VANDENBERG FOR CONGRESS
Louis Vandenberg - Democrat
California's 44th Congressional District
Encompassing western Riverside County and southern Orange County

"Restoring Balance to American Politics”

My Opponent

From the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Research Staff.
This is a comprehensive and linked review of the career of Ken Calvert from SourceWatch:

What will Ken Calvert put on the Auction Block next?

• Rep. Calvert voted against cracking down on the oil and gas industries price gouging.
• Rep. Calvert voted for the GOP energy bill that gave billions to oil, gas and nuclear industries.
• Big oil and gas industries have given Rep. Calvert $149,399. Any surprise?

• Rep. Calvert voted to strip overtime protection from millions of workers.
• Rep. Calvert voted to allow federal loans to American companies that have escaped paying U.S. taxes by moving offshore.

• Big drug interests have given $49,865 to Calvert over the Representative's career. They know who their friends are.
• Rep. Calvert voted for the GOP Medicare Prescription Drug Bill that will give billions to businesses and the health care industry, while forcing seniors to accept annual increases in premiums and deductibles and a growing gap in coverage for the prescription drugs they buy.
• Rep. Calvert voted against allowing millions of Americans to save their hard-earned dollars on prescription drugs by re-importing them from Canada, even though these were U.S. made and patient safety was ensured.

• Calvert received $1,629 from House Majority Leader John Boehner's "Freedom Project" PAC.
• Calvert voted with President Bush 90% of the time.
• Calvert voted the GOP party line 97% of the time.

• $1,020 from Tom DeLay's ARMPAC.

• Voted to weaken House ethics rules when DeLay proposed doing so as GOP Majority Leader.
• Voted with Tom DeLay 93% of the time (through 3/31/2006)

• Rep. Calvert voted to continue awarding contracts to Halliburton even if the Pentagon's own audit processes found that more than $100 million of their contractor's costs in Iraq were unreasonable. No surprise that Halliburton gave Calvert $5,500.
• Rep. Calvert opposed expanding access to the military's TRICARE health insurance program to thousands of Reservist and National Guard members, even though 20 percent of all Reservists do not have health insurance, and 40 percent of Reservists aged 19 to 35 lack health coverage.
• Rep. Calvert voted against granting a bonus to grant a $1,500 bonus to every American service member serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, including National Guard and Reserve forces.

• 1,861 water systems in 29 states have been contaminated with MTBE, exposing as many as 45 million Americans to this potential carcinogen, but Rep. Calvert voted to protect the companies responsible from lawsuits by communities that need their help to clean up these systems.
• Rep. Calvert voted against bipartisan reform of the Endangered Species Act.
• Rep. Calvert voted for a massive sell off of public lands to mining interests.

• While tuition costs are rising for ordinary Americans, Rep. Calvert voted to cut Federal student aid by $12.7 billion -- the biggest such cuts in history.

This is a comprehensive and linked review of the career of Ken Calvert from SourceWatch:

Bio

Calvert was born June 8, 1953 in Corona, California. He was educated at San Diego State University, and was a restaurant manager and business owner before entering the House.

Congressional career

Ken Calvert was first elected in 1992 to his position representing the Inland Empire area of Southern California. He was re-elected in 1994 with 55% of the vote, again in 1996 with 55% of the vote, in 1998 with 55% of the vote. He was uncontested in 2000.

2006 elections

In 2006, the Democrats nominated Louis Vandenberg to face Calvert in his November 2006 bid for reelection. (See U.S. congressional elections in 2006) [1]

Meet the Cash Constituents

The links below point to campaign finance information for Ken Calvert from the Open Secrets website, sponsored by the Center for Responsive Politics:

Current election cycle

• Fundraising profile

• Top contributors

• Top industries supporting Ken Calvert

Career totals (beginning with election to Congress)

• Fundraising profile

• Top contributors

• Top industries supporting Ken Calvert

Controversy

Earmarks

On June 8, 2006 Roll Call reported that the FBI had sent an agent from its Riverside, Calif. offices "to the Cannon House Office Building to retrieve the records of the lawmakers and advisers."[2] The FBI has also searched through Calvert's financial records from 1999 to 2004. The search of Calvert's records came eight days after the Los Angeles Times reported that Calvert made a 79% profit on a land deal after earmarking funds that helped drive up the price of his property.[3]

Land Deal

In 2005 Calvert and a partner, Woodrow Harpole, Jr., purchased a "dusty four-acre parce just south of March Air Reserve Base" for $550,000.[4] After the purchase Calvert wrote a number of earmarks that improved infrastructure around his property that significantly increased it's value. Calvert secured $8 million to improve a major freeway interchange and a $1.5 million earmark to "support commercial development of the area around the airfield."[5]

The earmarks were included in the 2005 highway bill that President Bush signed on August 10, 2005. A few months after the bill was signed Calvert and his partner sold the property for $985,000 -- a 79% profit.[6]

Bill Lowery

Calvert's top political campaign contributor in the 2004 election cycle, at $10,600, was the law firm of Copeland Lowery Jacquez & White. Since 1999, the firm has given Calvert nearly $30,000 in contributions. [7] The law firm is known for its involvement in a federal investigation into the earmarking practices of Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis. Calvert has been noted to have "secured funds for a number of projects pushed by campaign contributors, including employees of the Washington lobbying firm of Copeland Lowery & Jacquez".[8]

Principally as a result of these earmarking scandals, Calvert was named in 2006 by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington as one of the twenty most corrupt US legislators. [9]

Connections to Randy "Duke" Cunningham

In December of 2004 Calvert accompanied Duke Cunningham and one of Cunningham's alleged bribers Thomas Kontagiannis to Saudi Arabia, ostensibly to "promote better relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia."[10] Calvert has insisted that he did not know they would be picking up Kontagiannis, who has previously been convicted twice on bribery charges. The congressman said, "If I had known his background, I wouldn't have felt very comfortable, but I didn't know."[11]

Calvert has also received $10,500 from another alleged Cunningham briber, Brent Wilkes and his associates.

Caught with a Prostitute

On November 28, 1993, Calvert was caught by a police officer with a prostitute in his car. Calvert was parked on the side of the road, seemingly asleep, when a police officer pulled up behind and spotlit the interior of the vehicle.[12] As the officer approached the vehicle he saw a woman sit upright in the passenger seat. "It appeared as if her head were originally laying in the driver's lap," the officer would write in the police report.[13] The officer observed a woman with wearing unbuttoned and unzipped cut-off jean-shorts and the driver, Calvert, attempt to cover himself up before he put the car in drive and attempted to drive away. After three warnings by the officer Calvert stopped the car. Calvert stated that he was just talking with the woman.[14] The police asked to speak to the woman, Lore Lorena Lindberg, and discovered that she was a convicted prostitute with a heroin problem.[15] Calvert was not charged with any crime.[16]

Committees and Affiliations

• House Committee on Armed Services
  • Subcommittee on Projection Forces
  • Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces
• House Committee on Resources
  • Subcommittee on Water and Power
• House Committee on Science
  • Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics - Chair

• Calvert is a member of The Republican Main Street Partnership.

More Background Data

• Background information on Ken Calvert from Project Vote Smart

• Interest group scorecard ratings for Ken Calvert from Project Vote Smart

• Voting record for Ken Calvert from the Washington Post database

• Information on Ken Calvert from Congress Merge

http://www.citizensforethics.org/press/newsrelease.php?view=156

CREW RELEASES SECOND ANNUAL MOST CORRUPT MEMBERS OF CONGRESS REPORT

2006 Edition Includes Five Members to Watch in 109th Congress

Washington, DC – Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) released its second annual report on the most corrupt members of Congress entitled Beyond DeLay: The 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (and five to watch). This encyclopedic report on corruption in the 109th Congress documents the egregious, unethical and possibly illegal activities of the most tainted members of Congress. CREW has compiled the members’ transgressions and analyzed them in light of federal laws and congressional rules.

Two members have been removed from last year’s list of 13. Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-CA) is now serving an eight-year jail term for bribery and Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) has agreed to plead guilty to crimes that will likely result in a minimum two-year prison term.

CREW has also re-launched the report’s tandem website, www.beyonddelay.org. The site offers short summaries of each member’s transgressions as well as the full-length profiles and all accompanying exhibits.

CREW’s Most Corrupt Members of Congress:
Members of the Senate:
Conrad Burns (R-MT)
Bill Frist (R-TN)
Rick Santorum (R-PA)

Members of the House:
Alan Mollohan (D-WV)
Roy Blunt (R-MO)
Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO)
Ken Calvert (R-CA)
Richard Pombo (R-CA)
John Doolittle (R-CA)
Rick Renzi (R-AZ)
Tom Feeney (R-FL)
Pete Sessions (R-TX)
Katherine Harris (R-FL)
John Sweeney (R-NY)
William Jefferson (D-LA)
Charles Taylor (R-NC)
Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
Maxine Waters (D-CA)
Gary Miller (R-CA)
Curt Weldon (R-PA)

Five Members to Watch:
Chris Cannon (R-UT)
J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ)
Dennis Hastert (R-IL)
John Murtha (D-PA)
Don Sherwood (R-PA)

“CREW created this exhaustive go-to guide on corruption in Congress to expose and hold accountable those members of Congress who believe they are above the law,” Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW said today. “The officials named in this report have chosen to enrich themselves and their families and friends by abusing the power of their office, rather than work for the public good. Their collective corruption affects all Americans.”

An August 2006 Harris poll shows that 77% of Americans have a negative view of Congress and a May 2006 Gallup poll indicates that 83% of Americans consider corruption a serious issue.

Sloan continued, “Congress persists in abdicating its constitutional responsibility to police itself, opting to ignore the ethical and legal transgressions of its members. Luckily for the public, at least the Department of Justice still believes that political corruption is worth pursuing.”

Several other members’ careers have been tarnished or destroyed by their corrupt activities. In addition to Reps. Ney and Cunningham, former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) has been indicted in Texas and is facing possible federal indictment in the Jack Abramoff scandal and Reps. William Jefferson (D-LA), Jerry Lewis (R-CA), Alan Mollohan (D-WV), as well as Sens. Conrad Burns (R-MT) and Bill Frist (R-TN) are now under federal investigation.


***

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a non-profit, legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their actions.
For more information, please visit www.citizensforethics.org or contact Naomi Seligman Steiner at 202.408.5565/press@citizensforethics.org.

http://www.beyonddelay.org/summaries/calvert.php

Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)

Ken Calvert is a seventh-term member of Congress, representing the 44th district of California. His ethics issues stem from his use of earmarks for personal gain and his connections to a lobbying firm under investigation.

Earmarking for Personal Financial Benefit

In 2005, Rep. Calvert and his real estate partner, Woodrow Harpole Jr., paid $550,000 for a four acre piece of land at Martin Street and Seaton Avenue in Perris, just 4 miles south of the March Air Reserve Base in California. Less than a year after buying the land, without making any improvements to the run down parcel, they sold the property for $985,000, a 79% increase. During this period, Rep. Calvert pushed through an earmark to secure $8 million for an overhaul and expansion of a freeway interchange 16 miles from the property, as well as an additional $1.5 million for commercial development in the area around the airfield.

In another deal, a group of investors bought property a few blocks from the site of a proposed interchange, for $975,000. Within six months, after the earmark for the interchange was appropriated, the parcel of land sold for $1.45 million. Rep. Calvert’s firm received a commission on the sale.

By using his position to earmark funds to increase the value of his own property, Rep. Calvert violated the prohibition against using his position as a member of Congress to advance his own financial interests. as well as the House rule requiring all members of the House to conduct themselves “at all times in a manner that reflects creditably on the House.”

Relationship with Lobbying Firm

The lobbying firm of Copeland, Lowery, Jacquez, Denton and White is (“Copeland Lowery”) currently under investigation by a federal grand jury for its ties to Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA). On May 23, 2006, as part of its investigation into Rep. Lewis’ ties to Mr. Lowery, the FBI obtained Rep. Calvert’s financial records at the same time that they pulled Rep. Lewis’s financial records. Rep. Calvert has helped pass through at least 13 earmarks sought by Copeland Lowery in 2005, adding up to over $91 million.

An investigation should be launched into whether Rep. Calvert violated federal law or House rules by taking money for his campaigns in exchange for earmarks to help the clients of Copeland Lowery.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT ON REP. KEN CALVERT (R-CA)

A Look at Ken Calvert's Record in Congress

Ken Calvert was elected to Congress in 1992 by a margin of 519 votes. Since then, he's kept a fairly low profile in congress. So what exactly has he done? Let's take a look.

Voting Record

Ken Calvert is gifted by a personality so pleasant and affable that many mistake him as a moderate Republican. But, Calvert's voting record indicates that he is a genuine right-winger – one of the most conservative members of Congress. Moreover, he has almost never strayed from the Republican Party line, as directed by the Texan Republican political cartel run by boss Tom Delay, who is regarded by many as something of an extremist. Calvert appears to follow DeLay's Texan dictates, regardless of the best interests of the residents of western Riverside County in Southern California.

ProgressivePunch.org ( http://www.progressivepunch.org ) gives Calvert a 5.10 rating (out of a scale of 100, with 100 being the most progressive and 0 being the least progressive), which puts him 330 out of 435 House members. To place him in context with some of his fellow southern California Republican House members, Calvert is to the right of Jerry Lewis (251), Mary Bono (257), Dana Rohrbacher (278) and Ed Royce (294). He is also near well-known wingers such as Randy “Duke” Cunningham (342), Clinton impeachment House Manager Steve Buyer (349), and another Impeachment House Manger Chris Cannon (378).

So what positions has Ken Calvert taken on the issues during the past several years?

During the current 108 th Congress (2003-2004), Calvert voted for legislation that limited women's reproductive rights, slashed taxes for corporations and the wealthy, advanced poorly-crafted and outsource-promoting trade agreements with Chile and Singapore, offered up school vouchers for the so-called religious right, furthered the pork-ridden energy bill and provided crucial support for the infamous Medicare prescription drug bill that is in effect an enormous give-away to the pharmaceutical industry and an enormous disservice to senior citizens.

In addition, during that same period, Calvert voted against legislation that would have protected public employees from religious discrimination, protected mine workers from increased levels of respirable coal dust (the source of black lung disease) and prevented 8 million Federal workers from becoming ineligible for overtime pay.

During the 107 th Congress (2001-2002), Calvert voted for legislation that gave the President the go-ahead to wage war in Iraq – an historic error of epic proportion, handed the wealthiest individuals and corporations unprecedented tax cuts (goodbye balanced budgets), exempted the Department of Defense from complying with certain environmental regulations, limited reproductive rights and denied employees within the newly-created Department of Homeland Security from joining a union and limited the ability of victims of medical malpractice to recoup damages in civil suits.

On the flip side, Calvert voted against legislation that reformed campaign finance; provided food stamps for poor children, the disabled, refugees and legal permanent residents. He voted against legislation that would have required the newly-created Department of Homeland Security to comply with civil service employment rules, Freedom of Information Act requests and whistleblower protections.

Ken Calvert did what Texas told him to do.

Local Initiatives

Relieving Traffic Congestion

By his own admission, Calvert says traffic congestion is the main concern of residents of western Riverside County.

“I know it's frustrating; I live it every day,” he told The Press-Enterprise in February 2004.

So given the need for more commuter lanes on Highway 91, greater availability of rail and bus alternatives, and more quality jobs in Riverside County so residents don't have to commute to Los Angeles and Orange counties, what has Ken Calvert done to relieve traffic congestion?

He got Federal money to widen a single off ramp in Corona on Highway 91.

This remarkable legislative feat prompted The Press-Enterprise to gush effusively that Calvert “was actively involved in seeking solutions for Inland commuters' problems on gridlocked Highway 91,” when they endorsed him for re-election in October 2002.

Anyone who has had the misfortune of being stuck in the “Corona Crawl” on Highway 91 during rush hour knows that widening an off-ramp could hardly be considered a solution for easing the gridlock. So, it is a bit mysterious why Calvert could be considered, “actively involved in seeking solutions for Inland commuters' problems on gridlocked Highway 91” given the nightmarish nature of the congestion on the Riverside Freeway.

Furthermore, one wonders what the difference in traffic congestion on Highway 91 would be if Calvert hadn't done anything to begin with. What difference has Calvert made in over ten years of “active involvement?” One widened off-ramp has done nothing to assuage the millions of wasted commuter hours, over-heated, sitting wastefully in a baking inland freeway snarl. Is it any wonder that the “Inland Empire” is the road-rage capital of the United States?

(Sources: “Traffic, bases among hopefuls' concerns,” The Press-Enterprise , February 14, 2004; “Editorials,” The Press-Enterprise , October 29, 2002)

Sponsored Legislation

The following are actual bills Congressman Ken Calvert sponsored or co-sponsored in the House of Representatives in both the 107 th Congress (2001-2002) and the 108 th Congress (2003-2004).

CalFed

Ken Calvert often touts his “leadership” on CalFed legislation in the House of Representatives as a prime example of his effectiveness as a Congressman. However, a closer examination of his record on CalFed prompts some major questions about just how “successful” he has been.

CalFed is a major water plan that was first envisioned in the 1990s as a partnership between California and the Federal Government that would enhance the availability of water for California. The State-Federal partnership (hence the name “CalFed”) is charged with improving the water storage and delivery systems, enhancing water quality and protecting the environmental health of the Bay-Delta region that acts as a critical juncture in the state's water resource system.

For the past decade, the California Congressional Delegation has been trying to get legislation through Congress that would authorize the project and appropriate money for its provisions. As the chair of the House Resources subcommittee on Water and Power, Calvert has been the point man for the project. But his leadership in shepherding the CalFed legislation has been lackluster to say the least.

For the past four years, Calvert has been trying to move the legislation through the House. However, his efforts had been thwarted by his inability to both line up support from the House Republican leadership and reach a compromise agreement that was acceptable to Democrats.

After years of trying and failing, Calvert finally got the House to approve his CalFed legislation in July (H.R. 2828). But the bad news is that the CalFed legislation has met immediate resistance in the Senate due to objections to several of the provisions Calvert insisted on including in the House bill.

The most prominent point of contention concerns language that Calvert personally inserted into the bill that gives unprecedented authority to Department of the Interior officials to move forward with multi-million and multi-billion dollar water projects without the approval of Congress. This delegation of legislative powers to the executive branch undermines the integrity of the system of “checks and balances,” the separation of powers as codified in the Constitution, and not surprisingly, a number of Senators have already gone on record stating that they will not vote for CalFed as long as that provision is still in the legislation. Moreover, the inclusion of this unnecessary language (should it actually make its way into law) will likely draw numerous legal challenges, and thus stall any progress towards enhancing the supply of water for future generations of Californians.

But regardless of whether or not the Senate takes action on Calvert's bill, CalFed has some glaring flaws and is likely headed for oblivion. In August 2004, CalFed was singled out in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's California Performance Review ( http://report.cpr.ca.gov/cprrpt/issrec/inf/inf08.htm ) as inadequately serving the water needs of the state and being in need of major reforms. The report noted that while more than $2.6 billion in mostly state money has been spent on CalFed since 2002, little has been done in terms of documenting where that money has gone. Moreover, the review noted that CalFed does not include enough performance measures to ensure that the project is functioning properly.

But, the most prominent deficiency in CalFed, as identified in the report, is the lack of long term Federal financing for the project. In other words, California's Congressional representatives are not going to bat for what is unquestionably the most important infrastructure project in the state. Ken Calvert, who chairs the House Resources subcommittee on Water and Power and is on the House Republican Steering Committee, arguably bears the most personal responsibility for failing to provide the leadership necessary to get CalFed through Congress and in a manner that ensures that taxpayer money is being used effectively and responsibly.

Because of the legislation's unnecessary provisions, lack of accountability measures and a lack of leadership on the part of its House sponsor, CalFed appears to be destined for the dustbin in the Senate. This means that California will have to start at square one again in January and be once again left without a secure Federal commitment to ensure that the state's water supply will meet the growing needs of California.

Make no mistake: California's water supply is already stretched to its practical limits and the state desperately needs a comprehensive water program to meet the growing challenges and needs of the 21 st Century. However, saddling taxpayers with a multi-billion dollar boondoggle of a project that fails to deliver what it said it would do is bad policy.

Calvert's ill-starred CalFed legislation seems headed towards a soggy legislative graveyard. CalFed will give us nothing, but gives Calvert the ability to say he's doing something, to appear to be serving his constituents without having to—or being able to—produce any meaningful results in the real world—the real world we live in that really needs water. This is the Calvert modus operandi.

Meanwhile, California continues to grow and demand continues to take its toll on the state's water resources and infrastructure. Inserting egregious give-away provisions into crucial legislation is a bad practice, particularly when it involves something as essential as water, and this very well might have sabotaged important legislation that would have benefited California.

(Sources: “House OKs Bill to Boost Water Flows” Los Angeles Times , July 10, 2004; Congressional Record, July 9, 2004, pp. H5416-H5440; California Performance Review, Section IV, INF 08)

Invest in Space Now Act of 2003

On June 5, 2003, Ken Calvert introduced the “Invest in Space Now Act of 2003” (H.R. 2358) in the House. This clumsily named bill would offer lavish tax credits of up to $950 million annually for the purchase of “space transportation vehicle provider stock” (i.e. multi-million dollar aerospace projects). Like most Republican sponsored tax bills, it raids the Federal treasury to reward corporations for doing what they would otherwise do irregardless if the government gave them a tax credit or not. Not surprisingly, aerospace corporations have contributed large amounts of money to Calvert's re-election campaign. These corporate entities include Boeing ($5,000—the maximum allowable contribution), General Dynamics ($2,500), Loral Space and Communications ($3,500), Raytheon ($2,000) and United Space Alliance—a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin ($2,000).

The underpinning of this legislation is the classic Republican concept of “trickled-on economics”—heap boat loads of money on corporations and the rich, and hope some of that splashes down on the working and middle class. The good news is that this bill has been stuck in committee since the day Calvert introduced it and it appears likely that it will be tabled for the rest of the 108 th Congress. But what does this say about Ken Calvert and who he is willing to shill for in the House of Representatives?

(Source: “2003 H.R. 2358”)

Community Choice in Real Estate Act

Ken Calvert, one of the National Association of Realtors' favorite members of Congress, has introduced bills both in the 107 th Congress (H.R. 3424) and the 108 th Congress (H.R. 111) that would keep banks out of the real estate brokerage and management business. The objective of this legislation, dubbed the “Community Choice in Real Estate Act,” is not to give consumers more choices, but in fact to protect real estate agents from competition. Isn't competition supposed to be a good thing – the American way?

But the bigger question is whether or not this has anything to do with improving the lives of the residents of western Riverside County? Or is it about placating the needs of special interests who happen to be some of Calvert's most generous campaign contributors?

(Source: “2001H.R. 3424,” “2003 H.R. 111”)

Potpourri

A Random Collection of classic Ken Calvert highlights

Term Limits

1992: While campaigning for Congress, Calvert vows that, if elected, he will serve no more than six terms.

2003: Announced that he will seek a seventh term in 2004.

(Source: “Calvert seeks another term,” The Press-Enterprise , Feb. 28, 2003)

Opposition to Global Warming Treaty

“In 1997, as chairman of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee of Science, Calvert opposed the Clinton administration's support of the global warming protocol then being negotiated in Kyoto, Japan.”

(Source: “ National Journal Almanac of American Politics – 2003 ”)

Defense of Bigotry

During a House debate on April 9, 2003 over a bill Ken Calvert co-sponsored that sought to limit the civil liability of firearms dealers and manufacturers (H.R. 1036), Rep. Barbara Cubin (R-Wyoming) said:

“I am going to tell you what. My sons are now 25 and 30, and they're blond-haired and blue-eyed. One amendment said we couldn't sell [guns] to anybody that was on drugs or had drug treatment or something like that. Well, so does that mean if you go into a black community, you can't sell any gun to any black person? Or does that mean that because my . . .”

Before Cubin could finish, Rep. Mel Watt (D-North Carolina) interrupted her to object to her characterization of the black community. Watt asked that Cubin's remarks be stricken from the Congressional Record, but she refused. Then Watt put his request to a vote. In a party line vote, Cubin prevailed 227 to 195. Ken Calvert was one of the 227 Republicans who voted to defend Cubin and her remarks.

(Source: Congressional Record, April 9, 2003, pp. H2989-H2990)

Ken Calvert Sticks Taxpayers With Bill for “Factually Challenged” Congressional Mailer

In early August 2004, Congressman Ken Calvert sent out a six-page glossy color fold-out 8 ½” x 11” mailer titled “ The Calvert Courier, ” which was printed and mailed at taxpayer expense, presumably to the hundreds of thousands of residents in Southern California's 44 th Congressional District, consisting of western Riverside and southern Orange counties. This mailer touts Calvert's recent activities in Congress, but mostly rolls out boilerplate Republican National Committee talking points and does so in a manner which is wanting for facts and substance. The question is begged: how does this very expensive mailer serve the citizenry at all and why should they pay for it?

This mailer was augmented by a single postcard in which Calvert advises residents in the 44 th Congressional District to register and vote. In that postcard, Calvert's name was in large typeface juxtaposed to a call for residents to register a vote. A cynical person might suggest that that this exhortation to good citizenship was a matter of secondary importance to its more important purpose: exposing his name to hundreds of thousands of constituents. The “register to vote” message appears to be only an excuse for the mailer. One can overlook the post-card as a not too costly politics-as-usual mailing. But, the new mailer raises serious issues of the appropriate use of taxpayer funds for what a common-sense person would see as a craven service to Calvert's partisan and personal interests in re-election, and not to the citizens per se.

Of course, it should come as no surprise that Calvert will assert he is only exercising his “Member Privileges” by sending out “ The Calvert Courier ” on the dime of the taxpayer, since members of Congress are afforded this “franking” privilege as part of their job. But, Calvert's mailer is—for all practical purposes—a reelection campaign piece, because of the highly partisan nature of the claims and statements made in the document.

Moreover, many of the assertions Calvert makes in his taxpayer-funded mailer are either highly dubious or contradict well-established facts. Democratic Congressional Candidate Louis Vandenberg cites examples of such claims below and offers his analysis of why Calvert's claims are misleading and not supported by factual evidence: