Harmer claims Emken "lobbied for Obama Care???"

The phone rang around 2:30 pm yesterday.  It was some guy calling himself "Harmer" and told me that Elizabeth Emken "lobbied for Obama Care" or Obama's health care plan.

Actually, I'd just talked to Emken a few times and each time the center of her campaign was the repeal of Obama-care.   In fact in the video a few weeks ago, there is a place where she is against the "Obama health care bill" but it got cut out because of noise and distractions.  (Someone was handing her clipboards to sign and we got distracted.) 

If anyone has any doubt I can find that part of the video for you, but it's really not needed.  The issue has been discussed a lot.  And what is in the video is a discussion of how she can be "against the Obama health care bill" when she had, in the past, asked for more research and treatment of autism.  Based on the answer it's obvious she's against the "health care" bill. 

That's the problem with these robo-call whisper rumor calls.  When you make a public statement the other side can respond to it.  But there's something insidious about these secret calls.  And who is this "Harmer" fellow?

Candidate Meeting

This is the meeting of the South San Joaquin Republicans candidate night.  Sorry about the shakey video, my inflamed nerves were acting up and the lighting in there is a nightmare, windows all around, everything is backlit.  The sound in there isn't so good either.  But here it is, submitted for your approval.  As bad as it is, there are some amusing parts.  Heck, the rendition of the National Anthem at the end is worth the trip.

Fallout from Monday's GOP debate - Amador asks for investigation

There has been a lot of buzz since Monday's GOP debate about candidate Robert Beadles' assertions that the January 4 raid on his home and business (RBI, a construction safety company) was politically motivated. Beadles also alluded during the debate that one of the other candidates has hired illegal aliens and cheated on taxes, though that wasn't reported in the papers.

Today's Stockton Record has an article "Probe of raid urged" which reports that another candidate, former US Marshal Tony Amador, sent a letter to California Attorney General Jerry Brown asking him to investigate the allegation by Beadles that the raid was politically motivated in an attempt to intimidate Beadles and discourage or dissuade him from running for office. I'd post a link here to the Record article, but they've gone to a "pay wall" format this week so you wouldn't be able to read it unless you have a subscription.

On Beadles' official campaign website, he has a copy of what basically is a press release sent out the morning of the raid from his competitor's office (Farwest Safety) notifying Brad Goehring, Jerry McNerny, the Contractors State License Board and every newspaper in the area of the raid. Also on Beadles' website is a signed statement by one of his employees recounting a phone call he received from an employee of Farwest Safety while the raid was in progress. The timing of the phone call and the press release are suspicious, as if Farwest Safety knew in advance that Beadles' business was going to be searched.

A few weeks ago, Contra Costa Times political editor Lisa Vorderbrueggen uncovered information that a campaign consultant for Brad Goehring had been anonymously bashing three of the other candidates, including Beadles and Amador, on a conservative political blog. When he was confronted, the consultant David Creager admitted it and said he didn't realize it was a conflict of interest. You can read the entire article here.

In a statement to The Record, another consultant for Goehring, Carl Fogliani, said that the Goehring campaign had nothing to do with the search of RBI and called the accusation "delusional." Sheriff Steve Moore, whose office headed up the investigation of the complaint against Beadles, has endorsed Goehring as a candidate but claimed he had no idea that Beadles was also a candidate until a briefing on the raid on January 4.

Keep an eye on this story, it might have "legs." There is nothing new about political opponents trashing each other's reputations.... we all witnessed the vicious campaign against Lathrop Mayor Kristy Sayles in 2008. This campaign seems even more vicious if the accusations by Beadles against Goehring turn out to be true and even more disturbing if it involves the sheriff's department.

6 candidates vie for chance to unseat McNerny in District 11

Manteca Live attended the South San Joaquin Republican meeting January 11 to hear from the 6 candidates (so far) hoping to get the chance to unseat Democrat Jerry McNerney in Congressional District 11 this November. Usually held at Chez Shari Restaurant, this gathering was hosted by Crossroads Grace Community Church in Manteca. There was a large crowd, at least several hundred people, and the mood was a far cry from the depressing SSJR meeting a year ago after the 2008 election.

SSJR President Frank Aquila did a fine job organizing the event and the debate format was well-done. Each candidate was given 2 minutes to make an opening statement, then questions were divided into three groups with each candidate getting 1 minute to answer each question. I think the first group of questions came from the SSJR, the second group of questions came from the candidates themselves (previously submitted) and the third group came from questions previously submitted by the general public which were randomly drawn by the candidates. The topics covered a wide range of issues including the economy, the war and foreign policy, the UN, the military, health care reform, taxation, immigration and (unfortunately) abortion and gay marriage. After the debate, the candidates stayed and talked to anyone who was interested.

My first impressions:

David Harmer - A little stiff and rehearsed, maybe too removed from the issues of the Central Valley since he lives in wealthy San Ramon in Contra Costa County. Held up several books he wrote and one on Ronald Reagan written by his father, former California Lt. Governor John Harmer. Had a big colorful chart of the bureaucratic nightmare healthcare reform will create. Nice props but I wasn't real impressed with his answers, reminded me of a career politician.

Tony Amador - Former LAPD patrol officer and US Marshal, currently resides in Lodi. Seems like a nice enough guy but in my opinion, he has too much union involvement for him to be a good representative so I won't make any other comments.

Elizabeth Emken - The only woman in the group, sort of Sarah Palin-like, well-spoken, has a degree in economics (a big plus). Lives in wealthy Danville in Contra Costa County, but seemed well-informed on most issues. Left out Representative Michele Bachmann when listing Republican women in congress that she admires and that disappointed me.

Brad Goehring - Cocky and sure of himself, told the audience several times that he was wealthy enough that he didn't need the job of congressman for the money. He also boasted that he has the endorsement of many in local government (including Manteca mayor Willie Weatherford), which is reason enough not to vote for him. Couldn't name any Republican members of Congress. Born and raised in Lodi, currently resides in Clements.

Robert Beadles - Young and a little rough around the edges, seems earnest, resides in Lodi. He was distracted by recent troubles with the law when the police searched his home and business and arrested him for possession of stolen property on January 4. There is some evidence that a competitor reported him to the police to damage his business and his political campaign. He was subsequently released, not charged and his property returned. Wants to make a difference and probably should start off running for local office instead of aspiring to national office on his first try.

Jeff Takada - Takada, a graduate of East Union High School, is the only Mantecan running for congress. Young, intelligent and well-spoken, he garnered the most response from the audience out of all the candidates. People responded to his humor and spontaneous applause interrupted several of his answers. He named former presidential candidate Congressman Ron Paul as someone he admired and, being a Ron Paul fan myself, this is a definite plus. Down-to-earth with good ideas, he could be a dark horse in the race.

There was some drama towards the end of the debate when Robert Beadles gave his closing comments and recounted the raid by police on his business. A collective gasp arose from the audience when he turned to Brad Goehring and asked him to "do something about this" implying that Goehring was behind the accusations that he had stolen property.

You can visit each candidate's official website by clicking on their names.

Congressman McNerney hits the Manteca street.

Congressman Jerry McNerney surfaced at the "street faire" in central Manteca and met with and spoke to people on the street. He didn't stray too far from the booth being run by the Democratic Party and I got to ask a few questions!

First, despite having political differences, mainly caused by the fact that he's a democrat, I have to respect that he has the courage to just meet people on the public street and discuss political issues. That's got to be tough! You never know which type of crackpot you might meet next.

I think he was well briefed for my questions, with one exception. I'll get to that.

There are some photos of the congressman at the event here. I wish I'd gotten a picture with the congressman. Maybe I was afraid to let anyone hold my camera although most of the people there seemed friendly even though they were democrats.


I was introduced to the congressman as "the guy who gives the school board hell." I guess that's a nice intro. (I'm thinking "ya heard a me?") So then the congressman launched into the party line about how we don't value education enough (meaning we don't spend enough) yada yada... I had to interject that education is so important that we have to stop wasting money on and forcing everyone to attend failing government run schools. When I mentioned I'm in favor of "school choice" the congressman chuckled at that and we agreed that was a discussion for another day.

This is a good reason to always keep with you a list of "the questions you want to ask a politician should you ever meet one." Like, if you met President Bush today, or this minute, what would you ask? Or the governor? A city councilman? Whoever.

So, working from the list, I hit him with the #1 question I've been meaning to ask a democratic congressman: "We (well, not me, but that's beside the point) voted for you (the democrats) to end a war, and all we got was an increase in the minimum wage!?"

He picked up on the minimum wage comment first. He asked if I'm an "employer" or a business owner? This is typical in California -- no one wants to give their viewpoint until they figure out what you probably want to hear. So I just said "well lets just say I'm some guy" (probably a safe bet). And I asked "Why don't I have the right to my own labor? Like, if I want to work or do a thing for five dollars an hour, why shouldn't that be my right?"

He went on to the classic defense of the "minimum wage" which I don't have to repeat here except I think it involved "helping" some mysterious "little guy" by some vague means. This is the mistake of confusing the intention of a law with what it actually does. There's not a single economist who will say the minimum wage helps anyone more than it harms.

So when he finished explaining how he's trying to help the little guy with the minimum wage, I then asked "but those policies hurt the little guy..." and he asked "how so" and looked at me like he'd never heard such blasphemy before. I launched into a short explanation that if someone doesn't have the skills to produce above some arbritrary minimum level the law says you may not hire that person. And that doesn't "help" the little guy. He suggested that any job should be able to pay a certain minimum amount. This of course is nonsense, but it was time to get back to the main point.

What about that "war" going on? He explained how "we just don't have the votes" to end the war. He did say something about how terrible the war was and how much it was costing, the American lives lost, etc. (the party line again.) I asked him, "apart from the cost in American dollars and American lives, what about the cost in human life?" He looked around, wary that anyone would see him express sympathy for non-American human life, but he did nod and say yes. I got the feeling this was the only unscripted part of our whole talk. It's pretty sad when you can't even express the view that we shouldn't be making war on peoples who've never done any harm to us and not be afraid of criticism from someone who will call you "soft on terrorists" or whatever the concern was.

Quickly going through that list, I brought up issues of "home mortgages" and foreclosures and "bailing out" huge multi-billion dollar investment banks. I told him I didn't think it was fair to take money from ordinary careful people to give it to either people who entered into a home mortgage unwisely or to bail out multi-billionaires. He said we had to prevent "the larger collapse of the economy!" I would have challenged that crazy notion but that was about enough grilling for one day.

At this point, his assistant looked a little antsy so I decided skip over immigration, "energy policy," and medicine and finish with the election. He mentioned he's a "super delegate" for the Democratic Party and when I asked who he was favoring for president, he made a zipper to the lips type motion and said he wasn't saying.


Later, the congressman spoke to City Councilman Jack Snyder, about what I'm not sure because I was reluctant to get close enough to hear for fear some political critical mass may occur at any minute.


Next former mayor and now newspaper publisher Carlon Perry raked the congressman for not doing anything to help the people, going back to Washington DC and "forgetting all about the people you represent." The congressman did say something about how it's amazing that DC is all about some kind of quest for power and said it was astounding what happens to people there. And somehow this was related to the republicans I think. Another little lesson here is that I wish I'd spent more time carefully listening.

My general impression? Congressman McNerney reminded me of historical accounts I've read of how members of congress would have barbecues and meet with and speak with people at home gatherings and such. Democracy in action! It's unfortunate he's ignorant of economics and how certain policies hurt "little people" but so far as representation in Washington goes we could do worse. I guess.