Progressive Champions Like Eloise Reyes Stand Up To Bigots

The new 31st congressional district, which runs south of L.A. from Upland and Rancho Cucamonga out to San Bernardino, Colton, Loma Linda and Redlands, was carved out of Democratic-leaning areas that were once represented by Jerry Lewis, David Dreier and Joe Baca, 3 conservatives who are no longer in Congress. It's the bluest district anywhere in America with a Republican congressman. And that congressman, Gary Miller, isn't just a standard, garden variety Republican; he's a far right ideologue and has been for his entire sordid career. The people of CA-31 deserve better, a lot better. The only reason Miller, who had never represented one square inch of CA-31 before he won last year, is in the congressman from this D+5 district, is because DCCC chairman Steve Israel insisted on trying to elect an unpopular and unsuitable empty suit to the office, Pete Aguilar, an appointed mayor of Redlands, who came in third behind two Republicans in his own city. Aguilarwas so unpopular-- outside of DC backrooms-- that he managed to lose the district to both Republicans last year. So, of course, Steve Israel wants to anoint him as the Democratic candidate again. This time CA-31 voters will make that decision, not Steve Israel. And the popular and well-respected candidate is Eloise Gomez Reyes.

Eloise fits the profile of the district in ways that Gary Miller and Pete Aguilar never will. Miller and Aguilar want to reduce Social Security benefits for seniors, veterans and the handicapped. Eloise wants to go to Congress to work to increase those benefits and protect them for future generations. "I grew up in a family where everyone did their part to make ends meet," she told us recently. "My brothers, sisters and I all worked the onion fields alongside our parents to help pay for our school clothes. I understand what it means to work your whole life, pay into Social Security and expect to live out your final years without having to make critical choices between food or medicine or rent. It’s simply wrong to try to balance the budget on the backs of our seniors, veterans and the disabled. I’m running for Congress to make sure that never happens to anyone in San Bernardino, Upland, Redlands or anywhere else in America. Whether it’s a Republican or a Democrat who proposes it, 'chained CPI' is just another way of saying "benefits cuts"-- and I will always hold Congress accountable when it comes to keeping the promises we have made to our seniors. The families here in the Inland Empire will always come first for me, before anyone in Washington or anyone on Wall Street."


Chained CPI is exactly what Pete Aguilar and Gary Miller want to do to working families in CA-31. Aguilar doesn't want to admit it to voters today but in May of 2012 he told the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin he would have voted for the Simpson-Bowles plan if he was in Congress. That's a conservative plan that seeks to balance the budget on the backs of the people who can least afford it and it embraces Chained CPI for retired workers. When the very right-wing editorial board of the San Bernardino Sun News endorsed Republican Bob Dutton last year, they said they had almost endorsed Aguilar. They sensed in him someone as conservative and unfair to working families as Dutton. "Aguilar," they wrote admiringly, "has been something of a fiscal hawk in Redlands. The city work force has been reduced by 17 percent over five years, and the city is currently negotiating with unions to get employees to pay toward their own retirement benefits. On the federal level, Aguilar told us, he would have voted for the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction plan (which did not, unfortunately, get to Congress for a vote)."

After losing so badly in 2012, the DCCC is telling him to try to sound a little more like a Democrat this year. They may even be getting him a tutor so he'll be able to say a few words in Spanish. And he's not supposed to campaign in favor of cutting Social Security or putting up higher border fences anymore. But that will never make him a fighter for progressive values like Eloise. If he ever manages to defeat Miller, he'll basically be just a lighter, slightly less conservative version of him. Now's a time we need fighters on issues where Eloise has been a fighter and where Aguilar has been a… punter. Watch that video up top again. And then think about what Gary Miller is doing too make sure there will never be comprehensive immigration reform. Miller stands with Steve King. Aguilar won't be will he ever fight Steve King? Not if you judge by his past. This is what Miller's amigo, Steve King has been up to this week:

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) hinted in an interview with Newsmax this week that he'd consider trying to oust Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), should he bring immigration reform to the House floor.

King, perhaps the House's most vocal opponent of comprehensive immigration reform, praised Boehner's performance during fights over government funding and the debt ceiling, saying he "did serve to unify the conference better than I thought."

But he didn't firmly commit to support the speaker in the future if he was crossed on immigration.

"We'll have to see how the future issues play out," he told Newsmax on Monday. "For example, if immigration comes before the House, it would be the most divisive thing that could be brought up by Republicans in the House. Then I would have a different answer to that question."

King and Boehner have clashed on immigration before. King opposes passing any legislation that could be combined with a Senate-passed comprehensive immigration reform bill-- regardless of whether he'd support the measure as a standalone bill. While Boehner has said he would not allow a vote on the Senate's bill, he has also said he hopes to pass other measures.

King caused a major headache for Boehner and other GOP leaders in July when he compared young undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children to drug mules. Boehner quickly put out a statement calling King's comments "wrong" and "hateful."

He later told reporters that King's language had made the reform effort more difficult.

"What he said does not represent the values of the American people or the Republican Party," Boehner said at the time.

Roll Call's Niels Lesniewski noted that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) made similar comments in August on immigration reform and Boehner's speakership.

“I think … if [Boehner] allows something to pass out of conference that looks anything like the Senate bill and is passed with a majority of Democrats, I think that will be the final thing he does as speaker," Paul told conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham at the time. "So, I think he knows that, and I think he’s going to be very cautious, and I hope he will defend us on this and not pass something that looks like the Senate bill."

What people in CA-31 need is someone who will stand up and fight back against these hate mongers, not someone who will bend over for them like Pete Aguilar.