Tracy Press
Former Republican Congressman Pete McCloskey will throw his weight behind at least seven west-of-the-Mississippi Democratic candidates in a bid to help shift control of the House to his former foes after November.
“I’ll speak for them and I’ll write op-ed pieces for them,” said the 79-year-old who mustered 33 percent of a June primary vote against Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy. “I’ll try to convince my Republican associates and friends that the House must be run by a Democratic majority if it’s to do its constitutional job of legislative oversight — something it hasn’t done for five years.”
“I’m not leaving the Republican Party, but I do want to try to maintain a Democratic majority for the next two years.”
McCloskey, who served Congress from 1967 to 1983, said he would support Democratic candidates running against “DeLay-type Republicans.”
He said he would support Jerry McNerney’s campaign against Pombo and Charlie Brown’s campaign against Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville.
Pombo’s campaign consultant, Wayne Johnson, said he was hardly surprised that McCloskey would support Democrats in the November election.
“That’s all he’s ever supported in the last 10 to 15 years,” he said. “I would say (McNerney and McCloskey) have been working together since day one, so it makes no difference to us.”
McCloskey said he had never worked with McNerney. He said although he supported John Kerry over George W. Bush, he supported Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger over Gray Davis.
Steve Thomas, who took 18 percent of the Democratic Primary vote in June without raising any money, said he felt slighted that McNerney had decided against employing him on his campaign.
“I think I had a lot more message in the fall than Jerry did,” he said, “but my offer fell on deaf ears.”
A spokesman for McNerney said Thomas was welcome to lend a hand.
Pombo took 62 percent of the Republican vote in June, with 35,493 votes. McNerney took 53 percent of the Democratic vote, with 23,598 votes.
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