Tomorrow Lee Rogers Is Opening His New Campaign Headquarters In Santa Clarita

Tomorrow (Thursday), Lee Rogers is formally opening his campaign headquarters in Newhall. They're having a little party, open to anyone in CA-25, the district in northern L.A. County/Simi Valley that he's running in. The festivities start at 6:30 and the address in 24265 Main Street.

In 2012 Rogers came closer to beating incumbent Buck McKeon, the only congressman the district has ever had, and he actually won in the fast-growing Antelope Valley, a third of the district. Rather than face him again, McKeon decided to leave Congress and become a lobbyist for the war industries that have financed his shady political career, endorsing a far right carpetbagger from Ventura County, Tony Strickland. Stickland is widely disliked by Santa Clarita Republicans, who promptly recruited an even further right character, Steve Knight, to challenge Strickland for the GOP nomination. A bloody civil war has ensued.

As you probably know, Blue America has once again endorsed Lee Rogers for the congressional seat. This year, however, both the PCCC and the DCCC are also backing Rogers and he's working tirelessly to raise the kind of money he needs to win the race. If you go to the headquarters grand opening tomorrow evening, keep in mind these amounts that will make their campaign function smoothly:

• $2 gets them one clipboard for precinct walking
• $5 helps them buy a pack of pens
• $20 gets them a large pizza for the volunteers
• $50 gets them an office microwave

Of course, larger sums will go a long way towards hiring get out the vote supervisors and put radio, TV, Internet and newspaper ads up for both the June jungle primary and then again in November. Feel free to contribute whatever you'd like to Lee's campaign.

Last weekend SCVTV, KHTS AM 1220, College of the Canyons Cougar News and The Signal sponsored the first forum for the three front-runners. According to The Signal, "Strickland touted the fact that McKeon has endorsed his campaign and said, if elected, he would strive to fill the leadership role McKeon has in Congress." That didn't stop a prominent-- albeit dickish, ignorant, always Establishment-leaning and almost always incorrect-- Beltway pundit, Stu Rothenberg, from highlighting Knight as the top Republican in the race yesterday for a column in Roll Call. As always, his moronic analysis is devoid of issues or of anything that would make anyone outside the "biz" be interested in the race or in voting.

Knight is a state senator, a former member of the Los Angeles Police Department and the son of a long-time former California legislator. In the open primary, he and another Republican, former state senator Tony Strickland, and Democrat Lee Rogers are fighting for two places on the November ballot.

In 2012, Rogers made the November runoff by drawing just under 30 percent of the vote. No matter which two hopefuls make the November runoff, that election should favor a Republican in this Los Angeles County district.

Knight, a conservative, served on the Palmdale City Council before winning election to the state Assembly and, eventually, the California Senate. He clearly is angry that Strickland, who ran against Brownley in the 26th District last cycle, switched races when the 25th District became open.

Strickland has the support of McKeon, and, more importantly, he has plenty of cash. That’s something Knight doesn’t have. But Knight does have deep roots in the Antelope Valley, an important part of the district, and plenty of endorsements throughout the district, including from Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich.

Strickland and his wife, Audra, have held a number of offices and run unsuccessfully for others. They have made friends along the way but also stepped on plenty of toes.

Both Strickland, whom I interviewed in early February, and Knight are personable and articulate. Strickland has gotten more attention in D.C. because of his Capitol Hill connections, past run for Congress and considerable financial advantage. But Knight starts with a geographic advantage and, while seen as an underdog in the nation’s capital, deserves watching in the June 3 primary.

Knight's voting record would be ultra-conservative if he represented a backward district in Alabama or Mississippi. In suburban L.A., it's just bizarre and a throwback to another century. Widely considered a shill for the NRA and an automaton for the most extreme right-wing proposals that ever come up in Sacramento, Knight was one of only 11 senators who voted against increasing the minimum wage and, despite representing a district with a huge Hispanic population, he was one of only 8 senators who voted against drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants. When the Governor decided to expand Medicaid in line with the Affordable Care Act, only 7 die-hard right-wingers opposed it, Knight being one of them. He was also one of only 8 senators to fully back unregulated fracking in earthquake zones in California. He is vehemently anti-Choice and anti-gay and voted against every piece of legislation promoting equality that has ever come before him. For example, last May he was one of only 9 senators to vote against a bipartisan bill that prohibits tax-exempt status for organizations that discriminate against the LGBT community and he also one one of only seven sociopaths who opposed an anti-bullying bill that passed the Senate with huge bipartisan support. One legislator told me that Knight isn't a bad guy on a personal level but that he's "an inflexible ideologue… probably the single least effective member of the state legislature… Sure, Strickland is no prize but Knight makes even him look almost good!" Or maybe "a little less terrible" would be a more accurate way of putting it.

One more thing, when Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, the right-wing arbiter of conservatism up there, looked over Strickland and Knight, he begged McKeon to not resign. McKeon, who was already smelling the K Street loot, turned him down flat and urged him to back Strickland. Antonovich then turned around and endorsed Knight as the "best" of a bad situation.

The good situation, of course, is Lee Rogers. You can contribute to his campaign here even if you can't join him tomorrow for the grand opening of his headquarters.