Paul Ryan Gives Up On 2 More Orange County Incumbents— Mimi And Dana Pushed Overboard

Maybe it’s too early to congratulation progressive Democrat Katie Porter and New Dem Harley Rouda, but yesterday’s L.A. Times reported that Mimi Walters (CA-45) and Dana Rohrabacher (CA-48) are no longer seen as viable candidates by Ryan’s shady, Adelson-funded SuperPAC. Both have been cut off and left on the side of the road to die, politically speaking. What the Times reported is that the omission of Rohrabacher and Walters from TV advertising by Ryan’s Congressional Leadership Fund “comes at a crucial inflection point in the midterm election when the two parties begin assessing their likely winners and losers.”

Walters and Rohrabacher join a dozen other Republican incumbents who have been left for dead like Barbara Comstock (VA), Mike Coffman (CO), Mike Bishop (MI), Kevin Yoder (KS), Rod Blum (IA)... This is especially odd and unexpected for Walters and Rohrabacher because just last week Ryan’s PAC spent $337,839 savaging Katie Porter and $324,105 smearing Harley Rouda.

Candidates in California, where more than half a dozen seats are being seriously contested, are at particular risk of being cut off financially because of the state’s exorbitant advertising costs. Money saved in the costly Los Angeles media market can be spread over several contests in other states that may be considered more winnable.

The Congressional Leadership Fund, which collects multi-million-dollar checks from the Republican Party’s biggest donors, says it is spending nearly $12 million on cable television ads in four House contests in Southern California.

On Friday, the super PAC launched an additional $5-million ad campaign on the main broadcast stations in Los Angeles, the nation’s second most expensive media market after New York.

But the fund’s opening broadcast ads support only two of the four Republican candidates in the Southland’s hardest-fought races: Rep. Steve Knight of Palmdale and Young Kim of Fullerton, relegating its Rohrabacher and Walters ads to cable channels with fewer viewers.

The fund is free to add Walters and Rohrabacher to its broadcast lineup later. But millions of Californians have already received their ballots by mail, so immediate advertising is crucial to the fate of the two lawmakers, who are each facing their most serious challenges ever.

Rohrabacher has served 15 terms in Congress and Walters is bidding to win her third term.

Their Democratic challengers are already spending heavily on broadcast television ads. Walters has aired some broadcast commercials too, but Rohrabacher has not.

Nationwide, Democratic candidates have raised far more money than Republicans. As a result, GOP candidates are counting on outside groups like the Congressional Leadership Fund to come to the rescue.

But those groups must pay as much as quadruple the rates that television stations are required by law to offer to candidates, so the Democratic dollars are buying far more ad time. And those dollars are expanding the political battlefield, pressuring Republican strategists to make hard decisions on where to commit precious resources and which candidates to let go.

“While most people talk constantly about whether [Democratic enthusiasm] will translate into turnout, it’s definitely translating into dollars,” said Rob Stutzman, a veteran Republican strategist in Sacramento. “Dollars aren’t decisive always, but it’s always a big advantage.

“When you’re these national committees and you’ve got problems in the suburbs of Dallas, Kansas City, Chicago, Philadelphia, you’ve got to start making decisions on where you can most effectively spend,” Stutzman said.

For Knight, facing a formidable fundraiser in Democratic challenger Katie Hill, the new boost from the Congressional Leadership Fund came as a big relief. “We’re happy to have the help,” Knight strategist Matt Rexroad said.

Kim, the other Republican getting broadcast ads from the fund, is battling Democrat Gil Cisneros to succeed Rep. Ed Royce of Fullerton.

A Rohrabacher spokesman did not return a call for comment.

Dave Gilliard, a strategist for Walters, warned against reading too much into the latest machinations.

“There’s a lot of head fakes and games of chicken that occur between various outside spending groups in all these congressional districts,” he said. “Everybody’s trying to head-fake the other side to get them to spend money where they don’t need it.”

A spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee said the GOP’s congressional campaign arm is now broadcasting a spot supporting Walters and attacking her challenger, Katie Porter.

But he declined to say whether the committee would step up its advertising in either Orange County district if the Congressional Leadership Fund keeps Rohrabacher and Walters limited to cable.

The DCCC is doing something very similar. Remember, triage is bi-partisan-- and always favors conservatives (because of who exactly makes the decisions).They sent out a toxic memo Friday urging institutional donors and the suckers who still contribute to them instead of giving directly to candidates to concentrate on the corrupt conservatives the DCCC is pushing and stop giving money to the progressive candidates whose campaigns the DCCC is trying to destroy. They specifically asked donors to earmark money for New Dem candidates who are way ahead, while cutting back on all candidates associated with Bernie and with the policies he espouses and which are popular with Democratic voters. It’s ironic because the only way the anti-Red wave could possible turn into a Blue Wave would be for the DCCC to embrace ideas like Medicare-For-All, free state colleges, $15 minimum wage, Job Guarantee and other progressive ideas. The DCCC and their bag of Republican-lite candidates would rather run on bullshit talking points and conservative policies like PayGo.

The Hottest Race In Orange County Pits A Progressive Woman Against A Reactionary Woman

Yesterday, CNBC interviewed notorious Trump rubber stamp Mimi Walters, from Orange County, California. I mentioned her county rather than her district (CA-45) because it's an inland district and she prefers to live on the beach-- in Dana Rohrabacher's district. She was elected in 2014, so you'd think she'd have moved into the district she's supposed to be representing by now. But her constituents-- who she never sees-- have been lenient with her... so far. You're not going to find many voting records as Trumpified as this one-- and certainly not in Orange County. Walters is among Trump's most unabashed and unashamed enablers in Congress.

And yet... and yet... suddenly on CNBC she said something very unexpected and very much at odds with her craven rubber-stamp record:

"I can’t be held responsible for his actions. I can only be held responsible for my own actions. The one thing about this president, he certainly communicates with the people of this country and lets them know what he thinks."

Maybe that was because new polling shows her likely to lose the district, just like Trump did in 2016.

John Harwood wrote that CA-45 "brims with the sorts of highly educated suburban voters who have been repelled by Trump's conduct across the country. Its median income of more than $90,000 ranks among the nation's highest. The economy is booming. Orange County retains its traditional aversion to tax increases. The Trump tax cuts offered a mixed blessing, reducing rates but also curbing valuable deductions for state and local taxes... It's among ten California contests critical to the Democrats' hopes of gaining the 23 seats they need for control of the House. Former President Barack Obama will stump in Orange County on Saturday to rally support for Porter and several other Southern California Democratic hopefuls."

ON THEIR CONTRAST IN PHILOSOPHIES

WALTERS: I come from a conservative district and my opponent identifies herself with many of the liberal policies of Elizabeth Warren. She is an Elizabeth Warren protégé. She was a law student of hers at Harvard.

She is on the same page with Elizabeth Warren as far as wanting universal healthcare. She identifies with Elizabeth Warren as wanting to abolish ICE, open borders. And these are just policies that will not sit well in the district. Universal healthcare is not popular in the district at all.

PORTER: I spent my whole career fighting for families to have a fair shot in the economy, and standing up for them when they when they were cheated by big banks or by predatory lenders. So I think it's really important to be a champion for a fair economy, an economy that works for all, that gives small business a level playing field against the largest corporations, and an economy that creates opportunity for every American.

What we've seen under Mimi Walters is just the opposite. Raising taxes on middle class Orange County families, right here in her own district, not doing anything to address the rising cost of college, the pressures of paying for childcare, and voting to destabilize our health care system by voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act with no plan to protect those with preexisting conditions.

ON EFFECTS OF TRUMP'S ECONOMIC POLICIES

WALTERS: Well I think you have to look at the times that I'm in the district. I just came back. I was there for five weeks. And talking to my constituents about the tax reform package. It's very popular. I have people coming up to me and thanking me for supporting the tax reform package.

We see growth over the last four quarters. People have their 401(k)s more valuable than they were. We have the stock market at all-time highs. I was talking with some business owners, small business owners, and they were telling me that the biggest challenge they have right now is finding labor. And so now we have a labor shortage. These are good problems to have.

But I think the tax reform package overall has had a very, very positive effect on my district. We may have a few (paying more). But 90 percent of Americans are going to see a benefit. And remember, many people who are in the, let's say $200,000-$500,000 range, they had the alternative minimum tax. We've done away with it.

You're looking at a $2000 tax credit for children now, You're doubling the first $12,000 of a person's income, it's now going to be tax-free. So I believe that the low income people will definitely see a positive effectiveness. Middle class as well.

PORTER: There are three other Republicans in Orange County in Congress, and they all voted "No" on Trump's tax plan because they knew it punished California families and was going to create a financial shock at people's pocketbooks in April 2019. Families here are worried about that. They don't have the resources to pay $8,000 or $9,000 or 10,000 more in taxes.

This is a really powerful contrast between Mimi Walters and me. She's concerning herself with people at the very top of the income bracket, people making half a million dollars a year, people making a million dollars a year, people who are living off the stock market.

I'm concerning myself with working, middle class families here in Orange County who go to work every day, who are trying to put money into their 401k, but it's hard to find that money when they're trying to pay for child care, living in a high cost of living area, trying to save up to buy a house in an area where housing affordability is a crisis.

WHAT A DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS WOULD BRING

WALTERS: Well I think you're going to see this country move more toward socialism under Nancy Pelosi. Now Nancy Pelosi does a very good job of representing her people in San Francisco. But they simply are not on the same page as the constituents of my district in the 45th district. It's a much more conservative district.

Universal healthcare, single-payer, opening the borders, not protecting the people who come into this country, (not) making sure that we don't have terrorists come into this country to hurt our citizens. You know government's number one job is to make sure that we protect people who are here. We have to have border enforcement and strong borders.

PORTER: When the Democrats take control in 2019, the American people are going to be looking to us to be a check on some of Trump's reckless impulses, to provide stability and calm, and to go to work in a serious way on the most pressing issues facing Americans. We have the student loan crisis facing a generation of students and their parents in this country. We have concerns about globalism and competing in the world economy and having fair trade deals. We have to do something about climate change.

I teach business law. We need to have rules of the road that make capitalism functional, that make it work. This is about making sure that we're creating opportunity for families, that we're balancing what businesses want to do for a profit motive with making sure that we have opportunity.

Every country needs to have border control. But what we've seen under Trump is ripping parents apart from children, and Mimi Walters has failed to speak up forcefully against that.

We need to be strengthening our health care system, not weakening it for the benefit of big pharmaceutical companies and powerful health insurance companies. I support Medicare for all because I think it's going to deliver the best quality and affordable care that we can get in this country.

WHETHER TRUMP IS DANGEROUS AND HOW CONGRESS SHOULD REACT

WALTERS: No I do not believe that. I think he has a very good team around him. I believe he's doing what he thinks is right.

I think the Mueller investigation is important and it needs to play out. Hopefully it will get wrapped up soon. And I think that's why we have special prosecutors, to look into these kind of things to make sure that nobody meddles in our elections. Putin is not our friend. So we need to be mindful and let it play out.

I can't be held responsible for his actions. I can only be held responsible for my own actions. The one thing about this president, he certainly communicates with the people of this country and lets them know what he thinks.

There's processes in place to make sure that if there is corruption, then it will play itself out. But what I'm focused on making sure that I deliver my promises to my constituents. I made a commitment to help move this country in the right direction and I'm focused on those policies that will make sure that we will do just that.

I don't always agree with our president. For instance, I don't agree with the tariffs. And when I don't agree with them I speak up. So I am more interested in delivering the promises that I made to my constituents when I ran for Congress.

I think at the end of the day my constituents are going to look at the results and see that the economy is doing better. That they have jobs, that they have more money in their pocket.

PORTER: I think that some of Trump's actions represent a real threat to our democracy. We need to support the special investigation and his independence and allow him to find facts. The American people deserve the truth. They need to know what happened, and whether Trump or others around him have committed crimes.

Part of Congress's job is to be a check on the presidency. If you're not asking the right questions, if you're not looking at the evidence of the corruption, you won't see it even when its there. That's where we have a real danger in what Mimi Walters is doing. She is refusing to stand up for the people of Orange County and refusing to see the corruption that's right in front of her.

ON RISING TRUMP-ERA ACTIVISM AMONG WOMEN

WALTERS: I'm focused on legislation that serves my constituents. And I'll give you an example. Last year the city of Irvine, there was a sex trafficking ring that was uncovered. And when we learned that prosecutors didn't have the tools to go after the perpetrators, we have signed into law-- and I was very instrumental in writing the legislation-- that has comprehensive human sex trafficking reform. We also give those survivors of human sex trafficking recourse, which they never had before.

At the end of the day the voters will see what I've done, and what I delivered, and that's going to outweigh any of that noise you hear out there. We are doing what we promised the American people we would do. We're putting policies forward, and people feel better about themselves, and they feel better about their future and their children's future.

PORTER: Women here in Orange County, like women across America, have a whole host of concerns. They are not just concerned about issues designated to be women's issues.

They are going to be sitting down with their partners to try to figure out how to pay the thousands of additional taxes that Trump put on to them. Women have pre-existing conditions. Women breathe the air here and see our beaches here.

Women are concerned about safety and our schools. I don't think it's going to be enough to attract women voters to simply point to a single bill and say that makes you a champion for women and for working families.

Blue America has looked very closely at all the southern California races this cycle. All the Democrats are better than all the Republicans. But, by far, the best of any of the Orange County challengers is Katie Porter. We've endorsed her not just because she's infinitely better than Mimi Walters-- which she is-- or because she will help act as a check on Trump-- which she will-- but also because of what she has to office as a Member of Congress. Her policy stands are fantastic and her economic and legal experience is exactly what's needed to help take a proactive approach to problems the country is facing, problems sure to get worse the longer Trump and the GOP control government. Please consider contributing to Katie's campaign by clicking on the 2018 Bluer California thermometer above and contributing what you can.

Russian Hacking Is Very Real-- Who's In Charge Of Directing The U.S. Targeting? Kushner?

Rohrabacher-- a poor fool doomed by his own inept allies?

The Republican gubernatorial candidate in Pennsylvania, Scott Wagner, joked that the Russian government will help him beat Tom Wolf in November. Polling indicates that that's basically the only way he would win. It's not actually that funny-- especially when Putin-Gate has spawned Putin-Gate II and that the GRU is now targeting conservatives as well as normal candidates. Microsoft claims to have uncovered broadening threats to Democracy. Microsoft president Brad Smith: "It’s clear that democracies around the world are under attack. Foreign entities are launching cyber strikes to disrupt elections and sow discord. Unfortunately, the internet has become an avenue for some governments to steal and leak information, spread disinformation, and probe and potentially attempt to tamper with voting systems. We saw this during the United States general election in 2016, last May during the French presidential election, and now in a broadening way as Americans are preparing for the November midterm elections."

Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit, he wrote, is on the case. They're making headway against Fancy Bear (aka- APT28 and Strontium). "We’re concerned," he wrote, "that these and other attempts pose security threats to a broadening array of groups connected with both American political parties in the run-up to the 2018 elections." So what's this all mean?

A group affiliated with the Russian government created phony versions of six websites, including some related to the US Senate, with an aim to hack into the computers of people who were tricked into visiting, according to Microsoft.

...The effort by the notorious APT28 hacking group, which has been publicly linked to a Russian intelligence agency and actively interfered in the American 2016 presidential election, underscores the aggressive role Russian operatives are playing ahead of the midterm congressional elections in the US.

APT28 specialises in information warfare or hacking and disinformation operations. "APT" refers to "advanced persistent threat" in cybersecurity circles.

US officials have repeatedly warned that the November vote is a major focus for interference efforts.

Trump and his GOP enablers are purposely leaving the back door open for the Russians, refusing to fund statewide efforts to protect American voting systems and firing top level specialists in cyber-security. A question I've always had-- and will ultimately be answered (or not) by the Mueller investigation-- is who in Trump-world has been helping the Russians with their targeting? I had to laugh when the first reports came out that hackers-- presumably Russians-- interfered in two Orange County Democratic primaries, one to pick a candidate to run in CA-45 against lockstep rubber-stamp Mimi Walters and one to pick a candidate to run against Putin's favorite congressman (and possible Kremlin spy) Dana Rohrabacher in CA-48. Both operations were badly botched.

They were botched because of the targeting. Whomever told the Russians to go after Hans Keirstead in CA-48 and Dave Min in CA-45 were not doing anything to help their Republican opponents. Both Keirstead and Min looked good-- at least inside the Beltway-- on paper. But both turned out-- in real life outside the Beltway-- to be abysmal candidates. Keirstead has a great resume and the DCCC recruited him, but he was a total stiff on the campaign trail and the DCCC abandoned him and leaked opposition research about a sex scandal. Early on, someone clueless inside the Beltway could have easily imagined he would be the strongest candidate against Rohrabacher. As a consequence, they may have blundered into harming Rohrabacher's chances by boosting the much stronger candidate, Harley Rouder, who neat Keirstead narrowly and is likely to beat Rohrabacher in November.

A similar thing happened in CA-45, where a Schumer puppet, Dave Min, may have been perceived in DC (and thereby Moscow) as the stronger Democrat against Walters. But as the campaign unfolded, he turned out to be a miserable politician, way too nasty and vicious to win anything. If the Russian hackers were trying to help Walters, they doomed her by knocking out Min. Instead, Katie Porter, who won the primary, is likely to end Walters' political career in November. Sounds like Kushner-in-law's work. His fingerprints are all over these two collusion operations.


UPDATE: Will Putin Save The GOP From The Voters?

Trump seems to think so. Writing for Yahoo News today, Alexander Nazaryan reported that Trump asked the Senate to block a bill to strengthen the country's defenses against electoral interference. Trump got Roy Blunt (R-MO) to stop the bill in committee yesterday. To me this is way more impeachable than paying off hookers with campaign cash.

The Secure Elections Act, introduced by Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) in December 2017, had co-sponsorship from two of the Senate’s most prominent liberals, Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) as well as from conservative stalwart Lindsey Graham (R-S) and consummate centrist Susan Collins (R-ME).

...As it currently stands, the legislation would grant every state’s top election official security clearance to receive threat information. It would also formalize the practice of information-sharing between the federal government-- in particular, the Department of Homeland Security-- and states regarding threats to electoral infrastructure. A technical advisory board would establish best practices related to election cybersecurity. Perhaps most significantly, the law would mandate that every state conduct a statistically significant audit following a federal election. It would also incentivize the purchase of voting machines that leave a paper record of votes cast, as opposed to some all-electronic models that do not. This would signify a marked shift away from all-electronic voting, which was encouraged with the passage of the Help Americans Vote Act in 2002.

“Paper is not antiquated,” Lankford says. “It’s reliable.”

A paper trail is exactly what Putin and Trump-- and apparently, the Republican Party-- don't want. This is treason.

Tuesday The Nation's Eyes Turn To Orange County

The Elizabeth Warren of the West

Tuesday will see 4 crucial open primaries in Orange County. Blue America has endorsed in 3 but can't find a candidate good enough to make an endorsement in one (CA-48). In CA-48, the coastal district that starts up in Seal Beach and heads south through Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach to Laguna Beach, Aliso Viejo, Laguna Niguel and Three Arch Bay. It's the district occupied by one of Putin's 2 favorite congressmen, Dana Rohrabacher (the other being Devin Nunes) and Rohrabacher is just so bad that it may be necessarily to just vote for the least evil of some pretty bad Democrats. One, Omar Siddiqui is a truly dreadful carpet-bagger and "ex"-Republican multimillionaire campaigning by calling himself, proudly, "a Reagan Democrat." Probably the least bad of the candidates is another "ex"-Republican, Harley Rouda, who I sense is probably not as bad as Hans Keirstead. The DCCC recruited both and the New Dems endorsed both but in the end the DCCC decided to go with Rouda, primarily because he was willing to write himself a bigger check. I've talked with him at length and I'd take the bet that he probably has the best chance to beat Rohrabacher and is probably the most likely to vote less conservatively in Congress.

But the race I wanted to remind everyone about today is the one east of Rohrabacher's-- CA-45, occupied by another rich carpetterbagger, Trump runner stamp Mimi Walters. The district heads east and south from the Anaheim Hills, Villa Park, Tustin and Irvine to Lake Forest, and Laguna Woods down to Rancho Santa Margarita, Mission Viejo and Coto De Caza. This is the one district where there is no danger of the jungle primary giving us 2 Republicans in November. It will be Mimi Walters and either a progressive UC Irvine professor, Katie Porter or a sleazy UC Irvine professor, New Dem Dave Min. Min is one of the worst of the California candidates running this cycle, as bad as it gets. Porter, on the other hand, is as good as it get. She's worked with Elizabeth Warren. He worked for Chuck Schumer... helping Schumer gather Wall Street bribes-- completely disgusting and unfit for office. I want to let Elizabeth Warren speak to why she's so enthusiastic about Katie:

My good friend, Katie Porter, is running to unseat a Republican member of Congress in California who calls Katie “The Elizabeth Warren of the West” and "Warren 2.0."

This Republican also warns supporters that Katie Porter will be a "solid vote" for progressive ideas and her election "will mean the end of the conservative policies" advanced by a Republican majority and Donald Trump.

That sounds pretty good to me! (And to Katie!)

Our best shot at flipping this very-flippable seat and advancing progressive ideas like Medicare For All and corporate accountability next Congress is for Katie Porter to win this key primary on Tuesday, June 5.

...If you haven’t already heard, Katie was my student. After she graduated, we worked together for years studying why millions of working American families were going broke. Like me, Katie became a bankruptcy law professor, and now she teaches at UC Irvine.

After the 2008 economic crisis, Kamala Harris (then California Attorney General) appointed Katie to a job as California's top consumer watchdog-- fighting to hold the big banks accountable and help families who lost their homes. She took on Wall Street and helped tens of thousands of cheated families get some relief.

Katie is THE fighter we need in Congress-- and she's got a real shot at winning this thing.

California's 45th congressional district went against Trump in 2016 by five points. The Republican who holds this seat has voted with Donald Trump 98.6% of the time-- including votes to repeal health care for millions of Americans, defund Planned Parenthood, and gut the rules on Wall Street.

We can count on Katie to fight for Medicare for All, women's reproductive rights, and strong corporate accountability. Republican politicians know Katie will stand up to powerful interests.

Katie's been a great partner for years-- and I'm happy to have the opportunity to continue working with her in Congress to fight for America's families. Let's show Katie that we have her back.

And as long as we're talking about Tuesday's Orange County primaries, let me remind you that there are two excellent candidates in the two other districts as well-- Doug Applegate in CA-49 and Sam Jammal in CA-39. Doug, Sam and Katie would be a formidable team for strong progressive ideas and values in Orange County. If you have any family or friends in the county, please remind them... Tuesday is the day. THIS Tuesday.

McConnell's Crystal Ball: "If We Can’t Sell This To The American People, We Ought To Go Into Another Line Of Work."

Sunday I was surprised to see California wing-nut Mimi Walters, pushing out a message about how GOP tax policies are helping Americans. They're not-- especially not in her Orange County district, where people are paying significantly higher taxes because of those policies that she voted for. Katie Porter is Walters' progressive opponent in the June 5th jungle primary. Today she told us that "the tax policies that Mimi Walters is pushing will be a shock to middle-class families’ pocketbooks. These devastating tax changes will tilt our entire system even more towards the top 1% at a time when multinational corporations are parking record profits offshore, a handful of top-tier billionaires are getting richer and richer, and when the middle class is getting squeezed."

Monday morning Reuters released a report by David Morgan, Republicans in key election races turn down volume on Trump's tax cuts. It doesn't take much imagination to understand why this is very bad news for rubber stamp Republicans like Mimi Walters, who will have to face a powerful progressive Democrat, Katie Porter, with a coherent message of economic revitalization very different from Walters' bullshit.

Morgan noted that right after congressional Republicans passed their tax scam in December-- a reverse Robin Hood operation that robs from the poor to give to the wealthy-- GOP leaders like Trump, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell were "buoyant." McConnell told reporters that "If we can’t sell this to the American people, we ought to go into another line of work." Soon they will have no choice-- to find another line of work. "Four months later, McConnell’s attempt at levity could prove prophetic."

The most vulnerable Republican incumbents in the tightest congressional races in the November elections are talking less and less about the tax cuts on Twitter and Facebook, on their campaign and congressional websites and in digital ads, the vital tools of a modern election campaign, a Reuters analysis of their online utterances shows.

All told, the number of tax messages has fallen by 44 percent since January. For several congressmen in tough reelection fights, Steve Knight in California, Jason Lewis in Minnesota, and Don Bacon in Nebraska, messaging is down much more-- as much as 72 percent.

Right after the tax law passed, lawmakers piggybacked on a surge of corporate announcements of tax-cut fueled bonuses to employees, wage hikes and job creation plans to tout the benefits of the bill to voters.

As those corporate announcements trailed off in March and April, so did Republican politicians’ messages about tax relief, the Reuters review found. With the exception of a flurry of news releases on or around April 17, when federal tax returns were due, few incumbents kept up the pace. The Reuters review did not capture candidates’ email, direct mail or private conversations with donors or voters or stump speeches.

Most of the 13 Republican incumbents in the most competitive reelection bids, and their aides, declined to answer Reuters’ questions on why they were communicating less online about the tax cuts. But a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted from March 14 to 29 found that just 3 percent of American adults were aware of receiving a material benefit from the Republican legislation.

Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist, said that is why his party’s candidates need to energize voters by talking about other issues, too, like restricting immigration and stopping Democrats from taking control of the House of Representatives so that they cannot impeach President Donald Trump.

Jesse Hunt, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, acknowledged there “has been a downtick in what voters are hearing from members and businesses on the tax reform front.” He said it was because lawmakers had moved on to other issues.

“Candidates and members need to make sure that they stay focused on what is our signature achievement in this Congress,” Hunt said.

Five of the 13 candidates who did respond to Reuters said they do talk regularly to voters at events.

The Republican tax law sharply cut the corporate tax rate, encouraged corporations to repatriate overseas income at lower rates, and at least temporarily, cut taxes for the wealthy and most other Americans. Many of the benefits to individuals won’t become obvious until they file their tax returns in early 2019, and that is long after the congressional elections.

...Some polling results suggest that taxes are not the burning issue for voters that Republicans hoped they would be. A Quinnipiac University poll released in March said only 8 percent of voters thought taxes was the most important issue in deciding how to vote in the congressional elections. It was fifth, behind healthcare, the economy, gun policy and immigration.

It is also harder for Republicans to talk about lower taxes in states with high local taxes like New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia [and California]. That also happens to be where 10 of the 17 most competitive congressional races are.

Many taxpayers in those states will pay more in federal taxes because the new law reduces the deduction for state and local tax payments. About one in four Americans expect their state and local income taxes to rise because of the Republican tax law, while only 11 percent expect them to fall, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll.

...Don Bacon, of Nebraska’s 2nd district, sees economic growth, and the threats posed by North Korea and Islamic State as the election-winning issues for Republicans. “Taxes will be one of the pillars of our campaign, but more indirectly. In the end, it’s going to be about an economy that’s growing.”

Kara Eastman is the progressive Democrat running for the Omaha-centered congressional seat occupied by Don Bacon. She took a moment off from knocking on doors this morning to point out to us that "the economy might be growing judged simply by the stock market and low unemployment, but wages are stagnant and not everyone is feeling the benefits of tax cuts designed to benefit corporations and the wealthy. At the doors, I meet so many people who are working hard, some are taking two or three jobs to make ends meet. Politicians need to start getting real and speaking, and even more importantly, listening, to the voters in their districts."

Republican Mike Coffman, whose reelection prospects are rated a toss-up in his Denver-area congressional district, has not been visible at all on taxes via social media. But his campaign spokesman, Tyler Sandberg, said Coffman talks about tax cuts regularly with supporters via email and with small business owners.

When they do talk about taxes, Republican candidates prefer to talk about the tax law in the context of how it is really a form of financial assistance to help families cope with college tuition, buy new cars, make mortgage payments, or even pay for summer camp.

Democrats, meanwhile, are attacking the new tax law as a boon for corporations and the wealthy that will add $1.5 trillion to the federal debt over the next decade.

They received some unexpected help from Republican Senator Marco Rubio last week. Rubio, who is not facing re-election this cycle, told the Economist magazine that benefits are going to corporations instead of employees.

“They bought back shares, a few gave out bonuses; there’s no evidence whatsoever that the money’s been massively poured back into the American worker,” he said.

Everyone's known it but Pelosi finally said it publicly. When asked about all those Democratic candidates-- like nearly all of them-- saying they won't vote for her to be Speaker, she told the media "I think if they have to do that to win the election, I’m all for it… Just win, baby." But she still expects to be elected leader this year and Speaker next year. I don't know where she thinks she's getting the votes... but she's good at that.

Right-Wing Snowflakes

Laura and Milo

Ever hear of Milo Yiannopoulos? Don't worry, no one else has either... unless they watch Fox News commentators as a lifestyle. Last week Talia Lavin wrote a piece about Milo for the Village Voice (I've written about him too so I won't remark on what a waste of time it is.) The adventures of Milo-ism, she pointed out, include how he finds it "impossible... to go out for lunch in most major cities," which, she continued "speaks to an intellectual barrenness at the core of Trump-era conservatism. Having found themselves in political power, but nonetheless without complete cultural dominance, these conservatives must manufacture a sense of powerlessness."

Milo Yiannopoulos would like you to know that he is “Dangerous”-- that was the title of his abortive nonfiction debut. Milo Yiannopoulos is selling T-shirts that say, “Everyone who hates me is ugly,” and, “Guantanamo Bay Waterboard Instructor.” A Milo Yiannopoulos fan once shot a protestor at one of his speaking engagements in the stomach, causing a critical injury. Milo Yiannopoulos would like you to be very indignant that he was recently heckled at a Manhattan bar.

I'll bet even fewer people have ever heard of Kevin Williamson, although maybe they know another Kevin Williamson from elementary school. This one helps highlight "the hollow core of Trump-era conservatism" Talia is portraying. Early in April "Williamson lost a columnist gig at the Atlantic after less than two weeks on the job, when certain of his past inflammatory comments resurfaced. He’s managed to parlay this tribulation into thousands of published words about his own silencing. Thus far, by my calculation, his columns this week alone make up a substantial portion of the word count of the Book of Job. Right wing publicists Ross Douthat, Conor Friedersdorf, Erick Erickson, Noah Rothman, et al share "an insistent refrain: this is, if not authoritarianism, then its prelude; it is 'chilling'; it is a flexing of the muscles of a fledgling despotism; it is a Soviet-style censorship regime." Don't be sorry you've never heard of Williamson or his tempest in a teapot.

You could be forgiven, amid all this furor, for forgetting that Williamson was fired for stating-- publicly, repeatedly, and emphatically-- that women who have abortions should be punished by execution. That is, women who have had abortions-- fully one-quarter of American women-- are a criminal class, and some portion of them, after being convicted, should be publicly hung by the neck until dead.

There are, of course, a multiplicity of ironies here-- that a man so blithely willing to strip women of their rights is so avid in defense of his own; that the inventors of the terms snowflake and triggered overheat so easily at a professional slight; etc.-- but at its heart, what arises when one surveys a media landscape pitted with Williamson hot takes is an emptiness at the heart of conservative rhetoric, and an attendant need to create victimization where none, in fact, exists.

In the absence of material oppression of any kind, one wonders what motivates conservatives to cant toward martyrdom-- to seek, perpetually, a marginalization that cannot be measured. Recent research suggests that the Trump-era right suffers from “status anxiety”: to wit, a fear not of losing their ability to speak, but rather that their speech will become part of a chorus of equals. In expressing a groundless fear of being silenced, they reveal their true fear-- that of no longer being in a position to dominate the national conversation.

To an extent I empathize: It is difficult to maintain a sense of utter righteousness, difficult to feel the great maw of the white page, without a real claim to struggle. There are those who say that creative generation only comes through struggle; that forward momentum is possible only when obstacles arise to be smashed; that only a rough road can lengthen one’s stride, and straighten one’s back, and lead one forward to brighter lands. So it is not without some sympathy that I look to the nation’s conservatives who, finding themselves in possession of all three branches of government, and a plurality of state governments too, find themselves so bereft of struggle that they must invent it. What I cannot forgive is the laziness of the central metaphors, which return again and again to the well of twentieth-century authoritarianism, without ever pausing to consider how transparently ridiculous these metaphors become.

Thus we find Laura Ingraham called a Twitter boycott of her prime-time cable news show "Stalinist." One need not be a student of Russian history to recognize that Stalin's primary methods of punishment were not bitchy tweets, and the Soviet Union did not, historically speaking, have much of an advertising industry to boycott in the first place. Stalin tended to line his opponents up and shoot them. He tended to exile them to Siberia, or confiscate their grain, under the guise of “dekulakization,” until they starved to death. Laura Ingraham lives in what the Washington Post described as a “gated Northern Virginia mansion.” But it is entirely possible that she avoids eating grain (too many carbs).

There have been so many column inches in the New York Times and the Washington Post excoriating college students for protesting speakers that one might justifiably think this is the most pressing problem facing the United States educational system. (Never mind that many of these speakers were invited precisely to attract such a response, and the concomitant editorials, an ouroborous of specious victimization. And please, ignore the teachers’ strikes erupting in multiple states, and the fact that many public school students cannot even afford pencils.)

Talia reminds her gentle readers that there is no "lacuna of genuine problems to address in the United States of 2018. We are a country of patriarchal domination, of appalling racial injustice, of rising seas and falling wages. The problem with the Williamsons (and newspaper conservative columnists) of the world is that they have willingly chosen to turn a blind eye to what exists. Faced with the proverbial widow and orphan, conservative ideology posits stripping them of food aid. Faced with injustice in the courts, the conservative instinct is to embrace a status quo that perpetuates it. In an era in which conservatives find themselves winning-- with officials like Scott Pruitt and Betsy DeVos stripping this country of onerous regulations that do things like protect the air, or transgender students-- I am almost disappointed to find these would-be heralds unable to trumpet their success. It turns out that the rhetoric of celebration, of triumph, is too one-note for these wordsmiths. In service of obscuring the oppression they ignore, they must create one of their own.

And this is mirrored in right-wing members of Congress as well, of course. Katie Porter, who's running for the Orange County seat occupied by garden variety Republican Mimi Walters told us that "Rep. Walters is spending her millions of corporate PAC money dollars to convince her constituents that she is standing up for women in DC. Rep. Walters may claim to be standing up for women, but in her 20+ years in elected office, Mimi Walters has repeatedly stood with Paul Ryan and Donald Trump in their efforts to defund Planned Parenthood and ban a woman's right to choose."

Lillian Salerno has her runoff on May 22 before she'll have to face GOP robot Pete Sessions in Dallas. "And deep in the heart of Texas is a worst-case offender in Pete Sessions, operating with a seemingly mindless loyalty to party over constituents in a state that many argue is a non-voting blue state that presents as red when it's represented in DC. Arguably one of their most powerful representatives doesn't even reside in the state, only coming in and out to chastise its citizens for not knowing how to listen as he rubber stamps on behalf of special interests that prop up the systems of oppression that the state can't seem to maneuver its way out of with these cronies like these at the helm."

Paul Clements is the progressive opposition to Fred Upton in southwest Michigan this cycle. "The fundamental political issue for America," he offered, "is increasing economic inequality-- most of the benefits of our economic growth going to the wealthy, due to a corrupt political system creating a rigged economy. The second issue is we are moving in the wrong direction on rights-- to live without hunger, for fair pay, for women to control their bodies, to equal treatment under the law (not policemen shooting you) … voting rights, equality for LGBTQ persons, and immigrant rights. The third issue is care for the environment, particularly major action on climate change, but also against despoliation for profit, and so all can enjoy nature. While Trump avidly promotes backsliding, the standard conservative response, which Fred Upton exemplifies, is in public to narrow all issues to minor steps and bland sentiments, and then to vote to enable Trump, corporate donors, and more backsliding. As long as Republicans can divert attention from the big questions they can win. Let’s not let that happen."

Jenny Marshall is taking on Trump rubber stamp Virginia Foxx in northwest North Carolina. "Foxx," she said, "is the epitome of right wing conservatism. Her world view is so narrow and selfish that I am truly shocked that she gets re-elected over and over again. She has voted against every pro-environmental bill that has come up, vowed to abolish the Department of Education and wants to get rid of the free lunch program yet she claims her values are American values. I disagree. To truly live up to American values we must ensure that everyone has the opportunity for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This means building equity into a system that lacks it, empowering communities that have been silenced and investing in our future now.

Tom Guild is running for the Oklahoma City centered 5th congressional district. He told us that "Steve Russell received word of the first two females qualifying as Army Rangers with a call for an investigation into whether the test requirements had been watered down to unfairly help the women pass the required tests to become Rangers. He remained silent when Donald Trump equated demonstrators in Charlottesville who protested the Nazis and White Supremacists and their taunts of 'no Jew will take my place' accompanied by many ugly virulent racists acts and rhetoric, with the Nazis and Klan members. We heard only the sound of crickets from Russell when Mr. Trump said there were “good people” in the group protesting racism and those promoting racism in the Nazi and KKK contingents in Virginia. He supports and votes for budget cuts for the SNAP program that feeds millions of children and low income single parents. His campaign scoops up hundreds of thousands of dollars in corporate, special interest, and PAC contributions. His only relevant audience are those with God’s unlisted phone number who can give big bucks to his campaign. He is in the pocket of fossil fuels companies who pollute our air and water, and do permanent continuous damage to our planet. He supports oil company puppet Scott Pruitt who has the ethics of a snake and never misses an opportunity to visit great damage on our planet. He follows a policy of benign neglect regarding public education, enabling Betsy DeVos to further her quest to make education available only to those born with a platinum spoon in their mouths. Clearly as Mark Twain quipped long ago, “No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.” Certainly Twain hit the mark, particularly if Russell is a member of the legislature. The top .01% is coddled and catered to by Russell. His cut, cut, cut…no matter what philosophy regarding programs that help working people, the middle class, and those who need a hand up, is designed to favor the overlords at every juncture. Despite his claims of charitable Christianity, he missed the part of the Bible where Jesus said, as you do unto the least of these, you do unto me. His actions and rhetoric are tragic for the people of Oklahoma and our beloved America."

Kara Eastman is the progressive Democrat running for Congress in Omaha for the seat conservative Don Bacon is sitting in. "The current representative for the Nebraska Second," she told us with specificity, "has voted 97.1%  of the time with Trump. As a member of the climate caucus, he has said he does not believe that climate change is caused by humans. He is in favor of taking away healthcare from his constituents. He also supports big government regulations for women’s reproductive health. It is time for a leader in NE-02 who will stand up for the residents in the district. We need someone who has seen the positive impact that environmental protections have on children here. We deserve to have leaders who protect women, children and working families. We need someone who is listening to residents in the district and fighting for them."

Lisa Brown is the progressive Democrat running in eastern Washington in the district occupied by 4th highest-ranking Republican in the House, a Ryan rubber stamp. "She told its this morning that "so-called 'fiscal conservatives,' like Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, vote for a 1.5 trillion dollar tax plan for the top 1% , then brazenly call for balanced budget amendments and cuts to food assistance and the social safety net programs. She lauds 'work requirements' for food stamps though 3 counties in her district have double digit rates of unemployment."

Kia Hamadanchy: "I Will Work To Put An End To A Foreign Policy Where War Is Always The First Resort"

Kia with his old boss, Senator Sherrod Brown

Kia Hamadanchy is a friend of mine running for Congress in Orange County's 45th Congressional district. The incumbent is Trump rubber stamp Mimi Walters who lives on the ocean in Dana Rohrabacher's district. Although Obama lost the district in 2008 and 2012, Hillary beat Trump there, 49.8% to 44.4%. The PVI went from as forbidding R+7 to a much blue-friendlier R+3. The district stretches from the Anaheim Hills and Villa Park in the north, through Lemon Heights, Tustin and Irvine down to Laguna Woods, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita and Coco De Caza. Kia was born and raised in Irvine, the district's biggest city. His parents came to Orange County from Iran. Kia, as his website delineates, became legal counsel for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee under the leadership of education and disability rights champion Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA). Kia worked to expose the exploitation of students by the for-profit college industry. After Senator Harkin’s retirement, Kia joined the staff of Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), where he advocated for a higher minimum wage, equal pay for men and women, and other measures to reduce income inequality and ensure that every American is treated with the respect and dignity that he or she deserves.

In 1969 and again in 1972, when I was still just a kid, traveling around the world in a VW van, I spent a great deal of time in Iran which I remember writing at the time was the most pro-American country I had ever visited-- more so that France, Germany or England! When Kia and I met last year for a meal, we talked about the changes that have taken place-- and continue to take place-- in that country and I found his perspective not just refreshing, but enlightening... and just what Congress and those setting foreign policy in our country so desperately need. This week, I asked him to write a guest post on the turmoil gripping Iran today. If you like how he deals with the subject and think he would make a better member of Congress than Mimi Walters, please consider clicking on the ActBlue California 2018 thermometer on the right and contributing to his grassroots campaign.


Reflections On The Recent Protests In Iran
-by Kia Hamadanchy

Over the past few weeks we’ve seen protests break out in Iran that have been misunderstood by Donald Trump and many of those in Congress. These protests embody the legitimate economic and political grievances of the people of Iran. The ruling regime is beset by corruption and has badly mismanaged the country’s economy, lining their own pockets at a time when inflation, unemployment, and economic inequality are at dangerously high levels.

Donald Trump, Congresswoman Mimi Walters, and others have expressed their solidarity and support for the Iranian people. These sentiments ring hollow. If they really did care about the Iranian people they would not have put into place a Muslim ban with the express purpose of banning Iranians from coming to the United States. Just as galling are expressions of solidarity and support from individuals like Bill Kristol, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Tom Cotton. These are people who in some cases have spent decades advocating for a policy of regime change and war with Iran. Many of these same people helped lead us into the Iraq War under false pretenses-- something I consider to be the biggest foreign policy blunder in my lifetime.

No one knows more about the repression of the Iranian government than Iranian Americans. Many have experienced it firsthand and want genuine solidarity and support for human rights. What they do not want is a war and sanctions that punish ordinary, everyday Iranians. These issues are being debated in Congress and there is not a single Iranian American serving there to be a part of the conversation. I am running to change that.

Being Iranian American is an important part of my heritage and who I am. It is an important part of why I decided to run for Congress in 2018. But it is not why I went into public service and it is not why I went to work for Tom Harkin and Sherrod Brown in the US Senate. I did those things because I care about making this country better for each and every American, no matter their name, their religion, or where their parents were born. A part of that discussion involves a rethink of how we conduct our foreign policy and what is truly in the interest of hardworking families across this country.

That’s why, if elected to Congress, I will work to put an end to a foreign policy where war is always the first resort. I will always choose diplomacy and peaceful conflict resolution. America cannot afford another trillion dollar war that increases instability and puts Americans in danger. It is for these reasons that I strongly support upholding the Iranian nuclear deal.

Much of the opposition to the Iran nuclear deal has been rooted in misunderstanding and misconceptions. Growing up in the U.S. as the child of two Iranian immigrants, I have always been struck by the lack of understanding about Iran and the Iranian people in our political system. I often joke that the average member of Congress could not tell the difference between Iran and Iraq on a map, and that’s probably true.

In 2008, I was drawn to Barack Obama’s candidacy for president because of his promise of actually trying to talk to Iran, as opposed to continually threatening them with war. He was willing to call out the sheer ridiculousness of the idea that not talking to a country was some sort of punishment. As he said at the time, the Soviet Union once had thousands of nuclear weapons pointed at us and yet we never hesitated to talk to them. Compare that to Hillary Clinton, who at the time threatened to “totally obliterate” Iran.

Barack Obama’s promise culminated in the Iran nuclear deal which represents the best path to preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and averting another disastrous war in the Middle East. This is not just my opinion, but that of the Israeli military and intelligence establishment. It is absolutely critical and in the best interest of the United States that the deal remains in place.

On January 12th, Donald Trump grudgingly decided that he would renew the waivers of the sanction that were agreed upon in the deal, but he told our European allies that they have to agree to rewrite the deal in 120 days or that he will kill it. These demands are reckless and unacceptable.

What our political system has failed to realize time and time again that if you really want to see a change in Iran, the number one thing you can do is remove the ability of the regime to blame the United States for all of Iran’s problems. That is why the nuclear deal is so important. It keeps the spotlight on the government and its leadership and prevents the United States and its allies from being cast as the villains.  It raised people’s expectations of a better life and made it harder to blame the failures of economy on the United States.

There is probably no country in the entire Middle East whose people are more favorably disposed to the United States. We may have problems with the Iranian regime, but our problems are not with the people of Iran, who would like nothing more than to have a better relationship with the United States and the American people. But what they do not want is war or regime change. They have undergone the hardships of the 1979 revolution and they have survived an eight-year long war with Iraq. The Iranian people-- like Americans-- understand the perils of war and yearn for peace.

The Iranian people deserve to have a future of their own making and the freedom to determine the direction that they want their country to go. And it is not Donald Trump or anyone else’s place to make that decision for them. While we should recognize that this is a regime with an appalling human rights record and always condemn all acts of violence and violations of human rights in the strongest possible terms, we should also recognize that if and when the Iranian people ever decide to rise up against their government, it will not be because of what is being said by Donald Trump and those in Washington. That is why we need young and diverse leaders in Congress who can make this case, and make it clear that this new approach is in the national security interests of the United States. And that is exactly what I plan to do from the moment that I get sworn in as a member of Congress in January 2019.

The Entire California Republican Congressional Delegation Is In Jeopardy Of Defeat Next Year

“With the passage of the GOP’s disaster tax plan, Mimi Walters again made clear what she thinks about us, the people of her district— absolutely nothing. People in California’s 45th district will truly be hurt by this bill and Mimi could care less. She could be found celebrating with Trump on the White House while thousands of her constituents were left to figure out what they’d do without their SALT deduction next year. She’s truly heartless.”
-Kia Hamadanchy, Orange County Democratic congressional candidate (CA-45)

In case you’re wondering what brought that on, it was a scathing OpEd by Omri Marian on the day after Christnmas in Kia’s hometown newspaper, the Orange County Register, Mimi Walters voted for a tax plan that will hurt her constituents. Sounds like it could be a Democratic Party ad, although if it was they would probably have mentioned that Walters might be unsympathetic with the concerns of her district because she doesn’t live in it. Normally when someone from another district wins election they move into the new district. But not Mimi. She prefers her multimillion dollar beachfront home to any of the towns in the landlocked 45th. She lives in Dana Rohrabacher’s district and the scuttlebutt is that she expects them both to lose in 2018 and that she will run again in 2020— but for the CA-48 seat (Rohrabacher’s).

“Last October, local Rep. Mimi Walters expressed her enthusiastic support for the GOP’s tax plan in these pages,” wrote Marian, a UC Irvine tax professor specializing in tax law. “A few weeks later, she voted in favor of the House version of the bill. On Tuesday, she voted in favor of the final version. Walters’ support for the GOP plan is curious. The plan she described in October looks nothing like the plan that passed The plan also seems to be uniquely tailored to harm her constituents.”

Walters had promised a simplified tax code with “tax cuts for middle class workers.” However, the GOP bill actually makes the tax code more complicated by introducing a host of new special tax preferences. You won’t be able to file your tax return on a postcard. The GOP plan also does very little for most Americans, while benefiting the mega-rich. The top 1 percent of taxpayers (households with annual income of more than $732,000), reap 20.5 percent of the total tax cut in 2018, increasing to 82.8 percent in 2027. Even if most households initially see their taxes cut, most benefits expire, and gimmickry of inflation adjustments will increase taxes. According to estimates by the Joint Committee on Taxation (Congress’ official tax scorer), by 2027 81 percent of all taxpayers will see no change to their tax payments or experience a tax increase compared with current law. Taxpayers in some counties, like Orange County, will be hit particularly hard. Moreover, the bill is expected to lose more than $1.4 trillion in revenue, resulting in cuts to government programs and services. To summarize, Walters supported a permanent tax cut to multinational corporations and the ultra-rich, financed by stealth tax increases on the rest of us.

One oft-discussed provision in the original House Bill eliminates state and local tax deductions; another caps the deduction for property taxes at $10,000. The final bill offers little relief. It caps the aggregate deduction for SALT and property taxes at $10,000— and this amount is not inflation-adjusted, meaning that over time the benefit of this deduction shrinks. About 47 percent of households in Walters’s district currently claim SALT deduction. In 2014 (the last year for which we have county-specific data), the average SALT deduction in the district was $13,288— in excess of the $10,000 cap, even before considering property taxes.

As we experience one of the worst Southern California fire seasons in recent memory, it is mind-boggling that the House bill removes the deduction for the terrible financial losses suffered by victims of fires and other natural disasters— a deduction available under current law. The final version of the bill maintains this outrageous provision, with a slight modification: Californians will be allowed to deduct fire losses if the fire is subject to a presidential disaster declaration. So if your house burned to the ground in a “local” fire that does not justify a presidential declaration, tough luck: You don’t get to deduct the loss.

UC Irvine is one of the biggest employers in Walters’s district, and one of the county’s greatest institutions. The House bill would have had a devastating effect on UCI. The bill included provisions that would have eliminated deductions on interest on student loans, and would have taxed graduate tuition waivers. Eliminating a deduction for student loans would have made college education less affordable. This would have had a particularly acute effect on UCI, which is the top college in the country for lower-and middle-income students. Taxing tuition waivers would have resulted in debilitating tax increases (by as much as 400 percent) on graduate students at UCI. Luckily, both of these benefits were saved in the final bill, but it is shocking that Walters could ever have supported something so harmful to UCI.

There is much more to dislike in the GOP tax plan. The big picture, however, is clear: Walters voted to take away money from her middle and lower-income constituents, from homeowners in her district, from UCI students, and from victims of California fires— to fund a tax cut for multinational corporations, the ultra-rich, and their heirs.

And what Marian had to say about Walters applies equally to Ed Royce, Steve Knight, Kevin McCarthy, David Valadao, Duncan Hunter and Ken Calvert also in Southern California and to Jeff Denham, Paul Cook, Devin Nunes, Tom McClintock and Doug LaMalfa in the northern part of the state. They’ve all put themselves in electoral jeopardy in the midterms.

The Catholic Church Begs Mimi Walters And Ed Royce For Compassion

Earlier today, we looked at how Trump and Ryan are leading a war against Jesus' message to mankind. It looks like every Catholic pastor in CA-39 and CA-45 (mostly Orange County) is concerned about the same thing-- except they're focusing on Republican members of Congress Ed Royce and Mimi Walters, both lockstep rubber-stamps for Trump and Ryan. The Orange County Register piece over the weekend was devastating. All the pastors signed a letter to Walters and a letter to Royce about DREAMers-- and the letters were followed by Sunday sermons along the same lines. The sermons will be ongoing throughout Advent.

The bishops of the Diocese of Orange are calling on their clergy and parishioners to pray for the young undocumented immigrants, and to advocate for them with their elected leaders.

Catholic leaders see an urgency in finding a permanent solution to the plight of young people brought to the country illegally as children. Their temporary legal status through President Obama’s DACA program is being phased out under the Trump administration.

Led by bishops in Orange County, San Bernardino and the San Gabriel region, 26 pastors urged Walters (R-Laguna Beach) and Royce (R-Fullerton)-- both Catholics-- “to actively support” passage of legislation that would allow the children to have a path to citizenship.

“It is essential to move beyond general statements of support,” read the Dec. 1 open letter, signed by the pastors and Rev. Kevin Vann, bishop of Orange, Gerald Barnes, bishop of San Bernardino, and David O’Connell, auxiliary bishop in the San Gabriel region of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

The letter requests a meeting with the Republican leaders. It is the first time in recent memory that bishops and all pastors of an Orange County congressional district have called on legislators for action.

“It’s a somewhat unique letter,” said Greg Walgenbach, director of the Office of Life, Justice and Peace for the Diocese of Orange.

Walters, who has expressed sympathy toward DACA recipients, has seen an uptick in rallies calling for her to support one of the bills floating in Congress on the issue. Her vote is considered by some a key Republican swing vote.

Earlier this week, Walters signed a letter calling on Congress to pass legislation before the end of the year to protect those under DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

“I appreciate the passion that some members of the church have shown on this issue, and I share their urgency,” Walters said in an e-mail Friday to the Southern California News Group. “Caring for all of God’s children is at the core of our Catholic faith.

“DACA recipients enrich our community and are building their American dream,” she said. “That is why I signed a letter this week calling on Congress to pass bipartisan legislation that would allow DACA recipients to remain the United States, and continue their great contributions to Orange County.”

Royce could not be reached for comment Friday. He has previously said he supports legal residency but opposes including a path to citizenship.

Royce has been a target for years of immigrant-rights advocates, who regularly rally outside his Brea office. In 2013, some 1,500 Catholics prayed outside his closed office for the congressman to “have a change of heart” and support undocumented immigrants seeking citizenship.

As Catholics gather this month to celebrate the Christmas season, Orange County’s top bishops are calling on their pastors and congregants to pray for DACA youth and other immigrants.

A second letter, sent to parishes Friday, includes an Advent prayer which in part says: “Grant, O Lord, unto the leaders of the United States the wisdom and teachable spirit to recognize the good gifts that we receive from DACA youth and other immigrant Dreamers, the conviction to respect their life and dignity, and the courage to pass legislation to protect their stay here and offer a path to eventual citizenship.”

The same letter asks Catholics to contact their representatives, and includes a sample message. That letter was shared on the website of a national Catholic nonprofit that advocates for low-income immigrants and is headed by Bishop Vann.

Katie Porter is one of the two progressives taking on Mimi Walters. Katie told us "It's been three months since Donald Trump announced he would end protections for Dreamers and my Republican opponent Mimi Walters has continued to do nothing but offer empty platitudes. It's unacceptable. I have spent my career fighting for people who don’t have a voice in our system, and I intend to do the same in Congress by standing up for immigrant families. We must pass a clean Dream Act Now."

The other excellent progressive Democratic candidate running for the seat Mimi Walters is occupying is Kia Hamadanchy. Just a few hours ago he told us that "Right here in California’s 45th district, we have DREAMers who are doing nothing but chasing the American Dream-- whether it is as a student at UC Irvine or as an employee of a small business or tech startup. Mimi Walter’s inaction on behalf of her constituents has been so terrible that it took urging from every Catholic leader in the district to get her moving. That’s not leadership. It’s time for a Representative in CA-45 who actually cares about the people here and will really fight to protect our DREAMers."

Sam Jammal is the one non-multimillionaire running for the Orange County seat occupied by Ed Joyce. Recently Frank Schaeffer went to meet him and made this clip [below] about the race and about Sam-- a very different kind of person than Ed Royce. This morning Sam addressed the GOP's DREAMers problem. "DACA really comes down to what's right and what is wrong. It's a moral question. The right thing to do is give young people-- who only know this country and are doing everything right-- the chance at the American Dream. The wrong thing to do is fall in line with Trump and hardline anti-immigrant voices. Once again Ed is on the wrong side of the issue. Instead of focusing on what we can do to integrate immigrants and build up communities, he prefers to divide families and work against young people who are doing everything right, but have a President and politics seeking to do them wrong. Ed just doesn't share our values here in the 39th. We believe in the American Dream and are a welcoming community."