This is going to leave a mark.

Tom McClintock, California’s Alan Keyes, is supposed to be this rock-ribbed conservative who never voted for a budget and who rails against “wasteful spending.”  I guess it’s OK if it’s McClintock doing the wasting.

State Sen. Tom McClintock, a fierce critic of government spending, has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax-free per diem payments from the state that are meant to help legislators who, unlike McClintock, live far from the capital.

The Republican lawmaker said he is entitled to the $170-a-day payments because his legal residence is a family home in his Senate district of Thousand Oaks, where he is registered to vote.

McClintock and his family live year-round in Elk Grove, 14 miles from the state Capitol. He moved to the Sacramento suburb in 1996, when he was elected to the state Assembly, and he bought a five-bedroom, 4,090-square-foot home in 2004. His children attend Elk Grove schools and his wife works at a Baptist church there.

The intent of the payments is to help defray the living costs of lawmakers attending the eight-month legislative session far from their homes.

Legal experts say McClintock is taking advantage of a loophole that gives him a right to the tax-free payments even though he lives near the Capitol.

“This certainly strikes me as an example of the abuse of the per diem system,” said Derek Cressman, government watchdog director for California Common Cause.

Honestly, this is going to KILL McClintock.  His entire rationale is as a critic of government spending.  For him to show hypocrisy on this issue undermines his entire argument.  Nobody is more at risk on something like this than he is.  Not to mention the fact that this kind of looks like he’s been carpetbagging in his own district all along, when in fact he’s a creature of the capital.

We’re talking about $306,000 in TAX-FREE per diem money over the last eight years, on top of his $116,000 annual salary.  Whaddya know – Tom McClintock is a welfare recipient.  Charlie Brown’s campaign wasted no time capitalizing on this.

“For 30 years, Tom McClintock has railed against government spending while living well at taxpayer expense,” said Todd Stenhouse, a spokesman for Democratic congressional candidate Charlie Brown, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel.

McClintock’s spin, that he’s “entitled” to the money to help defray the cost of a second home, isn’t going to fly.  Tom McClintock arguing for an entitlement?  

Hilarious.

(Help Charlie meet his goal of $100 for every mile carpetbagger McClintock traveled to the district. – promoted by Julia Rosen)

Charlie Brown, running for Congress in California’s 4th District, needs our help! I just received this email in my inbox, as I’m sure hundreds of you also have. Let’s send Charlie into battle well-armed and prepared for these foreign invaders (quite literally foreign– none of the Republicans running in this race even come from the 4th District) by sending in a donation to the Brown campaign!

For those of you who DON’T know Charlie Brown and have been living under a rock for the last year and a half, here’s a link to his website:

www.charliebrownforcongress.org

Here are a few other links to get you aquainted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Brown_%28California%29

Lincoln News messenger article

Grass Valley Union article

Charlie has been a tremendous voice for those of us in the 4th District, and he’s been leading by example even from the campaign trail. Charlie is donating 5% of his campaign funds to local charity organizations that service veterans and their families. You can find more information on Charlie’s Veterans Challenge by clicking here.

Dear Friends,

As you know, last week, another career politician from outside the 4th District–Southern California State Senator Tom McClintock–entered the GOP primary to replace Rep. John Doolittle.  

We asked you to help us raise one hundred dollars for every one of the 418 miles separating McClintock’s office in Thousand Oaks with our office in Roseville–between partisan politics as usual and a new standard of leadership in the fourth district.  

So far, you are doing a great job.  Hundreds have already contributed and we are more than halfway to our March 31st goal as of this morning.

Click here to contribute and keep the momentum going.

You may be aware that last week, LA Tom also announced that he wasn’t planning to move into the district until after the election.  That means he won’t even be able to vote in the same races as the people he claims to represent.   McClintock’s arrogant brand of partisan political opportunism exemplifies what’s broken in Washington.

This race was never truly about John Doolittle. It was and is about changing a system that promotes career politicians who care more for personal gain than the common good. John Doolittle, Tom McClintock and Doug Ose are all symptoms of the same partisan problem—birds of a feather, feathering their nests.

And we already know the consequences of representatives who put political partisanship first.  It’s $4.00/gallon gas, and record amounts of oil imported from the middle east.  It’s Americans working harder for less, unprecdented waste of our tax dollars, the stifling of the American innovation, and the exportation of American jobs.  It’s 30 years of inaction on our borders, Al Qaeda growing resurgent in Afghanistan, and more blank checks for no bid contractors and Iraqi politicians.  

Our campaign has been about results, accountability and putting patriotism before partisanship.  That’s why we donate 5% of every dollar we raise to veterans service providers.  That’s why we pitched in to help during the Tahoe fires.  That’s why more than 11,000 of you have donated to this campaign for change.

Please, contribute today to help us put a stop to the kind of politics that cares more about partisan sound bytes, than solving America’s problems.  We can, and we must.

I promise you, every day from now until the next election— we are going to get up early, work all day and keep doing what has made us so successful so far. We are going to unite the people of this district and this nation behind the battle tested vision we need to get America back on track—country comes first.  

Our goal is $41,800 by the FEC Deadline of March 31st.

Click here to help us welcome Tom McClintock to town and send Charlie Brown to Washington. Every dollar counts and now is the time to make your voice heard.

Thank you in advance for your continued support.

Very Sincerely,

Todd A. Stenhouse

Campaign Manager

P.S.  Click here to donate today and help us raise $100 for every mile Senator Tom is going to have to drive to get from Southern California to our district.  And please forward this urgent message to five friends.

Anything else going on?

It’s interesting, to say the least, that on the same day Tom McClintock packed up the station wagon and left Ventura County, we also find out that Democrats have taken the registration advantage in that same county.

In the parlance of 21st century politics, Ventura County has turned blue.

As of Monday, registered Democrats became the majority voting group in the county, surpassing Republican registration for the first time since Ronald Reagan was in the White House.

The latest numbers: 150,066 Democrats and 149,627 Republicans.

“Everybody’s on cloud nine,” said Laura Winchester of Thousand Oaks, vice chairwoman of the county Democratic Central Committee. “From the standpoint of momentum, this is a huge blow to Republicans.”

I know a lot of these Ventura County Democratic activists, and they worked their asses off to reach this point.  Ventura is the beginning of a wide-ranging red-to-blue program to recapture more than the coastal and urban regions of the state.  McClintock left Ventura County because he was termed out.  But he didn’t exactly have a safe haven anymore in Thousand Oaks, either.

This bodes very well for SD-19 and Hannah-Beth Jackson.  Now if we had a solid candidate in CA-24…

… the CDP has more.

(How hospitable – promoted by Lucas O’Connor)

I decided to run for Congress against John Doolittle because I believe we desperately need a new direction for America.

My decision was never about political ambition or blind partisan loyalties, but fulfilling a promise I made to defend our country, and to serve the community where Jan and I have been proud to live, work, and raise our children these past 17 years.

Today, State Senator Tom McClintock announced he is going to move from his district in Southern California in order to run for Congress in our district.

My position hasn't changed. I still firmly believe we need a new direction – for our country.
And I believe the last thing District Four needs is another career politician who needs driving directions just to find our district.

Click here to give Senator Tom McClintock a warm welcome when he arrives.

This will be the ninth different political office that Tom has run for in California. If you are scoring at home, here's the list:

• Chair, Ventura County Republican Party
• CA State Assembly, District 36 in Southern California
• U.S. House of Representatives, District 24 in Southern California
• CA State Controller
• CA State Assembly, District 38 in Southern California
• CA State Senate, District 19 in Southern California
• CA State Controller – Again
• CA Governor in the recall election
• CA Lt. Governor
• U.S. House of Representatives, District 04

For 30 years, Senator McClintock has been relentless in pursuing his next partisan political power grab. His current address in Thousand Oaks, California is 418 miles from Roseville.

Now, 418 miles is a long drive, especially when the price of gas is pushing four dollars per gallon.

Together, we can give Senator McClintock the proper welcome when he arrives, and show him that CD4 is looking for real change-not another partisan political opportunist (and we've seen several come and go from this race already). And that's exactly the message we'll send by raising $100 for every mile Tom must travel to get from his district to our district.

Our goal is $41,800. by the FEC Deadline of of March 31^st.

Click here to help us welcome Tom McClintock to town.

You built this campaign. When no one believed, you were there. And today, we have enlisted more than 12,000 people in our campaign for change–$25, $50 and $100 at a time. That's 12,000 people who believe, just as I believe, that our district and our country can do better. And for the sake of our security, our economy, and our children's future, we must.

Click Here to Contribute

I've said it before. This election is about putting patriotism before partisanship.
It's about CD4's interests, not some career politician's self interest.
It's about electing people who lead by example and get results.
That's why we launched the Veterans Charity Challenge, and why we're donating 5% of every dollar we raise to help veterans and families in need.

Together we can send the message that our district is ready to move forward, and beyond the politics of personal ambition exemplified by Sen. McClintock and John Doolittle.

And there is no better time to send that message than right now.

Thank you in advance for your continued support.

Very Sincerely,

Charlie Brown, Lt. Col. USAF Ret.

P.S. Click here to donate today and help us raise $100 for every mile Senator Tom is going to have to drive to get from Southern California to our district.

From an email to supporters from Charlie Brown, here are the 9 – count ’em, 9 – elections that Tom McClintock has run for in California, culminating with his entry into the CA-04 race today:

Chair, Ventura County Republican Party

CA State Assembly, District 36 in Southern California

U.S. House of Representatives, District 24 in Southern California

CA State Controller

CA State Assembly, District 38 in Southern California

CA State Senate, District 19 in Southern California

CA State Controller – Again

CA Governor in the recall election

CA Lt. Governor

U.S. House of Representatives, District 04

You could conceivably make it 10, because he was prepping a run for the state Board of Equalization before bolting to head 418 miles north to Roseville to run for Congress.

All he needs is a site called “Renew America” or something, and several failed runs for President and US Senate in states where he doesn’t live, and he’d give Alan Keyes a run for his money.

As Carlsbad Dem notes in Quick Hits, State Senator Tom McClintock will speak at a news conference in Placer County Tuesday morning to discuss the Congressional race in CA-04.  And the indications are he will be jumping into the race.  He’s already announced an exploratory committee, and he’s told his supporters that “polling shows me in a very powerful position to win the Republican nomination” against former State Senator Rico Oller and former Congressman Doug Ose.  Eric Egland has already announced that he would drop out and support McClintock in the event that he announces.

Today in the Sacramento Bee, McClintock dismissed criticism that he would be seen as carpetbagging in the 4th District, which is roughly 600 miles from his home in Thousand Oaks.  He claims that he rented for three years in Rocklin, which makes it all better.  Charlie Brown’s campaign manager got in a really choice quote:

Former state lawmaker Rico Oller, who lives outside the district in San Andreas, quickly announced that he would run in the Republican primary. So did Sacramento resident Doug Ose, a former three-term GOP congressman from the neighboring 3rd District […]

The outsiders’ aspirations are assailed by the campaign of Democrat Charlie Brown, a district resident and retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who narrowly lost to Doolittle in 2006.

“Charlie Brown raised his kids in the district,” said Brown’s spokesman, Todd Stenhouse. “They went to Roseville public schools. There are certain values you get for living in the district for 17 years.”

He attacked the District 4 wannabes as part of “some kind of ‘American Idol’ talent search” fueled “by party designation and the fact that it’s an open seat.”

I don’t think the field of carpetbaggers will clear for McClintock.  Rico Oller was reportedly John Doolittle’s handpicked choice to succeed him, and Doug Ose has already announced a half-million dollar ad blitz in the event of a McClintock candidacy.  Meanwhile Charlie Brown continues to raise money and will not have to spend a dime in the primary.

Here’s what the state of the race will be after June 3.  The three carpetbaggers will knock each other around for three months, and the winner will come out with around 40% support among Republicans and no money to speak of.  They’ll have to raise a substantial amount in a hurry, and there’s little expectation of help from the struggling national campaign committee for Republicans.  Charlie Brown will have a large war chest and roots in the district.  And there’s those Presidential coattails.  The peculiarities of this race say to me that the winner of that knock-down drag-out fight on the Republican side is by no means assured of the general election win.

Over in CA-03, they have a carpet-bagger representative. Dan Lungren was an OC-area Congressman from 1979-1989, where he was followed by slightly more crazy Dana “the Taliban are good for Afghanistan” Rohrabacher. In 1991, Lungren became the Attorney General, and eventually lost in his bid to become Governor. In 2004, though, Lungren found an open seat in the Sacramento area, and said, hey, I’m going to hop back on that gravy train!

Well, it seems Tom McClintock thinks that sounds gooood.  When I wrote my post from the CRP convention I mentioned that there were quite a few Draft Tom signs there. Well, over at the SacBee they’ve got a photo along with a little glimpse into the crazy that is the CRP.

Republican activists at last weekend’s state party convention distributed “Run, Tom, Run” stickers and displayed a large “Draft Tom” poster for supporters to sign.

Anyway, former Rep. Doug Ose isn’t going to take this lying down. He’s got $500K left in the bank from his CA-03 elections, and plans to use it. Sweet, use it now destroying each other fellas. Let’s grease the way for Charlie Brown!.

A few thoughts:

Apparently the Draft Lessig movement in CA-12 is picking up steam. Apparently, he has an official campaign account now, via OpenLeft. I believe the last day to file for the ballot is Monday, so we should know soon.

Tom McClintock is considering making a run at CA-04, according to the AP.

Anything on your mind?