Mayor Bill Wells of El Cajon has announced he’s running for Congressman Duncan Hunter’s (R-Not Indicted Yet) seat. I’m guessing all the worldwide publicity over the East County City’s decision to criminalize food sharing has convinced Wells he’s destined for higher office.
One of the early supporters he’s touting is Minnesota wack-a-doodle and former Congresswoman Michelle Bachman. Among her many accomplishments, besides bashing gays and Muslims, is the claim she made about the PPV vaccine causing mental retardation.
In a press conference held at the Ronald Reagan Community Center in El Cajon, Wells said he aims to bring “conservative, Republican values to Washington, D.C.”
I wonder which values Wells is talking about? Would those include supporting an accused pedophile candidate for US Senate? How about treating the national treasury like it’s a slot machine? Candidate Wells, after all, says he supports the Trump agenda.
Well has built his conservative cred by appearing with Fox News Tucker Carlson to tell the world about California’s liberal government encouraging homeless drug and alcohol abusers to settle in the state.
He also organized “Mayors for Safe Cities,” a group opposing SB 54, the California Values Act, which they claimed protected criminals.
From 10News:
During a Tuesday morning news conference, Wells said, “I am running for the 50th Congressional District because I believe I can bring conservative Republican values to Washington, D.C. My reputation as a leader and problem solver has led to incredible business growth and prosperity for my community.”
“Here’s what I stand for: limited government, the sanctity of life, property rights, a strong national defense and a secure border. I will dedicate my time in Washington, D.C., to reducing the national debt, rejecting tax increases, and unburdening workers and small business owners to realize their full potential,” Wells added.
Politico’s California Playbook mentioned yet another Republican who’s thinking about running in D50:
GOP THROWDOWN? — Will talk show host Carl DeMaio try to take out fellow GOPer Rep. Duncan Hunter in CA-50? Check out his statement Tuesday: “I appreciate all the San Diegans who have reached out to me to encourage me to run for Congress. If we want better results from government, we must first start by fixing Congress and holding them accountable when they violate the public’s trust. I expect to make a decision in the next week.”
The Union-Tribune set the scene for what’s going on with other candidates in Hunter’s district:
According to Federal Election Commission data, Wells and Hunter will face at least five Democratic rivals, including two who have raised more than $400,000 as of December. Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar, a small business owner who formerly served as a White House intern and public affairs officer for the U.S. Department of Labor, has raised more than $520,000.
Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar is likely to get the California State Democratic Party’s endorsement, having run a campaign that’s build a significant ground game, raised lots of money through non-PAC donations, and garnered the support of many of San Diego’s Democratic Clubs.
Somebody obviously isn’t happy about that.
Why else would the Israeli newspaper Haaretz suddenly take an interest in the race?
Yesterday it published a story under the headline Grandson of Munich Massacre Terrorist Is Running for Congress – Sounding a Peaceful Tone on Israel.
The story itself wasn’t all bad. Campa-Nijjar, who was born in the US, never met his grandfather. It’s timing certainly suggests a less-than-honorable path on how this coverage came to be published.
From the Times of San Diego:
Ammar Campa-Najjar, who has raised half a million dollars in his battle to defeat Rep. Duncan Hunter, was forced to defend himself Tuesday when an Israeli newspaper reported that a grandfather he never knew was a terrorist.
“I’m blessed to have been born in America, a country where regardless of your appearance, the sound of your name, or where your family came from, you can achieve your dreams if you work hard and believe enough,” said Campa-Najjar.
The Democratic candidate, who is of Mexican and Palestinian descent and grew up in El Cajon, issued a statement after the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that a grandfather was a Palestinian terrorist in the 1970s. Yusuf al-Najjar was assassinated in Beruit by an Israeli commando force in 1973 after the Munich Olympics massacre.
Candidate Najjar issued a press release including his thoughts on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including this statement:
Fashioning a lasting peace will not be easy, but it is necessary. The Jewish people are among the most oppressed people in human history, while the Palestinians are among the last occupied people in human history. Both sides have faced near annihilation, the result of which is a fear that has sowed distrust and postponed peace.
In the final analysis, both sides will have to make generous compromises for the sake of peace. The final arrangement will be a peace deal neither side wants, but everyone needs. Ultimately, Israel will have to acknowledge its wrongdoings as the sovereign state and accept the Palestinian’s rights to self-determination, independence, and equality. Palestinians will have to renounce violence and fanaticism, acknowledge their Jewish neighbors, and accept new realities.
But this is not why I’m running for Congress. As Congressman, I hope to focus America less on the wars we’ve waged abroad, and more on the wars we wage within. From income inequality, debilitating healthcare costs, gun violence on the rise, veteran homelessness, the inevitable displacement of millions of workers due to automation, to the worst calamities of climate change, America must prevail over many challenges in the coming years. I believe we are up to meetings these challenges if we choose to chart a new course toward redefined American greatness together.
Historical reminder…
When nine black teenagers integrated Central High School in Little Rock, many segregationists insisted they were paid protesters who had been imported from other states. pic.twitter.com/l6yDPNzChS
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) February 21, 2018
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micporte says
sounds like El Cajon is the new “melting pot” / “bubble bubble, toil and trouble…”
bob dorn says
Love it. The nuts in El Cajon are getting soggy from overboiling.
Heywood_Floyd says
“Mayor Bill Wells of El Cajon” – the same guy who won’t let church groups or NGOs feed the homeless in his city, who was appointed to the job because former Mayor Mark Lewis (who stepped down in 2013) made some remarks about the Chaldeans living in town, let the cops build a massive HQ next to the 1980’s-era City Hall (mirroring what had happened in La Mesa under Art Madrid, but with a larger cop shop), and still somehow is stuck with one of the prime backers of the Christian Coalition in San Diego County during the 1990s, Mr. Bob McCellan? If he could not move El Cajon into a brighter future, how can he fix all the problems Duncan “Donuts” Hunter caused/inherited/invoked while reading the “Necronomicon” aloud?
Bob says
I’m Jewish and I thought Ammar Campa-Najjar statement hit just the right tone. I won’t have a problem voting for him out here. Been living in the district forever and ‘Duncan Hunter’ has forever been the name of my Representative. Wells sounds like an even bigger nut. Campa Najjar would be able to represent the interests of a large spectrum of the people who live in the district. And he doesn’t act crazy or say crazy stuff.