Let the smack talk/truth telling begin in the race for 38th Assembly District. National Journal reports on the bad blood between McKeon & Wilk. Starting with this:
“The congressman has told people in the district that he plans to lock her in the room, raise all of her money, and win it on her name ID,” Wilk said.
Oh no he didn’t.
Actually yes he did. The entire article is based on quotes from Wilk, who actually talked to the reporter. Patricia McKeon and her campaign “declined to comment for this story.”
So what else did Wilk say? Well he was surprised as the rest of us that Patricia McKeon, heretofore unknown in local politics, had decided to make a run for 38th Assembly.Here’s how he found out:
Wilk said the congressman didn’t call to inform him that Patricia McKeon would challenge him for the California Assembly seat. Instead, the lawmaker dispatched an aide to Wilk’s home at 9 p.m. to break the news, Wilk said. This, after Wilk’s family had donated $6,000 to McKeon’s campaign committee over the last five years.
“I started laughing because honestly that’s a scenario that never crossed my mind,” Wilk said. “Her political acumen stops at seating charts.”
No holds barred ladies and gentlemen.
The piece also goes into why Tony Strickland rescinded his endorsement from Scott Wilk. Strickland, who is no stranger to husband/wife political teams, said this:
The stature of McKeon’s husband is already a factor in the race. One of Wilk’s early backers reneged out of fear of offending the congressman. State Sen. Tony Strickland said he withdrew his endorsement after launching his own bid for Congress to replace retiring Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Calif.
“A lot of folks in the delegation feel uncomfortable going all-out to help me when I’m going against Buck’s wife,” Strickland said.
That’s kind of cowardly of Strickland in my opinion, but you know the saying about friends in Washington (you’d best get a dog).
The larger theme of the article is that Patricia’s decision to run for 38th AD is splitting the local Republican base that used to be hyper-loyal to our Pater Familias Buck McKeon. Indeed that’s accurate, but doesn’t go far enough. Buck McKeon has had a very bad few months of press in the 25th District and particularly in Santa Clarita that’s exacerbating the situation :
- The delay (real or imagined) over addressing the concerns of the father of slain US Army Sgt. Rudy Acosta who was killed in Afghanistan in 2010 by a rogue Afghan security contractor
- His refusal to address and subsequent hint that CEMEX might not be all that bad for the SCV
- The announcement of Patricia McKeon’s entry into the race just a week or two after Scott Wilk -one of a few natural local candidates for Cam Smyth’s seat- made noise about running. This insulted local Republicans who saw the move for what it is
- And last but not least, the latest news that Buck McKeon received a “Friends of Angelo” discounted mortgage ordered by the orange-faced oompa-loompa himself in 1998
We don’t have polling to be sure, but looking at the list above, it’s not hard to see how Buck McKeon has angered just about every type of loyal Republican in the SCV. Even the usual McKeon voters who don’t pay much attention to local politics have taken notice of the Rudy Acosta controversy. It remains to be seen whether Buck’s opponent, Dr. Lee Rogers, can exploit the anger and move past 40% in the newer, tighter, more red 25th District.
In the meantime, the Scott Wilk/Patricia McKeon battle will be the one to watch this spring.
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