The OC Register has a strongly Libertarian bent and their political columnist, Stephen Greenhut, switched his registration this year from Republican to Libertarian after voting for Ron Paul in the Primaries. In today's paper, Greenhut gives his closing arguments. They focus on CA-46, Rohrabacher and Cook.
Last week, Democrat Jeff Morris officially kicked off his campaign to unseat long-time incumbent Wally Herger in California's 2nd Congressional District. In my last post about my brother Jeff, I mentioned that he would have to get past the backwards-looking conventional wisdom, which says that this district is a shoo-in for the Republicans. I argued, as do many others, that this is the year when a well-qualified candidate like Jeff Morris can win, regardless of the political makeup of the district.
Jeff, who has already garnered support from both Democrats and Republicans among his fellow county supervisors, proved me right by landing a huge endorsement from someone who spent years on the Republican side of the aisle -- former Congressman and real GOP maverick Pete McCloskey. Speaking last week, McCloskey lauded Jeff Morris as "a tough and honest leader who will be a welcome change to the 2nd District."
In an email to supporters this week, Pete McCloskey tried to close the book on the Revolt of the Elders.
Now Hastert is leaving, DeLay has left, Ney is in jail, Pombo has been dethroned by Jerry McNerney, and now Doolittle is leaving. The lesson (to be pondered by the new Democrat majority): "Power indeed corrupts."
Former Republican Congressman Pete McCloskey, who once represented San Mateo and who lives now in Rumsey, in Yolo County, finally came to the conclusion that I made a decade or so ago, that the only place for a liberal Republican is in the Democratic party. This comes in the wake of McCloskey coming out of retirement to run against Richard Pombo in 2006, and then endorsing Democratic candidate Jerry McNerney in the general. In a searing email sent to the Contra Costa Times, McCloskey laid out the reasons why he has given up on the party his family had belonged to since 1853:
I registered Republican in 1948 after reaching the age of 21. We were the party of civil rights, of free choice for women and fiscal responsibility. Since Teddy Roosevelt, we had favored environmental protection, and most of all we stood for fiscal responsibility, honesty, ethics and limited government intrusion into our personal lives and choices. We accepted that one the duties of wealth was to pay a higher rate of income tax, and that the estates of the wealthy should contribute to the national treasury in reasonable measure.
[...]
In 1994, however, Newt Gingrich brought a new kind of Republicanism to power, and the election of George W. Bush in 2000 has led to wholly new concept of governance. The bureaucracy has mushroomed in size and power. The budget deficits have become astronomical. Our historical separation of church and state has been blurred. We have seen a succession of ethical scandals, congressmen taking bribes, and abuse of power by both the Republican House leadership and the highest appointees of the White House.
(Great work guys. Another reason to love Huey ;) - promoted by juls)
We have some amazing news! Over the last four months, Nick Shepard and I (Neil Pople) have been struggling to begin Ripples of Hope. We've been talking with important officials, meeting with potential donors, taking advice from some of the most respected non-profit organizations and their staff, and making contact with potential board of advisors and even celebrity supporters. And now, we're happy to report, that progress has begun moving along at an alarmingly rapid pace.
The Revolt of the Elders, the Pete McCloskey led movement to get primary challengers against corrupt republicans, has made a lasting impression upon the CA-11 race and Congressional elections in around the nation. On Wednesday, McCloskey wrote a letter arguing for the need of a Democratic majority in Congress and a McNerney win in CA-11.Here are some highlights:
It is clear that the forthcoming campaign will be a vicious one, with Mr. Pombo willing to stretch the truth as he has in the past with respect to the elderberry beetle, levee breaks, his steadfast opposition to veterans’ health care, including prosthetics research for amputees from Iraq and other wars, the impact on Marine lives of endangered species protection at Camp Pendleton and other issues. That Mr. Pombo lied in testimony to the Senate in 1994 is an accepted fact. He testified that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service had designated his farm near Tracy as habitat for the endangered California kit fox. This was untrue, and Pombo admitted to the untruthfulness a few months later when questioned over public television, an agency for which he recently voted to cut federal funds. Such a man should not be allowed to be in charge of the nation’s public lands and waterways, a position to which he was elevated by the now-departed Tom DeLay.
***
There is another strong reason, I believe, for Republicans to work this fall for Democrat challengers against the DeLay-type Republicans like Pombo and Doolittle. That is the clear abdication by the House over the past five years of the Congress’ constitutional power and duty to exercise oversight over abuses of power, cronyism, incompetence and excessive secrecy on the part of the Executive Branch.
On the flip you will find the complete text of the letter that McCloskey wrote arguing for the need of a Democratic majority in Congress. Hat tip to Seeing the Forest
In CA-11, Jerry McNerney took the Democratic nomination. He will face “Paid-for” Pombo in the general election. We’ve been following the CA-11 race here at Calitics for a long time, more so recently due to the recent comments of Filson. I posted a diary both at Calitics and at dKos about the bullshit surrounding the triangulation theories playing out in this race. I’d like to go through this a little and make the proposition that Jerry McNerney is our Tester, a progressive leader that is simultaneously electable and responsive to his Democratic base. For more on Tester, check out dKos.
So, a brief background on the race would probably be helpful here. Jerry McNerney ran a campaign that got a late start in 2004. He struggled to build a campaign structure for that race, going so far as to mortgage his house in order to run a decent campaign. In the end, he garnered about 39% of the vote, a respectable figure against a well-funded incumbent. Of course, at that point Richard Pombo was merely an unremarkable Congressman with a penchant for hyperbole, or outright lying, depending on how you see fit to describe it. The 11th district isn’t your typical Bay Area district, it has its soul in San Joaquin county. It previously had more Democrats, but the Democratic heart of Stockton was shifted from what is now the 11th to what is now the 18th. This was due to the Gary Condit scandal. Legislative Democrats wanted Condit to retire so that the Democrats could retain his seat in the 18th District, now held by Blue Dog Valleycrat Dennis Cardoza. Thus, the 11th now has a substantial Republican registration advantage.
They are now on the radio in the Bay Area on KQED 88.5. Both Pete McCloskey and Tom Benigno are challenging Paid-for Pombo. If you aren't in the Bay Area or if you can't listen, they run a podcast at the website. The Dem candidates, McNerney and Filson are not scheduled to appear. However, I'm sure we can bug them to get the Dem nominee on after the primary.
Also notable is that Pete McCloskey has said that he would support the Dem nominee over Pombo. I'm not sure if he's said that before, but I thought it was interesting.
Capitol Weekly published an article on June 1 about the race:
"Mr. Pombo stands for everything that's evil, in my mind," McCloskey told Capitol Weekly.
Much of the media coverage of McCloskey's run has centered on Pombo's efforts to revise the Endangered Species Act (ESA), which McCloskey helped write while serving in Congress from 1967 to 1983. While Pombo has claimed he act doesn't work, environmental groups and McCloskey have both claimed he is trying to destroy the ESA. One draft of Pombo's ESA overhaul built in a 2015 sunset clause for the act. Debating Pombo in a high-school auditorium in Tracy last month, McCloskey launched right in on this charge.
"His purpose, and he said so in a book 10 years ago, is to destroy the Endangered Species Act," McCloskey said, referring to Pombo's 1996 book This Land Is Our Land: How to End the War on Private Property.
However, McCloskey said Pombo's ESA efforts constitute "10 percent" of the reason for his run. In Tracy, he spent far more time hammering away at Pombo's vote against prosthetic research for Iraqi War veterans. While Pombo has defended this vote, saying it was about base-closing legislation he opposed, McCloskey supporters like to point out Pombo's zero rating from the group Disabled American Veterans.
In recent years, the Democrats increasingly have opened their doors to pro-business and even more socially conservative candidates. Meanwhile, some in the GOP have tried to expel secular, pro-choice "Republicans in Name Only." "I've been a Republican since 1948, before Pombo was born," McCloskey said. Later, he added, "They would call Barry Goldwater a RINO today."(Capitol Weekly 6/1/06)
I'm not sure how McCloskey will fare, but as he has said, I would support anybody over Pombo. If it's another Republican, but this time an honest, respectable Republican, I would support him.
