One of the moist rotten of the DCCC's many rotten moves this cycle was endorsing the least competent "serious" candidate--"serious" implying in this case only one thing: loaded with cash-- anywhere in the country. Gil Cisneros wouldn't be a good candidate for dog-catcher; just ask Lulu (above). He won $266 million in a lottery and was able to quit his gig as a potato chip taster for Frito-Lay's and become... a slumlord. He lives in a multimillion dollar mansion in one of the most exclusive zip codes in America-- Newport Coast-- and has been successful at one thing: bribing lots of shameless organizations and congressional sleaze balls into endorsing him. Newport Coast in nowhere near CA-39, where he's running for Congress. He lies and tells people he's moved. He hasn't. (In fact, he lies about everything... all the time, very much like Trump.) The people who endorsed him must all be completely like him; his lies aren't secret or hidden-- and now we know who they are as well. Cisneros, for example, claimed he supported Bernie in the primary. But he didn't. He contributed massive amounts of money to Hillary during the primary and exactly nothing to Bernie during the primary. Maybe he prayer for Bernie; does that count as support? Those are the kinds of lies-about-everything bullshit that comes out of his mouth every time he opens it. This guy is the essence of an untrustworthy DCCC type of candidate-- perfect for DCCC right-of-center staffers who found him, Kyle Layman and Jason Bresler.The DCCC didn't want him getting in the way of their candidate in CA-48, where he lives, and felt there was no chance to take back CA-39 anyway, so it didn't matter. But Ed Royce decided to retire and now the chance of flipping CA-39 is better than the chance of flipping CA-48. And the DCCC is stuck with Cisneros in one and two recruits-- Keirstead and Rouda-- in the other.Cisneros is just one of the self-funders who wants to buy a congressional seat-- for no particular reason other than to have a business card that says "congressman on it. Here are the self-funders running in CA-39, none of whom live in CA-39:
• Andy Thorburn- $2,335,900• Gil Cisneros- $2,052,762• Mai-Khanh Tran- $480,000
There's one good candidate in CA-39, someone who will make an actual difference in Congress and isn't running to get a business card-- Sam Jammal. He's an accomplished guy-- in the Washington and in the private sector. Here's how he explains why he's running for Congress:
I am running because during these divided times we need the next generation of leaders to step up and lead. Too many of us are falling further and further behind. The American Dream was in trouble before Donald Trump and now it’s on life support.We need new voices that will fight to make sure students and young professionals can get a good job, afford a down payment on a home, and start a family. We need leaders who can stand up and fight to make sure our government gets back to the basics and represents our best interest.I have spoken with seniors who are worried about whether their retirement savings will be enough. I have seen small business owners struggling to get a loan or stay afloat for their employees. I have spoken to students and young professionals facing crippling student debt and putting off life decisions as a result. Our community deserves a fair shot and Washington is too busy with empty rhetoric and partisan fights to look out for us.I will champion the values we believe in as Americans, the ones our parents and grandparents taught us: in America, nobody should have to choose between paying their utility bill and taking their child to the doctor. In America, we welcome our new neighbors who want to put in an honest day’s work and make a better life for their families, because we were once those new neighbors and America welcomed us. In America, we go for bold ideas, we think big, we don’t settle for second place and we lead in every sector, from health care and higher education to clean energy.