The No-man's race for Congress
Throughout his 20-plus years in the Legislature, Ventura County state Sen. Tom McClintock has cultivated a reputation in the Capitol as a lawmaker who votes 'no' more than any other.
On countless roll calls over the years, McClintock has cast a sole no vote or been among only two or three legislators to oppose specific pieces of legislation.
His opponent in his current race for Congress in Northern California, former Congressman Doug Ose, has taken notice -- specifically as it relates to bills designed to carve out special benefits to members of the National Guard who have been called to active duty.
It is an imposing list, and one that Ose hopes will make an impression upon the many veterans in the conservative 4th District. Among the examples of McClintock votes:
No on a 2005 bill that releases active duty service members from having to pay certain fees, such as utility termination fees, upon deployment (passed the Senate 38-2, signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger).
No on a 2005 bill that allows active duty service members to defer specific financial obligations upon deployment for six months (passed the Senate 35-2, signed by Schwarzenegger).
No on a 2005 bill that provides a six-month grace period on interest charges and surcharges to accounts held by surviving spouses of military members killed in action (passed the Senate 33-2, signed by Schwarzenegger).
No on a 1997 resolution asking Congress to minimize military base closures in California. McClintock was a member of the Assembly at the time and was the only dissenter on a 76-1 roll call vote.
McClintock is appealing to voters by asserting he will stick to his guns in Congress and consistently vote to hold the line on government spending. Ose is betting that veterans in the district don't believe that hard-line on spending should apply to veterans benefits.
Posted by Timm Herdt at 9:19 AM | Comments (0)
When a hero lets you down
There aren't many heroic role models these days for people who write or comment on politics. The yahoos on TV are a daily embarrassment, the columnists in The New York Times' stable have each chosen sides and write one pep-rally piece after another in defense of their chosen candidate, either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.
Most of the news coverage, if it isn't about inside-baseball politicking, focuses on insubstantial issues. Debate moderators have morphed into circus ringleaders. Even on what used to be the sober "Meet the Press," Tim Russert on Sunday botched a question about Obama's alleged lack of showy patriotism by stating the senator did not put his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance.
That particular issue, such as it is, concerns not the Pledge but the National Anthem. And why doesn't someone such as Russert simply ask the question to viewers: How many people can you count in a baseball stadium who place their hands over their heart during the Star-Spangled Banner? Fact is, it just isn't part of the traditional ritual. The Pledge, yes. The Anthem, no.
I've grown to expect such shoddy performances from nearly all the national political media. But I've always felt there was one hero who could be counted on not to succumb to spin and silliness: David Broder of the Washington Post.
Broder is a personal hero. I cherish the memory of having given him a ride back to his downtown hotel from a John McCain rally on the CSU Sacramento campus in 2000. He is sober, studious, hard-working, civil and blessed with a grandfatherly sort of wisdom and gentility.
But in today's column, Broder referred to Obama's defeat in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary as a "relatively narrow" loss.
It shows that, alas, even David Broder can be influenced by spin.
The plain fact is that in any political campaign in America -- be it for Congress or mayor or a ballot proposition -- a 9.2 percentage point margin of victory constitutes a landslide.
Posted by Timm Herdt at 8:47 AM | Comments (0)
Transparent title
Interest groups in Sacramento have a long history of awarding "legislator of the year" awards to lawmakers who just happen to have a tough campaign coming up. It's a good way to solidify a friendly relationship, and it gives the legislator something he or she can tout in the campaign.
On Monday, the Consumer Federation of California took this tradition to a new level. It gave former Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson of Santa Barbara -- who hasn't been in the Legislature for four years -- its "Consumer Champion of 2008" award.
The group's rationale was that Jackson, as head of an online advocacy group called Speak Out California, did a bang-up job of "educating voters about important state legislative matters affecting the rights of consumers." The Consumer Federation also noted that Jackson, during her years as a lawmaker, carried some significant financial privacy legislation backed by the group.
But the true reason for singling out Jackson was noted in the last paragraph of the Consumer Federation's press release: "She will be the Democratic nominee to replace term-limited state Sen. Tom McClintock."
The award gives Jackson something current to place on her resume that she will present to voters in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.
Posted by Timm Herdt at 10:08 AM | Comments (0)
A pause, or a new trend?
Secretary of State Debra Bowen today released the report on voter registration that is required 60 days before every election, and it reveals an interesting development in Ventura County: The steady rise in independent, or "decline to state" voters has at least momentarily taken a pause.
It has been reported both here and on the pages of The Star that Democrats in March surpassed Republicans on the voting rolls in Ventura County for the first time in 20 years. The new figures show that trend continuing; as of April 4, Democrats had increased their edge to 3,179 voters. They now outnumber Republicans 153,323 to 150,144.
Equally noteworthy, however, is what has happend since the last official statewide report, issued on Jan. 22. Since that time, the number of decline-to-state voters in the county has dropped by more than 500. It is a slight change -- less a half-percent of registered voters -- but it is notable because this is the one category of voters that has steadily and dramatically increased in every reporting period for more than a decade.
It could be a quirk, because statewide the number of decline-to-states continued to rise. But it's something to keep an eye on, because it could suggest that younger voters who in recent years have scorned political parties are gravitating toward the Democratic Party.
This development could be politically meaningful in the 19th Senate District, where a contested partisan race is shaping up for the fall. In that district since January, Democratic registration inched up by more than half a percent, Republican registration dropped by about a quarter percent and decline-to-state registration dipped by about a quarter percent.
The net result: The Republican voter registration advantage in that district is down to 2.3 percent. The last time there was an election in the 19th District, in 2004, the Republican edge was just under 5 percent. In other words, the advantage has been cut in half in less than four years.
Posted by Timm Herdt at 5:28 PM | Comments (0)
'Not hopelessly blue'
An all-star team of California Republican leaders today announced the creation of a new organization that will be devoted to recruiting future candidates for statewide office. The group hopes to prove, as former Gov. Pete Wilson said on a conference call to reporters, that California "is not hopelessly blue."
The GOP record at winning statewide offices has been abysmal since Wilson won his re-election in 1994. As businessman Paul Folino, one of the top financial contributors to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, noted, Republicans have won only 20 percent of statewide races since 1998.
The current scorecard: The GOP holds two statewide offices (Schwarzenegger and Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner) and the Democrats hold six statewide offices and both U.S. Senate seats.
The executive director of the new organzation, called Republicans Aligned for Tomorrow, is former state GOP Chairman Duf Sundheim. On the conference call, Sundheim noted that in the recent past Republicans have either fielded "good candidates" who did not have the financial resources to win and "in other instances, we didn't field a candidate with a chance of winning... The California Republican Party cannot be successful unless we change this dynamic."
The goal will be develop a "farm team" of potential candidates well ahead of a given election cycle and provide them with policy training, advice and financial support. Wilson said the group will seek candidates who are "attractive and articulate." Sundheim said that in seeking out candidates, "the standards will be quality and electability, not ideology."
Posted by Timm Herdt at 11:05 AM | Comments (0)
One man, one woman, two votes
This afternoon's Democratic caucuses to elect delegates to the National Convention in August will test an interesting strategy a number of two-person teams are trying around the state. In Ventura County's 24th Congressional District, Obama delegate candidates Jay Kapitz of Oak Park and Sandy Emberland of Thousand Oaks are giving it a shot.
Under party rules, the delegation to the national convention must be evenly divided between men and women. In the 24th district, Sen. Barack Obama will get two delegates, a man and a woman.
Emberland and Kapitz are running as a team, which means that as each reaches out to bring fellow Democrats to the caucus at Foothill Technology High School in Ventura, the other benefits from a two-fer. If Kapitz persuades, say, a co-worker to come to caucus to vote for him, Emberland will also benefit. And vice versa. Emberland told me this week she has even talked the painting crew now working at her house to come to the caucus. Kapitz, also will benefit from that kind of initiative.
With 23 candidates on the ballot, every vote will be important.
Emberland, an optimist, also told me she has already made hotel reservations for convention week in Denver -- she says she plans to attend as a volunteer if not selected as a delegate. She has taken that optimism one step further, however: She also has made hotel reservations in Washington, D.C., for the Jan. 20, 2009, inauguration of America's 44th president.
Posted by Timm Herdt at 11:16 AM | Comments (0)
Labor for Lloyd
The California Labor Federation has weighed in on the 23rd Senate District Democratic primary, endorsing Assemblyman Lloyd Levine of Van Nuys over former Assemblywoman Fran Pavley of Agoura Hills.
Today's announcement adds to the Sacramento-based clout the sitting assemblyman is amassing in his fight for the nomination. In addition to the Labor Federation, Levine also has Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez in his corner -- a not inconsequential consideration for groups that have interests now before the Legislature.
Posted by Timm Herdt at 4:07 PM | Comments (0)
Over the last 22 presidential elections, Ventura County voters have backed the winner 21 times, or 95 percent of the time. It is one of only a handful of counties in the nation that has been such a predictable bellwether.
The Ventura County Star's Sacramento Bureau Chief Timm Herdt on state issues and politics from Sacramento to Ventura County. He can be contacted at 
