CA: Congressman might run, too [Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley]

Ventura County Star ^ | August 1, 2003 | Timm Herdt and John Mitchell

[heleny]

Congressman Elton Gallegly declared his candidacy for Governor to appear on the Recall Davis ballot.

I thought Gallegly was a moderate Republican, but I'm not sure. (He's not a liberal Republican, but I'm not sure he's conservative, either.)
Recently he sponsored the Identification Integrity Act of 2003 in the House to prohibit federal agencies from accepting foreign ID cards like the Mexican matricula consular cards or other foreign ID except for passports. I'm glad he's looking into exploiting Davis' weakness on illegal immigration, but so far I would prefer Tom McClintock for Governor.

That Assemblyman Tony Strickland will run for US Senate is news to me. I though he'd run for Tom McClintock's state senate seat when McClintock is termed out in 2004. Audra Strickland plans to run for the seat of her termed-out Asemblyman husband Tony in '04.

[fieldmarshaldj]

CA recall election *ping*

Elton Gallegly and the rest of these authentic Republicans need to stay the hell out of this campaign for Tom McClintock.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

I'm glad he's looking into exploiting Davis' weakness on illegal immigration, but so far I would prefer Tom McClintock for Governor.

It's pretty amazing to me that congressman Gallegly is publicly saying the things he is about illegal immigration, which is truthful but rare to hear out loud anymore from the pc establishment.

What's McClintock's position on the matter, has he mentioned anything about what he would do, like maybe allow prop 187 to continue on through the courts?

[dpwiener]

That Assemblyman Tony Strickland will run for US Senate is news to me. I though he'd run for Tom McClintock's state senate seat when McClintock is termed out in 2004.

Tom isn't termed-out until 2008, which presents Tony with a big problem. Tony was hoping that Tom would be elected State Controller in 2002, resulting in a special election for Tom's State Senate seat (which Tony would have likely won). But after Tom's narrow defeat, Tony has to find a new position after 2004. So he's been looking at possibly running for County Supevisor or U.S. Senate.

Of course if Tom should be elected Governor, Tony will immediately jump into the special election for Tom's vacant State Senate seat.

[dpwiener]

Elton Gallegly and the rest of these authentic Republicans need to stay the hell out of this campaign for Tom McClintock.

The Republican Party in Ventura County is split into two factions which have a long history of deeply disliking each other (and that's putting it very gently). There is no love lost between Gallegly and McClintock.

Tony Strickland is of course on Tom McClintock's side in these internecine battles (since Tony was a former staffer for Tom). Keith Richman, who represents the other Assembly district which is included in Tom's State Senate district, is a moderate-to-liberal Republican and falls in the other camp.

Richman will be termed-out in 2006, which gives him a little more time than Tony to find a new position. He's already run for mayor of the San Fernando Valley (and won), but since the overall succession vote failed it didn't mean anything. He can't go onto the State Senate as long as Tom is in the way. So he's been looking at running for a statewide office. Running for governor would give him some name recognition in preparation for a future statewide race.

[hoot2]

"Gallegly, R-Simi Valley "

"The Republican Party in Ventura County is split into two factions "

"It's pretty amazing to me that congressman Gallegly is publicly saying the things he is about illegal immigration"

not really. he's always in the "beltway"...not his district.
shows up here bout "re-election" time...
does he even know who "willie brown" is? n how to deal with him?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The count of candidates may go past 300 at this rate. But that is OK>

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[heleny]

Tom isn't termed-out until 2008

Thanks for the clarification. The state Senate limit is 2 terms (8 years), but I forgot that they took effect in 1998, during Tom McClintock's first term.

[heleny]

The Republican Party in Ventura County is split into two factions which have a long history of deeply disliking each other

That suggests why Gallegly is looking into running when he has little chance. I don't know anything about the local party politics, and I know hardly anything about him. (and he's my Congressman). I'm glad he's emphasizing illegal aliens, since many politicians are afraid to discuss that important issue, but I don't know if he has any idea of how to fix the budget problems.

Keith Richman, who represents the other Assembly district which is included in Tom's State Senate district, is a moderate-to-liberal Republican and falls in the other camp.

No, not Richman! He voted against the budget because it didn't tax&spend enough. He wanted a "compromise" budget that he fashioned with some democrat to include more tax increases.

Running for governor would give him some name recognition in preparation for a future statewide race.

Given that there may be 60 to over 200 candidates running for governor, I doubt the candidacy will enhance his (Richman's or anyone else's) name recognition.

[The KG9 Kid]

Elton Gallegly voted for the Brady Bill and AWB, but got an NRA A- rating anyway. Has sponsored some pro-NRA legislation on his own from time to time.

[jagrmeister]

Horrible. We need fewer candidates, not more. We need a psuedo-primary, what I would call a test of strength between the top GOP candidates. Whoever wins that, the whole party and other candidates should get behind. Otherwise we forfeit this golden opportunity. Personally, I think that test of strength should be a favorability poll amongst the CA electorate.

[heleny]

What's McClintock's position on the matter, has he mentioned anything about what he would do, like maybe allow prop 187 to continue on through the courts?

I don't know. Obviously, he and the Republicans opposed AB60 or SB60, the illegal alien drivers license bill this year and last year and the in-state tuition bill last year. Tom's emphasis is reducing/limiting spending, which should include decreasing spending on illegal aliens, but he doesn't seem to emphasize or mention illegal aliens. You can ask him; he actually replies to emails.

Since Davis dropped the Prop. 187 appeal in favor of a phony "mediation," I don't think anyone can resurrect the appeal. I'd love to be wrong.

[heleny]

We need a psuedo-primary,

While scores of candidates isn't ideal, one or two would be worse because Davis would be able to use his proven-successful strategy (aka puke politics) of demonizing his opponent. With multiple opponents, he'll have more difficulty focusing only on the frontrunner. Also, more voters will find a candidate they really like, so that more voters would vote to recall Davis.

Not all of those who declared their candidacy will actually run, if they decide they don't have a chance. We'll see next week. After a few public opinion polls, the rest of the undecided public will choose between the few candidates with a real chance, and some more candidates might drop out of the race along the way.

[heleny]

Elton Gallegly voted for the Brady Bill and AWB, but got an NRA A- rating anyway. Has sponsored some pro-NRA legislation on his own from time to time.

Thanks for posting the info!

[jagrmeister]

Any more than one GOP candidate will guarantee a Democrat victory of the recall. Democrats will run a candidate in case their polls show Davis will be recalled. California already leans Democrat, by roughly 10%. Two GOP candidates versus one Democrat will split the already disadvantaged GOP vote. It's true that those who turnout on Oct. 7 will skew Republican, since they have the highest motivation to show up. Even still, Democrats will win if Republicans split their vote between even 2 candidates. Your point that Davis won't be able to demonize is well-taken but remember that Davis has chump change left in his bank account to use to demonize anyone. Even Democrats like Attorney General Lockyer are telling Grey to drop the attack-dog style or risk losing Democrat votes. We can handle Grey. We cannot handle hard-headed Republican politicians who think more about their glory than the good of the whole Republican party: some of these GOP candidates need to drop out, soon.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Thanks for explaining a bit more about this. As I said in another thread, now is not the time for Gallegly to be settling political scores to the detriment of getting a Conservative Republican into the Governor's office. Richman himself, whom I call the Assemblyman from Knots Landing, I understand is a RINO menace. I'm sure if he runs statewide, he'll have as much success as his illustrious RINO compadres did, as in Seymour, McPherson, Campbell, et al.

[fieldmarshaldj]

I would clarify it and say any more than one serious center-right Republican would cost us the seat. I would think Tricky Dick wouldn't want the likes of Keith Richman in the race as he would split the RINO base. Having Simon, Issa, McClintock, Gallegly, etc., that is no good at all. But we still have a week to see what the 'Rats do. I can't believe their big guns will merely sit it out.

[Impy]

What are the 2 factions divded over?

[Impy]

I agree. All real the Republicans (including Issa) need to rally around McClintock. He almost won statewide twice (up yours American Independent party).

[dpwiener]

What are the 2 factions divded over?

That's a very long story, and one I don't have time to go into in any detail. The division is only partly ideological. A lot of it is personal, and much of that traces back to a major incident in the 1986 Republican primary to select a U.S. Senate candidate. Congresswoman Bobbi Fiedler was one of many Republicans seeking the nomination, as was State Senator (and former Los Angeles Police Chief) Ed Davis. At one point Fiedler and Davis met to discuss Davis' possible withdrawal from the race. Davis claimed that Fiedler attempted to bribe him to withdraw and endorse her in exchange for her assistance in raising money to pay off his campaign debts. Davis had himself wired for the meeting, and Fiedler and her campaign manager (later husband) were consequently indicted for violating California election laws. The recording was ambiguous, and Fiedler and her manager were eventually acquitted. But it destroyed both her Senate campaign and Davis' Senate campaign, and left an enormous amount of bad blood. Other Republicans lined up behind one side or the other and took on that bad blood.