CALIFORNIA LABOR FEDERATION GEARS UP TO DEFEAT JERRY LEWIS-- ENDORSES LOUIE CONTRERAS

Although Jerry Lewis is widely believed to be on the verge of indictment for taking massive bribes from the same corrupt Republican supporters who paid off now imprisoned ex-Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, the DCCC has not targeted Lewis for a serious challenge. Fortunately, a concerned citizen, Louie Contreras, who is neither a career politician nor the kind of mealy-mouthed corporate type the DCCC normally favors, filed last year to run against Lewis and has been quietly putting together an impressive coalition of civic-minded groups and supporters to tackle the entrenched incumbent.

Lewis was the chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee that his close friend Cunningham was a member of while GOP defense contractors Mitchell Wade and Brent Wilkes were paying off Lewis, Cunningham, Katherine Harris, Duncan Hunter, John Doolittle and Virgil Goode, Jr. in return for tens of millions of dollars in sweetheart deals.

This week the AFL-CIO's Central Labor Council of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties announced they have endorsed Contreras, as has the powerful California Labor Federation. Organized Labor seems to be able to see what the DCCC can't-- that Lewis is as vulnerable as he is detestable. Contreras, whose main campaign themes revolve around protecting working and middle class families by keeping Social Security, Medicare and higher education opportunities intact, has come out firmly against the continued occupation of Iraq. There are clear differences between the independent-minded Contreras and Jerry "Rubberstamp" Lewis, who bears a great deal of responsibity for the inept prosecution of the war in Iraq and for the lack of adequate equipment for our young men and women serving there. While his committee lined their own pockets with bribes from defense contractors, money was being siphoned away from programs that would have provided armor for vehicles and protection from IUDs. Lewis has a great deal to answer for but it is unlikely he will agree to face Contreras in an open debate, man to man. That's because Republicans are weak and would rather pull strings and manipulate elections from behind the curtain.

"I'd love to sit down with Congressman Lewis in front of Riverside and San Bernardino voters and have a discussion of his voting record," Contreras told DWT. "Many people may be unaware that Congressman Lewis has been a rubber-stamp for the worst excesses of the Republican culture of corruption back in Washington. His votes on Social Security legislation and Medicare legislation are a disgrace to the working men and women of my district. And Congressman Lewis' idea of being pro-military is to vote against veteran's benefits, against assistance to the families of our active duty fighting men and women, against providing adequate armor for our front line troops and instead pushing harebrained schemes that enrich his corporate financial backers with taxpayer dollars. Jerry Lewis has had a free ride in the High Desert long enough. It's time for him to come home and answer some serious questions about what he's been doing back there in Washington all these years."