Peter Navarro-- LOL

One step ahead of the police, I left New York for Europe at the end of my senior year at college in 1969 and 2 years later I was living, placidly, in Afghanistan. Yesterday, another alum from Stony Brook University, Mitchel Cohen, noted that one of our fellow students, Larry Remer-- today a political operative in San Diego usually referred to as "take-no-prisoners" or "scorched-earth" campaign consultant-- is in the news. Cohen noted that the last time he had seen Remer, "he was in one of the Red Balloon affinity groups driving Mike Zweig's van in 1971 back from the protests on MayDay in D.C. We were rear-ended in Wilmington Delaware by a Hertz Truck filled with Stony Brookers and driven by Fred Friedman (who claimed the brakes failed). I was flown to the hospital by police helicopter." He isn't sure if he and Remer ever saw each other after that.

Remer, who is usually associated with conservative Democrats-- like now-Congressman Juan Vargas and now Trump crackpot trade advisor Peter Navarro. (Navarro, a former Republican turned Democrat and environmentalist was a fringe economist who ran for office, unsuccessfully, 5 times in San Diego-- for mayor, city council, board of supervisors and Congress. Remer ran two of Navarro’s campaigns, and now describes him as "the biggest asshole I’ve ever known." Go Stony Brook!

Always superficial and generally unreliable Politico reporter Carla Marinucci, wrote that "Today, Remer says he’s not surprised that Navarro has wedged his way into Trump’s inner circle ­ or that he has stubbornly defended his credentials (a Ph.D in economics) on the issue of prescribing hydroxychloroquine, even though it’s put him in conflict with Fauci, the government’s leading infectious disease expert and the longtime director of the National Institute Of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. 'He totally had a sense of his own righteousness ...and it may have been ultimately his undoing, because he was so totally arrogant about it,' Remer said. 'I can totally see him taking on Fauci....it fits, because he really believes that he alone knows the truth.'"

Former California Republican Party chair Ron Nehring, who also served as San Diego County GOP chair, tweeted about Navarro Monday, saying he would rely on Fauci’s comments on medical expertise over Navarro's every time. He later deleted his Twitter comments.

“We all know Peter Navarro in San Diego,” Nehring said in the deleted tweet. “He ran for office four times as a Democrat, each time moving around the county. He was defeated every time.”

San Diego Republicans say Navarro’s unfailing belief in his own intellect ­ coupled with his repeated efforts to win elected office ­ were at times the source of astonishment.

“He was a hothead who wasn’t quite sure when to bend, and when to back off...He was a guy who kept running against Republicans...with all the typical rhetoric you would expect from a Democrat,’’ said one GOP insider, who declined to be named for publication.

Navarro made so many bids for public office that it became an inside joke to some party regulars. "You know that game, ‘Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?’," the insider said, recalling that one GOP operative “had a map on his office wall that was called, “Where in San Diego is Peter Navarro?” which featured “all the places he moved to, in order to keep running for office.”

More than one of those campaigns were dogged by headlines related to Navarro’s past troubles.

In his 1992 campaign for San Diego mayor, Navarro paid $4,000 in fines and court costs for violating city and state election laws in connection with loans received from his mother. The San Diego Union Tribune reported that then-Deputy City Attorney Richard Ostrow, who headed the city’s DA’s public integrity division, said the fines were leveraged because of “a pattern of disdain for the reporting laws that we’ve seen in the past from Peter Navarro.”

The Union Tribune also reported that, in a separate action, the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission also fined Navarro for improperly reporting loans.

Navarro also “defaulted on a federally funded student loan” as a student at Tufts University, and was sued in 1979 in Boston Municipal Court by university trustees for his failure to replay the $1,652.83 loan, the paper said.

Navarro’s temperament and penchant for over-the-top political comments were his undoing in the often-fractious campaigns, says Remer.

At one point in his mayoral campaign, Navarro accused Republican Susan Golding of having a male prostitute on her campaign finance committee, a remark for which he later apologized. Golding had accused Navarro of accepting campaign funds from pornographers; Navarro said he was not aware the funds had come from owners of local adult book stores, the Union Tribune reported.

Golding won that race and became mayor of San Diego. Last night, Navarro-- crazy as ever-- was a pointlessly obnoxious guest on 60 Minutes where he issued a bravado-laden challenge: "I challenge you: Show me the 60 Minutes episode a year ago, two years ago, or during the Obama administration, during the Bush administration, that said, 'Hey, global pandemic's coming, you gotta do X, Y, and Z, and by the way, we would shut down the entire global economy to fight it.' Show me that episode, then you’ll have some credence in terms of attacking the Trump administration for not being prepared." Well... it looks like they do have some credence in terms of attacking the Trumpist regime for not being prepared-- and for making all the wrong decisions since then.

Remember Duncan Hunter-- The Crooked Son, Not The Crooked Father?

Yesterday Morgan Cook and Jeff McDonald, San Diego Union-Tribune reporters, took their readers out of COVID-19 head and back to political corruption for a few moments. Duncan Hunter, then the only Republican congressman left in the San Diego area-- snagging the seat when his just-as-corrupt father suddenly announced his retirement-- was caught by the FEC using large amounts of campaign funds for personal expenses. That resulted in a 2017 FBI raid on Hunters offices. A year later he and his wife were indicted on 60 counts of wire fraud, falsifying records, campaign finance violations, and conspiracy, having stolen upwards of a quarter million dollars from campaign funds and from a charity for wounded warriors. After it came out that Hunter was using some of the money on hookers-- and then tried showing his wife under the bus-- she turned against him and told the Justice Department all the dope on him-- and there was tons!

Although he was kicked off his committees by the GOP and urged to resign, he refused and never stopped claiming it was all a political witch hunt. He finally cut a really sweet deal with the prosecutors and entered a guilty plea in December of 2019, although he still claims he was innocent. He's scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday (March 17).

Cook and McDonald reported that all the time he was trying to mislead the voters about his criminal activities, he was also working hard to cover them up.

At the same time Hunter told national television audiences and local supporters that he did nothing wrong, claiming he was the victim of a witch hunt cooked up by his political enemies, hundreds of pages of evidence made public Tuesday show the congressman was actively obfuscating his role in the campaign finance scandal.

“Rather than admit his guilt and resign his seat in April 2016, when originally questioned, or even in August 2018, when originally charged, Hunter chose to mislead the more than 700,000 people who reside in the 50th congressional district,” the filing states.

“As we now know, Hunter lied to the people about his guilt. Not once but countless times,” the filing adds. “As a result of his duplicity, the voters were duped of their right to representation in Congress-- representation they are denied to this day.”

The assertions were included in a lengthy sentencing memo to Judge Thomas J. Whelan, who is scheduled to decide next Tuesday what penalty Hunter will receive in the wake of his guilty plea to a single count of conspiracy late last year.

Prosecutors agreed to a sentencing range of between eight and 14 months in federal prison, and argued in the court filing that the former lawmaker should spend 14 months in custody.

That's what I meant by a sweet plea bargain. The prosecutors should have asked for 5 years prison and a $250,000 fine, but they went shockingly easy on him and it's unlikely that he'll even spend a year in prison. That's part of white privilege crossed with elite privilege.

The government’s 87-page filing was accompanied by hundreds of pages of exhibits and other attachments that spell out a years-long pattern of relying on political contributions to pay routine household bills and to finance resort stays and other extravagant spending.

The 300-plus pages from prosecutors came as Hunter’s defense lawyers are trying for a second time to convince Whelan to dismiss the case against the congressman, or at least recuse two prosecutors in the case who had attended a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in 2015.

Defense attorney Paul Pfingst argued in a motion filed last week that Hunter was renewing his request for recusal or dismissal, which Whelan denied in July.

In that filing, Pfingst argued that newly obtained emails about the fundraiser deepened concerns that prosecutors were politically biased against Hunter, who was one of the earliest members of Congress to endorse Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

U.S. Government lawyers filed a second document Tuesday urging Whelan to again reject the notion that prosecutors were biased against Hunter, noting they were assigned to the event.

“The (prosecutors’) attendance was spurred and initiated entirely by the Secret Service,” the rebuttal stated. “The federal prosecutors were not there as supporters of Candidate Clinton.”

The same document notes that former U.S. Attorney Gregory Vega, who later defended Hunter in the criminal case, attended the Clinton fundraiser as a paying contributor.

Hunter, 43, and his wife and former campaign manager, Margaret, were named in a 60-count indictment in August 2018, accusing the once-powerful couple of misusing more than $250,000 in campaign contributions.

The 47-page indictment accused the husband and wife of beginning the illegal spending less than a year after they arrived in Washington D.C. in January 2009, when Duncan Hunter succeeded his father, also named Duncan Hunter, in Congress.

Margaret Hunter, 44, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy in June and agreed to testify against her husband. She is scheduled to be sentenced next month. Both Hunters are expected to receive significantly less than the five-year maximum sentence.

The newly published records show that Hunter and his wife were all but broke for most of the time Duncan Hunter served in Congress.

Despite the congressman’s privileged upbringing and a congressional salary of approximately $175,000 a year, the family overdrew their checking account more than 1,000 times in a span of just seven years, the sentencing memo states.

“There was in fact not a single month between 2009 and 2017 when the Hunter family bank account had a positive balance throughout the month,” the filing states.

One witness told prosecutors Hunter had to check his bank balance to buy a bottle of water. The same witness said Hunter’s father regularly supplemented his son’s income with frequent $1,000 payments, private-school tuition, extra funds for basic needs such as car repairs and even money for clothes.

“Hunter embodied the very definition of living paycheck to paycheck,” prosecutors wrote. “... It is also easy to see why Hunter would know that the only way he could afford to pay for basic family living expenses, lavish meals and luxury vacations was to use campaign funds.”

The sentencing memo also notes that as soon as Duncan Hunter arrived in Washington D.C. he became part of the capital city elite. He was invited to parties almost every night Congress was in session, the document notes.

Hunter met a woman at one such gathering in April 2009, and quickly moved in with the unidentified woman, prosecutors said. Later, the Alpine congressman used campaign funds to pay for a romantic weekend in Lake Tahoe, according to prosecutors.

Other court records show Hunter engaged in at least four other extramarital affairs, often subsidizing getaways with political donations to his congressional campaigns.

The sentencing memo also recounts Hunter’s frequent use of campaign funds to pay restaurant and bar tabs in Washington D.C. and in San Diego.

“Hunter rarely used his personal debit card to pay for meals or nights out,” prosecutors said.

The spending increasingly worried some members of Hunter’s congressional staff, but neither the congressman nor his wife tempered their spending practices despite warnings from the staff, the memo notes.

All the while, Hunter cast blame on others, including his wife and child, the memo says.

In 2016, after the San Diego Union-Tribune began asking questions about Hunter’s campaign reports, Hunter texted his chief of staff to say the questionable spending was not his fault.

“Dude, I’m not even sure hot (sic) to respond to this (expletive). I have no answer. My family (expletive) me,” Hunter texted chief of staff Joe Kasper. “...I have no idea what to say. And my marriage...”

The Union-Tribune report was picked up by national media, the memo notes, and Hunter and his staff quickly realized that their future campaign filings would be heavily scrutinized. Even so, the excess spending did not stop-- at least until the FBI raided Hunter’s home and offices in 2017.

Ironically, local Republicans have chosen another notorious crook, Darrell Issa, to run for Hunter's old seat in November. CA-50 hasn't had a Representative since Hunter resigned in January.

Blue America Endorsement-- Georgette Gómez (CA-53)

In the last 2 days San Diego City Council president Georgette Gómez has been endorsed by some of the most trusted names int progressive politics-- AOC, Ro Khanna, Jamie Raskin, Pramila Jayapal... Bernie had endorsed her the week before. Today Blue America adds our name to the growing list of endorsers. Georgette made history as the first queer Latina elected to the San Diego City Council and two years ago she was unanimously elected president of that body, earning the support of both Democrats and Republicans. She's used that position to champion progressive initiatives involving mass transit, affordable housing, environmental policies and standing up to Trump's dangerous and bigoted border agenda. She told us that her priorities in Congress will be tackling the climate crisis, providing quality and affordable healthcare to all, investing in infrastructure and reducing gun violence. Her opponent is Qualcomm heiress Sara Jacobs, whose family is trying to buy her a congressional seat... anywhere.

We asked Georgette to write a few paragraphs about the importance of affordable housing-- both looking backwards towards her job in San Diego and forwards to her job in DC. Please consider contributing to her campaign by clicking on the Blue America 2020 congressional thermometer below.

The Housing Crisis
-by Georgette Gómez


California has a housing crisis and it doesn't take being at City Council to know that we are feeling it here in San Diego. Rent and home value continues to increase, and despite the work that we are doing at the city, the number of people living on our streets continues to grow.

This crisis is personal for me.

When I was growing up my parents worked hard, often two or three jobs, but that still wasn't enough. There was a time that we lost our home, and my parents, my two siblings, and I shared a living room. We were lucky compared to many people. My parents managed to secure a new place, and we all moved in to a new house. It wasn't luxurious, but it was home.

The challenges that many people are facing now are even more difficult than the situation my family was in.

Our inability to solve this crisis at the Council is one of the most frustrating parts of the job. We have allocated millions to new housing, loosened the requirements for adding living spaces to existing homes, and have mandated that every new significant development has affordable housing units.

We have spent countless hours working on this issue, both amongst ourselves, with representatives from the state government, and with outside agencies.  But that still isn't enough.

This is not an issue that we can solve alone.

The State and the Federal government needs to do more. We need to dramatically expand the role that HUD is playing here in San Diego, partner with state agencies and nonprofits to bring in more resources, and make this issue the highest priority for our delegation.

If the Federal government can put a man on the moon, build the largest road system in the world, and provide trillions of dollars in tax breaks to the ultrawealthy, it can make sure that every American has a roof over their head at night. We are the richest nation in the history of the world, and our inability to provide shelter to the most vulnerable amongst us is shameful.

I am proud of the work that we have done during my tenure as Council President, and this is an issue I will continue to work on during my last year here. But we can't solve this crisis unless we have a Representative in Congress who will bring back the resources that we need.

When I'm in Congress I will never give up this fight. For me, it's personal.

The Qualcomm Heiress Is About To Get A Lot Richer Off The Patents On The Next Generation Of Cellular Antennae -- But Let's Make Sure She Never Gets Into Congress

Dishonest heiress, Sara Jacobs

California's 53rd congressional district offers Democrats an opportunity to flip a district-- not from red to blue but from pale blue to deep, beautiful blue. The incumbent congresswoman, centrist New Dem Susan Davis, is retiring, and although there 11 Democrats running, the race seems to be coming down to San Diego City Council President and district-shopping, female mini-Bloomberg, Sara Jacobs, who we've run into before.

The compact district includes the eastern half of San Diego, from Serra Mesa, Mission Valley, Balboa Park and El Cajon, through La Mesa and Lemon Grove, almost as far south as San Ysidro on the Mexican border. It's ethnically diverse, 40% white, 34% Latinx, 13% Asian and 8% African-American. The PVI is D+14 but Obama won it both times with around 64% and Hillary beat Trump 64.5% to 29.6%. Davis was elected in 2000 and has never had a competitive reelection battle.

The last time Jacobs ran for Congress, it was in the Orange County/San Diego County district that Darrell Issa had abandoned as "too blue." It also turned out to be "too blue" for the Qualcomm heiress. She spent gigantically in the primary-- $2,714,931, of which $2,125,798 (78%) came out of personal money her family gave her. The biggest single candidate expenditure-- by FAR (like nearly by a factor of 10!)-- that EMILY's List made-- $2,362,544-- in 2018 was for Jacobs. They sure love supporting rich women with big rolodexes, richer the better, which has become their top priority and their trademark. All those millions of dollars bought her just 28,778 votes. That's $176.43 per vote. At what point will trashy rich politicians like Jacobs and Bloomberg just directly hand out $100 bills to voters on their way to the polls?

Jacobs is still up to her old tricks, pretending to be a progressive, while involved with swimming in PhRMA and bankster money. Her investments make her one of the most conflicted politicians in history, with immense investments in Merck, Gilead and Medtronic. She may be promising lower pharmaceutical costs and universalish health care, but when these companies make money, her wealth increases. Same with her tens of millions invested with some of the most predatory banks and hedge funds on Wall Street. It makes it hard to believe her when she whines about "the inequalities in our current economic system" and how they "didn't happen by accident. They are the result of a concerted, long-term effort by powerful special interests-- and the Members of Congress they bankroll-- to write the rules in a way that benefit themselves," no doubt why her grandfather is spending so many millions trying to get her into Congress-- as well as $2.25 million on the anti-Bernie SuperPAC.

If you've been reading DWT coverage about Jacobs for the last few years, none of this is new to you. But I found a couple of interesting local San Diego reports that are new to me, so maybe to you too. The Union-Tribune caught her lying about her resume, which she is doing again this cycle, hoping the voters are too stupid to figure out what a phony she is. She pretended to have a high-level job in the Obama administration. In reality she was given junior make-work job to please the rich grandfather/campaign donor, something that was exposed when she got caught up in the wikileaks papers as a humorous footnote.

Union-Tribune reporter Joshua Stewart wrote that "Jacobs called herself a 'policy maker' who worked at the State Department under President Barack Obama [and Hillary]. But Jacobs was a junior-level government contractor who was prohibited by federal regulations from making policy." In other words, she lied to make herself look important, a trait that Congress doesn't need more of. She even released an ad claiming she was an expert in international affairs. On MSNBC she boasted, falsely, as the very rich always feel entitled to do (and as Trump and Bloomberg always do) that "I worked at the State Department under President Obama and her deceitful website "says she was a 'policy maker' who worked in 'key policy positions at the State Department.'"

Jacobs actually worked for 19 months at IEA Corporation, a firm that counts the State Department as one of its clients. She worked in State Department office space alongside government employees, and was involved in projects that focused on security in sub-Saharan Africa.

While she hasn’t mentioned the contractor during her campaign, she listed her employment at IEA on a resume she e-mailed to John Podesta, the head of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president, that was hacked and later published on WikiLeaks.

Like Bloomberg, Sara Jacobs is trying to mislead voters about her Obama connection

And although Jacobs referred to herself as policymaker on the campaign trail and used that claim as a point to distinguish herself from other candidates, her former supervisor said that Jacobs did not create policy. Rather, Jacobs held a position slightly above entry-level and she conducted analysis and reports that were later used by people several steps above her who could make policy, according to her supervisor at the time, Cindy Huang.

“My understanding of the regulations is that contractors can conduct research and provide advice and recommendations, and ideas, but they cannot be decision makers in the policy process,” Huang said.

Huang, who now works for a think tank that specializes in international development, also appeared in a recent commercial by the Jacobs campaign at the state Department, and the campaign connected her to the Union-Tribune for an interview where she spoke very favorably of Jacobs’ abilities to conduct analysis and offer advice.

Jacobs’ spokeswoman said that while she told Podesta she worked as a contractor it’s more transparent to not mention that detail to voters.

“[T]he way we describe her position to voters is the most accurate and transparent about what she did every day,” Jacobs’ spokeswoman, Chelsea Brossard, said in an email.

“She was heavily involved in the policy making process, which includes advising, so it would be accurate to say that was an experienced policy maker,” Brossard said. “Of course all of the advice she offered needed to go up the chain of command for decisions, as would be true anywhere in government.”

While Jacobs’ actual resume diverges with her claims on the campaign trail, she has worked in international affairs. She studied international relations as an undergraduate, and has a master’s degree in international security policy and international conflict resolution from Columbia University.

She has worked both as a regular employee and as an intern at United Nations departments, and at UNICEF as well. She most recently founded a non-profit organization that measures internet access at schools around the world in an effort to increase connectivity.

If Jacobs is elected and serves the term to completion, her two years in Congress would be the longest she has held a job, according to her resume. Between various internships and regular positions, Jacobs had about 35 months of international affairs experience before she started at IEA in February 2014. She stayed with the contractor for about 19 months, and then later worked for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

More recently, the Times of San Diego caught her lying about something else. Reporter Chris Jennewein wrote that Will Rodriguez-Kennedy, chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party-- which is backing San Diego City Council President Georgette Gómez-- accused Jacobs of "attempting to mislead voters about the party’s official endorsement."

Will Rodriguez-Kennedy said wording on both a mailer and a door hanger includes the words “endorsed by California Democrats” with a red-white-and-blue donkey logo.

City Council President Georgette Gómez is the candidate who was endorsed by both state and local Democratic parties in the race to succeed nine-term Rep. Susan Davis in the 53rd District.

“We find it deeply disappointing that Sara Jacobs is trying to fool voters,” said Rodriguez-Kennedy at an afternoon press conference at party headquarters in Murphy Canyon.

“She is doing this because she lost the Democratic Party endorsement,” he said. “This is a strategy that has been executed by some of the best political consultants.”

Rodriguez-Kennedy was joined in his remarks by Jess Durfee, chair of the western region caucus of the Democratic National Committee.

“It is important to set this record straight,” said Durfee. “It was always very obvious and undisputed that Georgette Gómez was the endorsed candidate.”

Rodriguez-Kennedy said he asking the Jacobs campaign to change the wording, noting that "our party and our voters are very forgiving."

Like I said, there are a lot of candidates-- even a lot of progressive candidates. We're heavy on the trail of who would be best for Blue America to endorse. Stay tuned; it won't be a plutocrat... or a liar.

Jacobs is proud to be endorsed by Abby Finkenauer, one of Congress' worst freshmen, who also endorsed  Status Quo Joe, just before he started his losing streak

Duncan Hunter Isn't Even Going To Be The Republican Candidate In CA-50

Last year's campaign was fiery-- and so will this cycle's be


Duncan Hunter, a far right congressman from the reddest southern congressional district was one of the first two Republicans in Congress to have endorsed Trump. Like the other one, Chris Collins of New York, Hunter was indicted and arrested on dozens of financial fraud charges, including wire fraud, falsifying records, campaign finance violations, and conspiracy. The crux though is that he stole at least $200,000 from his campaign funds and used them for personal expenses including a series of prostitutes and extranmarital affairs. His wife has already plead guilty and has been cooperating with Hunter, who is out on bail. He was hoping to be reelected so that he could use his status as a congressman in a plea deal for a lighter sentence. It doesn't look like he's going get beyond the primary though.

Carl DeMaio had a convincing FEC quarter-- $1,569,929, of which he spent $204,059, leaving $1,205,456. That's a lot more than Duncan Hunter's entire haul for the cycle-- $588,297.97-- and a lot more than Hunter has in his campaign account-- $289,487. State Sen Brian Jones has filed and neither has Darrell Issa, who is independently wealthy and can put as much as he needs into his campaign. When Issa ended his 2018 run he still had an enormous $3,750,024 in his campaign coffers. On the Democratic side, Ammar Campa-Najjar raised another $580,543 in the third quarter and has $852,762 in his war-chest.

Tuesday, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the San Diego Republican Party had decided not to endorse Hunter for another term. An endorsement takes a two-thirds majority and none of the candidates came close:

• Carl DeMaio- 21
• Brian Jones- 14
• Hunter- 14
• Darrell Issa- 0

It's the first time in his political career that Duncan Hunter, Jr. didn't get the Republican Party's nomination.

Hunter faces three, high-profile Republican opponents and is preparing for a federal trial on charges of campaign finance violations.

The bi-monthly Republican meeting featured a town hall forum, providing a rare occasion where all four candidates appeared at the same event.

Republican Party Chairman Tony Krvaric moderated the debate, which included opening and closing statements, and he posed five questions to each of the four candidates.

Much of the night centered around Republican unity, with Krvaric reminding candidates several times to “stay positive” and focus on the issues.

“I will not tolerate any beating up of a Republican candidate,” Krvaric said. “To the candidates, we want to hear what makes you different... Do not throw mud at your fellow Republicans in the room.”

The 50th District covers a swath of the county east and north of San Diego, a region previously considered one of California’s most reliably red seats that has shown a strong loyalty to the Hunter name for decades. Hunter is in his sixth two-year term and his father, Duncan L. Hunter Sr., served from 1981 to 2009.

“I’ve been fighting for you for 11 years,” Hunter said to the crowd. “You know where I stand on the issues.”

But Hunter now is considered a vulnerable incumbent. He was victorious against his Democratic opponent, Ammar Campa-Najjar, by fewer than 9,000 votes last year-- about 10 weeks after a federal indictment accused him and his wife of illegally spending more than $250,000 in campaign funds on personal expenses. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting a trial scheduled for January, weeks before the March primary.

Hunter said he’s ready for the battle.

Even when federal prosecutors “indicted me months before my election and tried to steal my seat, I still won,” he said. “I’m not going to move somewhere and fight for the easy seat... As a United State Marine, what we do is we stand and we fight.”

According to a recent poll, Hunter trails his Republican opponents, with 11 percent of the vote. All four candidates face an uphill climb against Campa-Najjar, who leads the poll with 31 percent.

DeMaio used questions from the forum to highlight many of his five-step plans for the country. He received applause and cheers for his ideas on immigration and supporting President Donald Trump’s agenda.

“We had 39 Republicans cut and run last year,” DeMaio said. “The president needs an entire team who will stand with him and fight, and that is exactly what I plan to do.”

As the host of a daily news and politics radio show, DeMaio already had a platform to advertise his candidacy and a built-in fan base, though it’s unclear how much of that fan base is based in the 50th District. The poll, conducted by SurveyUSA for the Union-Tribune and 10News, shows him leading the GOP candidates with 20 percent.

A crowd of DeMaio supporters lined the parking lot entrance of the hotel, donning “Make America Great Again” hats and waving DeMaio signs at passing cars.

“The energy and enthusiasm of the grass roots movement behind my campaign is undeniable,” DeMaio said.

Issa, a nine-term congressman who represented northern San Diego County for nearly two decades, announced in September his bid for the seat, just after his confirmation to a Trump Administration trade position was stalled by Senate Democrats.

The former congressman does not live in the district, which his opponents were quick to point out, but experts say he has the experience and network to target Hunter’s district.

“I’m not running because this is an easy seat. I’m running because I’m concerned about it,” Issa said. “If Duncan Hunter is able to, quite frankly, survive what he’s facing, then we can have a whole different discussion. But if not, you need a conservative on day one that will do the job.”

Issa was the wealthiest member of Congress during his tenure, with an estimated net worth of $283 million, according to financial disclosure forms he filed while in office. The poll shows him holding 16 percent of the vote.

He appealed directly to the delegates in his closing statement, cautioning them to weigh their endorsement choice carefully.

“You have a seated U.S. congressman who has a stellar voting record. You have a state senator who hasn’t done anything wrong... If the delegates tonight endorse any one of us, they endorse against three of us,” Issa said. “Do you want to really say that Duncan Hunter needs to go?”

It’s unclear if Issa’s plea had an effect on the final vote. The former congressman left before giving his final 10-minute statement to committee members.

...Besides Hunter, Jones is the only GOP candidate who lives within the 50th District, a point he stressed several times during the debate. He served on Santee City Council before moving on to the Assembly and then State Senate this year.

He received the most support from the crowd when speaking about gun rights and abortion.

Ending the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade is “one of the most important issues to save America and make it great again,” Jones said.

Last cycle, the race was incredibly close, especially for a district where Trump had beaten Hillary 54.6% to 39.6%.

Wealthy Car Thief Darrell Issa Vows To Eat Duncan Hunter Alive And Spit Out His Bones

Issa (left) and Hunter (right)

We all love a good dirty brawl-- especially when the two dirty brawlers are so patently repulsive that you can literally hope they both rip each other's heads off. Welcome to California's 50th congressional district, First a little background on the district itself. It's an overwhelmingly suburban district, mostly (90%) in inland San Diego County, with a slice in Riverside County. It goes from Temecula in the northeast, skirts San Diego itself down thru Escondido to eastern El Cajon and then heads out into the desert where there's nothing but meth-manufacturers and a string of national wildernesses, state parks and a national forest. Its population is mostly white with a growing number of Latinos, almost a third now. The PVI is R+11 and Trump beat Hillary there 54.6% to 39.6%. Last year, though, something special happened that resulted in a near win for an unlikely Democrat.

Considering that in 2016, Hunter beat his Democratic opponent 148,880 (63.9%) to 84,142 (36.1%), you can imagine just how special what happened was. Short version: Hunter, a drunken, womanizing crook was caught stealing campaign money to use on living expenses, hookers and God-knows-what-else. He was arrested, indicted and kicked off his congressional committees but is still  refusing to resign in the hopes of using his membership in Congress as a bargaining chip when he makes his plea deal with the prosecutor.

His opponent from last cycle, Ammar Campa-Najjar, is running again-- as are at least seven 3 Republicans, Carl DeMaio, a hate talk radio host who was a member of the San Diego city council, state Senator Brian Jones and-- according to the San Diego Union-Tribune-- a whale among candidates, and someone who might even be more crooked than Hunter: former Congressman Darrell Issa. Issa retired from an almost-neighboring district last year rather than face certain defeat by a Democrat. And now the former richest and crookedest man in Congress wants back in.

This morning he announced at a press gaggle that he's not waiting for Hunter to retire voluntarily or to go to prison and that he's in it to win it. Candidates until this week, former Escondido Mayor Sam Abed, Temecula Mayor Matt Rahn, El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells and retired Navy SEAL Larry Wilske, were all paid off by Issa to end their own campaigns and endorse him. Both Hunter and Issa are solidly allied with Trump.

Sara Jacobs Is Back-- And Ready To Drop Another Couple Million Dollars Of Her Parents' Money To Buy A Congressional Seat

The last time Sara Jacobs ran for Congress, it was in the Orange County/San Diego County district that Darrell Issa had abandoned as "too blue." It also turned out to be "too blue" for the Qualcomm heiress. She spent gigantically in the primary-- $2,714,931, of which $2,125,798 (78%) came out of personal money her family gave her. The biggest single candidate expenditure-- by FAR (like nearly by a factor of 10!)-- that EMILY's List made-- $2,362,544-- in 2018 was for Jacobs. They sure love supporting rich women, richer the better, which has become their top priority and their trademark. All those millions of dollars bought her just 28,778 votes. That's $176.43 per vote. At what point will trashy rich politicians like Jacobs just directly hand out $100 bills to voters on their way to the polls?

Mike Levin came out on top in that race and is the current congressman, widely judged to be doing a very good job. Jacobs, the heiress who was trying out the life of a Brooklyn hipster-- but not too hip-- had been part of the Hillary Clinton team and that's basically who and what she is-- an overly entitled, spoiled rich kid who thinks her shit doesn't stink and who wants to go to Congress to fight with all her might to-- let's be real-- maintain the status quo... while advancing her own career.

The 49th district where she ran last time, doesn't border on the 53rd district, where she's announcing this time-- and neither borders on Brooklyn. CA-52 is between CA-49 and CA-53-- but a someone like Sara Jacobs-- with EMILY's List at her back-- would never let geography stand in her way. Within milli-seconds of New Dem Susan Davis announcing her retirement, EMILY's List had Jacobs' campaign up and running. Jacobs, who has had her whole life handed to her on a silver platter: "This is an all-hands-on-deck time. Our country is at a defining moment, and I believe it’s more important than ever to have representatives who understand the federal government, can repair what’s been broken by the Trump administration and years of dysfunction in Washington, and who have a forward-looking vision for a more equitable future."

A friend of mine in Lemon Grove told me she would move out of San Diego if Jacobs is elected. "Jose Caballero is the grassroots progressive candidate here, who's been running for this seat all year on a strong progressive platform. It's funny watching a Hillary neoliberal like Sara Jacobs jump in as soon as it looks easy, flashing her parents' bank account and yelling about all the issues she has never backed, like Medicare-for-All and the Green New Deal. She's going to blanket this district in her family's money and try to buy herself a congressional seat. It makes me want to throw up. I hope people can see right through her. Can you please endorse Jose already?"

Watch the speech her EMILY's List controller wrote for her. It has nothing to do with anything except persuading voters the little heiress is something she isn't and will never be:




After watching this video, the person who helps find my millions of typos, remarked that "Jacobs has about as much charisma as jello." That was the first non-typo remark in over a year.

Now, if you haven't already, please watch the Young Turks interview with Caballero (up top) and you will be able to easily imagine exactly why the Democratic Party establishment will quickly work to obliterate him in favor of a fine house-broken thoroughbred like Jacobs. Caballero wants to challenge their feckless leadership. She wants to revel in it and be part of it and be told what to do by it.

Congress already has too many self-funders who have bought themselves House seats-- and they're not all Republicans. These were the biggest self-funders for House seats last cycle, all the ones who spent a million or more of their own money or, in Sara's case, their mommy's and daddy's money:

• David Trone (New Dem-MD)- $17,913,172- won
• Scott Wallace (D-PA)- $12,756,892- lost
• Gil Cisneros (New Dem-CA)- $9,252,762- won
• Kathaleen Wall (R-TX)- $6,169,732- lost (running again in a different district, like Sara)
• Paul Kerr (D-CA)- $5,715,218- lost
• Mel Hall (Blue Dog-IN)- $3,112,000- lost
• George S Flinn Jr. (R-TN)- $3,068,270- lost
• Dan Moody (R-GA)- $3,040,237- lost
• Andy Thorburn (D-CA)- $2,886,900- lost
• Greg Gianforte (R-MT)- $2,400,000- won
• Van Taylor (R-TX)- $2,387,125- won
• Sara Jacobs (D-CA)- $2,125,798- lost
• Perry Gershon (D-NY)- $1,980,997- lost
• John Chrin (R-PA)- $1,687,182- lost
• Bob Corlew (R-TN)- $1,496,153- lost
• Tahir Javed (D-TX)- $1,433,416- lost
• Dan Meuser (R-PA)- $1,426,442- won
• Thomas MacArthur (R-NJ)- $1,360,000- lost reelection
• Dean Phillips (New Dem-MN)- $1,349,561- won
• Peter deNeufville (R-NJ)- $1,238,165- lost
• David Kim (D-GA)- $1,214,489- lost
• Denny Wolff (Blue Dog-Pa)- $1,200,071- lost
• Lena Epstein (R-MI)- $1,168,790- lost

Will A Court Allow Duncan Hunter To Avoid Prison Time In Return For Resigning From Congress? Darrell Issa Is Waiting

Drunkin' Hunter & DJ Trumpanzee

Duncan Hunter and his wife misappropriated at least a quarter million dollars from campaign funds to use for their lavish lifestyle. Hunter has decided his best defense was to blame his wife for stealing the money without his knowledge. The problem with that strategy is that he was using some of the money to pay hookers/lobbyists and carry on affairs with various women. But his lawyers have come up with a way around that damning evidence of malfeasance. They’re asking the court to exclude the evidence that he was using the stolen funds during extramarital affairs because the relationships with at least five women "often served an overtly political purpose."

The lawyers said the evidence would embarrass Hunter since it “reflects poorly on his character” and would prejudice a jury against him. I’ve never heard anything so judicially insane in my life. It’s like saying that evidence of the murder can’t be used because it would prejudice the jury against the defendant and reflect badly on his character and would embarrass him. Hunter is obviously at the end of his rope and is probably negotiating behind the scenes too resign from Congress in return for leniency.

Most of the facts about Hunter were widely know during the 2018 campaign. But Hunter still managed to win in a deep red (PVI is R+11, where Trump beat Hillary 54.6% to 39.6%) San Diego area district. It was a lot closer than anyone thought it would be— 134,362 (51.7%) to 125,448 (48.3%), largely because Hunter ran a smear campaign against Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar, accusing him of being a Muslim terrorist, even though he is a church-going former Obama administration aide. This false ad was run over and over and over throughout the district, despite being denounced in the national and local media:




Hunter, an untreated alcoholic, is a racist and a rabid Trumpist, who claims he was the first member of Congress to have endorsed Trump. Before being kicked out of the Marine Corps reserves in 2017 Hunter asserted that the American intelligence community was filled with "seditious Obama folks" who "hate Donald Trump" and are trying to undermine the Trump administration. He also described the American government as "Orwellian.” After being indicted on 60 federal charges he was kicked off 3 committees by the House Republican leadership, particularly the Armed Services Committee where his presence was considered a national security risk.

Hunter’s wife has already pleaded guilty and is likely to testify against him if his case ever goes to trial. Meanwhile Campa-Najjar is running for the seat again. But he may never get to take on Hunter. The local and national GOP establishment is encouraging Hunter to resign and there are as many as half a dozen Republicans primarying him, including the mayors of Temecula and El Cajon. Lurking in the background is former congressman Darrell Issa, who was too scared to run last cycle in his own district but would like to get back into Congress to represent a much safer red district. Trump nominated Issa to head the U.S. Trade and Development Agency but he hasn’t been confirmed. Ironically, like Campa-Najjar, Issa is also of Arabic heritage.

Nor does he like in the district

Duncan Hunter-- Like Father Like Son

Drunkin' Hunter and DJ Trumpanzee

When I started DWT in 2004, one of my goals was to drive a bevy of super-corrupt Republican congressmen out of office-- Richard Pombo up north and 3 thieves from down south: Jerry Lewis, Duke Cunningham and Duncan Hunter, Pombo was defeated by Jerry McNerney, one of the first congressional candidates supported by Blue America. Cunningham went to prison and his two partners in crime, Lewis and Hunter retired before they could be indicted. Hunter left behind a pile of waste though, Duncan Hunter II.

A high-ranking Democrat, an ex-military officer, once told me to lay off Hunter Jr. He was in love with him and was very concerned that Hunter was suffering from both PTSD from his multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and from severe alcoholism; he once visited me right after spending time with Hunter and told me he was barely functional. This is almost 10 years ago, soon after the crooked father arranged for the drunken son to get his House seat and I assume that Hunter is more... functional.

He represents a very safe Republican seat, CA-50, in eastern San Diego County, much of it rural and sparsely populated. It includes Temecula, Escondido, Santee, Lakeside part of El Cajon and lots and lots of state wilderness parks and reserves. The PVI is R+11 and Trump beat Hillary 54.6% to 39.6%. The thought has been that when the GOP is all but dead and gone in California only Kevin McCarthy's seat and Duncan Hunter's seat would remain red. If that's so, it's no longer likely Hunter will be representing it in Congress.

Everyone on Capitol Hill knows he's a talentless, unserious, drunken ne'er-do-well. He was the second member to endorse Trump, the only thing he's remembered for, aside from vaping and chasing women. Over the weekend, the NY Times ran a sad profile on him, Hard Partying and a Corruption Scandal: Duncan Hunter’s Political Life Unravels. And, clearly, it is more than just his political life that's unraveling. Last week he and his wife were indicted on 60 counts, included wire fraud, falsifying records, campaign finance violations, and conspiracy. They were arraigned and he was ordered to step down from his committees by Paul Ryan, which he refused to do and then did the following day. He also threw his wife under the bus and blamed her for all his problems-- as well as politically motivated prosecutors out to get him. As iff his week weren't going badly enough, the San Diego Union-Tribune called on him to resign from Congress. "Hunter," they wrote, "badly lost his way, seemingly becoming corrupt to the point of caricature... $250,000 in campaign donations for the personal benefit of the couple and their children from 2010 to 2017. The indictment makes the case for a staggering 60 criminal counts ranging from illegal use of campaign funds to conspiracy to wire fraud to falsifying records. Their purchases ranged from the banal-- inexpensive Uber trips-- to the preposterous-- a $14,261 family vacation in Italy in late 2015."

The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board deeply hopes that local and national Republicans do not enable this bogus story line with blind loyalty to Hunter. Instead, we hope their reaction mirrors what happened in 2005 after the Union-Tribune and Copley News Service broke the story of how Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Rancho Santa Fe, had traded lucrative defense contracts in return for millions of dollars in bribes. Cunningham had some defenders, but by and large the most typical response was fury, disgust and disappointment. Within six months, Cunningham tearfully resigned after pleading guilty to corruption.

If he had any honor at all, Hunter would resign as well. He has disgraced himself more thoroughly than his critics ever could. He doesn’t deserve the privilege of representing Californians in Congress.

This weekend's NY Times profile isn't any friendlier, noting that in DC he "was a fixture on the bar scene, and spent lavishly-- over $400 for 30 tequila shots at a bachelor party, and countless fancy dinners. He visited one of his favorite bars sometimes multiple times a day, piling up thousands of dollars in tabs. On occasion, he would get into loud arguments with patrons, once over the choice of music on the jukebox (he hated Celine Dion).

Despite a bullshit right-wing political résumé, he was never fit for Congress. The indictment and "unspooling" of Hunter’s life "has laid bare the reservations among associates and friends who long wondered whether politics was a career path he had ever wanted to fulfill. Now, whatever promise he had has been threatened, with possible far-reaching consequences for the party and his personal life. The indictment, interviews with those who know him and his own personal statements show how a seemingly ideal political life unraveled under personal financial pressure, opening the door to a web of corruption and deception that lasted several years as Mr. Hunter lived a seemingly dual life."

Hunter says he is determined to stay on the ballot. And in a heavily Republican district, running against a first-time Democratic opponent who is the son of an Arab father and Mexican mother, he still maintains a strong chance of re-election.

Still, his voters have this to confront: a 47-page indictment that outlines years of allegations that Mr. Hunter and his wife spent almost a quarter of a million dollars of campaign money on personal expenses, on everything from vacations to fast-food meals, even a plane ticket for their pet, reportedly a rabbit.

And in a district that has many military families, he may have committed the ultimate sin: passing off personal expenses as gifts for “wounded warriors.” For a man who is a veteran and whose political identity is tied to championing the military, this news has been particularly insulting to the veterans community.

“This is a tragic unraveling of someone who should probably never have gone to Congress,” said Nathan Fletcher, a former state assemblyman from San Diego who left the Republican Party in 2012.

...The missteps began not long after he was elected to Congress, prosecutors now say. Mr. Hunter spent little time at home, preferring the high life of Washington to sedate suburbia, and when he did come home he spent a lot of time playing golf.

...As 2009 was coming to a close, the United States was in the teeth of a financial crisis and Mr. Hunter was finishing his first year in office.

With the holidays approaching, Mr. Hunter addressed one of the primary concerns of his constituents: a desire for “greater financial freedom.”

“Most often, I hear concerns from working Americans about the future of their children and grandchildren, and the debt burden they will unfairly inherit,” he wrote.

A few weeks later, Mr. Hunter showed up at an Alamo rental car agency in Reno, Nev., and with his own bank accounts nearly empty, the indictment says, he dipped into campaign funds to pay $351.04 for a rental car to drive to Lake Tahoe for a ski weekend. The document laid out an exhaustive list of expenses between 2010 and 2016 that prosecutors believe were paid for with campaign money.

Days later, there were more charges: $1,008.72, for food, drinks and a room for three nights at the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort Spa and Casino.

His personal bank account at the time, after he withdrew $20, had $15.02 remaining. From then on, his financial record would show a nearly constant state of depleted funds and overdraft fees.

Those Reno and Lake Tahoe charges, prosecutors say, started a yearslong pattern in which the couple drew on campaign accounts to pay for what were said to be personal expenses. There was a $14,261.33 family vacation to Italy, and $32.31 at Albertsons for milk, apples, beer, chewing tobacco and a pack of cigarettes.

In some cases, the couple tried to falsely claim that personal expenses were actually meant for charitable causes. And in Italy, according to prosecutors, Mr. Hunter tried to arrange a tour of a naval facility so he could classify the trip as work-related.

In veterans’ circles, this amounted to a slap in the face. But many veterans advocates say they were always skeptical of Mr. Hunter’s motives. Many have long referred to him as a “blue falcon,” military slang for someone willing to sacrifice his friends for his own benefit.

They say he would often intervene in newsworthy cases when a veteran was in trouble-- as in one case when a veteran ended up in a Mexican jail. But when it came to supporting military-friendly policies, Mr. Hunter did little, they say.

“It’s clear he was doing it to get on Fox News and call himself a hero,” said Kristofer Goldsmith, who runs High Ground Veterans Advocacy, a nonprofit.

Mr. Goldsmith said he had lobbied Mr. Hunter’s office to support a policy that would prevent the Pentagon from releasing soldiers with less-than-honorable discharges without a mental health assessment, but got nowhere.

“At some point it became clear I shouldn’t be talking to his office,” he said.

The expenses outlined in the indictment were often quotidian-- not the luxurious things that often produce titillating political corruption scandals. There was no $15,000 ostrich jacket, no antique rugs or a mansion in the Hamptons, to mention some of the more headline-grabbing expenses that enlivened the recent corruption trial of Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman. For the Hunters, it was often everyday expenses: the cable bill, the dentist, prescription medication, fast food restaurants like In-N-Out, trips to Walmart.

In one sense, the Hunters’ story is one of financial woe not unlike that faced by countless American families struggling to pay the basics. Yet to many they seem particularly ironic, considering Mr. Hunter’s repeated calls for fiscal responsibility.

“The federal government is like a family that has overspent and racked up too many bills,” Mr. Hunter wrote in an op-ed.

As Ms. Hunter held down the household in California, Mr. Hunter was drawing concern from colleagues in Washington about his partying, which prosecutors allege was often paid for with campaign cash. At one point, John Boehner, then the Republican leader, sat down him and his friends-- known as the “bros caucus”-- and told them to “knock off” their frat house antics, according to a person close to the Republican leadership at the time.

Mr. Hunter has been a regular at a number of bars near Capitol Hill, from the private Capitol Club to the congressional watering hole, Bullfeathers, just next door. There, the congressman could often be found on the patio with colleagues, drinking beer or vodka.

“He was here a lot, some days he was in here multiple times a day,” said Stephanie Connon, a manager at the bar.

Amid the allegations, associates in Washington have raised questions about whether Mr. Hunter was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. When asked about this earlier this year by a television station in San Diego, Mr. Hunter said, “I did three tours. I take my experiences with me, but I never filed for post-traumatic stress. It’s not an issue.”

Ammar Campa-Najjar, Mr. Hunter’s challenger in November, told Fox News after the indictment was issued, “I think that man who served our country never made it back from the battlefield, and I think Washington chewed him up and spat him out and he lost his way.”

Back in Alpine, where the couple lived in a small cul-de-sac-- they sold their house in 2016 after earlier allegations of financial misconduct emerged-- former neighbors said they were shocked when the indictment was released.

Hunter makes $174,000 a year, almost three times higher than the U.S. median income. But it wasn't enough for his lifestyle, so he broken the law to enhance it-- while voting, consistently, to take away healthcare from working people and to deny social safety benefits from people with far less income than his own. You may have pity for him and his wife, but keep in mind that Margaret spent $152 on makeup at Nordstrom and told the campaign it was "gift basket items for the Boys and Girls Clubs of San Diego." While adamantly opposing medical care for his constituents, he and his wife accounted for the payment of their family dental bills as a charitable contribution to "Smiles for Life." Will he be prosecuted? Very unlikely. It's more likely that he'll make a deal to leave Congress and get a slap on the wrist.