Jeff Denham came into the room shouting and left the room shouting and no one knows why. A big man, maybe Denham thought he could intimidate Turlock native Josh Harder, his opponent in the race to represent California’s 10th Congressional District in Washington DC. But Harder was on his home turf and seemed to grow more and more comfortable as the debate between the two went on at Turlock’s Carnegie […]
Josh Harder for congress
LCR Endorses Caballero, Harder
After appearances by Assemblymember Anna Caballero and congressional candidate Josh Harder, Modesto’s Latino Community Roundtable (LCR) endorsed both on September 6. Balloting for Stanislaus District Attorney resulted in a tie between incumbent Birgit Fladager and challenger John R Mayne. It appears both will receive an endorsement. Caballero is running for State Senate in California District 12 against Rob Poythress. During a speech to members of LCR, Caballero emphasized her rural […]
Want water? “Donors first,” says Jeff Denham
Ordinarily, a Beverly Hills billionaire, a Sacramento attorney, and an Oakdale farmer wouldn’t have much in common, but politics, water, and money are the ties that bind Stewart Resnick, Tim O’Laughlin, and John Brichetto to Congressman Jeff Denham. Brichetto is the only one of the three who lives in Denham’s district (CA-10), but as one of the largest independent landowners within the Oakdale Irrigation District (OID), Brichetto provides the loudest […]
Trump was, “the elephant in the room,” for Denham Event
“When he was asked about hate, the elephant in the room was the president,” said Modesto resident Ken Schroeder after Congressman Jeff Denham’s appearance at the Red Event Center in downtown Modesto on Tuesday. The event was sponsored by the Latino Community Roundtable. And even though the president’s name rarely came up during Denham’s question-and- answer session, Donald Trump’s policies hovered like a dark shadow over the entire program. In […]
The Denham Dossier, Part III: Water for Tunnels
Jeff Denham has a lot of explaining to do. Once again on his biennial campaign tour, Denham’s latest reelection gambit features Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke. Secretary Zinke is supposedly helping Congressman Denham work against state requirements for increased flows along our rivers, the so-called, “water grab.” Denham obviously wants to show he has tremendous clout in Washington D.C., but some of his work with fellow Republicans back east isn’t […]
Bruce Frohman on Jeff Denham: Propaganda over Service
Former Modesto City Councilman Bruce Frohman followed Jeff Denham’s long political career well before he won at the federal level and ever since. Although Jeff Denham has not been a good Congressman, he’s a masterful propagandist. He’s even got a billboard praising his failed effort to help promote DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals); that’s real chutzpah. He did not express support for DACA until the law expired and his […]
“The Future has to be bipartisan,” says UC Davis President
Michael Gofman and Matthew Wigler might seem an unlikely pair in today’s world of tribal politics, but the Republican Student Body President from UC Davis and Democrat student government senator at Stanford are working together to study seven of California’s so-called “purple” districts—congressional districts that voted for Hillary Clinton for president but also voted for a Republican congressional representative. Though they might differ on issues and answers, both Gofman and […]
At the March: Names and Stories
“This is about a profound contrast in moral vision for what America should be.” Josh Harder America is names, names and stories. The names—Madueno and Kolasinski, Nou and Tanaka, Harder and Hughes and Hernandez, Lakestani and Dashputre, Ricci and Costello and Talbott, Pallios and Nelson and Scribner—all have stories, and some of those stories were told at Saturday’s March for Families in downtown Modesto. Julissa Ruiz Ramirez told the story of […]
Denham and Friends: Is Dirty Money the New Norm?
“Rep. Denham may have found a new low in despicable campaign tactics.” Headlines about the latest Trump scandal—this time about a phony charitable foundation used to launder money—have become ho-hum moments. It’s pretty hard to top payoffs to porn stars and Russian bagmen. But dirty money in politics isn’t anything new; in fact, it’s now a political norm. Maybe because it happened three years ago, recent news that former Oakdale […]
CA-10 Democrats Dodge Howze-it-zer
With all but a few votes now counted, it appears the turnout for Democratic candidates in California Congressional District 10 (CA-10) was up over fifty percent from 2014, the last off-year election. In the 2014 primary, Democrats Michael Eggman and Mike Barkley totaled 30,809, with Eggman logging 19,804 votes. This year, with six Democratic candidates’ names on the ballot, total Democratic votes were 49,611—but even with the dramatic increase in […]