has done lots of damage to the base constituencies of the Democratic party for years. Can we do anything against him in his district?

Can It Happen Here?

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by: janinsanfran @ Wed Aug 22, 2007 at 00:10:24 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Do any of the commenters actually LIVE in Costa's district? (0.00 / 0)

Because I do..and frankly its more of a Blue Dog/Bush Dog base than a traditional Democratic base. You can toss out all the statistics you want, but the bottom line is this area of the San Joaquin valley is chock full of DINO's. Prior to his run at this seat, Costa tried unsuccessfully to win a state senate seat held by another DINO Nicole Parra. Check her out and then you might understand why their race was so close and Jimbo is just what the conservatives ordered for this neck of the woods. There is a reason AHNOLD visits here more than any other place in Cali. 

That's not to say we don't work to educate the voters. I believe educating the voters is the key. Just running a decent candidate won't get it done.

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by: dusty1215 @ Wed Aug 22, 2007 at 15:21:02 PM UTC

Outdated definitions (0.00 / 0)

What does DINO mean, what does conservative mean?  That does not preempt any elements of a progressive agenda seeing the light of day.  It does not mean that these people want to be poor, sick, shot at in Iraq.  It does not mean that these people don't want to live in a society which has the rule of law, and to have their inalienable rights to be protected rather than attacked by their government.

While I'm not in the district and so I do enthusiastically defer to you and others who have a better understanding on the ground, I think that in many ways we're well past the point of defining "liberal," "moderate," and "conservative" relative to the past several years of politics in this country.

So this may not be a district for a traditionally-molded liberal firebrand.  Nobody's making that sort of demand.  But it's tough to imagine that this is a district that wants the Occupation of Iraq to continue indefinitely and indiscriminately.  It's tough to believe that this district wants to completely eliminate the 4th amendment.  These are not left/right issues.  These are people/corporation issues.

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by: Lucas O'Connor @ Wed Aug 22, 2007 at 16:20:48 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Need a candidate (0.00 / 0)

Costa wouldn't have lasted as long as he has in various offices if there weren't truth to what you are saying. But the area deserves someone tough to give voters a choice.

Can It Happen Here?

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by: janinsanfran @ Wed Aug 22, 2007 at 16:29:10 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Fresno? FRESNO??? (0.00 / 0)

I honestly cannot believe how anything that includes the city of Fresno can have a Democratic lean to it.  As someone joked to be before, Fresno makes Bakersfield look liberal!  Wanna know how bad Bakersfield is?  Type in "bakersfield4ucla" into Google, and see what comes up.  You get comments like this:

I did not mean that I wish the President to continue past his legal term in violation of the constitution. What I meant was is that I wish he were in the Oval Office to continue the war in Iraq and the war on terror rather than having the lesbian President and all of the bozos in her entourage.

I really don't need some of you professional students like College Park lecturing me. You have no clue about the real world because you haven't lived it. If it isn't in a book or your liberal professors lectures then you don't know it. there is a world beyond the grocery store and 7-11. Go live it then come back and tell us.

Even the few liberals I know from Fresno say it is as conservative as parts of rural Georgia.  Oh, and it's a very Christian fundamentalist region too.  We're talking so devoted, they spent their summer vacation in Eastern Europe trying to convert people to take Jesus in as their personal savior.

I had this devout Christian girl from Fresno tell me that she was "ugly" in Jesus's eyes, and really believed it.

THAT is Fresno.

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by: BruinKid @ Wed Aug 22, 2007 at 15:42:02 PM UTC

Fresno's not that bad ... (0.00 / 0)

Sure, it's conservative - but it's more cosmopolitan than other parts of the Central Valley.

And Downtown Fresno, which is in Costa's District, includes the Tower District - a vibrant LGBT community that has its own mini-Castro area.

Northern Fresno is more conservative, but that's in George Radanovich's district.

It's clear these people deserve better than Jim Costa.

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by: paulhogarth @ Wed Aug 22, 2007 at 16:49:36 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Right... (0.00 / 0)

...So let me get this straight...They deserve better even though they've been electing him from that area for the past 30 years?

How does that work?

Cuz you say so?

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by: modem @ Thu Aug 23, 2007 at 06:00:52 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

By that logic (0.00 / 0)

No incumbent should ever lose. Why even have an election?

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by: Lucas O'Connor @ Thu Aug 23, 2007 at 15:49:41 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Costa_One of the Good Old Boys Helped by Incumbents (0.00 / 0)

Ok, I checked out who'd bought him and it IS WAY MORE than AT&T. Altria is the new name for Philip Morris, for instance. America Bankers Pac (Bankpac) gave a bundle...so I expect he was one of the votes for that new bankruptcy law that has hurt the most in need.

But, LOOK at all those incumbents flock to his side!(some may have left office as this list went back a few years):
Henry Waxman
Howard Berman
Jane Harman
Lois Capps
Xavier Bacerra
Joe Baca
Lynn Woolsey
Diane Watson
Steny Hoyer
Mike Honda
Gary Ackerman
Sam Farr
Charles Gonzalez
Anna Eshoo
Dennis Cardoza
John Breaux
Marion Berry
Robert E. "Bud" Cramer
and even Villaraigosa!!

There are quite a few union contributions, so it would seem this could be good to get some of their leaders on board to talk with him. NO ONE is getting HURT MORE by the Bush administration than LABOR!!!

I too was surprised to see the Democratic voter edge be so high in Fresno. Someone needs to explain that a bit more.

What I'd like to see is some wonderful cartoonist step in and do a body with price tags of which contributor owns each part of the legislator.
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by: lindasutton @ Fri Aug 24, 2007 at 20:03:11 PM UTC