From protecting millionaires and billionaires while voting to end Medicare, to siding with Speaker Boehner and the most extreme elements of the GOP, these incumbent Republican House members, and the new crop of Republican challengers who seek to join them, are Wrong for California. Learn more about their record and their values here, and find out why 2012 is the year voters across California decide they've had enough of the radical Republican agenda in Washington.
At a debate hosted by the California League of Women Voters featuring candidates for Congressional District 47 (#CA47), DeLong lost it upon seeing that his post-debate public statements were being recorded by a tracker working for the California Democratic Party. He snatched the tracker’s cell phone out of her hand and began deleting videos.
Later, DeLong’s staff verbally and physically harass the tracker as she tries to record the candidate’s public statements.
Trackers are commonplace in electoral campaigns where they record candidates’ public statements to ensure those statements are consistent and aren’t misleading to voters.
What is Gary DeLong so afraid of?
If he can't stand the pressure of a campaign worker filming his statements after a public forum, how does he expect to perform in a high pressure environment like Congress? How will he ever stand up to the radical Tea Party ideologues in the Republican Party as he's claimed he would do?
As was widely reported, Presidential candidate Mitt Romney believes that 47% of Americans “pay no income tax” and “believe they are victims” looking for a government handout. Romney went so far as to say that his “job is to not worry about those people” as he seeks the presidency. The comments made Romney’s disdain for half of the American population clear.
Rep. Mary Bono Mack has a long history of looking out for special interests, cutting deals for them while cutting benefits for everyone else. The DCCC has released a new ad highlighting her record:
The Republican National Convention (RNC) is taking place this week. Among the convention speakers offering up red meat to the largely red state audience will be California Congressional candidates Rep. Mary Bono Mack (#CA36) and Ricky Gill (#CA09).
Attempts by the two to differentiate themselves from their Party’s extremist leanings in order to win over moderate voters in their districts may become a hard sell once voters take a look at the RNC attendance list.
Leaving the company aside for a minute, the RNC platform is far from a moderate document. As has been widely reported, the platform seeks to ban abortion even in cases of rape or incest.
Last year Rep. Jeff Denham (CA-10) went on an all expense paid fact finding trip to Israel with his Republican colleagues. But that fact finding trip quickly turned into an embarrassment for the Republican delegation when Denham and others were named in a skinny dipping scandal in Israel's sea of Galilee.
This week Speaker Boehner is in California on a fundraising blitz to benefit the next crop of Republican Congressional hopefuls eager to join the ranks of one of the most extreme Republican Congresses in memory.
On Sunday, August 19th he was in Northern California raising money for Kim Vann, a CA GOP hopeful in Congressional District 03 (CA-03). Vann is a Colusa County Supervisor and counted herself a supporter of the discriminatory Proposition 8 in California. As supervisor, a local veterans group says she fell through on a promise to replace the American Legion Veterans hall, claiming the $50,000 to replace the hall was not there but just a few weeks later she approved $250,000 in renovations to the County Courthouse. Coincidentally her office is located in that Court House.
On Tuesday August 21st he will be at fundraiser for Tony Strickland in CA-26. Strickland is a long time California Republican legislator. During his tenure he refuted scientific data and analysis on climate change. He was also the first President of the California affiliate of Club for Growth, a right wing group that strong arms moderate Republican’s out of office in favor of extreme no compromise Republicans.
Lastly, on Thursday August 23rd Boehner will be at a fundraiser for John Tavaglione. Tavaglione is a Riverside County supervisor who is eager for the D.C. life. He’s received criticism for being absent from his duties at the County Board of Supervisors so he can be in D.C. – presumably rubbing elbows with the likes of Boehner and Republican leaders like Rep. Eric Cantor and Rep. Kevin McCarthy.
Unfortunately for Boehner these candidates are about as good as it’s going to get for him and the Republicans this year. They’ve all indicated that they will stand with their extreme party leadership and that’s good enough for Boehner. We just don’t think it’s going to be good enough for California voters.
Greg Sargent first observed six Republicans, including CA-26 (Ventura County) candidate Tony Strickland, running from the Romney-Ryan Medicare plan. Sure enough, here's Strickland claiming that he would have voted no on the Ryan budget because - and this apparently passes as a profile in courage among Republican Congressional hopefuls - the Ryan plan would give vouchers in lieu of Medicare for those 55 and younger, while Strickland's cutoff is age 50.
Not very reassuring to those who want to protect Medicare.
On Friday, August 17, Strickland held a press event on the grounds of a local seniors' center that followed the Republicans' Ryan budget spin campaign to the letter: "Inoculate by pledging to save and protect Medicare; use credible third party validators (mom or seniors)..."
Here's Strickland, inoculating and validating at a senior center with wheelchair-bound seniors on the sidelines, dramatically signing a pledge to protect Medicare and Social Security for anyone 50 and older as he repeats the lie, which is to say the pants on fire lie, that Obamacare steals $500 billion $700 billion from Medicare. At Crooks & Liars, here's the entire video of Strickland's lies, including the oft-repeated "death panels" lie.
As we all know by now, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan has been selected as Mitt Romney’s running mate. For anyone unfamiliar with Ryan, he is the architect of the extreme House budget that put Medicare squarely in the Republican Party’s crosshairs and gives $4.3 trillion in tax cuts to the wealthy.
In other words, Romney and Ryan are simply repackaging the same top-down economic policy that got us into trouble in the first place.
What does this have to do with California Congressional Republicans like Dan Lungren? Along with his Republican House colleagues, Lungren voted for the radical Ryan budget that would end Medicare while giving tax breaks to billionaires. Not once, but twice.
As we all know by now, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan has been selected as Mitt Romney’s running mate. For anyone unfamiliar with Ryan, he is the architect of the extreme House budget that put Medicare squarely in the Republican Party’s crosshairs and gives $4.3 trillion in tax cuts to the wealthy.
In other words, Romney and Ryan are simply repackaging the same top-down economic policy that got us into trouble in the first place.
What does this have to do with California Congressional Republicans like Mary Bono Mack? Along with her Republican House colleagues, Bono Mack voted for the radical Ryan budget that would end Medicare while giving tax breaks to billionaires. Not once, but twice.
As we all know by now, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan has been selected as Mitt Romney’s running mate. For anyone unfamiliar with Ryan, he is the architect of the extreme House budget that put Medicare squarely in the Republican Party’s crosshairs and gives $4.3 trillion in tax cuts to the wealthy.
In other words, Romney and Ryan are simply repackaging the same top-down economic policy that got us into trouble in the first place.
What does this have to do with California Congressional Republicans like Brian Bilbray? Along with his Republican House colleagues, Bilbray voted for the radical Ryan budget that would end Medicare while giving tax breaks to billionaires. Not once, but twice.
As we all know by now, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan has been selected as Mitt Romney’s running mate. For anyone unfamiliar with Ryan, he is the architect of the extreme House budget that put Medicare squarely in the Republican Party’s crosshairs and gives $4.3 trillion in tax cuts to the wealthy.
In other words, Romney and Ryan are simply repackaging the same top-down economic policy that got us into trouble in the first place.
What does this have to do with California Congressional Republicans like Jeff Denham? Along with his Republican House colleagues, Denham voted for the radical Ryan budget that would end Medicare while giving tax breaks to billionaires. Not once, but twice.
Today Rep. Jeff Denham chose to follow Speaker Boehner and Tea Party extremists by voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act. After voting to strip away patient rights and affordable healthcare for many of his own constituents, Denham was whisked away to a high dollar fundraiser for his congressional campaign, featuring none other than House Speaker John Boehner.
The event, billed as a birthday reception for Denham, costs a minimum of $500 to attend and guests can donate up to $2,500. Most Americans don’t have $2,500 laying around to give to a campaign but it’s quite fitting for a man who just voted to cut affordable access to health care for millions of Americans.
Today, House Republicans voted – for the 31st time since January 2011- to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Among California’s current Republican Representatives Dan Lungren, Mary Bono Mack, Jeff Denham and Brian Bilbray all voted to repeal the historic health care law that was passed by Congress in 2010, signed into law by President Obama, and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012.
“These Republicans have made their priorities clear, giving Californians yet another reason to vote them out of office in November.,” said California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton. “Instead of focusing on jobs and getting our economy back on track; Lungren, Bono Mack, Denham and Bilbray voted to take away health benefits from their constituents.”
On Wednesday July 11th House Republicans will vote for the 31st time to repeal/defund the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The vote is largely symbolic and is primarily staged to please the GOP’s no-compromise Tea Party base.
Among California’s current Republican Representatives, Dan Lungren, Mary Bono Mack, Jeff Denham and Brian Bilbray are all expected to vote with Speaker Boehner and the Republican leadership to overturn the historic law – even after the Republican-dominated Supreme Court upheld the law less than a month ago.
Voting 31 times for a repeal that will get nowhere is almost unheard of, however, House Republicans seem intent on continually bringing up repeal to score political points.
Tony Strickland’s big oil-fueled campaign for Congress is getting a turbo charge of cash from some of California’s most extreme conservative special interests and high octane Republican bosses. Strickland has long tried to fool the voters of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties by pretending to be a moderate, environmentally-friendly Republican. But his actual record says otherwise: he has voted in favor of drilling along the California coast, denied the reality of climate change, and founded the so-called “Taxpayers Caucus” which opposes budgets with any added revenue including from oil companies making record profits, choosing instead to cut vital programs such as education. He is currently heading up Mitt Romney's presidential campaign in California, and is a founding member of the California chapter the of the arch-conservative Club for Growth, an organization explicitly devoted to expelling economic moderates from the ranks of the Republican Party.
So it’s not at all surprising that Strickland’s campaign is receiving a tainted wave of contributions from the big corporate backers he truly serves, including the Koch Brothers, Chevron, Exxon-Mobil, Valero and many others. Not to mention Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner and House Republican budget architect Paul Ryan whose ranks Strickland hopes to join, and who openly voted to end Medicare but protected tens of billions of dollars in tax breaks for big oil companies.
And now Strickland is at it again, the beneficiary of a swanky high-dollar fundraiser at the home of California Republican Party Chairman Tom Del Beccaro and other leading California Republican establishment figures.
Some predictable theatre played out in Washington over the last week, as the House GOP took up legislation to waive environmental protections and give the Department of Homeland Security unlimited access to national parks within 100 miles of the border. That would effectively impose martial law over national parks near the border. It passed, with the support of Brian Bilbray.
Purely by coincidence, the debate over whether to essentially declare a state of immigration emergency to overrule environmental laws comes just days after President Obama announced a policy shift to provide relief from deportation to immigrant young adults brought to this country by their parents at an early age.
The legislation would override 36 environmental, safety and other regulations, including the Wilderness Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Antiquities Act, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the Migratory Bird Act, the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act, the Fish and Wildlife Act, among others.
Let's highlight just a couple of those. The Antiquities Act is what invented national monuments in the first place. The Endangered Species Act is pretty self-explanatory, but this change would effectively mean that wiping out entire species is just the price we might have to pay to slightly reduce undocumented immigration.
Brian Bilbray is a Tea Party- conservative Republican and member of Congress from San Diego. Anybody who is familiar with Brian Bilbray and his politics knows he can be counted on to side with the most extreme elements of the House Republican caucus and generally votes in lock-step with Speaker Boehner and the Republican leaders.
But that was before Bilbray’s once conservative district gained thousands of new Democratic and independent voters. Say what you will about Bilbray, he knows how to read the tea leaves and he’s embarked on a dramatic summer makeover
Recently the Sacramento County Republican Party has come under fire for what appears to be a massive case of voter registration fraud. Reports point to the strong likelihood the Republican Party’s vendor was signing up thousands of voters and then registering them as Republicans without the explicit knowledge of the registrants.
More than 3,000 Sacramento County registration cards have been deemed invalid as a result of this, tying up limited government resources and costing taxpayers thousands of dollars in lost time it takes for County workers to verify these voter registration cards and review them for fraud.
In a town like Washington, D.C., lobbyists jockey for position to turn the ear of elected representatives who can be instrumental in advancing their client’s interests. Access for a lobbyist is power. Representative Brian Bilbray would know, he’s a former lobbyist.
A little known fact about Bilbray is that he was a registered lobbyist before being elected to represent his current district in the San Diego area.
As a lobbyist for the far-right anti-immigration group the Federation for American Immigration (FAIR), Bilbray no doubt partook in closed door wheeling and dealing with little to no transparency. He was also tied to notorious lobbyist Jack Abramoff who pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe members of Congress.
In 2012, California is the battleground for control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Close to a dozen Congressional seats will be in play this election cycle as a result of redistricting, declining Republican voter identification and demographic trends that increasingly favor Democrats in the Golden State.
California Democrats are positioned to take advantage of this unique set of circumstances and www.wrongforcalifornia.com is where you will find the latest news and information on House Republican candidates in California who are taking orders from Speaker Boehner and radical Tea Party ideologues. This site will expose their records and their actions in Washington, D.C. and here in California.
Mary Bono Mack recently attended a private fundraiser in Palm Springs and was met by a crowd of protesters who braved 100 degree weather to make their voice heard.
The protesters are part of the group Women Against Mary (WAM) and they were determined to express their disappointment and displeasure with Bono Mack’s atrocious voting record on women’s issues.
Bono Mack claims to be supportive on issues that matter to women but has voted with her Republican party, time and again, on bills that have been detrimental to the advancement of women and women’s health. Notably, she voted against the Lily Ledbetter act, the fair pay act for women, yet she was recruited by the Romney campaign to help him bounce back from his Lily Ledbetter flub . She also voted for the Paul Ryan budget, which disproportionately affects the economic prosperity and health of women and children with it’s proposed cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.
Rep. Dan Lungren (R – CA07) has been a fixture in California politics for years. Say what you will about the terrible policy choices he represents, the man knows how to work the system.
That’s why it’s almost endearing to see him taking 25 year old RNCC “Young Gun” Ricky Gill under his wing. Ricky just graduated from law school and is convinced he’s got the qualifications to represent the people of the 9th Congressional district. What he lacks in qualifications, the national Republican Party believes he makes up for in money, and that’s where Dan Lungren comes in.
It’s no surprise that two of Boehner’s most loyal foot soldiers in the Tea Party - dominated Republican House of Representatives are stepping up to back their leader. After all, both Lungren and Denham walked the plank for Boehner and the Tea Party, voting to end Medicare in 2011 and again this year.
On May 9, 2012 President Obama became the first sitting president to voice support for marriage equality. It’s a historic moment years in the making, especially for California families who are currently barred from marrying the person they love as a result of the passage of Proposition 8 in 2008.
The Palm Springs area in Riverside County is home to over 2,621 same-sex couples. Their representative in Congress is Mary Bono Mack (R – #CA36). While leaders and allies of the LGBT community in California and across the country praised the President for speaking with conviction and taking a courageous stance, Bono Mack remained silent.
Rep. Jeff Denham has spent considerable time reveling in his oversight role of the General Services Administration’s wasteful spending scandal; Denham regularly appears on cable news shows and earned plaudits for his “aggressive questioning” of witnesses coming before his committee.
What isn’t widely known is that Denham, a member of the GOP freshman Tea Party class of 2010, has been just as aggressive in pursuing pork barrel spending – the very type of spending that was derided as excessive and characterized as “government waste” by the freshmen Tea Party class to which he belongs. Denham went so far as to sign his name to a letter begging Republican leaders to go back on their pledge to root out pork, also known as “earmarks.”
