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Hedrick Rocks pt 1 (introduction; the "Manifold Failings of Ken Calvert"; introducing Republican primary challenger Chris Riggs;
and meeting Bill's family)
OCP: ... All right, would you like to talk about any LOCAL issues in the 44th District, that you would address differently from Mr. Calvert?
Hedrick: Well, there are tons of local issues in both counties [Riverside and South OC.] Let's see...
For one thing, Mr. Calvert has been a strong proponent of the toll roads in South Orange County. He supported the route through San Onofre State Beach and the Don O'Neill Conservancy. That plan was dead but the extension seems to be coming back to life. I certainly think the first plan was disastrous, and I'm opposed to that extension. Any extension of the road at all needs to be done closely in concert with the environmental community as well as the residents, and all of the options examined. But frankly, I think more can be done with the 5, and that's what we need to be looking at. I don't think it's a really viable plan to go after the Marine Corps to try to do a land swap, because that's got a new set of problems that will be attached to it. So that's an issue that we'd like to hold off on, and look for better solutions than the extension.
Let's see... Mr. Calvert proposed offshore drilling as a solution to our energy problems. That was markedly unpopular in San Clemente and other areas in Orange County, as well as certain segments in the rest of the state. I think that that was a mistake and it's very damaging to the local interests there, and we would not go down that road. What I would do is have substantially more investment in alternative energy; certainly the Inland Empire ought to be a natural area for both manufacturing as well as a market for that. We're situated to take off in that regard, and I would certainly follow that forcefully.
Okay, in the city of Riverside, the issue of grade separation is huge. Essentially, that's the railroads that rumble through this city. We need to have underpasses constructed, or overpasses. But mostly... if you can imagine a two-mile train coming to a slow stop, tying up, basically splitting the city. And if you're in an ambulance on one side and the hospital is on the other side, you've got a problem. Trains are going to become longer and they're going to be in greater frequency. So I would certainly do everything I could to access the transportation dollars necessary to complete the projects that the city of Riverside needs in order to ensure safety of the local citizens as well as the free flow of traffic.
Those, I know, are substantial issues in this community. And...
OCP: I was just hearing about the terrible unemployment in this county [Riverside]
Hedrick: Yeah, I was just going to bring that up - unemployment is huge here. There are pockets in the 44th District where it's certainly at least 15% and probably approaching 20%; that's as currently calculated...
OCP: And of course you have to double that...
Hedrick: Yeah, seriously, that's not including those who've given up, or grossly underemployed. Well, what we need is... honestly, I would support tax credits for small businesses who are creating jobs here. As a last resort, I believe that the... well, we need to work harder at stimulating the local economy, that's the bottom line. But there are other mechanisms that I believe could be used in a last resort, in terms of the Federal Government providing programs that include direct employment. If the private sector cannot, at this point, provide employment, what we've found is that people are not too picky about where their paycheck is coming from, they want a job and they want a paycheck, they want to make the house payment or pay their rent. And, so while it's preferable if they're private-sector jobs, I think the Federal Government may need to step in, in some areas of the country, and really provide employment opportunities for people.
Challenges of This Campaign
OCP: Well, you came so close in 2008, but that year there was all the excitement over Obama, the hope, the change, that brought everyone out, which this year we probably won't have so much. The common wisdom is this will be a real tough year for Democrats. How are you going to compensate for that?
Hedrick: Well, the fact of the matter is that the mid-term elections are notorious for having a lower turnout. However. There are some independent factors here that are in play which I think level the playing field. Really, this is not so much about the national picture, but whether I can persuade the voters that I can do a better job for the majority of this district than Mr. Calvert.
And I think that we can make a compelling case that our Congressman is out of touch. He has neglected this disicttr for years, and is trying to make up for years of neglect with a truly huge barrage of mail, phone,
OCP: Government-funded glossy mailers...
Hedrick: Yes. That's the truth. And I don't think that it's going to work.
OCP: My own Dana Rohrabacher does that every time an election's coming up. But this is Ken's first time?
Hedrick: We get something in the mail every couple of weeks. And that's been going on now for about six months. But, I don't think that it's going to matter, because there's a strong and correct perception that Mr. Calvert has lost touch with the constituents here.
You know, we equalized the campaign last time; although the district has a Republican tip, we did quite well, and about 40% of our endorsers were Republicans, disenchanted Republicans. And we anticipate the same thing will occur. Okay, what I was going to say is we equalized it with a very large volunteer base. Our volunteer base will be even larger this time, we had nearly a hundred people turn out today here. I think we're gonna be able to mobilize a really strong volunteer base in both Riverside and Orange County.
OCP: I sent money to William "Cold Cash" Jefferson's Republican challenger [Anh Cao] because I felt that such a corrupt guy was an embarrassment to my Democratic Party, so it makes sense to me that conversely a lot of Republicans would be glad to get rid of Ken Calvert.
OCP: (laughs) So we can afford to take the high road.
Hedrick: Well, Ken is wrong on the issues. And if we can convey that effectively, he will lose. So we're obviously... we don't have to match him dollar for dollar, but we certainly have to raise enough money to get a message out. But it will be, again, a
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grass-roots campaign. And it will be comprehensive - we're not gonna concede one city, whether it's Coto de Caza which has a very low Democratic registration, or Rubidoux which has a very high one. We're going to work in every city and every town in the district, and he will know that he's been in a campaign.
OCP: I hope he'll know more than that.
Update: Developments Since this (late January) Interview
An early February poll showed that, if the election were held today, only 38% of likely voters in the 44th would vote for incumbent Calvert, while 41% would vote for Hedrick - a remarkable result at this point in the game.
So, I spent a big chunk of last Saturday at the grand opening of Bill Hedrick's new Riverside campaign office. The event was standing room only and spilling into the corridors with Riverside Democrats eager to help Bill outdo his amazing 2008 showing, when with no institutional support he came within under 5000 votes (2%) of defeating 15-year incumbent Ken Calvert. The crowd was a multiracial rainbow reflective of Riverside’s diverse demographics: one comely black woman even tried to convince me she was a “blue person from Avatar,” but I was having none of it. Riverside’s popular Democratic mayor Ron Loveridge strode about shaking hands, and we heard stirring speeches from Assembly candidates Jose Medina and Dennis White, but none to match fireball Dr. Rita Ramirez-Dean (running for San Bernardino Superintendent of Schools.) That is, until Bill Hedrick took the stand. The ostensibly mild-mannered educator’s impassioned and energetic oratory helps you understand why he inspires such fierce loyalty among his supporters, and why the DCCC has listed the Hedrick-Calvert showdown as one of their “emerging races”, while, conversely, the NRCC has listed Calvert second in their “Patriot Program” for endangered incumbents. The 44th Congressional District is a grotesque gerrymandered mooncalf, 80% of whose population is in Riverside County – that’s including the cities of Corona, Norco, and Riverside itself (now a majority-Democrat town.) In this part of the district, Bill prevailed by 5% in ’08. But from there the district stretches a shriveled appendage deep into Southernmost Orange County, grasping Richard Nixon’s San Clemente, the wealthy half of San Juan Capistrano (that’s the inland side of the freeway) and the Real Housewives of Coto de Caza. These folks vote at rates approaching 90%, and overwhelmingly and unquestioningly check off any name with an “R” next to it, which cost Bill the few thousand votes he needed to prevail. So we Democrats need to make two things happen this year – greater registration and turnout in the vast Riverside portion of the district, and a little education in the South OC on the topic of what a hapless and compromised clown their “nine-term backbencher” really is. For as much as I prefer, and intend, to write about the strengths of Hedrick, the story is just incomplete without a quick look at:
The Manifold Failings of Ken Calvert (short version)
For four years in a row now, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has listed Mr. Calvert as one of their "most corrupt Members of Congress" (currently a quite bipartisan list.) And I've long noticed the more honest Republican bloggers over at Red County excoriating him for his corruption and huge addiction to earmarks. Some Calvert lowlights:
A Federal Grand Jury is investigating whether Calvert violated federal laws by accepting campaign contributions from clients of the lobbying firm Copeland Lowery in exchange for EARMARKS.
Most luridly and notoriously, in 1993, police caught Mr. Calvert in his car receiving fellatio from a heroin-addicted prostitute. He first tried to drive off, then when forced over he claimed that they were just "chatting." Howie Klein has noted this overall pattern of Calvert's always denying even his most obvious transgressions. Calvert got divorced that year, remains a bachelor, and went on to be one of the chief hypocrites hounding President Clinton over the Lewinsky matter.
These various moral failings have inspired Christian conservative Chris Riggs to run against him in this June's primary. (This is Chris pictured with his family to the far right, in front of reeds not unlike those near which the baby Moses was found.) I'll be interviewing Chris as we get closer to the primary, but his website lists other Calvert transgressions I might not have thought of otherwise:
Seventeen years ago Calvert signed “The Contract with America”, promising not to hold his Congressional seat for a day more than twelve years.
Constituents may find it interesting to know that, even after 8 terms, he received zero points for influence within the House of Representatives according to Congress.org’s 2008 Power Rankings.
Along with fellow south-county RINOs John Campbell and Gary Miller, he voted for both the TARP bailout AND Cash-for-Clunkers, a fact which Red County's Alan Bartlett, taking Scott Baugh's recent bloviations seriously, feels should cost them the OC GOP's endorsement.
Again like his fellow snake-oil salesmen, Calvert refused to hold any town-hall meetings on the topic of health care reform, a failure frustrating to progressives and teabaggers alike.
After so many years of doing absolutely nothing for his district, but suddenly fearful for his prospects this November, he is currently subjecting his constituents to an unprecedented deluge of glossy mailers, paid for by the government - a very cheap and sleazy way to campaign against underfunded challengers.
One last fun fact, speaking of funding - in his razor-thin 2008 victory against Hedrick, he spent $8.85 in (corporate) money per vote, compared to Hedrick's $1.48.
I hope Chris Riggs beats Ken Calvert in the primary; honest conservative Republicans and rightwing Christians really should choose him. But even if Calvert prevails in June, the primary should give south OC Republicans a bit of an education about the man who's been representing and embarrassing them in Washington for so long. OK, now! When things quieted down Saturday and most of the crowd had gone home, Bill Hedrick was able to sit down with your humble blogger for a short chat, which I will divide into three sections:
Hedrick, the OC Progressive Interview (part 1: family)
OCP: I was just thinking, it seems unfair that poor Ken Calvert will have to run against an honest family man in the Republican primary, and then face another honest family man in the general election. Hedrick: (chuckles, no comment) OCP: ...And yet family comes with its own complications. For example, your daughters tell me they've got you listening to Lady Gaga now, and even singing her songs. Hedrick: (laughing) Yeah. It's true. I confess. I guess I have graduated from Madonna to Lady Gaga. OCP: Well, I'm pretty sure that's progress. Anyway, I was mostly wondering how your sons are doing, though. Are they both still in Iraq? Hedrick: I've got one son and daughter-in-law in Iraq, and they're on their third deployments. My other son and his wife are both back. That daughter-in-law Evelyn did two tours in Baghdad, and my son did one that was interrupted by a heat stroke in Iraq. He's in the National Guard now, in California. OCP: Yeah, I read about that when it happened, and it was listed as a "near-fatal heat-related incident," and at first I thought "Oh shit, he got burned up," but then I realized it was probably weather-related. And then I started to think, that probably happens to a lot of guys out there, and some of them die, and I bet they're not even included in our official toll of 4300 or whatever... Hedrick: They have a lot of heat injuries there... OCP: Deaths? Hedrick: Yeah, yeah, they've had deaths there. In his unit they had, on the same day, two heat injuries. They were out on patrol... OCP: Their Kevlar on, and... Hedrick: Yeah, and inadequate water, and that's what happened. But he was very lucky. His body temperature was 108 degrees, and it should have been either fatal or permanent damage. OCP: Do we count "heat-related deaths" with official fatalities? Hedrick: No. OCP: I didn't think so. There are so many things they leave off - they don't count all the suicides, all the accidents, the deaths from disease, I don't think they count friendly fire... Hedrick: No, I don't think so. OCP: So our fatalities out there are WAY over the 4300. Hedrick: Well, they don't count these injuries either. You know, there are 18 and 19-year olds out there in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also with the National Guard units you got guys who are 35 and 40 and 45 and older, and those very severe conditions, especially when you're bumping around in the back of a non-air-conditioned transport, can be really extreme. So... I'm surprised they don't have more of those issues. OCP: Yeah, they sweep those things under the carpet. Okay, let's talk about the war. Or wars...
Once again, Calvert's ethically-challenged behavior landed him on the non-partisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington most corrupt list:
Oh, my! The national Republicans are worrying. Ken Calvert is among the first 10 "Patriots" in NRCC's program to fundraise for vulnerable incumbents.
So what exactly does this mean? They are expecting Calvert to raise about $100,000 just today. Wow. They must really be afraid.
So how can we respond? Bill Hedrick doesn't have the big corporate dollars that Calvert and the NRCC rely upon, but he does have us.
Please give Bill Hedrick whatever you can. He nearly defeated Calvert last year with little money and a few dedicated grassroots supporters. Think of what can happen if we all step up to the plate.
Hey, the Republicans are already running scared to their big corporate "ATM". Let's show them that our people power is more powerful.
OK, he's doing it. Bill Hedrick will definitely be running for Congress again in 2010. And why not? He seemingly came out of nowhere last year to nearly upset long-time incumbent Ken Calvert... Though he was really working the district hard and winning over voters by offering real solutions to their economic concerns.
So are you ready for a real barnburner of a race next year? I'm hopeful the Hedrick Campaign is. Hopefully the DCCC is as well. I certainly know the GOP will try this time not to fall asleep at the wheel again.
My goodness, what a convention we had! The "mainstream" corporate media may have just seen it as a massive foodfight, but beneath the surface something amazing happened. As I saw and Calitician Robert Cruickshank noted, the "Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party" finally started to take control of the CDP.
Progressives flexed their muscle yet again at this convention, showing that they are the force to be reckoned with in the party - even if progressives did not always speak with a single voice. The refusal to endorse Propositions 1A, 1D and 1E was a sign that progressive delegates are not going to be dictated to by Democratic leaders, and that they feel empowered to say "No" when it is warranted. That's a sign of a healthy and mature progressive movement. People power is here in the California Democratic Party - and although it has yet to find sustained expression, it's only a matter of time before that power revitalizes the party.
As all of you who followed my Tweets saw, the vote was close on all the May Special Election Initiatives. And yes, debate was heated. But while the "mainstream" reporters were just focusing on how "divided!!!!" we were (like this was the first time?), they missed what the rest of us saw. They missed the progressive grassroots taking charge, speaking truth to power, and letting their voices be heard at what's supposed to be their convention.
Let me explain my thoughts some more after the flip...
I'm excited to announce that my district is one of only six nationwide being targeted by the DCCC in a series of radio ads being rolled out next week.
The ads will target Republican members of Congress who opposed the middle class tax cut in President Obama's economic recovery act. These ads are the DCCC's way of taking the message of middle class tax cuts and economic recovery directly to the public in radio ads called "Tax Man" that will run in the lead up to April 15th (tax day).
This is the DCCC's fourth phase of the "Putting Families First" campaign and we've been fortunate enough to be included in the other phases as well.
Representative Calvert is at it again - putting politics rather than families first.
He had the gall to release a newsletter this week touting the fact that he's once again defied the new administration.
What was particularly appalling was his slam against what he calls the "Mortgage Cram-Down Bill" (H.R. 1106), saying it would allow judges to "cram down" the principle amount on home mortgages.
Has Mr. Calvert somehow forgotten that the largest city in his district (Riverside) now has the fourth largest foreclosure rate in the country?
In today's LA Times, there's an article on just how bad the housing market is. The Los Angeles area market, which includes Orange County (again - Rep. Calvert's district), is down 39% from 2006.
What irks me the most is the fact that it was Calvert's own votes during the Bush administration that led to the housing market collapse and the current economic situation we're all in.
Calvert has voted against each and every part of the president's recovery plan and seems to be proud of that fact - even though he barely squeaked out a win himself in November.
During the 8 years of Bush, Calvert was a YES man voting with that administration 94.4% of the time yet in two short months under an Obama presidency, he's somehow joined the party of NO doing everything in his power to stall the country's recovery.
With every vote Mr. Calvert casts, he's helping my 2010 campaign. Unfortunately, his help is coming at the expense of the working families he supposedly serves in this district.
In a sign that Democrats are changing the playing field in Orange County, the Register's Dena Bunis reports on the upcoming Congressional races in the county. I'm not quite used to reading articles like this in the Reg. This is quite a sea change in reporting.
Orange County Democrats have become so emboldened by how well President Barack Obama did here on election night that as far as they're concerned they can compete for any seat in this Republican rich environment.
Case in point: Irvine Councilwoman and former Mayor Beth Krom. She made it official this week that she is going to take on Republican Rep. John Campbell.
Doesn't Krom know that the 48th Congressional District is not only one of the most Republican in California, it's one of the most solid GOP districts in the nation?
She does. But she says she also knows that Obama carried that Republican stronghold and believes she's got a chance there as well.
She goes on to report that Bill Hedrick's close call in CA-44 and Debbie Cook's race in CA-46, showed that Democrats are beginning to be taken a lot more seriously in Orange County.
It turns out that Rep. Ken Calvert likes having it both ways. He voted against the spending bill yet added 34 earmarks totaling more than $42 million to it.
When asked about adding those earmarks to the bill, Calvert said, "That doesn't obligate me to vote for the spending."
Calvert also voted against the Stimulus Bill and then came home for a series of town hall meetings where he touted the new projects and jobs the bill would bring.
"House Republicans are saying one thing in Washington and then something completely different in California. It's the height of hypocrisy," said Andy Stone, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
I'm getting tired of hearing Mr. Calvert complain about spending after he voted to bailout banks and corporate CEOs to the tune of $700 billion with no oversight, and who repeatedly voted to spend a budget-busting trillion dollars in Iraq.
The argument is ridiculous - eight years of out of control spending by the Republicans and suddenly they are the party of fiscal responsibility? Do they honestly believe we will fall for that?
Previously in this series:
For one thing, Mr. Calvert has been a strong proponent of the toll roads in South Orange County. He supported the route through San Onofre State Beach and the Don O'Neill Conservancy. That plan was dead but the extension seems to be coming back to life. I certainly think the first plan was disastrous, and I'm opposed to that extension. Any extension of the road at all needs to be done closely in concert with the environmental community as well as the residents, and all of the options examined. But frankly, I think more can be done with the 5, and that's what we need to be looking at. I don't think it's a really viable plan to go after the Marine Corps to try to do a land swap, because that's got a new set of problems that will be attached to it. So that's an issue that we'd like to hold off on, and look for better solutions than the extension.
the issue of grade separation is huge. Essentially, that's the railroads that rumble through this city. We need to have underpasses constructed, or overpasses. But mostly... if you can imagine a two-mile train coming to a slow stop, tying up, basically splitting the city. And if you're in an ambulance on one side and the hospital is on the other side, you've got a problem. Trains are going to become longer and they're going to be in greater frequency. So I would certainly do everything I could to access the transportation dollars necessary to complete the projects that the city of Riverside needs in order to ensure safety of the local citizens as well as the free flow of traffic.
And I think that we can make a compelling case that our Congressman is out of touch. He has neglected this disicttr for years, and is trying to make up for years of neglect with a truly huge barrage of mail, phone,
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So, I spent a big chunk of last Saturday at the grand opening of 
June's primary. (This is Chris pictured with his family to the far right, in front of reeds not unlike those near which the baby Moses was found.) I'll be interviewing Chris as we get closer to the primary, but his website lists other Calvert transgressions I might not have thought of otherwise: 
OCP: ...And yet family comes with its own complications. For example, your daughters tell me they've got you listening to Lady Gaga now, and even singing her songs. Hedrick: (laughing) Yeah. It's true. I confess. I guess I have graduated from Madonna to Lady Gaga. OCP: Well, I'm pretty sure that's progress. Anyway, I was mostly wondering how your sons are doing, though. Are they both still in Iraq? Hedrick: I've got one son and daughter-in-law in Iraq, and they're on their third deployments. My other son and his wife are both back. That daughter-in-law Evelyn did two tours in Baghdad, and my son did one that was interrupted by a heat stroke in Iraq. H
e's in the National Guard now, in California. OCP: Yeah, I read about that when it happened, and it was listed as a "near-fatal heat-related incident," and at first I thought "Oh shit, he got burned up," but then I realized it was probably weather-related. And then I started to think, that probably happens to a lot of guys out there, and some of them die, and I bet they're not even included in our official toll of 4300 or whatever... Hedrick: They have a lot of heat injuries there... OCP: Deaths? Hedrick: Yeah, yeah, they've had deaths there. In his unit they had, on the same day, two heat injuries. They were out on patrol... OCP: Their Kevlar on, and... Hedrick: Yeah, and inadequate water, and that's what happened. But he was very lucky. His body temperature was 108 degrees, and it should have been either fatal or permanent damage. OCP: Do we count "heat-related deaths" with official fatalities? Hedrick: No. OCP: I didn't think so. There are so many things they leave off - they don't count all the suicides, all the accidents, the deaths from disease, I don't think they count friendly fire...
Hedrick: No, I don't think so. OCP: So our fatalities out there are WAY over the 4300. Hedrick: Well, they don't count these injuries either. You know, there are 18 and 19-year olds out there in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also with the National Guard units you got guys who are 35 and 40 and 45 and older, and those very severe conditions, especially when you're bumping around in the back of a non-air-conditioned transport, can be really extreme. So... I'm surprised they don't have more of those issues. OCP: Yeah, they sweep those things under the carpet. Okay, let's talk about the war. Or wars... 
