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%.

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.

Will Duncan Hunter Be On Trial Before Or After The Midterms?

Young Duncan Hunter was elected because most of the voters in the district thought he was his father, also Duncan Hunter, who resigned rather than go to prison with his crony and partner-in-crime Duke Cunningham. Hunter Senior, I wrote in 2005, had a hand in virtually every military scandal involving large sums of money that had gone down over the past 2 decades. He was a key participant in getting Air Force funds questionably diverted to his campaign contributor, Boeing (the bi-product of which was the disgrace and resignation of Air Force Secretary Jim Roche). Cunningham went to prison; Hunter and Jerry Lewis, a sleaze-bag Republican from a neighboring district, were allowed to retire. Now the folks who live in Temecula, Escondido and in the desert and mountains east of San Diego are stuck with Hunter, Junior, who learned his criminal behavior on his pappy's knee. Rachel Bade and John Bresnahan discerned what they could about the FBI investigation of the larcenous right-wing congressman.

The criminal investigation into Rep. Duncan Hunter is intensifying as a grand jury in San Diego questions multiple former aides about whether the California Republican improperly diverted political funds for personal use.

Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed Hunter’s parents, as well as a female lobbyist with whom many people close to the congressman believe he had a romantic relationship, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the investigation.

The Justice Department is trying to determine whether hundreds of thousands of dollars from Hunter’s campaign account were spent improperly on his family and friends. Hunter already sold his home to pay back what even he now acknowledges were improper charges, moving his wife and kids in with his parents while he mostly lives in his Capitol Hill office.

...Three people with knowledge of the probe told Politico that Hunter's wife, Margaret, who acted as his campaign manager, is at the center of the FBI inquiry. Many of the alleged campaign charges in question-- including tuition payments for their children’s schooling and dozens of restaurant meals where no donor appeared to be present-- were made by Margaret Hunter, those people said.

But Hunter is also under intense scrutiny by the FBI and federal prosecutors. Federal agents have questioned his former staffers about whether thousands of dollars spent at Washington restaurants were legitimate campaign expenditures. They’ve also inquired about his relationships with several women in Washington, including one who worked in his office.

“He’s enjoyed his time in Washington-- probably a little too much,” said one House Republican lawmaker who has known Hunter for years but wants him to retire in order to protect the seat. “His wife supposedly had the campaign credit card, but that’s not an excuse. You can’t just blame your wife.”

...Hunter has developed a reputation on Capitol Hill for drinking heavily and carousing, according to multiple lawmakers and staffers who have witnessed his behavior over the past several years.

Former staffers to Hunter said he and his lawmaker friends-- dubbed the "bros caucus” by his aides-- would regularly go to the Capitol Hill Club, a Republican hangout, to drink beer, sometimes during the day. Congressional aides have recounted to Politico at least two stories of recent official meetings where lawmakers questioned whether Hunter was intoxicated.

In one December huddle between Republicans on the Armed Services Committee and GOP leaders, Hunter raised his voice at Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), accusing the Republican leader of undercutting the military with an irresponsible funding strategy. According to people who were present or heard about it afterward, members noticed his bloodshot eyes and speech and questioned whether Hunter was under the influence.

One Republican lawmaker said in an interview that he spoke to Hunter about his drinking habits and urged him to get evaluated for post-traumatic stress disorder. Former aides to Hunter said other lawmakers approached Hunter on the same grounds.

...While Hunter was in Washington, Margaret Hunter was in San Diego taking care of their three children. She allegedly grew reckless in using the campaign credit card for personal use, according to sources familiar with the workings of the Hunter campaign. The Hunters’ most recent financial disclosure report, from May, lists no assets and between $60,000 and $115,000 of debt.

Margaret Hunter’s trips to shopping malls, surf shops and fast food restaurants are among the transactions the FBI is examining, according to sources close to the investigation. The Hunters repaid the campaign more than $60,000 in improper campaign charges, but federal prosecutors are interested in tens of thousands of additional charges, according to several sources and a report in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Hunter has run up huge legal bills as he tries to avoid a criminal indictment. FEC records show his campaign paid more than $535,000 last year to at least a half-dozen law firms to represent him and his staff in both Washington and California. Lawmakers are allowed to use campaign contributions to cover legal expenses.

The negative publicity surrounding the criminal investigation also has had an effect on Hunter's fundraising. In the last quarter of 2017, Hunter spent nearly $179,000 on legal fees, while raising less than a third of that total, roughly $51,000.

If Republican leaders are going to press Hunter to step down, they need to do it soon. California’s filing deadline is March 9. Hunter’s district is solidly Republican, but his legal troubles could make the race competitive in a Democratic wave election.

“There are some people who want” Hunter gone, said one senior Republican lawmaker. “That’s a fact. ... People don’t want to see any more baggage.”

...Hunter’s personal problems in Washington started early. While Hunter Sr. rarely drank and was careful never to be seen alone with another woman, Hunter was more carefree, said sources close to him.

At one point, then-Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) warned Hunter and his friends to cut it out and stay away from female lobbyists they’d frequently dine with at night. Hunter's father also called staff and members to check in on his son, said sources who know both men. (Hunter Sr. disputed this account, saying he’s never worried about his son’s drinking habits.)

The drama only increased when Hunter’s longtime chief of staff, Vicki Middleton, left the office in late 2014. Middleton, a “second mother” to Hunter in the words of one former aide, had worked for his father for years. And Hunter’s staff said he mostly behaved well in her presence.

Around that time, Hunter hired a young woman whom investigators have inquired about during their probe, sources familiar with the questioning said. Hunter promoted her from intern to full-time, a decision that perplexed staffers who said she frequently failed to show up for work and was hostile to co-workers.

Former staffers to Hunter said the atmosphere grew toxic because of the woman, who would text with Hunter and sometimes accompany him to the Capitol Hill Club. Multiple aides complained about her attire, saying it was inappropriate for a work environment. Two aides kept a tally of how many days of work she had missed. The woman would also show up uninvited at Hunter’s campaign events, including one in San Diego.

Despite mounting concerns within his office, however, Hunter refused to fire her. The nature of the relationship caused some of his staffers to question Hunter’s judgment.

At the same time, on the other side of the country, Margaret Hunter started using the campaign credit card liberally, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation. In the spring of 2016, Hunter's staffers began to take a closer look at their campaign finances after a series of news reports about questionable charges, such as $1,300 in video game charges that appeared on Hunter's FEC report.

Multiple stories by California newspapers would later detail money spent on oral surgery, jewelry from Italy and, most memorably, $600 to fly a pet rabbit across the country. After further scrutiny, Hunter aides realized that was only the beginning.

Hunter in early 2016 brought in an outside law firm to do an independent audit going back to the date that Margaret Hunter received her campaign credit card. Hunter was expecting that the audit would turn up $20,000 in campaign expenses he would have to repay and was shocked when the firm found more than $60,000, according to one former aide. He told close associates it was his wife’s fault.

The FBI started inquiring about campaign transactions going back more than five years. Part of the investigation centers on possible falsification of FEC reports, including whether information was intentionally entered incorrectly to cover up purchases. Law enforcement is also looking at credit card fraud, since the campaign disputed the video game charges with the credit card company; investigators want to verify that the charges were indeed made in error.

Sources with knowledge of the investigation said Margaret Hunter didn’t keep many receipts because FEC reports don’t require that practice. So prosecutors have attempted to obtain the records from businesses, as first reported by the Union-Tribune.

Also under the microscope are campaign funds spent at myriad trips to grocery stores, shopping malls and stores like Pier 1 and Barnes & Noble. Investigators are trying to verify that money was actually used on campaign items. Also under scrutiny are numerous charges at fast food restaurants.

Law enforcement officials have also asked whether Hunter tried to configure his internal audit so that he could afford the amount he would have to pay back, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation.

Can the drunken, randy and sticky-fingered Hunter be beaten in November? Bade and Bresnahan wrote that "some Republicans are urging GOP leaders to force him to retire, worried that his troubles could cost the party another seat in its uphill effort to maintain the House majority." Issa, on the run from Doug Applegate, in the nearby 49th district, announced his own retirement, but has made it known that if Hunter doesn't run, he'll move east and run there. Trump beat Hillary 54.6-39.6% in the district, which has a PVI of R+11, the second reddest in the state (tied with Doug LaMalfa's) and slightly worse than Kevin McCarthy's.

Hunter, who has raised $454,806 and has just $290,904 cash on hand, has a Republican primary opponent, Shamus Sayed, who has raised $185,539 (mostly from self-funding). Hunter also has half a dozen Democrats vying for the seat including two well-funded contestants, Ammar Campa-Najjar, who has raised $504,928 and Josh Butner, who has raised $421,385. Each has about the same amount as Hunter does in his war-chest. Ammar Campa-Najjar is the progressive in the race and is leading Butner in every metric except the DCCC metric. The DCCC seems to see him as the more garden variety Democrat and leans in his direction.

Last Year California Had 14 Republicans In Congress. Thanks To Trump There Are Now 7. Will Trump Preside Over The Loss Of 3 More Next Year?

Reshaping The GOP by Nancy Ohanian

Because California will be voting early in the cycle (March 3)-- right after Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, the biggest state in the Union will play an outsized role in choosing the Democratic nominee. According to a poll of likely voters released yesterday by the Public Policy Institute of California, there's a virtual 3-way tie for the top spot-- and the state's senator, Kamala Harris, isn't part of it.

• Elizabeth Warren- 23%
• Status Quo Joe- 22%
• Bernie- 21%
• Kamala- 8%
• Mayo Pete- 6%

35% of likely voters approve of the job Trump is doing in the poll, not much different from the poll Morning Consult did in September in their Tracking Trump Across America project. Morning Consult found that 34% approve of the job Trump is doing and 62% disapprove, a 28 point deficit in California. Luckily for the GOP, there are no statewide elections for them to lose next year. As for congressional seats, that's another-- and more complicated-- matter.

California has 53 congressional districts and the Republicans are left with only 7, after the spectacular loss of 7 seats last year. This is what's left, along with the grievously out of date PVIs and their win numbers last year:

• CA-01- Doug LaMalfa- R+11-- 54.9%
• CA-04- Tom McClintock- R+10-- 54.1%
• CA-08- Paul Cook (retiring)- R+9-- 60.0% (against a Republican)
• CA-22- Devin Nunes- R+8-- 52.7%
• CA-23- Kevin McCarthy- R+14-- 63.7%
• CA-42- Ken Calvert- R+9-- 56.5%
• CA-50- Duncan Hunter- R+11-- 51.7%

The best Democratic candidate running against these clowns is Audrey Denney in CA-01. You can contribute to election-- and that of the other solid progressives taking on conservatives in California this cycle-- by clicking on the Make California Bluer 2020 thermometer on the right. But her district, like the other 6, looks prohibitively red. Audrey, who ran last year and had LaMalfa on the run, has much better name ID now and is running as strong a campaign. Last year she managed to match LaMalfa's fund-raising (a bit over a million dollars) and so far this cycle-- as of the June 30 FEC deadline-- she was outraging him, $436,252 to 347,614.

On paper, Nunes looks like a more likely target for Democrats (with the best PVI for a Democrat). But he's a money-machine among the GOP grassroots and brought in $12,619,096 last cycle, had $5,655,570 on hand as of June 30 and had already raised $3,072,399. There are 3 Democrats signed up for the primary, a meaningless status quo conservative backed by the DCCC, Phil Arballo, who had raised $129,161 by June 30 and two progressives, Bobby Bliatout ($11,781) and Dary Rezvani ($9,554).

But there really is no doubt which seat is the most likely to fall-- CA-50, where Duncan Hunter is only hanging on so he can use the seat as a bargaining chip with federal prosecutors in his upcoming trial. Last cycle he was seriously outspent by Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar, $4,002,823 to $1,808,791, but managed to hold on 51.7% to 48.3% because Hunter ran racist/terrorist! TV spots against Campa-Najjar and because a disgustingly racist DCCC refused to get behind him, since he has a Muslim-sounding name. (He's a Christian.)

Campa-Najjar will certainly be in the general election but California's screwy jungle primary will determine which Republican he'll be facing. The race was complicated last week when Darrell Issa jumped into the primary against Hunter and bribed 5 other Republicans to drop out and endorse him. He can spend as much money as he wants-- having made millions as a car thief and general all-around fraudster-- but the San Diego Union-Tribune ran a SurveyUSA poll it commissioned that indicates Issa may not make it out of the March 3 primary. Duncan Hunter looks like a sure loser, so he'll try to cut a deal with prosectors as soon as he can. Who picks up his dumb-as-bricks supporters will be key for the Republicans.

In the poll, Hunter, with 11 percent of the vote, is trailing GOP opponents Carl DeMaio (20 percent) and Darrell Issa (16 percent) while lone Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar, who narrowly lost to Hunter a year ago, leads with 31 percent.

...Among a subset of voters who said they are “certain” to vote, Campa-Najjar’s total increases to 34 percent and DeMaio’s to 22. Hunter’s support drops to 9 percent.

The 50th District covers a swath of the county east and north of San Diego, a region that has shown strong loyalty to the Hunter name for decades. Duncan L. Hunter Sr. served in Congress from 1981 to 2009, and his son Duncan D. Hunter is in his sixth two-year term.

His victory last year by just under 9,000 votes came about 10 weeks after he was indicted on federal charges of illegally spending $250,000 in campaign funds on personal expenses. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting a trial scheduled for January.

In the poll, almost twice as many voters said they have a negative impression of Hunter as those who hold a positive view. Almost 60 percent said the evidence in the corruption case against him suggests “he may have broken the law,” while 13 percent believe the charges are “a partisan witch hunt,” which has been Hunter’s take on the prosecution.

Voters also said one of the most important issues for them is the “character of the candidate.” That tied in their rankings with border security and holding President Donald Trump “accountable for his actions.” Hunter has been a strong supporter of the president.

Other top issues: “rallying behind the president,” and climate change.

The 50th District has more registered Republicans than Democrats, and that was reflected in the poll. Of the likely voters surveyed, 44 percent are Republican and 30 percent Democrat; 24 percent are independent. Among the Republicans, DeMaio leads, followed closely by Issa. As the only Democrat in the race, Campa-Najjar was the overwhelming choice among those voters and also polled first with independents.

Campa-Najjar also scored well in the “character of the candidate” question, getting half the vote of those who consider that the most important issue, 31 points ahead of DeMaio. Three-fourths of the voters who ranked “holding the president accountable” as their chief concern favored Campa-Najjar, 15 times more than the next competitor.

But among the top four candidates in the overall poll, Campa-Najjar also had the largest percentage of voters, 32, who said they are “unfamiliar” with him. DeMaio was next, at 21 percent.

DeMaio, a former San Diego City Council member, and Issa, a former congressman, tied among voters who said border security is the most important issue.

Turn-out is expected to be sky-high among Democrats and Republicans as both bases turn out to either support or defeat Trump. If the Democrats nominate Status Quo Joe Biden, it could hurt the party's turn-out with progressives and activists who may choose to skip the election rather than backing a less-of-two evils candidate.

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

Now GOP Congressmen Are Being Yelled At In Their Districts Over Putin-Gate As Well As Trumpcare

Flip-floppin' Darrell says he's changed his mind again on a special prosecutor

Yesterday, Adam Schiff (D-CA) was on ABC's This Week and John McCain (R-AZ) was on CNN’s State of the Union and they both were singing the same tune, namely that Trump was full of shit with his crazy claim that Obama wiretapped him. McCain said that the asshole "has to provide the American people, not just the intelligence community, but the American people, with evidence that his predecessor, former president of the Unites States was guilty of breaking the law... I have no reason to believe that the charge is true, but I also believe that the president of the Unites States could clear this up in a minute." Schiff put it slightly differently: "I don't expect we're going to see any evidence of this either... There are one of two possibilities here. Either the president quite deliberately for some reason made up this charge or, perhaps more disturbing, the president really believes this. And here's where I think it's consequential... if six months from now the president should say that Iran is cheating on the nuclear agreement, if he's making that up, it's a real problem. If he's not making it up and it's true, it's an even bigger problem because the question is, would people believe him."

Over the weekend, two right-wing congressmen from the San Diego region-- Duncan Hunter and Darrell Issa caught hell at town halls meetings in their districts. According to reporters from the San Diego Union-TribuneA, about a thousand people showed up for each. Hunter ignored the 600 who couldn't fit into the small venue he had hired in Ramona, while Issa had back-to-back sessions in Oceanside. It was the first time either of them faced their constituents since Trump's election. According to the report, "The messages from the audience and those outside mainly came in the form jeers, hollers and protest signs with a clear theme: they want the congressmen to oppose Trump’s agenda. Hunter appeared to have more supporters at his event than Issa did at his, but they were both heavily outnumbered... The two forums were rowdy, confrontational and packed. Health care was perhaps the main focus, but attendees also wanted to talk about other issues including immigration and climate change."

Issa and Hunter were pressed on their positions on Russian interference in last year’s elections. Issa drew applause when he told one crowd that he wants an independent investigation.

“Are we going to investigate Russia to the very nth degree for interfering in our election? Yes,” Issa said. “But we also have to stop Russia from their actions around the world and destabilizing the world.”

Issa also said his “public statements are clearly out of step with many other Republicans.”

“I will continue to press my colleagues publicly and privately to realize that this is an existential threat to democracy if we do not stop it,” he said.

Hunter, in response to a question, said he would not support an independent investigation into Russian interference in last year’s elections, but said he does back various investigations by Congress. The intelligence community, Hunter said, is filled with “seditious Obama folks” who “hate Donald Trump as much as you do” and are trying to undermine the administration.

He said he believes that Trump’s emails and communications were intercepted when Obama was in office, but he later, when questioned by a reporter, said he has no proof.

“I think that Donald Trump did have his phone conversations and emails intercepted,” Hunter said. “And those of you that believe in democracy and free elections, can tell me that a sitting election whose party is running for the presidency, can wire tape and intercept another candidate’s phone. I would think you would be for freedom and liberty, not for an Orwellian government that controls us, which is what we have right now.”

On Twitter earlier this month, President Donald Trump said that the Obama administration had wiretapped his phone. The White House has not provided any sort of explanation or support for the claim. Obama and his administration’s intelligence officials issued strong denials of such activities.

The Orange County Register also covered Issa's town hall and noted that "no answer came without a smattering of jeers," including demonstrators outside the hall shouting "Do your job!" over and over.

Dmitry Demidov, who has lived in America for 21 years and is critical of the Trump administration’s ties to Russia, wore a Russian-styled police hat as he stood outside the building and held a red banner that read “Make Russia Great Again.”

With questions about Putin-Gate swirling around congressional Republicans like Issa and Hunter back in their home districts, the stonewalling and sleazy game being played by House Intelligence Committee chairman--and Trump campaign official-- Devin Nunes (R-CA) is becoming more and more of an embarrassment. And now that Nunes' refusal to cooperate with any semblance of an impartial investigation, the Democrats on his committee are starting to threaten to pull out of his silly whitewash entirely. Saturday the NY Times reported that the Democrats on Nunes' committee aren't going to sit back and be props in an illegitimate proccess meant to add to the Regime's desperate coverup.

Democrats are bracing for fights over subpoenaing witnesses and documents-- including, possibly, Mr. Trump’s tax returns-- since Republicans have balked at an outside, independent inquiry into what intelligence officials say was an unprecedented intrusion into an American election by a foreign power.

“I’m not going to be part of a dog-and-pony show that is not a serious effort to do an investigation because this is really serious,” said Representative Jackie Speier, Democrat of California. “If it’s not a legitimate and comprehensive and in-depth investigation, why would we be party to it?”

Ms. Speier said the committee’s Democrats-- all nine of whom were interviewed by the New York Times-- would not hesitate, “under certain circumstances,” to pull their support.

Democrats are already wary of moves by the committee’s chairman, Representative Devin Nunes, Republican of California, to undercut the purported Russian connection. Mr. Nunes has belittled news stories about the Russian links of Mr. Trump’s associates and has pledged-- along with Senator Richard M. Burr, the North Carolina Republican who leads the Senate Intelligence Committee-- to examine Mr. Trump’s accusations, made without evidence, that President Barack Obama ordered surveillance of Trump Tower.

...Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the committee’s top Democrat, said it was unclear whether the panel could conduct a credible investigation, ideally resulting in a single, bipartisan report on its findings. Along with Mr. Nunes, Mr. Schiff is among the so-called Gang of Eight congressional leaders who receive classified intelligence briefings.

“If we get to the point at any time where I feel we can’t do that, where there are legitimate lines of investigation that are being walled off, then I will say so,” Mr. Schiff told reporters this week.

Democrats expect the first major test of the investigation-- and Mr. Nunes’s stewardship-- to come on March 20, when the committee holds its first public hearing. An initial list of invited witnesses included James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director; James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence under Mr. Obama; and Sally Q. Yates, the former acting attorney general who was fired by the Trump administration after refusing to defend the president’s first travel ban.

Absent from the witness list was Michael T. Flynn, Mr. Trump’s first national security adviser, who resigned after it was revealed that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials about his conversations with the Russian ambassador. Though Mr. Nunes emphasized it was only an early list, he referred to Mr. Flynn as “a tangent,” portraying him as more of a victim of the intelligence leaks Mr. Nunes is seeking to investigate than a target of the inquiry.

“From everything that I can see, his conversations with the Russian ambassador, he was doing this country a favor, and he should be thanked for it,” Mr. Nunes said.

Mr. Nunes may need to tread cautiously to avoid the perception of crossing the line from impartial moderator to advocate. He has said the issue of whether Trump Tower was under surveillance during the campaign was well within the scope of the inquiry, and has denied that he added it after the president demanded that Congress investigate.

With a tight smile, Mr. Schiff said he welcomed the opportunity to disprove Mr. Trump’s accusation. But some Democrats fumed at the idea that the panel’s work could give credence to it. Should the issue not be put to rest quickly, Ms. Speier said, “it would call into question the entire investigation.”

Several Democrats said they expected their desire to compel certain witnesses to testify to stoke friction among Republicans. But a flash point could come if Democrats press to subpoena Mr. Trump’s tax returns, a move that could scuttle the entire inquiry.

Democrats have favored an outside, independent investigation, but many of them see the panel’s inquiry as the best they can do. And they are keenly aware that by pulling their support, they would sacrifice their roles in an investigation some see as among the most important of their time in public service.

“It’s a big jump to pull out of this investigation, no matter how bad it is,” said Representative Mike Quigley, Democrat of Illinois. “Because whatever truth you can bleed out of this thing, the better off you are.”

It's Hard To Imagine Duncan Hunter, Jr. Going Back To Congress In 2019

CA-50 is one of the last conservative Republican districts in California. Obama lost it both times-- badly-- and Trump beat Hillary 54.6% to 39.6%. The PVI is R+11. Duncan Hunter, Sr and Duncan Hunter, Jr-- two very crooked, self-entitled Republican assholes have held the district for 38 conservative years. Political education is very low and many people don't realize that Hunter I has been replaced by Hunter II. The district is what's left over in San Diego County after all the beautiful and desirable parts were divided up among other districts. Aside from Temecula and Escondido in the north and bit of eastern El Cajon in the south, it's mostly sparsely populated desert and mountains-- with lots of wildlife refuges, lots of state wildernesses and parks and a national forest.

As red as his district is, Hunter looks very vulnerable this cycle, unless voters are going to give him a pass on eye-popping corruption charges. He could even wind up serving his next term in prison. Darrell Issa, who retired from a nearby district, had been hoping Hunter would get knocked out of the race because of all the corruption but... too late now.

There are two Democratic front-runners competing for the nomination. The California Democratic Party has endorsed the more progressive candidate, Ammar Campa-Najjar, and the DCCC and New Dems are working to nominate the conservative, Josh Butner. As of the December 31 FEC reporting deadline Campa-Najjar had raised $504,928 and Butner had raised $421,385. Hunter has just $290,904 in his campaign war-chest. It's no wonder no one wants to give him any money. He's been stealing it for non-campaign use. In fact, this week it was revealed that on top of all the other stuff he's been stealing money for-- vacations, surf boards, guitars, meals, etc-- he charged over $138,000 in campaign donations to booze. (Yes, he's an alcoholic.)

Over the past few months, Hunter has faced a criminal investigation by the Justice Department, alleging he improperly skimmed campaign funds for personal use. Prosecutors have subpoenaed his parents and a lobbyist suspected of being his mistress, trying to discover the extent of his use of campaign funds on family and friends.

The numbers from the new report are staggering-- especially considering it’s just the campaign cash he managed to spend at liquor-related business, including D.C. locations popular with lobbyists.

Exactly what Hunter purchased at these establishments is unknown, but the majority of these trips showed a charge of less than $100, which rules out legitimate purposes such as big-ticket fundraisers.

Questions abut Hunter’s use of funds go back years, with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filing a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics in 2016. But now the evidence has become overwhelming.

Hunter’s legal woes are a reminder that, while the headlines have overwhelmingly gone to scandals surrounding taxpayer money wasted by the Trump administration-- think Scott Pruitt’s first-class air travel, Ben Carson’s $31,000 dining set, and David Shulkin’s illegal acceptance of Wimbledon tickets-- Republicans in Congress have been getting into trouble for misusing money for years.

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.

Northern San Diego County-- Will They Ever Have Good Representation In Congress?

Though many of the most salient questions about his corruption have never been addressed, Republican former-congressman/DWT star Duke Cunningham is out of prison. Apparently, we will never find out what happened to the $400,000 Thomas "Gus" Kontogiannis gave Cunningham to pay off George W. Bush for a pardon. (Be sure to read the comments at the link; some of these folks have very inside information they're sharing.) Anyway, now that the Dukester is out, the media isn't asking him about the bribes, especially not the big Bush bribe, just about what it was like to be in a Club Fed. Huff Po reports the 72 year old sleazy right-wing sociopath is now an advocate of sentencing reform and rolling back harsh mandatory minimums for drug crimes. "He's active in his church," they report, "he's volunteering with his local fire department, and he even says he's setting up meet-and-greets and fundraisers for Republican gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson in Arkansas." He lives in Arkansas now-- in "the largest gated community in the U.S." Like Cunningham, Hutchinson is a far right extremist who a record that would be labeled "fascist" in any country that has ever experienced the tyranny of fascism.

"Unfortunately, some of my Democrat colleagues were right and I was wrong on some issues as far as criminal justice," Cunningham said, specifically regretting votes for mandatory minimums for drug crimes that take discretion away from federal judges and give federal prosecutors a tremendous amount of leverage over defendants.

"We have taken out of the judge's hands the ability to be merciful in some reasons or to do the right thing," Cunningham said. "I've heard case after case where the judges have said, 'I wish I could help you, but my hands are tied.' I want to untie the hands of our judges."

"I saw kids in there who are 19 to 30. They go into prison, they maybe got caught with cocaine or rock or something like that, and they give them 10 years minimum. What do they do when they get out?" Cunningham said. "There's a lot of very nice guys that got caught up."

…"I'm not going to give you their names, but I've already called some Republican and Democrat friends of mine and told them that I would make myself available to testify if they could protect me from you guys when I come back there," Cunningham told HuffPost, adding that he was worried "you paparazzi would eat me alive" if he ever came back to Capitol Hill.

"Eat me alive," I hope means someone would ask him questions about the Bush bribe and about the other Republicans on the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee doing the exact same thing he was doing, particularly Jerry Lewis, Duncan Hunter, Virgil Goode, Darrell Issa and Ken Calvert.

Cunningham says he still hasn't forgiven himself for accepting millions in bribes from defense contractors, and again apologized to those whose trust he violated. But he said he wants to use any influence he can still muster to influence changes in what he refers to as the December of his life.

"I got a friend who told me that the only cure for politics is embalming fluid," Cunningham said. "I think that's true."

The infamous "menu" of what Cunningham was offering and for how much

The state of California wasn't waiting for the embalming fluid. At the first opportunity, they chopped up his R+5 district (which Bush won with 54% against Gore and with 55% against Kerry) to erase whatever was left of Cunninghamism from San Diego County. They gave many of the most die-hard Republican parts of the district-- Del Mar, Solana Beach, Encinitas and Carlsbad along the both coast and, inland to Rancho Santa Fe-- to Darrell Issa and other inland chunks like San Marcos to Duncan Hunter, Jr., making both of them safer in seats that were threatened demographically. Issa's district R+10 district was turing blue but the addition of the reddest parts of Cunningham's (plus Steve Israel's tenure at the DCCC) gave him a reprieve in a district that would be a D+2 but is now an R+4. When Duncan Hunter's slow-witted, alcoholic song, Jr., inherited daddy's seat, the district had a PVI of R+9 and was headed bluer. The spoils from the northeast of Cunningham's old district put the brakes on the slide and Hunter's district has a PVI of R+14-- reddest in the state and safe for a few more years, even for a dullard like him.

All that said, the core of Cunninghamland is now much friendlier for Democrats-- with a PVI of D+2. In 2012 the Democrats, tepid and unsure of themselves as always, ran a self-funding multimillionaire from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, conservative New Dem Scott Peters and Peters managed to buy himself a seat (spending $2.8 million of his own dollars) by outspending corrupt Republican lobbyist/incumbent Brian Bilbray nearly two to one. Peters has done nothing to engage the Democratic base and, despite that D+2, he's considered one of the most vulnerable incumbents in Congress. His voting record sucks and Democratic base voters have no reason to come out and bolster his career in November other than the DCCC's mantra: "the Republican is worse."

The Republican is, no doubt, worse but he's also more interesting than Peters-- and not that much worse. The GOP is running openly gay Republican Carl DeMaio-- and he's ahead of Peters in the blue district. The latest polling shows DeMaio beating Peters 51-44%. How can that happen in a blue California district?

• DeMaio holds 82% of the Republican base, and gets 88% support from conservatives. Peters holds 85% of the Democratic base, holds 87% of the liberal vote, and edges DeMaio among moderates 54% to 43%.

• DeMaio leads by 17 points among men, trails by 2 points among women, a 19-point Gender Gap.

• DeMaio leads decisively among the less educated and less affluent voters. Peters draws even among the most educated and most affluent voters.

• Union voters break heavily for Peters, non-union voters break for DeMaio. Voters split when asked which of the 2 candidates is more trustworthy. 45% say DeMaio, 41% say Peters.

DeMaio and Peters emerge from a 06/03/14 "Top-2" primary in which DeMaio finished behind Peters, in large part because DeMaio and other Republicans split the Republican vote. Today, those voters who backed Republican Kirk Jorgensen in the primary break 5:1 for DeMaio. Those voters who in 2012 backed Republican Brian Bilbray in CA-52, today back DeMaio 11:1. Those voters who in 2012 backed Democrat Peters, stick today with Peters 11:1.