For the full context of this story, you can read Part 1 at The Progressive Connection.

By mid-2005, Jerry McNerney's second Congressional race against Richard Pombo was shaping up to be a rerun of the first one in 2004. A small core of his earliest supporters was dedicated to McNerney's campaign in CA-11, but they were struggling to paddle against an increasingly strong current. Ellen Tauscher and the DCCC had introduced their candidate, Steve Filson, into this environment, and many in the district assumed that McNerney's star (such as it had been) was on the decline. Into this breach stepped a veritable force of nature named Vicki Cosgrove.

   Vicki Cosgrove giving Jerry McNerney a hug as the winning votes are found in the Alameda
County Registrar of Voters' office at the end of the recount for McNerney's write-in campaign
in the 2004 primary.

Vicki, who is almost iconic in Bay Area progressive circles, was and is an ardent DFA supporter; she served as the Northern California Field Representative for the Courage Campaign and as a member of the steering committees of California for Democracy and East Bay for Democracy; additionally, she served as president of the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club in Berkeley. She knows everything that's going on, and she knows everybody. In short, Vicki is the East Bay version of Paul Revere. So when Vicki Cosgrove stood up in the fall of 2005 and said, "I'm sticking with Jerry; he's my guy," there was a sudden sea change in McNerney's fortunes.

Cross posted at Say No To Pombo

Last Thursday, Jerry McNerney took the oath of office as a member of the 110th Congress. A scant five days later, with what must surely be unprecedented speed, the NRCC has sent out its first anti-McNerney campaign mailers of the 2008 election to voters in CA-11.  

Cross Posted on Say No To Pombo and Calitics

The Hatch Act is a law that was originally enacted in 1939 to limit the participation of federal workers in political campaigns. To protect the public, it was decided that the interactions between politicians and government employees being paid with public tax dollars should be subjected to very strict and very specific laws.

In 1993, Congress amended the Hatch Act to make it less restrictive. Still, there are a solid set of rules and regulations that govern political interaction with government employees, especially when they are functioning in their paid positions and in a workplace setting:

Examples of activities prohibited by the preceding restrictions include the following: authorizing the use of a federal building or office as described above for campaign activities, such as town hall meetings, rallies, parades, speeches, fundraisers, press conferences, "photo ops" or meet and greets.  [...]

Federal agencies should ensure that candidates who visit their facilities to conduct official business do not engage in any political campaign or election activity during the visit.

Bottom Line: Be off the clock, out of the uniform (and government vehicles), and away from the work place.

Cross Posted at Say No To Pombo and Calitics

MoveOn.org released a report this morning to publicize the costs of the Iraq War to California's 11th District. A group of voters from CA-11 met at Richard Pombo's San Ramon office to deliver a copy of the report to Pombo and ask him to comment on it.

Since the Iraq war began, Congressman Richard Pombo (R-Tracy) has joined Republicans in Congress to spend more than $300 billion on President Bush's failed [Iraq] policy... The cost of the war to taxpayers in the 11th Congressional District is more than $974 million and counting.

$974 million from CA-11 alone. Think of the ways that money could have been spent in the district to improve the daily lives of its residents. Education. Healthcare. Transportation. Levee repair.