Former State Senator Republican Leader Jim Nielson, who retired from the Senate back in 1990, 
has decided that he is ready, once again, to serve the residents of the "North State" (as FR blogger Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa likes to refer to his sprawling 2nd District). This morning Nielson (pictured to the right, with Tom McClintock in the background), the youngest Senate GOP Leader in California history, is currently serving as a Deputy Commissioner of the California Board of Prison Terms. The Second Assembly District is ‘safe’ GOP territory, and LaMalfa is currently in his third and final term (though gearing up for a State Senate run himself in 2010).
As someone who served many years in the State Senate, we’ll be looking more at Nielson’s record as a Republican. That said, I do remember that Nielson co-authored (with Paul Gann) the Victims Bill of Rights. And in recent years, we’ve worked closely with Nielson as he has been an outstanding leader in the fight to push for real property rights protections, especially in the wake of the terrible Supreme Court Kelo v. New London decision. Nielson serves as Chairman of the California Alliance to Protect Private Property Rights, which is sponsoring, along with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the California Farm Bureau, the initiative to protect California property owners from eminent domain abuse.
The FlashReport caught up with Senator Nielsen and asked why he is opting to return to the legislature. Here’s what he had to say:
Why am I running? I have a very long record of fighting big government, and I’d like to make it even longer. The government is too big for its britches and I can’t think of anything I’d rather do at this point in my life than to go down to Sacramento and try to do something about it.”
I’ve also worked for years to take these violent criminals off our streets, and I’m not inclined to stand idly by while some judge starts dumping felons back into our communities. Overcrowding is a problem but early release is not a solution.”
When I asked him about his leading role with the California Alliance to Protect Private Property Rights, this is what Nielson told me:
“If you don’t have the right to control your own property, you really have no rights at all. Owning your own home or business is what the American Dream is all about. When judges start giving government the power to seize a person’s home and hand it to a developer just so they can rake in higher taxes, then it’s time we drew a line in the sand. The Kelo decision is a travesty and we need to outlaw these tax-based eminent domain seizures in California, once and for all.”
In closing, Nielson concluded:
“In Northern California, conservative values aren’t just a political platform, they’re a way of life. When I see them march by with flag this July 4th, it’s going to give me a lump in my throat like it always does. I’m not ashamed to be called an old-fashioned conservative. To me, it’s a badge of honor.”
In what is an interesting sub-text to Nielson’s entry into this race is that it comes with the simultaneous announcement that Jason Larrabee, a former staffer to Congressman John Doolittle, and who had been considered one of two front-runners to succeed La Malfa, has dropped out. Larrabee had as his consultants FR friends Wayne Johnson and Tim Clark — who are now the consultants for Nielson. This column is more about Nielson getting in than Larrabee pulling out — but we’ll follow-up with a bit more on why this promising young candidate suddenly dropped. I guess it could be that he is simply ‘deferring’ to Nielson, it could be the challenge of being ‘tied at the hip’ to Doolittle, or something else…
Nielson is coming out of the gate with one of the most prized possessions in a primary, the endorsement of the incumbent. Doug La Malfa will be endorsing Nielson today (perhaps he will post about it on the FR Blog). In addition, I am told that Senator Jeff Denham is endorsing today as well.
All of this must come as a rather sudden shock to another FR friend in this primary – Dr. Sam Wakim. This north-state dentist and a strong conservative has been running hard as well. Clearly this news is not ideal to Wakim, as Nielson comes in as a much higher-profile opponent to Larrabee. That said, Sam’s consultant, Jim Nygren, is also one of the best in the business, and has risen to the occasion in much tougher circumstances.
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