That would seem to be at least a debatable question, based on a recent article in The Hill:

Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.) has reimbursed himself for more than $200,000 out of his congressional campaign this decade without saying why.

Dreier’s campaign reimbursements to himself don’t appear to provide as much detail as the Federal Election Commission (FEC) requires, and watchdog groups say he should elaborate on them.

A spokeswoman for Dreier said the campaign has every indication that it’s in compliance.

According to a review of Dreier’s FEC reports since 2000, his campaign has listed a total of about $200,000 worth of expenditures for the purpose of “candidate reimbursement.” But the forms don’t say, as the FEC appears to instruct, what Dreier had to reimburse himself for.

At issue here is the fact that Congressman Dreier has not given any details whatsoever on exactly what the supposed reimbursements were for.  The reports have only listed the expenditures–nearly all of which are large enough to trigger reporting requirement thresholds–as “candidate reimbursement.”

Are Dreier’s campaign statements in violation of the law?  I must admit that they are apparently not–yet.  The FEC decides who lives and who dies in this world, and unless the FEC asks for more information and the campaign is unable or unwilling to provide it, then apparently no law has been violated:

“If the FEC does not ask for more information, the committee may presume that the FEC is comfortable with the information provided,” Berke said.

Dave Levinthal, a spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics, said candidates have a responsibility, when dealing with reimbursing themselves, to attain a higher level of transparency.

“If there’s nothing below board here, then that should be very clear and evident from his campaign finance report, and if it’s not, then his constituents should demand that he provide more,” Levinthal said.

So basically, we’re talking about a candidate who is reimbursing himself personally for an average of over $20,000 a year this decade who is not providing the public with any disclosure whatsoever as to whether these expenditures are in any way justified.  The question from here is whether the FEC is actually going to investigate to see if these are actual legitimate reimbursements.  Anyone willing to take bets?

The banksters still have a powerful sway over members of Congress.  Yesterday, they stopped cramdown in the Senate, which would have allowed bankruptcy judges to treat primary residences the same way as yachts and vacation homes in a bankruptcy.  And there was much rejoicing.

On the same day, the House bucked the trend, passing the Credit Cardholder’s Bill of Rights by a wide, bipartisan margin.

In 2008, credit card issuers imposed $19 billion in penalty fees on families with credit cards and this year, card companies will break all records for late fees, over-limit charges, and other penalties, pulling in more than $20.5 billion. Credit-card debt in the U.S. has reached a record high of nearly $1 trillion – and almost half of American families currently carry a balance, and for those families the average balance was $7,300. One-fifth of those carrying credit-card debt pay an interest rate above 20 percent […]

The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act passed today levels the playing field between card issuers and cardholders by applying common-sense regulations that would ban retroactive interest rate hikes on existing balances, double-cycle billing, and due-date gimmicks. It would also increase the advance notice of impending rate hikes, giving cardholders the information they need and rights to make decisions about their financial lives. Our economic recovery depends on a shared prosperity – and we must put an end to these abusive practices that continue to drive so many Americans deeper and deeper into debt.

I’m glad this ends double-cycle billing, where cardholders pay interest on debt that they’ve already paid off, and forces credit card companies to allocate payment to the debt with the highest interest rate.  But overall, these are very modest protections that simply prohibit the credit card companies from ripping off the American people.  And 105 Republicans agreed yesterday.  But among those who didn’t we’re the usual suspects of arch-conservative Yacht Party wingers like Tom McClintock, joined by supposed “moderate” David Dreier.

Of course, as Dick Durbin noted yesterday, the bankers who own the Senate will return to try and ditch this bill.  They’ve killed the same legislation before, and Harry Reid didn’t exactly sound confident this time around.  But I want to focus on Dreier and McClintock, both of whom and their pals in the GOP caucus have been well and truly bought by banking interests in exchange for votes like this.

Ed Royce (CA-40- $2,506,414)

David Dreier (CA-26- $2,118,538)

Gary Miller (CA-42- $765,988)

Devin Nunes (CA-21- $499,235)

Kevin McCarthy (CA-22- $461,138)

Tom McClintock (CA-04- $353,294)

Here’s what newly-announced candidate Russ Warner had to say about this yesterday:

Dreier will once again be forced to face a top rate challenge in 2010, Russ Warner, who has every intention of making sure voters from Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, and Claremont to San Dimas, Monrovia, Sierra Madre, San Marino and La Crescenta know that Dreier is strictly a representative of the special interests that have done such grievous damage to the state’s economy and to the financial well-being to his own constituents. “Time and time again,” Russ told us this morning after going over the vote yesterday, “David Dreier proves the interests of his corporate donors take precedent over the people he was elected to serve. Dreier’s never felt the pressure of supporting a family and has lived off the taxpayer dime for nearly three decades, so its not surprising he has no idea how harmful these predatory credit card companies are.”

And the D-Trip backed Warner up today by launching a Web ad highlighting Dreier’s vote.

We’re going to have to fight in the Senate to make sure this passes.  But this vote should not be forgotten next year.  Everyone has felt the pinch from credit card usurers, and so votes like this are signatures, marks of where you stand.  Hopefully Warner and whoever challenges these other Republicans will use it.

By Randy Bayne

The Bayne of Blog

Republican campaigns all over are starting to tank as Election Day approaches. California, long considered the land of “safe seats” because of the 2000 redistricting plan that basically secured the status quo for both parties, is no exception. The news is not good for incumbent Republicans.

Politico.com says even Dan Lungren is in danger of losing.

GOP Reps. John B. Shadegg of Arizona, Lee Terry of Nebraska, Henry Brown Jr. of South Carolina and Dan Lungren of California are all fighting for their political lives, a reversal of fortunes that has caught even the most astute campaign observers by surprise. [Emphasis added]

Recent polling by his challenger, Dr. Bill Durston, has the race for CA-03 in a virtual dead heat. Lungren leads 33% to 30% with a whopping 30% still undecided. Obviously, it is among these undecided voters that the election will play out. Lungren’s own polling, two done just after the Durston survey, show Lungren polling under 50%. The same polls show Durston at around 26%, leaving a high number of undecided voters as mail voting begins in the state.

This has concern the Lungren campaign. Incumbents who don’t break 50% in polling this close to Election Day tend to not do well. In other words, they often lose. The Republican Party is concerned. According to Swing State Project,

The GOP is publicly confessing to being worried about the challenges posed by Linda Ketner (SC-01) and Bill Durston (CA-03)? Either this is the most monumental of all head-fakes, or they’re looking up at a tsunami that even we at SSP are underestimating. Other names cited in the article as causes for concern include Lee Terry, Mark Souder (both victims of recent huge DCCC expenditures), Dana Rohrabacher, David Dreier, and Brian Bilbray, all of whom would be well behind a GOP firewall any other year. [Emphasis added]

Politico.com points to the toll the economy is taking and the high foreclosure rate in CA-03 as one reason for GOP concerns.

Two years ago, Lungren – who is completing his seventh term in Congress – beat physician and Vietnam War veteran Bill Durston by 21 points. But the economy has taken its toll, and Lungren’s district has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. In a newly released Democratic poll, Lungren leads Durston by just 3 percentage points.

Former GOP consultant Allan Hoffenblum said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher and other California Republicans, including Reps. David Dreier and Brian Bilbray, are also at risk.

As the economy continues its downward spiral, voters realize that Republicans have had charge of economic policy for most of the last eight years. They look at where they were when Bill Clinton left office and compare it to where they are now. It isn’t a pretty picture. As Barack Obama said the other day, people aren’t asking if they are better off than they were four years ago, now its are you better off than four weeks ago.

Perhaps we have come to the end of the era of voting against your own best interests. One can only hope. More certain is that the GOP is a party in decline and candidates with an “R” behind their name have no safe haven this time around.

Howie Klein has a look at the state of congressional races in California as voters are heading to the polls in what should be a tsunami year for Democrats.

Over the flip…

The most likely district to go from Republican to Democrat this year is CA-04 where corrupt Republican incumbent John Doolittle– along with the equally corrupt Mrs. Doolittle– will soon be headed for prison and the GOP is trying to slip in an ideological doppelganger in the form of L.A. right wing extremist Tom McClintock. First McClintock, widely seen as an interloper and carpetbagger, will have to get by the Democrat who came close to beating Doolittle in 2006, local boy Charlie Brown, a retired Air Force Lt. Colonel known for standing up for working families.

There are two other Blue America candidates running strong races, Russ Warner in CA-26 and Debbie Cook in CA-46, both awakening red districts represented by entrenched rubber stamp Republicans David Dreier and Dana Rohrabacher. No one ever mentions the two most glaring anomalies about the two Republicans: Dreier is a hypocritical, self-loathing closet queen who takes his lover/overpaid chief of staff on exotic vacations all over the world at taxpayer expense; and Rohrabacher is out of his mind and the biggest– probably only— supporter of Taliban terrorists in Congress. Instead, battles in both districts are being fought on familiar turf– both incumbents have taken massive amounts of “donations” from special interests like Big Oil and commercial banking and insurance and have always voted for their interests instead of the interests of the working families in their districts.

Three other California Democrats are making credible cases to displace out of touch incumbents. Up near Sacramento, far right extremist Dan Lungren is facing his stiffest challenge ever from Bill Durston. Meanwhile Mary Bono Mack, who doesn’t have any connect to her district any longer, is getting a run for her (big corporate contributors’) money from Julie Bornstein. The sixth challenger with a real shot at winning is Nick Liebham who’s taking on corrupt rubber stamp lobbyist Brian Bilbray in Northern San Diego County. This afternoon Nick talked with me about Bilbray’s shameful record concerning veterans. “Bibray’s voting record as it concerns veterans really speaks to his distorted priorities and values,” said Nick. “Irrespective of how you feel about the war, and I have called for a timeline to withdraw our troops, we as a nation have an obligation to provide for our heroes when they return home.  Brian Bilbray will send them to a war into perpetuity but wont send them to college.  He is a disgrace.” Nick’s campaign got a tremendous boost in the last couple of weeks when a local hero, former Marine Gen. Joe Hoar not only endorsed Nick, but started campaigning for him and cut a devastating TV commercial as well.

As Howie notes, the disgusting decision by Democrats to focus on an incumbent protection redistricting following the 2000 census means that we are in the second cycle in a row where it is unbelievably difficult for Democrats to take advantage of a nation that has realized Republicans are an awful choice. While it is important to talk to your parents about voting Republican, it is quite difficult to beat them in California. So if you live in a competitive district, please do all you can to help out. And since it is likely you don’t live in a competitive district, sending money is helpful. And hopefully, following the 2010 census, Democrats will follow a Burton redistricting model that is far more Phil than John.

(Cross-posted from BushRubberStamp.com)

We all know David Dreier is a Bush rubber stamp who has voted with George W. Bush 93.6% of the time. But what about that other 6.4%? We don’t talk about it much because, well, there isn’t that much to talk about.

But credit where credit is due, there is one important issue where Dreier has differed from Bush: The Federal Marriage Amendment.

The FMA, if passed (and ratified), would have limited marriage nationwide to between a man and a woman and it would have prevented courts from granting same sex couples certain rights that married couples enjoy. When it came up for a vote in 2004 and 2006, Dreier voted against it both times and the reasoning he gave for opposing it was simple.

According to Wikipedia:

He explained his opposition to the amendment by stating that he felt the Constitution was not the appropriate tool for restricting rights.

Well, now we have a similar initiative on the ballot in California in the form of Proposition 8, except this time, if Prop 8 passes, it wouldn’t just amend the California constitution to restrict rights, it would amend the California constitution to eliminate the rights that people are exercising every day.

Yet David Dreier has been silent…and his silence is deafening.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has stated publicly that he opposes Prop 8. John McCain has said he supports it. David Dreier’s constituents deserve to know where he stands.

That’s why the Courage Campaign has launched a petition demanding that David Dreier come out against Proposition 8.

Dear Rep. David Dreier,

We, the undersigned, urge you to come out against Proposition 8, which would “eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry” the person they love in California.

You have voted the right way in the past, so we think it’s time for you come out against Prop 8 today. Please join us in taking the following pledge:

I pledge to vote No on Prop 8, a statewide ballot initiative that, if passed, “eliminates the right of same sex couples to marry.”

Gay and lesbian couples deserve the same fundamental freedoms that all Californians enjoy. I pledge to vote No on any constitutional change that stands in the way of equality for all.

Following the lead of Governor Schwarzenegger and other Republicans, we urge you to vote No on Prop 8. Thank you for your consideration of this fundamentally important issue to Californians.

People who publicly oppose gay marriage, whether Republican or Democrat, like to say “it should be left up to the states.” Well, this year it is up to the state, our state. This year, all Californians get to decide if we are going to lead the nation on marriage equality or if we’re going to eliminate that right for same sex couples, so many of whom have been happily exercising that right since June.

It’s time for Congressman Dreier to lead and come out against Proposition 8.

Sign our petition urging him to do so today.

(disclosure: I am proud to work for the Courage Campaign)

(cross-posted from BushRubberStamp.com)

Today, for the second time this week, David Dreier voted YES on the House version of the bailout bill. While many smart people on both sides of the aisle might disagree on the merits of this bill and the urgency of doing something now even if it’s bad, it’s worth exploring why Dreier supported this bill.

David Dreier will tell you that he hates the position we find ourselves in. He’ll tell you that he supported this bill “reluctantly” and today on the House floor he even called the bill a “necessary evil.”

But here are a few things Dreier won’t tell you:

• David Dreier received $254,000 in donations from the finance sector this cycle and $590,000 two years ago. Both times, this amount has represented more than two and a half times the donations he received from any other industry.
• The American Bankers Association was the top donor to David Dreier’s American Success PAC this cycle.
• David Dreier continues to vote against bills that would have curbed this crisis. In May of 2008, Dreier voted with Bush against measures designed to impose “increased oversight and regulation of housing-related government sponsored entities.” Sound familiar?

More…

So let’s get this straight. David Dreier takes hundreds of thousands of dollars from the people who got us into this mess, votes to obstruct government regulation of their industry and when they get in trouble he votes to give them a $700 billion taxpayer bailout?

Sure looks like they got their money’s worth.

Open Secrets explored the connection between House members’ votes on the first version of the bill on Monday and the level of donations they received from the financial sector:

Members of the House of Representatives who supported bailing out the financial sector with $700 billion in taxpayer money have received 51 percent more in campaign contributions from the finance, insurance and real estate sector in their congressional careers than those who opposed the emergency legislation, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics calculated following the 228-205 vote on Monday that defeated the House bill. […]

The 65 Republicans who backed the bill have collected $1,078,533 from the finance sector in their careers and an average of $185,461 toward this election. The 133 Republicans who led the opposition to the bailout have collected, on average, $705,297 over their careers in Congress and $150,381 in this election cycle alone. That translates into a difference of about 23 percent in this cycle and 53 percent over time.

Since Open Secrets has been keeping track of donations in 1998, David Dreier has received more than $2 million from the finance sector, more than $800,000 of which was from the last 4 years alone.

Clearly, George W. Bush isn’t the only one whose agenda David Dreier rubber stamps in Congress.

Things are happening very quickly in the most hotly contested campaigns in California.  Here’s an update:

• CA-04: Watching himself falling behind in the race to replace John Doolittle, perennial candidate Tom McClintock decided to borrow one of his predeccesor’s smear campaigns and release an ad claiming that Charlie Brown dishonored servicemen by appearing at an anti-war rally.

The idea that wearing a camouflage jacket constitutes being “in uniform” is ridiculous, and so is the idea that a retired military officer has no free speech rights.  But the idea is to smear Charlie as some kind of radical leftist and anti-military, despite Brown’s long record of supporting veterans and McClintock’s longer record voting against them.

The ensuing press conference put on by the McClintock campaign was a wild affair.

SACRAMENTO – A press conference on congressional candidate Charlie Brown’s actions in 2005 at the home of an anti-war display nearly descended into conflict itself, with disruptions before, during and after the event and a near-appearance by police officers […]

But before the event even began, a handful of Brown supporters – accompanied by Brown’s campaign manager, Todd Stenhouse – were asked to leave so that they wouldn’t cause a disruption.

One man loudly protested that as a military veteran and the father of an active-duty U.S. soldier, he felt he could stay. “This is not Russia,” he said.

McClintock campaign consultant John Feliz and Stenhouse eventually got the man to agree to leave, but not before security at the Hyatt hotel where the press conference took place made calls to Sacramento police to remove the man […]

But a third man who was with the veterans pointed out that Brown was within his First Amendment right to do so, prompting Feliz to ask him to leave as well, while also saying Brown should re-enlist and face a court martial for his actions.

The man, who gave his name as Bret Sherlock, said afterward that he attended because he was tired of non-veterans like McClintock smearing veterans like Brown.

“Did he do anything illegal?” Sherlock said of Brown, adding that if anyone should be able to protest the war, it should be Brown, as both a veteran and a father of a soldier who has served four tours of duty in Iraq.

McClintock campaign spokesman Bill George said the video came from a “concerned citizen.” Neither McClintock nor Brown appeared at the press conference.

After the press conference concluded, Stenhouse tried to give McClintock’s campaign a pledge to join a Brown program that donates 5 percent of Brown’s campaign contributions to nonprofit community groups that work with charities.

Feliz angrily took it and threw it down without looking at it.

They don’t want to talk about issues.  So McClintock tries to smear a decorated veteran to win an election.  Typical.

More on the flip…

• CA-11: We’ve talked before about Dean Andal’s embarrassing fall from Congressional contender to also-ran, but it’s just getting worse and worse.  The questions over Andal’s role in a botched construction project at a local community college have continued, and he’s also been caught lying about his claim that he’s raised more money than any Congressional challenger in the country.  Now his mailers are hitting mailboxes throughout the district, and they’ve been revealed as lies.

What it says: “Instead of taking action to fix America’s energy crisis, ruling Democrats shut down Congress this month (August) for a five-week vacation – with Democratic Congressman Jerry McNerney casting the deciding vote to adjourn.”

Is it true? No. The vote was 213-212 in favor of adjournment. Under Andal’s argument, all 213 members of Congress who voted in favor of the annual summer break were the “deciding vote.”

Besides, party leaders don’t let freshmen decide anything.

It’s almost sad how bad Andal is doing.  The NRCC isn’t even spending in the district.

• CA-50: The latest registration numbers for the district are in, and while Republicans continue to hold an 11-point lead, the trend is in Democrats’ favor.  Republicans are also perilously close to the 40% registration line, under which it becomes harder for them to win, as more independent voters lean Democratic.  I don’t know if Paris Hilton ads and chicken suits will get it done for Nick Leibham, whose campaign is clearly just trying to get in the headlines.  But there are lines of attack on Bilbray, particularly over his single-minded focus on immigration and not the pocketbook issues that affect people’s lives, though Bilbray is enough of a nut to say that the two are functionally equivalent.

• CA-26: There’s another smear campaign going on in this race, where David Dreier and the NRCC are trying to hold onto this seat by dredging up old news about Russ Warner and old tax liens and business license payments.  These are incidents from as far back as 1992, and Warner’s business license has since been reinstated.  It’s a pretty negative mailer considering that Dreier sounds so confident about victory.  Warner is now out with his own mailer highlighting Dreier’s many ties to special interests (like the $200,000 he’s received from oil and gas companies).  The fact that Dreier and Bush agree 94% of the time makes an appearance as well.  The fact that this race is getting so nasty so early suggests that Dreier has seen some polling that has him worried.  Maybe it’s because the Inland Empire is gradually turning blue and Dreier’s days of easy campaigns are numbered.  Enough of the district is in the IE for that to matter.

• AD-80: Manuel Perez has snagged the endorsement of the Sierra Club.  They also have an ad up on the air, which is notable for an Assembly candidate.  

(cross-posted at BushRubberStamp.com)

David Dreier pretends to be a champion of renewable energies and a crusader for cheaper gas prices but the truth is, on the question of how best to use energy to reduce carbon emissions to reverse the effects of global warming, Dreier is, yet again, nothing but a Bush rubber stamp.

Nowhere on either his congressional or his re-election website does Dreier even mention the phrase “global warming” or “climate change” but what he does advertise, right there on the front page of his house.gov website, is an award he is oh so proud to have received: “The Friend of the American Motorist” Award. If it sounds Bushian — a la “Clean Skies” or “Healthy Forests” — it is. Just look who gave him the award:

Congressman Dreier’s award is based on AFP’s “Freedom from Foreign Oil” scorecard which ranks lawmakers based on a composite score of eight roll call votes and co-sponsorship of three initiatives that would positively or negatively impact gas and energy prices.  For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org.

Surprise! Americans For Prosperity, in the guise of a small government advocacy organization, is really just a front group for big oil.

More…

AFP is chaired by David Koch, billionaire owner of Koch Industries, which wikipedia describes as

a conglomerate with major oil and gas holdings that is the largest privately held company in the United States.

It follows then that, as a close inspection of their scorecard makes clear, AFP would reward members of congress for voting as follows:

– FOR opening ANWR to oil exploration

– AGAINST repealing tax breaks for oil companies

– AGAINST tax subsidies and incentives for alternative energies

– AGAINST holding oil companies accountable for price gouging at the pump

– AGAINST a cap and trade system for reducing carbon emissions

David Dreier earned a 100% from the AFP and, for that, received this “award” which is essentially just a cloak of political cover for members of congress who actually vote AGAINST the interests of the every day Americans concerned about the health of our planet AND the cost of gas at the pump.

Once again, Dreier pretending to be something he’s not.

But what makes Dreier’s acceptance of this award particularly gauling is that AFP doesn’t even hide its true feelings on global warming. They are proud global warming deniers, traveling the country in a hot air balloon to decry the “global warming alarmists.”

Climate alarmists have bombarded citizens with apocalyptic scenarios and pressured them into environmental political correctness.  It’s time to tell the other side of the story.

Americans for Prosperity is working hard to bring you the missing half of the global warming debate.  What will the impacts of reactionary legislation be for you, your family and our economy?

Join us at an event near you to learn more about climate alarmism and the looming Big Government “solutions.”

Umm, as a wise man once and often says: “the debate is over.”

But does David Dreier know it or does he, just like his buddies George W. Bush and Americans For Prosperity, think the jury is still out? Let’s see. Will he renounce AFP and send back the award? Tell him to Deny the Deniers by signing our petition:

Dear Rep. David Dreier,

We, the undersigned, urge you to renounce the “Friend of the American Motorist” award you received from Americans For Prosperity.

Americans For Prosperity is a group that supports the interests of big oil and denies the effects of global warming. You claim to be a moderate and a champion of renewable energies yet you accept this award from a group that calls anyone who seeks to reduce carbon emissions a “global warming alarmist.”

If you are truly on the side of the American motorist, you will renounce this right wing group and reject the award they gave you.

We urge you to Deny the Deniers today.

We’ll be delivering the petition to him next week. If you’d like to exert additional pressure, call his office at (909) 575-6226.

I am proud to work for the Courage Campaign.

Beacon Media News, publishers of Sierra Madre Weekly, Monrovia Weekly, Pasadena Independent, and Arcadia Weekly, note the results of a Russ Warner-paid-for poll of the 26th district that shows Dreier’s vulnerability in the district.

Link to story: http://beaconmedianews.com/?p=…

Republican Congressman David Dreier falling below the crucial 50% support threshold for re-election. After voters hear biographical statements on both Warner and Dreier, the race pulls into a statistical tie.

The poll was conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, a respected national polling firm, with a sample size of 400 likely voters in California’s 26th district.

There’s more in the article w/ highlights from the poll. Bush’s high disapproval rating (63%).

And…

After hearing balanced statements about each of the candidates, Democrat Russ Warner pulls into a statistical tie with Dreier (44 percent to 47 percent).

The key there is “balanced statements.” There’s a risk to that. I listened as David Dreier, in a conference call w/ people in the district, smoothly mentioned that the leadership in congress wants to see gas prices go up to $10/gallon. Color me skeptical and not-hoodwinked. It’s true that I have not fact checked that statement. But I have no trouble imagining the same kind of calmly reasonable voice coming out with statements — unbalanced statements, lying statements — about Warner.

He certainly has lied about his own record. Voting against the GI bill and then touting his support for veterans.

So here’s the challenge for the remainder of the campaign: If Warner can get the word out about himself so that voters can truly make a comparison between the two candidates, he has a chance to win this race.

That’s the hopeful part.

The challenge is that  Mr. Smooth Liar Dreier may sandbag things by unbalanced statements.

Russ Warner’s Campaign Home Page: http://www.warnerforcongress.com/

Cross posted at DKos: