Pete Stark's burned bridges have cost him

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 8/17/12 | Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau

[SmithL]

Rep. Pete Stark has coasted to election in his East Bay district ever since Richard Nixon beat George McGovern, the U.S. bombed Hanoi and France performed its last official execution by guillotine.

Along the way, Stark became California's longest-serving House member and a liberal totem in the Bay Area delegation. He left a big footprint on Medicare, the health care program for the elderly. He earned a reputation as a policymaker ahead of his time on universal health care, the Iraq War and carbon taxes. He aided thousands of constituents in dealing with federal agencies and brought billions of dollars to his district.

At the same time, he left a storied trail of verbal outbursts and personal confrontations that cost him, his district and his state the chairmanship of the most powerful committee in Congress, Ways and Means, which oversees the nation's tax laws and biggest social programs, Social Security and Medicare.

Now 80, using a cane and seeking his 20th term, Stark is in trouble. The two sides of his political persona - serious policymaker and snarling partisan - are at war on a campaign trail littered with false charges, invective and mental confusion. The outcome may topple not just Stark, but the machinations of the Bay Area Democratic brain trust.

Stark has falsely accused his opponent, Eric Swalwell, of taking bribes and a Chronicle columnist of donating to Swalwell. He retracted both charges. At a Chronicle editorial board meeting in May, Stark confused defunct solar-panel maker Solyndra with high-flying Tesla Motors, both nationally famous companies with ties to his district.

Asked about Solyndra, Stark said he would love to buy one of the company's new "S" cars.

This month, he excoriated former California Assembly leader Alberto Torrico for endorsing his opponent, threatening to ruin Torrico professionally.

[Verginius Rufus]

Stark put a large peace symbol on his bank in Berkeley during the Vietnam War.

Real gutsy thing to do...in Berkeley.

[des]

He criminalized physicians and invented an entire bureaucracy of oversight that costs way more than it has ever saved.

[Political Junkie Too]

Democrats attacking Democrats?

Yeah. California's new no-party primaries will ensure that no Republican ever again makes it to the general election.

-PJ

[RobbyS]

Short of that, put an age limit, say 75, beyond which one cannot run for re-election for house or senate.

[SmithL]

The CA GOP can’t win this one, since they don’t have a candidate. Thanks to California’s new “top two” law, this race is between two Democrats.

In the absence of a GOP challenger, I’m fine with Fortney being the face of the California delegation.

[DPMD]

Another senile burnout who will try to remain in office to his dying day, spending his last years in bed while aides do all the work. So much to be proud of.

[andy58-in-nh]

Stark put a large peace symbol on his bank in Berkeley during the Vietnam War. Real gutsy thing to do...in Berkeley.

Really. That's like being an exhibitionist in a whorehouse.

[RichInOC]

At some point, even in the Bay Area, being a Marxist atheist and a barking lunatic isn’t enough.

[PA Engineer]

He criminalized physicians and invented an entire bureaucracy of oversight that costs way more than it has ever saved.

I wish Americans would learn about all the the "Stark" laws. My Wife is a Neurologist and I have been following his madness for 26 years. I never understood how one evil rep could do so much damage.

[NormsRevenge]

the Bay Area Democratic brain trust.
i.e.
supported by some of the most ignorant easily swayed voters on the planet... or the most stoned. :-}

[JewishRighter]

“Bay Area Democratic brain trust.”

Now there’s a phrase. Is there some way you can modify oxymoron to express the ultimate? Oxymoronist?

[scrabblehack]

It was a jungle primary...general features Dem vs. Dem.