Posted on 04/08/2006 10:07:47 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former California Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham are among the many Republicans whose ethical misconduct have prompted Democratic strategists to conclude that the Republican-run Congress has fostered a “culture of corruption.”
But in the run-up to an April 11 special election in California’s 50th District, which Cunningham vacated after pleading guilty to federal corruption charges, it is a Democrat — Francine Busby, an educator and school board trustee — who has had to defend herself against Republican attempts to link her to lobbyists.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) this week unleashed a television attack on Busby, arguing that Busby has not adhered to an anti-corruption platform that includes promises to reject gifts from lobbyists and “outside financial interests with government contractors.”
“Busby has taken thousands of dollars of campaign money from lobbyists and employees of government contractors,” says the narrator for the ad, which began airing Wednesday in and around San Diego. “Including money from a scandal-plagued lobbyist who left Congress after a pay for play scandal.”
The “lobbyist” referenced in the ad is former Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz., one of the “Keating Five” senators whose actions to aid a troubled savings and loan institution were probed by the Senate Ethics Committee in the early 1990s. DeConcini, who gave $500 to Busby’s campaign, was admonished for his action.
“[Busby] was making a rather righteous presentation of her campaign and what she was going to do and not do, and when you look at her campaign contributors — some of those are questionable dollars that had been [noted] by media and others as questionable dollars in other races,” NRCC chairman Thomas M. Reynolds of New York said Friday. Reynolds added Friday that he had not seen his committee’s ad.
Busby’s campaign said the ad is evidence that the GOP views her as a threat in the April 11 election, a single-ballot race with candidates from all parties.
“The ad is an indication that Washington special interests are desperate in the race,” said Busby spokesman Brennan Bilberry, branding the ad as a “last ditch effort.”
Busby struck back quickly, airing a television ad on Thursday in which she says that “the Washington insiders are so desperate, they’re using corrupt money from Duke Cunningham and Tom DeLay to attack me.”
Busby is the focus of most attention in the California 50 race because she is the runaway Democratic contender in a race that also includes 14 Republicans, two independent candidates and one lesser-known Democrat, law student Chris Young.
It is highly likely that Busby will fall short of winning an overall majority of votes, and that a second election June 6 will pit the top vote-getters in each party.
But a recent SurveyUSA poll showed that she is very close: Busby had a robust 45 percent of the overall vote — just five percentage points from clinching outright victory and more than 30 percentage points ahead of any of the GOP contenders.
If it is clear that Busby will finish first in Tuesday’s voting, it is equally unclear which of the 14 Republican contenders will run second overall — and earn the GOP slot to oppose Busby in the June election.
One top candidate is former Rep. Brian Bilbray, who represented part of the present 50th District from 1995 to 2001 and who is backed by many of his former House colleagues.
Bilbray’s detractors say that he is insufficiently conservative. In a mailing sponsored by the conservative California Republican Assembly PAC, former GOP state Rep. Steve Baldwin wrote that Bilbray “essentially is a Democrat posing as a Republican,” pointing to votes that Baldwin said reveal a record against tax cuts and for a larger federal government.
Bilbray enjoys strong name identification but has been significantly outspent by several wealthy businessmen who also are running.
One of them is Eric Roach, who exploded onto the scene with an advertising blitz in February and who has spent more than $2.4 million of his own money on the race. Roach had 14 percent in the SurveyUSA poll, compared to 12 percent for former state Rep. Howard Kaloogian and 10 percent for Bilbray.
One Roach mailer, entitled “California News and Review,” came under fire from critics who said that it too closely resembled an actual newspaper.
Bilbray, responding to attacks on his record, responded with a mail piece headlined “Here’s What REAL NEWSPAPERS SAY ...” The piece compared Bilbray favorably against Roach and Kaloogian, and told voters that his two opponents “do not deserve our support.”
The San Diego Democratic Party claimed that another Roach mail piece misled recipients into thinking they had received a personal note from Roach’s wife, when it was in fact paid for by the campaign.
Alan Uke, another wealthy GOP businessman in the race, aired a television ad beginning Thursday that accuses Roach of running a business “ that sent thousands of American jobs and billions of dollars to foreigners.”
I haven't seen Busby identify her party in ads which might give her an artificial boost in polls among folks who don't know her. We can't tell since the polling details aren't broken out. I still predict she won't win but against Bilbray she might.
Basically the media has always made this up as a Bilbray vs. Busby race and she's been more than happy with that depiction.
I'm content with my vote for Morrow.
WAAAAH, Delay & Cunningham $'s are out to get me
..as a freshman rep, I'm gonna set the agenda & eliminate patronage/favoritism -yeah, right !
Ya see the news about all the voters they can't validate using the new state database?
County scrambles to verify voter data
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20060408-9999-7m8glitch.html
They are saying you can vote early too. Time to put this one in the rear view mirror and cut the crap on both sides. ;-)
50th District voters can cast ballots early
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20060408-9999-1mc8elect.html
Kaloogian was mentioned. Morrow's name didn't even appear; the author referenced a SurveyUSA poll in which Morrow had only 5% support, which is at most 5th place behind Busby(D) and top three Republicans (Roach 14%, Kaloogian 12%, Bilbray 10%). Other polls show quite different results, but no others were referenced, and perhaps none are accurate enough.
One of them is Eric Roach, who ... had 14 percent in the SurveyUSA poll, compared to 12 percent for former state Rep. Howard Kaloogian and 10 percent for Bilbray.
...
Bilbray, responding to attacks on his record, ... compared Bilbray favorably against Roach and Kaloogian, and told voters that his two opponents “do not deserve our support.”
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