You Know What They Say About Old Dogs And New Tricks-- Meet Crooked Conservative, Ro Khanna

Republicans know they will never win the CA-17 congressional seat. It's way too educated, way too blue for them, D+20. So wealthy GOP plutocrats are bankrolling a sleazy, conservative fake Democrat, Ro Khanna to run against beloved progressive icon Mike Honda. It won't work any more than Khanna's past ridiculous races against Democrats Tom Lantos and Pete Stark. Khanna doesn't care what district he represents, just as long as he can get into Congress and push his Austerity agenda and the elitist programs his Republican donors love.

Yesterday Khanna released his first TV ad, financed by his multimillionaire and billionaire backers, and it is highly deceptive. "Here’s my promise to you: I will never take money from corporations or lobbyists." He's taking money from the worst financial predators funneling dirty money into American politics, like Romney's 47% host Marc Leder and crooked Republican billionaire Peter Thiel. His campaign is being bankrolled by Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg, Google's Eric Schmidt and Yahoo's Marissa Mayer. In fact, Ro Khanna is the ultimate candidate of the self-entitled one percent, lying his ass off in an expensive ad.



Ro Khanna's sleazy character can be traced all the way back through all his endeavors in politics. In fact, the San Mateo Times disclosed that even when he ran for president of his student body, his crooked nature was on full display. This is from February 28, 2004, when Khanna was working his smear tactics on Tom Lantos:

Newcomer congressional candidate Ro Khanna has positioned himself as a fresh voice against incumbent Tom Lantos, but the 27-year old's first run for public office ended with a good, old-fashioned political scandal.

Back in 1996 as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, a 20-year old Khanna won a race for student government president as part of a liberal party called Students First!, according to reports in the University's student newspaper. [Isn't that Michelle Rhee's anti-education outfit?]

But the victory quickly turned sour, as a rival party accused Students First! of overspending a $275 limit during Khanna's run. The school's elections committee launched an investigation into the charges and Khanna quickly resigned.

In a mea culpa published in an open letter in the student newspaper, Khanna admitted wrongdoing: "We did overspend the budget, and that in itself is unacceptable since it may have influenced the results of the election."

In another story, Khanna said he did not purposefully violate the campaign rules. After concluding its report, the elections committee found Students First! deliberately misled the committee and exceeded the spending limits, according to newspaper reports.

…It is probably any Democrats' worst nightmare heading into the final days of a tough primary-- Bill Clinton bashing your candidacy. But that's exactly what happened to Khanna on Thursday.

Clinton got steamed after Khanna sent out a mailer featuring his photo and comments he made to Khanna at an event. Clinton said Khanna did not have his permission to use the photo and comments, and it created the impression that the former President had endorsed the candidate.

Clinton wasn't satisfied with telling Khanna to cease-and-desist, he took the unusual step of endorsing Khanna's rival Congressman Tom Lantos because of the flap. Clinton said he generally does not endorse candidates in primaries.

"I regret that Ro Khanna has misled the people of the 12th District in this mailing," Clinton said in a press release.

President Obama has also made it clear that he's backing Honda and not Khanna, after Khanna attempted to mislead people into believing that because a few former low-ranking Obama operatives were taking his paychecks, Obama was behind him. Obama immediately invited Honda in for a photo session and released this statement: "Congressman Mike Honda is the right leader for the 17th district. Together, we’ve worked hard these last four years to bring meaningful, positive change to our nation, but there is much more to do. As we continue rebuilding our economy from the middle out, we know expanding educational opportunities is critical. Congressman Honda's lifelong commitment to education and fierce advocacy for innovation and technology is exactly what this nation needs as we continue to move America forward. We need Congressman Mike Honda in the United States Congress, and I urge you to vote to keep him there."

By the way, after reading the San Mateo Times article, I managed to find a contemporary piece in the University of Chicago student newspaper, the Chicago Maroon (November 12, 1996) in which Khanna, confronted with the facts, admitted he had deliberately doctored receipts to hide the evidence that his campaign had exceeded spending limits. He had to testify in front of a student judicial committee:

Rohit Khanna, the original Students First! (SF) Presidential candidate, appeared before the committee to give some much needed answers to several key questions of the committee.

Khanna admitted that he and fellow candidates Shaz Rasul and David Ortiz deliberately doctored receipts that were submitted during the original Elections and Rules (E and R) committee investigation of the first Spring Quarter election. The receipts were altered to hide the fact that the SF campaign overspent on its campaign.

Khanna refused to answer what he called “hearsay” questions, “What they are doing by spreading hearsay is worse than the actions themselves,” he said… Khanna said he eventually confessed because he felt it was “regrettable and wrong that we overspent and didn’t get in the receipts.” Khanna said that, while he never lied to the E and R committee in his testimony, he made a “conscious attempt to cover up the spending.”

Today Khanna is making a conscious effort to mislead Democrats and independents about his positions, about where he gets his financing and, worst of all, about an honorable man of great integrity who has served this country well, Mike Honda. You may remember that last cycle, one of Blue America's most conspicuous victories was in helping Pennsylvania progressive Matt Cartwright oust a Ro Khanna type ConservaDem, Tim Holden, like Khanna, from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. Since then, Cartwright, the president of Congress' freshman class, has been an exemplary progressive and is one of the most well-liked Members of Congress. His feelings for Honda are heartfelt and deep:

Mike Honda is a great American, and one of our living icons in the Democratic ranks of the United States House of Representatives. In much the same way that Rep. John Lewis of Georgia is a living, breathing reminder of the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, Rep. Honda of California takes us back even further, to the 1940s of the Japanese-American internment camps. I often mention with pride that a Pennsylvanian, Justice Owen Roberts, dissented, in Korematsu v. United States, the Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of the Executive Order creating those internment camps. Mike Honda, born in 1941, spent his early childhood years in an internment camp in California.

…Nelson Mandela once said that “resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.” Mike Honda could easily have turned to resentment or bitterness over the mind-boggling unfairness of his family’s wartime internment. Instead, he has devoted his life to the positive and uplifting work of making America a more just, more peaceful, and more progressive nation. I am deeply honored to be a fellow member of the House Democratic Caucus with Mike Honda, and even prouder to serve alongside him in the Congressional Progressive Caucus. I urge my fellow Democrats to support Representative Honda’s reelection in whatever way you can.

What has Ro Khanna ever done other than to step on other people to claw his way up the ladder? Read Matt Cartwright's words again and take his advise here.