I’m running out the door — but this just came in over the transom. Given the the Club for Growth is one of the premier organizations in Washington that is battling for fiscal reform and curbing the voracious appetite, present in both political parties, for pork barrel spending, I wanted to pass this along ASAP…
Also, BELOW the Club for Growth release, I have excerpted the opening paragraphs of some hard-hitting commentary from Frank Schubert (of Schubert-Flint Public Affairs), a resident of CD-4 who hits Tom McClintock pretty hard and makes the case for why he believes Doug Ose, and Tom McClintock should be his Congressman…
Washington – Today, the Club for Growth PAC endorsed State Senator Tom McClintock in California’s Fourth Congressional District for the open seat left by retiring Republican Congressman John Doolittle.
Tom McClintock is revered as a conservative hero in California politics. As a member of the California State Legislature, McClintock has consistently spoken out against higher taxes and spending. Recently, McClintock played a key role in opposing a negotiated budget deal between Governor Schwarzenegger and the Democrats, forcing the governor to reduce spending. As a candidate for Congress, McClintock has quickly signed Citizen Against Government Waste’s anti-pork pledge.
In contrast, McClintock’s primary opponent, former Congressman Doug Ose, has a lackluster record that includes voting for increased spending, increased regulation, and limiting economic freedom:
- Voted for McCain-Feingold and against protecting political free speech (RC #34 , 02/14/02)
- Voted against school choice (RC #135, 05/23/01)
- Voted against eliminating money for pork projects, like wood utilization research (RC #160 , 05/26/99) and peanut competitiveness (RC#161, 05/26/99)
- Voted against the Republican Study Committee budget that would cut wasteful spending (RC #73, 03/23/00) (RC #79, 03/20/03) and for a Democratic budget (RC #75, 03/25/99)
- Voted to spend taxpayer money on mohair subsidies (RC #383 , 07/11/00)
- Voted for the fiscally irresponsible Medicare Prescription Drug Bill (RC #669 , 11/22/03)
- Sponsored 37 bills to increase spending by $46.7 billion in the 107th Congress
OK, and from Frank Schubert:
The Truth About Tom…
Tom McClintock is running for Congress in California’s 4th Congressional District. That happens to be where I live. It’s one of the most conservative, Republican districts in the state. Republicans have a 17 point registration edge over Democrats. This is the seat currently held by Congressman John Doolittle, who while embroiled in an FBI corruption probe nearly lost the seat in 2006 to some guy named Charlie Brown (good grief!). Still under a cloud of the FBI investigation, Rep. Doolittle decided not to press his luck with a 2008 rematch and announced plans to retire.
Enter Tom McClintock. I first met him in 1982 when we were both twenty six years old, two young men in a hurry. I was helping to run the Assembly Republican Political Action Committee and Tom had just won his race in a contested GOP Assembly primary in southern California. I worked for the Assembly Republican Leader, and part of my job was to make sure he kept his job. So I worked closely with Tom during the 1982 and ’84 election cycles to make sure he raised plenty of money and cruised to victory. He did.
I personally like Tom McClinctock. I found Tom to be a smart, articulate, hard-working but largely ineffective member of the Legislature. I think of him as a kind of “Lecturer-in-Chief” – the well-spoken, finger-wagging guy striving to be the “conservative conscience” but never one to actually attempt to govern the state. Still, I’ve admired his steadfast articulation of conservative principles and watched as he became a conservative icon over the years. I contributed $1,500 to his 2006 campaign for Lt. Governor. But I am not going to support Tom McClintock for Congress in my home district. I am endorsing Doug Ose.
Tom was largely an ineffective legislator, but that’s not why I refuse to endorse him. Much has been written about his carpet-bagging move from his home in Ventura County to the foothills of Placer County, but that’s not why I refuse to endorse him either. No, the reason that I refuse to endorse Tom for Congress in this contested primary is because he is not nearly the conservative leader he’d like us to think he is.
There is more… Click through here to read it all!
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:00 am
Couple of important notes on Frank’s comments:
First, when a legislator fights a battle, like Senator McClintock did on reducing the car tax, which results in savings of over $30 billion it is difficult to see how that is “ineffective.” The average California family now saves over $400 per year on their vehicle registrations because of the Senator’s efforts. Perhaps Frank should add up his vehicle registrations for this year, triple them and see if those savings are enough to earn Senator McClintock a vote!
And as to Senator McClintock helping conservatives, we all know that he is the single most sought after endorsement in California these days, because principles trump money as Frank is about to learn in the 4th CD.
What Frank has also missed is that Senator McClintock is a quick learner: He used to move a lot of money around under the direction of “smart” people that Frank must look up to… In fact one of my primary opponents was sent $10,000 by then Assemblyman McClintock as part of hundreds of thousands sent to stop ME because I was too conservative for the 3rd CD in 1986! Turned out to be a total waste of precious resources since the Democrats nominated a ProLife Colusa County Supervisor who tried to run to our right that year.
So no Frank, Tom does not throw a lot of money around, he just works hard to make sure solid conservatives get elected with is why all of the Senator and Assembly members serving in the 4th CD have endorsed him in this race!
JOHN