Bonus: Some Juicy Snips from the Indictment
Congressman Duncan Hunter is refusing to step down from his assignments on the Armed Services, Education, and the Workforce and Transportation committees, according to Politico.
Following the release of a 48-page indictment, House Majority Leader Paul Ryan urged the 50th District Congressman to resign his committee assignments until the matter was resolved.
Republicans in the House of Representatives are now planning to take action to remove Hunter in a steering committee meeting slated for September 4. The full GOP conference is expected to ratify this the following day, and shortly thereafter it will go to the House floor, where it will be made official.
The Union-Tribune’s Michael Smolens posted a column today about a failed plan to save Hunter’s seat for Republicans. El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells declared his candidacy in the primary, hoping to place second. Under California’s top two system this which would have meant two Republicans on the general election ballot.
The idea was, should Hunter be indicted, the East County’s deep red voters would still have a choice.
But Hunter’s father, former Rep. Duncan Hunter, pressured potential contributors not to donate to Wells, effectively drying up his funding. Republican leaders appeared to stay out of it.
It might not have taken a lot to get Wells on the November ballot with Hunter. The incumbent finished first in the June 5 primary with 47.3 percent of the vote. Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar finished second with 17.8 percent, trailed by Wells with 13 percent.
“If they had put up a little effort, or at least not blocked me as hard, I think we would have saved the seat for the Republicans,” Wells said Tuesday
At CALmatters, Ben Christopher ruminated on the tough choice voters in Hunter’s District were likely to face come November, while throwing shade at the Democrat in the contest.
Conservative voters in one of California’s most Trump-loving districts have a tough choice ahead of them: Vote for a single-payer boosting, cap-and-trade supporting, Obama-backed 29-year-old who happens to be the grandson of a Palestinian terrorist organizer—or go with the guy who, as of today, is literally under federal indictment.
[The problem with the “terrorist organizer” story is he never actually met his grandfather. Muhammad Yusuf al-Najjar died in 1973. Campa-Najjar was born in 1989. I believe this story was planted by so-called Democrat Josh Butner’s campaign in the hope of winning the June 5 primary.]
Back to CALmatters:
State GOP leaders stressed Hunter was innocent until proven guilty, and his defenders on Fox News and Twitter, including his father, rushed to label the indictment “politically motivated” because of the congressman’s support for President Trump.
Voters who favor neither Hunter nor Campa-Najjar are out of luck. California law does not allow voters to write in alternative candidates. It is too late for any candidate to drop out.
At the Weekly Standard, David Byler says Hunter still has a chance, pointing out the incumbent could beat the standard loss of support for indictees (-9pts) and the GOP deficit in generic polls (-7pts).
Ordinarily, you might expect a scandal like this to sink a candidate (and it might). But Hunter represents California’s 50 th District, which could allow him to limp to re-election despite this scandal.
California’s 50th District is made up mostly of the inland parts of San Diego as well as some of the more sparsely populated areas to the east of the city. San Diego is a bit of an odd city: There’s a significant military presence, and there’s a coastal/inland left/right divide (you can see it on any precinct map of the 2016 election). And the 50th District is mostly on the right side of that left/right divide.
In 2016, Donald Trump won the district by a 15-point margin. That’s a solid margin, and it might understate the underlying redness of the district according to ACS five-year estimates. The rate of college education among whites is higher than that of the median district, and Romney won the district by 23 points in 2012. Hunter also won the district by a similar margin in 2016. The district is home to many Latino voters, but those voters may not be turning out at the same rate as other groups.
@CA_Dem chair @EricBauman to @RollCall on @Rep_Hunter indictment: “I think the Republicans just lost another House seat..Surely the voters of San Diego is not going to elect a crook who’s been indicted.”
— Carla Marinucci (@cmarinucci) August 21, 2018
UPDATE: Scott Lay at the Nooner lays out what might take place, and it involves Darrell Issa:
Yesterday, there were calls for Hunter to resign. However, under California law, that will not change the fact that the November 6 ballot will have two names on it–Duncan Hunter and Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar, who worked in the Obama Administration. Unless a candidate dies more than 68 days before an election, names are not removed from the ballot after a primary nomination.
I have wavered in the last 24 hours of whether this district should now be Toss-up as opposed to the current Leans Republican. Had it not been for Hunter’s liabilities, this would be Likely Republican. It is a Trump +15% district.
If I had a category of WTF?, I would move it to that. Republicans know that Hunter is done as a member of the GOP conference. They also know that every single seat counts this November for control of the House. I think the goal is for a resignation after November 6, upon which Jerry Brown would be required to call a special election for the spring. The only thing to keep Hunter around for is a vote on Speaker if there is a one-vote margin between Democrat and Republican votes for the gavel.
So, if Hunter resigns before November 6, Campa-Najjar likely wins unless Republicans can design an effective campaign of “Vote for the presumed criminal so we can block a Pelosi-friendly vote.” Keep Hunter on the ballot and the GOP likely has a 60/40 chance of keeping the seat temporarily before a special election. A likely candidate would be Congressman Darrell Issa, who is from the neighboring CA49. While he is “retiring” this cycle, most believe that was in the face of a tough re-elect. Although Issa has his own liabilities related to the Russia investigation, he could walk in to a CA50 race with $778,154.16 (as of June 30) and plenty of personal funds.
If there’s a wildcard in the D50 congressional contest the pundits are missing it could well be the relentless activism of local Indivisible chapters.
I think I’ll let their Twitter thread from yesterday speak for itself:
THREAD
1/ #Indivisible has dogged corrupt @Rep_Hunter relentlessly
🐰Bunny suits for paying $600 rabbit airfare
🐔Inflatable chicken for ducking town halls
🤥 Billboards on highways
🇺🇸 Street & office rallies
Now the courts & voters decide pic.twitter.com/rVmEKk6BUW— Indivisible SanDiego (@SDIndivisible) August 22, 2018
2/ While @Rep_Hunter betrayed the public trust, #Indivisible dubbed him “Dirty Duncan”, held empty chair town halls, shadowed his fundraisers & endorsed Dem challenger @ACampaNajjar pic.twitter.com/FAUxvqlqQx
— Indivisible SanDiego (@SDIndivisible) August 22, 2018
3/ We are committed to unseating the disgraced @Rep_Hunter in CA50 by getting out the vote for @ACampaNajjar on Nov 6
Phone Banks
Canvassing
Voter Registration
Join us to flip a red seat blue! https://t.co/2cX1YxNszn pic.twitter.com/H7XrjG2X55— Indivisible SanDiego (@SDIndivisible) August 22, 2018
A Few of Duncan Hunter’s Greatest Grifts
Reading the indictment is just an amazing experience. Page after page of theft, deception, and abuse.
From Politico
According to a statement from the Justice Department, during the period from 2009 to 2016, the “Hunters illegally used campaign money to pay for personal expenses that they could not otherwise afford. The purchases included family vacations to Italy, Hawaii, Phoenix, Arizona, and Boise, Idaho; school tuition; dental work; theater tickets; and domestic and international travel for almost a dozen relatives.”
Prosecutors allege that the Hunters falsely mislabeled their personal expenses “campaign travel,” “dinner with volunteers/contributors,” “toy drives,” “teacher/parent and supporter events,” “gift cards” for charitable donations, and “gift basket items.” At one point they purchased “personal clothing items at a golf course so that the purchase could be falsely reported to the Treasurer as ‘balls for the wounded warriors,’” the indictment reads. They would also allegedly book vacations using Expedia.com so the campaign records would not disclose locations of destinations.
According to the indictment, Hunter gave his wife, Margaret, a campaign credit card knowing full well she would use it on personal items they could not otherwise afford. Margaret hid some of her expenses by refusing to turn over credit card statements and receipts to the campaign treasurer, prosecutors alleged.
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David Weil says
Proof that the moron voter rules in San Diego! Get him Judge Kreep for a lawyer and prepare two Cunningham Memorial rooms at the Federal Prison just for him and the wife…
Nancy Finneran Witt says
Love your comment, and yes, want them both in federal prison. His wife loved the goodies too; 2 of a kind.
Duncan even used his airplane ticket for his dog on a trip. The man has no brains. He got the job cuz of his father preceding him in Congress.