Last Friday in the mid-afternoon, things went a little crazy as I received a call from a close source 
letting me know that 10-term Republican Congressman Elton Gallegly (pictured to the left) was retiring. Of course this is big news because Members of Congress tend to serve for a long time, and since almost all are in non-competitive districts, they serve as long as they want. One of them retiring is big news, but we actually have two, with Congressman Bill Thomas of Bakersfield also leaving at the end of this year. However, it would be unfair to compare the retirement of Gallegly with that of Thomas. While I am no fan of Thomas, he is retiring the right way, and Gallegly… Well, here is the tale as best as I’ve been able to reconstruct it by talking to various sources and contacts…
Let’s start with attorney Michael Tenenbaum (pictured to the right), an attorney in his mid-30’s who has spent the last year-or-so getting involved with Republican politics in Ventura County. He grew up in the area, graduated top of his class at UCLA, went on to get his Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School, and has been very successful in business. Why is this important? Well, Tenenbaum, whom I met briefly at the State GOP Convention in San Jose a few weeks ago (sporting a new State Central Committee appointment from Ventura County GOP Chairman Leslie Cornejo, a reward for being a hard worker) decided that he was going to run for Congress – against the local GOP incumbent, Elton Gallegly! Apparently Tenenbaum was unhappy with Gallegly…or just felt he could do a better job…
Anyways, Gallegly filed for re-election a few weeks ago, and Tenenbaum filed earlier last week – a odd match up in the making, taking out an incumbent being a tough task for anyone.
Well, unbeknownst to virtually everyone in the Congressional District, Elton Gallegly has been having some health issues. Apparently they are concerning enough that the Congressman decided that, despite having filed, he was not going to run for re-election. (This is a good time for me to wish the Congressman well with his health challenge.)
There is a little big of vagueness about this next part, but I think have a handle on it now. Gallegly thought that he could ‘unfile’ his candidacy, and he also thought that if he did so, it would extend the period of filing. He was wrong on both accounts. But before knowing this, he quietly went to a number of folks whom he would have liked to see succeed him in Congress (Simi Valley Councilman Glen Becerra, Sheriff Bob Brooks, and others – as many as three others), letting them know privately that he was not going to run. This took place over several days, and it was not until around 3 p.m. on Friday, the last day of filing, which Gallegly shared with Ventura County Star reporter Timm Herdt that he was not going to run, and after that, he attempted to remove his name from the ballot, finding out definitively that he could not do so.
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At 5 p.m. on Friday, filing closed and despite some serious inquires by both Assemblywoman Audra Strickland and her husband, former Assemblyman Tony Strickland (who were told that because they had already irreversibly filed for Assembly and State Controller respectively they could not run for Congress), the only two candidates on the GOP side of the ballot (in this safe GOP seat) are the ailing Congressman who has announced he will not campaign for re-election, and the political newcomer Michael Tenenbaum, President of the local chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition.
This scenario has led to a lot of angst in the community. On one hand, there are some who are frustrated that Tenenbaum is so well situated to succeed Gallegly, unhappy that someone who filed against an incumbent would be so well advantaged. But most of the frustration out there is aimed at Gallegly. We may never know why Gallegly deprived the public from knowing of his plans until it was too late for anyone else to file.
There are some that are discussing a potential legal challenge to the close of filing, trying to get a judge to intervene. Personally, I think that it would be a long-shot to expect a judge to do this. The law is pretty clear on the subject. Then again, we all know that here are activist judges out there. There are also a number of potential candidates out there who are considering write-in candidacies. (Not the Stricklands, by the way, who are focused on their respective campaigns). Of course, a write in candidacy is certainly a long shot. Some others are hoping the Congressman will, despite his unknown health condition, run for re-election and then resign, forcing a special election in the Spring. Others have mentioned an independent campaign to re-elect the Congressman whether he campaigns or not.
In the meantime, Michael Tenenbaum isn’t wasting any time, with providence having given him a huge leg-up on any competition, and even if the Congressman were to run, his statements and actions last week severely damage his reputation. I spoke at length with Tenenbaum yesterday. He already has signed up veteran political consultant Dave Gilliard to run his campaign. He has said that he is willing to put some of his own resources into a run, but that he is not a self-funder. Tenenbaum certainly comes across as a fiscal hawk – sharing with me his frustration with the vast increase in federal spending in Washington under Republican rule. He mentioned conservative Congressman Jeff Flake of Arizona several times as someone he admires. Tenenbaum is an impressive guy, who strikes me as a very thoughtful, intellectual and libertarian fellow. We spoke on issues for a while, and he is quite conservative fellow (though he did say on the abortion issue that he would ‘not criminalize abortion’ – we didn’t really get into that any further on this call). Tenenbaum is definitely a credible candidate (see the attached resume).
Tenenbaum is certainly drawing some early supporters into his corner. Orange County Congressman Ed Royce is said to be pretty supportive (Gilliard’s coming on board are signs of Ed’s fingerprints), and I spoke with veteran political strategist (and local resident) Arnie Steinberg who has been speaking with Tenenbaum. Larry Greenfield, the State Director of the Republican Jewish Coalition is very enthusiastic about Tenenbaum’s candidacy. Probably the most significant support that Tenenbaum enjoys is from Leslie Cornejo, Chairman of the Ventura County Republican Party, to whom I spoke yesterday. She told me she is planning on sending out a letter urging Republicans in her county to unify behind Tenenbaum’s candidacy.
My final thoughts on this matter – unless Elton Gallegly decides to run pretty hard for re-election, or some activist judge actually allows more candidates to file – newcomer Michael Tenenbaum is well positioned to become a Congressman. Gallegly’s selfish and clumsy handling of this situation will always be remembered as his legacy.
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