.
.
.
A couple weeks ago, Cogressman Lou Correa was furious with me, calling my friends (but not me!) demanding that I take down my story accusing him (and Assemblyman Tom Daly) of “supporting Trump deportations and ICE in OC jails.”
Well, what other conclusions are we supposed to draw from those two politicians endorsing, and managing to help elect, a new OC Sheriff (Don Barnes) who opposes California’s Sanctuary State Law and does what he legally can to skirt it and co-operate with ICE?
Well, last week Lou continued his mixed signals on the immigration issue, signing a letter (his spokesman claims, “leading 20 Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus”) urging the new Democratic majority to pass legislation granting DACA and TPS-recipients a pathway to citizenship within the first 100 days, and also work toward comprehensive reform. We agree with this letter:
Dear Leader Pelosi:
As we prepare for the 116th Congress, we urge you to bring legislation that would put Dreamers and individuals with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) on a pathway to citizenship to the House Floor within the first hundred days. Bringing such legislation to a vote would end the uncertainty that is currently plaguing more than 3.5 million people by one count – not to mention their families and communities – with these temporary and tenuous statuses.
Currently, there are nearly 3.2 million Dreamers in the United States. Though the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program has provided approximately 800,000 Dreamers with temporary protection since its inception in 2012, it is by no means a permanent solution and has been continuously challenged in the courts by the current Administration. Our Dreamers deserve the certainty to plan out their lives, so that they can stop living in fear and continue contributing to our nation. (Read the rest of the letter here.)
Yes, all of that should be definitely passed ASAP by the new Democratic Congress, though it’s pretty far-fetched to think it would survive the Senate and President Trump. In any case, as long as this President, who’s found his political purpose in demonizing immigrants, is in power, California is going to need its Sanctuary State Law, and it does not help for the OC to be stuck four years with a Sheriff who resents that law and finds passive-aggressive ways to skirt it.
If Lou Correa really cares about the immigrants in the majority-Latino district he represents, he needs to re-think the cute & clever politics that he’s perfected over the decades, and stop fucking up the progress we progressives and Democrats are trying so hard to achieve in this county.
I’m informed that Leu Correa doesn’t like the term that I’ve applied to him and Tom Daly — “Demaphrodites” — to describe their exhibiting characteristics of each of the two leading political parties. (This as opposed to the term that leads me to spell his first name as I do.) But what else can one do when the con job he’s pulling on what he seems to believe is a profoundly stupid public is this transparent?
(1) Call for significant reform when it is completely clear that it will not be enacted.
(2) Act *against* significant reform when it might be enacted (and he thus be held accountable.)
(3) Take symbolic stances (trip to the border!) that burnish his image without affecting policy.
(4) Use his influence to promote a blend of Democratic and Republican candidates upon which he can call for support when he needs it — as Chumley did at the last DPOC meeting he was facing censure for promoting Barnes by asserting that he had also done much to promote Cottie Petrie-Norris. (And maybe he did! Good for him. He has minimal influence in that district, and as one of the hardest-working candidates in this past election she didn’t really need him to turn out the Democratic vote.)
Correa is *not* the worst Democratic member of Congress — as our local anonymous character assassins falsely quote me as alleging — in the sense that Tom Daly is without question the worst Democratic member of the Assembly. If he were running against David Valadao in the Central Valley, I’d endorse him without compunction and suffer through those moments when he might be the deciding vote on a Congressional bill. But he’s taking up valuable real estate in CA-46, which leans so decidedly blue that it could be represented by someone fantastic. And he absolutely does have the blood of Barnes’s election over Nguyen on his hands — and we can only hope that Vietnamese voters will neither forget nor forgive that.
Hmmm…was troubled by this when I first saw it, and guess I still am. We’ll see where Lou stands better now that he’s on offense rather than defense, but his actions make sense to me.
“(1) Call for significant reform when it is completely clear that it will not be enacted” – precious little the House legislates this term will pass the Senate, let alone to the president’s desk. Stage setting for 2020 will require nuance – what passes California won’t play so well in Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, etc. Dems need to put something forward that can boost prospects in those battleground states: better a moderate stance that can win than a progressive one that brings 4 more years of the Rump.
I wish other states saw the wisdom of the California Values Act – but the OC opposed sanctuary, and we’ve got work to do to sway this county.
“(2) Act *against* significant reform when it might be enacted (and he thus be held accountable.)”
What are you referring to there? Since his election to Congress, I see nothing deserving complaint. I attended one of his <A HREF="https://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-three-arrested-at-rep-lou-correa-1496250254-htmlstory.html"town halls to hear what he had to say about immigration, liked what I heard (missed the ruckus though – probably a different event). Can’t speak to his earlier days, but in county or state posts, California cannot outpace Congress too far without running into a Thomas/Alito/Roberts/Gorsuch/Kavanaugh-sized roadblock.
Perhaps this quote sums up Correa’s posture (from American Prospect: “You don’t separate children from their parents, that’s a given. But if we’re going to debate morality, well, the president will say that kind of policy is OK, while we say it’s immoral,” says Correa. “But when you talk about inefficient spending and waste, that’s different. That’s something everyone can agree on.”
He’s right. Sound strategy.
“(4) Use his influence to promote a blend of Democratic and Republican candidates upon which he can call for support when he needs it”
I liked what I saw of Nguyen, and would like to see more of him in the OC. Perhaps in 2022, Dems will have a deeper machine in place – one that can spend $1.2m for a sheriff race. That might have swayed Correa’s endorsements. If all six Dem members of Congress survive 2020, the ground will finally be laid and by then, a cadre of operators in place to start taking more countywide seats.
But an awful lot is riding on Sanchez’s prospects in March – and given how the primary turned out, and how few Dems vote outside the general, there’s a lot of work left to be done.
Lou Correa & Tom Daly
Democratic-Republicans
You keep saying that. And I keep saying that’d be a good thing, if they showed the positive qualities of either party.
You tarnish Anaheim’s reputation with your choice of pseudonym. Write back and let us know what you’d like to change it to; otherwise, we’ll choose something.
No-one said anything about working across the “isle,” doofus. We’re talking about standing for no discernible values.
*Lou better watch his backside. Lou needs to go full throttle for the DACA kids and identify, each and every one of them in his district – as all the new Congress folks elected in November must do immediately. They better show that they want to move forward without trepidation. If they show any sense of hesitation……they could lose in the next election cycle. The people of The OC want action, not nonsense. As Bill Cosby said about his mom: “I brought you into this world….and I can take you OUT!:
His (remaining) hair looks like a butt plug
*Lou is actually Wiley Coyote…..and everyone he talks to are considered by him as the Roadrunner! We are still waiting for an invite to the Christmas Party. Haven’t gotten one yet! Guess we are not D-Listers.
Lou has always had a clear field in which he could be the darling of the OCGOP. Things are different now that he is in the House. There are many real progressive potentials in the district.
Loretta has always maintained her place in OC by being quite generous with democratic candidates in OC by endorsing them and then donating to their campaign (Minimum $500 dollars. And if you were a person in the know her endorsement also came with the in kind gift of freee literature from Local 12.
Lou has always been extremely tight with his endorsements and to my knowledge never donated a penny to dem candidates for wer office. He has a much different environment today and that should cause him concern. But ill bet $5 it doesn’t.
*Yeah, we like Loretta to fill Shawn’s shoes.
*Just saw Lou on CNN or MSNBC…..what’s this all about? Guess Lou is positioning himself for a good seat on the Judiciary Committee…eh?
What was he talking about, immigration? I heard that my stories along with the DPOC censure over the same thing are really getting under his skin.
*Lou….doing his outrage about nothing….as usual. We never got his point. Maybe he can come back on and do it again? Either that or you could call
his office and ask: “What’s zup?”