Posted on 03/31/2006 9:46:25 AM PST by calcowgirl
WASHINGTON – The San Diegans whom Brian Bilbray hopes to represent in the 50th Congressional District are a different bunch than those he represented during the six years he served on Capitol Hill.
But should this former mayor and county supervisor return to Washington, few expect his focus to change much.
More likely than not, the South Bay-spawned Republican would remain the hard-line border enforcer, the environmental advocate who battles Mexican sewage, and the guy on whom the GOP can usually depend when it comes to defense votes, but not when it comes to social issues.
“Brian is his own man, and he didn't just fall into line with what the leadership would call for,” said Ron Packard, who, like Bilbray, is a former San Diego-area mayor and congressman and now a lobbyist.
Some questioned whether this was always true, especially when Bilbray became a fierce champion of San Diego-based Metabolife, the frequent Bilbray campaign contributor whose ephedra herbal stimulant was later linked to heart attacks, strokes, seizures and other dangers.
Bilbray is one of 18 candidates – including 14 Republicans – seeking the seat left open by the resignation of Randy “Duke” Cunningham. The Rancho Santa Fe Republican was sentenced this month to an eight-year, four-month prison term for bribery and conspiracy.
Bilbray's record while representing the 49th Congressional District from 1995 through 2000 indicates he is hardly the most conservative of the candidates seeking to replace Cunningham in the April 11 special election.
So why would a rock-solid conservative such as Rep. Dan Lungren, a former California attorney general, endorse Bilbray over the other GOP candidates, some of whom also have considerable legislative experience?
“He handled a tough congressional district for us,” said Lungren, referring to Bilbray's six years in a central San Diego/South Bay district that tended to seesaw between Democratic and Republican candidates. “It was not an easy district to win or to hold, and I thought he did a good job with it.”
Bilbray is clearly the choice of the Republican establishment, as underscored by a slew of endorsements both in Washington and San Diego. Tomorrow, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and former mayor and Gov. Pete Wilson are scheduled to endorse Bilbray at noon, according to Steve Danon, Bilbray's campaign spokesman.
A surfer and former lifeguard, Bilbray won an Imperial Beach City Council seat at age 24, became the city's mayor at 27, spent a decade on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, won the 49th District congressional seat in 1994, then lost it six years later to a Democrat, now-Rep. Susan Davis.
He came to Congress in 1995, when Republicans took control of both houses, and he endorsed the tax-cutting, defense-boosting, government-downsizing “Contract With America” proposed by then-Rep. Newt Gingrich, R-Ga. Bilbray took a seat on the House Commerce Committee.
“There was a real feeling of having to show Democrats how it could be done better,” said Bilbray, 55. “But I think we've lost a lot of that revolutionary fire that made the 'Contract With America' so worth being involved in.”
Almost instantly, he made border control and pollution cleanup his chief legislative projects. He fought efforts to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants, helped secure money for 1,400 new Border Patrol agents and for federal reimbursements for hospitals that treat illegal immigrants and for the prison system that jails them.
He wrote a bill allowing customs inspectors at the border to impose fines and seize vehicles for violation of emission standards or failure to meet California insurance laws.
He wrote another bill, which was unsuccessful, that would have denied citizenship to the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants. He translated these passions into lobbying work after leaving Congress.
“He's been invaluable as an advocate for strengthening border security, enforcement of laws against illegal immigration and removing the incentives that drive illegal immigration in the first place,” said Paul Egan, director of government relations for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a former Bilbray client that fights illegal immigration.
In 1995, Bilbray helped win a waiver for San Diego from federal sewage treatment requirements because of the Mexican sewage being dumped in U.S. waters.
Among his signature achievements were a bill designed to reduce cross-border smog and another that created the 18,500-acre Otay Mountain Wilderness Area.
Some believe Bilbray didn't do enough to protect the environment. Donna Frye, a San Diego city councilwoman, has long criticized Bilbray for supporting Clean Water Act changes that Frye contends weakened water protections.
“People's passions ran pretty high about this because so many people had been getting sick by surfing in polluted water,” said Frye, who rose to prominence as a clean-water activist. “That's why it was so offensive that somebody who came from (the surfing community) would turn his back on us like that.”
House Republican leaders could depend on Bilbray when it came to some issues: He voted in the 104th and 105th Congresses to reduce Medicare spending by $270 billion, restrict welfare, and to amend the Constitution to guarantee the right to prayer in public schools.
Twice, he voted to override President Clinton's vetoes of bills banning a late-term abortion procedure that critics call “partial birth abortion.”
Periodically the maverick – he wore his hair long while mayor, used a bulldozer to divert Mexican sewage from U.S. waters and comes from a family of staunch Democrats – Bilbray broke ranks often enough with House Republicans to get attention.
Aside from being more sympathetic to the environment than many of his GOP colleagues, he was alone among San Diego County GOP House members in supporting congressional campaign finance changes.
And while he opposed “partial-birth abortion” and federal funding for most abortions, he would not support overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling that made abortion legal.
During his last term in Congress, he earned middle-of-the-road marks from conservative groups such as the National Tax-Limitation Committee and the American Conservative Union, and a relatively high rating – 75 percent – from the Christian Coalition, a fundamentalist group that opposes abortion and embraces what it calls “traditional” family values.
He won high ratings from the environmentally friendly League of Conservation Voters. And for a Republican, he won relatively respectable 20 percent ratings from liberal mainstays such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans for Democratic Action.
Politically, Bilbray has been damaged by his ties to Metabolife after ephedra-based products became linked with numerous deaths. Opponents in campaigns past and present have raised this issue.
Bilbray had used his seat on the commerce committee to question the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's efforts to regulate products with the herbal stimulant. He complained that regulations might lead to registration fees, as well as costs associated with record keeping and reporting for dietary supplement distributors.
Metabolife was his No. 1 campaign contributor in 1998 and 2000.
Some say Bilbray's vote to impeach Clinton led to his loss to Davis in 2000, contending the stand cost him support among Democrats and moderates in the 49th District.
The 50th district – wealthier, more Republican, but still environmentally sensitive – may be friendlier territory for Bilbray, though whether the region will embrace a moderate such as Bilbray over more conservative candidates remains to be seen.
The 50th District stretches from Clairemont Mesa and La Jolla north to Carlsbad and Escondido. “Because there are so many candidates, the secret to becoming the top vote-getter is to pick a niche,” said Allan Hoffenblum, publisher of the California Target Book, which monitors political campaigns. “He's got to say, 'OK, I'm a former member of Congress and I have experience, now how do I communicate that?' ”
Brian Bilbray
Party: Republican
DOB/Age: Jan. 28, 1951 / 55
Professional/political career: Tax consultant; member, Imperial Beach City Council, 1976-87; mayor, Imperial Beach, 1978-85; member, San Diego County Board of Supervisors, 1985-95; member, U.S. House of Representatives, 1995-2001; lobbyist, 2001-06
Residence: Carlsbad
Education: Attended Southwestern College
Military: None
Religion: Catholic
Family: Wife, Karen; five children
Web site: bilbrayforcongress.com
I guess the SDUT will endorse Bilbray. No mention of his "F" rating from the NRA.
Pete Wilson endorsement? Oh, goodie.
snip --- Bilbray is clearly the choice of the Republican establishment, as underscored by a slew of endorsements both in Washington and San Diego. Tomorrow, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and former mayor and Gov. Pete Wilson are scheduled to endorse Bilbray at noon, according to Steve Danon, Bilbray's campaign spokesman. /.../ clearly the chooice of the moderate elements of the Republican party, obviously.
--
Sanders is a moderate? I didn't know that. ouch.
(adjusts flame retardant undies and cape..) OK, set. ;-)
So why would a rock-solid conservative such as Rep. Dan Lungren, a former California attorney general, endorse Bilbray over the other GOP candidates, some of whom also have considerable legislative experience?Rock solid? Conservative? Bastardizing the meaning of conservative, as usual.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
The long-term goal of many in the Republican party is to eliminate anything conservative it seems.
California has been a test-run project for the last decades or so for doing just this. Looks like to a lot of folks here and in DC, that is a good thing.
I think it goes back at least to Hiram Johnson and other "progressives" associated with the La Follette gang. That didn't turn out so well for California. Los Angeles Times, Jun 22, 1928:
In 1912 Johnson bolted the Republican party, denouncing it as a "tool of capitalism," a "cesspool of corruption," "rotten to the core," etc. He was then the "Republican" Governor of California, in office by virtue of Republican voters given him as a Republican candidate. ...In 1915, after building up a political machine which trebled the costs of State government in one gubernatorial term, Johnson forced through the Legislature a bill prohibiting the use of any party name or designation on State election ballots for no other purpose than to hamstring the Republican party and give him absolute control. ... (More)
Well .. when we needed him to deep six CFR - he voted for it. I don't support him.
sssshhhhhh now,, folks might think you're a mean spirited conservative or sumthin' ;-)
Bilbray is a crook. Developing ....
At this point, I don't really give a rip what people think!
All I'm reading is the GOP deserves to lose - that'll show 'em - and somehow that doesn't have any effect on YOU or ME ..??
People are stupid or libertarians - and they just love to run the GOP into the ground. I have given up even trying to talk to them - it's a waste of breath!
I have other things to be concerned about - my mom is not doing well at the nursing home and I'm worried about her health. At 93, she's beginning to shut down physically, and my brother-in-law is perhaps a few weeks from dying of bone cancer (if the liver cancer doesn't get him first). So my mind is not on politics.
I am sorry to hear of your family difficulties.
I agree , political talk is so much chump change when compared to the potential loss of those most close to you.
I and many here can only offer prayers of comfort and support to you and family.
Thanks! Prayers are very valuable to me - so thank you very much.
Details? Wilkes, Abramoff, or other?
There is a new report due out on Bajaqua.
http://www.bajagua.org/
There are at least 3 groups I know that are investigating this deal.
Bilbray wrote the legislation and then flipped to become the lobbyist for the group.
Bilbray lobbied for the Waterless Water District which was a criminal enterprise that Filner was controlling. You should read the Grand Jury Reports on the Waterless Water District.
The Bajaqua guys have given money hand over fist to everyone Democrats and Republicans.
Problems with Bajaqua Company
is that they have never ever built a water project.
the project is a sole source no open bid deal.
the only thing that they do well is give contributions.
the plan won't solve the sewage problem.
only 60% of TJ is on the sewer system. So when it rains the 40% will still flood out into the sea.
600 million to 1 Billion is way to much for those kind of results.
This is a scam and the more I look everyone is involved.
Hedgecock seems to be backing the deal and I don't know why. I really hope that he wises up before it is too late. The wave is coming on this and it is going to be another Cunningham deal.
Money can make people do stupid things.
Bajagua wasn't on my radar. Now it is. Thanks.
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