CA-04: Kevin Ring Spells Trouble For Doolittle, Republicans

Even though John Doolittle is not on the ballot this year, his presence in a district that he dominated for years is still important for Republican branding. Much like in Ohio, where the Tom Noe Coingate scandal spelled doom for all Republican statewide officers in 2006, the stench of scandal around Doolittle has the potential to severely tarnish the Republican brand in CA-04. And if yesterday's indictment of former Doolittle aide Kevin Ring is as advertised, which it appears to be, the brand isn't just tarnished, it's out in the dumpster:

The indictment adds additional information to Doolittle's already thick record with Abramoff. According to the indictment, Ring expensed at least one suite for a sports event, eight concert tickets (including tickets for Dixie Chicks and Faith Hill), and five meals totaling more than $2000 for Doolittle. For Doolittle's staff and his legislative director in particular, Ring bought 29 sports tickets, four concert tickets, nine meals, and one gift from Macy's.

But Ring and Abramoff were well accommodated in return. As the indictment describes, Doolittle proved himself "a good soldier" by chairing a hearing on the Puerto Rico statehood issue for an Abramoff client and held up his opposition to an anti-gambling bill among other favors.

And Doolittle's staff was just as helpful. Doolittle's communications director helped Ring out with tax legislation to "earn [his] Sigs Sushi ;)," and his legislative director was so "tenacious on the appropriations front" that he earned an esteemed compliment from Ring in an email: "You the man."

Doolittle is referred to (as "Representative 5") in the indictment over 100 times. If he's actually indicted before the election, that will be a boost for Charlie Brown, as the culture of corruption which helped him to a near-upset in 2006 would come back into play. And with carpetbagger Tom McClintock trying to lie his way to victory (subs. req.), his claim to the ethical high road isn't all that firm, either.

CA-04: Much Ado About Doolittle

I don't know if people still have some notion that Tom McClintock is a good general election candidate, having never won a contested general election race, but this John Doolittle affair should completely put an end to that.

The story goes that on June 16, McClintock appeared to signal that he would be meeting with the disgraced Congressman to talk about campaigning in tandem during the fall election.

"We're talking about doing a couple of events and we're putting them together," said Doolittle spokesman Dan Blankeburg....Stan Devereux, a spokesman for McClintock, confirmed that the campaign had set up a meeting to discuss Doolittle's support for McClintock."

The very next day, June 17, a McClintock spokesman denied any desire for an endorsement or joint campaign event.

"If you're running as an outsider why would you want anyone's endorsement?" asked John Feliz, a McClintock consultant, when asked if the campaign would be receiving Doolittle's stamp of approval." June 17, 2008, PolitickerCA.

Then on June 18, McClintock's spokesman contradicted his consultant:

McClintock spokesman Stan Devereux told Election Central that the ongoing investigations against Doolittle would not render him a political liability: "Doolittle is still the congressman for the area, has served the district well."

McClintock himself contradicted his own spokesman on June 20:

"I don't have any plans to meet with Doolittle next week and I don't have any plans to campaign with Doolittle," McClintock said by phone from Sacramento."

Two days later, on June 22, there was news in the El Dorado Mt. Democrat of an imminent meeting:

Fourth Congressional District Republican nominee Tom McClintock will meet with Rep. John Doolittle, R-Rocklin, next week to discuss his campaign, a Doolittle spokesman said Wednesday...he (McClintock) said, ...'I certainly do welcome the intimate knowledge Doolittle has with the district...' ...The meeting is planned for June 27."

And yesterday, June 25, McClintock told Roll Call that he killed the meeting.

State Sen. Tom McClintock (R), running for the 4th district seat being vacated by Rep. John Doolittle (R), said Tuesday that he personally killed a meeting between him and the Congressman.

This is the work of a schizophrenic, not a disciplined campaigner. Truthfully, the McClintock team probably wants Doolittle's help but doesn't want anyone to know about it, but there are ways to go about that which look less... pathetic than this. Word is that McClintock has already pissed off local reporters with this behavior of saying different things at different times.

Charlie Brown is going to have a field day with this guy.

CA-04: McClintock Decides To Campaign With Disgraced Predecessor

It's hard to describe fully how stupid this is:

John Doolittle, the retiring congressman who is under investigation for his ties to jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff, appears likely to campaign for state Sen. Tom McClintock, the Republican nominee for Doolittle's Roseville-area seat.

"We're talking about doing a couple of events and we're putting them together," said Doolittle spokesman Dan Blankeburg. Blankeburg declined to provide any further details, adding that the two sides had only talked in what he called "conceptual terms." [...]

Stan Devereux, a spokesman for McClintock, confirmed that the campaign had set up a meeting to discuss Doolittle's support for McClintock.

Doolittle was running 20 points behind Charlie Brown in the polls before dropping out of the race. Southern Californian McClintock may not know the rules up in the Sierras, but political common sense dictates that this is a guy you run screaming from in the other direction, not WITH.

Looks to me like McClintock hasn't locked down the "gimme gimme" base of Doolittle's support, those who received political favors and giveaways from him. Brown was undoubtedly going to tie the two together based on their shared radical ideology - apparently McClintock wants to make that easier by sharing the penchant for using government as a profit-taking machine. Maybe Doolittle can introduce ol' Tom to Jack Abramoff.

CA-04: D-Day

Man, where did I come up with a title like that?

John Doolittle will address the media at 10:30 am about his intentions. Regardless of what he decides to do, I don't think it's a controversial statement that the best candidate we have running as a challenger for Congress in California this year is Charlie Brown. He has the candidate experience, the most assured stance on the issues, and the money, but most important he has the right perspective, by not waiting until 2009 to lead but doing it every single day. The donation of a percentage of his fundraising to aid the care of our veterans is one of the more inspired displays of leadership I've seen out of someone running for political office. So let's not forget that, no matter what happens.

UPDATE: The Sacramento Bee is reporting that Doolittle will retire. I imagine that the NRCC turned off the money spigot.

UPDATE II: With Doolittle out, the rumors have him selected former Rep. Rico Oller to be the GOP nominee. Given Doolittle's need to retire to avoid being slaughtered in the district, why should we expect his endorsement to carry any weight? We know that this will be a wild primary on the Republican side. Eric Egland and 2006 Doolittle Mike Holmes are already in, and State Assemblyman Ted Gaines and possibly even former Rep. Doug Ose could follow. This will be a bloody primary and I don't think anyone will be anointed. Meanwhile, Charlie Brown keeps raising money and meeting the voters. You can give a donation today at our ActBlue page if you like.

UPDATE III: Charlie Brown's statement:

Roseville: In response to today’s announcement that Representative John Doolittle will not seek re-election, CD4 Congressional Candidate and Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Charlie Brown issued the following statement:

“I believe John did the right thing today for his family, for the 4th District and for America . Now is the time to unite as Americans, heal our wounds and move forward to solve the many difficult challenges we face both here in CD4, and across the country we love.”

CA-04: The Latest On Doolittle

The Hill is reporting that friends and colleagues - including former Rep. Richard Pombo - are urging John Doolittle to resign.

Republican operatives fear that if Doolittle does not retire at the end of this Congress and survives what would be a bruising GOP primary, they will lose the nine-term lawmaker’s seat. Doolittle is under an ethics cloud, having had his Virginia house investigated by the FBI last year. Several prominent Republicans are seeking to defeat him in the primary.

According to three well-placed Republican sources, former Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) — who lost his seat amid ethics allegations — has called on longtime friend Doolittle to not seek reelection in the interest of keeping the district a GOP stronghold. In the last Congress, Pombo was a panel chairman while Doolittle was a member of GOP leadership.

This suggests that the decision has not yet been made by Doolittle, but that the GOP establishment has a definite interest in telling everybody that he's decided to resign to force the issue. Of course, California Republicans have been calling on Doolittle to be a good soldier and step down for quite a while, so it's unclear how much of this is new news. It remains to be seen what will happen, and I'll wait to see what the man himself will say.

D-Trip Commits To 3 CA House Campaigns

This is big news. Roll Call's articles require subscription, but I'll link to DKos diarist (and friend of Calitics) RandySF's description. Basically Chris Van Hollen is announcing that the DCCC, the campaign arm for House Democrats, will be targeting 40 seats to start in the 2008 election, 31 of them held by Republican incumbents and 9 of them open seats. The amazing thing is that 3 of those seats are here in California. On the top 40 list for the D-Trip are:

CA-04 (John Doolittle)
CA-26 (David Dreier)
CA-50 (Brian Bilbray)

What this means is that the DCCC will support financially challengers to those seats, and encourage Democratic donors to do the same. Now, the D-Trip has a mixed record in getting involved in Congressional races. In 2006 some of the seats they contested most strongly were lost at the expense of some strong progressive challengers who were beat by a mere handful of votes, and could have used the money. But looking at the list, I perceive a shift from Rahm Emanuel's style to Chris Van Hollen. I think Van Hollen is rewarding strong candidates who have a chance to win. Netroots-endorsed candidates like Linda Stender, Darcy Burner, Gary Trauner, Dan Maffei, Eric Massa and Larry Kissell are on the list. So I am hopeful that this is not the case of a push to get a bunch of Bush Dogs into office.

What this also shows is the faith in California to have some competitive targets in 2008. The partisan gerrymander is supposed to negate any attempt at flipping seats out here, but times have changed. John Doolittle is so ethically compromised that his idea of good news these days is believing his case will be delayed by a year while they fight a subpoena in the courts. David Dreier is completely out of touch with his district, and Brian Bilbray doesn't even live there. So we will see some opportunities in California in 2008. And this is great news for Charlie Brown, Russ Warner and Nick Leibham, as they have been validated as national players. I hope that they remain true to their beliefs and run these races their way, however, and not the way the national consultants tell them.

Not to toot my own horn, but these have consistently been the top three pickup opportunities in my Congressional roundups. :)

CA-04: Tom Hudson In Our Corner

Thank the Lord for small favors. Tom Hudson, the head of the Placer County Republican Party, is squarely on the side of John Doolittle in his re-election fight. With any luck, Doolittle will perform to form in this supposed Republican poll Hudson is waving around.

The poll shows that John Doolittle will easily defeat any and all primary opponents. The vicious attacks and false allegations against him have failed and he has a lock on the Republican nomination. The Associate Press leaked this information in its article, but did not give any specific details. Here are the facts: Doolittle not only wins the Republican primary election, but he would completely destroy anyone who foolishly ran against him. He would defeat Eric Egland by nearly 50 points and Ted Gaines by 30 points. Not one of the candidates who have been mentioned as possibly challenging Doolittle would even come close to being able to defeat him in the Republican primary next June.

I will move to Placer County and register Republican to proudly cast my vote for John Doolittle. He's not only the best opportunity for a Charlie Brown victory and a flipped seat in November, but it would be poetic justice for Brown to vanquish Doolittle. Not only that, but Hudson admits that Doolittle is behind Brown in a general election match-up. We knew that; a Republican poll released a few months ago showed Charlie up by 20 points.

Thank you, Tom Hudson. Don't cut Doolittle loose!

Six CA Republicans With Under $250K In Their War Chests

This diary at Open Left shows the very real opportunity available in California this time around. Six Congressional Rpublicans who are running for re-election have less than $250,000 in cash on hand. The NRCC, the campaign arm for the House GOP, is spread thin by retirements and challenges. So many incumbents are going to be on their own in 2008. And saying "Hello, I'm a Republican member of Congress" just doesn't rake in the money like it used to. Here's the list:

John Doolittle, CA-04
George Radanovich, CA-19
Ken Calvert, CA-44
Mary Bono, CA-45
John Campbell, CA-48
Darrell Issa, CA-49

I can add to this the fact that Gary Miller only raised a paltry $40,000 last quarter. And Doolittle's problems are well-documented.

Unfortunately, our Democrats statewide haven't fully stepped up. Two of these incumbents (Radanovich, Issa) don't have challengers yet, and Mary Bono just got one in Paul Clay. But I would hope that Art Torres and the team would wake up to the fact that there are opportunities all over the map, in places that would significantly help down-ballot races as well.

With Numbers Like Those, I'd Ask Him To Leave Too

Faced with a 100:1 cash disadvantage for his re-election bid, GOP leaders are trying to show John Doolittle the door.

Muck-encrusted Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) is in so much political trouble that GOP leaders are convinced he has no chance of winning reelection next year and are privately urging him to retire, according to Roll Call (sub. reqd.) [...]

According to the paper, House GOP leaders held off on urging Doolittle to drop his reelection plans, hoping that he'd voluntarily decide to retire over the summer. But when Doolittle pressed ahead with reelection efforts, GOP leaders -- worried about losing an otherwise safe seat -- privately sat down with him and told him the game's over. No word on what Doolittle will do yet.

Of course, GOP leaders told Larry Craig the game's over, so that's not a guarantee.

Doolittle has maintained his innocence and his intent to press forward with re-election plans. And that stubbornness intestinal fortitude should be encouraged!

CA-04: Brown With An Amazing Haul

It's deadline day for 3rd quarter FEC reports, and the one I was really waiting for was from Charlie Brown.  He didn't disappoint.

Cash raised in Q3: $212,091

Total cash raised this cycle: $495,830 (wow!)

Cash on hand: $382,767

Media's not cheap in that district, but certainly nowhere near as expensive as in many other parts of the state.  So this is an even bigger haul, comparatively.

How much did John Doolittle take in, you ask?  This is embarrassing.

Cash raised in Q3: $50,308

Total cash raised this cycle: $296,332

Cash on hand: $37,995

That's LESS than Eric Egland, one of his primary opponents, raised.  AND, 15% of that goes to Doolittle's wife, right?

Things are looking good in the Sierras...

CA House Races Roundup - September 2007

OK, I'm getting this in just under the wire. Time for the House roundup for September. There are a little over 13 months until Election Day, and with the end of the 3rd quarter on Sunday (donate), this election is really not that far away. In fact, CQ Politics has put out their initial assessment of the House landscape. It's favorable for Democrats, but predictably, there are only two California seats on that radar: CA-04 and CA-11. But there have been a lot of developments in the other races throughout the state as well.

I'm going to rank them in order of most possible pickup, including their number from the last roundup. I'm also, as usual, including the "Boxer number." Basically, seeing how Boxer fared in her 2004 re-election against Bill Jones in a particular district is a decent indicator of how partisan it is. If I put "57," that means Boxer received 57% of the vote. Anything over 50, obviously, is good.

First, let's look at the one threatened seat currently held by a Democrat.

1) CA-11 (McNerney). CQ Politics has the seat "Leans Democratic," and only two Democratic seats are less safe (Tim Mahoney in FL-16 and Nancy Boyda in KS-02). Dean Andal has the funds to make a challenge here, and he's become a born-again environmentalist, which is curious considering his prior anti-environmental history. But McNerney has done himself no favors. His bungled rhetoric during the Iraq debate in August was met with outcry, and this week's vote to condemn MoveOn.org, an organization that gave him over $50,000 in 2006, didn't exactly enthuse activists either. He tried to respond by blasting Rush Limbaugh's comments and asking that he be taken off the air; I'm not sure how that jibes with the First Amendment. McNerney will clearly have a lot of DCCC incumbency protection, but this is obviously a race that won't be easy, and McNerney is making it difficult for activists to continue to support him.

Now, to the top 10 challengers.

1) CA-04 (Doolittle). Last month: 1. Boxer number: 40. This is one of six Republican-held seats listed in CQ's ratings as "No Clear Favorite," and one of only two where the incumbent is running for re-election (the other is Robin Hayes against netroots hero Larry Kissell in NC-08). Charlie Brown, who has a great interview in CQ this week, actually announced his campaign just a few weeks ago as part of a barnstorming tour. As for John Doolittle, his legal woes continue. Eleven years' worth of documents have been subpoenaed by the Justice Department, as part of the Abramoff case. Doolittle is refusing to comply with the subpoena, setting up what could be a Constitutional showdown. Meanwhile, he has at least three high-profile primary challengers, and a lot of pressure within the district to resign. The more candidates in the primary actually helps Doolittle, as it spreads out the vote. If it's a two-person primary, he could easily lose. And Brown would be in excellent position to beat Doolittle if there's a rematch.

2) CA-26 (Dreier). Last month: 2. Boxer number: 48. Russ Warner, last seen at the Calitics Q3 event, has been busily raising money for the end of the quarter. I'm told that the numbers will be better than Q2. Warner has also gone on the offensive against David Dreier's shameful voting record, being one of the first Congressional challengers to use the SCHIP vote as a campaign issue. That's going to be a big vote to highlight next year. Meanwhile Dreier nearly caused an international incident in Colombia by sitting on a lectern, continued to whine about supposedly shoody treatment on the House Rules Committee (yeah, that never happened under Republicans), and had some shady connections with those who were trying to steal the Presidential election with the Dirty Tricks Initiative in California.

Of course, there's a primary, but Hoyt Hilsman's campaign website hasn't been updated since July. Russ Warner is running a professional campaign, and a good one thus far.

3) CA-50 (Bilbray). Last month: 4. Boxer number: 48. Nick Leibham, who has two nice-looking dogs, is about to get the endorsement of Francine Busby for the Democratic primary, according to our man in San Diego.

The field has been slowly clearing for a while now, with Michael Wray opting against a run and John Lee Evans running for School Board. Steve Schechter has also filed FEC paperwork to run in the district, but this endorsement would line up the one major recognizable Democratic face in the district behind Leibham. Putting to rest any remaining speculation that she might run again, much of the drama is likely over in the primary, leaving now more than a year of Bilbray-hunting.

Avoiding a primary would obviously be a plus for Leibham. Meanwhile, Bilbray is being his usual brown-hating self, calling on the feds to pay local governments for the services spent on "illegal immigrants." This is immigrant bashing at its worst, but while it offends the conscience of the sane, his base is energized by these theatrics. Leibham will have to do a better job of finding new voters than Busby did to have a shot at this district.

4) CA-24 (Gallegly). Last month: 3. Boxer number: 47. I'm still keeping this race fairly high, maybe higher than it should be, because of the possibility of retirement. We've seen the mass exodus of Republicans from the House, as the prospects for them regaining those plum committee chairmanships grow dim. Gallegly says he's running, but he resigned last year before un-resigning, so he's not that credible a source. So far, the only challenger in this district is Mary Pallant, who officially declared her candidacy this week. Pallant is a fellow AD delegate of mine, and a very progressive Democrat.

In announcing her intent to run, Pallant emphasized her stance as a “progressive Democrat,” and invoked Roosevelt in her campaign theme, a Newer and Fairer Deal for the 21st Century. Her platform is described as ending the occupation of Iraq, she said, as well as implementing a universal single-payer healthcare system, seeking energy independence while enforcing environmental protections and pursuing economic strength and security through economic self-sufficiency.

Other candidates seem to be waiting this one out until they see if Gallegly actually runs. Jill Martinez, the candidate in 2006, is rumored to be running again, but hasn't declared officially. Brett Wagner kind of says he's running, but his website hasn't been updated since February. Education activist Chip Fraser may run; he once walked from Ventura to the state Capitol to promote education reform. The district is smaller than that!

5) CA-42 (Miller). Last month: 5. Boxer number: 41. Ron Shepston and his team have been spending September making appearances and raising money. He did both in a Blue America chat on Firedoglake. Blue America support has in the past been crucial to Congressional success around the country. Meanwhile, Gary Miller has been voting for endless war in Iraq and against children's health care and S-CHIP. That puts him in line with every other California Republican, but Miller is also incredibly corrupt. Although, he claims that he is not under FBI scrutiny, which is an inspiring political message.

Miller agreed to an on-the-record, unrecorded interview with The Hill days before the August recess, in which he rejected the
notion that the FBI is investigating him.

On Jan. 31, 2007, the Los Angeles Times reported that Dick Singer, a spokesman for the city of Monrovia, Calif., said federal agents had interviewed city officials about a $10 million land deal in which Miller did not pay capital gains taxes.
Miller says no taxes were owed because he was forced to sell the land under threat of eminent domain.

Miller also pointed out that a “federal agent” could be any federal entity, such as the IRS. He said he wouldn’t be surprised if the IRS had questions after the liberal-leaning group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint to the federal agency against him in August 2006.

“I’m sure the IRS wanted to see the information. A federal agent could be anyone — anyone flashing a badge,” Miller said.

Though there's not much new to report, these ethics concerns aren't likely to go away, and a good candidate could capitalize on them, a la Charlie Brown with John Doolittle.

6) CA-44 (Calvert). Last month: 7. Boxer number: 45. The Inland Empire was one of the areas where they were out gathering signatures for the Dirty Tricks initiative, before it cratered, and Ken Calvert was quoted in the article:

Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, also favors the system, saying it could help improve the state's dismal voter-turnout rates. He said presidential candidates from both parties, who have written off California as a lock for the Democrats, would have to campaign in Inland Southern California and across the state.

"They'd have to be here, and that would create excitement," he said. "People would think their vote matters."

We'll see if Bill Hedrick can make any hay out of that next November. In addition to Calvert's dismal voting record and serious corruption issues. Calvert was one of 5 US Congressmen on a junket to the CNMI where rumors of sex tourism abound (Dana Rohrabacher and John Doolittle were on this trip as well).

7) CA-52 (open seat) Last month: 10. Boxer number: 44. There are new candidates on the Democratic side in this San Diego-area race. Former Special Forces regular JIm Hester and ex-Navy SEAL Mike Lumpkin are running. Lumpkin seems to be keeping a busy schedule and generating a little press, both offline and in the blogosphere; Markos wrote enthusiastically about him. I still think it's going to be hard to beat the son of Duncan Hunter, and hard to criticize him while he's serving in Afghanistan or possibly Iraq.

8) CA-41 (Lewis). Last month: 6. Boxer number: 43. Jerry Lewis has announced that he's running for re-election again, so that puts the retirement rumors to rest. In addition, he's managed to get the Justice Department drain the money swamp committed to investigating him:

The veteran prosecutor who'd been heading up the Lewis case has been forced into retirement, The Los Angeles Daily Journal reported yesterday (not available online). It knocks the investigation, already stalled, further off course.

Because of civil-service rules, a 25-year veteran of the U.S. attorney's office who just recently took over the probe of Rep. Jerry Lewis must exit the office for good by the end of September, marking the third significant departure from the office's corruption unit since Lewis first came under suspicion last year.

Michael Emmick, who first joined Los Angeles's U.S. attorney's office in 1982, has been serving under one-year appointments since 2004, after he triggered a contractual clause that will allow him to collect retirement benefits immediately upon leaving the office.

It's highly unlikely that the Lewis investigation is going anywhere. Furthermore, since Lewis will run again, it's likely that Tim Prince, the likely challenger, won't. Worse, Louie Contreras, the candidate in 2006 who didn't campaign at all past the primary, and may have been hand-picked by Lewis himself as a sock-puppet challenger, appears to be running again.

9) CA-03 (Lungren). Last month: unranked. Boxer number: 42. In my preference to highlight races where there's actually an announced candidate, I'm highlighting this one. Dan Lungren is fairly entrenched as an incumbent, but 2006 challenger Bill Durston is running again. Who knows? Maybe the Charlie Brown magic will wear off on Durston and propel him to make a race out of it in this Republican district. Here's his website.

10) CA-45 (Bono). Last month: 8. Boxer number: 49. I'm breaking my "no candidate" rule because I want to see this potentially competitive district be challenged, and I do believe someone will eventually step up. But more important than that, I wanted to mention that someone in Congress is named Miss Mary Mack. Notably, Bono was the only California Republican to vote for SCHIP, which suggests that she knows she has to moderate her views in the district.

Special mention: Because it ought to be mentioned that Dana Rohrabacher thinks the premier of China wants to poison the President. This guy is in Congress, by the way.

Shorter John Doolittle

WAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

The list by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington names 18 Republicans and four Democrats.

Doolittle, whose connections to lobbyist Jack Abramoff are the subject on a Justice Department investigation, said the listing was an underhanded attempt to attack him from a liberal Democrat organization funded by billionaire activist George Soros.

"I just really think it's unfair and wrong for an underhanded and vile organization like CREW, who disagrees with me because I'm a conservative Republican, to attack me on that," he said. "Because of the atmosphere right now, it's a very impactful thing."

Doolittle has said he has done nothing wrong and wants the Justice Department investigation to come to a conclusion to clear his name. With a new congressional election coming in November 2008, Doolittle is already facing a Democrat challenger who ran a surprisingly strong campaign against him in 2006.

There's the obligatory Soros reference, the dismissal of any criticism as partisan, but also the admission that CREW's list, which includes 4 Democrats along with 18 Republicans, is "impactful." That's because he can't argue with any of the findings so he attacks the source.

By the way, Auburn Journal, it's a DEMOCRATIC challenger. And his name is Charlie Brown. You can donate to him through the Calitics ActBlue page and then come down to one of our Q3 Quarterly events tonight.

Congratulations to California!

CREW just released their 3rd annual "Most Corrupt Members of Congress" report. They list 22 members of Congress as the most corrupt. And with 5 members, California wins for the most on the list!!!

Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)
Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-CA)
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
Rep. Gary G. Miller (R-CA)

On behalf of all Golden Staters, I want to thank all of these Representatives for having the wisdom, foresight, and venality to give the state this honor. Sure, the ENTIRE Alaska delegation is on the list, making them slightly mnore corrupt. But 5 out of 22 is not bad. Not bad indeed. Especially when you consider that there are only 19 federal representatives who are Republican, and 5 of them made the list! That's called dedication!

These guys might want to worry about the fact that Brent Wilkes just subpoenad a bunch of them.

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, House Republican Whip Roy Blunt and 11 other members of Congress have been subpoenaed to testify in the trial of a defense contractor charged with bribing jailed former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

All of the lawmakers said they do not intend to comply with the subpoenas.

Those subpoenad include Hunter, Lewis, Doolittle, and as a bonus, Rep. Darrell Issa, who claimed "This subpoena is a mystery." House lawyers have said it would be against House rules to comply.

It looks like Wilkes' team of lawyers is set to argue that the lawmakers asked for the bribes, rather than the other way around. I think giving bribes is a crime, regardless of who asked for them, so I don't know how this will fly. But clearly, this could damage some Congressional reputations. Or in the case of the CREW list, enhance them! Let's go for 6 in 2008!

CA-04: Run John Run!

John Doolittle is in it to win it.

Despite having multiple primary challengers, plus the recent leak of a Republican poll showing him losing to his 2006 Democratic opponent, scandal-tarred Congressman John Doolittle (R-CA) has made it clear he's not backing down from his 2008 re-election fight.

"I will not step aside," Doolittle told reporters in a conference call today. "I am running again. Period."

This is terrible news. I mean, if he runs in a Republican primary with so many other contenders, surely he can pull the 30-35% needed to win. And then he'll face our challenger Charlie Brown in a rematch of last year, when he carried a whopping 49% of the vote! I mean, how can we defeat an incumbent whose being harrassed by Bush's Justice Department and has a bunch of battle-tested staffers and aides who've stared down the glare of a federal grand jury? This is terrible!!

Please don't throw me in the briar patch...

CA-04: Out Come The Subpoenas

Maybe this is the reason that every registered Republican is jumping into the Republican primary for John Doolittle's seat:

GOP Rep. John Doolittle's two top aides have been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury investigating ties between Doolittle, his wife and jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
The grand jury subpoenas from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia were issued to Chief of Staff Ron Rogers and Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Blankenburg. They were announced on the House floor as Congress returned from its August recess Tuesday after the aides informed the House speaker about the subpoenas, as required under House rules.

Doolittle, R-Calif., said in a statement that the aides would testify before the grand jury this week "with hopes of putting the matter to an end."

Yes, that's exactly what will happen. The matter will end, maybe with somebody being brought to jail and booked, but it certainly will end. Doolittle is still trying to blame this on his wife's payments from Abramoff in exchange for maybe/maybe-not "work," but of course there are dozens of connections between Doolittle himself and Abramoff. It's unlikely that this is just about Mrs. Doolittle (who may have to spend some time in the slammer IN ADDITION to her husband).

UPDATE: Via DWT, Doollittle would lose to Charlie Brown, according to a SacBee poll, by TWENTY POINTS.

In a one-on-one match up, if the election were held today, Democrat Charlie Brown gets 51% of the vote to Congressman Doolittle's 31%.

Those surveyed were also asked if they had a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Doolittle. Respondents came back with 28% favorable and 56% unfavorable.

In the survey, GOP primary voters were asked whether Congressman Doolittle should run for another term. 33% of those asked said he should. A staggering 50% said that the Congressman should either resign or should not run again.

CA-04: Doolittle Gets Jilted By His Prom Date

Babaloo noted on Calitics that Assemblyman Ted Gaines has put together an exploratory committee to run in the June Congressional primary against John Doolittle. Gaines becomes the third Republican to announce for the primary, joining talk-radio host Eric Egland and Auburn City councilman Mike Holmes. This is great news for Charlie Brown; even if anti-Doolittle sentiment among Republicans is 70%, in a four-person race the anti-Doolittle vote will be fractured enough that the incumbent would be likely to prevail. And Doolittle would be clobbered in a rematch with Charlie, IMO.

But for Doolittle, this one's gotta hurt. After all, it wasn't so long ago that he and Gaines attended the Enchantment-Under-The-Sea dance, swooning to "Always & Forever" and "Endless Love" until the sun came up the next morning. Here's a pic:



Ain't they the cutest? And now, blind ambition has ripped them asunder. It's sad, really.

CA House Races Roundup - August 2007

We have 15 months to go before Election Day, and it's time for another roundup of Congressional races. I am going to continue to focus on the top 10 challenges to Republican incumbents. There is certainly a concern in CA-11 with the Jerry McNerney/Dean Andal race, particularly after McNerney's "I'm a moderate" comment seemed to depress supporters. On the bright side, he did vote against the ridiculous FISA bill. And as we go into September, I would hope he would continue his efforts to end the occupation of Iraq. I will certainly cover the McNerney race in future roundups.

But for now, let's take a look at the top 10 challenges. I'm going to rank them in order of most possible pickup, including their number from the last roundup. I'm also adding the "Boxer number." Basically, seeing how Boxer fared in her 2004 re-election against Bill Jones in a particular district is a decent indicator of how partisan it is. If I put "57," that means Boxer received 57% of the vote. Anything over 50, obviously, is good.

1) CA-04 (Doolittle). Last month: 1. Boxer number: 40. Charlie Brown got some amazing news this week. Mike Holmes, an Auburn city councilman and a Republican, announced he was running in the primary to unseat ethically challenged Rep. John Doolittle. Holmes ran a primary race last year and got around 30% of the vote. This gives Doolittle two challengers next June (Eric Egland has already announced), which is a lot better for Doolittle than one challenger to which anti-Doolittle forces can focus their energies. This makes it more likely that a wounded Doolittle will survive the primaries (if he's not indicted by then) and face Brown, who's flush with cash and unopposed in his primary. Brown also made a great impression at the Yearly Kos Convention, so there will be plenty of online support for him.

2) CA-26 (Dreier). Last month: 2. Boxer number: 48. Another candidate who made a big impression at Yearly Kos was Russ Warner. At the California caucus he gave a version of this speech:



Warner's fundraising stats were already impressive for the district, and now we're starting to see some grassroots support. If he can tap into what Hilda Solis has been doing online (Solis has endorsed him), there could be a groundswell. Meanwhile, Dreier is whining that local Democrats blocked funding for expanding the Gold Line light-rail service to "focus on projects in their districts rather than regional priorities." Right, because the Gold Line doesn't mainly go through Pasadena, in Adam Schiff's district. Dreier is such a tool.

3) CA-24 (Gallegly). Last month: 3. Boxer number: 47. The August recess is retirement season for GOP Congresscritters. We've already seen three of them go this week alone. So naturally thoughts turn to who's next, and Gallegly, who tried to get out in 2006, is a prime candidate. There certainly must be some talk about it in the district: he's got four declared candidates already: Jill Martinez, Brett Wagner, James "Chip" Fraser, and Mary Pallant.

4) CA-50 (Bilbray). Last month: 4. Boxer number: 48. Michael Wray has dropped out of the primary in CA-50, leaving John Lee Evans and Nick Leibham to contest for the right to battle Brian Bilbray next November. The best way to attack Bilbray, who doesn't get off that illegal immigration message for a second, is to highlight his pro-Bush, anti-progress voting record, including denying health care to 6 million American children with his vote against SCHIP last month. Leibham apparently raised $89,000 last quarter, and Bilbray has a paltry $213,000 CoH, which is interesting.

5) CA-42 (Miller). Last month: 7. Boxer number: 41. The big news here is that we have a candidate, and it's blogger Ron Shepston. You've undoubtedly read a little about him on Calitics. LA City Beat has a nice article about Ron and the netroots movement behind him in this race. It's not going to be easy. But Ron has raised about $7,200 on ActBlue alone, and his offline fundraising is progressing. And Miller is still taking heat from the DCCC, who sent out a notice to reporters attacking his vote against SCHIP.

6) CA-41 (Lewis). Last month: 5. Boxer number: 43. Like with Gallegly, we're waiting to see if the rumors about Lewis' impending retirement are true. We do know that Lewis has continued to bring home the bacon (a little questionable earmarking isn't going to stop him) to his district, and then there's this:

A lobby firm connected to a federal investigation has seen business boom this year for its clients, many of whose projects are in a powerful House appropriator’s district.

The House Appropriations Committee’s ranking member, Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), has sponsored or co-sponsored $55 million worth of earmarks in this year’s defense spending bill — close to half of the funds won by the California Republican in the legislation — for clients represented by one firm.

A former appropriations aide to Lewis, Letitia White, and former Rep. Bill Lowery (R-Calif.), who is friendly with Lewis, work at the company, Innovative Federal Strategies (IFS).

Tim Prince is all but in this race. I met him a few weeks back and he seems like a nice guy.

7) CA-44 (Calvert). Last month: 6. Boxer number: 45. Last month's ruling that a city government agency illegally sold Ken Calvert a bunch of land hasn't gotten a ton of traction yet. He has been targeted by MoveOn in a Riverside-area protest where protestors presented him with a report on how much money district taxpayers have spent on the war in Iraq. Calvert is dug in on Iraq, which is of course going to be a major issue in 2008. Bill Hedrick will be Calvert's opponent, and, um, check out the blog!

8) CA-45 (Bono). Last month: 8. Boxer number: 49. Still no opponent named, and I'm flirting with the idea of dropping any race out of the top 10 unless there's a named candidate. This is really a missed opportunity right now.

9) CA-46 (Rohrabacher). Last month: unranked. Boxer number: 45. I'm adding nutcase Dana Rohrabacher to the list for a couple reasons. One, he has an announced opponent (Jim Brandt, who ran against him last year). Two, it gives me an opportunity to print this quote.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach/ Long Beach, was baffled when asked recently about his use of the popular online gathering site Facebook.

"Faith book?" the befuddled congressman replied.

Hilarious.

10) CA-52 (open seat). Last month: 10. Boxer number: 44. Duncan Hunter was unable to beat people who weren't running in the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa. He's gone from this seat, but his son is running and it's a safe bet that the Republicans will retain it.

Doolittle's Chickens Coming Home To Roost

John Doolittle is so corrupt, people in other countries are flipping on him:

The governor of the Northern Mariana Islands said Thursday he's cooperating with the Justice Department's corruption investigation around jailed GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, which is focused in part on GOP Rep. John Doolittle of Rocklin, Calif. [...]

The Justice Department's interest in Doolittle appears to focus on payments Doolittle's wife, Julie, received from Abramoff for fundraising work unrelated to the Marianas. But Doolittle was also heavily involved in Abramoff's advocacy for the Marianas, endorsing (Benigno) Fitial for governor and pushing federal funding on his behalf.

Doolittle was lobbied on the issue by his own former legislative director, Kevin Ring, who went on to work with Abramoff and now is himself under investigation.

"Doolittle, he's also a friend," said Fitial.

Well, at least he called Doolittle a friend before knifing him. Seems like Fitial wants the CNMI to get its money back from Abramoff's lobbying shops, and if that means turning in Doolittle to do it, then that's what has to be done.

The venue for this admission is interesting.

Fitial spoke to reporters after testifying against a Senate bill that would impose U.S. immigration laws on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a chain of 14 islands just north of Guam in the Pacific. A similar bill passed the Senate in 2000 but Abramoff helped block it from advancing in the House.

The pressing need for this legislation comes directly from Abramoff's and Doolittle's help in keeping the CNMI an island of indentured servitude, where workers are routinely imprisoned at their place of employ, threatened, forced into the sex tourism industry, given abortions against their will, and more.

This bill was stopped in the House in 2000 thanks to the work of Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, and John Doolittle. That devil's bargain appears to be catching up with Doolittle now.

Dover Bitch has more on how you can help pass this bill and restore rights to those on the CNMI. In addition, you can contribute to Charlie Brown as part of Blogosphere Day and make sure John Doolittle is held fully accountable for what he has done.

Live By the Unethical Profit-Taking of Family Members, Die By the...

What's brilliant about this story is that John Doolittle's campaign is only in debt because he owes $76,000 to his wife because of the scummy deal where she gets 15% of all contributions. She's literally draining his campaign war chest. Meanwhile Charlie Brown has banked over $250,000.

Hilarious.

(P.S. Charlie will be at Yearly Kos and participating in a couple special events there, more information when I confirm it)

CA House Races Roundup - July 2007

With 16 months to go before Election Day, some Democratic challengers are getting a little more visible in their efforts to unseat Republican incumbents. I see good news at the very top of the target list, and elsewhere we're still waiting to see who will run. Let's focus on the top 10 races where a Republican is currently serving, knowing that we are still going to have a fight in CA-11 to re-elect Jerry McNerney (although that probably won't be against Guy Houston, who may be on trial for fraud at the time).

So let's take a look at the top 10 challenges. I'm going to rank them in order of most possible pickup, including their number from the last roundup. I'm also adding the "Boxer number." Basically, seeing how Boxer fared in her 2004 re-election against Bill Jones in a particular district is a decent indicator of how partisan it is. If I put "57," that means Boxer received 57% of the vote. Anything over 50, obviously, is good.

1) CA-04 (Doolittle). Last month: 1. Boxer number: 40. Everyone that Rep. John Doolittle has ever known or worked with is currently talking to the FBI. The sense is that it's just a matter of time. His newfound antiwar stance didn't translate into a vote for responsible redeployment yesterday; it was all talk. Charlie Brown (who has a spiffy new website) has released a comprehensive national security plan that is a good read. I have not seen him release any full Q2 fundraising numbers just yet, but given that he's one of only two spotlighted candidates on Blue Majority, I'm sure they'll be solid. We do know that he raised over $45,000 on ActBlue with almost 1,000 contributors. That's significant.

2) CA-26 (Dreier). Last month: 2. Boxer number: 48. The more I hear about this race, the more I like it. I think this should be the number one target for Southern California progressives. Dreier is lashed to Bush (and in his case Giuliani) like everybody else in the California caucus; but he's got a swing district and a real challenger. Russ Warner, who ran last time, announced that he raised around $100,000 in the 2nd quarter, and has over $150,000 cash on hand. According to the press release, "Warner has more money on hand at this early stage of the campaign than all but one Democratic nominee has ever raised and spent against David Dreier in the entire general election since he was first elected to Congress in 1980." This account of Warner shows that he is getting local coverage, and the fact that he has the endorsement of Hilda Solis is a major coup. That his son is serving a tour in Iraq right now adds an emotional appeal.

There is at least one other challenger who's raising money at a decent clip. Hoyt Hilsman also has $150,000 CoH after having loaned his campaign $100,000 personally. Hilsman is an author and a professor.

3) CA-24 (Gallegly). Last month: 3. Boxer number: 47. It's still retirement watch for Elton Gallegly. He has $800,000 in the bank, which would presume a run. But he had $1.1 million in the bank two years ago, when he retired and then clumsily returned to the race. We know at least 3 people are mounting a run against him; 2006 opponent Jill Martinez, 2004 opponent Brett Wagner, and my friend and fellow delegate Mary Pallant. Richard Francis, a prominent lawyer, has also made a little noise about running. So the sharks are circling and waiting to see what Gallegly will do.

4) CA-50 (Bilbray). Last month: 5. Boxer number: 48. The fact that there are three legitimate challengers to Brian Bilbray shows that there is some Democratic activism within the district. Our San Diego correspondent Lucas O'Connor has given us this account of Michael Wray's efforts at outreach to Democrats. John Lee Evans and Nick Leibham are also making the rounds in the district. As for Brian Bilbray, we do know that he hates brown people and he bottles his own beer. I don't know if he's committed a firing offense, though certainly there's a pro-Bush voting record opponents can highlight.

5) CA-41 (Lewis). Last month: 3. Boxer number: 43. There's also a retirement watch of sorts here, as we all wait and see if Robert Novak's report that Lewis won't seek re-election is true. We also learned this week that Lewis is dedicated to helping his constituents in Washington, DC, where he requested a $500,000 earmark for a Metro station that would be three blocks from his Capitol-area home. That could be turned into a defining issue in an election. There are rumblings that it would be best for Republicans to urge Lewis to retire, so of course they won't do it. There is still no word on whether attorney Tim Prince will jump into this race, at least that I've heard.

6) CA-44 (Calvert). Last month: 8. Boxer number: 45. The next of the "corruption boys" of the GOP, Calvert is in trouble over a recent grand jury ruling that showed a city government agency illegally sold him and other investors a four-acre parcel of land a few years back. He doesn't seem deterred by it, and really the grand jury ruled against the government agency and not him. This is absolutely a district where we should run someone strong. A recent report showed that Riverside County is poised to become the second-largest in the state, behind only Los Angeles County. Democrats need visibility there in a big way. Defenders of Wildlife is running ads against Calvert, so they obviously see some vulnerabilities there.

7) CA-42 (Miller). Last month: 6. Boxer number: 41. Gary Miller rounds out the GOP corruption boys. It's such a Republican seat that just making him spend money will be a win. Not much to report this month.

8) CA-45 (Bono). Last month: 8. Boxer number: 49. I would love to have more to say about this race, but sadly, I don't. She is apparently one of Washington's most eligible bachelorettes. That's all I've got for ya.

9) CA-25 (McKeon). Last month: 9. Boxer number: 45. McKeon, the ranking Democrat on the Education and Labor Committee, railed against the recent passage of an increase in the Pell Grant to make college more affordable for our best an brightest. Yeah, because that would be terrible. I would love to see someone challenge this guy.

10) CA-52 (open seat). Last month: 10. Boxer number: 44. Despite it being an open seat, I still don't expect to see anyone beating Duncan Hunter's son while he's serving in Iraq.