Jerry McNerney Foe Dean Andal in Hot Water Over School Construction Deal

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Republicans see Rep. Jerry McNerney's GOP-leaning seat as one of their strongest pick up opportunities in an otherwise abysmal year for the Republican brand, but a developing scandal by Republican candidate Dean Andal threatens to give McNerney the breathing room he needs.

brownsox over at the Daily Kos has more:

"One of the GOP’s top House recruits for this cycle may be in grave trouble. Assemblyman Dean Andal, challenging freshman Rep. Jerry McNerney in California’s Republican-leaning 11th District, has been accused of ties to a leak from the Board of Trustees of San Joaquin Delta College, in violation of California’s open government laws.

In a nutshell, members of the Delta board of trustees met to discuss terminating the contract of a delinquent contractor. Information from that meeting was illegally leaked to the contractor, who was then able to use that information to maintain the contract with Delta College. This is a serious crime, and a major betrayal of the public trust.

And if Board of Trustees member Ted Simas is to be believed, Andal -- a consultant to the aforementioned contractor, PCCP Mountain House, on the Delta project -- was personally privy to that information."

If true, this is a serious breach of public trust, and could spell the end of Andal's bid for a seat many Democrats never expected to pick up in the first place. Reflective of a nationwide dischord with the Republican message, Andal was already suffering from a significant cash flow disadvantage.

There's more...