Simi Valley Ping
Posted on 03/15/2006 2:15:41 PM PST by iPod Shuffle
California Rep. Gallegly reverses retirement, will seek new term
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A California congressman has changed his mind about retirement and says he'll seek re-election to an eleventh term.
Republican Elton Gallegly made the announcement today. He represents the 24th District, a heavily Republican region that covers most of Ventura County and a portion of Santa Barbara County.
On Friday, the 62-year-old Gallegly had announced he wouldn't run again because of unspecified health reasons.
However, he'd already filed papers to be a candidate and it was too late to remove his name from the June primary ballot.
Only one other Republican is on the ballot - first-time candidate Michael Tenenbaum. Democrat Jill Martinez also is running.
So I guess he's healthy after all?
Look for him to resign, shortly after being re-elected.
Wha'd he do? Read some book on political strategy authored by Ross Perot?
This is hilarious:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/03/15/politics/p130247S98.DTL
"Gallegly refused Wednesday to say what his health problems were. He said that after some test results last week that raised questions, he'd subsequently been given a clean bill of health."
His illness is apparently mental.
Despite a report from Roll Call that Gallegly planned to abruptly reverse course again and announce for re-election on Tuesday, that report proved false (at least, so far it has). Instead, Gallegly told reporters he wants to explore seeking legal relief in the courts -- and possibly from the state legislature -- to allow an extension of the now-closed filing period. If those efforts are unsuccessful, Gallegly says he would then reconsider his withdrawal from the race. As it looks unlikely Gallegly could legally prevail based upon current California law, he may in fact be forced to run again -- which raises the likely specter of a subsequent Gallegly resignation in early 2007 and a costly special election. Other options are for Gallegly to make it clear he wants to lose the June 6 primary while simultaneously helping some other Republican running as a write-in candidate. Gallegly appears unlikely to support attorney Michael Tenenbaum, who filed to run against him in the primary. However, Moorpark City Councilman Keith Millhouse, former Santa Barbara County Supervisor Mike Stoker, prosecutor Jeff Gorell and others are already openly talking about launching write-in bids in the primary if Gallegly first gives his blessing for their bids.
Unbelievable--literally.
This is actually good news for conservatives, since it will give McClintock another shot for the House without having to give up his race for Lt. Gov. Same for Stricklands, if Tom wins his Lt Gov race.
Just QUIT.
When I first heard the news about Elton Gallegly's retirement, I figured it had to be some kind of clever plan to freeze out Republicans he doesn't like (e.g., the Stricklands) and hand-pick a successor (perhaps through a write-in campaign). I just couldn't believe Elton could be so ignorant of California election laws, and I say that as someone who is not one of Elton's fans.
But apparently he really was that ignorant, and so was his attorney Michael Bradbury (former Ventura County D.A.). But then I was never very impressed with Bradbury either.
All along I considered Elton's purported health issues to be a convenient excuse. Oh, it's possible that he really does have something wrong with him, and I hope he regains his health. But what possible "health issue" would cause him to suddenly withdraw from the race on the last day of the filing period, that he didn't know about earlier? Especially since he tipped off some close associates at least a day or two before hand?
And he's now been given a clean bill of health? And he now has no problem running for another term? That's amazingly convenient.
I can certainly tell you this: Everyone else here in Simi Valley is just as dumbfounded at Elton's actions as I am.
Gallegly never struck me as being the sharpest knife in the drawer. If people suspect Gallegly intends to resign after being re-elected... well that has all the makings for a Dem upset win...
It certainly seems too convenient. Channel 3 (KEYT?) news interviewed a "McClintock Aide" who said Gallegly's problem was one that many other Congressmen had and that he thought Gallegly would definitely overcome. Since he's in his early 60's, maybe he has one of those older people's problems.
Also, it wasn't just a day or two; according to the earlier threads, he had discussed with his aides/lawyers for two weeks how to withdraw.
I think Elton Gallegly's goal was to win have the GOP County Committees choose his successor. It appears that there are two opposing factions of Ventura area Republicans, the Gallegly faction and the Tom McClintock/Tony Strickland faction. Apparently, Gallegly's faction dominates the committees and his goal was to have Simi Valley Councilman City Councilman Glenn Becerra (a protoge) be nominated to succeed him. His ploy blew up in his face.
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