Say No to Pombo

Old dogs know old tricks

2010-04-09T09:02:00.000-07:00

You would think that, after getting a shellacking that surprised no one outside the circle of beltway bloviators, that Richard Pombo would seek to run his current campaign in a new way. Fortunately for the voters of the 19th district, Pobmo is falling back on the same old issues that lost him the election in 2006 and building his war chest from the same old sources.

Let's sort through this in a logical manner. One of the complaints against Pombo was that he was too closely associated with Jack Abramoff and the sleazy deals surrounding Chinese criminal control of the Marianas Islands government. Often cited were the many trips to Marianas resorts taken by Abramoff associates, Republican Congressmen and their staffs. So, who is in the forefront of Pombo fundraising? None other than losing Colorado Republican Bob Schaffer. While Schaffer was in Congress, he earned the nickname "Sponge Bob" for soaking up Marianas perks like a sponge. Why anyone thinks that two losers equals one winner is beyond me.

Add to that, the theme of this fund=raising event, an attack on the Endangered Species Act by petroleum industry money. This is a return to a 19th Century Robber Baron thinking… well maybe a continuation of old ways that we no longer need in the 21st century. We might have learned a bit over the years. It is clear that the people who run some of these big companies have not, using easy promises of jobs for all in order to allow them to accumulate riches for a few. But more on that later%hellip; as te race heats up, so will the pace of posting.

Pombo Polls Poorly

2010-02-12T09:15:00.000-08:00

Lisa Vorderbrueggen continues to recount that travails of "Rich" Pombo at the Contra Costa Times political blog. Lisa probably thought that she had enough of Pombo is 2006, but, like a bad penny, he just keeps trying to return.

The conclusions offered by the pollster are somewhat suspect, in that it was identified as a "push poll" and most of these are intended to elicit a specific response. According to the person who commissioned the poll... Jeff Denham's campaign manager... there was enough substance to justify the following conclusion.

Based on these survey findings, it is our opinion that former Congressman Richard Pombo is very unlikely to win the Republican Primary in the 19th District,” the memo said. “Further, if he were to win the primary election, it is our opinion that much of the Republican base would not stay with him and make Republicans have to spend significant money to keep this Republican Congressional seat in the Republican hands even with the very comfortable registration margin.

We have not yet seen much in the way of anti-Pombo money injected into this campaign from the organizations that helped defeat him before. Maybe they are taking a wait and see attitude on this primary campaign. However, you can be assured that, if Pombo were to pull a comeback and win the Republican primary, the checks would be written and TV / radio ads would flood the airways.

Dirty Dick back on Dirty Dozen List

2010-02-10T19:17:00.000-08:00

Well, Richard Pombo has made it back on the League of Conservation Voters Dirty Dozen list, and he hasn't done anything yet. Their headline indicates a bit of disquiet about the fact that the Congressman who wanted to sell off parts of our National Parks is now in the running to represent Yosemite.

Just to cite one comment:

No California member of Congress has been more knee-jerk anti-environmental than Richard Pombo,” said California League of Conservation Voters CEO Warner Chabot. "There's no better candidate than Pombo for the Dirty Dozen list."

Now, for some in the 19th CD, having the LCV attacking Pombo might be a reason to vote FOR him. After all, Pombo is getting funded by Westlands Water District members and they have turned "enviro" into a curse and ESA into a road sign for target practice.

What the district really needs... like the Pombo's home 11th CD needed, was a Congressman who listened closely to all of his constituents and then applied common sense and knowledge rather than political expediency when they made their decisions. But listening was never a Pombo strength and his common sense and knowledge were about par for a college drop out.

Maybe his day has come... and passed.

2010-02-07T20:51:00.000-08:00

I have just been reading Jeff Denham's web site. Now, it seems to me that the 19th CD is a bit crazy. Since Pombo jumped into the race with a big reservoir of Westlands cash, he did pick up a few endorsements. But by now, Jeff Denham has the endorsement of every County Supervisor in the 19th CD, or so it says on his web site.

That makes it sound like Pombo will have to run a tea bagger race, stirring up all those folks with fears of Denham actually voting for a tax increase. That would surprise me, though.

Is this going to be one of those races where the people rise up against the party leadership? Pombo seems to be taking to the air ways, but a lot of the quotes on his facebook page seem to come from the big companies (Land o' Lakes) or neighbors I never heard of.

Pombo, an old dog with no new tricks

2010-01-19T11:19:00.000-08:00

Everything that I read about Rancher Richie's latest political adventure looks a lot like his 2006 run, with the exception that he does not have an opponent with the national name recognition of Pete McCloskey as a primary opponent. It was McCloskey who gave good Republican's permission to vote for Jerry McNerney rather than to return to Congress a demagogue who had never really represented the people of the district… or at least he never bothered to talk to that portion of his district (CA-11) in which I lived.

Now, we see him following the same path's, out trolling for money at the Western Indian Gaming Conference. This is typical Pombo from the old days, racking up political debts and knowing the favors that he will have to deliver in order to pay them off. However, this history shows that he did more collecting and little paying. Those tribal agencies who were willing to contribute to Rancher Richie should ask around before they open their checkbooks. Since that links to a series of posts that I did on the old Pombo Watch blog, I may have to put it back online... or at least to make those particular items available. Those who ignore history will live to repeat it.

Democrats Can Take Charge In CA-19 -- With Your Help!

2010-01-08T06:22:00.000-08:00

Okay, so here's the deal. Every article to date about CA-19 has been full of the conventional wisdom about this district: It's Republican; it's a lock; Democrats need not apply.

And to reinforce this wisdom come the statistics (all pdf): Boxer lost in 2004 by nearly 13 points (to local favorite Bill Jones); Dianne Feinstein lost by less than 2% in 2006; Obama lost by 6 points to McCain in '08. So, according to the statistics, this is a seriously Republican district. You'll read it in all the articles -- CA-19 has a 6% Republican advantage in registration (Safe Republican).

But what the conventional wisdom won't tell you about CA-19 is this: Although the November 2008 voter registration numbers from Fresno County (the largest population center for CA-19) show a 163K-153K Republican advantage (nearly 2 1/2%) in registration and, just eight months ago, in the latest online report from the California SoS (May '09), that advantage was still around 8,000 or 2%, things are changing fast. You can see where the conventional wisdom might coming from -- historical data.

Here's the new reality. The California Democratic Party has targeted the Central Valley over the last year or so. And during that time, the Fresno Democratic Party has held numerous voter registration events -- as in "We're serious about this."

So where do we stand today? Well, here's the news that you won't read from the DC-centric media. According to the Fresno Registrar of Voters, as of last month, a mere 468 voters (or about 1/3%) separate the Democrats from the Republicans in voter registration. That's right. From an 8,000 voter difference to 468 in nine months' time.

Think this is too good to be true? Well, come out to help Fresno Democrats register voters next weekend. Here's the info:

Volunteers will meet at 1304 East Olive Avenue in Fresno at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 16
Walk until we hit our goal (or until 5:00 p.m.)
You can RSVP to James Williams at jamesdean19662000@yahoo.com.

This is NOT necessarily a Republican district -- especially if we work to lay the groundwork right now!

Water Pirates

2010-01-06T09:13:00.000-08:00

We already know what Pombo will use as the centerpiece of his campaign. It will be Water and how the "enviros" are using the Endangered Species Act to keep farmers from earning a living. From Rancher Dick Pombo, it is a broken record from his failed 2006 campaign.

The real story is that the East Side farmers got 100% of their water allocations last year. It is the Westlands Water District that didn't and they are the ones using all of their media manipulation to spin a mythical tale of fish over man.

Before you swallow that swill, enjoy this video of the Water Pirates.

Pombo "Scrounging" For Work

2010-01-05T14:31:00.000-08:00

So, if you believe Richard Pombo (something you should never do), he's running in CA-19 only because he wants to serve the residents of the Central Valley.

Earlier this year, Fresno County agricultural interests frustrated with Radanovich contacted Pombo about running. Pombo said he declined at the time because he did not want to challenge a sitting Republican.

But with Radanovich’s announcement Tuesday that he will retire after this term, Pombo said he is now seriously considering a run for the seat.

“I don’t miss the politics,” Pombo said. “I miss the policy side of it. Obviously California needs some help.”

That's right. Pombo's just running for Congress so that he can help Californians. But this nugget from Politico in November 2008 sort of casts another light on Pombo's purported altruism.

The mood at the Republican Capitol Hill Club last night was low.

Very low.

People were depressed about the elections, we're told, including recently defeated Reps. Robin Hayes and Ric Keller. Also there was former Rep. Pombo, defeated in 2006, along with his sidekick Steve Ding, "scrounging for business" we hear. (Emphasis added)

What's that? Sounds like neither the former seven-term Republican Congressman/rancher nor his former chief of staff, Steven Ding, could manage to make much of a living away from the government teat.

According the the SF Chron

Pombo's chief handler Steve Ding sent a note to GOP friends Monday asking for support and telling folks he's putting together the team. Says the Dinger: "Richard has already been working the new district and lining up support."

Sounds a lot like scrounging, doesn't it?

Return Of The Zombies

2010-01-04T21:14:00.000-08:00

In a scene straight out of Night of the Living Dead, Richard Pombo has pulled himself out of his political grave and is lurching back to Congressional politics.

This time, though, he's planning to feast on the brains of the innocent residents of CA-19. CA-19 is a rural district that encompasses the southern San Joaquin Valley and Sierra. Rumors swirled last week that Pombo was contemplating a run to replace retiring Rep. George Radanovich. Well, according to Hotline OnCall, Pombo will make it official tomorrow.

The former 7-term congressman, who once headed the House Resources Committee, will run for the seat being vacated by Rep. George Radanovich (R), who announced last week that he will not serve another term. Radanovich's 19th district is next to the 11th district, which Pombo lost to Rep. Jerry McNerney (D) in '06.

Pombo will make the announcement tomorrow, sources tell Hotline OnCall, after speaking with several incumbent members of Congress and supporters back home. He has reached out to donors in recent days, as well as to Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R) and Devin Nunes (R), two incumbents who hold neighboring districts.

For those of you wondering just where the heck CA-19 is, here's a map. You'll note the supreme irony that Pombo is seeking to represent a district that contains the crown jewel of the National Park system -- Yosemite National Park.

But never fear. Richard Pombo isn't the only zombie in this game. SNTP will rise again -- and there's only one brain on which we intend to feast.

Goodbye — Hello

2007-04-02T08:08:00.000-07:00

A few weeks after last November's election, I posted a meta piece taking stock of where we'd been as a blog and questioning the future for Say No To Pombo. Since that time, we've come up with a new blog, Progressive Sundae. The SoapBlox format is a little different than Blogger — and the first thing you'll notice is that you have to register as a user to leave comments. But once you register, you can comment away, as well as post your own diaries (like DailyKos).

And what's the purpose of this new blog? Well, it's all explained here. But the short version is that we want to create a larger forum to discuss local electoral politics, including but not limited to CA-11 and Jerry McNerney.

So give it a try — it's Progressive Sundae.com.

Update

2007-02-15T09:41:00.000-08:00

Well, we said NO to Pombo once. But it seems that he is not willing to "go gentle into that good night." Rather, he seems to want to establish himself as a different sort of player in the California Republican Party, one show support was necessary to gain party organizational office. Now, it seems that even the Republicans did not listen to him rave at the close of his political day.

2008: Game On in CA-11

2007-01-09T13:59:00.000-08:00

Cross posted at MyDD, Swing State Project, Calitics, and Daily Kos

[UPDATE: Josh Richman of the Contra Costa Times now has a story about this.]

Last Thursday, Jerry McNerney took the oath of office as a member of the 110th Congress. A scant five days later, with what must surely be unprecedented speed, the NRCC has sent out its first anti-McNerney campaign mailers of the 2008 election to voters in CA-11.

It’s worth noting that in the run-up to the 2006 elections, the NRCC spent over $1.3 million to prop up threatened incumbent Rep. Richard Pombo, all to no avail. In the days leading up to November 7, the NRCC sent out no less than 20 anti-McNerney mailers (strikingly, they couldn’t think of one single pro-Pombo message). Looks like old habits die hard.

So if anyone out there thinks that McNerney’s 2008 re-election will be easy simply because he won in 2006 by a 6% margin — er, not so much. Expect a steady drumbeat of anti-McNerney disinformation over the next two years. The only real question is, what are we going to do about it?

Congressman Jerry McNerney Sworn In

2007-01-04T14:26:00.000-08:00

Well, today's the day -- Jan. 4, 2007, and Jerry McNerney is being sworn in as Congressman for the 11th District of California. There are stories all over the local papers, so I won't repeat them here. The bottom line is that this is GOOD NEWS all around. No, not just "good", but WONDERFUL, even STUPENDOUS news.

Be sure to revel in it -- and the hope and inspiration it brings. What a truly remarkable thing that the former congressman is out of office, no longer empowered to attack and destroy our environment. That gives me, and many, many others, great hope for this world.

After six years of the worst president in history, things were getting very depressing. But McNerney's win, and more important, Pombo's loss, gives so many of us renewed faith that maybe sometimes the political system actually works, that the common people can have their voices heard, and that the exploitative corporations don't entirely run the show in Washington, as hard as they try to.

So have a happy "McNerney Inauguration Day" today everyone! This is what we all worked for!

McNerney To Deliver Democratic Radio Address On Dec. 30

2006-12-29T16:41:00.000-08:00

Cross posted on Calitics

[UPDATE]: You can listen to Jerry McNerney's Weekly Democratic Radio Address here.

The text of the press release from Nancy Pelosi's office is as follows:

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Congressman-elect Jerry McNerney (CA-11), an incoming freshman, will deliver the Democratic Radio Address on Saturday. In his address, Congressman-elect McNerney discusses Democratic plans to break the link between lobbyists and legislation and the need for a new direction in Iraq.

WHO: Congressman-elect Jerry McNerney (CA-11)

WHAT: Weekly Democratic Radio Address

WHEN: Saturday, December 30, 2006 -- 11:06 a.m. (EST)

WHERE: Major radio networks, including AP, ABC, NPR, CBS Radio, CNN Radio, C-SPAN, Armed Forces Radio Network, American Urban Radio Network, Voice of America Radio Network, BBC Radio, CBC Radio, and Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Below is a transcript of his remarks:

Embargoed until Saturday, December 30, 2006 at 11:06 a.m. EDT
"Good morning and Happy New Year. This is Congressman-elect Jerry McNerney of Pleasanton, California, a new Member in the 110th Congress.

"As we move into the New Year and the new Congress, I am excited about what we can achieve for the American people. In this election, the American people clearly called for change: change in the way we do business in Washington, change in the way that we shape our energy policy, and most importantly, a change of direction in Iraq.

"As our first responsibility in fulfilling the mandate of this critical election, House Democrats will restore integrity and civility in Washington in order to earn the public trust.

"We will ban gifts from lobbyists and lobbyist-funded travel, prohibit the use of corporate jets, and shut down the revolving door between Capitol Hill and K Street Lobbyists. We will restore the House tradition of allowing a reasonable 15-minute voting period to prevent extended votes, and we will require that Congress put away the credit card and operate under a pay-as-you-go common sense budget rules. We will hold Members of Congress accountable to the people who voted them into office, not lobbyists and special interests.

"Our heavy dependence on foreign oil is putting our economy, our climate, and our national security at great risk. We are actually funding the very terrorists around the world who are trying to harm us. It's our patriotic duty as citizens of this great nation to end our dependence on imported oil. Democrats will quickly and significantly reduce our consumption of foreign oil while creating jobs, prosperity, and a healthy environment with a new energy technology, including renewable energy and bio-fuels.

"Most of the technologies needed to reshape our energy future are already at hand; what has been lacking is the political will to develop and expand their use. Democrats have a vision of creating a new energy economy using good old-fashioned American ingenuity to achieve energy independence. New American jobs and a bright future will be the dividend.

"Democrats will also lead the way for a new direction in Iraq. My son was in the military when he convinced me to run for office, and we continue to keep our soldiers and their families in our prayers. But our troops need more than our well-wishes, and our veterans need more than lip service; we need a change in policy, as confirmed by the Iraq Study Group report released earlier this month.

"I share the concern of my Democratic colleagues that President Bush may use his same failed logic to increase our troop strength in Iraq by up to 30,000 soldiers. The incoming chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Ike Skelton, has said that an increase in troops at best won't change a thing, and at worst could exacerbate the situation even further in Iraq.

"The Iraqis need to understand that the responsibility for the future of that country is theirs. Beginning the redeployment of American forces would send that message. We must also improve the training of Iraq security forces by ensuring that Iraqi units are not infiltrated by either militia members or insurgents. The consequences of not doing so are unacceptable. In my district there is a Gold Star mom whose son was killed in Iraq by the very Iraqis he was training. He and his mom are always in my thoughts. We simply can not ask our young men and women to train Iraqis without doing everything possible to make certain that the people they are training are not attacking our troops.

"Our troops have done everything asked of them in Iraq with great courage. Particularly at this time of the year, when families gather to celebrate the holiday season, we need to remember the huge sacrifices being made by the brave men and women in our military, and give thanks for their service.

"Thank you for listening. I wish everyone the very best 2007 and pray that God blesses you and your families for this holiday season. This is Congressman-elect Jerry McNerney."

____________________________________
Source: Office of Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi

SNTP enters post-Pombo period

2006-12-28T15:55:00.000-08:00

Been awfully quiet on this blog. The reason is we accomplished our goal -- Pombo is out of office as of Jan. 4. So now where does the blog go? Pombo was the central figure. With him ousted, the focus is gone, and now the blog needs to find a new focus or hang up its hat.

This blog has gained good readership and people have liked the comments. But the posts have already dwindled and it is hard to know what to post without knowing the blog's purpose, or if it even should continue.

With McNerney in office, there may be people who want to watch McNerney and comment on his actions or help him in some way. That of course leads up to the 2008 election, with people already positioning themselves for that.

This blog could morph into a McNerney blog, but then it should really be named something like "Say Yes to McNerney" or "McNerney Watch". However, I don't think this blog can be renamed, and more important, I don't know if the current posters would be interested in that focus. The audience would be more limited, I think. Pombo had a way of raising the hackles with his position of power and the irresponsible way he used it, and that attracted a lot of attention. With a McNerney blog, the audience would probably be political types, mostly from the district and surrounding areas.

Because of Pombo's position as chair of the Resources Committee, and the power that gave him over the nation's lands, this blog attracted readers interested in environmental issues. These issues are national, indeed global, in scale.

The particular focus of the blog, if it wanted to cover environmental issues, could become Pombo's "Wise" Use Agenda, with his attacks on the Endangered Species Act and other environmental laws, the calls for resumption of whale hunting, off-road vehicle use expansion, energy development, pesticides, etc. etc. But I think without Pombo in office, these become general issues. The blog would have to become "Say No To Pombo's Way of Thinking", maybe.

The blog could also focus on CD-11 environmental issues -- the Delta, traffic, clean energy, air quality, restoring flows in the San Joaquin River, etc. That would be "Say Yes to a Clean CD-11".

Or even, in that respect, it could be on CD-11 issues in general, not just environmental -- social issues like immigration and crime, housing, land use, etc. That would be "Say Yes to a Better CD-11".

Another area this blog focused on was Congressional corruption. This may come as a surprise, but there is still a lot of that running around. Some people who worked against Pombo are now focusing on Rep. John Doolittle, the other area "friend of Abramoff", who managed to retain his seat (barely) but still may be indicted. It's not like there is any shortage of material, with Abramoff, the Marianas Islands, Tom DeLay, etc. That would be "Say No to Not Only Pombo, but to All Corrupt Representatives".

Those are some ideas and comments. The point is if this blog is going to continue or evolve and have relevance, it needs to decide what its focus is now that Pombo is back on the ranch. Either that or ride off into the sunset, saying "Well, my job's done here. We cleaned up this here town " [person hops on horse] " and now it is time to move on." [Rider tips hat, horse and rider slowly saunter out of town, fade into the distance.]

Meanwhile, Happy New Year!

Highways for the public interest, not the Pombos'

2006-12-16T16:35:00.000-08:00

Nice to see Congressman Jerry McNerney proposing solutions to the I-580 commute over the Altamont Pass. With him securing a seat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from the Bay Area, he is in a good position to push for fed funds for projects like BART to Livermore and Tracy.

Now what seems better for CD-11? Pombo on the House Resources Committe pushing for offshore drilling and giveaways to oil companies, as well as protecting Abramoff/DeLay dealings in the Marianas Islands -- or McNerney on the Transportation Committee helping get fed money for projects in CD-11 to ease the commute?

Or compare Pombo's expensive, environmentally destructive, far-in-the-future-if-ever proposal for a highway over the Diablo Range (which, coincidentally would up the value of Pombo real estate holdings) with McNerney's push for real improvements that can be made in the near future to I-580.

Here's part of the article:

Incoming Congressman Jerry McNerney hasn't even taken his seat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and he's already thinking big.

At a groundbreaking at Dublin City Hall on Friday for a $9 million Tri-Valley traffic management project, McNerney said he hoped to secure federal money for a Bay Area Rapid Transit extension down the middle of Interstate 580 — all the way to Tracy.

"BART to Livermore and Tracy, these are things that I'm very interested in," said McNerney, a Democrat who Nov. 7 wrested the 11th Congressional District from Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy. As a member of the committee, McNerney added, "I will have the opportunity to bring projects to our area."

McNerney, whose new district comprises much of San Joaquin County and includes the Interstate 680 corridor in Alameda County and part of Contra Costa County, said improving links such as the I-580 freeway and BART "fits into my plan to bring economic development to San Joaquin County."

Contrast this with Pombo's approach, as detailed in an Aug. 2005 East Bay Express expose:

The morning and afternoon commutes to and from the East Bay [over the Altamont Pass] are horrendous, choked with more than 140,000 cars and big rigs a day. ... A consortium of business leaders and labor groups, meanwhile, is working overtime to convince the state to widen I-205, which creates a bottleneck when motorists come off the Altamont and have to squeeze from eight lanes down to four. The bottleneck clogs traffic every weekday morning and afternoon.

Widening I-205, which connects I-5 to I-580 from Lathrop through Tracy, would seem to be just the type of project that Pombo would wholeheartedly support. But instead his answer is to build two entirely new freeways, for which he recently obtained $21.6 million in federal funds.

Do you wonder why Pombo would have proposed these two freeways instead of what business leaders and labor groups want? Well, the East Bay Express article says it has to do with the Pombo family real estate holdings and money the family needed to pay off debts. Now, that sounds like it is in the public interest, doesn't it? More from East Bay Express on Pombo's highways:

One of Pombo's freeway plans, known as the state Route 239 project, would run along the path of the two-lane Byron Highway from the western end of Tracy northwest to Brentwood. There, it would connect with the Highway 4 bypass currently scheduled for construction. ... But the arrival of the $14 million in federal funds for the 239 project also happens to coincide with a multimillion-dollar land deal currently underway with members of Pombo's family. And for the Pombos, the new freeway proposal appears to be a timely solution to some family financial difficulties compounded by the 2000 slow-growth measure.

And this explains Pombo's other highway:

Across town, the other proposed freeway also could be a boon for the congressman and his family -- even if it's never built. Pombo has been pushing this proposal, the State Route 130 Project, for at least two years. ... Speculation about the possible new freeway almost certainly has driven up the value of the 205-acre ranch Pombo owns in south Tracy with his parents and brothers, even though the ranch is eighteen miles north of Del Puerto Canyon Road. The Pombo property sits right on I-580 and it's only a fifteen-minute freeway trip away.

Oh well, what are the Pombos going to do now that Richard is no longer in Congress to push for transportation projects that raise their land value?

Meet the new boss

2006-12-08T18:06:00.000-08:00

The Who sang about the "new boss same as the old boss. Well, Erica Werner of AP gives us a good introduction to the new boss of the "Natural" Resources Committee, Nick Rahall. Every aware of the importance of symbolic acts, Rahall even intends to rename the committee to the Natural Resources Committee.

I really sounds as the environmental interests got what they wanted out of the election. With Pombo out and Rahall running the committee, it looks like things will be very different.

Rahall's goal will be "not to engage in the wholesale destruction of pristine federal lands, sacrificing them on the altar of energy development," he told a press conference, but instead to "protect those resources which Americans cherish as places to recreate, hunt and fish."

We all know that there good words mask a lot of mischief, as in Pombo's use of the term "sound science". But, the following are the main points of Rahall's plans for the next two years. A

mong his top goals, Rahall listed reform or repeal of Republican legislation and Bush administration policies giving oil and gas companies breaks on royalty payments. He wants to rewrite the Mining Law of 1872 to put environmental controls on gold, silver and other hard-rock mining, and extract royalty payments from mining companies.

Rahall said there would be no more attempts to rewrite the Endangered Species Act to give more rights to property owners _ a priority of Pombo's _ and said he supports maintaining existing bans on offshore drilling, and would lean toward making them permanent.

Rahall also promised a sharp focus on oversight of the Interior Department.

"There's a lot of questions that have not been asked of the Interior Department for the last six years, and we're going to ask them," he said.

Still, Rahall will have to work with Don Young as ranking Republican on the Natral Resources Committee and Young's record is almost as bad as Pombo's in some areas.

What is missing from Werner's reprot is any mention of Coal. Rahall is from West Virginia, a large coal producer. Barbara Cubin, a long time Republican on the Committee is from Wyoming, another Coal producer. I would forcast that the new committee will do all it can to foster the wonderfully misnamed "clean coal" technologies over the next two years, maybe even bringing out Pombo old analysis of Mercury non-pollution to support their efforts.

Maybe the Who had it right, but we will take what we get, give thanks during this holiday season, and pick up again where we need to.

Have a great holiday and get plenty of rest.

Meta Say No To Pombo

2006-11-30T00:20:00.000-08:00

So what is to become of ~~Say~~ Said No To Pombo? That was the question VPO asked privately in the week after the election. There was one suggestion that it be renamed Say Yes To McNerney and start working towards Election 2008, another that it continue on with the same name and be enlarged to cover all the political races in the geographic area encompassed by CA-11. The inclination shared by both Matt and me was to simply end it and leave the archive behind as an artifact of the 2006 CA-11 race.

But VPO and, to a lesser extent, Delta have continued to post, visitors continue to check in and leave comments, and at last glance we still had 364 subscribers. And the realization has slowly sunk in that SNTP is, in a very real sense, a shared community that transcends just the handful of writers who appear on the front page. I can’t help but feel that for Matt or I to peremptorily shut it down would be pretty autocratic. So the question that I’m asking of you as SNTP readers is what do YOU think should happen?

First, though, in that context, I’d like to share with you the underlying vision that has propelled me forward over the last 13 months. Early last fall, kid oakland introduced me to Matt Lockshin. Matt was deeply interested in activism and the CA-11 race against Richard Pombo, and I knew quite a lot about the political history of the district. We started talking regularly about the various campaigns. In early October, in a wide-ranging discussion, I asked him point-blank what he was hoping to take away from this race. Here is his answer:

I'm taking a rather long look at this campaign, and this is kind of where I'm at... If Jerry McNerney wins the primary, that's a black eye for all the people who want to co-opt the Democratic Party and make it an insiders’ game. But it doesn't belong to them, it belongs to us. People like the DLC and Ellen Tauscher have systematically separated the Democratic Party from the ideals that gave it nobility and vigor. Money might make the world go round, but there aren't enough mercenary political operatives in the world to fight the battles we need to fight. We need to take our damn party back, and this is a chance for us to stand up to the forces that be and tell them they can't push us around. Furthermore, even if McNerney doesn't win against Pombo, we (broadly speaking the grassroots volunteers) need to work to ensure that his campaign is an organizational tool. The wind should whisper in our ears, "Organize, organize, organize." I've made numerous contacts over the net in the last two weeks, and so, so many people are ready to help fight Pombo. Too often the Democratic establishment has laid down without a fight. Let us show them and the Republicans what we're made of. Let us marshal our troops and show them that there are lions among us. To do this we need to start creating the overarching connections between disparate groups of like-minded individuals that the DLC has created. We may be the underdog in some sense, but the truth is that there are a hell of a lot more people who will fight for this cause than will fight for the status quo. Maybe that's not the case in certain areas, but goddamnit this is the Bay Area and if we can't do this, nobody can.

To be honest, I am more interested in Jerry McNerney as a symbol and a rallying cry than a candidate. It is not that I am disinterested in his candidacy. I deeply hope that he wins. But he needs to understand that he is part of something bigger than himself and act in light of that fact. He needs to be a fighter. Regardless of his strategy, he needs to be bold and be strong. He also needs to take the initiative. I am concerned that the people he has surrounded himself with will try to play it safe and make him boring and unremarkable. In fact, I have heard from others that this is the case. Even you seem to suggest as much.

The real argument against those people is our own efficacy. If you do not want to put yourself in a position to have to kowtow to the safe and boring style of organizing, then do what you can to help McNerney in your own way. I think that the internet provides great opportunities to do this. We could create an all-volunteer rapid response group independent of the campaign. We could raise money through outreach to the netroots. I am already planning on establishing an anti-Pombo blog. There are many, many things we can do. Sure, at some level all of our efforts need to get funneled back into the campaign. But every gift you give also gives you a bit of leverage. I don't mean this in a sleazy quid pro quo way. But really, if we do something powerful and effective, both McNerney and other politicians ought to notice. And the efficacy and the power will speak much louder than anyone else.

Also, I suppose that at bottom I am motivated by a need to not watch this train-wreck unfold while I stand idly by and watch. If we try and fail, at least we can take solace in our effort. It is time -- past time -- for me to take a stand for what I believe.

We have the power to create something that is deeper and more enduring than Jerry McNerney. Howard Dean lost his bid for president but he created a tide of new activists. We can do something similar in CA-11, and lay the groundwork to turn it a hell of a lot more blue. You need to find your own way to express the passion and concern you obviously have. I will not judge the choices you make. But I hope you find a way to express your own agency in a way that is authentic and empowering.

That is what we’ve tried to do here over the last year. And even though we did Say No To Pombo, our work is far from done. So where do we go from here? And is SNTP the vehicle to take us there?

Machado "coulda ben a contenda", missed his chance to beat Pombo

2006-11-29T09:08:00.000-08:00

There seems to be some confusion about Term Limits in the California Legislature (and this is relevant to the Congressional Race because legislators termed out often seek other, "higher" offices).

State Assembly -- 3 terms, which at 2 years each = 6 years
State Senate -- 2 terms, which at 4 years each = 8 years

Therefore, in the case of state Senator Mike Machado: He served in the Assembly from 1994 to 2000. (So termed out of Assembly.) He was elected to state Senate in 2000, re-elected in 2004. So he is termed out of the Senate in 2008.

Will he challenge McNerney for the Dem nomination in 2008? Who knows, but it is quite unusual to run against an incumbent in your own party, unless that person's job performance is so corrupt, dismal, or out-of-tune that the voters in the party want a change. This was the case with Pombo, where McCloskey and Beningo (Republicans) were able to get one-third of the Republican vote in the primary. That showed that even a good number of Republicans were sick and tired of Pombo and the Republican Congress/Administration.

With Machado, we have a guy who has been in public office for the last 12 years. I heard during the last election season that he was considering running against Pombo, but had just come off a tough re-election in 2004, where each side spent $5 million (he ran against Gary Podesto), in one of the most expensive state legislature races ever.

So he was reluctant to gear up for another tough run, and at the time (early 2006), Pombo was looking pretty strong.

Machado may have missed his chance for Congress, unless McNerney really crashes and burns over the next two years. That seems unlikely. The pundits are saying McNerney is vulnerable because of the voter registration in the Republican's favor in the district, not because he is failing the Dems. In fact, most articles have noted the McNerney (a PhD in Mathematics) is a quick study and will learn how to make his way in Congress, especially with the rest of the Bay Area delegation being Democratic and supportive of him, and with a Dem majority in the House.

The other noise I heard during the last primary season was that for Machado, who has a family farm in Linden, the idea of commuting to DC was not all that attractive. Obviously, Sacramento is just around the corner from Linden. At this point, my take is that Machado will look for a job in Sacramento, not in Washington. What state office could he run for next? I don't know, I am not focused on Sacramento at this point, and that is getting off-topic. Maybe even he has had enough of politics, and will be happy to ride around on his tractor, raising peaches and almonds, or whatever grows on his farm.

But part of the fun of politics is that you just never know, do ya? According to my dictionary, "ambition" means "eager for power or success". Funny thing, though -- it comes from the old Latin/French words mean "to go around soliciting for votes".

Republicans: "This is Blackhawk calling Houston. Come in, Houston. Over"

2006-11-27T11:49:00.000-08:00

Don't know if anyone is reading this blog this weekend, or if you are too stuffed with food, too busy watching football games, or actively engaged in "discussions" with the more conservative elements of your family, but here is something for your post-Thanksgiving/pre-Election 2008 ruminations.

Lisa Voderbrueggen of the Contra Costa Times had this to say about possible 2008 challengers to McNerney:

Republicans and even Democrats almost certainly will field opponents against the political novice [McNerney]. Insiders are already talking about possible challengers.

The names being talked about -- although none has publicly indicated they intend to run -- include state Sen. Mike Machado, D-Linden, and Assemblymen Guy Houston, R-San Ramon, and Greg Aghazarian, R-Stockton. All three will be termed out of the state Legislature in 2008.

[Note: Houston and Aghazarian are termed out of their Assembly seats in 2008, but could still run for state Senate. Machado already served his three terms in the Assembly and will be termed out of the Senate also in 2008.]

And here are some remarks from the right-leaning Tim Hunt, former editor of the Tri-Valley Herald, in reference to Pombo's defeat Nov. 7:

Notably, there may be one Republican beneficiary to Pombos loss — Assemblyman Guy Houston. Houston won re-election over lawyer Terry Coleman for his third and final term in the Assembly.

There is no Republican-safe state Senate seat in the East Bay so Houston will face an uphill battle if he wants to stay in Sacramento after his Assembly term is up. However, if Pombo decides he's done with politics, McNerney will be ripe for the taking in two years because it will still be a Republican district [* see my note below]. Houston is a tireless campaigner and has represented his Assembly district well.

So there you have it, sports fans -- the ugly blue and yellow "Pombo" signs have not yet come down, and already there is speculation and positioning for 2008. That's what happens with a two-year election cycle. Hard to believe, but this coming summer will be when challengers will begin posturing for the 2008 primaries. So who do we have here?

(Rather than make this an overly lengthy post, I will look at each of these possible candidates in subsequent posts. Let's start with Mr. Houston):

Guy Houston, who has been in elected office since 1994 (first as mayor of Dublin, then as state legislator), is termed out of the State Assembly in 2008, and there is no likely State Senate seat he could go after. Houston's 15th Assembly district overlays the 11th District reasonably well. Houston does not represent Tracy, Lodi, and some of the other more eastern sections of San Joaquin. Also, Livermore, the largest city in his district, is not in the 11th. But the match is about as close as the state and federal districts get.

Houston labels himself a "fiscal conservative", that is, against raising taxes and for cutting government spending. I don't find the "fiscal" part so bad, as I am all in favor efficient government. But the "conservative" part turns me off. Houston definitely leans right. And as far as the environment, he is almost as bad as Pombo, though not quite a zealot like that soon-to-be-retired disgrace. For instance, he is endorsed by the CLORV - California League of Off Road Voters (though I guess they have to get back on the road to actually vote). That is the same organization that wrote desperate emails urging their members to help "Richard" in the 2006 election.

Houston beat lawyer Terry Coleman, 55% to 45%, this past election. This was just about the same percentages when he beat lawyer Elaine Shaw in 2004. (In an interesting twist, Elaine Shaw ran and lost against Pombo in 2002.)

To sum things up, here is a recent emailing from the Blackhawk Republican Women group, where they deplore Pombo's loss, but look to take the district back. In the mailing, they make sure to praise Guy Houston, while continuing to foster their delusions about a "McNerney/Media slime campaign". Umm, excuse me Ma'am, but the word "slime" more accurately applies to Pombo and other similar corrupt Republicans, not people like Jerry McNerney. But here is the quote, see for yourself. They sure sound bitter:

Opinions on the 2006 election and how we can take the Congress back!

The Pombo Race - The outcome of this race continues to trouble all of us. A review of the voting patterns is rather stark. It appears that the McNerney/Media slime campaign really took hold throughout the district. Calls were made into the district the last week falsely charging Pombo with covering up the Foley affair among many other false charges. Meanwhile, McNerney got a free ride even though he is a complete empty suit.

I want to especially thank Guy Houston for his help in the Pombo race down the stretch. As many of you know, in the same areas, Guy was polling as much as 20 points better than Pombo before the election. Guy stepped up by doing recorded calls and assisted in many other ways. In the end, it appears that Guy polled over 10 points better in the same areas. Guy also did better than registration in our area.

Thank you Guy – we look forward to great things from you and a bright future.

Well, they got everything all mixed up there, with the labelling our new Congressman, the one with a PhD, an empty suit, and some fantasy about robocalls tying Pombo to Foley. But the emphasis on "Guy" and "take Congress back" is hard to miss.

"Take Congress Back" -- that is interesting. Seems they are longing for the good old days of DeLay/Foley/Cunningham/Pombo/Abramoff corruption!

* Note:
I object to Hunt's classification of the 11th District as a Republican district. I know he is going on the voter registration advantage of something like 44% R to 37% D (as of Sept. 2005). But the district not only voted Dem for McNerney, they also went with Boxer and Feinstein, both Dems, in their respective US Senate races. And after McNerney's win, I hope the Dems will continue their voter drives to even out the spread.

Sierra Club Award to Pete McCloskey

2006-11-21T21:37:00.000-08:00

I got an email tonight that mentions the fact that last Friday evening, the Sierra Club presented Pete McCloskey with their 2006 EDGAR WAYBURN AWARD. The email said that there was no way that Pombo was going to lose if Pete had not run against him. Established in 1979, The Edgar Wayburn Award honors "outstanding service to the environmental cause by a person in a governmental position, either executive or legislative."

Well, it looks like running a good race was enough.

This was not the first time that McCloskey has received an award from the Sierra Club. In 1972, he was a recipient of their Distinguished Achievement Award.

As a decorated Marine Officer, I am sure that Pete would always give the credit to his troops. So, I am sure it is with this. There are a lot of people who did many things. Some enlisted to go along with Pete. Others went with Jerry, but we all met our objectives.

The Return of Pombo? Unlikely

2006-11-21T14:06:00.000-08:00

It's only been two weeks since McNerney's spectacular win over Pombo and already people are looking to 2008. Congressman-elect McNerney is getting situated in DC and learning the ropes. He grabbed a nice appointment to the Dem's steering and policy committee, and is angling for a seat on the Energy Committee, as well as the Transportation or Agriculture committees.

However, back in the 11th District, positioning for the 2008 race is taking place. Pombo himself has not ruled out another run, though it seems Annette wants him to get some work done around the house first. From SF Chronicle article Pombo weighs options in wake of stunning defeat:

The brash 45-year-old conservative, who's led a decadelong crusade to rewrite the nation's environmental laws, isn't sure what he'll do next. He's already getting job offers, but must wait because of ethics rules. He hopes to continue to push the agenda of property-rights groups. And he's not ruling out running to regain his congressional seat.

He's convinced that his successor, McNerney, will be ousted two years from now.

"There's no doubt," Pombo said. "We're already hearing guys are talking about running against him in the primary because they know in a different atmosphere the chances of him holding that district aren't that great. Because he's going to have to vote. Nobody would cover him before, who he was, but as the incumbent they will have to. He's going to be voting on things that the people in that district don't like."

He said there are several Republican mayors and state legislators in the district who would make good candidates. And he added, "I may consider running again for Congress. I really haven't made that decision, and I don't want to make that decision right now."

However, it seems the other Republican-pundits are not promoting another Pombo run. This prognosticator I quote here pretty much rules out "The Return of Pombo". From Election Projection:

California CD-11: Due to some pretty extensive corruption issues, incumbent Richard Pombo was beaten comfortably by Jerry McNerney. If the GOP can find a legitimate challenger, this seat will be ripe for the taking.

And from Red State "Way Back to Majority":

focussing [sic] on the House, specifically on the seats Republicans lost on November 7th, I am taking Scott Elliot's far more expert opinion on the issue. He estimates over at Election Projection that the Democrats that won these seats from Republicans are going to prove to be one-term wonders come 2008 - provided, of course, that the GOP does not mess things up for itself and create another Blue Wave.

# Texas CD-22
# Florida CD-16
# Kansas CD-2
# Kentucky CD-3
# Ohio CD-18
# Pennsylvania CD-4
# Pennsylvania CD-8
# Pennsylvania CD-10
# New York CD-19
# California CD-11

As they say, "it ain't over til it's over", but it seems in this District, it won't be over for a long time, with the Dem tide flowing into the Delta, then maybe ebbing, then flowing, etc. If nothing else, redistricting takes place after the 2010 census, so that will likely change the layout of the District.

But for now we can savor the good news that Pombo was beaten soundly. Even if a Republican were to win a future election in the District, it is unlikely the person would be anywhere near as extreme and ideological as Pombo.

Pombo concedes, but looks to "reform" ESA in lame duck session

2006-11-09T04:50:00.000-08:00

I warned you about the Lame Duck session coming up. From Stockton Record article today:

Pombo said he has one last chance to get his career-long quest to overhaul the Endangered Species Act though Congress, during the lame-duck session that begins later this month. If that fails, Pombo said he expects Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, to pick up where he left off. "It's something that has to get done," he said.

It looks like the work of SayNoToPombo is not quite done yet. Pombo can still wreak some havoc during the lame-duck session. Maybe he will also try to get Arctic drilling and some of his other bills through, in a last-minute, "Hail Mary" assault on the environment.

I don't know what we can do to oppose this. It shows that it is important not to let down our guard until Pombo is truly "back on the ranch".

Also, did you notice he hopes Cardoza, a Democrat, will carry his ESA attack forward? What awful irony if we work so hard to oust Pombo partly because of his ESA stance, then have Pombo succeed either in the lame duck session or later in abstentia through a Democrat.

Resounding Victory for Jerry

2006-11-08T08:00:00.000-08:00

Make no mistake, this is a decisive victory, with Jerry getting 53% to Pombo's 47%. In a district with 6% registration advantage on the Republican side, that is incredible!

Congratulations to all, but especially to Jerry and his team. Also, Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club, and the Humane Society can all take a bow. We owe them a lot for deciding to jump into this race. And I want to send a special thank you to Pete McCloskey, who was not blinded by partisanship, but could see what was necessary to do for the good of the country, and then went ahead and did it. There are many, many others to thank, too long to list here.

I am ecstatic. I think we all are. This is a stunning upset, one we all desperately wanted, but often doubted could be pulled off. But we did it with people power, not floods of money. I have never seen such grassroots, people-to-people, boots-on-the-ground campaigning like this ever before.

Now, the Monday morning quarterbacks will come out and analyze this to no end. That will be fun. Stay tuned.

But I want to issue one word of warning here, and that is "lame duck". Word on the street is that Pombo and other Republicans have some nefarious legislation lined up for the coming lame duck session of Congress. My sense is that the defeated R's are bitter and vindictive, and will try to pass some truly awful bills while they still can. So let's watch out for that.

And let's also remember, "winning is only the beginning". Let's continue the work, and see what we can do to help Jerry be successful in Congress so he can truly represent all the good people of this widespread, diverse district.

Meanwhile, I will keep singing "Happy Days Are Here Again!"

Stockton Record: He’s Your Congressman — Learn His Name

2006-11-08T02:53:00.000-08:00

The Stockton Record has not been a friend to its new Congressman, Jerry McNerney (gosh, it feels GOOD to say that). Falling all over themselves and managing to impale themselves in the process, the Record’s editorial board endorsed Richard Pombo a few weeks ago despite SEVERE MISGIVINGS. Well, guys, you should have listened to that quiet little voice that resides inside you. Your readership certainly did.

So here is how the Record describes this morning's election results in a late-breaking article by Hank Shaw and Zachary K. Jackson:

Richard McNerney declared victory at 12:15 a.m. today, leading 52.3 percent to 47.7 percent with 90 percent of the precincts reporting, including 100 percent from San Joaquin County.

"We won this thing. It's ours," he said amid cheers.

Um, guys, RICHARD was your OLD Congressman — JERRY is your new one. Get used to it.

Congressman McNerney

2006-11-08T01:27:00.000-08:00

A hat tip to "anonymous" — CNN has projected Jerry McNerney as the winner of the Congressional race in CA-11. With ~~95%~~ ~~98%~~ 100% of the vote counted, McNerney leads Pombo 53-47%.

Congratulations to every single one of the literally thousands of grassroots volunteers who worked on this campaign. You had the courage of your convictions and the will to work your hind ends off. YOU made it happen.

The post-mortems will start tomorrow after we've all gotten some sleep.

Election Results as I get them.

2006-11-07T20:50:00.000-08:00

I will keep editing and updating this post as results are available.

I am not going to make it through the night. It looks like this is going down to the wire. With 34% of precincts reporting....

Jerry McNerney (Dem) 37,353 51.3%

Richard W. Pombo (Rep) 35,516 48.7 %

It is pretty clear now that this comes down to whether or not McNerney was able to turn out enough voters in Alameda County, where he has a commanding lead, or Contra Costa County where he is leading a bit, to offset Pombo's lead in San Joaquin County, which is about 54% - 46%.

For the actual count... click here.

Election Night

2006-11-07T20:14:00.000-08:00

You can check out election results here. CNN has just projected that the Democrats will take over the majority in the House of Representatives. Delta has kindly offered to update results for SNTP — so keep checking back for results.

Dear Mr. Pombo:

2006-11-07T02:28:00.000-08:00

We started this blog a little over a year ago because we knew that you needed to be escorted out of Congress. You went to Washington in 1992, full of extremist, right-wing Wise Use ideology but, at least in theory, relatively uncorrupted. Well, it didn’t take you long to figure out that your property rights philosophy — that government had no right whatsoever to own land or regulate land use — dovetailed nicely with the agenda of the big-four extraction industries (oil, mining, timber and ranching) and that there was a lot of money to be made melding your underlying beliefs with their financial bottom line. It was a match made in heaven.

For eleven years, you made your way quietly as a junior member of Congress, aligning and enriching yourself behind the scenes with the most corrupt members of the Republican-led Congress. Your mentors were Tom DeLay, Dennis Hastert and John Boehner; your compatriots were John Doolittle, Jim Gibbons, Duncan Hunter, Bob Ney. Your associates — Jack Abramoff, Indian tribes, casino interests, and the ubiquitous oil, mining, timber, ranching and development industries.

The truth is that you might have flown under the radar for a long time. But when you became the Chairman of the House Resources Committee, with oversight for the full one-fourth of America that is owned by We the People, your actions suddenly became an object of scrutiny from every direction. And when you thumbed your nose at America in favor of your corporate buddies, well, you had to know something was bound to give.

You love to whine about how unfair it is that all these environmental groups have “ganged up” on you. Waa-waa. How about standing up like a man and admitting that your actions were so shockingly corrupt and reprehensible that America — my America and your America — could simply no longer tolerate you? Patriots from all across this nation looked at you and saw a villain out to destroy our country, and, acting courageously, decided that the time had come to defend their country from your brand of evil.

You know, evil can come from within just as easily as from without. Yes, we may face challenges from terrorists, but we also face challenges from those within our own country who would subvert our government for their own personal gain. Challenges from people like you. You have tried to destroy the Endangered Species Act; you have tried to open our coastlines and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to gas and oil drilling; you have proposed selling millions of acres of federal land to mining interests at fire-sale prices; you have proposed selling off our National Parks. You have even worked behind the scenes to re-establish whale hunting, for God’s sake. At the same time, you have collected massive amounts of money from the special interests who would gain from your actions for your campaigns (which filter back to you through salaries paid to your family members) and your aptly-named Rich-PAC.

And then you act surprised when Americans finally step up and say “No.” Citizens have flocked to CA-11 from all over the Bay Area, from all over California, and from all over these United States to challenge your destructive actions, and you wonder why they’re all after you. Well, it’s a simple concept. Some call it love of country; some call it patriotism. Here, we call it “Saying No To Pombo.”

Tomorrow, the voters will decide your fate. You have no idea how much I hope that they send you packing. I know you find it hard to believe, but the writers at this blog are not political operatives; we are not paid hit-men; we are not part of any campaign. We are gainfully-employed, everyday citizens, working for free at SNTP and knocking ourselves out exercising our Constitutional right to spread the word about your destructive and corrupt behavior. I fervently hope that tomorrow night, Jerry McNerney is elected to Congress from CA-11 and we can all step away from our keyboards and move on with our lives. But if that doesn’t work out, rest assured that we will be with you for every step of the next two years. This is our country; it belongs to us; and we will not allow you to take it away from us. Not now, not ever.

Welcome To Say No To Pombo

2006-11-06T18:15:00.000-08:00

[Note to regular SNTP readers] I am going to be promoting this post to the top of the page through Election Day. There will be lots of new posts between now and then. Just scroll down past this one, and you will find plenty of fresh material.

Well, we are now ~~five~~ ~~four~~ ~~three~~ ~~two~~ one day away from the 2006 election. Say No To Pombo is starting to get many new readers who are paying attention to the CA-11 race between Jerry McNerney and Richard Pombo. To those of you who are visiting here for the first time, let me tell you a little bit about SNTP. We just recently celebrated our first birthday, and over the last year, the writers here have posted close to 500 articles that touch on issues we feel are important in this year's Congressional race in California's 11th District. Just about any topic that you might think of has probably been written about here.

So I want to invite you to use the handy google feature in the right-hand sidebar of this website. There, you can search this site for any topic in which you might be interested, and you will most likely find some information relevant to this race. So good luck, I hope you find lots of posts that are useful to you, and I also hope that on November 7, you will have several good reasons to Say No To Pombo.

Evans-Novak Says CA-11 "Leaning Democratic Takeover"

2006-11-06T18:10:00.000-08:00

The Evans-Novak Political Report is the latest to weigh in with an election prediction for CA-11 tomorrow:

California-11: Rep. Richard Pombo (R) shows all the signs of a drowning man. His is the most vulnerable district in California. The NRCC actually chartered a plane to fly volunteers to him on Saturday. This could be a sign that they are taking no chances, but it corresponds with other information that suggests real problems for Pombo. There has been no reliable polling in this race, but the fact that Pombo has not released any polls is a bad sign for him.

Pombo's opponent, engineer Jerry McNerney (D), has the backing of the left and scores of volunteers from the San Francisco Bay area. Left-wing groups softened up Pombo by spending the whole year making robo-calls against him. If they succeed in defeating him tomorrow, this strategy will surely be repeated in the future.

Pombo's saving grace may be the GOP absentee ballot effort here. The results may not be known until midday Wednesday or later. But Republicans are glum about this one. Leaning Democratic Takeover. [Emphasis added]

How's that for chutzpah — whine about how your opponent has canvassers coming from 30 miles away, while your party flies in "volunteers" from across the country.

For what it's worth, Evans-Novak successfully predicted Jerry McNerney's primary win over Steve Filson back in June. Let's hope they bat .1000.

World's foremost golf course designer campaigns with McNerney

2006-11-06T17:54:00.000-08:00

The McNerney campaign was surprised and heartened on Saturday when the world's premier golf course designer, Robert Trent Jones II, went precinct walking with Jerry. Mr. Jones was walking with a cane and is due for a hip replacement operation, but still took the time on Saturday to help out. That's a hole-in-one in my book! It shows how dedicated people are to ousting Pombo and getting Jerry elected.

For you non-golfers, here is Mr. Jones's web site.

Powerful Flyer on Pombo and Animal Cruelty

2006-11-06T13:23:00.000-08:00

Click here for the PDF file. If possible, download and distribute to pet stores and at dog parks, etc., in the district today. I heard Pete McCloskey was handing these out in the pet aisles of supermarkets!

The flyer was written and produced by Republican activist Helen Hooper.

Pombo Brings In Duncan Hunter To Boost His Campaign

2006-11-06T11:00:00.000-08:00

Lest there be any question exactly where Richard Pombo stands on the allegations of corruption that have swirled around him, he will be spending the last day of his campaign on the road in CA-11 with another one of the most corrupt Congressmen in the US, Duncan Hunter. And to add to the full irony quotient, they will spend the day visiting veterans’ groups, veterans' memorials and veterans' hospitals.

If you’re not familiar with Duncan Hunter, here’s a post that Howie over at Down with Tyranny wrote about Hunter last winter, entitled “Duncan Hunter — Even Worse Than Randy “Duke” Cunningham”:

Duncan's local paper, the SAN DIEGO UNION, in an article last week called LEGAL LOOTING: CUNNINGHAM CASE ONLY HINTS AT EXTENT OF ROT there is the beginnings of what is sure to earn Hunter the nice long prison sentence he's been working towards so diligently.
Cunningham and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon, worked closely with two local companies – ADCS Inc. of Poway and Audre Inc. of Rancho Bernardo – to make the Pentagon pay for converting printed documents to computer files. They and a few other lawmakers got Congress to allocate $190 million for "automated data conversion" projects from 1993 to 2001. Did the Pentagon want this "help"? No. As a 1994 General Accounting Office report noted, it already had the tools for such work. But Cunningham, Hunter and their House allies didn't care. Audre and ADCS were generous with contributions.
Hunter's graft and corruption led to incredibly wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars-- MILLIONS of dollars that should have been used for armor for our front line troops dying in Iraq and Afghanistan. The UNION points to what they call "absurdities" like "a $9.7 million contract for ADCS to digitize historical documents from the Panama Canal Zone that the Pentagon considered insignificant. This isn't governance. This is looting." Indeed and the looters and war profiteers should be severely punished, although under Bush they are, of course, always protected until their greed and avarice goes beyond the pale and they wind up like Cunningham. In the twisted, self-serving mind of Duncan Hunter "if the Joint Chiefs of Staff think the military's bucks should go toward protecting soldiers and not the pointless preservation of old documents, well, tough luck." The pay-offs to criminal scoundrels like Cunningham, Jerry Lewis, and Duncan Hunter were from Wilkes and if Wilkes needed a multimillion dollar unnecessary contract to preserve useless documents while Army vehicles went unarmored in Iraq... well, making sure it happened was the job of the best friend a corrupt contractor could ever have: the all powerful Duncan Hunter. [Emphasis added]

So Richard Pombo and his pal Duncan Hunter will go out today and campaign among the very people whom they have betrayed time and time again. They have absolutely no shame.

Sabato predicts McNerney win

2006-11-06T08:25:00.000-08:00

Larry Sabato today became the second national election analyst to predict a McNerney win.

University of Virginia Professor Larry Sabato this morning predicted Jerry McNerney would defeat Richard Pombo.

November 6, 2006 Update:

Jerry McNerney (D) will unseat Rep. Richard Pombo (R). Our sources on the ground tell us that momentum is firmly in McNerney's court and that late campaign help from Bill Clinton and scores of environmental groups is giving Resources Committee Chair Pombo a run for his money. Schwarzenegger's get-out-the-vote operation may yet save Pombo, but we will go out on a limb and tap McNerney to win in an upset.

The National Journal's Chuck Todd last week also predicted McNerney would win.

So get out there everyone, and let's make it happen!

Did Abramoff throw expensive holiday party for Pombo and staff in 2004?

2006-11-06T06:26:00.000-08:00

According to the Wall Street Journal, Abramoff threw an "expensive party" over the 2004 holidays for Pombo and the Resources Committee staff:

WASHINGTON WIRE WALL STREET JOURNAL ABSTRACTS December 30, 2005, Friday

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company: Abstracts
Information Bank Abstracts
WALL STREET JOURNAL ABSTRACTS
December 30, 2005, Friday

SECTION: Section A; Page 4, Column 6
LENGTH: 33 words
HEADLINE: WASHINGTON WIRE
JOURNAL-CODE: WSJ
ABSTRACT:

House Resources Committee will hold potluck holiday party in hearing room this year; committee chmn Richard Pombo and staff last year were treated to expensive party by lobbyist Jack Abramoff (S)

LOAD-DATE: December 30, 2005

That would be pretty condemning of Pombo, who claims that he hardly knew Abramoff, but then we have the guy playing Santa Claus to him and his staff.

This was first reported at e pluribus media and cross-posted at Daily Kos, where it has garnered 55 comments.

But did it actually happen? If so, Pombo and Brian Kennedy have some explaining to do. Or are the bloggers over-reacting? I am as anxious as anyone to nail Pombo, and I do believe he and his staff had a much closer relationship with Abramoff and his lobbyists than they are admitting to. But here is why I am cautious on this one. In another article on the Web, which is only available in the Google cache, it says the quote from the WSJ was actually this:

DOWNSIZING: Two years ago, House Resources Chairman Pombo of California and his staff were treated to an expensive holiday party at Jack Abramoff's Signatures restaurant. This year, the committee holds a potluck holiday party in a hearing room on Capitol Hill.

The difference is that the WSJ abstract says "treated .. BY Jack Abramoff" and puts it in Dec, 2004, whereas this one is "an expensive holiday party AT Jack Abramoff's restaurant" and puts it in Dec. 2003.

That is a big difference, and I don't have the tools here to find out which version is correct, or if in fact there was a party in 2003 and in 2004.

But I spoke with someone who spoke directly with Pombo. Pombo claims that his staff chose Signatures for the 2003 holiday party because it was the trendy place to go at the time. Pombo said he only attended that party briefly because he had the White House Christmas Party to attend. He also claimed Abramoff was not there. In addition, there is a record in Open Secrets of a Feb 2004 Pombo expenditure for $900 something as a reimbursement to Signatures.

So is the Wall Street Journal abstract correct that there was another holiday party BY Jack Abramoff in 2004? Or is there another explanation? I really don't know, but do recognize that the abstract writer could have screwed up the actual quote. Anyone got a copy of the Dec. 30, 2005, Wall Street Journal laying around?

As for the bloggers vs Pombo: who is being naughty and who is being nice here? Time for Santa Claus to make his list and then check it twice.

I just hope Christmas comes early this year, like on Nov. 7, when the Grinch (Pombo) is thrown out of office!

Are You Receiving GOP Dirty Trick Robocalls?

2006-11-06T02:06:00.000-08:00

The internet has been abuzz over the weekend about Republican-sponsored robocalls/dirty tricks. Josh Marshall over at Talking Points Memo has published several accounts of these episodes at a fast and furious clip. Here’s just one from yesterday:

We’re getting reports from a number of congressional districts that one or another of the GOP committees is sponsoring robocalls that begin with “I’m calling with information about [fill in name of Democratic candidate].” Apparently, many voters, irate with the flood of calls, assume that the Democrat is the one sponsoring the call.

In addition to the New Hampshire 2nd and New York 19th, which we covered below, TPM readers report such calls in the Illinois 6th (Roskam v. Duckworth), Illinois 8th, (McSweeney v. Bean), and California 4th (Doolittle v. Brown).

So we know that the Republicans are doing this, and we know that they’re doing it in California. Here’s how the scam works. The phone rings, the recording starts: “I’m calling with information about [oh, say, for instance, Jerry McNerney]” — and click, the unhappy voter receiving the call hangs up. These calls are reportedly being received at all hours — midnight, 5:00 a.m., you name it — whenever. And the voters who receive these calls are rightly pissed off. Only problem is that they don’t stay on the line long enough to hear the disclaimer at the very end: “Paid for by the Republican National Congressional Committee.”

Let me be clear about one thing. These calls are illegal. But the Republicans don’t care. They figure that winning the election is the most important thing; afterwards, they’ll worry about little things like paying FCC fines. This is taken from the website of Chris Murphy, a candidate for Congress in CT-05, who has been harassed by NRCC robocalls:

FCC regulations provide that all prerecorded messages must “at the beginning of the message, state clearly the identity of the business, individual, or other entity that is responsible for initiating the call.” [47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(b)]

FCC regulations also prohibit the making of telephone solicitations to residential telephone subscribers “before the hour of 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.” [47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(c)(1)]

So how does all of this figure into the CA-11 race between Jerry McNerney and Richard Pombo? Well, I’d like for you readers to tell me. Have any of you Democratic readers in the district received such calls?

We know for a fact that the NRCC has been spending a LOT of money in CA-11 for robocalls. Here’s the breakdown of NRCC independent expenditures for “phone banking” (e.g., robocalls) over the last six weeks:

9/19, $5,413
9/21, $5,450
9/25, $5541
9/26, $5,412
10/2, $5,400
10/10, $4,271
10/12, $5,480
10/13, $$5,459
10/16, $3,795
10/16, $5,377
10/18, $5,340
10/19, $2,045
10/20, $3,702
10/24, $5,285
10/25, $5,241
10/26, $5,259
10/30, $2,083
11/1, $2,037

That’s $83,590 for robocalls in CA-11 during a six-week period. At an estimated $.05 per call, that comes out to 1,671,800 calls that have been placed — all labeled as “anti-McNerney.” Now, follow along here closely. If approximately 39% of the voters cast their ballot for McNerney in 2004 (Democratic registration in the district is 37%), and that percentage amounted to about 100,000 voters, then we have a fairly easy-to-identify voting pool of 100,000 Democratic voters, give or take. If the NRCC placed 1,671,800 robocalls to that pool, that would amount to roughly 16 robocalls per person (enough to piss off a saint — especially if they're at off-hours).

Last night, Japhet over at DailyKos wrote a diary about his/her afternoon canvassing in Danville on Sunday:

Out of 35 doors (lots of driving to get to folks who had been missed earlier) knocked on, 23 were not home, 4 were for McNerney, 3 were undecided (all registered Dems...wtf?) and 2 told me they didn't vote.

Now, I wonder about Japhet’s experience. That seems like a pretty negative response to McNerney, given Pombo’s horrendous performance and the fact that these were all Democrats. But irritation with perceived harassment by the McNerney campaign would certainly go a long way towards explaining that kind of reaction. Are the Democrats in danger of losing yet another election to Republican dirty tricks? And just how low can the Republican Party go?

[UPDATE]: Both the California Progress Report and the DCCC Stakeholder have now weighed in on this.

Friday Melange — Sunday Version

2006-11-05T13:01:00.000-08:00

SNTP just received this press release from the Jerry McNerney campaign:

Today Michael J. Fox strongly endorsed Democratic Congressional candidate Jerry McNerney. As a vocal proponent of medical research, Fox is supporting candidates who support all forms of stem cell research in races where their opponents simply do not.

"America is about hope, about promise, about always moving forward, and we deserve leaders who are willing to deliver that hope to their constituents," Fox stated. [...]

"I enthusiastically support and endorse Jerry McNerney for Congress. By supporting stem cell research, Jerry McNerney puts America on a path that speaks to who we are as a nation," Fox concluded.

Richard Pombo is opposed to stem cell research and has consistently voted against it.

The SF Chronicle is reporting that Arnold Schwarzenegger, at a recent campaign appearance in Pleasanton, refused to support Richard Pombo.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, appearing at a campaign event in Pleasanton, carefully side-stepped questions about whether he supported Republican congressman Richard Pombo.

Pombo is locked in a neck-and-neck race against Democratic challenger Jerry McNerney. The outcome of the contest in the 11th congressional district could help determine whether Democrats gain the majority in Congress.

Pombo's district includes Pleasanton, but when asked by reporters Schwarzenegger would not discuss the race.

Meanwhile, the Stockton Record recently supported Richard Pombo in what is quite possibly one of the lamest editorial endorsements EVER, entitled “Pombo Should Be Re-elected, But Needs To Change.” Well, it turns out the Record has taken a lot of abuse from its readership for that lapse in judgment. In today’s edition, under the headline Endorsement Doesn't Get Endorsed, Stockton Record readers sounded off. Here’s a sample letter:

The rationale for The Record's endorsement of Richard Pombo was so convoluted it defied reason. To endorse a man on the mere hope he'll change his ways is ludicrous.

The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Other newspapers have declared it's time for Pombo to go.

The Record should acknowledge we have a breath of fresh air in Jerry McNerney, who would bring honesty, integrity and accountability back to Washington.

Carol A. Holman
Stockton

At yesterday’s Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund “Day of Action,” Jennifer Garner appeared and spoke out on the race in CA-11. Ben Affleck was ill and didn’t show up. But the AP had a writer there who reported on Garner’s speech:

Garner criticized Pombo's push for more domestic oil drilling, including in Alaska and offshore, while serving as chairman of the House Resources Committee. Pombo has taken contributions from oil companies but denies the money influences his votes.

Pombo also is a threat to wildlife, Garner said. The congressman, who is from a San Joaquin Valley ranching family, has spent years trying to rewrite the Endangered Species Act to make it more friendly to land owners.

"His stubbornness, arrogance and ignorance are a threat to our survival," Garner said.

After the speeches, 350 volunteers joined Garner in canvassing, and together they knocked on 17,000 doors in the Tri-Valley.

Also making an appearance at yesterday’s Defenders event was a float depicting Pombo as George Bush’s “Main Squeeze.” Modeled after the infamous “Kiss” float that has dogged Joe Lieberman throughout his campaign in Connecticut, this one seeks to immortalize this special moment that was shared by Bush and Pombo.

A tip of the hat to The Hollywood Liberal for the “Main Squeeze” photo.

The Nation today reported on the unhappy situation Laura Bush finds herself in these days:

These cannot be happy days for the First Lady, who spent the day before her 60th birthday on Saturday in the political purgatory that had to make her wonder about the compromises she has made in her life. […]

Watching Laura Bush go through the motions of supporting some of the most disreputable political bagmen of the age has been this election year's least attractive experience, and on Friday things turned downright ugly — Pombo ugly.

In this northern California suburb, the First Lady gripped a podium and squeezing out a pained smile as she discussed the dubious merits of seven-term U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo, a Republican congressman who is so wrong on the issues and so ethically-compromised that, even in a district tailor-made to reelect Republicans, he is having trouble closing the deal. […]

It was Laura Bush's job — as the only prominent member of the Bush administration who is welcome in California this year — to try and stop the bleeding from the base. So she came to Pleasanton to try and lure traditional Republican voters back in the fold. To do so, she had to praise Pombo as a good man and a great congressman — statements that the First Lady is smart enough to recognize as, well, lies.

The poor woman actually claimed with a straight face that, "U.S. Rep. Pombo is an enthusiastic steward of our country's natural resources. Because of his leadership, wildlife, property and people will be protected from dangerous flooding." As lies go, that's a pretty big one, since Pombo, a supporter of selling public lands to mining interests and a passionate advocate for opening up federal wildlife reserves for oil drilling is running for reelection with the support of oil, gas and timber companies and with the opposition of every major environmental, conservation and wildlife protection group in the country.

Even the über-conservative Flash Report has gotten into the action, literally begging its readers to come out and do Get Out The Vote for Richard Pombo. Here’s the Republican spin on GOTV in CA-11:

While the Pombo team is well known for its attention to ground and ability to turn out the vote, McNerney is counting on bussing [sic] in an army from Berkeley, Oakland, Palo Alto and even from as far away as Los Angeles to steal votes on Election Day. Every single vote will matter coming down the stretch.

And with that, it’s time to launch into the drill: it’s all GOTV, all the time, from now until Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. Phone banking will be continuous from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and you can even phone from the convenience of your own home. Canvassing will be continuous during daylight hours. You can join with Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, Ocean Champions in the Tri-Valley or, better yet, go out to San Joaquin County (Lodi, Stockton, Manteca, Tracy) with the Jerry McNerney campaign. Here we are two days out, and this race is neck-and-neck, too close to call. We’ve all worked incredibly hard to get to this point. Please don’t let up now.

Pombo calls me "stupid"; Laura Bush cracks a joke

2006-11-05T08:58:00.000-08:00

Richard Pombo called me stupid the other day. Well, not directly, but in this SF Chron article on Laura Bush's visit:

Pombo, first elected in 1992, told reporters at his rally Friday that he has been criticized unfairly.

"Anybody saying you're anti-environment is just being stupid,'' he said. "I mean nobody's against the environment. We may disagree on the best way to do things, but that doesn't make you anti-environment.''

Well, Pombo, I ain't stupid and I am calling you anti-environment. How so? Let me count the ways:
* Wants people in factory ships to shoot harpoons at whales, that then explode inside the whales and kill them
* Wants increased oil drilling offshore, in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, in wilderness areas and just about everywhere else ("except in his own hair" as one pundit put it), yet at the same time has voted against EVERY increase in auto fuel efficiency
* Championed Bush's "Clear Skies" fraud that would allow increased pollution in the air
* Has perpetually denied global warming exists or is anything other than a natural occurence
* Has sought to overturn and delay bans on Methyl Bromide, a toxic pollutant and global warming inducer
* Has pushed to increase snowmobile, jet ski, dirt bike, and other mechanized recreational transportation in national parks and reserves
* Publish a report on how mercury is our friend, using data almost exclusively from coal industry "studies"
* Has turned the Resources Committee web site (using taxpayer money) into a campaign against environmental groups
* Released confidential data on the FDIC's case against Charles Horowitz (owner of Pacific Lumber) into the Congressional Record so that a "debt for nature" swap would not go through. This resulted in old-growth redwood groves being harvested and destroyed.
* Pushed Bush's "Healthy Forests" fraud that increased logging in our national forests in the name of "fire protection"
* Members of his staff proposed selling off 15 of our national parks
* Pushed for a revision of Mining Act that would have given away large parcels of our national lands to development interests at very low cost
* Supports the development of oil shale which would essentially stripmine large parts of the West
* Has led attacks on the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Marine Mammals Protection Act, etc.
* Killed bills for wilderness designation in Washinton state and a bill promoting stewardship of Long Island Sound
* Supported by NRA, Off-road groups, Safari Club ("hunters" of exotic and endangered animals), not to mention the obvious oil/gas, timber, mining industry support

Need I go on? That is just the tip of the (rapidly melting) iceberg. I think "anti-environmental" is too weak. How about "raging ideological lunatic"?

Oh, yeah, in the title, I mentioned Laura Bush cracked a joke. At the rally Friday, she called Pombo an "enthusiastic steward" of the environment. Har, har, har -- that is a good one, Laura! Very funny. She went on to say the Mark Foley is an "enthusiastic" supporter of protecting minor children, that former Rep. Tom DeLay is a strong supporter of bipartisan government, that former Rep. "Duke" Cunningham is enthusiastic about stopping bribery, and that Jack Abramoff is against buying influence.

However, she did not mention how wonderfully well the war in Iraq is going. Gee, I wonder why not?

Enough of the Bush/Pombo bullshit -- Let's go, McNerney people, let's win this one on Tuesday.

Apathy is our greatest enemy

2006-11-04T19:12:00.000-08:00

This is the last contribution to this campaign from Pete McCloskey. During the primaries, someone said that Team Irish would be a win-win for CA 11. Well, one Irishman is still in the hunt.

This is the last comment / OpEd from Pete McCloskey that we will see before the election. In it, he identifies our greatest enemy. It is not Pombo, or Doolittle, or even Bush. It is apathy.

Pete wants everyone to spread this word, and then make sure that we are not so busy that we forget to vote ourselves. This is up on PomboWatch and will soon be posted whereever I can get it.

__
Apathy is our Greatest Enemy

The benefit of closely-contested elections cannot be better demonstrated than here in Northern California where we have been recently blessed with the visits and advocacy of not only President Bush, his lovely wife Laura, Vice President Cheney and Speaker of the House Hastert, but also by former President Bill Clinton. But now, as Rudyard Kipling once wrote: "The tumult and the shouting dies. The kings and princes do depart...."

And lest we forget, whether the powerful Richard Pombo and John Doolittle remain in office, and indeed, which party will control the House of Representatives next year, depends on the ordinary citizen who cares enough to vote. But here, unfortunately, apathy reigns supreme. It may be the greatest enemy of the democracy we are privileged to have inherited.

It is regrettable that the combination of gerrymandering, the recent Abramoff bribery, ethics and other scandals, coupled with the conduct of men like Tom DeLay, Robert Ney, Duke Cunningham and Mark Foley, all of whom have resigned in disgrace, seems to have deterred so many voters from participating in our country's greatest legacy, that of the free and secret voting process. Our various voting registrars say that we will be lucky to see a 50% voting turnout next Tuesday, despite the serious issues which face the next Congress. The turnout of our younger generation, those with the most at stake, may be less than 30%

The recent poll showing that less than a third of the people respect what Congress has been doing is not as disappointing as the fact that half of the electorate doesn't seem to care enough to try to change it. Even Iraqis participate more than Americans in the democratic process we have so proudly pioneered and have suggested is the answer to the world, enforced if necessary by the "shock and awe" firepower or other means to achieve regime change in governments we deem inimical to U. S. interests.

In part, I believe voter disinterest stems largely from the gerrymandering which has made most citizens understandably despair that their votes can make a difference. But that does not explain the widespread apathy in the 4th and 11th Districts.

Whatever may be the result of the November 7th elections, let us hope that the citizenry will now rise up and demand the creation of an honorable system of drawing congressional district lines The politicians of both parties have repeatedly demonstrated their unwillingness to do more than reassure their own re-elections. The result has been that of California's 53 congressional districts, in only 3 do voters have a chance to force policy changes in the People's House. It was the Democrats, after all, under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi, that made that unholy bargain back in 2002 to assure the retention of 30 Democrat seats in return for the guarantee of 20 Republican seats. That 2 of those seats, those in the 4th and 11th Districts, are occupied by avid supporters of the Iraq War and Jack Abramoff, and are challenged with vigor by two inexperienced but patriotic commoners, has brought great attention to us throughout the nation, but alas, is still unable to get more than half of our citizens to care enough to vote. Even Presidents and former Presidents have been unable to stimulate the other half to vote. It's sad. We owe more to the fine young men and women risking their lives for us around the world, whether in combat or diplomatic and humanitarian service.

If DeToqueville were to revisit America today, he would probably conclude that Americans deserve what they get in the quality of their political leaders.

Pete McCloskey, Rumsey, California. November 4, 2006

Paid Canvass in Danville and San Ramon

2006-11-04T11:53:00.000-08:00

Ocean Champions had such great success canvassing in Brentwood (we managed to hit all doors in walkable precincts), that we are now moving our operation to Danville and San Ramon.

Please join us in our effort to help elect Jerry McNerney. We pay $15 per hour. To get involved please call Kevin at 202 285-4510 or email kevin.keefe90@comcast.net.

The effort we put forth in these last days could make the difference in winning this election. Please do everything you can to gain votes for Jerry.

I just came from a Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund event with Jennifer Garner in Pleasanton. There were well over 300 people in the crowd, and these volunteers are now canvassing voters in Dublin and Pleasanton.

Way to go Defenders!

“This Traffic Brought To You By Richard Pombo”

2006-11-04T01:14:00.000-08:00

If you find yourself stuck in traffic going over the Altamont Pass in the next few days, you might see a billboard truck with this sign sitting at a standstill next to you.

The Sierra Club has hired a convoy of truck boards to drive back and forth, back and forth, over the hill carrying the message “This Traffic Brought to You by Richard Pombo.” Their goal is to draw attention to the fact that Richard Pombo has been a lot more interested in promoting unchecked development in Tracy than he has been in solving the traffic problems it has created. If you go to the Sierra Club website, they give an excellent synopsis of the many ways that Richard Pombo has failed his district when it comes to transportation issues.

MISPLACED PRIORITIES FOR TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS
As Congressman and Chairman of the House Resources Committee, Richard Pombo has failed to deliver funds to benefit Tracy commuters already stuck in traffic, while instead prioritizing new transportation projects which are a waste of taxpayer money.

The I-205/I-580 freeway corridor has moved in the past several years from being the 105th most congested stretch of roadway in the Bay Area in 2002 to being the 3rd most congested - and it is getting worse. "CalTrans reports that in the year 2025, average daily traffic will increase by as much as 43%, with westbound PM traffic increasing an average of 95%." More from Alameda County Congestion Management.

A recent article in Contra Costa Times concluded that "in Pombo's 14-year career, transportation has not been at the forefront of his agenda" and that "local agencies privately say the lawmaker was slow to participate" in transportation planning. The most notable example of Pombo's lack of attention to local transportation projects is the stretch of I-205 between I-5 and I-580. Although there had been overwhelming support from local business leaders, labor groups, and commuters for widening I-205 from four to six lanes, Pombo failed repeatedly to help obtain the needed federal money to complete the project in a timely manner. Pombo claims he obtained $76 million for the 11th District in the recent multi-year transportation bill, but the proposal to widen I-205 didn't get a penny! […]

An examination of the transportation projects Pombo does claim credit for shows that solving the congestion problems facing Tracy seems to be virtually his last priority.

So if you happen to see one of these trucks making the endless loop over the hill, spending eight hours a day stranded in endless traffic, give the driver a honk and a big thumbs up. He’ll need the encouragement.

It All Comes Down To This

2006-11-03T15:13:00.000-08:00

In the closing days of the race between Jerry McNerney and Richard Pombo for the Congressional seat in CA-11, things are so tight that, as the pundits love to say, it's all going to come down to which candidate has the better Get Out The Vote (GOTV) effort. McNerney supporters are fired up and ready to go. If you want to join them, here are your options:

Defeat Pombo Day of Action #4
When: Saturday, November 4, 10:00 AM
Where: Civic Park, 100 Main Street, Pleasanton

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner will join the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund for our fourth “Defeat Pombo Day of Action” precinct walk this Saturday, November 4 at 10:00 AM.

Last Saturday, on October 28, there were 249 volunteers canvassing more than 12,000 households in the Tri-Valley area. This Saturday, we’re hoping for a turnout of 300 volunteers to join us as we sweep through the areas not canvassed on October 28 in Pleasanton, Dublin, San Ramon, and Danville to reach more than 15,000 voting households in the four cities for a strong kick-off to GOTV, or Get Out The Vote.

5 Bus Pick-Up/Drop-Off
Oakland/Berkeley: MacArthur BART Station, 555 40th Street, Oakland
Pick-up at 9:00 AM; Leaves Civic Park at 3:30 PM
Questions? Call Josh Sabato (202) 374-3514 jsabato@defendersactionfund.org

San Francisco: Civic Center, 99 Grove St, San Francisco
Pick-up at 8:30 AM; Leaves Civic Park at 3:30 PM
Questions? Call Abraham Kneisley (510) 816-0563 akneisley@defendersactionfund.org

San Jose: 95 N. Third Street, San Jose
Pick-up at 9:00 AM; Leaves Civic Park at 3:30 PM
Questions? Call Peter Leroe-Munoz (510) 867-6300 pleroe-munoz@defendersactionfund.org

Palo Alto: Cal Train Station, 101 S. California Avenue, Palo Alto
Pick-up at 8:30 AM; Leaves Civic Park at 3:30 PM
Questions? Call Alex Nosnik (972) 375-7602 anosik@defendersactionfund.org

Santa Cruz: Parking Lot Next to the Calvary Episcopal Church, 532 Center Street, Santa Cruz
Pick-up at 8:30 AM; Leaves Civic Park at 3:30 PM
Questions? Contact Matt Ortega at mortega@defendersactionfund.org

BART pick-up shuttle will also be provided at the Pleasanton BART taxi-turnaround at 9:50 AM.

We will canvass voters in Pleasanton, Dublin, San Ramon, and Danville about Richard Pombo’s long record of unethical behavior and destructive environmental policies, and about Jerry McNerney’s vision of stronger America founded on strong and smart national security, more effective policies in Iraq, long-term energy solutions founded on clean and renewable sources, protecting our natural heritage, and strengthening our economy.

To RSVP click here.

Or e-mail DefeatPombo@gmail.com, call our office at (925) 249-1626, or visit www.PomboInTheirPocket.org and click on “Volunteer Sign-Up” graphic link at the right-hand column.

Take Back Red California and Project BlueBridge are setting up carpools from both Marin County and the East Bay:

TBRC is focusing our GOTV activities on Brentwood, for purposes of carpooling. Other campaign priorities are Stockton, Tracy and Manteca. Drivers are needed!

The organizer for Brentwood activities is Oscar Gonzales, 323-388-6383 or oscargonzalesjr@hotmail.com.

For carpool arrangements to Brentwood from Marin/SF, contact TBRC volunteer coordinator Bill Sims, wmasims@2xtreme.net, (415) 331-3899, for details and carpool arrangements.

Other carpooling contacts, from Project BlueBridge:

To Stockton:
from Oakland: Raphael at raphaelktam@gmail.com, (408) 203-0934

from San Leandro: Leah at L_Scheibe@comcast.net, (510) 636-1756

To Brentwood from the East Bay:
Kari at kariham@earthlink.net, (510) 207-7257

Heather at hpegas@sprynet.com, (510) 531-6075

To Tracy:
Laura at LKleinmd@aol.com, (510) 525-5355

And, of course, the Jerry McNerney campaign will be active EVERYWHERE in CA-11 this weekend. Go to their special Get Out The Vote link, and you can sign up directly for canvassing or phone banking. If transportation is a problem, you can take BART to Pleasanton, and someone from McNerney headquarters will come to pick you up. Just call them at (925) 833-0463. You can also check for carpools on the ride board at Left On 580.

Richard Pombo - Taker in Chief

2006-11-03T10:24:00.000-08:00

I have followed Mike Fitzgerald's columns in the Stockton Record for a long time. He has written some of the most lucid material on the way that developers are selling the public a bill of goods as well as thousands of new homes in the frequently threatened flood plain of the San Joaquin River.

Today, he weighs in on Richard Pombo and the race in the 11th CD. His new name for Pombo, Taker in Chief, is fitting. Fitzgerald finds many reasons NOT to vote for Pombo and none of them have anything to do with campaign financing or Jack Abramoff.

Foremost, though, it's a referendum on Richard Pombo.

A tight race alone says plenty. Without the 6-point Republican advantage gerrymandered into this district, Pombo would be toast with cowboy pancakes.

Fitzgerald's view of Pombo is more nuanced than most, it won't raise the hackles of the Kossaks, but it clearly identifies Pombo as a dinosaur, an endangered specie that does not need protections.

Pombo is indeed one of the biggest recipients of money from Big Oil. But I believe he favors resource exploitation for reasons of his own, namely his belief in "property rights."

There's a flag-waving undertone when Pombo mentions property rights, a sense of defending a fundamental American freedom from government usurpers and regulation-crazy enviros.

But what does "property rights" really mean to Pombo? His record makes that clear: It means the right to take from the land. To develop property. To gouge the earth for minerals. For one's interests. For profit.

As a referrendem on the politics of exploitation, Fitzgerald said little about McNerney, but clearly sees him as a symbol of the new West.

California recently enacted global warming legislation. Entrepreneurs and leaders will transform society with new sustainable energies. It's the cusp of a new era.

And with impeccable timing, the fates have produced McNerney, unseasoned, but an energy consultant who understands how the Valley could play a new role.

Laura Bush Doesn't Lie

2006-11-03T02:05:00.000-08:00

Former President Bill Clinton appeared in Stockton Wednesday night to rally support for Jerry McNerney, and First Lady Laura Bush will be visiting in Pleasanton this morning to try to generate enthusiasm for Richard Pombo and his sagging campaign. The local media, of course, is completely atwitter at so much star-power being unleashed on humble little CA-11. If you read the local coverage, you’ll know all about the weather conditions, the fashion choices, the crowd size, the level of crowd enthusiasm — all the usual barometers our local writers use to judge political performances in our community.

Very few of them will waste many words focusing on the actual message brought by these political ambassadors. Too boring, I guess. Which is unfortunate. Because what both Bill Clinton and Laura Bush have to say is vital to voters making a choice in CA-11 on Tuesday.

The Tracy Press actually devoted a little space to Bill Clinton’s comments on Wednesday night:

“They believe that the government should be run for and by the special interests. We think it ought to be run for ordinary Americans,” Clinton said. “They believe that decisions should be made by ideological extremists in a way that divides the country; we believe decisions should be made by good, thinking progressives and conservatives that sit down and look at the evidence, hear each other’s arguments before doing what’s best for all Americans.”

Clinton attacked the Republican Party’s record on national security, saying the war in Iraq had emboldened North Korea and Iran to develop weapons, had kept soldiers out of Afghanistan, and had cost the country money that could have been used to implement the recommendations of the Sept. 11 Commission for homeland security.

If you take Clinton's map for American progress and contrast it with the present course that’s been set by George W. Bush and the Republican-led Congress, the contrast is sharp indeed. And it’s obvious that our country is headed in the wrong direction.

That’s why I was so surprised to hear Laura Bush pretty much let the cat out of the bag last night when she appeared on behalf of John Doolittle in CA-04.

"This election is critical to the future of our country. President Bush has an aggressive agenda for the rest of his time in office," she said before hundreds of flag-waving supporters.

I don’t know about you, but that one sentence makes my blood run cold. Just last weekend, I wrote about the ramifications of a Richard Pombo victory in a post, Say No To George W. Bush:

If the Republican Party maintains control of the Congress in the 2006 election, you can bet that the Bush Administration will interpret such a victory as a complete vindication of its policies. With that validation, the Administration will continue its disastrous Iraq policy; it will be emboldened to expand militarily into Iran. The Administration will continue to borrow and spend, cut taxes for the wealthy, and push the national debt into uncharted territory; it will continue to shred our rights under the Constitution. Bush himself openly stated earlier this week that he plans to bring back Social Security privatization after this election.

Now, even though I knew what a Republican majority after next Tuesday’s election would mean to our country, I thought the Republicans were trying pretty hard to keep it under wraps. With the bad notices that the Bush Administration’s policies have been getting lately, I kind of imagined that the Republicans would be a little stealthier about their plans. But no, there it is, laid out for all to see:

This election is critical to the future of our country. President Bush has an aggressive agenda for the rest of his time in office.

And Laura Bush doesn’t lie.

[UPDATE]: Okay. I was wrong. Laura Bush DOES lie:

"U.S. Rep. Pombo is an enthusiastic steward of our country's natural resources," Bush said in Pleasanton, about 40 miles east of San Francisco. "Because of his leadership, wildlife, property and people will be protected from dangerous flooding."

The AP writer covering the event did go on to set the record straight, though:

A staunch advocate for private property rights, [Pombo] pushed an overhaul of the Endangered Species Act through the House last year that gave new rights to landowners and limited habitat protections.

He also supported legislation that would have allowed the sale of public lands for mining and advocated for more domestic oil drilling, both offshore and in Alaska. Meanwhile Pombo has taken campaign money from oil, gas and timber companies that would benefit from his legislation.

Pombo Campaign One Of Ten Worst

2006-11-02T14:13:00.000-08:00

Today, the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza published his list of the ten worst campaigns run by incumbents. Richard Pombo was number nine on the list, but only because it was alphabetical. Here’s the list:

Sen. George Allen (R-VA)

Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT)

Rep. Chris Chocola (R-IN)

Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL)

Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN)

Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT)

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ)

Gov. Frank Murkowski (R-AK)

Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA)

Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC)

Specifically with regards to the Pombo campaign, Cillizza had this to say:

Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.): Pombo, the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee [sic], has raised nearly $3.8 million for his race against Democrat Jerry McNerney (D). But according to Republican officials, Pombo has committed just $400,000 of that total for a television commercials. Spending roughly 10 percent of your budget on television is the exact reverse of how modern campaigns are typically run; most savvy strategists try to spend between 80 and 90 percent of the total campaign budget on television. Pombo has also taken an extended beating from environmental groups over the past year and it has taken its toll. Even though President Bush carried this district by nine points in 2004, Pombo is in a toss up race with five days left.

While Cillizza may have a point about the TV commercial spending, that’s just one of the many things the Pombo campaign is doing in exact reverse. Most political campaigns don’t send their candidate into virtual seclusion, refusing TV requests for interviews; most campaigns don’t have to pay “volunteers” to precinct walk. Such are the pitfalls of running a campaign for one of the 20 most corrupt members of Congress.

Pombo attacks small business owners

2006-11-01T10:50:00.000-08:00

Pombo promotes bureaucratic burden on entrepreneurs

Rep. Richard Pombo has launched attack ads against opponent Jerry McNerney accusing him of failing to fully fill out income reports for two McNerney companies that never made any income. Suprisingly, Pombo has in the past railed against the burden of government regulation on businesses, but now seems to be in favor of the administrative burden federal bureaucrats impose on small business owners and enterpreneurs.

Small businesses make up the bulk of the American economy and provide much of the innovation and growth. By starting six companies, Jerry McNerney has shown the pioneering spirit that has propelled America to its top place in the world economy. Not all of his ventures were successful, but that is the risk every entrepreneur takes. Innovators take chances, and some work out, some don't. Without these innovators, we would not be enjoying the many new technologies that make up an integral part of our modern world.

Pombo has obviously been in office too long, living off taxpayer and contributor largesse, to know the difficulties small businesses face. One complaint small business leaders often make is the burden placed on them by regulatory and government agencies.

Rather than disparaging a small business owner for missing a minor item in one of the many required governmental informational filings, Pombo should be applauding McNerney for his innovation and entrepreneurship. By attacking McNerney on a mistake in a minor filing, Pombo is favoring bureaucracy over invention, and shows he favors the governmental burden small businesses owners face.

However, when it comes to large corporations that provide the bulk of his campaign funds, Pombo is first in line to grant them subsidies and highly favorable deals, at taxpayer expense.

McNerney is much better qualified to bring the concerns of small businesses to Congress and to bring innovation to the 11th District. Vote McNerney for a new energy in Congress.

Links:
Pombo attack piece: Pombo Press Release
AP Article: McNerney forgets to disclose own firms

If you can't tell your own lie, get someone to do it for you

2006-11-01T09:38:00.000-08:00

If there is one thing that is serious in this race, it is the fact that even Bill Clinton is willing to weigh in because he knows it is the right thing to do. This is all about the GOTV effort that begins now and runs until the polls close.

If there is one thing that is hilarious, it is Pombo supporters crying "poor boy" in their fundraising attempts. Pombo as poor boy? That is a laugher. He never say a property he did not want to develop, especially his own.

I like their comparison:

organizations and political zealots …contributed ¾ of a million dollars to the campaign to defeat the re-election of Congressman Richard Pombo, Chairman of the very important House of Representatives’ Resources Committee. They have put over four million dollars into his district to fund false TV and radio ads that use out-of-context information to make him look bad.

Chairman Pombo – to date – has raised about one million dollars and has spent it all to tell his constituents about the good things he has been doing in Congress.

Too bad it isn't true. Even Hank Shaw does a better job than this at counting the money and we know how he tells the story.

If someone still does not know the official numbers....

First, you say Pombo's raised $1 million in contributions. But according to the FEC, where it's a crime to misreport, Pombo says he's raised $3,521,003.21. In addition to that, the Republican Party's thrown in another million, with additional support coming from the National Rifle Association and a couple of other groups. Here's the link, so you don't have to take my word for it:
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00261370/251899/

McNerney, his opponent, has had support from "outside groups" also, but probably comparable to what Pombo's gotten. Must admit, I don't know the actual numbers though. But McNerney's campaign is behind Pombo having raised less than Pombo has, reporting total contributions of $1,578, 894.46. Here's that link:
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00398644/252931/

Oh, well. In Pombo's world, fiction is stranger than fact.

The Big Dog’s Coming To Stockton

2006-10-31T23:13:00.000-08:00

Former President Bill Clinton has scheduled a last-minute appearance with Jerry McNerney at a Get Out The Vote rally in Stockton tomorrow night. Here are the particulars:

Stockton Jet Center
6364 South Lindbergh Street
Stockton, CA
Wednesday, November 1, 2006
9:00 p.m.

Individuals are strongly encouraged to pre-register at Jerry McNerney's website. When you register, you will be provided with an electronic ticket and VIP admission.

we all live in Richard Pombo's district

2006-10-31T11:40:00.000-08:00

You can drive the twisting, labyrinthine shape of California's 11th Congressional district in less than a day but there are very few people who have ever done so.

Regardless of that gerrymandered reality, on November 7th the residents of locales as far flung and disparate as Morgan Hill, Stockton, Danville, Discovery Bay, Manteca, Tracy, Lodi and San Ramon are going to collectively decide who will best represent their district in the 110th Congress of the United States: Democrat Jerry McNerney or incumbent GOP Congressman Richard Pombo.

CA-11, make no mistake, belongs to neither of these two candidates. CA-11 belongs to its voters and residents, and, on November 7th, those voters alone will decide their district's political direction.

In the meantime, I would like to reiterate a point I made exactly one year ago. Regardless of where you live: We all live in Richard Pombo's District.

::

I would like to invite you to pull back for a moment from the contorted map of CA-11's gerrymandered district boundaries to the broader map of the United States.

Currently, of 435 Congressional districts, the Republican Party holds 232 seats. That slim majority, which the GOP has enforced with ruthless party discipline and strong-arm partisan tactics, gives Congressman Richard Pombo the chairmanship of the United States House Committee on Resources, a position from which he has overseen the roll back, degradation and gutting of this nation's environmental regulations.

To put it simply and in terms everyone can understand, Congressman Richard Pombo has proposed selling off the nation's national park system: naming rights and whole parks at one time.

He's that bad.

Now, the current GOP majority in Congress has given Pombo his perch atop the House Resources Committee. (Heckuva choice, Congress!) Hence when it comes to land use and our nation's public resources, more often than not, what Richard Pombo says goes. Every progressive environmental reform, every action taken by every citizen concerned about our water, air and natural resources is outweighed by the power and vote of this one man: Richard Pombo.

To which I have one thing to say: not for long.

Richard Pombo may or may not win reelection in 2006, but taking the bird's eye view I know this much is true: a political party that acts like it owns the Congress of the United States, that treats our government like no more than its private property and partisan fiefdom does not deserve to and can not long lead this great nation.

Simply put, a party that entrusts Richard Pombo to oversee our natural resources, Michael Brown to protect us from natural disasters, and Mark Foley with the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, in no uncertain terms, does not deserve to govern.

We have elections every two years to correct exactly the kind of hubris that has infected the Halls of Congress in 2006. The GOP is not simply feloniously corrupt, they are, in October 2006, morally bankrupt and out of ideas. They can rig gas prices all they want, but we all know that the GOP gas tank is empty.

Whether it's the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina or their warped view on "fixing" Social Security, the GOP is so far from having a credible plan to lead this nation forward that all they can do spew fear and spin the facts.

As Tim Walz, veteran and Democratic candidate in MN-01 put it,

"When you wake up Nov. 8, it can be a brand new world," Walz told supporters last week in Owatonna. "It's not vindictiveness. It's not us saying all our Republican neighbors are wrong. It's us saying this Congress is broken. This rubber-stamp Congress is not giving this country the ability to move forward and compromise."

{from the WSJ, h/t A Bluestem Prairie.}

Now, we all live in Richard Pombo's district because the GOP majority that gave him power and pretends that it owns our Congress said so.

This November, we all have a say in whether that majority continues to govern our nation. Across the country, whether you live in New Hampshire, or Indiana, or Colorado, or Texas, or Florida, or Connecticut, or Virginia, or New Jersey, or Tennessee...when you participate in this upcoming election you are sending a message to the nation and the world. You are a part of something much larger in scope that your local race and efforts.

Richard Pombo and the GOP majority don't cut it. It's our job this November to cut the GOP majority in Congress down to size.

There are heroes among us...all over this country...who have worked diligently and hopefully for this moment. Win or lose, on November 8th we will owe every last one of them a debt of gratitude and thanks. In the process, win or lose, we will have won so many new friends.

It takes courage to stand up to bullies like Richard Pombo and Tom DeLay. Those Americans who've stood up and fought, against long odds, in races where no one gave them any hope 12 months ago deserve our lasting credit and thanks. Their story, in my view, is the story of this election. We are all a part of something bigger than ourselves. When we opppose corrupt politicians like Richard Pombo, that's the point.

In closing, I would like to invite you to pull back one more time and think of Planet Earth. It's our home; it's also a finite resource dependent on responsible and diligent stewardship from every last one of us. In so many ways, if you live on this planet, you live in Richard Pombo's district. If you breathe. If you drink water. If your children play in the sun...you live in Richard Pombo's district, too.

As citizens of this planet, we have a choice over the next decades, we can work together, or we will drown apart. We've tried Richard Pombo's way. It's a dead end. It leads nowhere.

In Tracy and Lodi and Manteca and Morgan Hill...one by one...citizen to citizen...door after door...the voters of CA-11 are realizing that too. Richard Pombo does not own the seat representing CA-11 any more than the GOP owns the halls of the United States Congress.

We may all live in Richard Pombo's district, friends, but not for long.

Nope, not for long.

{This essay also appeared on the website Dailykos.com.}

The People v. Richard Pombo

2006-10-31T10:25:00.000-08:00

A hat tip to Rolfy Boy at Political Blues for finding these videos — one from House Majority Action and the other from Michael Evensen. Both are amazingly good, the first one on stem cell research and the second one on Pombo’s Hurwitz scandal. Both feature folks speaking out on issues that are important to the people of this nation but not so important to Richard Pombo.

Stem cell research probably doesn’t need much of an introduction. Jerry McNerney held a special press event last week to highlight his position on the issue, and the Contra Costa Times covered the event:

Flanked by a renowned stem cell research advocate, a San Ramon Valley pediatrician and a Danville mother of a 4-year-old daughter with cystic fibrosis, McNerney called embryonic stem cell research an integral component of his health care reform platform.

"Health care is a very important issue to me, and stem cell research is one part of that," said McNerney during a news conference held on the perimeter of a children's playground in San Ramon. "We need to move forward with stem cell research. Our country needs to support it as a tool for our health system."

Pombo has consistently sided with President Bush, who opposes the destruction of human embryos for stem cell research.

The congressman was among 180 Republicans who opposed a bill this past spring that would have expanded federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

As to the other video, for those of you who are not familiar with Pombo’s involvement in the Hurwitz scandal, here’s a brief rundown. The LA Times broke the story on this sordid affair back in January:

Reps. John T. Doolittle and Richard W. Pombo joined forces with former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas to oppose an investigation by federal banking regulators into the affairs of Houston millionaire Charles Hurwitz, documents recently obtained by The Times show. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was seeking $300 million from Hurwitz for his role in the collapse of a Texas savings and loan that cost taxpayers $1.6 billion. The investigation was ultimately dropped.

The effort to help Hurwitz began in 1999 when DeLay wrote a letter to the chairman of the FDIC denouncing the investigation of Hurwitz as a "form of harassment and deceit on the part of government employees." When the FDIC persisted, Doolittle and Pombo — both considered proteges of DeLay — used their power as members of the House Resources Committee to subpoena the agency's confidential records on the case, including details of the evidence FDIC investigators had compiled on Hurwitz.

Then, in 2001, the two congressmen inserted many of the sensitive documents into the Congressional Record, making them public and accessible to Hurwitz's lawyers, a move that FDIC officials said damaged the government's ability to pursue the banker.

The FDIC's chief spokesman characterized what Doolittle and Pombo did as "a seamy abuse of the legislative process." But soon afterward, in 2002, the FDIC dropped its case against Hurwitz, who had owned a controlling interest in the United Savings Assn. of Texas. United Savings' failure was one of the worst of the S&L debacles in the 1980s. […]

In key aspects, the Hurwitz case follows the pattern of the Abramoff scandal: members of Congress using their offices to do favors for a politically well-connected individual who, in turn, supplies them with campaign funds.

[UPDATE:] The League of Conservation Voters Action Fund just unveiled a new radio ad that they'll be playing throughout the district — you can listen to the Pombo Mambo here.

Campaign Ad Features Pombo Employee

2006-10-31T06:47:00.000-08:00

When the McNerney campaign aired an ad with veterans explaining why they support Jerry McNerney, Richard Pombo quickly responded with a veterans ad of his own. This commercial features three veterans and the wife of a soldier who is in Iraq. Watch the commercial here and pay special attention to the second person who appears and is identified with the caption, “Tiffany Walton, Husband on active duty in Iraq.”

Yes, that would be the same Tiffany Walton who is on Richard Pombo’s staff as a paid precinct walker. According to his third quarter FEC filing Pombo’s campaign paid Ms. Walton $1,080.65 in September.

It kind of makes you wonder about that group of people standing on the bridge at the end of the commercial. Is that the rest of his office staff? How much were THEY paid to be there?

Let’s face it: Pombo’s campaign is hard up for REAL volunteers, whether they be precinct walkers or TV commercial endorsers. The Laura Bush appearance this Friday is being billed as a “Rally for Volunteers.” And the “price” of admission? Well, it's not exactly free. To get in to see Bush, you'll have to commit to a set amount of GOTV work for the campaign over the weekend.

It’s pretty telling that after 14 years in office, Richard Pombo’s only support is of the enforced variety. I guess he's finally reaping what he's sowed.

Send in the Clowns

2006-10-30T20:58:00.000-08:00

First Lady Laura Bush will be in Pleasanton Friday stumping for her husband's pal, "Marlboro Man" Richard Pombo. One reporter, Hank Shaw of the Stockton Record, titled his blog entry on the visit, "Send in the Librarian!". But I think a more apt title is "Send in the Clowns". I don't mean to be overly disparaging of Laura Bush -- she just strikes me as a classic Stepford wife. I mean it for Pombo's campaign, where it is truly time to "Send in the Clowns":

The title refers to a phrase reputedly used in a circus when an unforeseen disaster had occurred, with the clowns being sent in to distract the audience from the problem. Alternatively, the title could refer to the practice in vaudeville theatre of sending the clowns on to the stage to distract the audience after a particularly bad act

That about hits the nail on the head -- Laura Bush "being sent in to distract the audience" from Pombo's problems. And as far as Pombo's record in Congress, "particularly bad act" barely comes close to describing it.

That is what we have with the Republicans -- a second-rate circus, where the clowns work overtime to keep the audience distracted from one disaster after another. In Pombo's case, we already had Cheney, Hastert, and Bush pass through town riding their tricycles and honking their horns. Now it is Laura's turn.

The clowns just keep coming, but we can all hope the voters won't be distracted by the sideshow The Pombo circus should have left town a long time ago.

Defeat Pombo Day of Action Draws 249

2006-10-30T19:04:00.000-08:00

Saturday's Defeat Pombo Day of Action was a major success, drawing 249 volunteers knocking on more than 12,000 doors in the Tri-Valley!

On a beautiful, crisp October morning, volunteers gathered at Pleasanton's Civic Park and were joined by special guest speakers Rodger Schlickeisen, President of the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, and Wayne Pacelle, Chief Executive Officer of the Humane Society of the United States.

Volunteers broke off into groups for training sessions on door-to-door canvassing (how to score voters' answers, what to do when enthusiastic Jerry McNerney supporters want to help out, etc.). The special guests fired up the crowd and off they went, engaging Democratic, Republican and independent voters in Pleasanton, Dublin, San Ramon and Danville.

Upon returning, volunteers were greeted with a massive picnic lunch catered by the Italian gourmet restauarant, Strizzis, just up the road on Main Street. [For more pictures, click here.]

The event was a huge success and the Defenders look forward to the final Day of Action on Saturday, November 4th with more special guests scheduled to appear!

To RSVP, please call (925) 249-1615; e-mail DefeatPombo@gmail.com; or log-on to www.PomboInTheirPocket.org!

Latest Polling Results In CA-11

2006-10-30T16:16:00.000-08:00

First, a hat tip to Mike McL over a Daily Kos for finding this new polling data.

Majority Watch is reporting the results of its independent polling in CA-11. Jerry McNerney leads Richard Pombo 48-46 with a MoE of 3.1%. The survey of 983 voters was conducted October 24-26.

Folks, political races just don’t get any closer than this one: basically neck and neck with 6% of the voters undecided. Everything that Democrats have worked for over the last two years in CA-11 is going to come down to just one thing — Get Out The Vote. So please hurry on over to Jerry McNerney’s new GOTV website feature and get yourself signed up. This is the best shot Democrats have ever had at unseating Richard Pombo. But we have to do the heavy lifting in the next eight days.

The Republicans are so nervous about this race that they’re bringing in their secret weapon — Laura Bush will be appearing at a rally for Richard Pombo this Friday morning in Pleasanton. But Jerry McNerney has his own secret weapon. You and me. Let’s do it.

Paid Canvass in Brentwood

2006-10-30T16:08:00.000-08:00

On behalf of Ocean Champions, I am back in CA11 for the last week of the campaign to try to put Jerry McNerney in office.

We will be paying canvassers to go door-to-door in Brentwood. Anyone who is interested in joining the Brentwood effort please email me at kevin.keefe90@comcast.net. Why, you may ask, are we concentrating our efforts in Brentwood? From what I can surmise, the anti-Pombo forces seem to be pretty well organized in all other areas of the district. This is where I figure a relatively small force can make a difference. Hopefully, the difference that will put Jerry McNerney over the top.

The last day I spent in CA11 for Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund was in the middle of primary season. It was clear back then that Pombo was vulnerable, but there's a different dynamic now. Pombo is running scared. The prognosticators have moved this seat into "toss up" status, and a recent polls shows McNerney up a few points. Kudos to all of you who have been a part of this effort.

Let's do all we can over the next 8 days to defeat Richard Pombo. And, when Jerry wins next Tuesday, I promise not to take all the credit for putting him over the top in the last week.

It's good to be back in CA11. There's a good vibe on the street.

How Would You Like To Find This On Your Door?

2006-10-30T01:46:00.000-08:00

This is the hanger that Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund has been leaving on doorknobs throughout CA-11. No wonder Richard Pombo is in hiding.

If I were Richard Pombo, I'd go back to bed with a headache, too.

Ramping It Up For McNerney

2006-10-29T13:56:00.000-08:00

Well, this weekend’s canvassing efforts may be winding down, but Jerry McNerney's campaign against Richard Pombo in CA-11 is kicking into high gear. With groups like the West LA Democratic Club making plans to caravan up to the district for next weekend’s GOTV effort, there’s really no excuse left for Northern California residents not to get involved. Especially when it’s so easy.

The McNerney campaign will be canvassing and phone banking pretty much non-stop for the next eight days. You can call or email John Gunn at the McNerney office, (925) 833-0643 or john@jerrymcnerney.org, to make arrangements to come in and help out at ANY TIME (well, almost any time — rumor has it that John does sleep an hour or two each night).

Likewise, the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund will be continuously at work until Tuesday night. Here is their call to action for the coming week:

To Canvass or Call Voters: Monday-Friday:

Come by our office any time between 12:00 PM and 6:00 PM to pick up materials and training.

To make things as easy as possible for BART commuters, we will pick you up from and later drop you off at the Pleasanton BART station taxi-turnaround any day from now until Election Day as long as you RSVP in advance to schedule your pick-up. We also provide pizza or sandwiches in the evening for volunteers.

You can RSVP for Shuttle Pick-Up at the Pleasanton BART Station Taxi-Turnaround: Monday-Sunday: 12:00 PM or 2:30 PM or 5:00 PM

RSVP for one of the three pick-up time slots in advance to schedule your pick-up by e-mailing defeatpombo@gmail.com or calling our office at (925) 249-1626.

Or Come By Our Campaign Office:

Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund
555 Peters Avenue, Suite 105, Pleasanton

Now, on to phone banking. If you live anywhere in the Bay Area or near Stockton, there’s an organized phone banking opportunity for you. And if you don’t live nearby or if the times are inconvenient, you can now make phone calls for Jerry McNerney from your own home or in the company of friends or neighbors without paying long distance charges, thanks to McNerney’s new predictive dialing system. Visit Jerry McNerney’s Phone From Home page to get the details and get started.

Meanwhile, if you like the camaraderie of a real-life phone bank, here are the choices that are available to you:

Phone Banking in Oakland, Oct. 29, Oct. 30, Nov. 1, Nov. 5, and Nov. 6

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, 9:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m. (come whenever you can!)
SEIU Local 535
447 29th St. (between Broadway and Telegraph)

You need to RSVP, to help the organizers plan.

To RSVP, please send an email to
eden@jerrymcnerney.org and type OAKLAND PHONE BANK in the subject line or call Eden at (510) 499-4862

Phone Banking in San Francisco, Oct. 29, Nov. 5

Sunday evenings, 5:00-9:00 p.m.
936 Church St., between 21st & 22nd, near J-Church, 24-Divisadero, 48-Quintara & BART 24th St.

Come anytime, stay as long as you can. Bring your cell phones, campaign is providing computer-assisted dialing and call scripts.

You must RSVP to Alec Bash, alec.bash@gmail.com, (415) 999-6273

Phone Banking in Marin, any time

For training in how to use the predictive dialing system or other phone banking opportunities in Marin, contact Bill Sims: wmasims@2xtreme.net, (415) 331-3899, cell (415) 225-2196 or Josh Crossley at joshcrossley@gmail.com

Phone Banking in Hayward, Oct. 31 and Nov. 7

Tuesday evening, 5:00-9:00 p.m.
Eden Area UDC
1063 A St (At Foothill)

Another opportunity and a convenient way to help Jerry from the Hayward, San Leandro, Castro Valley area is to phone bank on Tuesday nights at Democratic HQ in Hayward.

RSVP to Shawn Wilson, (510) 582-4802

Phone Banking at UC Berkeley, Oct. 31 and Nov. 7

Tuesday evening, 5:00-9:00 p.m.
UAW Local 2865 — Berkeley (represents academic student employees)
2372 Ellsworth Street
(510) 549-3863

CONTACT/RSVP: Scott Bailey-Clifthorne, 415-810-0652 or berkeley@uaw2865.org

Phone Banking in Berkeley, Nov. 2

Thursday evening, 6:00-9:00 p.m
UDC Headquarters
1936 University Avenue

CONTACT/RSVP: Carole Mills, (510) 845-4837 or csmills@sbcglobal.net

Phone Banking in Dublin, Oct. 31, Nov. 2 and Nov. 7

Tuesday and Thursday evening, 5:00-8:30 p.m.
McNerney Campaign Headquarters
6250 Village Parkway, Second Floor

Your participation is crucial. Jerry needs your help this week on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays to hit the phones. If you're ready, our campaign field organizers in DUBLIN are ready for you!

RSVP to John Gunn, (925) 833-0643 or john@jerrymcnerney.org.

Phone Banking in Stockton, Nov. 1 and 2

Wednesday and Thursday evening, 4:00-9:00 p.m.
McNerney for Congress -- San Joaquin County Headquarters
Hacienda Plaza Office Complex
4212 N. Pershing Ave. (about a block and a half south of March Lane)
Suite A5 (southeast corner of the complex)

If you're ready, our campaign field organizers in STOCKTON are ready for you!
Please come out to dial for democracy!

PLEASE RSVP NOW by contacting Alyssa Schmidt, (209) 478-5961 or alyssa@jerrymcnerney.org

Phone Banking in San Jose, Nov. 1

Wednesday evening, 6:00-9:00 p.m.
SEIU Headquarters
2302 Zanker Road

Come help Jerry and have fun doing it! If you haven't phone banked before, we will train you thoroughly and get you started. It's easy!

To RSVP, please contact Raphael Tam at raphaeltam@yahoo.com or call Spandan at (408) 627-7030.

Check back here later in the week for a list of all the GOTV activities planned for next weekend.

Feinstein endorses McNerney in CD 11

2006-10-28T20:03:00.000-07:00

Diane Feinstein, the most popular politician in California, the Senator who carried San Joaquin, Alameda, Contra Costa and Santa Clara Counties by a wide margin the last time she had to run, the Senator who has a reputation of building consensus between parties, has seen fit to endorse McNerney for Congress, something that does not come automatically from Feinstein with the Democratic Primary win.

According to a press release from the McNerney Campaign...

"Jerry McNerney is not a politician," said Feinstein. "He is an expert on clean energy and that's just what we need in Washington – clean energy."

Clean, ethically clean, energy is just what we should be sending to Congress.

Say No To George W. Bush

2006-10-28T13:50:00.000-07:00

The name of this blog conveys a pretty obvious message. For over a year now, we at Say No To Pombo have followed this race in CA-11 exclusively, giving our readers many compelling reasons why Richard Pombo needs to fired. Now, our job has been made fairly easy by Richard Pombo himself. His behavior as a Congressman has been SO remarkably reprehensible that he has provided us with endless fodder.

Richard Pombo has passed legislation through the House to gut the Endangered Species Act, to lift the moratorium on off-shore oil drilling, to sell off public lands for a pittance — and he has been named as one of the 13 most corrupt members of Congress by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). He has accepted campaign contributions from lobbyists and special interest groups and then voted to give them billions of federal dollars. He has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign money to his family and has even taken them on a vacation in an RV that was paid for by the taxpayers. Sleaze and corruption have become synonymous with the name Richard Pombo.

At the same time, Pombo has neglected his district, failing to bring much-needed federal dollars into his community — transportation needs have not been met; levees have not been repaired; air and water quality have diminished significantly. The population has risen dramatically, while barely any jobs have been created. Health care has become more expensive and less readily available. The list goes on and on. Instead of working on behalf of his own constituents to solve the many and varied problems facing CA-11, Pombo has involved himself in national issues that benefit the special interests who contribute to his campaign and his PAC. Richard Pombo has shown broad disinterest and disdain for the citizens who live in his district.

Now, those are all pretty good reasons to vote against Richard Pombo. But there’s an even more compelling reason why Pombo needs to go. He’s a Republican.

That’s right. It's just that simple. Not that there is per se anything wrong with being a Republican. It’s just that right now we desperately need a Democratic Congress to put the brakes on George W. Bush. If the Republican Party maintains control of the Congress in the 2006 election, you can bet that the Bush Administration will interpret such a victory as a complete vindication of its policies. With that validation, the Administration will continue its disastrous Iraq policy; it will be emboldened to expand militarily into Iran. The Administration will continue to borrow and spend, cut taxes for the wealthy, and push the national debt into uncharted territory; it will continue to shred our rights under the Constitution. Bush himself openly stated earlier this week that he plans to bring back Social Security privatization after this election.

George W. Bush came right out and said it for all to hear in 2004, after an across-the-boards Republican victory:

"I earned capital in this campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it," Bush told reporters. "It is my style."

So bear in mind that the 2006 mid-terms are going to have repercussions far beyond the individual races. This election is basically going to serve as either a red light or a green light to George W. Bush and his administration.

By sending a Democrat to Washington, the citizens of CA-11 will be standing up to this President and telling him that he is not above the Constitution or the laws of this land. They will be sending a message that our country is going down a wrong path and we need to correct our course. And the only way to send that message is by electing a Democratic Congress and putting Speaker Nancy Pelosi in charge of the House.

Now, I know that there’s been a lot of frenzied hate-mongering by Republicans over the prospect of Nancy Pelosi becoming the Speaker of the House. They love to whisper her name in the shocked and outraged tones best reserved for mass murderers and child molesters. But, as columnist Brad Barker of the Modesto Bee pointed out last Thursday, the mother of five, grandmother of five, just isn't that scary:

Republican incumbents Richard Pombo, John Doolittle and George Radanovich need fearful voters. They're desperate to protect their seats and their majority party power.

In Modesto earlier this month, Radanovich prodded voters to reject his moderate opponent because he "will vote for Nancy Pelosi to be speaker of the House." Oh, my golly.

When President Bush came to Stockton on Oct. 3 to raise money for Pombo, my Republican assemblyman, Greg Aghazarian, attended and said, "Nancy Pelosi will stop at nothing to become the speaker of the House." Right. She's scary and ruthless.

A "news" item from Doolittle's campaign site: "It's clear that (Democratic challenger Charlie) Brown's campaign is now being run by Barbara Boxer and Nancy Pelosi." I'm trembling.

Congressmen, your party has led us to record-high deficits, a cascade of corruption scandals, a war without end, environmental plunder, the disastrous mismanagement of Hurricane Katrina, the subversion of Constitutional rights, and the United States' crumbling respect and credibility in the world. Let me whisper this to you gently: You guys are the scary ones.

So when you go out and do canvassing and/or phone banking for Jerry McNerney in the closing days of this election, keep the big picture in mind. Yes, this election is about one very corrupt and extreme Congressman who has ill-served his constituents on local issues, but it’s also about something much, much bigger. It’s about the kind of country we want to live in, the kind of future we see for ourselves, the kind of legacy we aspire to leave to our children and grandchildren.

Friday Melange

2006-10-27T14:28:00.000-07:00

The California Majority Report just reported that the DCCC has finally added Jerry McNerney (along with Charlie Brown and Francine Busby) to its “Red To Blue” campaign:

According to the DCCC web site, the "Red to Blue" program is designed to provide financial and structural aid to the strongest Democratic candidates across the country.

But what it really means is national money and staff. Great news for the Dem congressional hopefuls.

A hat tip to Hank Shaw for posting about this indictment of Richard Pombo from none other than Field & Stream. Their conservation editor-at-large just wrote a piece entitled Is Richard Pombo (R-CA) the "Darth Vader of the Environment?"

It sounded like hyperbole when green groups started calling Rep. Richard “Dick” Pombo (R- CA) the “Darth Vader of the Environment.” But as they say in Texas “it ain’t braggin if you can do it”, and Pombo has shown he can – and will – do it to sportsmen and the environment at every turn.

As chair of the House Resources Committee Pombo pushed to allow road building in the Tongass National Forest, sell national parks to private industry, eliminate the moratorium on selling federal lands to mining companies, remove regulations that force energy companies to respect wetlands and wildlife values on public lands, weaken the Endangered Species Act, and rewrite the National Environmental Policy Act so industry would have a more profitable time on public lands at the expense of fish, wildlife, and sportsmen. No wonder real estate developers have paid almost $250,000 into his campaign chest over the years (Center for Responsive Politics.)

In the same vein, Dump Dick Pombo has put up an original song with the following story line:

Former northern Californian Dusty Horwitt has been writing songs since the 20th century, taking his acoustic guitar ballads to both the East and West Coasts. Dusty was inspired to create this song about Dick Pombo after Pombo's attempt last year to sell off the public's forest, high country, and desert lands to developers. Says Dusty:
"Like a varmint from the Old West, Pombo will keep coming back to try to sell off our land until we chase him off for good."

Drum Major Institute has an informative post about the effect of the bankruptcy bill that took effect last year. DMI cites a Wall Street Journal article reporting that credit card companies and the debt collection industry have been making money hand-over-fist as the “distressed debt” trade is booming — unfortunately, these businesses are profiting on the backs of ordinary citizens who find “many creditors knocking at their door when the chips are down, usually as the result of a life-changing event like a divorce or job loss.” Of course, Richard Pombo voted in support of the bankruptcy bill which penalizes the most vulnerable constituents in his district and enriches the special interests.

Finally, I have to make an apology. In last Sunday’s post about Pombo’s War on the Constitution, I referred to an episode of the CNN series Broken Government that will focus on the assault on the courts by both the Executive and Congressional branches, which will apparently feature Richard Pombo. I said that the episode would air on Thursday evening, but, actually, “Judges on Trial” is set to air on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. (re-shown at 11:00). I’m sorry for the mistake, but if you tuned in last night, you saw an excellent episode about how the Bush Administration, with the full support of the Republican-led Congress, has pushed for executive powers never imagined by the framers of the Constitution. Tonight’s focus is on Republicans betraying their conservative philosophy by spending like drunken sailors — and borrowing to fund it all.

It's Hammer Time

2006-10-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

Fundraising reports were filed yesterday with the FEC for the period from 10/1 to 10/18, and for the first time in this election cycle, Jerry McNerney outraised Richard Pombo. The results were similar in the CA-04 race between Charlie Brown and John Doolittle. In their FEC filings, the candidates report the following totals:

Jerry McNerney — $417,000 raised, $330,000 CoH
Richard Pombo — $351,000 raised, $1.05 million CoH

Charlie Brown — $416,000 raised, $382,000 CoH
John Doolittle — $207,000 raised, $712,000 CoH

What’s really stunning about these numbers is that they include the fundraising totals from George W. Bush’s campaign appearance back on October 3 on behalf of candidates Pombo and Doolittle. McNerney and Brown both raised more money with their netroots/grassroots support than Pombo and Doolittle did with a visit from the freaken President. So give yourself a little pat on the back. Good job. Now, it’s time to really get to work.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the NRCC just dumped another $681,750 into CA-11 this week. McNerney has only 1/3 of the cash on hand that Pombo does. The DCCC has been outspent roughly 12-1 so far. That means that now, more than ever, Jerry McNerney is going to have to rely on people power. So with that in mind, here’s your smörgåsbord of volunteer opportunities for this weekend, starting with Project BlueBridge and my favorite, Manteca:

Canvassing Manteca, Saturday, 10/28 and Sunday, 10/29
Manteca, with its 55 precincts, is an important "outlying" city that needs our help to supplement the efforts of the local democratic club. Last weekend, PBB canvassers there found strong support for Jerry McNerney — this is fertile ground for our persuasion and identification efforts. We have canvasses scheduled for:
Saturday morning, Oct 28, leaving [the East Bay] at 9 AM (RSVP to Jane at 510-763-5673, or callbackjane@earthlink.net).

Sunday morning, October 29, leaving [the East Bay] at 11 AM (RSVP to Carol at 510-547-4843 or Carol_Strickman@yahoo.com).
Canvassing Brentwood on Saturday, 10/28 - Meet Jerry McNerney in person. Last week, Project Blue Bridge brought seven volunteers to Brentwood, another outlying area often lost in the fray. Surprisingly, many voters we talked to had not yet made up their mind and were very appreciative of the information we shared. While many folks have heard of Richard Pombo, few had heard about Jerry, so knocking on doors really makes a huge difference!
Carpools leave North Berkeley 12 noon. We will walk from about 2-5:30. Jerry will be in Brentwood from 5-7 for those who want to stay and meet him in person. Contact Kari at 510-295-4781 or khamerschlag@gmail.com. (You can also meet us in Brentwood at 1 PM at 1010 Meadow Brook Drive)

Take Back Red California is also organizing carpools from Marin County to Tracy this weekend.

Saturday, Oct. 28, 9 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
**One carpool will leave from the Larkspur Ferry parking lot in Marin at 7:45 a.m.

Sunday, Oct. 29, 1:00 – 5:00 p.m.
**One carpool will leave from the Larkspur Ferry parking lot in Marin at 11:45 p.m.

Contact Bill Sims, wmasims@2xtreme.net or (415) 331-3899 to RSVP for the TBRC carpool.

Additionally, the Defenders is mounting another huge Day of Action in the Tri-Valley. They will meet at Civic Park, 100 Main Street , Pleasanton at 10:00 AM. There will be special appearances by Rodger Schlickeisen, President of the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund; Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club; and Wayne Pacelle, CEO of the Humane Society of the United States.

These three charismatic and accomplished leaders represent millions of pro-environment and animal welfare advocates throughout the country, and they are excited about this important opportunity to go canvass voters with you to help defeat the politician that Rolling Stone just named the “Enemy of Earth” and one of the “10 Worst” in Congress. Will you please join them?

5 Bus Pick-Up/Drop-Off
Oakland/Berkeley: MacArthur BART Station, 555 40th Street, Oakland
Pick-up at 9:00 AM; Leaves Civic Park at 3:30 PM
Questions? Call Josh Sabato (202) 374-3514 jsabato@defendersactionfund.org

San Francisco: Civic Center, 99 Grove St, San Francisco
Pick-up at 8:30 AM; Leaves Civic Park at 3:30 PM
Questions? Call Abraham Kneisley (510) 816-0563 akneisley@defendersactionfund.org

San Jose: 95 N. Third Street, San Jose
Pick-up at 9:00 AM; Leaves Civic Park at 3:30 PM
Questions? Call Peter Leroe-Munoz (510) 867-6300 pleroe-munoz@defendersactionfund.org

Palo Alto: Cal Train Station, 101 S. California Avenue, Palo Alto
Pick-up at 8:30 AM; Leaves Civic Park at 3:30 PM
Questions? Call Alex Nosnik (972) 375-7602 anosik@defendersactionfund.org

Santa Cruz: Parking Lot Next to the Calvary Episcopal Church, 532 Center Street, Santa Cruz
Pick-up at 8:30 AM; Leaves Civic Park at 3:30 PM
Questions? Contact Matt Ortega at mortega@defendersactionfund.org

BART pick-up shuttle will also be provided at the Pleasanton BART taxi-turnaround at 9:50 AM.

Finally, as always, you can volunteer directly with the Jerry McNerney campaign. They will be canvassing in Manteca, Tracy, Stockton, Lodi, Brentwood, Morgan Hill, and the Tri-Valley. Also, if none of the buses or carpools mentioned above work for you, here are two things to keep in mind. The Pleasanton BART station is very close to McNerney’s campaign headquarters. If you call ahead at (925) 833-0643, they can almost always arrange to have someone pick you up. Second, Left on 580 maintains a ride board for people who are coming into CA-11 to canvass. So, really, you have no excuses left. There are only two weekends to go — it’s pedal to the metal time.

Oh, and money. Give lots of money. Show Ellen Tauscher how it’s done.

NRCC Brings Guns To The DCCC’s Knife Fight

2006-10-26T18:26:00.000-07:00

As the Congressional campaign in CA-11 moves into its closing days, Richard Pombo has gone into virtual seclusion, refusing to speak to the media. Too many hard questions, apparently.

Meanwhile, the group Campaign Money Watch has jumped into the fray, airing this commercial in CA-11:

And while the DCCC finally stepped up to the plate with a commercial that they are broadcasting throughout the district, the $111,954 that they reported spending on Tuesday isn’t going to pay for very much air time.

Much more telling is the fact that after the NRCC paid for yet another internal survey yesterday, they reacted by making an independent expenditure today of $636,925 for television advertising. Taken together with their other expenditures for this week (the usual phone banks plus smear mailer number 18) their spending for the week stands at $681,750. Put that together with their previous contributions, and the total NRCC independent expenditures on behalf of Richard Pombo now stand at $1,331,123.

So if you believe Carl Fogliani when he tells you that those NRCC polls don’t show Richard Pombo in trouble — well, damn, there’s really NO one that gullible, is there?

Bordering on Stupidity

2006-10-26T11:19:00.000-07:00

President Bush today signed the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which passed the House with Pombo dutifully nodding his head up and down like the right-wing robot that he is. Here, believe it or not, is what our soon-to-be retired representative had to say:

Sept. 14, 2006, WASHINGTON – Congressman Richard Pombo (R-Tracy) issued the following statement after voting for the Secure Fence Act of 2006 (HR 6061), legislation that directs the Department of Homeland Security to take necessary steps in protecting America’s borders:

Securing America’s borders is a critical step in stemming the tide of illegal immigration and a lynchpin to our defense against terrorists. Our local communities need to know that we are doing everything possible to ensure their security, and this bill continues to make the safety of our families our first priority. We must have control of our borders; a vote against border security is akin to handing our front door keys to the terrorists.

You know, when I read something like this that is so disconnected from reality, so full of distortions, and so blatantly using "terror", "safety", and "fear" to manipulate voters, that I just want to weep for the depths our country has sunk to. Not only is this guy in Congress, but also has a chance of getting re-elected!

First of all, any sane person, that is, anyone who does not froth at the mouth when they hear Spanish over the loudspeakers at Home Depot, knows that POOR MEXICAN FARMWORKERS and TERRORISTS are two COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THINGS.

Second, a $1.2 billion, 700-mile border fence is going to do VERY LITTLE to stop these Mexican workers from crossing the border and nothing to stop any terrorists (who came in via Canada in 9-11, by the way). It will enrich the contractor that builds and maintains it (that wouldn't be Haliburton, would it?). Even if a fence was remotely a good idea (it's not), with the length of the US-Mexico border at 1,951 miles, a 700-mile fence still leaves 1,251 miles to go.

Third, anyone who has ever visited the border, as I have in California, Arizona, and Texas, knows that it is virtually impossible to patrol. I have been on the US shore of the Rio Grande, and watched how, in a matter of minutes, a truck drove up on the Mexico side, people quickly got out, pulled a small boat out of the bushes, rowed across the river, while another truck sped to the boat launch on the US side and picked up the people as they got out of the boat, then sped away. The one person still in the boat rowed back, hid the boat, and got in his truck and left. This was all in about 10 minutes.

Fourth, if the concern is truly terrorists, then that leaves not only the remaining 1,251 miles of the US-Mexico border, but also the Canada-Us border of 5500 miles (4000 along lower 48 states, another 1500 with Alaska), the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico, plus also all the territories and outlying areas and islands. Another story -- I stayed on the west coast of Puerto Rico one time, and we were warned to watch for people from the Dominican Republic who crossed the Mona Passage by boat and washed up on the beaches there. The point is, there is no way a fence would ever work. Even if it were possible to fence in the entire US in barbed wire, is that something anyone would want anyway? It would be an insane thing to even attempt. It is crazy these Republicans want to fence even 700 miles of the border.

I could go on and on about the inanity of what Pombo is saying. But the most galling is the rampant racism in it. He says "stemming the tide of illegal immigrants" and then "this bill continues to make the safety of our families our first priority". So, Pombo are you protecting your family from terrorists or from Mexican farmworkers? How slimy and conniving a tactic that is, equating poor Mexicans seeking a better life in America with terrorists out to destroy it.

Let's face it, the Act is a xenophobic, election-year measure, designed for one purpose -- to play to the fears and prejudices of the voters by mixing illegal immigrants with terrorists, and making it look like the Republicans are doing something about "the safety of our families". Actually, the Act does nothing about neither -- neither "securing our borders" nor "defending against terrorism". The fence, if ever built, will stand as a monument to the ignorance, ineptitude, and corruption of this Congress -- as well as how desperate Pombo and the other Republicans were to win votes this election.

The Act stinks. Pombo voting for it was bad enough, but his trying to justify it with his racist and pandering comments is just plain disgusting.

See also this earlier post here on Pombo's immigration stance.

Update: Mexico's president-elect calls fence a "huge error":

The United States committed a "huge error" in choosing to build a wall between itself and its southern neighbor, Mexico's president-elect Felipe Calderon said during a state visit to Canada, comparing it with the Berlin Wall. "The wall will not solve any problem. Humanity made a huge mistake by building the Berlin Wall, and I believe that today the United States is committing a grave error in building the wall on our border," he said.

Watch Out! Pombo’s Coming After Your Social Security

2006-10-25T17:52:00.000-07:00

Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water, Social Security Privatization has reared its ugly head. It turns out George W. Bush doesn’t think his plan was beaten down and killed — in his mind, it’s only resting. In an interview with CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo yesterday, Bush raised the issue from its supposed deathbed.

Some GOP strategists we know were expecting Democrats to revive the ghost of Social Security reform right before the elections, but they may not have been expecting the President to serve it up. Bush told CNBC's Maria Bartiromo yesterday that his Social Security reform plan is "very much alive," and he hasn't given up on private accounts.

Now, most of us thought that the resounding public rejection of Bush’s half-baked privatization scheme had taught him a valuable lesson. The public certainly seemed to clearly understand the inherent risks of the plan. Former long-time Rep. Barbara Kennelly of Connecticut, now President and CEO of the non-profit National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare spelled out the problems with Bush’s disastrous plan in this letter to Congress:

The budget analysis makes it clear that the President's privatization plan would increase the deficit dramatically, make significant cuts in Social Security benefits, and cause the Social Security Trust Fund to face a cash-flow crisis earlier than it otherwise would. The President would finance private accounts by taking money out of the Social Security Trust Fund beginning in 2010. According to the Administration's budget, the President's privatization plan would increase the deficit by $712 billion over 10 years. The costs of privatization would balloon thereafter and continue for several decades placing a huge new debt burden on current and future workers.

A recent analysis by the Social Security actuaries concludes that the President's plan would actually deepen the cash-flow problems of the Social Security Trust Fund. The plan would deplete the Social Security Trust Fund so quickly that the trust fund would face a cash-flow crisis in 2012, five years earlier than projected under current law.

Under the President's privatization plan, Social Security benefits for future workers would be reduced dramatically. First, the plan would reduce benefits for Social Security private account holders by cutting benefits based on assumed rates of return in their accounts. Second, the President would use “progressive” price indexing to cut Social Security benefits even further, leaving the vast majority of tomorrow's retirees with only a minimal Social Security benefit. In the long run, the plan would effectively dismantle Social Security.

During the past year, private accounts have been fully debated by the American people and overwhelmingly rejected. The President's own White House Conference on Aging repudiated privatization, which, by itself, does nothing to strengthen the long-term viability of the Social Security system.

But none of that, apparently, is going to deter George W. Bush if he has a Republican Congress behind him. Here are quotes from the CNBC transcript along with a video clip:

CNBC: Is the privatization plan effectively dead, regardless of [what] happens in November?

Pres. BUSH: I would call it a reform plan, Social Security. No, I think it's very much alive. […]

CNBC: Can you tell us any detail about the reform you're thinking about?

Pres. BUSH: I can. And that is that, first of all, this is my idea. As I say, there has to be Republicans and Democrats very much a part of the mix for Social Security. I want to--I think the best way to do this is to say if you're a person at a certain income level or below, nothing changes for you, today or in the out years. If you're a wealthier citizen, your benefits increase at the cost of living, as opposed to a higher cost. So everybody's benefits go up, some go up faster than others. And that'll cure a lot of the problem.

I also happen to believe that a worker, at his or her option, ought to be allowed to put some of their own money in a, you know, in a private savings account, an account that they call their own. It's an asset that they're call their own. They'll get a much better rate of return on their own money than they would in the Social Security if the government manages their money for them, for example. And that would be, you know, a valuable contribution to our economy because it's asset accumulation, which is good for American families.

So where do the candidates in the CA-11 race stand on the privatization of Social Security? Right about where you would expect:

Pombo supports the Bush administration’s plan for private Social Security investment accounts, saying they would give people ownership and control over their retirement benefits, while McNerney opposes such accounts as too risky and causing reductions in benefits.

The American Association of Retired People (AARP) has put together a scorecard for CA-11 showing the candidates’ positions on issues important to America’s senior citizens. Jerry McNerney is on the record supporting all of AARP’s positions on Social Security and Medicare — Richard Pombo didn’t respond.

Jerry McNerney has taken a strong and principled position to protect Social Security:

The administration and Richard Pombo are determined to follow their own agenda, no matter what Congress or the American people want and are determined to push their plans to privatize Social Security. Their private account scheme would affect everyone’s payments and jeopardize the entire system. We cannot let this happen. There are over 90,000 Social Security recipients in District 11. We must stop this by defeating Richard Pombo and creating a Democratic Congressional majority that can stop this cruel effort.

If you rely on Social Security, if you believe that its role in a American society is vitally important — well, you need to get out there and fight the good fight for Jerry McNerney. Because if Richard Pombo has his way, Social Security will be the next endangered species.

Tauscher: Use It Or Lose It

2006-10-25T09:13:00.000-07:00

Chris Bowers over at MyDD started a campaign last weekend to raise money for Democratic Congressional candidates called Use It Or Lose It. Clearly, Democrats across the nation are facing electoral opportunities that we may not see again for a long time. Bowers noticed something interesting. Even though the Democratic Party is competitive in 60-70 Congressional races nationwide and even though the DCCC and the DNC are apparently contemplating going massively into debt to capitalize on this circumstance, there is a big pile of money that remains untapped.

Over the past three days, we fired some warning shots across the bow of ultra-safe House Democrats who are hoarding campaign cash despite having either no Republican challenger, or token Republican challengers. By our count, this comes to over $50,000,000 we could use to extend the playing field outside of our top twenty-five targets. Today, with the help of MoveOn.org and several other blogs, the campaign moves into high gear.

Here is what we want: the 70 ultra-safe Democrats on our list to give 30% of their September 30th cash on hand directly to Democratic challengers, or directly to the DCCC. We then want them to post a statement on their websites, or issue a press release, explaining why they feel said donations are so important this year. In return, they will receive a much better chance of a Democratic House majority, and the adoring love of the netroots. If they do not give this money, it will become more difficult to achieve a House majority, and they might also face some recurring questions about why they did not give when our candidates needed it the most, and when our target list was deeper than it has been in a generation. If they don't give and we don't win a majority then, well, that will really look bad in the future.

Bowers has spearheaded a national campaign to press these 70 Democrats to give serious financial support to their party. He notes that Republican Congressional members do this as a matter of course — they out-donate Democratic Congressional members by almost 3-1. Now, MoveOn.org quickly joined in on this plan, and netroots activists across the country have been contacting their local representatives for the last several days requesting that they demonstrate some Democratic solidarity and support their Party’s Congressional candidates. Here are tips from Bowers on how to handle your local Congresscritter:

Call the ultra-safe Democrats in your state on this list. When you call, you will be told that these Democrats have already given money to Democratic challengers and party committees. Don't be daunted: Here are several ways to respond:
Tell them that you know they have already given this cycle, but our target list hasn't been this deep--60-70 Republicans seats!--in over twenty years, and it needs to be fully funded, so they need to give more.

Tell them the grassroots have never given this much before, and safe Democratic incumbents need to do the same.

Tell them the DCCC and the DNC are taking out loans of more than $10 million in order to fund seats that have not been competitive in a decade.

Tell them the time to buy new media is running out, and with every passing day, media buys will become more expensive for our candidates.

Remember, you won't be alone when you call. Thousands are joining you around the nation. Call ultra-safe Democratic House incumbents in your state today. Tell them you will sing their praises far and wide when they give 30%. Tell them we have to use this money, or we could lose these elections. It really is that simple.

The reason why I bring this up now is that Ellen Tauscher (CA-10) just happens to be on that list. With a campaign treasury that holds over $225,000 and a Republican challenger who has raised less than $10,000, Tauscher is cruising to an effortless re-election. According to Bowers’ formula, Tauscher should be donating $68,500 to Democratic candidates across the country, as well as the DCCC. You can give her a call locally at (925) 945-8515 or in DC at (202) 225-1880 and ask her to step up to the plate to support her party.

OR you can take it one step further.

Ellen Tauscher will be appearing this Sunday evening at a dinner/reception in San Ramon honoring Jerry McNerney in his race against Richard Pombo in CA-11. The reception will start at 6:00 p.m., with dinner at 7:00. The location is 9430 Fircrest Lane, San Ramon. Cost is $50. You should RSVP by Friday, October 27, at (925) 556-7077 or by email at rsvp@jerrymcnerney.org.

So go to this event, get some good food, meet some nice people, go to bed that night knowing that you’ve given your support to an excellent cause, and while you’re there, see if you can convince Tauscher to spend some of her cash for the good of her country.

I mean, we all know that there’s a lot history with Tauscher in the CA-11 race. And I think it’s great that she’s finally come on board and is fully supporting McNerney. But there is a large group of active and committed grassroots Democrats who live in Ellen Tauscher’s district; they have worked tirelessly on behalf of Jerry McNerney; they have held fundraisers; they have given until it hurts. And I believe they have every right to expect the same from their Representative.

Finally…

2006-10-24T09:28:00.000-07:00

We’ve been told the DCCC delivered this commercial to TV stations throughout CA-11 last night and it will ostensibly begin airing today:

Tell us what you think…

Pombo Blows Off The FEC Laws

2006-10-23T21:41:00.000-07:00

Jerry McNerney’s campaign issued a press release this afternoon announcing a legal challenge to a Richard Pombo television commercial that is currently airing in the Sacramento market on broadcast television. The McNerney campaign is alleging that this ad fails to meet FEC regulations governing political disclaimers — you know, those spoken announcements at the end: “I’m Richard Pombo, and I approved this message,” along with the written notice of who paid for the ad.

Well, in this ad, in an apparent attempt at folksiness, Pombo makes the verbal announcement at the beginning of the commercial, sitting with his family and with his daughter parroting his words. All very cute. Except that without the written financial disclosure, it doesn’t comply with very specific FEC regulations. This is the short explanation posted by the FEC:

[T]elevised communications must include an oral disclaimer spoken by the candidate in which the candidate identifies himself or herself and states that he or she has approved the communication. 11 CFR 110.11(c)(3)(ii).

This disclaimer can be conveyed in one of two ways:

A full-screen view of the candidate making the statement (11 CFR 110.11(c)(3)(ii)(A)); or

A "clearly identifiable photographic or similar image of the candidate" that appears during the candidate's voice-over statement. (11 CFR 110.11(c)(3)(ii)(B)).

The communication must also include a "clearly readable" written statement that appears at the end of the communication "for a period of at least four seconds" with a "reasonable degree of color contrast" between the background and the disclaimer statement. 11 CFR 110.11(c)(3)(iii).

The offending Pombo ad has no written statement anywhere in it, let alone specifically located at the end.

Now, this is where it gets a little hard to follow. The McNerney campaign is filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for a violation of campaign laws. Additionally, they will be filing a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which has oversight for television broadcasting. The McNerney campaign will specifically be demanding that the rate charged to the Pombo campaign for its advertising be adjusted because of its malfeasance.

Under existing federal law, candidates are allowed by the FCC to pay special low rates for their advertising called LUCs (Lower Unit Charges). But if a candidate violates the FEC disclaimer rules, it loses its right to buy advertising at the LUC rate. If a television station continues to charge the offending campaign the LUC after the violation occurs and the campaign has lost its right to the lower rate, the difference in price may be considered to be an in-kind contribution to the campaign by the TV station (which would, of course, be illegal).

At the moment, the question of whether this price differential is an in-kind contribution has not been decided. The six-member FEC recently heard a similar case involving the 2006 Casey Senatorial campaign in Pennsylvania, and failed to reach a consensus. They prepared two draft opinions — one saying it does constitute an in-kind contribution and one saying that it doesn’t, but ultimately decided to table their decision. Nevertheless, when the FEC does revisit this issue, any television station which continues to air the candidate’s commercials at the LUC rate runs the risk of having committed serious FEC violations.

So, just in case you’re curious, here’s the offending commercial in its entirety.

If you would like to register a complaint with any of the television stations in Sacramento which have aired this commercial, please feel free to contact them:

KOVR, TV13, CBS (916) 374-1313
KTXL, TV40, FOX (916) 454-4422
KCRA, TV3, NBC (916) 446-3333
KXTV, TV10, ABC (916) 441-2345
KMAX, TV31, CW (916) 374-1313
KQCA, TV58 (916) 447-5858

Monday Afternoon Pombo Captioning

2006-10-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

Turns out that if you live in Idaho, you also live in Richard Pombo's district.

And if you don't get the reference in the sign, you might try reading this article.

Whither The DCCC

2006-10-23T00:37:00.000-07:00

The LA Times is reporting that the DCCC will be expanding its support for Democratic Congressional candidates:

A growing number of GOP incumbents in seats once considered "safe" — including … Richard W. Pombo in Tracy, Calif. … are struggling this month against a powerful current of discontent with the nation's direction, the performance of Congress and President Bush, and the war in Iraq.

Republican seats at risk have nearly tripled since January, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. Then, 18 GOP seats were endangered; now, 48 are considered in play. […]

In a measure of the party's growing optimism, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee plans to announce Tuesday that it will begin airing advertisements in 11 new districts, including eight the party had not considered competitive until recently, party sources say.

As a side-note, with $2,045 for phone banking last Thursday and $3,702 for additional phone banking and $20,805 for McNerney slam piece number 17 on Friday, NRCC total independent expenditures in CA-11 for the last three months now stand at $649,373. DCCC, still zero.

Frankly, given the DCCC’s dismal record at reading the local atmospherics, I’m not holding my breath that CA-11 will be one of the 11 new districts announced on Tuesday. But miracles can happen. I suppose it couldn’t hurt to give them a holler on behalf of Jerry McNerney: (202) 863-1500.

Pombo’s War On The Constitution

2006-10-22T12:08:00.000-07:00

CNN is airing a series this week entitled Broken Government. The introductory segment was aired last Thursday and has been rerun frequently since then.

New episodes will air every evening this week. In assessing the terrible condition that our country finds itself in, CNN has spread the blame across most branches of government but has reserved special scorn for the Republican-led Congress. This broadcasting event is not going to help Republicans anywhere in the country. But when I saw Richard Pombo being featured prominently in an ad for this series, I snapped to attention.

From the video-clip quote that CNN used, I’m guessing Pombo will be featured in this Thursday’s episode, which focuses on attacks by the Republican-led Congress on the Supreme Court and their attempts to usurp the powers of the judiciary. I’m also guessing, from what I’ve seen, that former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is going to have a prominent role in Thursday night’s piece.

Now, some of you may remember that Sandra Day O’Connor spoke out very strongly upon her retirement about Congressional attacks on the Constitutional powers of the judiciary:

Sandra Day O'Connor, a Republican-appointed judge who retired last month after 24 years on the Supreme Court, has said the US is in danger of edging towards dictatorship if the party's rightwingers continue to attack the judiciary.

In a strongly worded speech at Georgetown University, reported by National Public Radio and the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, Ms. O'Connor took aim at Republican leaders whose repeated denunciations of the courts for alleged liberal bias could, she said, be contributing to a climate of violence against judges.

Ms. O'Connor, nominated by Ronald Reagan as the first woman Supreme Court justice, declared: "We must be ever-vigilant against those who would strong-arm the judiciary."

And who are these “rightwingers… who would strong-arm the judiciary”? Well, again, I’m only guessing as to why Pombo would be featured on this particular CNN episode. But I would imagine that it might have something to do with a piece of legislation that he sponsored back in 2004 that would have given Congress the ability to overrule Supreme Court decisions. That’s right. Richard Pombo proposed throwing our Constitution — and its underpinning of “three branches of government” with “checks and balances” — right out the window with H.R. 3920, reproduced here in its chilling entirety:

108th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 3920

To allow Congress to reverse the judgments of the United States Supreme Court.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 9, 2004

Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky (for himself, Mr. DEMINT, Mr. EVERETT, Mr. POMBO, Mr. COBLE, Mr. COLLINS, Mr. GOODE, Mr. PITTS, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. HEFLEY, Mr. DOOLITTLE, and Mr. KINGSTON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL
To allow Congress to reverse the judgments of the United States Supreme Court.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Congressional Accountability for Judicial Activism Act of 2004'.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL REVERSAL OF SUPREME COURT JUDGMENTS.

The Congress may, if two thirds of each House agree, reverse a judgment of the United States Supreme Court —

if that judgment is handed down after the date of the enactment of this Act; and

to the extent that judgment concerns the constitutionality of an Act of Congress.

SEC. 3. PROCEDURE.

The procedure for reversing a judgment under section 2 shall be, as near as may be and consistent with the authority of each House of Congress to adopt its own rules of proceeding, the same as that used for considering whether or not to override a veto of legislation by the President.

SEC. 4. BASIS FOR ENACTMENT.

This Act is enacted pursuant to the power of Congress under article III, section 2, of the Constitution of the United States.

So in a single naked power grab, Pombo proposed overthrowing 200 years of Constitutional law dating back to Marbury v. Madison, and giving ultimate power to himself and his cronies in the House at that time — Tom DeLay, Duke Cunningham and Bob Ney. Hardly the actions of a mainline Republican.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll definitely be watching this CNN series (8:00 p.m., re-aired at 11:00 p.m.) with interest.

Truthout Video Puts The Focus On CA-11

2006-10-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

Truthout.org has produced and posted a video about the Congressional race between Jerry McNerney and Richard Pombo in CA-11. Truthout's Sari Gelzer has been following the recent events in this campaign and has done a terrific job giving an overview of the race in her piece entitled Grassroots on Fire in Midterm Campaign: Pombo Meets His Match — Jerry McNerney's "People Power."

Give it a look — Gelzer interviews several local voters and activists and speaks with Pete McCloskey, Tom Benigno and Ed Yoon, along with a great exchange between Pombo and McNerney from the Tracy Forum earlier this month. You can watch Richard Pombo answer a question by attempting to conflate the Iraq War with fighting terrorism, and you can watch one of the best performances by Jerry McNerney that I’ve ever seen as he just explodes that argument.

Friday Melange

2006-10-20T14:39:00.000-07:00

The New York Times wrote an editorial yesterday excoriating Richard Pombo for his Deep Ocean Energy Resource Act (DOER Act) which would give away billions in federal oil shale royalties to Pombo’s special interest buddies in the energy industry.

On the endorsement front, today the Sacramento Bee joined its sister publication, the Modesto Bee in endorsing Jerry McNerney, publishing last week's Mod Bee endorsement almost verbatim. Their joint indictment of Richard Pombo is withering.

Speaking of “withering,” you should check out the Rolling Stone piece ranking Richard Pombo seventh among “The 10 Worst Congressmen.” Their accompanying graphic is very funny.

The Pleasanton Weekly also endorsed Jerry McNerney today. In doing so, the paper heaped almost as much scorn on Richard Pombo as the Bees, but then went on to express admiration for Jerry McNerney.

The better choice is Jerry McNerney, 55, a Pleasanton resident who has attracted bipartisan support in his effort to unseat Pombo. An engineer, McNerney has devoted the last 20 years of his career to the development of viable wind energy technology and is currently CEO of a start-up company that will manufacture wind turbines.

Far from being a political ideologue, McNerney represents the kind of citizen activist who wants to work on solving important problems, not use those problems to curry favor with special interests and as a way to raise campaign contributions.

Meanwhile, the California red-legged frog has emerged victorious in its battle with Richard Pombo. While Pombo’s House bill eviscerating the Endangered Species Act appears to be permanently stalled in the Senate, the EPA has reached a settlement with the Center for Biological Diversity in a 2002 lawsuit that will protect the endangered frogs by banning the use of 66 dangerous pesticides near critical habitat areas. Mother Jones blog has the story here:

Much to the likely chagrin of Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) the EPA has agreed to protect the threatened California Red-Legged Frog, according to a settlement reached this week in a lawsuit filed in 2002. [...]

Read more about Pombo’s battle against these amphibians in the name of development in Dick Russell’s story in the current issue of Mother Jones.

And according to poll numbers released today [actually, SNTP wrote about those numbers in depth a week ago] Pombo is neck and neck with his Democratic opponent Jerry McNerney, with Pombo at 41 percent and McNerney at 40 percent.

Frogs should be the least of his worries.

So get out there this weekend and CANVASS the hell out of CA-11. Do it for the frogs. Just be careful to watch out for half-naked veterans and gun-toting, hate-spewing militia members.

And as always, you can contribute at our ActBlue page.

Trophy Animal Killing Group supports Pombo

2006-10-20T14:08:00.000-07:00

The Safari Club International sent out a desperate appeal to its members recently. What was it for? Elephants going extinct and they couldn't kill them anymore? Were they worried that global warming would melt all the ice and take away their chance to kill polar bears?

No, it was even more serious than that -- their favorite boy in DC needed money to beat back the "environmental extremists".

This situation is dire, and your assistance is urgently needed. Funding is desperately needed to stave off the millions of dollars of scurrilous ads from our opponents. We MUST help our friend and supporter Richard Pombo.

Maybe they don't realize that Pombo already has over $3 million in the bank and only a few weeks to spend it. But how they want to waste their money is their business.

What is appalling is that Pombo has anything to do with this group. He obviously agrees with their views and gave a speech to the club in Elk Grove this past April. Pombo also is not averse to canned hunts, seeing as he took an opportunity to kill a semi-domesticated bison as part of a fundraiser, as reported here.

At a press agent's insistence, the [Rosebud Sioux] tribe barred reporters from watching the hunt or the ceremony that followed. But observers said Pombo hit the bull with one shot from a 7-millimeter rifle from about 75 yards, and the bull ran a good distance before dying.

But Pombo doesn't stop with the nearly hunted-to-extinction bison, he wants to go after whales, elephants, turtles, and anything else, endangered or not, apparently. On May 21, 2001, he read into the Congressional Record his support of commercial whaling and the "wise use" of other renewable wildlife, "whether the subject species are elephants, turtles, whales, or trees".

Back to the Safari Club International (SCI), promoters of what has been called "the blood sport of the super rich". See this Chicago Tribune article on one of their conventions.

Craggy men in khaki vests prowled the carpeted convention hall, escorted by women in leopard print blouses and snakeskin jackets.

Videotaped rifle shots crackled from the 1,100 exhibit booths where hunt guides played kill films in mesmerizing loops.

For four days last month, the sprawling Reno-Sparks Convention Center became a glittering shrine to the blood sport of the super-rich -- big game hunters who crisscross the globe to make trophies out of lions, leopards and other exotic animals.

Or listen to what the Humane Society has to say about these dear friends of Pombo:

Wayne Pacelle, HSUS senior vice president for communications and government affairs, captures the essence of SCI members and their motivation: "It's a perverse and destructive subculture," he says. "Thousands of animals suffer and die for the amusement of wealthy elites who have the means to pursue any form of recreation, but choose to shoot the world's rarest and most beautiful animals. There's no societal value to the exercise, just a selfish all-consuming mentality of killing, collecting, and showing off trophies. They know the price of every animal, but the value of none."

Now how long before Pombo's campaign manager calls the Humane Society "environmental extremists" or "a liberal group from Berkeley"?

Going out on canned hunts of ranch-raised "wildlife" purely for mounted heads and skins is fine with Pombo, whereas exercising compassion and care for our natural environment and the wildlife in it is "too liberal" and "extremist", in his mind.

"Perverse and destructive" indeed.

Racist Militia Group To Canvass For Pombo

2006-10-20T00:57:00.001-07:00

Wes over at Pombo Watch posted a story yesterday about an email that has been sent out by a group of Richard Pombo’s extremist right-wing supporters. Bearing in mind that Pombo is trying to paint himself as a “mainstream Republican,” you have to wonder what he’s doing coordinating campaign activities with the Gun Owners of America. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Gun Owners of America go far beyond fighting for basic gun ownership rights and have been involved over the years with anti-Semitism and both the white supremacist and militia movements. Their leader, Larry Pratt, is so extreme that Pat Buchanan ejected him as a national co-chair for his 1996 presidential campaign.

This is the message that GOA has sent out to their members urging them to work for Richard Pombo’s re-election:

Pro-gun Congressman Richard Pombo is a favorite target of anti-gun extremists, and this election year they are out in full force.

His well-funded opponent, Jerry McNerney, is actually busing people in from outside the district to help defeat Pombo.

McNerney is backed by far left anti-gun members of Congress like Nancy Pelosi, Zoe Lofgren, Barbara Lee and Dianne Watson, as well as former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown. You can be sure that if Nancy Pelosi becomes Speaker, we will see a new semi-auto ban, expansions of the Brady law, and other onerous gun control laws.

We need to counter the extremist agenda of Pombo's opponent. If you live in or near Central Valley's 11th Congressional District, please consider joining the Pombo Team in precinct walks over the next three weekends.

If you are interested in participating, please contact the Pombo campaign at avolz@richardpombo.com or 209-956-3976.

Richard Pombo is a good friend of gun owners and a staunch defender of the Second Amendment. Rep. Pombo has stood up for gun owners his entire career; now we need to stand up for his campaign.

If you would like to help Rep. Pombo but live too far to participate, please consider contributing to his campaign at http://www.richardpombo.com on the web.

Thank you for your support of Representative Pombo and Gun Owners of America.

Sincerely,
Tim Macy
Vice-Chairman

Please note the two sentences that are highlighted above:

Jerry McNerney, is actually busing people in from outside the district to help defeat Pombo...

If you live in or near Central Valley's 11th Congressional District, please consider joining the Pombo Team in precinct walks over the next three weekends.

Oh, sweet irony.

Arshad Hasan To Join McNerney Campaign

2006-10-19T16:05:00.000-07:00

This is great news from Democracy For America. Arshad Hasan, Training Director for DFA, has announced via email that he will be arriving tomorrow to work from now until Election Day for Jerry McNerney in CA-11.

I've decided to join you. Tomorrow morning, I'm getting on a plane and going to work in Northern California to lend my time and talent helping out the McNerney campaign until the election. In the next few days, I'll get back in touch with you with what I'm doing and how you can join me (or, just as likely, how I can join you!)

There are some amazing things happening right now all over the country. Out of more than 150 DFA-endorsed candidates, though, I choose to spend my time with you all in Northern CA.

I hope to see you soon!

-- Arshad

Those of you who have had the opportunity to meet Arshad know what a tremendous boost to McNerney’s campaign his presence will be. He is knowledgeable, dedicated, and tireless. The addition of his enthusiasm and energy to the McNerney/Pombo race is huge.

Welcome aboard, Arshad!

War? What war?

2006-10-19T14:13:00.000-07:00

The Contra Costa Times editorial that so mistakenly endorsed Pombo mentions this:

Pombo ... does not want to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq until the government there is able to operate on its own.

I see, we should "stay the course", right Pombo? But what about all the soliders getting killed? From a news article today:

Escalating violence could make October the most deadly month for US forces since the beginning of the war. And the total number of American soldiers killed in Iraq will soon surpass the toll of victims from the attacks of September 11, 2001.

But here is what is odd -- I could not find the word "Iraq" mentioned even once on any of Pombo's campaign websites. It is as if the war does not exist. Pombo has erased it from memory, just like the "Ministry of Truth" in 1984. "War? What war?"

Under Issues on his official site, there is just one scrawny "Defense" page with a link to some blather about George Washington and Ronald Reagan. Iraq is NOT mentioned at all. At his official campaign site, this is all it says (under "Issues"):

American Security: I am very protective of our constitutional rights as American citizens, but I find it outrageous to suggest that foreign terrorists deserve the same rights as the American citizens they seek to destroy.

Wow, you can see what a powerful statement that is on Iraq, foreign policy, military buildup, North Korea, Iran, and Bush's Mid-east policy!

However, we out here in the "reality-based" community realize there is still a war going on, and that the US is losing soldiers at an alarming rate. Already this month -- this month, October 2006 -- over 70 US soldiers have been killed. Get that Pombo? Over seventy!

From Boston Globe article today:

Eleven American military personnel were killed in several clashes across Iraq, military officials said yesterday [Oct. 18], bringing the total number of US troop deaths this month to at least 70 and putting October on track to be the deadliest month of the war in nearly two years.

How are the Republicans in Congress reacting? "Pessimism", since it could affect their chances for re-election. From the same news article mentioned above:

Pessimism has taken hold among the ranks of President George W. Bush's Republican party as new opinion polls show declining public approval for the majority party and the US leader amid a stream of bad news from Iraq.

Stream of bad news? How about stream of dead bodies?

But nothing on Pombo's websites. Nothing, but there is some election-year pandering to "mothers":

Congressman Richard W. Pombo (CA-11) issued the following statement honoring mothers who have lost a son or daughter in service of our country:

'Mothers who have lost children in war know best of all the sacrifice we make as a Nation to defend the freedoms we hold dear,' said Congressman Pombo.

I guess this month, over 70 more mothers "know best of all" the sacrifice -- their precious sons and daughters killed in a war that Pombo was gung-ho to support when it won him votes, but now is too chicken or too embarrassed -- or maybe too "pessimistic" -- to mention EVEN ONCE on his campaign sites.

Richard Pombo Needs To Come Out Clean

2006-10-19T10:14:00.001-07:00

The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund is staging an event this evening in Dublin. Stating “Richard Pombo Needs To Come Out Clean,” this group is raising questions about Pombo’s involvement with Jack Abramoff and his refusal to address allegations of bribery and corruption publicly:

Richard Pombo’s hiding out from facing the public at his embarrassment and fear for his political life by the revelation that he lied about being lobbied by Abramoff twice to prevent congressional investigation of child prostitution, forced abortion, and sweatshop labor in the U.S. territory of the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands.

Two weeks ago at the Tracy candidates’ forum, Richard Pombo categorically denied having ever been lobbied by Jack Abramoff. A few days later, the AP’s Erica Werner broke the story that Abramoff’s billing to the government of the Mariana Islands in 1996 included two separate lobbying contacts directly with Richard Pombo. Faced with the evidence that he had lied at the forum, Pombo just continued to lie about his involvement with Abramoff. Hank Shaw of the Stockton Record reported on Pombo’s defense strategy:

Pombo himself consistently has said he has never done more than exchange pleasantries with Abramoff.

"Richard is clear and vehement and adamant that he hadn't met Jack Abramoff in 1996," Kennedy said. "These documents are nothing more than additional evidence of the Democrats' shameless character-assassination campaign.

"This man pleaded guilty in federal court to several counts of fraud, so power-thirsty liberals dust off his decade-old, fraudulent billing records as proof of some impropriety on Richard's part? It's ridiculous." […]

[Abramoff's billing records] also helped persuade Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, to resign last month.

Ney adamantly had denied any wrongdoing for months, even calling Abramoff a liar, before he pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges a month ago.

Well, the citizens of CA-11 are tired of Richard Pombo’s lies — they’re demanding real answers to allegations of serious crimes.

If Pombo won’t come out clean from hiding, let’s go to where he is.

On Thursday, October 19, at 6:00 PM, Richard Pombo is slated to speak at the Tri-Valley Republican Women Federated Candidates Night at Kassabian Motors, 6032 Dougherty Road in Dublin .

We will rally along the sidewalks with signs. For those interested in participating, please meet at the sidewalk of the address at 5:30 PM, or you can carpool from our office at 5:00 PM. Our office is located at 555 Peters Avenue, Suite 105 in Pleasanton. Our organizers will bring plenty of signs and red foam gloves.

RSVP at defeatpombo@gmail.com or call (925) 249-1615.

I’m hoping Matt O. will be there and report back to us (with pictures — hint, hint).

NRCC, $622,821 — DCCC, Still Zero

2006-10-18T19:12:00.000-07:00

As of our last update, the NRCC had reported total independent expenditures in CA-11 of $553,005 since the beginning of August. Well, they’ve been busy since last Thursday.

On Friday, they reported spending $5,459 for opposition phone banking.

Monday brought two more expenditures for anti-McNerney phone banking, one for $3,795 and one for $5,377.

Tuesday, they reported spending $20,805 for smear mailer number 15.

Today, they spent $8,235 for a survey, $5,340 on phone banking and $20,805 for hit piece number 16.

Grand total: NRCC independent expenditures, $622,821.

Additionally, Richard Pombo is spending some of his $3.1 million to do robo-calls, such as this outstanding piece of ~~work~~ lies and slime by the ethically-challenged Wayne Johnson, president of the American Association of Political Consultants:

Jerry McNerney wants to repeal the federal death penalty for terrorists who kill Americans. And McNerney says North Korea should be allowed to develop nuclear weapons without fear of an American military response.

These are just two of the reasons local veterans oppose Jerry McNerney for Congress.

We want our children and families protected from acts of terror, but Jerry McNerney says America should not monitor Al Qaeda phone calls made into the US.

These are dangerous policies that threaten the security of our families.

And that’s why local veterans urge your support for Richard Pombo for Congress.

Paid for and authorized by Richard Pombo for Congress.

And yet, even with this unprecedented spending on negative campaigning in CA-11, McNerney remains in a statistical dead heat with Richard Pombo.

So what is the DCCC doing? Well, rumors abound on the national scene that the DCCC is going to borrow $10 million or more to finally enter races like the one in CA-11. Of course, rumor was that they were going to jump into CA-11 two weeks ago. All I can tell you with any certainty is that as of today, 20 days before the election, the DCCC has reported zero independent expenditures in CA-11.

[UPDATE: Daily Kos reports that the DCCC dropped $12 million into 32 Congressional races last night. None of them are in California.]

If you think it’s important to answer the NRCC’s cash dump, their incessant phone banking, 16 negative mail pieces, plus Richard Pombo’s sleazy lies, please take it upon yourself to do what the DCCC won’t — contribute to Jerry McNerney. This election probably represents the best opportunity we'll ever have to Say No To Pombo. Now is the time to dig deep.

Is Pombo Busing In Veterans To Support Him?

2006-10-18T12:24:00.000-07:00

Jerry McNerney’s campaign will be airing a hardhitting TV spot this week, attacking Richard Pombo for his shameful performance on veterans' issues.

Conversely, and despite his dreadful voting record on veterans’ issues, Richard Pombo is trying to paint himself as the candidate of choice for CA-11’s vets.

Now, if you’ve been following along at SNTP, you’ll remember that Richard Pombo has revised his website and he’s finally dipped his toe into the blogosphere. While his own “Pombo Blog” is somewhat lacking in interactive features, the “Pombo Veterans Coalition” blog featured on Pombo’s front page has an actual site that is visible to the public. Never mind that it has only one post from ten days ago which doesn’t accept comments. Baby steps.

But let’s talk about the Pombo Veterans Coalition itself, which seems to be comprised of the three co-chairmen of the San Joaquin Pombo Veterans Coalition and four co-chairmen of the East Bay Pombo Veterans Coalition. In their sole post, signed by all seven co-chairs, they exhort veterans to get behind Pombo.

It’s nice to know we have a friend who is there to help us. We believe it’s time that veterans repay him with our support and our votes.

Unfortunately, two of the four co-chairs of the East Bay Pombo Veterans Coalition will be unable to heed their own advice. You see, they CAN’T vote for Richard Pombo because they don’t live in CA-11. Tony Carmenolla [sic] and John S. Goerl both live in Ellen Tauscher’s district (CA-10). That leaves Pombo with one helluva East Bay coalition — four vets, only two of whom live in the district.

Of the two members of the East Bay Pombo Veterans Coalition who DO actually live in the district, one is George Cave, aka Bear Flag Runner. I don’t know. Maybe you’ve seen him around. Cave has mounted a one-man movement to demonstrate his support for veterans by running bare-chested through the streets of Danville every night with an American flag draped over his butt.

Yes, you read that right. Rain, shine, freezing temperatures, blazing heat — Bear Flag Runner is out there bare-chested and flag-butted, running for veterans and supporting Pombo.

Yow. On second thought, perhaps Pombo’s campaign should have activated the “private blog feature” on the Pombo Veterans Coalition Blog, as well.

Lodi News Sentinel Waiting For Godot

2006-10-17T10:06:00.001-07:00

This post is a correction to my previous one, More Editors Say No To Pombo. Richard Pombo has been endorsed by one newspaper, the Lodi News Sentinel. Here’s what they say in their editorial “Pombo for Congress — but he must clear ethical clouds”:

[T]his endorsement comes with reservations.

There are fair questions being raised about Pombo's ethics. He has received campaign donations from the convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. He has received money from the Indian tribes whose fortunes he controls as a legislative leader.

Critics contend he has traded financial favor for legislative action.

Pombo has also continued to employ his wife, Annette, as a campaign consultant.

None of this reflects well on the rancher from Tracy.

We hope that, once re-elected, Pombo will take pains to clear the ethical clouds above him. As a veteran leader of Congress, he can and should use his power to push for higher standards of conduct and accountability.

Apparently, the editors of the News Sentinel are slow learners. Back in June they were saying pretty much the same thing in their somewhat grudging primary endorsement:

We're sticking with [Pombo] through the GOP primary — and hoping he develops more sensitivity to even the mere appearance of impropriety. If Mrs. Pombo were to find a job outside the campaign between now and November, her husband will win our admiration and probably a large majority of 11th District votes.

Well, Mrs. Pombo is still on the campaign payroll, and the ethical clouds are growing, not dissipating. Yet the editors of the News Sentinel are basing their endorsement on the naïve “hope” that Richard Pombo will somehow stop being Richard Pombo. Here’s a free tip, guys. Pull up a chair. It’s going to be a long wait.

More Editors Say No To Pombo

2006-10-17T01:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the San Jose Mercury News endorsed Jerry McNerney for the Congressional race in CA-11, stating, “Pombo is a national disgrace to the Republican Party.”

Now, the LA Times has spoken out against Pombo:

CALIFORNIA'S REPUTATION FOR WACKINESS doesn't necessarily rest on its representatives in Congress — the roots of our unconventional ways go far deeper — but they certainly haven't hurt. […]

Richard W. Pombo (R-Tracy), a seven-term congressman who appears to have a vendetta against the environment, has tried repeatedly to eviscerate the Endangered Species Act. He has proposed selling federal wilderness for a pittance to mining interests. His latest bill wouldn't just open up vast stretches of the coast to drilling, it would slash the royalties that companies must pay for shale-oil leases, potentially costing taxpayers billions of dollars. And then there's his tarnished ethics record, which earned him a spot on a watchdog group's list of the 13 most corrupt members of Congress last year. […]

With congressmen like these, California's reputation for eccentricity is unlikely to suffer. All the same, it's the kind of behavior the state could do without. Better to have our wackiness expressed in, say, our vegan cuisine, where it can do less harm.

Finally, a hat tip to Dan, who provided the link to this endorsement from Esquire magazine:

Pombo is a rancher who is up to his hindquarters in the dirty money that has swamped several California Republicans. How bad is he? His two Republican primary opponents have endorsed his Democratic opponent, and so do we.
Esquire endorses: McNerney

So far, the endorsements have gone unanimously against Pombo. The editors are “Saying No to Pombo” and "Saying Yes To McNerney."

[UPDATE:] The SF Chronicle has also weighed in, endorsing McNerney:

[T]his time [Pombo’s] ethical stumbles and radical positions should catch up with him. His opponent, engineer Jerry McNerney brings a low-key probity that the district and House deserve.

Tales From The FEC Expense Records

2006-10-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought that the expense section of an FEC report could read like a Russian novel? Well, leave it to Richard Pombo.

Remember, back in June, when the Pombo campaign was soliciting for paid canvassers? Of course, after the media picked up on the email being circulated at UOP, Pombo’s campaign denied having anything to do with the scheme.

Subsequently, in August, the Pombo campaign held its big volunteer precinct-walking kickoff. You remember. The one where nobody showed up.

Well, now the Pombo campaign has a new canvassing narrative. Last week, in his endorsement interview with the editorial staff of the Contra Costa Times, Richard Pombo was dutiful about repeating his latest campaign theme about the busloads of “liberals from Berkeley” who are coming into CA-11 to canvass for Jerry McNerney.

In fact, he said, he's signing up campaign volunteers who got mad when his opponents began shipping busloads of Bay Area precinct walkers into the Central Valley. More than half the district is in San Joaquin County, while the remaining portion stretches from Danville to Morgan Hill.

"We're getting a lot of calls from folks who want to know who those people on the bus are," Pombo said, "and when they find out, they want to know what they can do to help."

Um-hum. Probably people like Frederick Krueger, Gale Fedora, Tiffany Walton and Patricia O’Brien. All four of them are Pombo precinct walkers. According to Pombo’s FEC report, his campaign paid Mr. Krueger, Ms. Fedora and Ms. Walton each $1,080.65 for precinct walking. Ms. O’Brien must have gotten a late start; she only received $629.03. But the most amusing aspect to this is that according to the FEC statement, Ms. O’Brien lives in Modesto, well outside the boundary of CA-11.

We’re still waiting to find out whether she arrived by bus.

Meanwhile, here are a few more tidbits from Pombo’s expense report:

Pombo’s wife, Annette, is still on the payroll, having received $9,000 during the reporting period.

Some of you may remember reading about Steven Ding earlier this year when his dual political roles stirred up a controversy. Ding serves as the House Resources Committee Chief of Staff, for which the taxpayers pay him an annual salary of $150,000; simultaneously, Ding serves Richard Pombo’s Congressional Chief of Staff, where he is paid a nominal fee of $100/month plus travel expenses. The only problem is that Ding holds down these two high-profile Washington jobs (putting in 80-90 hour work weeks) while living in Stockton. He has spent the last three years commuting to DC at taxpayer expense ($87,000 over and above his base salary during the last three years).

Well, Ding must be one helluva multi-tasker because while doing all that, Pombo also just paid him $20,000 over a 30-day period for “political consulting.” Oh, and he threw down another $2,643.32 to Ding’s wife Shannon for travel and fundraising expenses. But, hey, that’s what friends are for, right?

Finally, there’s the little matter of the push polling conducted on behalf of the Pombo campaign last month. When I wrote about it at the time, I noted that the American Association of Political Consultants, whose president is another Pombo political consultant, Wayne Johnson, strongly condemns the unethical practice of push polling:
The AAPC's Ethics Committee addressed this issue in December of 1995, agreeing unanimously that so-called "push-polls" violate the AAPC's stricture against "any activity which would corrupt or degrade the practice of political campaigning." To the extent that practitioners of the "push-poll" ruse convey inaccurate information about an election opponent, they also violate the AAPC's stricture against false and misleading attacks.
You can read the full post to see if you think the survey that was done meets the criteria for push polling. But I think Pombo’s FEC statement makes it clear who was behind the effort. My post was dated September 22. On September 22, Pombo cut a check to Wayne Johnson in the amount of $116,682.34 for “Radio advertising polling.”

What a shock — Richard & Annette Pombo, Steven & Shannon Ding, and Wayne Johnson all engaged in shady, unethical behavior.

Pombo Pushes to Reduce Oil Royalties (Again)

2006-10-16T14:25:00.000-07:00

Remember this?

House Resources Chairman Richard Pombo fired back at House Democratic critics Friday, saying complaints that he hasn't acted to ensure collection of oil royalties are "naked partisanship" and "election-year showmanship."

Pombo wrote back to the six Democrats:

The Democrats who signed Thursday's letter voted against that bill, Pombo noted. "Pardon me if I am not impressed with your sincerity, as I provided you a solution to this problem, and you voted against it. Sometimes actions speak louder than words."

But Pombo deliberately placed the royalty-recoup provision in a larger oil-drilling bill he knew Democrats would oppose, Miller's chief of staff, Daniel Weiss, said Friday. Had the provision moved alone, Democrats would've passed it in a heartbeat, but Pombo "failed to show the proper kind of leadership by simply moving the royalty provision."

"Naked partisanship" and "election-year showmanship" were his words. Now here are his actions:

Tucked into a massive energy bill that would open the outer continental shelf to oil drilling are provisions that would slash future royalties owed to the federal government by companies prospecting in Rocky Mountain oil shale deposits.

Sponsored by Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-Tracy) and passed by the House earlier this year, the bill would amend an existing requirement that the federal government receive a "fair return" from oil companies that hold oil shale leases on public lands. Instead, Pombo's bill, modeled after a Canadian law, would reduce royalties from the customary 12.5% of annual revenue to 1%.

Further, the bill could cut the reduced rate by as much as 80% if the price of oil fell. Over many years of oil production, the royalty discounts could amount to tens of billions in lost federal receipts, said James T. Bartis, an analyst at the Rand Corp. who wrote a widely used study of the economic prospects of the developing oil shale industry.

The provision would benefit the energy industry, which is a heavy contributor to Pombo's reelection campaign.

[...]

This is the second time that Pombo has introduced an amendment giving royalty breaks to the oil shale industry; last year the Senate rejected an identical provision he inserted in a budget bill. [emphasis added]

A hypocritical Richard Pombo doing the bidding of his big oil backers -- yet again. For their $212,000 investment in the last two years alone, big oil and gas sure are reaping the benefits. Billion dollar benefits.

Happy Birthday, SNTP!

2006-10-16T12:49:00.000-07:00

This little celebration is actually a day late. One year ago yesterday, Matt wrote the first post on Say No To Pombo. So, some 400 posts later, congratulations Matt! And here's the present you requested.

Oh, and feel free to add a caption.

Pombo attacks McNerney on defense, but whose son is in Air Force?

2006-10-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

Richard Pombo has been an unabashed supporter of Bush's "War of Terror" and the invasion and occupation of Iraq. He has echoed Bush's claims that Democrats are "soft on terrorism" and the party of "cut and run". So let me ask:

Why is Democrat Jerry McNerney's son serving in the Armed Forces, but Richard Pombo's son Richie Jr. (18 or 19 years old) is not? If Pombo feels so strongly about the righteousness of Bush's war, when is Richie Jr. going to enlist?

Jerry McNerney's son, Michael, did not hesitate after 9-11. He joined the Air Force right after those attacks. But Pombo? Now that Richie Jr. is old enough to enlist, we don't hear anything about it. Sounds like Pombo is all talk about a "strong defense" and "support our troops" -- it is okay to send other people's kids to Iraq, but not his own. Or is it just that Annette could not bear to see her son come home in a body bag, like 5 other Tracy families have? Maybe then Annette would join Cindy Sheehan from nearby Vacaville and call for the US out of Iraq.

Are the voters of the 11th District going to be deceived by the lies of Pombo and Bush -- two chickenhawks whose children have declined to serve their country, yet who have no hesitation about mercilessly condemning McNerney as "weak" and "soft" when he actually has a child in the military? Or are they going to go with McNerney, whose son joined up without hesitation to fight America's enemies?

Actions speak much louder than words, and all Pombo's lying, negative attacks on McNerney can't hide the one simple fact -- McNerney has a son in uniform, Pombo does not.

Richard Pombo Has A Blog — But YOU Can’t Read It

2006-10-15T14:03:00.000-07:00

Richard Pombo has unveiled a new campaign website (his third in this race). I’m guessing that the change is a reaction to Jerry McNerney’s recently upgraded and spiffy-looking website. Well, Pombo’s colors may be brighter and the graphics a little more interesting than they were, but the site remains as content-less as in its previous incarnations. Pombo’s Lean Cuisine “Issues” page stands in stark contrast to Jerry McNerney’s meaty and substantive positions on issues of the day.

More interesting (at least to me) is the website's newly-introduced Pombo Blog. It’s been pretty obvious for some time now that Richard Pombo and his campaign staff have been paying attention to the blogs covering CA-11. Apparently, however, they are abysmally slow at conceptualizing the raison d’être of blogs.

If you try to access Richard Pombo’s blog, you will encounter this message: “This blog is using WordPress.com’s private blog feature.” So what, exactly, is a private blog feature? WordPress explains it this way:

What this means is that you can have a list of friends or trusted readers that can see your blog, but no one else can. This is a very interesting twist for the service, and I think it will give people the added security they have wanted for publishing more personal things.

Gee, and all this time, I thought the purpose of a political blog was to inform and engage readers — not to purposely keep them in the dark. What a purely Pombo-esque proposition: start a blog and then bar anyone who isn’t in your secret club from being able to read it.

Wow. Way to reach out to constituents. Given Richard Pombo’s dismal record, though, I don’t blame him for being afraid to engage with the voters of CA-11.

Pombo Buries FEMA Flood Maps

2006-10-15T10:18:00.000-07:00

Last week FEMA announced that the release of its new Delta flood insurance maps would be delayed from the originally-scheduled mid-October date:

The release of federal maps that could determine whether thousands of San Joaquin County homeowners must buy flood insurance likely will be delayed until after the November election.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is evaluating which levees are capable of withstanding anything short of a 100-year flood.

If the levee behind a home fails that test, the federal government could require that the homeowner buy flood insurance - at best costing several hundred dollars a year, at worst more than $1,000. Or homeowners might have to pay higher property taxes to raise cash to bolster weak levees.

The maps originally were due to be released early this month. In June, a team of lawmakers asked for a delay to give cities and counties more time to prove their levees are adequate.

On Friday, a FEMA spokesman said it's unclear when the maps will be published. In two weeks, officials may be ready to announce a date [...]

A spokesman for Rep. Richard Pombo said Friday that the maps might not be released until December.

Well, isn’t that convenient. I’m sure the delay has nothing to do with the letter that Richard Pombo sent to FEMA back in July demanding that they delay releasing the maps to provide time for “further study.” Pombo’s attempt to stall the publication of the maps smelled like a rat back in July, leading his own beloved Tracy Press to question his motives:

Many people living along California's 1,600-mile levee system are living in a flood plain, but government maps often don't designate the area as such.

But new federal flood insurance maps coming out in October could put many more businesses and homes in the designated flood plain, forcing cities to spend millions on repairing local levees and homeowners to spend roughly $1,200 a year on mandatory flood insurance.

A group of California lawmakers led by Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, is hoping to stall the release of the new maps -- some think at least until the November election.

The Sacramento Bee was less gentle in its assessment. In an editorial entitled “Delaying Release of FEMA Maps Would Help Politicians, Not Communities at Risk”, they called Pombo’s action “highly suspicious.”

Much has changed since these [old] maps were drawn. In some watersheds, the spread of pavement has increased runoff downstream to other communities. Scientists have learned more about the frequency of West Coast storms. Engineers have discovered problems with levees, which provide protection for tens of thousands of homes in the Valley.

The problem is that new maps frighten local officials, such as those in Lathrop who are planning new homes in suspect areas. They alarm the mortgage industry and certain development interests, who have purchased and optioned cheap land in flood plains that could be affected by FEMA remapping.

Given the money at stake, it's highly suspicious that U.S. Reps. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, and Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, and other lawmakers are urging FEMA to delay the release of preliminary maps.

I wrote about this back in July, when Pombo’s FEMA request was first made. Not much has changed since then. Richard Pombo and his family have deep ties with the real estate and development industry that has covered vast tracts of the Central Valley with housing. So it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Pombo has neither the personal nor political will to acknowledge the impending disaster that could result from the irresponsible development which his family and his cronies have undertaken.

Richard Pombo has been in office for seven terms, 14 years, and during that time has built up a tremendous base of power for himself in Congress. During those 14 years, he has consistently used that power on behalf of his friends, his family, and the special interests who contribute to his campaigns and his PAC. During that same time, he has consistently walked away from the needs of the residents of CA-11. Now he is complicit in compromising the safety of his own constituents, leaving them vulnerable to the risks of flooding from catastrophic levee failure.

Perhaps this is the sort of thing the editors of the Modesto Bee had in mind when they said: “We can no longer embrace a politician who appears to put special interests ahead of the interests of his district.”

Jerry McNerney: Tough On Terrorism

2006-10-14T17:00:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, Jerry McNerney attended a national security forum held at University of the Pacific in Stockton. The event was sponsored by the School of International Studies and featured Rep. Jane Harman (CA-36), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

Yesterday, Rep. Harman wrote an account of her meeting with McNerney and posted it on both MyDD and DailyKos. Congresswoman Harman was glowing in her remarks on McNerney’s national security positions:

[O]n this extremely complex topic, Jerry can more than hold his own. Even though he hasn't yet been elected to Congress, he is more informed on security issues than many of my House colleagues.

I think part of Jerry's understanding comes from his first-hand experience with terrorism. In 1971, Jerry was a passenger on a jet hijacked to Cuba. He says looking down the barrels of guns held by men with no respect for human life convinced him that America must do everything necessary to defeat terrorists. But he rightly criticizes Republicans for talking tough without acting smart.

I was struck by the backbone of this mild-mannered engineer whose son received a commission in the Air Force after 9/11. […]

For too long, Republicans have persuaded the American public that they are the more capable party on national security. That is changing, though, as more and more people become convinced that the Bush administration has politicized the threat of terrorism for election year purposes. And now, even some Republicans are starting to see that tough talk alone is not a credible strategy. Simply telling people we must "stay the course" is not an option, especially when it has been a course to disaster.

On Monday, Jerry and I were asked about the North Korea situation. One day after reports that Kim Jong Il's government had successfully tested a nuclear weapon, the issue was on the minds of a lot of people. We responded that the situation we face with North Korea is directly related to the President's failed Iraq policy.

Iraq was a war of choice; not a war of necessity. By choosing to go into Iraq, the President neglected the fight against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and the threats posed by North Korea and Iran. Richard Pombo has said little about the war besides offering his full support for the President's failed policy. Jerry has learned these issues and supports transferring responsibility to the Iraqis; reducing the American military footprint, including a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq; getting Sunni-buy in; and disarming the militias.

Yes, the world is dangerous and the threats are real. Jerry and I take a backseat to nobody in wanting to go after the terrorists. But Richard Pombo and the Bush Team are not making us safer. They have fumbled badly in Iraq. The terrorist threat has grown. The multiple deployments have broken our military, and broken our promises to the Guard and Reserves. We desperately need a new direction.

Democrats are reclaiming our legacy as the Party that won the major wars of the 20th Century - and won the peace. We are the party of Wilson, FDR, Truman, Kennedy, and Clinton. Their victories came without sacrificing our principles. Republicans like Richard Pombo are sacrificing our principles and failing to protect our security.

We can - and must - do better. And with Jerry McNerney in Congress, I believe we will do better.

It sounds like Jane Harman was both inspired and impressed by her meeting with Jerry McNerney. Reading her report about McNerney’s stance on national security only exposes the depravity of Richard Pombo’s lies and the desperation of a Pombo campaign that would stoop to claim Jerry McNerney "thinks the war on terror is a joke."

Tracy Press talks turkey to protect Pombo

2006-10-13T08:48:00.000-07:00

In an outrageous attempt to protect their "hometown boy" Richard Pombo, the Tracy Press editors (most likely Robert Matthews or Jack Eddy) claim that Thanksgiving Day in 1996 was November 21, when it is a well-known, established fact that Thanksgiving was actually a week later on November 28th! Here is an "editor" in such a foaming-at-the-mouth rush to protect Pombo that he does not even bother to check his own facts. The editorial says:

On Nov. 21 of that same year, Congress was not in session because it was Thanksgiving Day. Presumably, Pombo was home with his family for the holiday. If Abramoff called his D.C. office, no one answered.

Will this campaign season controversy come down to whether 10 years ago Pombo carved the Thanksgiving turkey at home with his family or was feasting with Abramoff at the lobbyist’s infamous Signatures restaurant in Washington It’s that ridiculous.

Those of us in the "reality-based world" can easily look it up on Google, or do a simple calculation (4th Thursday in November) to get the REAL DATE. Here is a CNN story about Thanksgiving 1996, came up on first page of Google search, or Pres. Clinton's Official Proclamation. But an editor of the paper can't do this one minute operation? What a disgrace not only to the Tracy Press, but to the journalism profession in general. The owner should fire this guy for this. Oh, oops, he is the owner. Well, I guess maybe he is angling for a job at Fox News or on Pombos' PR staff.

The reason this date is important is because the "editor" claims Jack Abramoff could not have contacted Pombo on that date -- as detailed in Abramoff's billing records -- because Pombo was busy at home carving a turkey. A recent AP story showed that Abramoff had billed the Northern Marianas government for a Nov. 21, 1996, call to Pombo. The Tracy "I love Richard" Press editor is in such a fever to defend Pombo, he tries to distort reality to say Nov. 21 was Thanksgiving Day, when any less rabidly partisan person could easily find out it was a week later.

Seems like the Tracy Press is the turkey here. It's that ridiculous.

[Note: The Tracy Press updated its editorial online late yesterday (Friday) in the face of criticism from blogs such as this one and emails from irate readers. The content of the editorial is still widely in favor of Pombo's bogus accounting of the Abramoff lobbying, but at least now we don't have to take up a collection to buy the Tracy Press a calendar!.]

More On McNerney/Pombo Polling

2006-10-13T01:13:00.000-07:00

On Monday, Kos wrote about recent internal polling done by the McNerney campaign. Well, I’ve finally gotten a look at a slightly expanded version of this polling — let’s talk about the results. The survey of 400 likely voters, which was conducted September 28 through October 1, has a margin of error of 4.4%. This poll shows Pombo ahead by one point, 41-40%, well within the MoE. The results of an earlier internal poll conducted July 9-11 by McNerney are displayed along with these results [and shown in brackets] for ease of reference.

In the initial ballot, seven-term incumbent Pombo receives only 41% [43] of the vote to McNerney's 40% [33]. Pombo has lost ground from July when he was at 43%, while McNemey's vote is up from 33% in July.

After both candidates are given a positive introduction, McNerney moves firmly into the lead with 49% [43] support while Pombo drops to 39% [41].

President Bush's job performance rating is only 34% [37] (good or excellent) versus 64% [62] (just fair or poor) with a plurality (39%) [40] rating his job performance as poor.

Pombo's own job performance rating is almost as low as Bush's. Just 35% [38] rate Pombo's job performance as good or excellent versus 54% [54] who say it is just fair or poor. Furthermore, Pombo is viewed favorably by 41% [42] of the voters and unfavorably by 42%. These low ratings foreshadow a strong desire for change in the 11th District.

Pombo's growing vulnerability is reflected in his weak re-elect numbers. Just 32% (34) are ready to re-elect him. The remaining 68% [66] of the electorate would consider voting for someone else (23%) [27], vote to replace Pombo (31%) [27], or aren't sure (14%) [12].

Having finally seen more information to go with this poll, the thing that jumps out at me is how dramatically McNerney’s numbers have risen.

Consider this. Since the earlier poll, which was conducted July 9-11, McNerney’s performance has risen by 7%, while Pombo’s has dropped 2% — or to put it another way, McNerney has closed the gap from ten points to one point. And the change is even more dramatic when voters are given an introduction to both candidates — McNerney’s two-point lead in July expands to a 10-point lead in October.

What is particularly stunning about these results is that by the time this latest poll was taken, the NRCC had already spent $400,000 on ten anti-McNerney mail pieces and the Pombo campaign had been airing anti-McNerney radio spots. As of yesterday, the NRCC upped its spending by another $5,480 for phone banks and $20,805 for attack mailer number 14, bringing total NRCC independent expenditures in CA-11 to $553,005. DCCC, still zero. And yet Pombo has still lost two points and McNerney has picked up seven. Damn.

The results of this poll should be a wake-up call for every person who reads SNTP. The residents of CA-11 are fed up with Richard Pombo. And as Democratic volunteers fan out through the district letting people know about Jerry McNerney and his positive vision for change, voters are breaking to support McNerney. We are now coming down to the wire. Absentee ballots went out on Monday — some are even now being returned. And it’s just this simple — when we communicate Jerry McNerney’s message, it resonates.

Here’s the report back from one volunteer who walked last weekend:

The anti-Pombo sentiment was palpable… even several Republicans we spoke with were fed up with their Congressman. Once people learned more about Jerry's positions and background, they expressed even more enthusiasm about his campaign.

So here’s the drill. You can contact the McNerney campaign for precinct walking and phone banking details this weekend. On Saturday, they will be mounting precinct walks in Morgan Hill (with McNerney and Pete McCloskey in attendance), Tracy, Stockton, Tri-Valley (Pleasanton/Dublin/San Ramon/Danville), Lodi, Manteca and Brentwood. Sunday, they will be walking in the Tri-Valley, Tracy and Stockton. Phone banking is almost continuous, and if you contact the campaign, there will be evening precinct walking in the Tri-Valley. You can also call them at (925) 833-0643 or (209) 478-5961.

Additionally, the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund will be walking precincts every weekday evening and on weekends. You can email them at DefeatPombo@gmail.com or call them at (925) 249-1615.

And, of course, there’s always ActBlue.

Paying Pombo a Visit

2006-10-12T18:29:00.000-07:00

Unless your name starts with "Exxon" or ends with "Abramoff," Rep. Richard Pombo is not going to have time for you.

A group of Pombo's constituents, armed with blown-up copies of the Abramoff billing records [PDF], paid a visit to the San Ramon district office of the seven-term congressman to demand answers as to why he lied about his connection to convicted lobbyist, Jack Abramoff. Needless to say, they were met with a locked door.

Watch the video:

Before heading over to Pombo's congressional office, protesters lined Bollinger Canyon Road in San Ramon with signs and received a lot of fanfare from motorists honking their horns in support.

In the picture below, it is hard to see but the signs spell out "WHY DID POMBO LIE ABOUT ABRAMOFF?"

It is a legitimate question for voters in California's 11th Congressional District to pose to Pombo. There is documentation -- hard evidence -- that Abramoff personally lobbied Pombo on the Marianas Islands. And Pombo continues to lie and deny claiming -- without any supporting evidence -- that these documents are forgeries.

With Pombo's San Ramon staffers cowering in fear behind a locked door, his visitors were determined to have their message heard. In the lobby of Pombo's office, they left the congressman and his staff a gift -- their evidence.

Earlier this week, the Associated Press reported that billing records showed several contacts between Pombo and Abramoff, despite years of denials from the congressman. Early this morning, Think Progress published the records.

Richard Pombo LIES, LIES, LIES

2006-10-12T16:09:00.000-07:00

Richard Pombo went out on the airwaves yesterday with an anti-McNerney radio spot that has left a lot of people scratching their heads. TPM Cafe has a recording of the ad here. After attacking McNerney for being soft on the War on Terror, the comercial goes on to state:

[McNerney] said North Korea should be allowed to develop nucelar weapons without fear of US military intervention.

Well, let me be the first to call this for what it is:

BULLSHIT.

McNerney’s position on National Security has remained steadfast and unchanged:

Our foreign policy has been hijacked by fears resulting from the terrible attacks on 9/11. Terrorists must be dealt with harshly and without compromise or negotiation. However, our foreign policy needs to be guided by a rational assessment of what actions will result in a more secure homeland.

For Pombo to try to twist that into a stance that is soft on terror and advocates for allowing North Korea to develop nuclear weapons is the act of a desperate, desperate man. Taking a page from the Karl Rove playbook, Pombo has apparently decided to try to deflect attention from his terrible record, his lies, his ties to discredited House members, and his dealings with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff by making up a story so outrageous and inflammatory that it will overshadow the REAL news.

But with this new ad, Pombo really went over the top. I mean, who in this world thinks that North Korea should be allowed to develop nuclear weapons? NO ONE.

Especially not Jerry McNerney, whose son recently served in the Air Force in South Korea.

Let’s get back to reality here. Bribes from Monsanto, lobbying by Jack Abramoff, telling lies about his position on warrantless wiretapping (which, incidentally, has been picked up by the Tracy Press), a long history of shilling for big oil, blind support for Bush’s failed Iraq War coupled with lack of support for veterans benefits — no wonder Richard Pombo wants us talking about his made-up allegations vis-à-vis Jerry McNerney and North Korea.

This is a classic shell game, and Richard Pombo is hoping like crazy that by making such ludicrous accusations, he can take the voters’ eyes off the real issues.

Pombo accused of bribery in 1994

2006-10-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

In the AP story Tuesday on Abramoff lobbying Pombo, it says:

"On Sept. 10, 1996, Abramoff billed for a discussion with Pombo. Two days later he gave Pombo a $500 donation, the first of what would become $7,500 in campaign contributions. "

Here is the legal definition of bribery:

Bribery n.: the crime of giving or taking money or some other valuable item in order to influence a public official (any governmental employee) in the performance of his/her duties. Bribery includes paying to get government contracts (cutting the roads commissioner in for a secret percentage of the profit), giving a bottle of liquor to a building inspector to ignore a violation or grant a permit, or selling stock to a Congressman at a cut-rate price.

So Jack Abramoff gave money ($500) in order to influence a public official (Pombo) in the performance of his duties (voting in Congress). I don't think it is much clearer than that. This is bribery, pure and simple.

Of course, Pombo protests this -- after all, Abramoff (most likely) did not explicitly write a note like "Dear Richard, Here is $500 for voting my way on the Marianas bill. Your friend, Jack." If Abramoff did send him flowers or candy, I am sure we will never hear about it. But we do have a clear chain of causation here. Jack calls Pombo, Jack sends cash and promises other favors, Pombo votes Jack's way, Jack gloats that "We were able to add four conservative Republicans to the block of Democrat opponents".

This went on for years, this Abramoff-DeLay-Pombo circle of corruption, until it all came tumbling down with Abramoff's arrest, DeLay's indictment, and, we all hope, Pombo's defeat at the polls and eventual indictment.

But all this was not new to Pombo, not even in 1996. Two years earlier, in 1994, he was also accused of bribery on a vote involving Monsanto. From Robert Cohen:

Pombo is a crook, and should have been thrown out of Congress in 1994 for taking bribes from Monsanto while considering a bill to label milk and dairy products containing that pharmaceutical giant's genetically engineered bovine growth hormone.

Richard Pombo was a long-time member of the House Dairy, Livestock, and Poultry Committee. In 1994, the approval process for Monsanto's re-combinant bovine growth hormone (rbGH) became the greatest controversy in FDA history.

At that time, the Dairy Committee reviewed a proposed law that would have required labels on milk, cheese, or ice cream products containing that genetically engineered hormone. After all, Americans had a right to know what they are eating...right? Wrong. The Dairy Committee stalled the proposed bill until the 1994 elections. When the 1994 session of Congress expired, the bill died. The law was never voted upon. That's how Congress works, folks. A congressman can introduce a bill, and the bill can be sent to a committee, but behind the scenes shenanigans work to deceive the true interests of the American people. The biggest factor influencing members of Congress is the almighty dollar.

I began to investigate milk, milk hormones, and milk politics at about that time. I researched PAC donations, and learned that Pombo had accepted a total of $252,600 in PAC money in 1994. Remarkably, $84,385 was given to him from private companies and groups doing business in agriculture. Talk about buying votes! Even more remarkable was Pombo's relationship with Monsanto. I learned that this man had the audacity to accept money directly from Monsanto while voting on a bill that impacted Monsanto's future and the future of biotechnology. I've called that PAC donation a bribe, and I continue to do so. If Pombo is your California congressman, please let him know that I am calling him a crook. He may sue me. Good. Then America can learn that this man takes bribes.

One thing you can say about Pombo, he has been consistent. Now, all he needs is a sign in his office, "Votes for Sale -- $500 in Committee, $1000 on the Floor". Seems it is easy -- and profitable -- to be a Congressperson. But it looks like all this will end soon for Poor Richard. I just hope he has enough cash left over to pay his legal fees so Annette and the kids can stay on the ranch while he is in jail.

Pombo Lied (Again) -- Here's What You Can Do About It

2006-10-11T16:00:00.000-07:00

In front of a room full of his constituents at the Tracy Press Forum last Thursday, Rep. Richard Pombo flatly denied any connection to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff (via the Tracy Press):

"I've seen myself described as one of (Jack Abramoff's closest allies in Congress. I met the guy two or three times in my whole life -- he never once lobbied me on anything, never asked me to sign a letter, to vote for or against a bill, to introduce a bill; he never once stepped foot in my office. ..."

Yesterday the Associated Press dropped a "Bomb-o on CA's Pombo," as a TPMmuckraker headline described it, by reporting that records from Abramoff's former firm, Preston Gates, say otherwise.

WASHINGTON -- California Rep. Richard Pombo has insisted he was never lobbied by Jack Abramoff. Records show the disgraced lobbyist billed a client for at least two contacts with Pombo a decade ago.

The lobbying records released by the Northern Marianas Islands show that Abramoff billed once for calls to Pombo, chairman of the House Resources Committee, and a second time for a discussion with him, while lobbying in 1996.

Pombo has been caught lying to the faces of each and every one of his constituents in California's 11th Congressional District.

Tomorrow, Thursday, October 12 at 12pm noon, there will be a "Richard Pombo Caught Red-Handed" rally. The meet-up point will be at Central Park (12501 Alcosta Blvd., San Ramon) and from there, we will head over to Pombo's district office.

From the Defenders' event advisory:

According to the Associated Press on October 10, however, billing records released by the Northern Marianas Islands show that Abramoff lobbied Pombo directly at least twice so that he would vote “no” in the House Resources Committee, which he now chairs, to giving a nonvoting delegate to Congress from Marianas Islands, which would have compelled congressional investigation of child prostitution, forced abortion, and sweatshop labor in the Marianas.

“Richard Pombo is caught red-handed having lied to his constituents about his direct ties with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff,” said Ed Yoon, campaign manager for Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund. “Worse, Pombo lied to cover up being under the influence of Abramoff to prevent investigation of child prostitution, forced abortion, and sweatshop labor in the Northern Marianas Islands.”

Pombo’s office sidestepped that assertion by alleging that these billing records produced by the Northern Marianas Islands were falsified, to which Yoon replied: “The evidence connecting Pombo to Abramoff is clear – Congressman Pombo now has the burden of producing facts which refute that relationship. Abramoff has been proven guilty of bilking his clients, but he was never charged with falsifying contacts with them. The real question is: Just how much time did Abramoff spend lobbying Pombo?”

Join us to demand some answers. (You never know, he just might complain about it later.)

Jerry McNerney (Dem)	37,353	51.3%
Richard W. Pombo (Rep)	35,516	48.7 %