Free Republic

Republican businessman Eric Roach announced he would be "standing down" in the 50th District Congressional race and stop campaigning for the seat to try to ensure a Republican victory. “Maintaining the Republican majority in Congress is a vital goal this year, and a loss here in the 50th Congressional district to a liberal Democrat like Francine Busby would send the wrong signal across our great nation,” he announced in a statement read to reporters in a conference call. Roach did not speak in the call; instead Stan Devereux, his communications director, read his statement and answered questions. In the statement,...

SAN DIEGO - Eighteen candidates in a solidly GOP district on the Southern California coast competed in a special election Tuesday for the congressional seat once held by Randy "Duke" Cunningham, now in prison for bribery. Brian Bilbray, a former congressman-turned-lobbyist who was the choice of the GOP establishment; Republican businessman Eric Roach, who spent $1.8 million of his own money; and Democrat Francine Busby were considered the front-runners. Cunningham represented the House district from 1993 until he resigned in disgrace late last year. In March, the former Vietnam War fighter ace was sentenced to more than eight years in...

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,...

Howard Kaloogian is one of those rare politicians who may have spent more time in the public eye since leaving office than he did while he was in it. Since being termed out of his San Diego-area Assembly seat in 2000, Kaloogian has had a hand in some of the more visible conservative media efforts in recent years. The organization he founded, Move America Forward, has made headlines with campaigns that took on liberal icons such as Cindy Sheehan and Michael Moore. Republican political consultant Mark Bogetich, who counts himself as a philosophical supporter of many of Move America Forward's...

SAN MARCOS ----- There's been a deluge of TV advertising, extensive newspaper and TV coverage and one candidate forum after the other. And yet, one can only wonder how many voters have had the time or energy to educate themselves on the qualifications, political beliefs and personalities of all of the 18 candidates in the running for the 50th District Congressional seat formerly held by disgraced Republican Randy "Duke" Cunningham. With less than three weeks until the April 11 special election to pick a temporary replacement for Cunningham, the latest opportunity for voters to get to know the candidates came...

WASHINGTON – It has to be rough right now, being a lobbyist in the nation's capital. Perhaps it is also rough being Brian Bilbray. He's the congressman-turned-lobbyist-turn-ed-congressional candidate who must convince voters that he is part of the solution to the ethically challenged climate on Capitol Hill, rather than part of the problem. As tales of bribery dominate the headlines and lawmakers scramble to curb the influence lobbyists have on Congress, Bilbray finds himself unique among the 50th District candidates for his experience as a member of Congress, and as a lobbyist seeking to influence members. “If you're a lobbyist,...

In their battle to replace former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, Republicans are embracing their party's ideals while distancing themselves from its record in Washington. As deficits balloon and scandals multiply under a Republican-controlled Congress, these candidates are touting independence over party loyalty and lashing out at the GOP as often as they criticize Democrats. Setting the tone is millionaire businessman Eric Roach, whose television commercials ask, “When did Congress begin losing touch?” “I think it began when Republicans quit being Republicans,” Roach answers in the ad. “You know, they were sent to Congress to bring the budget in balance, to...

CARLSBAD – Rep. Darrell Issa said Wednesday morning that he was endorsing former Republican congressman Brian Bilbray and will serve as his campaign chairman in the race to replace disgraced Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham in the 50th District. Pointing out that his district, the 49th, is touched on all sides by the 50th, Issa, R-Vista, said he needs a partner in Washington D.C. who has the experience and integrity to get work done on behalf of the North County. "When you are looking for someone who is trusted and proven and who has been in the arena and has been...

Republican Congressional candidate and millionaire Eric Roach on Friday notified the Federal Election Commission and competing candidates in the 50th District race that he has surpassed the self-funding limit that triggers the so-called "Millionaire's Amendment." That little-known rule allows competing candidates, in some cases, to triple the limit on individual campaign donations. In Roach's notification, he reports that as of Thursday, he had spent $750,000 on the April 11 special election where voters will pick a replacement for former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who resigned from office in November after pleading guilty in federal court to receiving more than...