Duncan Hunter to Soldier on to Republican Convention

With his quixotic campaign for the Republican nomination only receiving on 1.3% of Republican primary voters to date, Duncan Hunter continues to fight on.[Link] So far Hunter has collected just one delegate, far short of the 1191 needed to obtain the nomination.[Link] He might want to step up the campaign if he wants to win the nomination.

Duncan Wanders onto MSNBC Show

Via TPM: This morning Duncan Hunter walked onto the MSNBC show Morning Joe to plug the fact that he had won one delegate Saturday in the Wyoming Caucus. Classy move Duncan!

Score One for Duncan

I guess Duncan Hunter's strategy to bypass the Iowa Caucuses in favor of the Wyoming Caucuses today paid off. The Congressman earned 9% of today's vote and 1 delegate [Link] toward the GOP nomination. He only need 1190 more to win the nomination.

Duncan Hunter No Longer has Access to Private Hunting Ground

It is no secret that Duncan Hunter is an avid sport hunter. For years now Hunter has tried to use his perch atop the House Armed Services Committee to turn Santa Rosa Island into his own private hunting club, denying access for visitors to that part of the Channel Islands National Park.

In 2005 he authored legislation that would turn the island over to the Department of Defense with the intention of allowing military personnel and their guests be able to hunt the dear and elk that non-native to the island.[Link] The bill sought to reverse a Federal court settlement between the island's previous owners Vail & Vickers who had sold the island to the National Park Service in 1986, and the National Parks Conservation Association. The settlement had agreed to a time table for the final removal of the non-native species from the island by 2011.[Link]

In reality, the bill was never about military personnel and veterans being able to use the island for hunting. The bill was intended for Duncan Hunter to cozy up to his fat cat Defense contractor buddies, so they could have an exclusive hunting area off the coast of California.

When control of Congress changed hands last year, Representative Lois Capps whose district includes the Channel Islands authored language to reverse Hunter's 2005 legislation. Hunter tried to save his private hunting ground by once again playing the veteran card:

Hunter, ... wanted to allow herds of deer and elk to remain indefinitely on remote Santa Rosa Island, possibly so that disabled veterans could hunt them....

"This is disappointing news, when considering this proposal was solely intended to benefit our nation's wounded and disabled service personnel," Hunter spokesman Joe Kasper said.[Link]

Support for Hunter's private hunting ground was thin at best;

Last year, representatives of the 21,000-member Paralyzed Veterans of America visited the island and were skeptical, saying rugged terrain and difficult access made it impractical for hunters in wheelchairs.[Link]

Yesterday, the House passed the half-trillion dollar Defense authorization bill, Representative Capps' language was included in the bill that now reverses Hunter's 2005 legislation and allows the Park Service to continue with the 1997 court settlement on the removal of the non-native species from the island.[Link]

Working the Fringe with Duncan Hunter

Over at The New Republic, editor Eve Fairbanks spends some time on the road with Duncan Hunter as he campaigns for the Republican Nomination. It has been a difficult time for the Hunter campaign as it tries to crack into the mainstream of the GOP presidential race. But in his case even cracking into the fringe appears to be a high hurdle for the campaign overcome. In the article titled "Plain Nuts" she portrays the campaign as:

traditionally ... people running for president with no support in the polls "vanity candidates." The Duncan Hunter campaign for the Republican nomination, though, feels more like the antidote to vanity.[Link]

She describes Hunter riding in a white convertible Corvette in a Veterans Day parade in Reno.

The parade's organizers have assigned him a slot at the end of the march, putting him behind Dennis Kucinich supporters, people banging saucepans in memory of Molly Ivins, a hayride truck filled with senior citizens labeled MARTIANS FOR PEACE, and, worst of all, a troupe of five cavalry re-enactors on horseback. Hunter, a military equipment nut, enjoyed hanging out with the cavalrymen before the parade, but, once they set off, their horses begin pooping profusely along the route. As Hunter's convertible starts to roll, it streaks piles of hot yellow horse dung under its wheels. "Eeewie!" a child screams.[Link]

Hunter isn't your typical fringe candidate. He does have an affable personality but has struggled to gain traction in the race.

A friend of Hunter once described him as "Pat Buchanan with a smile." Hunter has struggled just to break into the fringe. He has raised half as much money as Tom Tancredo and netted half the major-paper mentions of Dennis Kucinich over the past year. Apparently, becoming a successful marginal presidential candidate is harder than it looks.

* * *

But Hunter is not only too fringe to be mainstream; with his mild manner and good cheer, he is also too mainstream to be fringe.[Link]

With the California less 60-days away, I suspect that Duncan Hunter will be withdrawing from the presidential race the day after the primary. Maybe, he can make his concession speech from in front of the Midway aircraft carrier much like he did his announcement to run.

Supporters of OC Toll Road Dealt Major Blow

Congresswoman Susan Davis, has inserted a "rider" in the upcoming defense authorization bill. The rider "would require the Foothill/South Toll Road project to adhere to state environmental laws."[Link] This requirement would mean that the project would have to obtain a permit from the state Coastal Commission. In September, the commission issued a report that recommended the project be denied a permit.[Link]

Davis' rider has passed the last of the procedural hurdles and is now part of the full defense authorization bill that is head to the full House for consideration probably next week. The rider effectively reverses another rider from 2000 "by three Republican Congressmen – Duncan Hunter, Darrell Issa and Ken Calvert – who used the same mechanism to specifically exempt the toll road project from state and federal environmental laws."[Link]

Props go out to the Congresswoman for taking this important step in trying to save Trestles.

Duncan Jr. gets some cash from Rummy

According to Matt Potter in the Reader, Duncan Hunter Jr., who is running to fill his father's congressional seat received the max contribution from former SECDEF Donald Rumsfeld. In addition to cash from Rummy, Jr. also picked up a contribution from H. Ross Perot.[Link] It just shows that having access to daddy's rolodex doesn't hurt.

Monday - Quick Hits

The UT's Gerry Braun raises some questions for local pols to address now that the wildfires have passed. UT

James Goldsborough at VOSD asks the obvious question, that after having a two major wildfires in fours years in the county, maybe we should reconsider further sprawl development in the back county? VOSD

Fifth column conspiracy time: Metropolitan Water District to start fluoridation. UT

DiFi and Hunter grandstanding for more media time, call for changes in state's fire policy. UT

Better late than never, County of San Diego has setup an online form to register for cell phone for Reverse 911 call system. SDCNTY

Duncan channels B-1 Bob Dornan

Via Brad Blog: During the Republican Presidential debate at Morgan State University back on September 27th, you know the debate that the top four leading Republican Presidential candidates were too busy to attend. Our very own Duncan Hunter did his best to channel B-1 Bob Dornan. In response to the following question from Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Recently a push to give the District of Columbia voting representation was defeated because of heavy Republican opposition. In addition many voting rights advocates are worried about rigid voter ID laws which require photo ID like a drivers license. Are you concerned that some eligible voters will be denied theright to vote simply because they don't have a drivers license?[Link]

Representative Hunter's response was pretty pretty standard wingnut fare:

On the issue of allowing...mandating some type of ID, you know the first twenty-one black Congressmen were Republicans who came out of the South. And they went into a series, they went into a series of poll taxes and, and all types of...all types of...deals that the Democrats, roadblocks that the Democrats put in their place to keep them from voting. So I don't, I don't agree with those types of stumbling blocks. But I would say this: We have right now a real danger of people that are illegally in the country being rounded up, herded into the polls --- we've seen that in California --- voting illegally. That disenfranchises everybody in that community. I think you have to have some IDs.[Link]

Wow, I never knew I could feel nostalgic for B-1 Bob and all of his crazy statements.

UPDATE: Here is the YouTube clip from the debate.

Judge Forces Bilbray, Hunter, Issa to Disclose Soledad Cross Records

U.S. Judge John Bates in the DC District Court ruled yesterday that Representatives Bilbray, Hunter and Issa must provide some of their official documents to a Jewish Veterans group who filed suit last year. The veterans group is attempting to demonstrate that federal seizure of the land was designed to advance a religious goal.

The New York Sun runs through the decision:

Judge Bates said that by sponsoring a bill to federalize the cross, Messrs. Bilbray, Hunter, and Issa opened themselves up to the demand for records. "These members in particular had every reason to suspect that their words and deeds as the Act's sponsors would be the subject of post-enactment scrutiny; they played a high-profile role in the federal government's acquisition of a large Latin cross that had been the subject of extensive prior litigation, made numerous public statements, and boasted of their role in campaign literature," the judge wrote. "This Court's case-specific ruling allowing discovery from these three Members neither works an injustice to them nor opens a proverbial can of worms for legislators generally." Judge Bates's ruling was something of a split decision. He said the legislators were entitled to withhold records pertaining to "legislative acts" but had to disclose records about attempts they made to convince executive branch officials to seize the land by public domain. The judge also said records of contacts with local officials, citizens' groups, and the press might constitute "political activities" that are not protected from subpoena.

The ruling could reveal interesting insights or may land with a dull thud once the surrendered documents are reviewed. And while this is a case-specific ruling which does not directly carry precedent, it does mean that legislators in the future will not be able to count on the Speech and Debate clause as definite protection.

Cross posted at Calitics

Friday’s Menu Special: Honey-glazed Chicken served over Rice Pilaf

I don’t know if anyone caught last night’s GOP presidential debate from New Hampshire on Fox. Personally, I have better things to do with my time such as: getting a root canal rather than listening to these clowns drone on about “who is tougher on terrorists.” But I have to give it up to our own 52nd Congressional Representative, Duncan Hunter. In response to a question from Wendell Goler regarding the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and their indefinite detention:

The last time I looked at the menu, they had honey-glazed chicken and rice pilaf on Friday. That's how we treat the terrorists.

They've got health care that's better than most HMOs. And they got something else that no Democrat politician in America has: They live in a place called Guantanamo, where not one person has ever been murdered. And there's not one politician, one Democrat politician in America, that can say that about one of the prisons in his home district. We've got to keep Guantanamo open.

Hey Duncan you forgot to mention that there are no Labor Day drunken beach riots there either!