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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">220 capt</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">danarohrabacher220</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">omg poster boy for corrupt? just crazy?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><h1 class="widgetheadline h1" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(31, 31, 31); cursor: pointer; overflow-wrap: break-word; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/06/former-gop-lawmakers-admits-to-participating-in-capitol-rally-but-claims-he-was-not-part-of-the-riots/" aria-label="Former GOP lawmaker admits to participating in Capitol rally — but claims he was not part of the riots" data-type="text" style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; word-break: break-word; overflow-wrap: break-word; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25px;">ormer GOP lawmaker admits to participating in Capitol rally — but claims he was not part of the riots</a></h1><div class="social-author clearfix" style="margin-top: 10px; display: inline-block; color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 17.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="social-authorname" href="https://www.alternet.org/author/meaghanellis" data-type="text" style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4; display: inline; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Cabin, sans-serif;">Meaghan Ellis</a></div><span style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 17.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><div class="social-date" style="margin-top: 8px; display: inline-block; color: rgb(164, 162, 160); font-size: 1.4rem; vertical-align: top; font-family: Helvetica; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;<span class="social-datetext" style="font-size: 12px; font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; color: rgb(142, 142, 142); top: 3px; position: relative; line-height: 1; left: -3px;">June 15, 2021</span></div><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2653380275" style="margin-top: 10px; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; font-size: 17px; font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); text-overflow: ellipsis; overflow: hidden; display: -webkit-box; -webkit-line-clamp: 4; line-height: 31px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description"><p>A California lawmaker, often referred to as "Putin's favorite congressman" due to his presumed loyalty to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has admitted that he did attend the "Save America Rally" prior to the</p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">erik prince</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">interned for dana rohrabacher?!</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><h1 class="widgetheadline h1" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(31, 31, 31); cursor: pointer; overflow-wrap: break-word; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">r<a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/12/dana-rohrabacher/" aria-label="Republican notorious for Russia ties dead with 'severe head trauma': report" data-type="text" style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" word-break="word-break" break-word="break-word" overflow-wrap="overflow-wrap" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height">epublican notorious for Russia ties dead with 'severe head trauma': report</a></font></h1><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><font color="#1f1f1f" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">---</span></font></div><div><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Monday, The Daily Beast&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/paul-behrends-ex-staffer-to-dana-rohrabacher-who-was-linked-to-veselnitskaya-dies-suddenly-after-a-fall" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">reported</a>&nbsp;that Paul Behrends, a notorious former staffer for ex-Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), died after being found near his home with "severe head trauma."</font></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Rohrabacher's former congressional spokesman Ken Grubbs told The Daily Beast that Behrends died at the hospital. 'I did actually call Dana and he confirmed it,' he said. 'What I've heard is that he slipped… hit his head, and died in surgery,'" reported Nico Hines. "Grubbs said there was no reason to think anything suspicious had happened to Behrends or that there was any link to his associations with Russia. 'No, no, not at all,' he said."</font></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Behrends, much like his&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rawstory.com/2020/09/putins-favorite-congressman-offered-julian-assange-a-pardon-if-he-covered-up-russian-meddling-lawyers/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">former boss</a>, was notorious for ties to Russia, which led to him being removed from his position as staff director for the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee. He had ties to Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr. at Trump Tower.</font></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Behrends made headlines for the first time in July 2017, after Veselnitskaya's explosive June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr., and then Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was exposed. The meeting subsequently shone a light on Behrends' own Russian entanglements," said the report. "Behrends had traveled to Moscow with Rohrabacher in April 2016, a few months before that meeting. In Russia, they were given a document from the Prosecutor General's Office marked 'confidential,' which included details of the Kremlin's battle against U.S. sanctions and a pro-Kremlin propaganda movie."</font></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">You can read more&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/paul-behrends-ex-staffer-to-dana-rohrabacher-who-was-linked-to-veselnitskaya-dies-suddenly-after-a-fall" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">here</a>.</font></p><div class="around-the-web" style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="from-your-siteheadline" style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); text-transform: uppercase;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES</font></div><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; width: 589.446px; list-style: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><li class="from-your-siteitem"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2017/07/5-president-trumps-biggest-republican-allies-washington-don-jr-scandal-erupted/" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: goldenrod; text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">Here Are 5 of Trump's Most Buffoonish GOP Defenders - Alternet.org ›</a></font></font></font></font></li><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/ex-gop-congressman-confirms-he-offered-julian-assange-a-pardon-to-say-russia-didnt-hack-the-dnc/" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: goldenrod; text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">Ex-GOP congressman confirms he offered Julian Assange a pardon ... ›</a></li><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2018/10/gop-cuts-its-losses-yanks-funding-putins-favorite-congressman-dana-rohrabacher/" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: goldenrod; text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">Yanks Funding for 'Putin's Favorite Congressman' Dana Rohrabacher ›</a></li></ul><div class="around-the-webheadline" style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); text-transform: uppercase; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB</font></div><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; width: 589.446px; list-style: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><li class="around-the-webitem"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/us/politics/dana-rohrabacher-putin-trump-kremlin-under-fire.html" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: goldenrod; text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">He's a Member of Congress. The Kremlin Likes Him So Much It Gave ›</a></font></font></font></font></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Dana_Rohrabacher" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: goldenrod; text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">Dana Rohrabacher - Ballotpedia ›</a></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/11/12/a-not-so-fond-farewell-to-dana-rohrabacher-putins-best-friend-in-congress/" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: goldenrod; text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">Opinion | A not-so-fond farewell to Dana Rohrabacher, Putin's best ... ›</a></li></ul></div></div><div><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/putins-favorite-congressman-offered-julian-assange-a-pardon-if-he-covered-up-russian-meddling-lawyers/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/putins-favorite-congressman-offered-julian-assange-a-pardon-if-he-covered-up-russian-meddling-lawyers/</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">raw story</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">american prosecutors said this week that former Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) offered WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange a pardon from President Donald Trump if he agreed to help cover up Russia’s role in interfering in the 2016 presidential election.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/us-admits-that-putins-favorite-congressman-offered-pardon-to-assange-if-he-covered-up-russia-links" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Daily Beast</em>&nbsp;reports</a>&nbsp;that witness Jennifer Robinson has testified that she attended a meeting between Rohrabacher and Assange in 2017 in which he made a direct quid-pro-quo offer.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rohrabacher was joined in the meeting by Charles Johnson, a pro-Trump racist internet troll, and the two men led officials at the Ecuadorian embassy in London to believe they were acting on behalf of the president.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“They stated that President Trump was aware of and had approved of them coming to meet with Mr. Assange to discuss a proposal—and that they would have an audience with the president to discuss the matter on their return to Washington, D.C.,” Robinson said. t<span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">he White House has denied that Trump was ever aware of such a scheme, however, and attorneys representing the U.S. government seemed to dispute Rohrabacher’s claims.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“After Robinson read her testimony in a London courtroom on Friday, lawyers representing the U.S. accepted the witness statement as accurate and confirmed they had no intention of cross-examining the claim,</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">”&nbsp;</span><em style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Daily Beast</em><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;reports. “</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">They did dispute, however, that President Donald Trump gave his blessing for the pardon offer.”</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="fl" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=related:climatescience.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228620-e-314+97%25+climate+science+consensus+meta-analysis&tbo=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjrmL2YytPkAhUCQ6wKHRYTDjIQHzAKegQICBAF" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></a></font></font></p><h1 class="title" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 26px; direction: ltr; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; line-height: 36px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-stretch: normal;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">How One GOP-Controlled Committee Is Waging A War On Science</font></font></font></h1><div class="author wire" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 26px; direction: ltr; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 17px;"><div class="byline vcard group " style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px; direction: ltr; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline-block;"><div class="info" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; direction: ltr; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; float: left; max-width: 310px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="thirdparty-logo" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;">The American Independent Institute&nbsp;</span><span class="name fn" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">&nbsp;|&nbsp; By Brad Johnson</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">http://www.huffingtonpost.com</font><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">/2014</font><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">/06/24/house-science-committee_n_5525609.html?1403707503</font></font></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;<span style="line-height: 21px;">At a March 26 hearing of the&nbsp;<b>U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Republican congressmen took turns attacking President Obama's top science advisor, John Holdren.&nbsp;</b>On climate change, their statements became increasingly heated, accusatory, and bizarre.</span></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; direction: ltr; line-height: 21px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-stretch: normal;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Southern California conservative Rep. Dana&nbsp;</font><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rohrabacher&nbsp;</font></b><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>(R-Calif.)</b> challenged Holdren on the fact that about</span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">&nbsp;97 percent&nbsp;</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">of the world's practicing climate scientists agree that human activity is responsible for climate change. "</span></font><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Why can't anybody admit that you've got a group of people putting out a bogus figure here?</font><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">" he charged....</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="fl" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=related:climatescience.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228620-e-314+97%25+climate+science+consensus+meta-analysis&tbo=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjrmL2YytPkAhUCQ6wKHRYTDjIQHzAKegQICBAF" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /><a class="fl" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=related:climatescience.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228620-e-314+97%25+climate+science+consensus+meta-analysis&tbo=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjrmL2YytPkAhUCQ6wKHRYTDjIQHzAKegQICBAF" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></a><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"></font></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Defense goes over Rohrabacher and Charle Johnson meeting with Assange in 2017. They represented they were there to offer pardon on behalf of Trump. #Assange</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kevin Gosztola</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@kgosztola</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Defense: “Whole pardon business shows that just as prosecution was initiated in December 2017 so after this meeting for political purposes. So too did Trump administration use the threat of prosecution as a means of extortion to obtain personal political advantage from Assange.”</b></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Julian Assange was promised a Trump pardon if he would lie about Russia’s DNC hacking: lawyer</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by David Badash / The New Civil Rights Movement February 19, 2020</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Donald Trump offered Julian Assange a pardon if he covered up Russia’s hacking of the DNC’s server, attorneys for the Wikileaks founder say, The Daily Beast reports.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Assange’s lawyers “said Dana Rohrabacher, a former Republican congressman, had brought the message to London from Trump.” The attorneys are arguing that Assange should not be extradited to the U.S., claiming the case was political and not criminal.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Mr Rohrabacher going to see Mr Assange and saying, on instructions from the president, he was offering a pardon or some other way out, if Mr Assange… said Russia had nothing to do with the DNC leaks,” Edward Fitzgerald, Assange’s lawyer, told the court, relaying a statement produced by another Assange’s attorney.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The case, however, is not political.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Assange, were he to be extradited to the U.S., reportedly could face 175 years in jail if charged and convicted on 18 charges including conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rohrabacher, who claims he does not believe Russia interfered in the 2016 election, had earned the nickname “Putin’s favorite Congressman.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The FBI in 2012 had to warn him the Kremlin considers him a valuable information asset – complete with a Russian code name.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2016 Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and other Republicans were speaking about Russia and Ukraine. McCarthy told the group, “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Julian Assange was promised a Trump pardon if he would lie about Russia’s DNC hacking: lawyer</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican known for his unapologetic pro-Russia stance, is projected to lose against Democrat Harley Rouda in California's 48th congressional district race.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rohrabacher has advocated for a better relationship with Russian President Vladimir. He has voted with President Trump nearly 84 percent of the time, according to nonpartisan analysis from FiveThirtyEight. He also has been known to back Trump's stance on immigration.&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rouda, a businessman and lawyer promising to protect health care coverage and reduce gun violence, appeared to take the win Wednesday morning after midnight data showed a near tie between the two candidates. Rouda held over 91,000 votes and Rohrabacher had 89,068.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Democrats won the majority in the House of Representatives as midterm election results finalized. This ends unified Republican rule of Washington and opens the possibility that Trump could be investigated when they take power in January. They could demand Trump’s tax returns, subpoena his Cabinet members and investigate alleged corruption across the executive branch.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">More: Democrats seize control of House, power to investigate President Trump</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Broidy relied on a few key figures in Washington to help carry out his plan. One was Rep. Ed Royce, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Broidy had helped Royce’s wife get a job at the State Department. A onetime Saudi critic, Royce figured prominently into Broidy’s work. Broidy told Nader that he “caused” Royce to enter into the Congressional Record a fawning FoxNews.com op-ed by a Saudi general that hailed Trump for ushering in a new era in U.S.-Saudi relations.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Royce also headlined a May 2017 conference on Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood that, at least on paper, was organized by two think tanks, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy and the Hudson Institute. But emails and other planning documents show that Broidy had a hand in the planning. With dozens of journalists in the audience at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, Royce announced an upcoming piece of legislation that would accuse Qatar of funding Hamas and open up the possibility of sanctions. “This is the first such bill to do so!” Broidy told Nader in an email. (Royce did not respond to requests for comment.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Broidy’s conference came amid a crescendo of op-eds, news stories and other critical statements about Qatar in the spring and summer of 2017. As one former foreign lobbyist told me, small actions that create the perception of closer ties or tensions between a foreign nation and the U.S. are nearly as valuable as actual policy. That can take the form of a public event, a critical editorial or a letter from one member of Congress to his or her colleagues.&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The lobbyist tells the story of a 2015 hearing about U.S.-Hungary relations hosted by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., the then-chair of a subcommittee focusing on Eastern Europe. Few people attended the hearing, and it received almost zero coverage in the U.S., but it created a “deluge of coverage” in Hungary and was used by the country’s autocratic prime minister, Viktor Orban, to show that he had champions in the U.S. “The smallest or inconsequential action by a member of Congress, such as a ‘Dear Colleague’ letter, can be put out in the foreign press and used by governments to justify their policies and politics,” the lobbyist says.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/dana-rohrabacher-matt-gaetz-chuck-johnson</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL) previously drew scrutiny for hanging out with Chuck C. Johnson, a far-right Internet troll and Holocaust denier, and both have tried to explain away the occurence.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But according to Mother Jones, both congressmen somehow ended up fraternizing with him a second time this summer. Specifically, Johnson was on board a yacht fundraiser in Newport Beach, California, on behalf of Gaetz's re-election campaign, at which Rohrabacher gave a speech in support of his colleague. The fundraiser was hosted by public relations executives Alfred Balitzer and Rod Wilson, the former of whom Johnson has referred to as a "mentor."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In January, Gaetz, one of President Donald Trump's closest kindred spirits in Congress, faced controversy and a letter of condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League for providing Johnson a ticket to attend Trump's State of the Union Address as his guest. Gaetz argued that Johnson had simply "showed up at my office" and the invite was not an endorsement of his views, but bizarrely, added in an interview on Fox Business that Johnson is "not a Holocaust denier, he’s not a white supremacist."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rohrabacher, another Trump ally and Congress' most notorious apologist for Russian President Vladimir Putin, allowed Johnson to sit in on a meeting between himself and Sen. Rand Paul, after Johnson had helped him secure a meeting with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in August and donated $5,400 in Bitcoin to his campaign. Rohrabacher maintains that Johnson was not invited to the meeting with Paul, but admits that he was not asked to leave it either.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Johnson, a former Breitbart reporter who has spent years promoting fake news through his GotNews web site, and who was banned for life from Twitter for inviting people to raise money to help him "take out" Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson, came out as a Holocaust denier in early 2017.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I do not and never have believed the six million figure," he told a commenter on an alt-right Reddit thread. "I think the Red Cross numbers of 250,000 dead in the camps from typhus are more realistic. I think the Allied bombing of Germany was a ware [sic] crime. I agree … about Auschwitz and the gas chambers not being real."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He has since tried to claim that he does not actually deny the Holocaust, and only said this to see what a reaction it would get.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">dccc~ dana r</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.eenews.net/special_reports/campaign_2018/stories/1060082057</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/report-hans-kierstead-campaign-hacked</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cyberattack Successfully Targets a Democratic Opponent of 'Putin's Favorite Congressman': Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dr. Hans Kierstead, the third-place finisher in the primary for California's 48th Congressional District, was targeted by hackers.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Matthew Chapman / AlterNet August 15, 2018, 1:58 PM GMT</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A new report from Rolling Stone reveals that Dr. Hans Kierstead, a former candidate in the race for California's 48th Congressional District, was targeted repeatedly by cyberattacks — in a district that is home to the most infamously pro-Putin Congressman in America.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Currently, it is unknown who is behind the attacks. But FBI officials in California and Washington, D.C. are reportedly investigating, and according to Rolling Stone, the campaign is now going public about the incidents:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kyle Quinn-Quesada, who was Keirstead’s campaign manager, tells Rolling Stone that the campaign is now going public about the attacks for the sake of voter awareness. “It is clear from speaking with campaign professionals around the country that the sustained attacks the Keirstead for Congress campaign faced were not unique but have become the new normal for political campaigns in 2018,” Quinn-Quesada says. He added that the Keirstead campaign did not believe the cyberattacks had an effect on the primary election results.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kierstead, a stem-cell scientist who runs a biomedical research company, was a prominent candidate in California's "top two" primary earlier this year. He narrowly lost to Harley Rouda, a philanthropist and attorney, and subsequently endorsed him. Rouda will face off in the general election against 30-year GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rohrabacher, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, is famously friendly to Russia and to the interests of Vladimir Putin, and has been nicknamed "Putin's favorite congressman." He has pleaded for leniency for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has well-documented ties to Russia. He has even been accused of violating U.S. sanctions against Russia.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">His Moscow sympathies are so great that even House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy once joked that Rohrabacher is one of only two people Putin pays, the other being Trump.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The American people deserve answers, now more than ever, about any threat to cybersecurity that impacts our elections.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/indictment-russian-femme-fatale-spells-trouble-putins-favorite-congressman-dana-rohrbacher</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">c feinstein salon</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">one week ago, Maria Butina's name and face were almost unknown, except to a few hardcore political observers – a low-profile that Butina was surely banking on keeping. Over the past week, however, Butina made international headlines after being charged with operating as an unregistered Russian agent and forming close relationships with politicians to infiltrate the United States political system. And after federal prosecutors alleged in court on Wednesday that Butina traded sex for political gain and influence, the exact U.S. politicians she got cozy with is starting to become of greater import.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., called the charges against Butina “bogus,” Politico reported.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to the Department of Justice’s application for a criminal complaint, Butina worked to “arrange introductions to U.S. persons having influence in American politics, including an organization promoting gun rights” and sought to “infiltrate those groups.” The Justice Department claims Butina has been in contact with Russian intelligence since her arrival in the U.S. and that she conspired with a Russian politician and banker to push Moscow’s agenda into the American political system. While the Russian official isn’t named in the affidavit, it is said to fit the description of the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank, Alexander Torshin.&nbsp; The federal indictment also notes that Butina and the official believed to be Torshin had plans to “meet with a U.S. Congressman during a Congressional Delegation trip to Moscow in August 2015." That congressman is widely believed to be Rohrabacher.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">READ MORE: Donald Trump, Brexit and the Russians: A dangerous turning point in "World War IV"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” Republican Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy infamously remarked on an open mic in 2016, according to the Washington Post.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For his part, Rohrabacher admits to having dinner with Butina and a visiting delegation from Russia back in 2015. “It’s ridiculous, it’s stupid. She’s the assistant of some guy who is the head of the bank and is a member of their Parliament. That’s what we call a spy? That shows you how bogus this whole thing is,” the congressman said.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This is an attempt to undermine the president’s ability to have better relationships with Russia,” Rohrabacher insisted.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After starting Right to Bear Arms, a Russian “gun rights” group, Butina began reaching out to American gun lobbyists in 2013 and soon hosted National Rifle Association (NRA) executives in Moscow. In 2015, during a libertarian political event, she asked Trump publicly, “What will be your foreign politics, especially in the relations with my county?”Rohrabacher has been connected to various figures in the Mueller investigation – he once took a meeting organized by the now-indicted Paul Manafort and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, two pivotal figures in the investigation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">She told the Washington Post in 2017 that her question to Trump was “happenstance” and she was not employed by the Russian government. But Butina also wrote a column, after Trump announced his candidacy, expressing hope that a Republican president could improve U.S.-Russian relations, as the Washington Post has reported. And Donald Trump Jr. met Torshin briefly at the 2016 NRA convention in Louisville.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2018, Torshin’s suspicious behavior led to a federal investigation of his involvement in the NRA and its relationship to the Kremlin. The NRA reportedly spent $30 million supporting the Trump campaign. In April 2018, Torshin, along with more than 20 other Russian nationals, was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury department– their assets were frozen and they were barred from entering the country.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Butina moved to the U.S. on a student visa in 2016 and attended classes at American University in Washington, graduating this past May. While her motivations for moving to the U.S. have been viewed with official suspicion for some time, she was arrested on Sunday after prosecutors became aware that she had wired nearly $5,000 to Russia, ordered moving boxes for her apartment and had not renewed her apartment lease in Washington, which which expires on July 31.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Butina pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and acting as an illegal foreign agent in the U.S. on Wednesday. Prosecutors argued she should be held in custody until trial because her life in the U.S. has been predicated on deception, including attempts to exchange sex for political access, CNN reports. The judge agreed and ordered Butina held without bail until a trial is held. No date has been set for what is sure to be a high-drama spectacle, if no plea bargain is reached before then.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;comedian and chameleon provocateur Sacha Baron Cohen has been traveling the country and duping clueless Republican lawmakers and their supporters has been known for weeks, but as his new show—titled "What Is America?"—readies to drop its first episode for Showtime on Sunday night, clips have surfaced in which actual adults are seen endorsing the preposterous idea of arming children as young as three and four years old with guns in order to possibly intervene in case of a school shooting massacre.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to Reuters:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the first episode of “Who is America?”, previewed for media by Showtime, Baron Cohen poses as an Israeli anti-terror expert who gets two U.S. congressmen to voice support for his fake “Kinderguardians” scheme for children as young as three.&nbsp; &nbsp;The scheme includes a fake instructional video featuring children’s songs and “gunimals” — weapons adorned with soft toys — that would purportedly help kids confront the school shootings that have plagued the United States for the past decade.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Republican congressmen Dana Rohrabacher of California and Joe Wilson of South Carolina, along with former Senate Republican leader Trent Lott, who is now a lobbyist at a Washington law firm, are shown enthusiastically backing the idea, alongside gun rights advocates and a former congressman-turned-talk radio host, Joe Walsh.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While official trailers have not been released, some on social media have been posting portions of the episode:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In his review for Variety, television critic Daniel D'Addadario says the show is Cohen's best work in some time:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Who Is America?” feels both as richly comic as anything Baron Cohen has done in the decade-plus since “Borat” and urgently resonant with our own era. The show’s format—using four new Baron Cohen personae in order to expose the nature of contemporary American culture—is particularly effective, moving as it does beyond the boldface names who’ve come forward to say they’ve been pranked by the comic. The first episode, for instance, puts gun lobbyists in conversation with Erran Morad, a former Israeli colonel played by Baron Cohen. “Morad” is traveling the U.S. to learn more about gun policy and to share his full-throated support for a particularly libertine understanding of the Second Amendment; by episode’s end, gun lobbyists as well as past and present members of Congress are on tape endorsing his “Kinder-Guardians” program, designed to teach children of three and four how to shoot.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/think-gop-lawmakers-arent-unhinged-enough-endorse-program-called-kinderguardians-puts-guns-hands-4</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://ballotpedia.org/Sue_Savary</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">58/42%</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">am fut fund iowa trying to sink him?!</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/gop-group-jumps-in-to-try-to-shut-dems-out-of-key-california-house-races</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/prominent-russian-insiders-attended-trump-inaugural-and-mingled-with-administration-officials-report/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wealthy Russian political and business leaders flocked to Washington, DC — and the lobby of Trump International Hotel — during last year’s inauguration festivities, The Washington Post reported Saturday.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“As questions about Russia’s interference in the 2016 election were beginning to percolate publicly, prominent business leaders and activists from that country attended inaugural festivities, mingling at balls and receptions — at times in proximity to key American political officials,” The Post reported.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Their presence caught the attention of counterintelligence officials at the FBI, according to former U.S. officials, although it is not clear which attendees drew U.S. government interest,” The Post continued. “FBI officials were concerned at the time because some of the figures had surfaced in the agency’s investigation of the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, the officials said.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer whose June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower is being investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller, attended a black-tie party hosted by Rep. Dana Rohrahbacher (R-CA). Rep. Rohrabacher has been nicknamed, “Putin’s favorite congressman.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Other guests included tycoon Viktor Vekselberg and Russian politician Boris Titov.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It’s strange,” noted ex-Russia ambassador Michael McFaul, who didn’t remember Russians attending former President Barack Obama’s inauguration.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alexey Repik, a wealthy Russian pharmaceutical executive, documented his adventures on Facebook, including a photo taken with Mike Pompeo, the Kansas Republican who was eventually chosen by Trump to head up the CIA.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Repik allegedly also met Eric Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Trump chief of staff Reince Priebus.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watch Seth Meyers answer “Who the hell is Dana Rohrabacher?”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Russian lawyer whose June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner has become a focal point of a probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, was reportedly among at least a half-dozen Russian elites with political ties that attended Inauguration Day events.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Related: Five Ways It Seems Russia Colluded With Trump</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, who promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton in the now infamous meeting that also included Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, attended a black-tie inaugural party held by the campaign committee of Republican Representative Dana Rohrabacher of California, an associate who accompanied her told The Washington Post in a report published Saturday.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Veselnitskaya and Russian American lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin, also present at the Trump Tower meeting, held wine glasses and smiled in a photo posted by the campaign committee of Rohrabacher, a longtime advocate for better relations with Russia.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a statement to The Post, Veselnitskaya said she went to a private event in Washington, D.C. that night at the invitation of Akhmetshin, and that she did not attend President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Akhmetshin’s lawyer, Michael Tremonte, told the newspaper that he invited Veselnitskaya because she was in town and that an event organizer gave him the tickets. However, a spokesman for Rohrabacher’s congressional office, Kenneth Grubbs, said there was no record of Akhmetshin’s invitation or that the Russians bought tickets to the party.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The presence of Russians at the inauguration events reflected anticipation in Moscow for a thaw in relations with the U.S. after Donald Trump's victory, especially considering Trump's occasional praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A rich Russian pharmaceutical executive, Alexey Repik, and his wife and former model, Polina Repik, attended Donald Trump’s inauguration, writing in a Facebook post that he got close enough at a pre-inaugural event to “check the handshake strength” of the president-elect.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.ocregister.com/2018/05/23/after-three-decades-in-congress-rohrabacher-faces-bare-knuckled-fight-for-political-life-from-democrats-and-gop-contender/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Dana Rohrabacher was a 41-year-old ex-speechwriter for Ronald Reagan when he first won election to his coastal Orange County Congressional seat in 1988.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now 70, with three decades of national politics under his belt, he’s facing the toughest fight of his career – a bare-knuckled battle where fresh-faced Democrats and a well-known local Republican alike are denigrating his legacy while grappling to take him down.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And for the first time in 15 terms, Rohrabacher, a perennial shoo-in, might finally have cause to worry about his incumbency.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Political handicappers rate the contest a toss-up. Rohrabacher’s 48th Congressional District swung narrowly to Hillary Clinton in 2016, causing Democrats to target the newly-competitive seat as one of 23 they need to retake control of the House of Representatives.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meanwhile, several prominent GOP politicians have jumped ship to back the congressman’s Republican challenger, former Orange County GOP Chairman Scott Baugh, questioning Rohrabacher’s efficacy and saying it’s time for a change. And in the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, Rohrabacher’s name has surfaced several times for his meetings with people connected to the Kremlin.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sign up for The Localist, our daily email newsletter with handpicked stories relevant to where you live. Subscribe here.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amid the fracas, Rohrabacher has jumped on the offensive.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He’s campaigned harder than ever, attacking Baugh, a former protégé, with a slew of disparaging ads and mailers. He’s brushed off the Russia probe as a sham, saying that local voters care more about his record opposing taxes and deficit spending than about Moscow. And he’s made a fractious, hard-line anti-illegal immigration message the core of his campaign, saying in an interview with the New York Times that his constituents “are concerned about illegal immigrants coming into their neighborhood and raping people.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Millions of more people coming here illegally, consuming these resources, is the greatest threat” to the well being of Americans, Rohrabacher said at a March meeting of the Orange County Board of Supervisors shortly after Baugh entered the race.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Related: Rohrabacher says it’s OK to not sell homes to gays</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Baugh and the contest’s leading Democratic candidates – businessman Harley Rouda and stem-cell biologist Hans Keirstead – all say the congressman’s track record demonstrates an inability to wield his seniority. They also see a disproportionate focus on out-of-district issues, such as improving foreign relations with Russia and advocating for the marijuana industry.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“His lack of leadership in getting bills passed and adequately representing his constituents is a huge issue that everyone running recognizes,” Rouda said.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Added Keirstead: “This is the first time that Rohrabacher has been exposed for his terrible record of doing little and doing things that don’t represent the district.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">All-GOP November?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Despite being attacked from all sides, most polls show Rohrabacher is a favorite to get through the June 5 primary to a November runoff. That means the June contest could be primarily a competition between the other 11 active candidates for the second spot in the General Election, when the congressman could be more vulnerable.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Democrats are hoping to ride anti-Trump sentiment toward flipping the Republicans stronghold, where both GOP candidates have linked themselves closely to the President. But Baugh’s candidacy makes the race for Rohrabacher’s seat perhaps the most likely congressional contest in California to have an all-GOP November ballot. That outcome is feasible under the state’s jungle primary system, which advances the top two finishers, regardless of party.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The 48th Congressional District – which stretches from Seal Beach to Laguna Niguel and inland to portions of Westminster and Santa Ana – has a voter pool that skews older, whiter and more Republican than other competitive Orange County seats, according to Political Data Inc.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The GOP holds a 10 percentage point voter-registration advantage over Democrats in the district, amounting to a 40,000-person lead. And during the past two election cycles, Rohrabacher has won by a 22-point average margin of victory. That Republican advantage could supply enough votes to squeeze Baugh into the top two, especially if the five active Democratic candidates collectively dilute the left’s vote.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On the other hand, Democratic turnout nationwide has been higher than usual in contests since Trump was elected. And a quarter of district voters are registered as “no party preference,” a group that has skewed overwhelmingly Democratic in recent elections – meaning that if there’s high turnout, Democrats stand a chance.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Democrats swap endorsements</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fearing a November lockout, Democratic candidates have raised substantial sums, and national Democrats have flooded the district with mailers and TV ads, causing Republicans to follow suit.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In all, the contest’s candidates have raised at least $7.4 million, placing it in the top 10 of all active House races in the nation, according to the Federal Election Commission and Opensecrets.org. Additionally, nearly $2.2 million has been spent from outside sources on independent expenditures in the district, one of the five highest marks in the country.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The largest chunk of outside money has gone toward attacking Baugh, a former assemblyman, in an attempt to unite the Republican vote behind Rohrabacher so that his GOP challenger doesn’t make the runoff. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has spent more than $1 million on that effort. The DCCC has further interceded since mid-May by backing Rouda and making a joint TV ad with his campaign, all in an effort to similarly consolidate Democratic voters behind a single candidate.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rouda also has snagged endorsements from the local chapter of the anti-Trump grassroots group Indivisible, three Democratic candidates who withdrew from the race, and several local Democratic members of Congress, including Linda Sanchez, Lou Correa and Alan Lowenthal.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The DCCC’s choice to back Rouda stands in opposition to the California Democratic Party, which in February endorsed Keirstead. The intraparty rift has caused friction, prompting California Democratic Party Chair Eric Bauman to warn the DCCC to “tread carefully.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Decisions that undercut the independence or our endorsed candidates have the potential to be extraordinarily counterproductive.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rouda’s opponents have pointed out that he was a registered Republican until 1997. He became an independent for the next two decades but still donated $1,000 to Republican John Kasich in the 2016 presidential election. Rouda said he switched parties because Democrats better reflect his values and has voted for the Democratic presidential nominee since 2004. In turn, Rouda has questioned Keirstead’s political past, noting that his opponent has never voted in a primary election, leading Keirstead to respond that he’d “been busy.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But when it comes to the issues, the two Democratic favorites have nearly identical platforms. Both support Medicare for all, bans on assault rifles and bump stocks, universal background checks on gun purchases, immigration reforms modeled after plans that died during Obama’s presidency, pre-K for all, and investment in green energy. And they’ve both slammed Rohrabacher for his May 2017 vote to repeal Obamacare.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A third Democrat, trial lawyer Omar Siddiqui, a self-described “Reagan Democrat” and a Republican until 2009, hasn’t gained much traction in the polls. But he has raised $933,000 – largely behind $750,000 in self-funding – raising the prospect that he could impact the contest.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GOP friends turned enemies</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Baugh has been gearing up to run for Rohrabacher’s seat for two years, after he said the congressman announced in a private meeting that he planned to retire at the end of this term. With that in mind, Baugh raised $500,000 for the contest in the first quarter of 2016. But Rohrabacher denied making such a promise and called on Baugh to return money to donors who might not have known it eventually would be used to challenge the congressman.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And just like that, the longtime friends morphed into public foes.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After Baugh decided to run for Congress in March, prominent Republicans asked him to withdraw in a letter signed by two dozen GOP politicians, including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, U.S. Reps. Mimi Walters and Darrell Issa, and Republican Party of Orange County Chairman Fred Whitaker. But other well-known Republicans – such as state Senators John Moorlach and Pat Bates – refused to sign, with Moorlach saying he couldn’t recall any legislative accomplishments that Rohrabacher had made in three decades.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since then, Rohrbacher’s campaign war chest has been spent almost exclusively on assailing Baugh. In TV ads and mailers, the congressman accused Baugh of being a lobbyist for the unpopular sober living home industry, supporting amnesty for illegal immigrants, and being a “never Trumper” – attacks that highlight the pro-Trump and anti-illegal immigration platforms that have dominated the GOP side of the race.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Baugh called the claims outright fabrications and asked the county GOP to censure Rohrabacher. Baugh said he represented a sober living home operator briefly but only after the city of Newport Beach asked him to advise the company to voluntarily restrict the concentration of its facilities. He said he supports the President. And he said he has never advocated for amnesty – instead pitching a plan to secure the border, strengthen employer verification, deport people in this country illegally who have committed a crime, and establish a limited work-permit program for some undocumented immigrants.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I think when you don’t have a record to run on, you resort to smears,” Baugh said of Rohrabacher. “We need fresh blood, fresh ideas, fresh perspective.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One issue where the two GOP competitors differ is on offshore drilling, which Rohrabacher has supported and Baugh opposes in California. Another is Trump’s tax overhaul, which Rohrabacher voted against, noting it would “raise taxes for many of my constituents… by eliminating the deductibility of property taxes, income taxes and paid sales taxes.” Baugh said he would have supported the tax overhaul but would have fought to retain those deductions.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The recent fighting between the two men is the latest chapter in their intertwined pasts. Rohrabacher first recruited Baugh in 1994 to run for state Assembly, with the two even operating out of the same office. Following that race, Baugh and Rohrbacher’s wife were both charged criminally for a ploy to recruit a decoy Democratic candidate to split the left’s vote. Rohrabacher’s wife pled guilty while the charges against Baugh were dropped.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now, as the two go head to head, Rohrabacher remains confident he’ll be the one left standing in November. And he’s fundraising for a long fight: the congressman recently announced a $2,700-per-person&nbsp; dinner in support of his campaign on the night of June 3 – two days before the primary.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mojo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">From right: Kolyadin and Torshin, with others including Rohrabacher, second from left Kolyadin’s Facebook</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">January 31, 2017: Torshin, Erickson, Rohrabacher (who has received at least $18,000 from the NRA over the past 20 years), and former Kremlin staffer Andrey Kolyadin attend a private event on Capitol Hill hosted by George O’Neill Jr., a longtime conservative activist.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">February 2, 2017: Torshin and Butina accompany a delegation of more than a dozen Russian officials and academics to the National Prayer Breakfast, where Trump is the main attraction. Kolyadin posts a photo with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, commenting that he “treats Russia pretty well, by the way.” Kolyadin later brags about his “direct access to leadership,” noting, “we sat very close to each other and just smiled.”&nbsp;&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Torshin was scheduled to meet with President Trump, but the meeting is canceled when a national security aide points out that Torshin reportedly is under investigation by Spanish authorities for an alleged “godfather” role in organized crime and money laundering. For his part, Rohrabacher tells Yahoo News that Torshin is “sort of the conservatives’ favorite Russian.”&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Direct access to leadership” Kolyadin’s Facebook</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">February 24, 2017: “For years, the media couldn’t have cared less about Vladimir Putin or Russia,” NRA leader Wayne LaPierre says in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, giving early voice to a “deep state” conspiracy theory on Trump’s behalf: “But now, barely a month into Trump’s presidency, they’re ‘horrified’ and all a-fret over the ‘Russian-American equation.’ Even more alarming is that they’ve apparently found willing co-conspirators among some in the US intelligence community.”&nbsp; &nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">April 28, 2017: Having recently reversed an Obama-era law making it more difficult for mentally ill people to buy guns, Trump addresses the NRA annual convention: “You came through for me,” he says, “and I am going to come through for you.”&nbsp; &nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">August 15, 2017: After Rohrabacher meets with WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, he claims he has evidence to share with the White House that the Russians did not hack the Democratic National Committee. But White House chief of staff John Kelly rebuffs him. Rohrabacher later tells the Intercept, “What is preventing me from talking to Trump about this is the existence of a special prosecutor. Not only Kelly, but others are worried if I say one word to Trump about Russia, that it would appear to out-of-control prosecutors that that is where the collusion is.”&nbsp;&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">October to November 2017: Russian-linked trolls spread conspiracy theories following mass shootings on the Las Vegas Strip and at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.&nbsp; &nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">November 14, 2017: “It appears the Russians…infiltrated the NRA,” Glenn Simpson, founder of the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, testifies to the House Intelligence Committee. “They targeted various conservative organizations, religious and otherwise, and they seem to have made a very concerted effort to get in with the NRA.” Referencing Torshin and Butina, he adds, “The most absurd [thing] about this is that, you know, Vladimir Putin is not in favor of universal gun ownership for Russians. And so it’s all a big charade, basically.”&nbsp; &nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Investigations and a politicized school massacre</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">January 18, 2018: McClatchy reports the FBI is investigating whether Torshin illegally funneled money to the Trump campaign through the NRA. (The FBI would “neither confirm nor deny” the investigation to Mother Jones.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">January 29, 2018: Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, tells NPR that the committee’s probe of the NRA-Russia angle has been stymied by the Republican majority.&nbsp;&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I am specifically troubled by the possibility that Russian-backed shell companies or intermediaries may have circumvented laws designed to prohibit foreign meddling in our elections.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">February 2, 2018: Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden sends separate letters to the NRA and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin demanding they provide any documents showing financial ties between the NRA and Russia. “I am specifically troubled by the possibility that Russian-backed shell companies or intermediaries may have circumvented laws designed to prohibit foreign meddling in our elections,” Wyden writes. NRA General Counsel John Frazer responds, “The NRA and its related entities do not accept funds from foreign persons or entities in connection with United States.”&nbsp; &nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">February 14, 2018: Following the school massacre in Parkland, Florida, Kremlin-linked trolls and Russian state media jump into action on Twitter, stirring both sides of the gun debate.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">February 21, 2018: During a live-televised “listening session” with Parkland survivors at the White House, Trump endorses NRA talking points to end “gun-free zones” and arm teachers to “harden” America’s schools.&nbsp;&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">February 22, 2018: Trump hails the leaders of the NRA: “Great People and Great American Patriots. They love our Country and will do the right thing. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch echoes Trump’s blame on the FBI’s Russia investigation for the failure to prevent the Parkland massacre: “Maybe if you politicized your agency less and did your job more, we wouldn’t have these problems.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">March 2018: In an NRA magazine, LaPierre blasts media bias against Trump, specifically calling out coverage of “the bogus Russia investigation.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">March 1, 2018: Trump and Vice President Mike Pence meet privately in the Oval Office with NRA Executive Director Chris Cox. Trump calls the meeting “great.” Cox announces: “POTUS & VPOTUS support the Second Amendment, support strong due process and don’t want gun control. #NRA #MAGA.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">lcv 6/12% http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/dana-t-rohrabacher</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rince has long admired North and viewed his role in Iran-Contra as heroic, said the Prince associate. In 2007, Prince testified defiantly before Congress following the Nisour Square massacre in Baghdad, in which Blackwater operatives gunned down 17 Iraqi civilians, including women and children. Shortly after his testimony, Prince’s longtime friend, conservative California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, praised the Blackwater chief. “Prince,” Rohrabacher said, “is on his way to being an American hero just like Ollie North was.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dana-rohrabacher-russia-robert-mueller_us_5a90675fe4b03b55731bf427</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The criminal information document released by special counsel Robert Mueller ahead of Trump campaign aide Rick Gates’ guilty plea on Friday contains prominent references to “a member of Congress” who met in 2013 with future Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and another lobbyist.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">HuffPost has identified that member as Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), a loudly pro-Russia lawmaker who has drawn the attention of Mueller and congressional investigators probing Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mueller has not yet interviewed Rohrabacher, the congressman’s spokesman told HuffPost on Friday in a message that also confirmed the 2013 meeting with Manafort. But Mueller’s team wanted to interview Rohrabacher as of late last year, according to news reports, and the criminal information released in advance of Gates’ plea suggests they were asking about Rohrabacher recently. The congressman has already been interviewed by the House and Senate Intelligence committees.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gates has told a court that he lied to federal investigators on Feb. 1, 2018, about his knowledge of the meeting between Rohrabacher, Manafort and lobbyist Vin Weber when he falsely claimed he did not know Ukraine was discussed. Ukraine is one of the top foreign policy concerns of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Manafort spent years working for Ukrainian politicians close to Moscow. And Rohrabacher was one of only a few U.S. lawmakers to oppose American assistance to a new government in Ukraine established in 2014 after protests against Putin’s allies in that country.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rohrabacher has become notorious for being what The New York Times calls “an apologist” for Putin. “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said during a 2016 meeting of the GOP’s top brass, according to a secret recording shared with The Washington Post. (McCarthy later said he was joking.) Russian intelligence officials gave Rohrabacher a code namebecause they viewed him as a valuable source, The New York Times revealed last year.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rohrabacher maintains that he is simply motivated by a sincere desire for better relations between Washington and Moscow. In a 2014 Twitter exchange, the congressman wrote, “Have known Manafort 35 years. As in all matters, I make up mind based on truth & right, not donations or even friendship.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Officials speaking with The New York Times last year said they did not believe Rohrabacher was actively working with the Russians.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As both chair of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee covering Europe and a former anti-Soviet hawk, the congressman argues that the two countries with the world’s largest nuclear arsenals need to get along and that Americans should have more sympathy for Russia’s priorities and its fears of Western encirclement...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">s team said that Friday’s news does not show any wrongdoing.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“As the congressman has acknowledged before, the meeting was a dinner with two longtime acquaintances ? Manafort and Weber ? from back in his White House and early congressional days. The three reminisced and talked mostly about politics. The subject of Ukraine came up in passing,” Ken Grubbs, Rohrabacher’s spokesman, told HuffPost in an email. “It is no secret that Manafort represented [pro-Putin Ukrainian President] Viktor Yanukovych’s interests, but as chairman of the relevant European subcommittee, the congressman has listened to all points of view on Ukraine. We may only speculate that Manafort needed to report back to his client that Ukraine was discussed.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Still, Rohrabacher has emerged as an important figure in the investigations into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian efforts to help President Donald Trump and hurt his rival Hillary Clinton.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of a mere handful of well-known GOP figures in Washington who were enthusiastic about Trump before his election victory, Rohrabacher was once under consideration to be the new administration’s secretary of state. He has cast doubt on the conclusions of the U.S. intelligence community about the election and said voters benefited from the hacksof Clinton campaign messages. Last year, he met with Julian Assange of WikiLeaks, the group that released the stolen Clinton materials, and said he wanted to give Trump information proving the hack was not committed by Russia. Soon afterward, top Republicans curtailed his powers on his influential subcommittee. And in 2016, Rohrabacher had meetings with Trump adviser Michael Flynn ? who is now cooperating with Mueller ? and with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya ? who is known for a Trump Tower meeting she had with Donald Trump Jr., Manafort and others hoping that Russia would share information damaging to Clinton.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The 15-term congressman is courting controversy even as he faces what observers describe as his toughest re-election race yet in a California district that seems to be turning more liberal. He appears unfazed.&nbsp;&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“My constituents couldn’t care less about this,” Rohrabacher told The New York Times last year. “They are not concerned about Russia.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He's a Member of Congress. The Kremlin Likes Him So Much It Gave ...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.nytimes.com/2017/.../dana-rohrabacher-putin-trump-kremlin-under-fire.ht...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nov 21, 2017 - He sailed to re-election again and again, even as he developed ties to Vladimir V.Putin's Russia. Then came President Trump. As revelations of Russia's campaign to influence American politics consume Washington, Mr. Rohrabacher, 70, who had no known role in the Trump election campaign, has come ...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Why Dana Rohrabacher's name keeps coming up in the Russia ...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-rohrabacher-russia-timeline-20170804-htmlstory.html</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Aug 4, 2017 - Russian President Vladimir Putin was incensed by the restrictions. In retaliation, he halted U.S. adoptions of Russian children. During the April meeting, according to multiple news reports,Rohrabacher was given a memo stamped “confidential.” Deputy general prosecutor Viktor Grin, one of the Russians ...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy in 2016: 'There's two people I ...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">www.latimes.com/.../la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-year-old-mccarthy-comment-t...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a private meeting with Republican colleagues last year, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy commented that then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and California congressional colleague Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) were being paid by Russian President Vladimir Putin. “There's two people I ...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">self promo bs?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Washington Post report Wednesday included four possible candidates for secretary of state, and Rohrabacher was not among them. In addition to Giuliani and Bolton, the newspaper named Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House, and Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">opposed&nbsp; Montreal Protocol CFC</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Saved From the Ozone Hole</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Is environmental science any different?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Consider the men and women who laid the scientific foundations for the Montreal Protocol to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer. Established in 1985, that Convention protects us from the potentially devastating effects of ozone depletion. Today, the ozone hole is on the mend and scientists expect a full recovery in the coming decades — something that would not have happened without the work of the environmental scientists who first recognized threats to stratospheric ozone in the early 1970s.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scientists working at NASA and the University of California realized then that chemicals released into the atmosphere from supersonic transport planes and the space shuttle could react with ozone in the stratosphere and destroy it. Because of this threat, NASA began to fund studies of the chemical reactions involved. Meanwhile, Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina at the University of California, Irvine, recognized that a certain class of chemicals known as chlorinated fluorocarbons, or CFCs, found in hairspray and other consumer products, had the potential to destroy ozone on a global scale.&nbsp; At first, their predictions were viewed skeptically even by their colleagues: Could hairspray really end life on Earth as we knew it? That seemed an adventurous, if not outrageous, claim.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 1985, however, Joseph Farmer of the British Antarctic Survey announced the discovery of an area over Antarctica in which stratospheric ozone was dramatically diminished: the “ozone hole.” The following year, a team led by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientist Susan Solomon suggested that ozone was indeed being depleted by chlorine chemicals derived from CFCs in catalytic reactions on polar stratospheric clouds.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 1987, Harvard Professor James Anderson sent an experiment aloft in a NASA U-2 plane over the Antarctic, establishing by direct measurement that the ozone layer had been massively depleted there and that those depletions correlated with CFCs. This was a striking confirmation of the earlier hypotheses. Later, his team obtained similar measurements over the Arctic. All this research was NASA-funded.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On the basis of this work, Republican President George H.W. Bush, Secretary of State George Schultz, and Assistant Secretary of State John Negroponte gave their support to the Montreal Protocol to the Vienna Convention and so committed the world to reducing, and later to phasing out, the use of CFCs. In 1988, with the president’s support, Congress ratified the Montreal Protocol.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Susan Solomon has since been elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the European Academy of Sciences, and the French Academy of Sciences. In 2008, she was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. James Anderson has won more prizes than you can count. In 1995, Rowland and Molina shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work on ozone depletion.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If ozone science had been distorted, corrupted, or otherwise incorrectly done, none of them would have received such honors. More important, if the science had been wrong, we would be in dire straits right now because the ozone hole would not be recovering. Among other things, skin cancer rates in America would be about 60% higher than they are today. Livestock, crops, and wild plants and animals would have been affected, too.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bush, a Republican president, was not duped. He did the right thing and protected us from harm, but few people realize just how well the Montreal Protocol has worked and at what little cost. It was ratified by 197 nations -—in other words, the whole world! — and production and consumption of ozone-depleting chemicals has fallen 98%.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Not only did this cost very little as manufacturers quickly replaced ozone-depleting chemicals with new, less harmful products, but the world profited. The Protocol stimulated competition in technological innovation that reduced manufacturing costs, improved efficiency and safety, and lowered prices for consumers, while we avoided significant economic losses in agricultural and fishery yields and adverse human health impacts. The indirect health profits in terms of avoided cases of cancers and cataracts alone have been estimated at 11 times the direct costs of implementation.&nbsp; And there was no net loss of jobs, although there was a shift to more skilled jobs carried out by better-trained workers under safer conditions.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As the risk of disruptive climate change became widely recognized in the 1990s, the ozone success story offered a model for how we might tackle climate change, especially as it refuted the familiar conservative claims that environmental protection restrains growth, hurts the economy, and leads to job loss, or that benefits accrue to polar bears but not people. But the Republican shift to the right was already underway. When it came to the subject of regulation, the GOP was on the road to rejecting any science that pointed in that direction.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the early part of the twentieth century, Republicans had been pioneers in environmental protection; in its middle years, they had worked with Democrats to pass bills like the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Air Act.&nbsp; By the 1980s, however, resistance to environmental measures that might limit private sector prerogatives was starting to overshadow their historic commitment to a safe and beautiful America. By the 1990s, regulation was seen as bad in principle, even when, as in the ozone case, it was clearly and demonstrably good in practice.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Climate Science and the Hoaxers</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The ink on the Montreal Protocol was scarcely dry when ozone science was attacked as corrupt and politically motivated (in much the same way that environmental science is being attacked today). In 1995, Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher organized a hearing on “scientific integrity” meant to challenge such science.Representatives of private industry and conservative think tanks began to claim that the science behind the Montreal Protocol was incorrect, that fixing the problem would be devastating to the economy, and that the scientists involved were exaggerating the threat to get more money for their research. Entered into the Congressional Record was the now-familiar claim that there was “no scientific consensus” on ozone depletion, shown to be completely false by the Nobel Prize awarded to Rowland and Molina only a few weeks later.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">BS</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Currently serving his 13th term in Congress, Dana Rohrabacher represents California's scenic 48th District. Stretching along the Pacific coastline of Orange County from Seal Beach to Laguna Beach, the district includes Seal Beach, Sunset Beach, Surfside, Corona del Mar, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, Aliso Viejo, Newport Coast, Newport Beach, Laguna Niguel, Fountain Valley as well as portions of Midway City, Westminster, Santa Ana and Garden Grove.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;As Chairman of the Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rohrabacher is a most forceful spokesman for human rights and democracy around the world. For example, during the 110th Congress, Rep. Rohrabacher championed the effort to boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics by introducing a resolution to that effect emphasizing China's litany of human rights violations. Rohrabacher is also committed to securing our borders and a staunch opponent of amnesty for illegal immigrants. During his tenure as Chairman, one of his first priorities was to investigate the U.N. Oil for Food program and potential foreign influence in the Oklahoma City Bombing. Rep. Rohrabacher will continue to look into technology transfer issues, visa policies practiced by the State Department, Chinese proliferation of nuclear weapons technology as well as other volatile areas of concern such as the massive cultivation of opium poppies in Afghanistan. As a senior member of the International Relations Committee, Rohrabacher led the effort to deny Most Favored Nation trading status to Communist China, citing the rogue nation's dismal human rights record and opposition to democracy.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Rohrabacher is a strong voice for lower government spending and taxes. His record of fiscal restraint and pro-growth policies has won him acclaim from the National Taxpayers Union, Citizens Against Government Waste, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Past Accomplishments</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Rohrabacher served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics from 1997 to January 2005, having been given a two-year waiver to serve beyond the normal six-year term limit. His final achievement as chairman was to secure the enactment of his Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act, signed into law by President Bush on December 23, 2004. The law clears the way for small and middle-sized entrepreneurs to build commercial space passenger vehicles and bolsters private sector participation in space travel.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Rohrabacher led efforts in the 104th and 105th Congresses to restore the intellectual property rights of American inventors legislated away with the implementation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), authoring the Patent Term Restoration Act.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;The 48th congressional district is the birthplace of California's Proposition 187, a reform initiative which removes illegal aliens from the state's welfare and education rolls. Rohrabacher inspired the grassroots movement and, as a principal congressional spokesman for Prop. 187, framed the debate that led to the passage of the popular measure.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Prior to his first election to Congress in 1988, Dana served as Special Assistant to President Reagan. For seven years he was one of the President's senior speechwriters. During his tenure at the White House, Rohrabacher played a pivotal role in the formulation of the Reagan Doctrine and in championing the cause of a strong national defense. He also helped formulate President Reagan's Economic Bill of Rights, a package of economic reforms that the President introduced in a historic speech before the Jefferson Memorial.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Rohrabacher's roots in Orange County run deep. He attended elementary school locally and during his college days, he resided in Sunset Beach. Prior to joining Ronald Reagan's White House staff, he was an editorial writer for the Orange County Register. Rohrabacher was born June 21, 1947, in Coronado, California. He graduated from Palos Verdes High School, attended Harbor Junior College and received his bachelor degree in history from Long Beach State College in 1969. He received his master's degree in American Studies from the University of Southern California. In 1997, he married his wife, Rhonda, and in 2004, they became parents of triplets, Annika, Tristen, and Christian.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Committee Assignments</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Congressman Rohrabacher serves as Chairman of the Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats Subcommittee of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and is Vice Chairman on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. Click here to learn more.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">BW bk:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ASG PR (delay staffers) big in K Str; Paul Behrends usmc lt col, rohrabacher (fought w/ muj 1988); john dooliitle got bw tour NC</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">erik and behr on Chr Freedom intl (RR Iran C guys)Bauer</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2 days after kill, marines went in w/ Jim Steele (bremer dep) ernron exec tapped by wolf; col in ctr-insurent el salv death squad; testify iran-c</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">el salv model? US force back local guys to do dirty work? 115 only like 400 bad guys" in city of 10k (civilains killed by smart bomb)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">b2 said he wanted to bomb al jazeera (alleged)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">d hunter booster fence& BW , dana r endorsed MinuteMen</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jacob Fischer of Buzzfeed reports House Votes To End DEA Raids On Legal Medical Marijuana Operations</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">WASHINGTON — The House passed an amendment late Thursday night to restrict the Drug Enforcement Administration from targeting medical marijuana operations in states where it is legal.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The 219-189 decision came on a bipartisan appropriations amendment spearheaded by California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher and California Democrat Sam Farr. The amendment still faces several procedural hurdles before it is ratified, but this is the first time such an amendment has succeeded in the House.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The vote is an encouraging one for marijuana advocates, who say it shows the congressional pendulum is finally tilting in their favor.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The significance of it is a symbolic importance,” said Dan Riffle, director of federal policies at the Marijuana Policy Project. “We are nearing a point now where the United States Congress is essentially ready to end marijuana prohibition.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/30/1303007/-House-votes-to-end-DEA-raids-on-state-legal-medical-marijuana-operations</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/26763/dana-rohrabacher#.UiDQRhvVDmg</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"This is a person who is actively involved in shaping science policy in America," Maddow said. She pointed out that Rep. Todd Akin also serves as a Republican member of the House Committee on Science. Akin caused a firestorm for saying that in cases of "legitimate rape, the female body has ways to shut the whole thing down."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Representative Dana Rohrabacher is also on the committee. According to Maddow, Rohrabacher once suggested that temperature fluctuations on earth million's of years ago were due to dinosaurs flatulence.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ice is melting on mars too</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">WASHINGTON -- Earlier this month, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) told a town hall that global warming "is a total fraud" perpetuated by people who "want to create global government to control all of our lives." Climate change, he said, has nothing to do with the wildfires that are currently ravaging his home state.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Climate activists pushed back on his climate claims on Twitter this week, prompting the congressman to launch into a torrent of tweets on the subject.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CREDO Action chronicled Rohrabacher's tweets, which include claims such as "History is filled with wildfires & droughts. 1930's was worse drought yrs. blaming this on CO2 is fraudulent" and "statistics indicate these natural maladies R no more frequent than in the distant pass which Exposes GWARMING fraud."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In response, CREDO launched an online campaign on Thursday calling on Rohrabacher to apologize to Californians who have been affected by the wildfires.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Rim Fire is now the 6th largest wildfire in state history, and comes as the state is experiencing the driest year on record. Scientists have found that climate changeexacerbates the conditions that fuel wildfires.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rohrabacher, a member of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, has a long history of making bizarre claims about climate change. In 2007, he suggested in a committee hearing that "dinosaur flatulence" could be the cause of historic warming. In 2011, he suggested that chopping down rain forests might helpcut carbon dioxide emissions. Last year he gave a speech on the House floormocking young people who are concerned about the "lie" of global warming.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Newsmax</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rohrabacher: Global Warming is a 'Fraud' to Create 'Global Government'</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tuesday, August 13, 2013 12:01 PM</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By: Courtney Coren</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Dana Rohrabacher says global warming is a fraud and it's being used by liberals as a tool to create a "global government" to control personal liberties.&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Speaking to a tea party crowd back in his California district last Thursday, the Republican said, "Just so you know, global warming is a total fraud."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"What you've got is you've got liberals who get elected at the local level want state government to do the work and let them make the decisions," Rohrabacher explained to the Newport Mesa Tea Party group at a town hall meeting captured by a reporter for The Nation and posted on YouTube.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[video]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Then, at the state level, they want the federal government to do it. And at the federal government, they want to create global government to control all of our lives. That's what the game plan is," he continued.&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"It's step by step by step, more and bigger control over our lives by higher levels of government. And global warming is simply that strategy in spades."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rohrabacher, a member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, brought up his theory on global warming in response to California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer's assertion last week that the increase in wildfires sweeping through the state and elsewhere in the West could be the result of drier conditions caused by global warming.&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The congressman dismissed her claims and challenged her to defend her positions in a debate on the issue.&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The icecaps on Jupiter and Mars are following the same trend line as ours, so does that indicate that it's our human activity that's creating a global change in the climate or does it indicate that there's something that effects Mars and the earth called the sun?" Rohrabacher asked his town hall crowd, which appeared to agree with him.&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The congressman then cited President Dwight D. Eisenhower's farewell address in which he warned against the marriage of government and science.&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"So much [government] money has gone into science research projects and they have used it to intimidate people who disagree with their attempt to frighten all of us into changing our lives and giving [up]our freedom to make our choices on transportation and everything else," he said.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"No that has to be done by a government official, who by the way, probably comes from Nigeria because he's a U.N. government official and not a U.S. government official."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Is there some thought being given to subsidizing the clearing of rainforests in order for some countries to eliminate that production of greenhouse gases?"&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">-Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-California), when asked whether the U.S. climate policy should&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3. Climate Change Doesn’t Exist, and If It Does It’s Caused By Trees</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Not all Republican science denial involves evil lady parts. Their resistance to the very idea of climate change is so staunch that it bred an entire theory of GOP-specific ignorance [16].</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The least crazy of the party acknowledge climate change is occurring but refuse to link it to human behavior, instead seeing the rise in temperatures as part of a natural cycle. After all, it’s not like Hurricane Sandy was the first extreme weather event in history. “I would point out that if you’re a believer in the Bible, one would have to say the Great Flood is an example of climate change and that certainly wasn’t because mankind had overdeveloped hydrocarbon energy,” Texas congressman Joe Barton said [17] during a House hearing on the Keystone Pipeline. (You will remember Barton from his apology to BP [18] over the company’s oil spill.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There’s one problem with this: refusing to link global warming to human behavior greatly reduces your options for curtailing it.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">See Dana Rohrabacher, a far-right California congressman, who found a natural solution to a natural problem [19]. "Is there some thought being given to subsidizing the clearing of rainforests in order for some countries to eliminate that production of greenhouse gases?” Rohrabacher asked during a House hearing on U.N. climate policies.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is for the Republicans who actually admit climate change exists. Many don’t, and they made sure we knew about it last year when they rejected an amendment [20] that would have simply acknowledged the occurrence of global warming. The amendment didn’t garner a single GOP vote.&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It gets worse. In 2012, North Carolina’s legislature went the full-ostrich route. Not only did they refuse to admit that global warming was happening, they actually banned scientists from researching it [21], passing a bill prohibiting the measurement of sea-levels so nobody could notice they were rising. (The ocean rudely rose anyway [22].)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">tried to defund enviro McC&D 361</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;crazy crap about GW (see below)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">club for growth score</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dana Rohrabacher (R)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">State/District: CA/46</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Most Recent Score / Rank (2012): 85% / 62</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lifetime Score: 87%</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Historical Data</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Year<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Rank<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Score</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2012<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>62<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>85</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2011<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>83<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>77</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2010<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>94<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>86</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2009<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>80<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>88</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2008<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>35<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>91</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2007<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>62<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>88</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2006<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>14<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>86</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2005<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>15<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>95</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">spwriter for RR</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;mcc& D 2003: 104th congress (1994 gingrich?) House Comm on sci went after green regs: see Kraft 2000) delay and doolittle ~ cfc's, nviro res (esp gw and energy res) rohrbacker and rep robert walker Penn p 361</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">oxford ch 10 cites him on dioxin, ozone, junksci&nbsp; McCr and Dunlap 2003 p 361</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Beyond the donations to Fiorina and Prop. 23, coal concerns haven’t had much to do with California politics. Coal PAC, the industry lobby, has made occasional donations to California members of Congress, federal records show. In recent years, Coal PAC has donated $16,500 to former Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy; $7,000 to Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Clovis; $5,250 to Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands; $4,500 to Rep. Wally Herger, R-Chico; $2,500 to Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista; and $500 to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Also, in 2000, four Pennsylvania coal companies donated to California’s state Democratic committee. They were Bologna Coal ($479); Camelot Coal ($383); Forcey Coal $200); and Miller Brothers Coal ($250).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.californiawatch.org/watchblog/1-ohio-coal-company-donated-fiorina-also-gave-prop-23</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dana Rohrabacher</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">From SourceWatch</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican, has represented the 46th District of California in the United States House of Representatives since 1989. (map)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contents</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[hide]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1 Record and controversies</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.1 Iraq War</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.2 Environmental record</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.3 Involvement with Afganistan and the Taliban</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.4 Possible ethics violations</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.5 Links to Jack Abramoff</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.6 Involvement with the 1985 Jamba insurgents' summit</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1.7 DC voting rights</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2 Bio</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2.1 Background</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2.2 Congressional Career</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2.3 2006 elections</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2.4 Positions and Views</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3 Committees and Affiliations</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.1 Committees</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.1.1 Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.2 Coalitions and Caucuses</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.3 Boards and other Affiliations</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4 Contact</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4.1 Twitter</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5 Articles and resources</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5.1 Local blogs and discussion sites</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">6 More Background Data</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Record and controversies</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Iraq War</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rohrabacher voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 that started the Iraq War.[1]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For more information see the chart of U.S. House of Representatives votes on the Iraq War.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Environmental record</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For more information on environmental legislation, see the Energy and Environment Policy Portal</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Involvement with Afganistan and the Taliban</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Rohrabacher had a history of involvement in Afghanistan dating back to the Cold War, when he openly supported the groups that would later coalesce into the Taliban regime for their active opposition to the Soviet Union, including fighters under the command of Osama bin Laden.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In late 1988, Rohrabacher went to Afghanistan:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After I left the White House and was elected to Congress, but before I was sworn into Congress, I knew I had that two months between November and January to do things that I could never do once I was elected to Congress. I chose to hike into Afghanistan as part of a small Mujahedin unit and to engage in a battle against the Russian and communist forces near and around the city of Jalalabad. [1]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the November/December 1996 issue of Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Rohrabacher was reported as saying that the Taliban were not terrorists or revolutionaries, that they would develop a disciplined society that would leave no room for terrorists, and that the Taliban posed no threat to the United States.[2]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, in a September 11, 1998, editorial in the The Washington Post, Rohrabacher strongly rebuked the Taliban for their obstinacy in providing refuge to Osama bin Laden, mass killings of Shi'ites and ethnic Uzbeks, Turks, and Tajiks, and restrictions on the rights of Afghan women and children:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It has been no secret that bin Laden has been sheltered by the Taliban. The Clinton administration was mute while one of the most violent anti-Western Muslim sects spilled into Afghanistan from their Pakistan-based "religious schools" and took control of the capital. We remained paralyzed while they moved to destroy moderate Muslim forces. While administration officials expressed concern of the Taliban's complete denial of rights for women, it was little more than lip service. Even modest support from the United States for moderate Muslim forces in Afghanistan and serious political pressure on Pakistan could have thwarted the takeover of this strategically important country by these militant extremists. The danger of the spread of fanaticism expressed by the newly independent republics of Central Asia was smugly ignored.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During the summer of 2001, Rohrabacher made a trip to Qatar that was paid for by the Islamic Institute and the Government of Qatar, according to Rohrabacher's financial disclosure forms. While in Qatar, Rohrabacher, Grover Norquist, and Khaled Saffuri met with Taliban Foreign Minister Mullah Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil. Wakil reportedly asked for help in increasing the amount of foreign aid sent by the United States to Afghanistan, apparently in exchange for U.S. oil company UNOCAL being allowed to construct of an oil pipeline through Afghanistan. If Rohrabacher was conducting diplomacy, he was in violation of the Logan Act, which prohibits citizens from doing so if not in an official capacity. Rohrabacher told wire service reporters who were present in Doha, Qatar at the time that he had discussed a "peace plan" with the Taliban. But Norquist, a close associate of Rohrabacher, said that the meeting happened accidentally and that it included Rohrabacher yelling at them about blowing up the Buddhist statues" in Afganistan.[3]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Taliban later announced in Kabul that it had rejected what it considered were unreasonable demands by the U.S. side. Rohrabacher's staff would not answer questions about the Taliban talks. [4] After his diplomatic overtures were apparently rejected, Mr. Rohrabacher became one of the most fervent public opponents of the Taliban.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Mr.Rohrabacher claimed that the attacks were due to incompetence on the part of the Clinton administration. [5]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Possible ethics violations</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On November 4, 2005, The Los Angeles Times reported that Rohrabacher "used his influence to open doors in Washington for a Hollywood producer pitching a television show after the producer paid him a $23,000 option on a screenplay." [6] The producer, Joseph Medawar, has since been indicted on fraud charges by the FBI and has plead not guilty. The question is whether the producer paid him the money for the screenplay or if the money was for the introductions to congressional and federal officials conducted by Rohrabacher. Rohrabacher claims that the introductions were done in good faith and were nothing that was not done regularly for legitimate causes, and that the introductions have only become an issue because of Joseph Medawar's misdeeds.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Links to Jack Abramoff</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rohrabacher is also connected to indicted former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has been charged with fraud in connection with his purchase of the SunCruz Casinos. Rohrabacher was listed as a financial reference for Abramoff. "I don't remember it, but I would certainly have been happy to give him a good recommendation," Rohrabacher said. "He's a very honest man."[7]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rohrbacher is a "college friend" of Abramoff, and has been "his most steadfast defender on Capitol Hill." [8]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Involvement with the 1985 Jamba insurgents' summit</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to an article in The Weekly Standard, "...Rohrabacher was brought in to help muster support from inside the White House" for the 1985 Jamba Democratic International, a summit of right-wing insurgent groups at the headquarters of UNITA in the Angolan bush. It was co-organized by Abramoff and Jack Wheeler.[9] According to the UK Observer newspaper, the event was "...attended by a who's who of the extreme Right: members of the Oliver North group, Laotian guerrillas, Nicaraguan Contras, Afghan mujahideen and South African security police." [10]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During the proceeding, the assembled fighters listened to "...(Lewis) Lehrman read a letter Rohrabacher had drafted on Reagan's behalf, expressing solidarity with those struggling against the Soviet empire." [11]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">DC voting rights</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On January 4, 2005, Rep. Rohrabacher introduced the District of Columbia Voting Rights Restoration Act of 2005 (H.R. 190) allowing District residents to vote in Maryland congressional elections (the increase in Maryland's voting population would lead to it receiving an additional House seat). The bill would also remove the District's three electoral votes for presidential elections and allow District citizens to vote as Maryland residents in elections for both president and vice president. The bill attracted one sponsor, Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.), but never made it to the floor.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Main article: Voting rights in the District of Columbia</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bio</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Background</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rohrabacher was born June 21, 1947 in Coronado, California. He graduated from Palos Verdes High School in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, attended Harbor Junior College, and received his bachelor's degree in history from California State University, Long Beach in 1969. He received his master's degree in American Studies from the University of Southern California.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rohrabacher was an influencial activist in the radical anarcho-capitalist movement, starting from about 1969,[12] though he drifted towards the mainstream along with Charles Koch, the billionaire who helped fund his political campaigns.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He worked for awhile in the early 1970s as an editorial writer for The Register (today called The Orange County Register) newspaper] in Santa Ana, California, then a conservative newspaper with a libertarian bent.[13]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the late 1960s and early 70s, Rohrabacher was influenced by the anarcho-capitalist ideas of Robert LeFevre, who had moved his Freedom School to Santa Ana, California, renaming it Rampart College. [14] Rohrabacher would appear at various meetings and conferences, including the "Left-Right Festival of Mind Liberation" in 1969. [15]Rohrabacher would often play the four-string banjo and sing his original libertarian-themed songs, including "Individual Man": "I don't own nobody. Nobody does own me. I'm just an individual man, just want to be free..."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Prior to his election to Congress in 1988, Rohrabacher served as Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan. For seven years he was one of the President's senior speechwriters. During his tenure at the White House, Rohrabacher played a leading role in the formulation of the Reagan Doctrine. He also helped formulate President Reagan's Economic Bill of Rights, a package of economic reforms that the President introduced in a speech before the Jefferson Memorial.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Congressional Career</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With Reagan soon leaving office, Rohrabacher left the Administration in 1988 to pursue the open House seat recently vacated by Dan Lungren. With the fundraising help of friend Oliver North, Rohrabacher was able to win the Republican primary and capture the seat, centered around northern coastal Orange County. A friend and fellow White House aide, Christopher Cox, won a seat in the same election in southern Orange County. The pair remained close, though Cox — now chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission — rose in the party hierarchy while the more iconoclastic Rohrabacher charted his own course.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In August of 1997, Rohrbacher married Orange County political operative (and fellow surfer), Rhonda Carmony. On April 27, 2004, he and his wife became parents to triplets.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2006 elections</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2006, the Democrats nominated Jim Brandt to face Rohrabacher in his November 2006 bid for reelection. (See U.S. congressional elections in 2006)[2] Rohrabacher retained his seat.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Positions and Views</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rohrabacher is a staunch opponent of illegal immigration. He authored California's Proposition 187, which sought to deny immigrants without proper documentation any government services, including education for their children. In 2004 he proposed a bill to withhold emergency room services to people who cannot prove their immigration status. The proposed bill was overwhelmingly defeated [16].</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rohrabacher supports giving Washington, D.C. residents the right to vote for congressional representation as Maryland residents.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Committees and Affiliations</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Committees</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">House Committee on Foreign Affairs</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight -Ranking</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">House Committee on Science and Technology</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">House Committee on International Relations</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations - Chair</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">House Committee on Science</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Subcommittee on Research</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Coalitions and Caucuses</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Boards and other Affiliations</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Member, Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China [3]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contact</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">DC Office:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2338 Rayburn House Office Building</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Washington, D.C. 20515-0546</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Phone: 202-225-2415</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fax: 202-225-0145</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Email: dana AT mail.house.gov</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Website</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">District Office- Huntington Beach:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">101 Main Street, Suite 380</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Huntington Beach, CA 92648</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Phone: 714-960-6483</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fax: 714-847-5153</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2. GOP congressman: Stop climate change by destroying the rainforest</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Jess Zimmerman</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">27 May 2011 1:45 PM</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Republican representative Dana Rohrabacher has a novel solution for reducing greenhouse gases: Destroy the rainforest! While we’re at it, we should probably get rid of the ozone layer and those pesky whales, as well.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rohrabacher argues that since 80 percent of carbon emissions come from decaying plant matter, we should clear-cut rainforests in order to reduce carbon. This is basically like saying that because your body turns food into blood sugar, the best cure for diabetes is to keep on drinking soda but drain all your blood.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The staggering stupidity of this statement is causing respectable academics to make Sesame Street-style statements like “natural things decay, of course, but they also grow” (Oliver Phillips, professor of geology at the University of Leeds, carbon storage expert, and way too educated for this sh*t). When you need to be told that natural things grow, it may be time to sit down with a book or at very least the Discovery channel.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scientists point out that natural-world carbon emissions aren’t the problem; the problem is the excess carbon emissions created by humans. You know, the ones that haven’t been around since the beginning of life on Earth. Scientists also point out that razing forests might have some negative impact on the trees’ ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the climate (which helps to mitigate that man-made overage). But, you know, scientists say a lot of things. Next they’ll be telling us global warming doesn’t come from dinosaur farts!&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Rohrabacher: Global Warming May Have Been Caused By ‘Dinosaur Flatulence’</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This week, Congress held its first hearing on the landmark IPCC report on climate change. That report concluded that global warming is “unequivocal” and human activity is the main driver, “very likely” causing most of the rise in temperatures since 1950.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During the hearing, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) — one of the 87 percent of congressional Republicans who do not believe in man-made global warming — questioned the authors of the report about a period of dramatic climate change that occured 55 million years ago. “We don’t know what those other cycles were caused by in the past. Could be dinosaur flatulence, you know, or who knows?’</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watch it:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[flv http://video.thinkprogress.org/2007/02/dino.320.240.flv]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Presumably, Rohrabacher was referencing a period known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Then, as in now, “sharp rises in temperature were initiated and driven by large spikes in greenhouse gases. … It took over 100K years for the ocean, atmosphere, and temperatures to return to their previous state. The result was a mass extinction event that took millions of years to recover from.” But scientists believe that massive methane releases from the ocean floors — not dinosaur farts — were the cause.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In sharp contrast to Rohrabacher, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) delivered an opening statement recommending mandatory caps on global warming pollution and calling out conservatives for rejecting science. “For twelve years, the leadership in the House of Representatives stifled all discussion and debate of global warming. That long rejection of reality is over, to the relief of Members on both sides of the aisle.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Digg It! | Reddit</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Transcript:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ROHRBACHER: So, whether or not how dramatic this change will be, or is, what it’s caused by, are things that honest people, I think, can disagree with, and I really personally, having been a journalist, the first thing I was always cautioned by when someone was claiming, well, everybody is on my side, or everybody says this, or there is a total consensus, almost always when people said that to me over my years as a journalist, it wasn’t true. It was that there were honest people who disagreed and significant disagreement on such issues. We don’t know what those other cycles were caused by in the past. Could be dinosaur flatulence, you know, or who knows? We do know the CO2 in the past had its time when it was greater as well. And what happened when the CO2 was greater since then and now? There have been many cycles of up and down warming. So with that said, I think that we’ve had a great discussion</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Real Estate<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$317,333</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Retired<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$246,750</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Health Professionals<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$232,760</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lawyers/Law Firms<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$163,467</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Misc Manufacturing & Distributing<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$154,875</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Air Transport<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$147,500</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Automotive<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$117,800</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Misc Finance<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$114,530</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Republican/Conservative<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$108,953</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Leadership PACs<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$99,521</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Business Services<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$94,650</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oil & Gas<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$88,694</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Securities & Investment<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$85,150</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Defense Aerospace<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$76,961</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Misc Business<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$76,850</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lobbyists<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$73,200</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pharmaceuticals/Health Products<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$72,835</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">General Contractors<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$67,100</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Construction Services<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$58,749</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chemical & Related Manufacturing<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$57,350</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sector Totals</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sector<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Total<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>PACs<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Indivs</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Agribusiness<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$26,500<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$20,900<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$5,600</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Communications/Electronics<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$136,900<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$43,800<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$93,100</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Construction<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$226,049<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$93,550<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$132,499</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Defense<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$121,226<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$90,625<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$30,601</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Energy & Natural Resources<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$178,944<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$82,650<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$96,294</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Finance, Insurance & Real Estate<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$677,113<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$164,010<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$513,103</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Health<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$372,145<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$138,200<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$233,945</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lawyers & Lobbyists<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$236,667<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$21,175<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$215,492</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Transportation<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$296,450<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$196,650<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$99,800</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Misc Business<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$571,345<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$99,540<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$471,805</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Labor<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$10,000<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$10,000<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ideological/Single-Issue<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$378,569<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$281,969<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$96,600</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Other<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$341,500<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$341,500</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">National Auto Dealers Assn<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$63,400<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$63,400</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">United Parcel Service<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$54,450<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$54,450</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Airtech International<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$51,250<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$51,250<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">American Medical Assn<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$48,850<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$48,850</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">National Assn of Realtors<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$42,360<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$42,360</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Signal Hill Petroleum<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$38,825<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$38,825<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Health Care Concepts<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$34,600<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$34,600<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">National Assn of Home Builders<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$31,550<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$31,550</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Paramount Petroleum<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$30,950<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$30,950<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Brian F Sweeney MD<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$30,600<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$30,600<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ellison Educational Equipment<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$30,300<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$30,300<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Boeing Co<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$28,150<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$7,650<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$20,500</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">National Beer Wholesalers Assn<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$28,000<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$28,000</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">National Rifle Assn<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$27,250<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$27,250</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hobby People<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$26,800<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$26,800<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ESOP Assn<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$26,050<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$500<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$25,550</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">General Atomics<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$26,000<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$26,000</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">American Chiropractic Assn<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$25,500<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$25,500</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Conservative Victory Fund<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$24,662<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$24,662</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Virco Manufacturing<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$24,400<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$24,400<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$0</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Voted NO on $2 billion more for Cash for Clunkers program.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Congressional Summary:Emergency supplemental appropriations of $2 billion for the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save (CARS) Program.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Proponent's argument to vote Yes:Rep. OBEY (D, WI-7): The cash for clunkers program has proven even more wildly popular than its strongest supporters had predicted. Just last month, Congress passed the program, which provided up to $4,500 if you trade in your old gas guzzler for a new car that gets better mileage. That was done in the hopes of spurring some new car sales and encouraging people to be a little more environmentally friendly. We provided $1 billion in the supplemental to get it going, enough for about 250,000 sales--which was just about exhausted in one week. This bill transfers $2 billion from the Department of Energy's Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee program, which doesn't expect to award funding until late next year.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Opponent's argument to vote No:Rep. LEWIS (R, CA-41): In the majority's haste to slam legislation with no time for consideration or amendments, we are now seeing the effects of such shortsighted martial law tactics.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Senator Feinstein tried to negotiate some changes to improve the program but was told that it was this way or the highway. Not one hearing on the Cash for Clunkers program, not one hearing on how the first billion dollars has been spent, not one hearing on how much money the program will need to get through the fiscal year.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Many of my colleagues will say, This is a great program, and it is necessary for the revitalization of the car industry. I'm not really going to argue with those goals. However, are we sure this program is working like it's supposed to? I don't think so. This program has only been up and running 1 week. If that is how the government is going to handle billion-dollar programs affecting all Americans, I ask, Whatever will we do if the administration takes control of our health care system?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reference: Cash for Clunkers bill; Bill H.R. 3435 ; vote number 2009-H682 on Jul 31, 2009</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Voted NO on protecting free-roaming horses and burros.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Congressional Summary:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ensure that acreage available for wild and free-roaming horses and burros is at least equal to the acreage where they were found in 1971</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">update the inventory of such horses and burros annually</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">maintain a thriving natural ecological balance on lands where such horses and burros are found</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">establish sanctuaries for such horses and burros</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">research and implement enhanced fertility control for mares & stallions.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Proponent's argument to vote Yes:Rep. NICK RAHALL (D, WV-3): Earlier this year, the BLM made a truly shocking announcement. This Federal agency announced future plans to destroy, i.e., slaughter, 30,000 healthy wild horses and burros entrusted to their care by the American people. How in the world can a Federal agency be considering massive slaughter of animals the law says they are supposed to be protecting? The bill before us gives the agency as many options as possible to avoid destroying these animals.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Opponent's argument to vote No:Rep. DOC HASTINGS (R, WA-4): Across our Nation, Americans are struggling to pay their bills; 9.5% of Americans are out of work. With this backdrop, what is the response of this Democrat Congress to record unemployment and skyrocketing deficits? Their response is to create a $700 million welfare program for wild horses and burros. If the American people want an illustration of just how out of touch this Congress has become on spending, they need to look no further. In the last Congress, the House passed legislation to ban the commercial slaughter of wild horses and burros, that cost taxpayers less than $500,000 a year. Now we're looking at a bill that, again, bans slaughter of these animals but then proceeds to spend $700 million to create a new welfare program for wild horses. Republicans are focused on creating the jobs in this country, but this Democrat Congress seems to be more worried about wild burros and wild horses.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reference: Restore Our American Mustangs Act; Bill H.R.1018 ; vote number 2009-H577 on Jul 17, 2009</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Voted NO on environmental education grants for outdoor experiences.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Congressional Summary:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Requires Environmental Education and Training program grantees to:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ensure that environmental education programs and curricula advance the teaching of interdisciplinary courses that include strong field components;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bring teachers into contact with working environmental professionals;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">encourage individuals traditionally underrepresented in environmental careers</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Proponent's argument to vote Yes:Rep. JOHN SARBANES (D, MD-3): This bill creates a new National Capacity Environmental Education grant program for which education associations apply competitively for grants that would fund model programs that get children into nature and really have them experiencing the environment.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. BUCK McKEON (R, CA-25): This bill incorporates scientifically-based and technology-driven teaching methods into environmental education. Unfortunately, the new National Capacity Environmental Education Program is duplicative of the existing environmental education program already being run by the EPA. Still, I do not intend to oppose its passage.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Opponent's argument to vote No:Rep. MICHELE BACHMANN (R, MN-6): H.R. 3036 continues our Nation down the ill-fated road of shifting control of school curricula away from the parents and teachers and local school boards who best know what their children need into the hands of Federal Government and its one-size-fits-all approach. To best serve our children's educational needs, local school boards need flexibility to target resources where they are needed most. The needs of individual school districts are not homogenous and are most certainly not best understood by bureaucrats in Washington. This bill represents a step in the wrong direction. Forcing local school districts to direct scarce resources away from core curricula to serve a political agenda will only further suppress the academic performance of America's next generation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reference: No Child Left Inside Act; Bill H.R.3036 ; vote number 2008-H614 on Sep 18, 2008</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Voted NO on $9.7B for Amtrak improvements and operation thru 2013.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Congressional Summary:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Authorizes appropriations for FY2009-FY2013 for Amtrak capital and operating grants; Amtrak repayment of long-term debt and capital leases; and the rail cooperative research program.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Authorizes grants for the Next Generation Corridor Train Equipment Pool Committee.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Proponents argument for voting YEA: Rep. OBERSTAR: America is on the threshold of a "renaissance'' for intercity passenger rail that approaches the enthusiasm of the completion of the transcontinental railroad. Last year, Amtrak set a ridership record for the fifth year in a row, exceeding 25.8 million passengers. Its ticket revenues rose 11 percent to more than $1.5 billion, the third straight year of revenue growth. This record of achievement is even more impressive considering that for the past eight years Amtrak has contended with an Administration committed to its bankruptcy. Indeed, these achievements are occurring when there is a greater need than ever for alternatives to our congested highways and skies. To alleviate this congestion and strengthen our energy security, we need to invest in intercity passenger rail.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Other countries already make an annual commitment to intercity passenger rail. In 2003 alone, France invested $10.6 billion in its rail system; Germany invested $12.4 billion; and the United Kingdom invested $7.8 billion. China plans to spend a total of $162 billion from 2006 through 2010 to expand its railway system. This bill authorizes $14 billion over 5 years:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$6.7 billion for capital grants</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$3.0 billion for operating grants</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$2.5 billion for 80% matching grants to States to pay for the capital costs of facilities</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$1.75 billion to finance 11 authorized high-speed rail corridors</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reference: Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act; Bill HR6003 ; vote number 2008-400 on Jun 11, 2008</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; Voted NO on increasing AMTRAK funding by adding $214M to $900M.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Voting YES on this amendment would restore $214 million in funding for AMTRAK, bringing the total annual expenditure for AMTRAK to $1.114 billion. The chairman of the Railroad Subcommittee explained the increase as follows:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Unlike aviation, highways and transit, there is no dedicated funding for investing in our Nation's passenger rail service. This amendment restores $214 million to the Amtrak account, taking it to $1.114 billion, which is still about $300 million less than we had during the course of last year's discussion.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last year the President sent up a budget of zero for Amtrak. We had an amendment process that we went through this time. This time we are up to $900 million in the bill [without this amendment].</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But if you look at that $900 million, there is only $500 million for capital expenditures, out of which has to come a debt service of $280 million, which only leaves $220 million for the capital needs of this country for Amtrak, for passenger rail.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There is nothing for operation, and I know that the response to that is going to be that there are some incentive grants in the bill.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Opponents of the amendment say that it would increase funding for Amtrak by gutting and eliminating critical programs, including safety programs, resulting in reductions in force at several agencies.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reference: Department of Transportation appropriations; Bill HR 5576 Amendment 1008 ; vote number 2006-263 on Jun 13, 2006</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Voted NO on barring website promoting Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An amendment to prohibit funding the "Yucca Mountain Youth Zone" website. Voting YES indicates opposition to using Yucca Mountain as the national nuclear waste repository. The amendment's sponsor says:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I would like to introduce the American people to the newest member of the Bush administration's energy policy team. His name is Yucca Mountain Johnny. He is the star of the Energy Department's Yucca Mountain Youth Zone Web site devoted to brainwashing school children into believing that burying the Nation's nuclear garbage 90 miles from Los Vegas is safe.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Web site features games and activities to make high level nuclear waste fun. High level nuclear waste is not fun. It is dangerous, and the Department of Energy should not be using taxpayer money for a propaganda tool.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I would probably not be as upset with Joe Camel, excuse me, Yucca Mountain Johnny, if there was a more balanced approach on this Web site. It doesn't talk about the potential of accidents or being an inviting target for terrorists. It doesn't talk about the fact that Yucca Mountain is in a volcanic and seismic zone area. It doesn't say anything about the existence of safer and cheaper alternatives.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Among Yucca Mountain Johnny's witty sayings, he says, "The worst mistake is never making one." Well, Yucca Mountain is a mistake. This Web site is a mistake. Yucca Mountain Johnny is a mistake, and to promote the proposed nuclear waste repository to our children under the guise of education is a big mistake.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The amendment's opponents respond:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To my knowledge, nobody has questioned the accuracy or truth of what is on the Web site. My guess is that most of the children that access this website use it for term papers and papers in their classrooms that they have to do on nuclear power.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Whether you oppose or support the repository, we should at least want the facts out to our children and adults who wish to use that same Web site about just what exactly it is.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reference: Energy and water development appropriations bill; Bill HR 5427 Amendment 919 ; vote number 2006-200 on May 24, 2006</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Voted YES on deauthorizing "critical habitat" for endangered species.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To amend and reauthorize the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to provide greater results conserving and recovering listed species, and for other purposes, including:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Repealing the authority to designate an area as “critical habitat” for an endangered species</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Requiring the Secretary of the Interior to create “recovery plans” within two years of classifying species as endangered or threatened</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Allowing recovery agreements with private citizens whose land may be part of a species recovery plan</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Issuing grants to support private property owners who voluntarily help to increase the number of endangered or threatened species on their private land</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Providing compensation in an amount no less than fair market value to private landowners who have had regulation imposed upon their land</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Calling upon the Secretary to submit an annual cost analysis of the previous years spending to Congress, including the amount of Federal and State funds used for each species</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reference: Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act; Bill HR 3824 ; vote number 2005-506 on Sep 29, 2005</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Voted YES on speeding up approval of forest thinning projects.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Vote to adopt the conference report on the bill that would reduce and expedite (speed up) environmental and judicial reviews of forest thinning projects. The bill would authorize $760 million a year from fiscal 2004 to fiscal 2008. The Bureau of Land Management and the US Forest Service would have the authorization to remove vegetation that could cause or assist the spread of wildfires, disease or insect infestation. All forest thinning project would come after public meetings had been held. Forest thinning would be restricted to land that is within a 1.5 miles of at-risk communities , high-risk land that serves as a home for threatened and endangered species, high-risk land in the area of municipal water sources and and high-risk land that is specifically susceptible to disease or insect infestation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reference: Healthy Forests Restoration Act; Bill HR 1904 ; vote number 2003-656 on Nov 21, 2003</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rated 5% by the LCV, indicating anti-environment votes.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rohrabacher scores 5% by the LCV on environmental issues</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) is the political voice of the national environmental movement and the only organization devoted full-time to shaping a pro-environment Congress and White House. We run tough and effective campaigns to defeat anti-environment candidates, and support those leaders who stand up for a clean, healthy future for America. Through our National Environmental Scorecard and Presidential Report Card we hold Congress and the Administration accountable for their actions on the environment. Through regional offices, we build coalitions, promote grassroots power, and train the next generation of environmental leaders. The 2003 National Environmental Scorecard provides objective, factual information about the environmental voting records of all Members of the first session of the 108th Congress. This Scorecard represents the consensus of experts from 20 respected environmental and conservation organizations who selected the key votes on which Members of Congress should be graded. LCV scores votes on the most important issues of the year, including environmental health and safety protections, resource conservation, and spending for environmental programs. Scores are calculated by dividing the number of pro-environment votes by the total number of votes scored. The votes included in this Scorecard presented Members of Congress with a real choice on protecting the environment and help distinguish which legislators are working for environmental protection. Except in rare circumstances, the Scorecard excludes consensus action on the environment and issues on which no recorded votes occurred.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: LCV website 03n-LCV on Dec 31, 2003</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stop considering manure as pollutant or hazardous.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rohrabacher co-sponsored Superfund Common Sense Act</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Congressional Summary:Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) to exclude manure from the definition of "hazardous substance" and "pollutant or contaminant" for purposes of such Act. Defines "manure" to mean:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">digestive emissions, feces, urine, urea and other excrement from livestock;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">any associated bedding, compost, raw materials or other materials commingled with such excrement from livestock;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">any process water associated with such items; and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">any byproducts, constituents, or substances contained in, or originating from, such items or any emissions relating to such items.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amends the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 to exempt from notification requirements releases associated with manure.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Opponent's Comments (Jim Ruen on AgProfessional.com, Oct. 3, 2011): Since when can a fertilizer dealer operate without concern for environmental regulation and impact? Let's face it, we aren't talking about Ma and Pa Kettle with their six milk cows and three sows here spreading a load of manure on the back 40. We are talking about CAFO units with thousands of animals and tens of thousands or more tons/gallons of manure. While a few maybe spreading on their own land, most are selling it to area farmers. At a time when fertilizer dealers and companies have to be conspicuously careful with how they handle product, why shouldn't mega-livestock operators be equally regulated as they sell their "waste" product for its nutrient and soil building value. Since when do commercial N, P and K producers or handlers get a free ride from the EPA...or Congress?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: H2997/S1729 11-H2997 on Sep 21, 2011</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rated 25% by HSLF, indicating an anti-animal welfare voting record.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rohrabacher scores 25% by the Humane Society on animal rights issues</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">112th Mid-Term Humane Scorecard: The Humane Society Legislative Fund has posted the final version of the 2011 Humane Scorecard, where you can track the performance of your federal lawmakers on key animal protection issues during last year. We rated legislators based on their voting behavior on measures such as agribusiness subsidies, lethal predator control, and the Endangered Species Act; their cosponsorship of priority bills on puppy mills, horse slaughter, animal fighting, and chimps in research; their support for funding the enforcement of animal welfare laws; and their leadership on animal protection. All of the priority bills whose cosponsorships we're counting enjoy strong bipartisan support; in the House, each of the four now has more than 150 cosponsors.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Humane Scorecard is not a perfect measuring tool, but creating some reasonable yardstick and allowing citizens to hold lawmakers accountable is central to our work. When the Humane Scorecard comes out each year, it helps clarify how the animal protection movement is doing geographically, by party affiliation, and in other categories. It helps us chart our course for animals by seeing where we have been effective, and where we need to improve.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: HSLF website 12-HumaneH on Jan 13, 2012</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Regulating 15 more contaminants under Clean Water Act.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rohrabacher co-sponsored regulating 15 more contaminants under Clean Water Act</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to publish a proposed list of at least 15 contaminants that may occur in public water systems and that are not currently subject to EPA regulation. Provides for proposed lists of at least 12 additional contaminants every four years. (Current law requires EPA to regulate 25 contaminants every three years.) Bases the determination to regulate a contaminant on findings that:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the contaminant is known to occur in public water systems;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the contaminant occurs in concentrations which may have adverse health effects; and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">regulation of the contaminant presents an opportunity to reduce health risks.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments (H.R.3392) 93-H3392 on Oct 27, 1993</font></div></div>