Greetings, Gentle Readers, fans of one of the loveliest Congressional Districts in the state, still accursed with one of our nation's most notorious Republicans, the incumbent but not running again Rep. John Doolittle. As you may already have celebrated with us, Rep. Doolittle announced his retirement from Congress 2 weeks ago, on January 10, 2007, but we're still stuck with him until next January. This gives him plenty of time and motivation to continue to wreck havoc and mayhem upon the nation, the economy and the people while guaranteeing he draws a full retirement pension.
Of course, we're still on Indictment Watch here, because he has not been cleared in that DOJ investigation and he's still fighting those subpoenas.
It's time for a CA- 04 district update. This will be a Presidential Candidate Free Diary.™
~~~~~~~~ Part 1, or Social Networking with Doolittle's Republican Friends
First, let's mention the big fat sentence the Feds just recommended for Brent Wilkes after he was convicted of 13 counts of bribing Randy "Duke" Cunningham this past November 5, 2007. Sixty years. 60. And I don't mean dog years, either, but human ones.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/...
Such a lengthy sentence recommendation, even in an era of increasingly stiff penalties for white collar crimes, is significant, said Shaun Martin, a law professor at the University of San Diego School of Law.
“I'm sure Wilkes' lawyers' jaws dropped to the floor when they read 60 years,” he said. “It's a huge number. Bribing public officials is worse than stealing from shareholders. Both are terrible, but one is worse.”
Wilke's attorney, Mark Geragos, said it would be "essentially a life sentence" for his client, who is 53 years old. He also said the Federal sentencing recomendation was based on the amount of money Wilke's company made during his association with Cunningham, and that the government considered him the leader of a criminal enterprise.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip Halpern told jurors that ADCS got at least $90 million in federal contracts from 1997 to 2004. Prosecutors will submit their own sentencing papers later, and it is unlikely they would urge Burns to levy a significantly shorter sentence than probation officials has recommended, Martin said.
Wilkes is currently scheduled to be sentenced February 19.
Wilkes is also going to be going through a second corruption trial in the future, this time with a co conspirator, Dusty Foggo.
Wilkes is also connected to our own Rep John Doolittle and his wife, Julie, through Jack Abramoff and other lobbyists associated with Abramoff, whom were hired by Brent Wilkes. Doolittle earmarked a 37 million dollar, no bid Defense Contract for Wilke's "Perfect Wave" technology. Brent Wilkes, in return, paid the Doolittle family $14,000 thru Julie Doolittle collecting a 15% commision on her husband's campaign donations and those made to his PAC, the Superior California Political Action Committee. In the years 2002 through 2005, Wilkes and his lobbying team donated $118,000 to the effort to re elect Doolittle. The Pentagon nor the Navy ever requested "Perfect Wave."
source for above information: SanDiego Union Tribune 3/19/06 http://www.signonsandiego.com/...
for more background on Abramoff, Wilkes, and Doolittle, and more links, please see my previous diary: Trick or Treat, Doolittle's Still Not Off the Hookergate Wilkes Trial http://www.dailykos.com/...
for a recap of the actual Wilkes trial, please see: http://www.dailykos.com/...
Since Wilkes was still doing fundraising at a Las Vegas Casino for Doolittle in April, 2005, this scandal is fairly recent history. Wilke's attorney tried to subpoena Doolittle to appear as a witness for the Defense, which failed.
~~~~~~~~~ part II, the Republican Cattle Call, or Congressional District For Sale. Bring Checkbook.
Previously, we learned on January 14 that State Assemblyperson Ted Gaines was not going to try to use his state office to launch a run to replace Doolittle in the CA- 04 seat. diary link: http://www.dailykos.com/... It is easy to assume state and Federal districts match. Nothing could be further from the truth. Gaines has now come out and issued an endorsement for Thomas "Rico" Oller. http://auburnjournal.com/...
Gaines said he has confidence in the former state senator because he represented roughly 96 percent of the Fourth District during his 10 years of service in the Legislature.
We are going to take a closer look at that particular spin.
Here is the CA- 04 Federal Congressional District, from top to bottom: Modoc, Lassen, Plumas, Sierra, Nevada, Placer, El Dorado counties, and a tiny little bit of Sacramento and a bite out of eastern Butte counties. http://www.sen.ca.gov/... One of the first things you will notice about CA- 04 is that it has a lot of mountain rivers and lakes, both natural, such as Tahoe and Eagle, and impounded, such as Folsom, Oroville, Almanor. The large lake at the very top, Goose Lake in Modoc County, is shallow and alkaline. Remember the Rule: Republicans Like to Perch Near Water.
It didn't take long for the perpetual ex Mayor of Auburn, Placer county, Republican Mike Holmes, to also bag out of the Republican Primary right after Gaines, doing so last weekend. Holmes had lagged far behind other primary candidates in fundraising when I checked the 3rd quarter FEC donation records, which may also have had something to do with his departure. Link to AJ story, which doesn't mention this:
http://auburnjournal.com/...
Okay, Doolittle gets up at the Maidu Community Center in Roseville this month, and does his GBCW speech (the job just wasn't "fun " anymore, this is why I end up writing these diaries, the Republicans go and do things the FBI issues warrants for, and then they say things like this) and since so many of his past friends are in jail, on probation, or cutting deals with the Feds, he had this problem... who would actually want to stand NEXT to the guy in public, and recieve the flaming torch and keep running ? (link to article with that great photo here : ) http://auburnjournal.com/... So Doolittle did not officially "endorse" a Republican replacement. So there was State Senator Sam Aanestad, up there next to Doolittle, ready to take one for the team, even allow his name to be bandied about as a possible successor. Well, so much for that. Aanestad, snug in his state office, has now officially dropped out, and better yet, he endorsed Thomas "Rico" Oller, so if we use that 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon rule .... there's one Doolittle- Rico "Oily" Oller connection. Here's Aanestad's current district, it runs up the middle of northern California and pretty much follows Interstate 5: http://republican.sen.ca.gov/... Most of Doolittle's area is to the left, in grey, there is some overlap at the bottom, in the population areas of Lincoln and Grass Valley, Oroville.
Home territorial link for Aanestad's bailout:
http://www.theunion.com/...
Notice how the local link above gets the much shorter story. The Union.com, which IMO is just slightly above the quality of Charmin TP, ran an online poll asking whether or not "Sam Aanestad should run for Doolittle's seat?" http://www.theunion.com/... Then being the usual poo wipers, they took it down when it didn't please the Overlords. Being TP, they then have left the link up implying you can click on it to see the results. Instead it goes to a different poll. Read the comments for a taste of what the poll results must have been like. Charlie Brown, the Democratic Candidate for CA- 04 in the 2006 race, won this area when he ran against Doolittle.
link to a longer Auburn Journal story on Aanestad's not running:
http://auburnjournal.com/...
Includes the classic line:
"On Friday, I had several surprising comments from constituents and other elected officials," the Grass Valley Republican said.
translation: last time I get my butt photographed with Toxic Toolittle.
Rick Keene, the Republican State Assemblyperson from Chico, Butte county, in the 3rd District, also used a spokesperson to endorse Rico. Story in today's Jan 26 Auburn Journal: http://auburnjournal.com/...
"Rico has been a strong voice for the district and has served its communities well," Wagner said. "Someone with his credentials and experience makes him the easy choice."
Uh, Rick, the guy you just endorsed last ran a race in 2004 to represent a different Congress district before, Federal CA- 03. And he lost. Three is not four. Here is a map of Federal CA- 03:
http://www.sen.ca.gov/...
It has Alpine, Calaveras, part of Amador, part of Sacramento, and a piece of Solano county in it. See how it doesn't look anything like CA- 04? Come on, you can do this, I know it must be difficult for you because you're a Republican, but... 3 is not 4. Oller has lived in Federal CA- 03 for 20 years, in San Andreas in Calaveras county.
Rick Keene represents CA state Assembly district 3, ( CA ASSY 03 ) which is Yuba, Nevada, Sierra, Plumas, Lassen counties, plus the half of Butte county that does have Chico, and a tiny sliver of Placer, the Placer piece misses almost all the areas where anybody actually lives. It's like they gave them the scalp. And it also does not have big Modoc county, at the Oregon border. Just from my description you can tell State ASSY CA 03 doesn't look like Fed CA 03. See, not so bad !
In his past incarnations as a state politician, for the newly endorsed has never held Federal level office, Rico "Oily" Oller represented the CA state assembly district 4, (CA ASSY 04 ) from 1996 to 2000. Here is a map of the state showing the current assembly districts, CA ASSY 04 is in green, and most of it is south of the Federal Congressional district of the same number. It consists of Alpine, El Dorado, and the southern part of Placer Counties. There is a tiny bit of the north part of Sacramento county, north of I- 80, included.
http://www.legislature.ca.gov/...
This is also the same CA State Assembly district that Ted Gaines represents now.
Here's a larger, more detailed version of that CA ASSY 04 district, this time in yellow.
http://www.assembly.ca.gov/...
At the time that Rico "Oily" Oller held the state assembly seat, '96- '00, THIS is what the district looked like, from the 1991 resdistricting maps:
http://www.calvoter.org/...
You can see that the district was even more mid- Californian in location at that time, for it was Placer county at the top edge, and then El Dorado, Amador, Alpine, Calaveras, and Mono counties extending to the south. In 2001, it got its bottom counties pruned off. You can also see Butte County and Chico is nowhere in sight.... sorry, Rick Keene.
After that spell in the assembly, Rico "Oily" Oller was the CA State Senator from District 1, from 2000 to 2004. At the time of the campaign for the CA State Senate Seat, in the autumn, this is what the State Senate district must have looked like : http://www.calvoter.org/... (bright green)
Here is CA State Senate District 1 today: http://www.sen.ca.gov/... (yellow)
As you can see, the state Senate district 1 at that time did overlap some of the current Fed CA 04, but it also had extra counties on the bottom, like Mono, Alpine, Almador, and Calaveras, and extra counties on the side, like Butte and Yuba, and the western halves of Nevada and Placer counties. Then, it too was pruned off at the side in 2001, taking off Butte, Yuba, and the halves of Nevada and Placer counties, to give incumbents what they hoped would be an advantage in later elections.
What I'm trying to show the reader is obvious: each time you change the district boundaries, you also change the demographics, the cities, the industries, the natural resources, the incomes, the proportion of retirees vs. younger people, growth/loss patterns, etc. And the people. You change the people.
Since Placer County has experienced such massive growth since the year 2000 in the Roseville and Lincoln areas, (Lincoln quadrupled in size during that time) when Oller was last in office, most of those new people haven't ever been represented by Thomas "Rico" "Oily" Oller. This is not by accident, but by design of the Republican Party.
They have been subjected to being represented by Doolittle.
History time. At the time of the statewide redrawing of the districts, Republican Pete Wilson was serving as Governor of California, from 1991 to 1999. Pete Wilson's wiki page has of course, the following warning: "the neutrality of this article is disputed. please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved."
Pete Wilson was (and still is, even after being termed out) probably one of the most unpopular governors in the history of the state. He is associated with his pushing the dreadful race baiting proposition 187, which the courts had the sense to overturn, and the Enron Energy Crisis, where the state decided to fall for the "all free markets are good" routine and de regulated the public electric utiilities, resulting in a free for all of price gouging, rolling blackouts, and the Enron pension scandal where Ken Lay ripped off his employees and his successor Gov. Davis got to take a bath in the blame. In 1996, the CA state legislature passed the utility deregulation law Republican Gov. Pete Wilson happily signed, while Oller was a Republican in the state legislature. wiki Enron article links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
from wiki "Enron" Before passage of the deregulation law, there had been only one Stage 3 rolling blackout declared. Following passage, California had a total of 38 blackouts defined as Stage 3 rolling blackouts, until federal regulators intervened in June 2001. These blackouts occurred mainly as a result of manipulation by traders and marketers. By withholding energy and shutting down generators, frenzy appeared in the market and energy prices climbed higher on the West Coast. Enron traders were revealed as intentionally encouraging the removal of power from the market during California's energy crisis by encouraging suppliers to shut down plants to perform unnecessary maintenance, as documented in recordings made at the time.[4] These acts contributed to the need for rolling blackouts, which adversely affected many businesses dependent upon a reliable supply of electricity, and inconvenienced a large number of retail consumers.
This is part of the political legacy of Thoman Rico "Oily" Oller. This is why he's been previously called "Oily," I didn't make it up, but first heard it a long time ago, and am giving some context for those new readers or those from out of state.
I'll also wager that the average person hearing that Rico repped the district before for "10 years" because Rick and Teddy said so didn't have a clue that was a ridiculous thought.
Rico has always represented whatever district was centered around Calaveras County.
This leaves the following Republicans still running to replace John Doolittle in the Federal CA- 04 primary:
• Eric Egland, "security consultant" and Fox News commentator (is officially in)
• Theodore Terbolizard, the Ron Paulian Paleo Republican Libertarian, (is officially in)
• Thomas "Rico" Oller, "insulation blower" (is now officially filed in)
• Doug Ose, ex Congressman from CA- 03, "real estate $$$$$", "mulling it over." Holmes says he sighted him recently in Auburn. Okay, Mike, we take your word on it.
Previously mentioned, but nothing has happened:
• Tim "Tiny" Leslie, ex state rep, author of the Letter to Atty Gen Mukasey telling him to hurry up and clear John Doolittle's name. Race Entry Status: Not very likely.
The latest thing Doolittle NO voted against: The second over ride attempt on SCHIP, depriving thousands of working parents the opportunity to buy affordable health insurance for their children. http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/... Doolittle's voting record may be followed here:
http://www.govtrack.us/...
Doolittle also voted NO on a bill re authorizing repairs to crappy public housing, therefore letting more govt funded infrastructure deteriorate, and also voted NO on a miner's improved safety standards bill, HR 2768, thereby voting against amending the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act to require emergency response plans with new technology, and the Sec of Labor to require underground coal mines to install rescue chambers, and mines to install communications systems, and better ventilation systems.
It passed the House anyway, so there is a better chance of having less "collateral damage" from underground coal mines going deeper and deeper into the earth.
The Democrat who came within 3 points of upsetting Doolittle in 2006 and whom Doolittle cut and run on for 2008: Democrat (and retired USAF Lt Col) Charlie Brown:
http://www.charliebrownforcongress.org/
Three down, four to go.