Another Blue Dog Admits He's Just A Republican-- Switches Parties

Joe Baca, Blue Dog ----> Republican

Blue Dogs tend to vote with Republicans on core, crucial issues. Of the 10 worst Democrats in the House this year-- based on their ProgressivePunch lifetime crucial vote scores-- 7 are Blue Dogs who have voted more frequently against progressive proposals than for them. And 2 of the others are shady New Dems. 

• Gwen Graham (Blue Dog-FL)- 28.33
• Brad Ashford (Blue Dog-NE)- 36.67
• Kyrsten Sinema (Blue Dog-AZ)- 37.46
• Sean Patrick Maloney (New Dem-NY)- 39.86
• Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)- 40.13
• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)- 40.14
• Jim Costa (Blue Dog-CA)- 44.24
• Cheri Bustos (Blue Dog-IL)- 44.76
• Raul Ruiz (CA)- 48.20
• Patrick Murphy (New Dem-FL)- 48.43

Over time, Democratic voters start to understand that their Blue Dog congressman is a Republican and they either defeat them in primaries (example: Tim Holden) or sit on their hands and let a Republican win (example: Chris Carney). Sensing impending doom, many Blue Dogs, including some the founders of the rotten organization, have covered up their membership-- like Steve Israel and Adam Schiff most recently-- or have just admitted they're nothing but a Republican, jumping the fence and reregistering as such. Examples include Rodney Alexander (R-LA), Nathan Deal (now governor of Georgia), Ralph Hall (R-TX), Jimmy Hayes (R-LA), Virgil Goode (R-VA), Parker Griffith (R-AL), Gene Taylor (R-MS), Michael Parker (R-MS), and Billy Tauzin (R-LA, now a major GOP lobbyist). And then this month we have a new Blue Dog going over, officially, to the Dark Side: Joe Baca of the Inland Empire. He switched parties on June 2 and is threatening to run for office again after getting booted out of Congress and then losing a bid to become mayor of Fontana (where Sammy Hagar was born).

Baca said Friday he and his wife thought long and hard about the decision, which he said reflects his “core Christian values” and his pro-growth, pro-business philosophy.

As a legislator, Baca said he often voted conservatively on many issues....“I’ve always been very conservative in nature,” Baca said, adding that in the House of Representatives he was often accused of being a Republican and asked why he didn’t change his political party.

Baca is a former member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a congressional caucus of moderate and conservative Democrats whose members are referred to as “Blue Dogs.”

Baca said he was a Blue Dog during his entire seven-term stint as a congressman.

“It’s always difficult when you change, but it follows my core Christian values and how I voted the majority of the time I was in office,” Baca said.

The change comes in the wake of three unsuccessful runs at public office that began in 2012 with a loss to then-state Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod, a Democrat, for a House seat, followed by an unsuccessful second bid for Congress in last year’s primary election. He then eyed the Fontana mayor’s seat, hoping to be the first Latino elected mayor in that city, but lost by a landslide to incumbent Acquanetta Warren in the November general election.

Baca decided to retire from politics after that, but made it clear he wasn’t completely closing the door on that chapter of his life.

...Some believe Baca’s change of heart is less about political ideology and more about strategy, and that Baca has every intention of running for office again, only this time with more support, and money, behind him. That’s what Danny Tillman, a former Democratic candidate for the 31st Congressional District seat and a current member of the San Bernardino City Unified school board, thinks.

“I’m sure he’s going to run for Congress,” Tillman said Friday. “If he’s switching to Republican, he’s going for something big. Money has everything to do with winning a race. Everything else is secondary.”

It would be funny to see him run against reactionary New Dem freshman Pete Aguilar, one of Congress' worst members.