If you're a fan of political mud wresting, there's no reason to wait for the upcoming June Primary to grab your popcorn and be entertained. There's one hell of a match going on right now in the special election to fill John Benoit's old 37th State Senate seat between leading Republican candidates Russ Bogh and Bill Emmerson
It has long been a tradition of the GOP to say its a sin to speak ill of another Republican, but then to verbally bludgeon candidates of their party during a primary fight. The Bogh-Emmerson contest is no different.
Both Russ Bogh and Bill Emmerson have both been members of the State Assembly representing the Inland Empire. Bogh, a resident of Beaumont was in office from 2001 to 2006 representing a cross-county seat split evenly between the two counties. Emmerson has been in the Assembly since 2005 and holds a seat that with the exception of a few hundred Riverside County voters is in San Bernardino County.
Emmerson who is termed out of office was preparing to run for Bob Dutton's Senate seat when Dutton terms out of office in 2012. Then John Benoit traded his vote for the Governor's $11 billion pork filled Water Bond to get appointed to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. Emmerson leaped at the opportunity to not miss any time in the State Legislature, rented a house in Hemet and re-registered to vote in Riverside County last November so he could seek the seat.
Bill Emmerson has locked up the endorsements of many members of the State Legislature. The California Dental Association is bankrolling a million dollar independent expenditure campaign on his behalf.
Russ Bogh is relying heavily on endorsements from local city council members and fundraising from local sources. The Morongo Indians began an independent expenditure campaign for Bogh this week to counter the money from the Dental Association.
As is typical in Republican primaries, both Emmerson and Bogh are doing their best to paint themselves as "conservative" and their opponent as a "liberal." Emmerson has kneed Bogh in the political groin, saying the Beaumont Republican is soft on illegal immigration. Bogh body-slammed Emmerson in mailers over votes in favor of higher taxes and more spending.
So which one of these Republicans in the "liberal?" Objectively, neither of them are, but Russ Bogh's voting record is clearly to the right of Bill Emmerson's, which for ideological purposes makes Bogh the "conservative" in the race, while Emmerson is the "moderate."
For instance, Russ Bogh was a solid anti-tax vote while in the State Assembly, but Bill Emmerson as Bogh's campaign has pointed out, voted to put Proposition 1A on the ballot last May. If that measure had passed, it would have raised the state's sales tax for two years longer than the Legislature had originally voted. The non-partisan analysis of Prop 1A states it would have resulted in $16 million of additional revenue. Emmerson says he voted for a "spending cap." Yes, but to be fair, that spending cap came at the cost of a sales tax increase.
Both Bogh and Emmerson have not been friendly to organized labor or blue collar workers. The only exception to their anti-labor positions is when it pertains to public safety associations. Both Emmerson and Bogh have been supported in the past by police and fire employee groups and happily accepted money from them. Bogh seems to have their support in this fight since many of the local associations have been put off by Emmerson moving into Hemet simply to run for the open senate seat.
On the social issues, both Emmerson and Bogh oppose same-sex marriage, but Bogh is completely with the pro-life crowd voting against any kind of abortion funding, while Emmerson supports public financing of abortions for the poor. One would think that in 2010 this wouldn't still be an issue, but to a number of Republican voters still only care where a candidate stands on a woman's right to choose.
While Russ Bogh does have the ideological advantage with rank and file Republican voters, Bill Emmerson offers something that Bogh doesn't: a willingness to work with the Democrats who control the Legislature. Republicans are typically known as the "Party of No" and Bogh fits right in with that crowd.
Bill Emmerson on the other hand is not afraid to seek a more balanced solution to our state's problems. He's someone that will support some tax increases along with corresponding spending cuts, and he's not going to oppose a state budget just because a teenage girl might use Planned Parethood to terminate an accidental pregnancy.
So let the mud fly in the Bogh-Emmerson wresting match. Conservatives have an obstructionist candidate to get behind in Russ Bogh, while the more reasonable moderates have Bill Emmerson who will bring a more thoughtful, bipartisan approach to the California State Senate.
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