Posted on 05/12/2008 8:03:12 AM PDT by SmithL
To his devotees, state Sen. Tom McClintock is a righteous defender of the Constitution and an unrepentant fighter for reining in government spending.
To his detractors, the conservative populist and revered orator is a lone wolf who refuses to bend even when his closest colleagues are preaching compromise.
"Lincoln said, 'I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true,' " said McClintock, a 22-year state lawmaker. "I have stayed true to my convictions."
McClintock, the Thousand Oaks lawmaker now running for Congress in Northern California's 4th District, is a man as consistent in his principles as he is complex in his politics and approach to governance.
During 14 years in the state Assembly and nearly eight in the Senate, McClintock's principles of limited government have led him to pass few pieces of legislation – even for a member of the minority party.
Yet he is famous for helping lead the charge to roll back the motor vehicle registration fee – or "car tax." He is hailed by deficit hawks for voting "no" on nearly every state budget and lauded by free-market advocates for resisting bills that intrude on the sanctity of private business.
Perhaps, above all, he is a fiscal doomsayer who lately has been proved correct.
Only a year ago, McClintock helped inflame renegade Republicans who held up the state budget for weeks. He sounded alarms that fellow Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was papering over a crisis of deficit spending.
Schwarzenegger is now warning that next year's state deficit could reach $20 billion. And one of McClintock's Democratic adversaries in the Senate, Mike Machado of Linden, said recently that McClintock "is the one who brought to everybody's attention the pending crisis we are facing today."
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
- April 2008 State Sen. Tom McClintock debates former Rep. Doug Ose, left, at the Sunset Center in Rocklin last month in their campaign for the 4th Congressional District seat. Some observers admire his devotion to curbing government spending, but others say he is unwilling to compromise and is not a team player.
Sac-o-Bee continues campaigning against McClintock.
CA GOP could use a few more Republicans.
McCain would do well to pick the likes of McClintock as a running mate. It would heal a rift with conservatives, it would give him a financial expert (an area that Mccain has admitted to being weak in) and it would give McCain a shot at winning California.
Of course I’m dreaming. McCain will pick a RINO and will lose the election because he’ll refuse to offend Obama, the race card dealer.
From 2006: “Vote for Arnold, he’s a republican; besides, McClintock can’t win.”
Winning the election tends to be an individual accomplishment. Of course the rest of the 'team' will show up right away with their own ideas.
He has my vote and support! He will be my congressman!
Tom McClintock is THE MAN. It was these very weak-kneed Republicans and wishy-washy conservative talk radio hosts (like John and Ken) that gave CA the current abomination-in-chief, otherwise known as the A-r-r-n-o-l-l-d!
The kilt! Tom, Wear the kilt!
Compromise... team player...
If those aren’t the hallmarks of the Republican party these days. It’s stands for nothing, and will team up with just about anyone, except Conservatives.
Nobody would ever run on that. A candidate might end up doing that if he wins a seat, but to campaign on compromise and team playing is just saying there are too many seats in the legislature.
I agree.
Yep, this article is a hit piece. “Compromise” is why CA is in the mess it’s in now.
After vowing to never vote for McCain, I WOULD do so if he chose McClintock.
Getting Tom into the national spotlight would be worth it.
We’re still waiting for “Blowing up boxes in Sacramento.”
Lt. Governor McClintock would have had a nice ring to it in 2006, but that didn’t happen either.
“After vowing to never vote for McCain, I WOULD do so if he chose McClintock.”
I’m with you on that one.
PING to today’s SacBee hitpiece.
McClintock Ping List.
Please freepmail me if you want on or off this list
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