“I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.”

― Friedrich Nietzsche

It is too bad there is no referee calling fouls and issuing penalties to politicians and candidates who lie. Even today’s political fact checkers aren’t always reliable. So it’s up to voters to sort through the noise.

Particularly noisy is Democrat Jessica Morse, who is running against Republican Rep.  Tom McClintock for the U.S. House of Representatives. Morse’s campaign has been fatuous and unserious. Jessica Morse is a study in running a callow campaign, with her troubled relationship with the truth when it comes to her past, her credentials, and an embellished résumé.

The contrast is especially blatant given that McClintock is known for being such a straight-up guy, and one of the very few in Congress who hasn’t become a millionaire while serving his district. He’s sober and thoughtful, and has never lied about his public service or his résumé.

While Rep. Tom McClintock has a lengthy record of tackling the many serious issues of concern in California and national issues, Jessica Morse is a ludicrous caricature of a serious statesman. Her socialistic statements on universal healthcare, sanctuary cities and increasing taxes on Californians show her to be just another flippant leftist, and willing tool of the DNC.

Some politicians are known to lie about their military records. Some seriously stretch the truth on their résumés. Others lie about their lead roles and involvement in crimes, and corruption. Yet others line their own pockets using politics. And others are shameless influence-peddlers, and funnel money to their family’s enterprises and bank accounts.

While Morse isn’t the first political candidate to embellish her résumé, she claims to have “Managed half of America’s foreign aid budget.” Morse also claimed she “Rewrote the U.S.-India defense strategy,” and was “Adviser to a four-star admiral.”

“She wasn’t” reported the Sacramento Bee. As for “managing half of America’s foreign aid budget,” the Bee reported USAID’s Office of Budget and Management does not have authority over how those budgets are spent (Congress determines much of that).

Her Facebook biography says “With over a decade of service in the Defense Department, State Department, and USAID, she dedicated her life to serving her country.”

Yet the VoteSmart Candidate biography gives specifics:

I see “Fellow,” and “Intern” and “Program Analyst” on the detailed biography, which makes sense since Jessica Morse graduated high school in 2000, college in 2004 and received a Masters Degree in 2010.

“Over a decade of service in the Defense Department” doesn’t add up.

“In fact, Morse served as one member of a small team, the India Strategic Focus Group, headed by an army colonel,” the Sacramento Bee reported. “In 2012, the military’s press service documented how Col. Michael Albaneze took over as director of the group, making him the lead adviserto Navy Adm. Samuel Locklear on India.”

Despite numerous articles published by the Bee and other news organizations, Morse attempted to be listed on the legal voter ballot as a “National Security Fellow.” The ballot designation is used so voters can have an idea of a candidate’s qualifications. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Steven M. Gevercer rejected Morse’s claim, and ruled that there was no credible evidence to support her claim saying, “this title would mislead the average voter about her recent activities.”

California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, a Democrat, rejected two other attempts by Jessica to list herself as a “National Security Strategist,” a “National Security Advisor,” and a “National Security Specialist.” Regina Bateson, a fellow Democrat, said “Ms. Morse’s ballot designation and alternative designations are false, misleading and violate the Elections Code.”

Aside from the résumé embellishments, Morse is an inexperienced big-government socialist.

In interview after interview, Jessica Morse has made clear she wants a government-controlled economy that taxes and regulates more, and to go back to the lackluster Obama-economy years of stale economic growth and declining American jobs. Morse supports sanctuary cities, nationalizing our healthcare, and raising taxes. She could be a Junior Nancy Pelosi.

Multiple times during her campaign, Morse has said she supports Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for All” plan and single-payer healthcare, yet tried to deny it. In September, when asked about her support for nationalizing healthcare and Bernie Sanders’ Medicare-for-All plan she stated, “I’m not supporting Medicare-for-all.”
WATCH HERE. And HERE. And HERE. and HERE.

Morse created the Facebook page “Veterans 4 Jessica Morse,” with all 18 members, and Small Businesses 4 Morse, also with 18 members – probably the same 18 members.

In May, the Calaveras Enterprise ran a story headlined “Answers from the candidates running for Congress.” Jessica Morse did not respond to the questions, but Democrat primary candidate Robert Lawton did reply.

Calaveras Enterprise: “Why did you decide to enter this race and what in your background has prepared you to be the best representative for this district if elected?”
Lawton: “I entered the race because it became clear to me that Jessica Morse, who I believe may be a pathological liar, was the frontrunner to unseat McClintock, and I believe if that’s the case, she’ll lose badly to him in the general election.”

I’ve covered Rep. Tom McClintock for many years. He’s been attacked regularly on the pages of the Sacramento Bee, as well as local newspapers throughout his district, and by radical women’s groups pretending to be concerned housewives, who disrupt his many Townhall meetings, shrieking and calling him names. Yet McClintock has been so good for his California district on the ever-important issues of water, forest management, forest fires, as well as California’s Sanctuary cities and illegal immigration, and the overburdening of California businesses with regulations.

In a recent interview, McClintock made a very good point about climate change regulations when we discussed California’s wildfires:

“Rep. McClintock pointed out the obvious: the same climate change impacts private lands as public lands, but private forests are not burning down because they are properly managed. Or if a fire does break out on privately managed forest land, it is often extinguished more quickly and easily because the trees aren’t so close together, and the underbrush has been cleared away.

We are now living with the result of radical environmentalism ideology – that we should abandon our public lands to overpopulation, overgrowth, and in essence, benign neglect, McClintock said. ‘Forest fires, fueled by decades of pent up overgrowth are now increasing in their frequency and intensity and destruction.’”

McClintock has a lengthy record of actually doing something, and working for results. Most recently, McClintock was able to pass legislation last year, which streamlined the environmental reviews for the Tahoe Basin. “The Forest Service regional manager told me it will take their review from 800 pages to 40 pages, and allow them to begin to get the forest there back to a sustainable level,” McClintock said.

“The increasingly nasty tone has local liberal activists worried that Democrats will blow the best chance they’ve had in a decade to oust McClintock, a staunch fiscal conservative who’s been in Congress since 2009,” the Bee reported, appearing very worried. “He’s won re-election by 60 percent or more in recent years. Winning the Republican-leaning district was always going to be an uphill climb for the party. But some are now warning that unless the Democrats comes together, it will be mission impossible.”

Résumé fraud and résumé padding is akin to lying. Unserious positions on serious issues facing California and the country is immature and incautious. Fellow Democrats, the media, a Judge, the Democratic California Secretary of State, and an independent political fact checking organization have all repeatedly exposed Jessica Morse’s proclivity to mislead. Jessica Morse is not ready for prime time and would not represent the residents of Congressional District 4 with any degree of somber purposefulness.