That's the bottom line. As the Sacramento Bee reports, Tom McClintock is Epic Fail:
Tom McClintock, a conservative Republican in a Democratic-dominated state Legislature, is the only state lawmaker to fail to shepherd a single piece of legislation into law in the last two years.
Not that he seems to mind.
In all of 2007, he passed not a single bill. And, according to the article, this year, he passed one, but it was vetoed by the VetoNator.
So...since Tom McClintock isn't exactly a legislator, what does he view his job as?
"I came to the conclusion a long time ago that minority legislators have a choice," said McClintock, who has served for 22 years in Sacramento. "One is to tinker at the margins and win very minor victories on unimportant matters and the other is to try to drive the public policy debate on major issues, sacrificing legislative victories for broader policy victories."
See, McClintock doesn't view himself as a legislator representing his constituents. He actually sees himself as a conservative ideologue using a position in elected office to push a broader ideological agenda. And it doesn't matter what the office is, or whom he would technically represent. What matters is that it's an office he thinks he can win--which is why he'll carpetbag hundreds of miles to a district he doesn't even know.
Attention Mr. McClintock: If you want to push a narrative, go work at the Heritage Foundation. Go push public opinion at Fox News. If you want to push the debate, there are plenty of places designed for just that where you can do that. But do us all a favor, Tom, and leave the legislating and representing of constituents to someone who...oh, I don't know...actually gives a shit about the job.
Voters in CA-04 have a choice. That choice is Charlie Brown. |
