Expect a Challenge to California Member of Congress Dan Lungren

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Randy Bayne
THE BAYNE OF BLOG'S CALIFORNIA NOTES

Congressman Dan Lungren (CA-3) held a town hall meeting in Jackson on Saturday. He came to talk to Amador Co. residents about four issues, immigration, Iraq, spending and earmarks. Most of the two hours was spent on immigration, with few local issues being addressed. As a matter of fact, Lungren seemed disturbed that these constituents would bother him with anything local. He certainly didn't want the audience driving the conversation off his pre-determined course.

He entered the auditorium at Jackson City Hall barely noticed, shook a couple hands, and headed straight for the donuts.

After an introduction by Amador Co. Sheriff Martin Ryan in which he received so much praise it simply had to be phony, Lungren took center stage and started into an explanation of the role of the California Attorney General, an office he used to hold. It felt like he was trying to waste time so he wouldn't have to face too many questions.

Before questions from constituents, Lungren talked about four issues that he says generate the most mail to his office — immigration, Iraq, federal spending and earmarks.

Immigration

"Congress and the President got it wrong," says Lungren, when they passed immigration legislation earlier this year. In one the few criticisms of President Bush that I've heard come from the Congressman, Lungren said he, "lead with his heart instead of his head." Something I had to laugh at for two obvious reasons; heart and head.

He went on to say that what we need is to finish building a wall around the U.S. to keep people out, using contracted labor, rather than federal employees, of course. We also need to allow people in from Mexico to do our dirty work through a guest worker program, and keep people from claiming citizenship just because they were born here.

Iraq

Lungren continues to insist on calling the occupation in Iraq a "war," and insisting that we cannot leave until the country is stabilized. When are these morons going to realize that we are the reason the country is unstable? Probably never, since he also said the military in Iraq is "being successful."