When one looks at the record of the 116^th Congress and the role Congressman Harder has played for the 10^th California Congressional District it is abysmal by any measure whether one is a Democrat, Republican, or Independent voter.  The question I am striving to answer here is what if anything has Congressman Harder accomplished for the 10^th Congressional District, and what has Congressman Harder accomplished for himself.  The goal should be efficient, effective, and transparent governance from those we elect with real results that make a difference in the communities we live in.

Part One Legislative Governance Accomplishments

Based on the Congressional record the 116^th Congress has only passed 29 items that have been signed into law.  If we skip over the one to amend the budget and raise the debt ceiling, this Congress has done absolutely nothing proactive on any of the top issues that concern not just the voters in the 10^th Congressional District but voters nationwide.

Infrastructure Improvements

Absolutely nothing has been accomplished here.  There were “two” meetings between Speaker Pelosi, Senator Schumer, and President Trump to start the conversation.  The problem was prior to the second meeting Speaker Pelosi and House leadership started the impeachment talk and the 2^nd meeting lasted 10 minutes.  This topic is now off the table until after the 2020 elections.

Healthcare

Absolutely nothing has been accomplished here, and unlike infrastructure improvement not only has nothing been done there are not even discussions about what to do, how to do it, or where there is agreement vs disagreement between the two parties.  Surely as we go into the 2020 elections the “Pre-Existing Condition” straw man argument will come back.  It’s a fake argument.  No one is talking about touching that part of the law.  It’s the cost of prescriptions, high deductible / low premium vs low deductible high premium choices and whether you can use the healthcare plan you have.  The plan I currently have is the most expensive in my life and the most unusable.  The deductible is so high that going to the doctor is a huge expense.  The 116^th Congress has done nothing on this front.

Immigration

The elephant in every room for decades has been the immigration policy.  This fight goes back to the late 90s and President Clinton.  The problem now is not only is nothing being done at the congressional level, but the noise and talking points that nothing will be done has created a humanitarian crisis at the border.  After months of denying this fact and then turning around and blaming the President, the House finally passed a $4.5 billion emergency aid package.  The bill passed was the Senate version because the house version had poison pills that made it unworkable.   There are no “Judicial Committee” meetings to address the core issues of chain-migration, visa lottery, H1-B work visa’s, border security both physical and technology-based solutions.  The DACA issue requires legal counsel just to understand if the discussion is about “DACA” versus “Dreamers” because all DACA are Dreamers, but not all Dreamers are DACA.  It’s legally confusing so the media and politicians can abuse this topic endlessly by tying it to the race card.  Absolutely nothing is being done, and the only branch of Government that can make permanent changes is Congress.  While nothing is being accomplished, everything possible to make the problem worse is being done with megaphones, PR sound bites, and the DC blame game which is spearheaded by the House.  The sad commentary on this topic is that more progress has been made by the President with the governments of Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala than the elected members of the House of Representatives because it’s more important to have something to fight about than trying to fix the problems.

Job Creation

It’s “Groundhog Day” because again absolutely nothing has been accomplished on this topic, and with respect to California and the Central Valley it’s an even more difficult subject.  California has one of the highest tax rates in the country.  Due to over-regulation, California is one of the most anti-business states in the country.  If we take Silicon Valley high tech out of the equation, there is a net out-migration of both businesses and people from California due to the underlying economic nightmare we live in.  All that being set aside, this Congress had done nothing to increase jobs in the Central Valley.

Part One Legislative Governance Accomplishments Summary

We can summarize the legislative accomplishments as essentially zero outside of keeping a functioning budget that allows the government to stay open and a day late and many dollars short emergency humanitarian border security aid package. 

On infrastructure improvement, healthcare, immigration, and job creation, nothing has been accomplished, and nothing is in the hopper because there are not even thoughtful committee hearings going on to address the key voter issues of the day.  House committees are obsessed with obstruction, resistance, investigations into investigations, creating photo opportunities, and far-left talking points to appease the hard-left base because they are the nosiest children in the room.  Getting absolutely nothing accomplished on the legislative front is a failing “F” grade.

Part Two Show Us The Money PAC Man

Congressman Harder promised he would not take money from corporate PACs or the Democratic party leadership bosses.  He is still making that claim, but when you look at the facts it is a very different story.  It would take a historic leap of faith to believe that corporate donors are not pushing money into “noncorporate PAC’s”.  It’s almost the Bill Clinton response “it depends on what the meaning of is is”.  I have more faith in voters and truly believe we are smart enough to know hiding the source of the money is how the game is played.

• Campaign Contributions from 93 PACs across 17 States with the majority from DC, MD & VA totaling $292,248.56.
• Congressional contributions from Campaign Committee PACs, the Democratic Party, and Democratic Leadership contributions total $71,029.35.
• Total PAC Man contributions are $363,277.91

The supporting backup material is in the companion post “Congress Harder PAC Man by The Numbers.”

California Democratic Policy Special Interest Front Man

What is the definition of a “Special Interest”?  According to the Cambridge Dictionary, it’s a group of people who have particular demands and who try to influence political decisions involving them. 

Where did Congressman Harder’s “Special Interest Front Man” money come from?  

• Internal Congressional District 10 money came from 76 donors and totals $67,493.
• California campaign donations from outside the district totals $941,780.20.
• Outside of California donations totals $184,960.68.
• Internal Congressional District 10 are 6.69% of California contributions, and 2.6% of total contributions raised

The supporting backup material is in the companion post “Congress Harder Special Interest Front Man By The Numbers.”

Who Is Doing Congressman Harder’s Precinct Canvassing?

When the call to action for Congressman Harder’s precinct canvassing and door-knocking comes, that call does not go out in Stanislaus or San Joaquin County.  The call goes out to San Francisco via social media and the @SwingLeftSF. 

Part Two Show Us the Money Summary

Whether it’s “PAC Man” contributions, “Special Interest Front Man” contributions or the campaign volunteer precinct canvassers, support for Congressman Harder does not originate in the 10^th Congressional District.  If you are looking for a political special interest frontman by following the money, Congressman Harder is your guy.

If that is not a failing “F” grade, then I am asking questions about critical thinking and or judgment being impaired by partisan politics.  The other answer would be that facts don’t matter because the only thing that does is winning, which is another reason for a failing “F” grade.

Congressman Harder is apparently very good at raising money especially outside of the district which keeps him under the thumb of the Bay Area and Southern California Democratic party special interests that got him elected in the first place.  That has absolutely nothing to do with representing our district.  Throwing the brick at candidate Dr. Ted Howze claiming that he is trying to buy a seat by using his own money is laughable given where PAC Man Harder gets all his campaign cash from.

Conclusion

The goal should be efficient, effective, and transparent governance from those we elect with real results that make a difference in the communities we live in.  Congressman Harder is not within 100 miles of achieving this result.  It would not matter to me which party our congressman was a member of; a failing grade is a failing grade.  I had differences of opinion with Congressman Denham, but he got things accomplished both with a Democratic President and a Republican President which is how things used to get done.

Apparently, Washington DC is no longer a political world where elected colleagues can get things accomplished by compromise.  Congressman Harder and his party are in control of the House, which means they get the blame for doing absolutely nothing, and nothing is on the horizon except more of the same.  PAC Man / Special Interest Front Man Harder needs to be replaced in 2020.  Yes, I have made my choice, and there are others running as well, but at the end of the day, anything is better than where we are now with a special-interest funded frontman who was exported into the Central Valley to steal a congressional seat.  We can do much better than an “F!”