The endorsement meeting of the local chapter of the California
Republican Assembly was a group hug mostly, but congressional
candidates Thomas Benigno and Pete McCloskey were there, too.
Morgan Hill – The endorsement meeting of the local chapter of the California Republican Assembly was a group hug mostly, but congressional candidates Thomas Benigno and Pete McCloskey were there, too.
Before the event, Benigno, who’s taking a second run at U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, declared he didn’t want to be there and called the local CRA president a jerk and an idiot. When his turn came to speak, Benigno ignored his time limit, talking over a ringing bell for 30 seconds, and then stormed out when the event was delayed because McCloskey, a former Congressman also trying to unseat Pombo, was stuck in traffic.
“I’m not going to sit around for people who aren’t going to show up,” Benigno said, adding that the young aide there to represent Pombo was a “clown.”
When McCloskey finally arrived, he found the two dozen conservative Republicans gathered at the Holiday Inn Express in Morgan Hill an unwelcoming audience. The former Peninsula congressman traded barbs with the crowd over the Bush Administration’s foreign policy and Pombo’s stances on the environment and social issues. McCloskey was visibly irritated that his debate partner wasn’t his opponent but Pombo aide Dylan George, who was finishing up his first day working on the incumbent’s campaign.
“I don’t quite know how to explain this group. Conservatives used to be for small government, for limited spending. Conservatives believed the government stays out of the bedroom,” McCloskey said of the arch conservative CRA members.
Pombo has been targeted this year by the Democrats, who, along with McCloskey, a Vietnam veteran who helped craft the Endangered Species Act, are accusing the congressman of turning his back on veterans and highlighting his ties to indicted U.S. Rep. Tom Delay, the Texas Republican who announced his retirement this week, and convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Thursday night, the local CRA endorsed Pombo, along with a slate of candidates running unopposed in Republican primaries in other races. Michael Morrison, a Marina City Councilman, won their support to unseat Assemblyman John Laird, a Democrat who represents Morgan Hill and San Martin. And the group voted to back Ignacio Velazquez, a Hollister businessman to represent Gilroy in the Assembly seat being vacated by Simón Salinas, D-Salinas.
