Dateline: Nov. 28, 1993
Then-freshmen Congressmen Ken Calvert (R), of California's 44th district, was caught literally with his pants around his ankles with a known prostitute in the city of Corona, CA (in his own district, so I guess you could say he was "serving his people"). The police report, explicitly detailed, was then published by the Press-Enterprise. Subsequently, Rep. Ken Calvert has been re-elected seven times by his district.
Why do I bring up this thirteen and a half year old incident now?
More below the flip.
I bring this up because it points out a failure of the Democratic Party over the last decade.
Ken Calvert has won his last several elections because the Democratic Party has not supported any Democratic candidate in this district. In essence, Riverside and the Inland Empire of southern California have been written off by the national Democratic Party. Louis Vandenberg, a very good man, has run against Calvert three times, unfortunately losing each time by comfortable margins, primarily because the national Democratic Party believes CA-44 is too solidly red to bother funding any candidate. From what I understand, Vandenberg got funding in the thousands--not even tens of thousands--of dollars to run against Calvert, who received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions (over $600,000 in 2004--more on this later). Before Vandenberg, Calvert was uncontested for the 2000 election. For at least four election cycles, the national Democratic Party has given up the ghost on CA-44.
And to who?
Let's get this straight. Calvert is as dirty as they come (pun intended), but he looks innocuous and he always manages to slip under the radar. He's had numerous ethical lapses, including a land deal not entirely unlike Randy "Duke" Cunningham's house purchase and controversy of the sale of a park site. Even more importantly, Calvert received $10,500 from Randy "Duke" Cunningham briber Brent Wilkes. He's also tied to the investigation of Rep. Jerry Lewis.
Now, back to the money. Look at the graph below:
Consistently, Calvert is raising over $400,000 for his campaigns, and typically over $600,000. Where is all that money going?
Well, I'll tell you where it's not going. It's not going into campaigning in the district. I live in the CA-44, and I saw exactly as many Calvert lawn signs, bumper stickers, campaign posters, and television ads as I saw Louis Vandenberg lawn signs, bumper stickers, campaign posters, and television ads.
Here's why Calvert should matter to you, no matter what district you live in. Calvert's raising money, but not for his own campaigns. Ken Calvert's raising money to run against Democrats elsewhere, possibly even in your own district. In other words, Calvert's one of several Republican Party ATMs for candidates, such as Heather Wilson (implicated in the Alberto Gonzales / U.S. Attorney scandal).
Although the national Democratic Party claimed a "50 state strategy" in 2006, they ignored CA-44. It's easy to do--everyone else seems to ignore Calvert, figuring he's too penny-ante to bother with. However, this was a mistake. Six hundred thousand dollars went from Calvert to Republican candidates in other districts. Money spent by the national and state Democratic Parties in CA-44, forcing Calvert to actually spend on his own campaign, means less money spent elsewhere.
And beyond that, Calvert is much more vulnerable than the bigwigs at the national Democratic Party apparently think. He won his first election by a plurality (47% of the vote). Democrats need to get over their aversion to playing dirty, at least here, and play dirty against Calvert, hammering him with ethics and "family values".
