Seth in CA (for the summer)

Wes Clark’s Call to Action

Welcome WesPAC readers. Here’s the main page of the blog.
Super Tuesday 2006:

June 6. One Week. Democratic Primaries in 8 States. Six WesPAC Endorsed Candidates.

Super Tuesday 2006 – You Can Make a Difference

In one week, five of General Clark’s endorsed congressional candidates have their primaries. General Clark has also endorsed a candidate for Lt. Governor. Each race is important and several are very tight.

General Clark has actively campaigned for each of the six candidates. Your help in winning each race is urgently needed and critical to success. The Clark community can be a decisive resource in helping General Clark support the six candidates on June 6.

We believe there is nothing we can do as Clark supporters more important than to make sure these candidates get into the general election.

Super Tuesday 2006 – You Can Make a Difference

WesPAC and each person signing this message are working closely with the six campaigns on General Clark’s behalf. We need your help today, tomorrow, and every day for the next week.

Three immediate steps you can take toward victory on June 6:

1. Contribute now. We know General Clark has asked you to help each candidate before. The closing week is the most vital. Please contribute what you can to one or more of the candidates.
The easiest way to contribute is to join the Clark Grassroots individuals who are making a difference in these campaigns. Go to http://www.actblue.com/page/wespac and make a secure contribution today. Making a contribution on this page demonstrates the impact General Clark is having on these races.
2. Contact the Clark liaison (listed below) for each campaign and volunteer to phone bank.
3. Forward this note to every Clark-supporter you know.

Please do this today. We are in the closing days when voters wake up and elections are won or lost. Your help makes a difference and demonstrates that General Clark can mobilize the grassroots to help candidates.

The Congressional candidates are:

CA-11 – Steve Filson www.filsonforcongress.com
Clark Liaison: Robin Galer robingaler@securingamerica.com 510-558-0888

CA-26 – Russ Warner www.warnerforcongress.com
Clark Liaison: Dion Nizzi dion_nizzi@yahoo.com

CA-50 – Francine BusbySpecial election for Duke Cunningham’s seat. Not a primary, the real deal, running against a Republican. Needs support big time.www.busbyforcongress.com
Clark Liaison: Joan Little dlittle@san.rr.com Joan is precinct walking each day and will return emails in the evening. You can volunteer directly with the campaignby going to www.busbyforcongress.com/campaign-events.php

IA-3 – Leonard Boswell No opponent in primary, but will need help for general election. www.boswellforcongress.com
Clark Liaison: Lu Ann Pedrick zoeyp2001@yahoo.com.

NM-1 – Patricia Madrid www.madridforcongress.com Clark Liaison: John Oeffingerjoeffinger@securingamerica.com

In addition, General Clark has also endorsed Jackie Speier for California Lt. Governor. Jackie is also running in the June 6 primary.

CA-Lt. Governor – Jackie Speier www.jackiespeier2006.com
Clark Liaison: Ellen Nagler ednagler@mac.com

Take action and help today – and every day for the next week.

Inland Valley Daily Bulletin Endorses Warner for Primary

Nice endorsement, despite the troubling use of the word “Democrat” as an adjective instead of a noun. Someone from the local Democratic Party should write them a letter (more here).

“Warner is best Democrat choice in 26th District”:

A Rancho Cucamonga business owner is the best choice for Democrats in the June 6 primary election for the 26th Congressional District.

Russ Warner is a first-time candidate, but has life experiences and business accomplishments that should make him appealing to District 26 voters. He was induced to become a candidate, he says, by his Iraq War veteran son, who told him that he should run for Congress and make a difference. That son, the eldest of three, has since been accepted to West Point.

Warner, after being “downsized” out of a distribution job with a national magazine in the 1980s, started his own small, family business 19 years ago in Rancho Cucamonga, where he has lived for 26 years. That company has grown into the country’s sixth-largest niche magazine brokerage firm. While Warner campaigns, his wife of 35 years is running the business with the help of the couple’s two younger sons.

Continue reading Inland Valley Daily Bulletin Endorses Warner for Primary…

Who does David Dreier know that lives in Shawnee Mission, KS?

Which zip codes donated the most money to Dreier and Warner? OpenSecrets.org has the answer:

David Dreier (R)*

Russell Warner (D)

With graphs:

See “An Inconvenient Truth” with Russ Warner

Cool:

Russ Warner invites you to join him for a screening of “An Inconvenient Truth,” the new documentary by Vice President Al Gore about global warming, on its opening weekend in Pasadena. Because Warner purchased a block of tickets, those who RSVP early to attend the film with the candidate will pay $6 per ticket to see the movie instead of the regular $9.50 general admission price. In addition, Paramount Classics has agreed to commit 5% of their domestic theatrical gross from the film with a minimum guarantee of $500,000 to a new bipartisan climate effort, Alliance for Climate Protection, so just by going to see the film, you’ll be donating to help fight global warming. To RSVP to see the film with Russ Warner, please email  info at warnerforcongress.com or call 909.837.9474

The Modern GOP: Complex and Nuanced

Politics sure is complicated:

But some worried that the constitutional victory for Hastert would be a public-relations problem for the rest of them. They fear that the nuances of constitutional principle will mean little to voters who conclude that the GOP, which aims to be the “law-and-order” party, is now on the wrong side of the law by challenging law-enforcement officials pursuing a bribery investigation.

“It’s a challenge” to explain to constituents, said Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif. “People are painting this as members of Congress being above the law.”

They’re right of course. The nuances of constitutional principle sure are hard to comprehend: illegal surveillance of millions of Americans and willful disregard for the law? No problem. Everyone understands that they’re just spying on terrorists. Millions of them. But raiding a crooked Congressman’s office? Why, that violates the most sacred principles of our founding.

More on the anti-immigrant backlash against Dreier

With headlines like “Dreier slams immigration compromise” and “Dreier rejects Senate version of immigration bill” you’d think Dreier might have learned a lesson from 2004, when talk radio decided to eat its own. Here’s an account from Wikipedia (if someone has another source, I’d appreciate it):

In the run-up to the 2004 elections, their main issue was fighting what they saw as misguided policies of the federal and California state governments to encourage illegal immigration. John and Ken devised a “competition” that they dubbed Political Human Sacrifice, in which five Republican Representatives from California were grilled regarding their stance on illegal immigration. The “winner” would be the Representative whom the show’s listeners saw as the worst on illegal immigration restriction; John and Ken would endorse his or her opponent in the general election and urge listeners to vote for the opponent. Political Human Sacrifice was conducted in a fashion similar to reality television series such as Survivor. U.S. Representative David Dreier won the nomination as the “victim” of the “sacrifice.” John and Ken also designated a Democratic Congressman, Joe Baca, to be “sacrificed” in the general election. The comments about Dreier resulted in a complaint to the Federal Elections Commission being filed by the National Republican Congressional Committee, which as of September 30, 2005, has not resulted in any action taken. As it turned out, both Dreier and Baca won reelection, but this apparently has not deterred John and Ken from their activism on this issue. Dreier outspent his opponent by 30 to 1 and won with 54% of the vote versus 43% for his opponent, his lowest percentage in 24 years. ^[1] On the other hand, Baca appeared to have been unaffected as he garnered 66.4% of the vote in 2004, exactly the same percentage as his 2002 vote.[2][3]

Wherever Dreier is now on immigration (pro-guest workers, anti-amnesty?) the anti-immigrant crusaders are having none of it:

The immigration legislation proposed by some in Congress would terribly diminish the well-being of our children and future generations, and the American people must remind their representatives to whom they are responsible.

The campaign by Rep. David Dreier to legalize 20 million illegal aliens in our country is appalling. Such a perfidious action would inevitably lead to even more illegal entries into our country as did the amnesty of 1986. The resulting chain migration of family members could explode our population to half a billion by 2050.

The L.A. Times article of Jan. 16 quoted Dreier saying “any final bill that emerges from the House and the Senate must include a guest-worker program both for future migrants and for illegal immigrants already here.”

Dreier’s “guest worker” plan would let the 20 million people here illegally continue to reside, work and have families here and then irrationally expect them to voluntarily return to their home country after several years or allow them to remain indefinitely.

The Dreier camp excuses this plan by saying it is not “amnesty,” as though that makes any difference, but that is dishonest semantics. What else is it if you allow law-breakers to go unpunished and even reward them by letting them keep what they obtained by breaking our laws?

I believe the best solution is to end Dreier’s 25-year stay in office. And the best way to accomplish this is to elect the one candidate who pledges to enforce our immigration laws and secure America’s borders. He is Sonny Sardo, lifetime Republican, community activist, combat veteran and a devoted family man. And, as a successful businessman, he means what he says.

So what does Russ Warner think about immigration?

Warner understands the immigration issue and his response is very reasonable: to crack down on the big businesses that encourage illegal immigration by hiring illegals.

Sounds sensible enough. Anyone have more details?

Quick Run-Down on the 26th

From the Southern California News:

Sebastian “Sonny” Sardo is one of two Republicans who hope to beat Dreier in next month’s primary. Sardo lives outside of the 26th District but owns an interior design business in La Canada-Flintridge, which is within the boundaries.

Sardo, 56, stated the main issue of his campaign is illegal immigration, saying it affects nearly every aspect of his district.

He said the government needs to close the border to illegal immigrants.

“If you told anyone on Sept. 10, 2001, that we would ground every plane in America on Sept. 11, no one would have believed it,” said Sardo, who has raised $29,000. “Heaven forbid a suitcase bomb comes across the border. Suddenly there wouldn’t be one illegal getting across the border. We have the national might. We don’t have the national will.”

The other Republican candidate in the race, Melvin “Mel” Milton, has raised no money. He too is campaigning on stricter border enforcement.

A 63-year-old aircraft mechanic from Walnut, Milton walks the district every night after he returns home from work.

“I get the occasional door-slammer; it’s sort of discouraging,” Milton said. “But the next lady will be really nice so I just keep going.”

In 2004, Dreier won the election with 54 percent of the vote — the narrowest win by any incumbent member of Congress from California.

His Democrat opponent in that 2004 election, Cynthia Matthews, is running again.

“I was the Democrat who got the closest out of anyone who ran against him in the past 26 years,” said Matthews, 42, of Upland. “I’m here to finish the job.”

As of March 31, she had raised $516 but had nearly $29,000 in the bank, according to federal campaign finance documents.

Democrat Hoyt Hilsman, a screenwriter, freelance journalist and college professor, said he considers himself the stealth candidate in the 26th District race.

In order to beat Dreier, Hilsman, 57, of San Marino, first must win next month against Matthews and the race’s other Democrat, Russ Warner. Warner, who owns a magazine-distribution business, by March 31 had raised the most of any of his opponents besides Dreier, taking in nearly $170,000. Dreier had raised nearly $1.2 million.

Warner, who has never run for office, got the idea after a long heart-to-heart talk with his son, who had returned from a 17-month stint with the Army in Iraq.

“It’s been a blast,” Warner, 56, from Rancho Cucamonga, said about campaigning.

Elliott Graham, an American Independent Party candidate from Glendale, and Ted Brown, a Libertarian candidate from San Gabriel, also are running in the 26th District race.

National Education Association and Los Angeles County Firefighters endorse Russ Warner

I don’t know what the California Chronicle is, but their journalism sure tends towards the cheerleading variety. Or maybe I’m just very unused to seeing such positive press for Democratic candidates:

The National Education Association and the Los Angeles County Firefighters endorsed Russ Warner for Congress in the 26th Congressional District, joining the broad-based coalition of political leaders, labor organizations and community activists supporting his efforts to topple 13-term incumbent David Dreier.

The California Democratic Party’s endorsed candidate, Warner is a small businessman from Rancho Cucamonga. His support spans the 26th Congressional District, which includes parts of two counties and over 30 cities, covering more than 50 miles from La Crescenta to Rancho Cucamonga, where he and his wife of 35 years, Kris, have lived with their three sons for 25 years.

“Firefighting is a dangerous and difficult job, but Russ Warner will help make it safer,” said Los Angeles County Firefighters Local 1014 President Dave Gillotte, announcing his 3,000-member union¹s support of Warner. “He supports increased funding to improve firefighter health and safety, so we can provide better emergency services to the community.”

The most recent endorsements are significant because firefighters and teachers were key players in the powerful Alliance for a Better California, which defeated Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger¹s initiatives last year. David Dreier, who led the transition team when Schwarzenegger was elected in 2004, supported the Governor¹s efforts.

Democratic political leaders such as Congressman Adam Schiff and Congresswoman Hilda Solis have also endorsed Warner. “He stands up for true Democratic ideals and will work hard for America¹s families,” Solis said.

David Dreier: “Hard-liner on the border”

Dreier rejects Senate version of immigration bill:

Rep. David Dreier announced Wednesday that he will not vote for the Senate’s version of immigration legislation, breaking ranks with the White House and bolstering his image as a hard-liner on the border.

Emblematic of the impending battle for a compromise, the Republican chairman of the House Rules Committee said he will fight with his colleagues to ensure the Senate bill does not take precedence over the border security bill passed by the House in mid-December.

The Senate’s proposal to grant a path to citizenship for an estimated 12 million to 20 million illegal immigrants would create an ill-equipped bureaucracy, said Dreier in an interview with the Daily Bulletin on Wednesday. He added that border security must remain a top priority in any immigration reform proposal.

Not alone

Thanks probably to Technorati, someone is reading this blog! And once I write something of actual value I’ll be cross-posting it in diaries on Kos, so hopefully other people will start reading it. Blue House writes in comments:

If you are going to be in CA June 6 come by campaign headquarters for Russ Warner in Rancho Cucamonga, 10064 Foothill Boulevard, between Haven and Archibald. We can use all the help we can get.

Alright, you heard Blue House.

Map of 10064 Foothill Boulevard, Rancho Cucamonga, CA

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