Democrats line up to 'sue' President Bush

The following first appeared in Capitol Weekly today Kelly Hayes-Raitt says she is suing President George W. Bush. Christine Chavez is touting her "legal challenge" against the president's education policies. Joe Baca says he joined the suit because the president has "lost sight of education." Rudy Bermúdez rails against the "burdensome" provisions of Bush's signature No Child Left Behind Act. All four are candidates in contested Democratic primaries this June. And all four are clients of Democratic political consultant Richie Ross. In fact, a group of thirteen Ross clients, and one non-Ross candidate, have banded together to file an amicus brief in a federal-court case against the Bush administration's education policies. At least two of the candidates, Hayes-Raitt and Chavez, have been publicizing the amicus brief in their campaigns. But some are calling the move a Ross-engineered election-year stunt to win support for his candidates in left-leaning Democratic primaries. All 14 signatories of the brief are running for office this year, and all but one face a contested primary election. Assemblyman Joe Baca, D-Rialto, who is running for the state Senate against fellow Assemblywoman Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Chino, said that Ross approached him with the idea of a group legal action. "He had brought the idea to us and I thought it was a great idea," said Baca. Ross did not return calls for comment. "It is almost like they are running as some kind of team across the state," said Parke Skelton, a Los Angeles-based Democratic political consultant who is running campaigns against four signers of the amicus brief. The lone signatory of the brief that is not a Ross client is Los Angeles City Council member Alex Padilla, who is running for the Senate against Assemblywoman Cindy Montañez, D-San Fernando. Padilla said he heard about the brief, which was filed on March 31, on a trip to Sacramento and wanted to join in. Asked if it was odd that he was the only non-Ross client to sign onto the amicus brief, Padilla replied, "It wouldn't be the first time I stood out in a crowd." In a recent e-mail to supporters, Assembly candidate Hayes-Raitt urged the recipients to, "Join Kelly in Suing President Bush!" But the original lawsuit was filed months ago, and not by Hayes-Raitt. The National Education Association (NEA) first filed the suit last April, and a federal judge dismissed the case last November. The amicus brief, which is a legal document expressing support for the plaintiff, was filed in support of the NEA's appeal. "Kelly is being monumentally dishonest with voters when she says she is suing President Bush," said Skelton, who is the consultant for Julia Brownley, a candidate running against Hayes-Raitt. "This is someone else's lawsuit. She and a number of other candidates have filed an amicus brief as a cheap political stunt. It is an attempt to mislead and deceive voters and to claim credit for work that she hasn't done." But Hayes-Raitt defended publicizing the brief as part of a long record of opposing the Bush administration. "We've got a president who isn't funding education. We've got a governor doing the same and I look at our state Legislature and say where is the leadership on this," said Hayes-Raitt, who is running in a crowded five-person primary in Assembly District 41. "My question is why aren't people in California doing this?" Another Ross client, Chavez, who is running in Assembly District 45 in Los Angeles, recently sent a letter to supporters announcing her "legal challenge to President Bush's unequal funding policies." In an envelope stamped "federal court documents enclosed," Chavez asked her supporters to contribute $5 to help pay for the $20,000 cost in legal fees for the challenge, promising that the money would not be used for political purposes but that "every dollar will be used to fight the President's attacks education." Assemblyman Rudy Bermúdez, D-Norwalk, who is running for Senate against fellow Assemblyman Ron Calderon, D- Montebello, said he and Assembly candidate Tony Mendoza came up with the idea and pitched it to Ross. Both Mendoza and Bermudez are Ross clients. "This was an idea Tony and I had … and the others have come on board," said Bermudez. "It was a way of sharing the costs. It is very expensive to do these amicus briefs." The message of a candidate suing the president is likely to play well among Democratic primary voters, says Allan Hoffenblum, a monitor of state elections and publisher of the California Target Book. "The primary races right now, they are so gerrymandered, the one who comes across as the most liberal is going to win," says Hoffenblum. "If you are Democrat running in a safe Democratic seat you are bashing Bush and, if you have time, you bash Schwarzenegger." The remaining signatories of the amicus brief are Assembly candidates Mike Davis, Mary Hayashi, Ed Hernandez, Curren Price, Jose Solorio and Jeremy Baca, the younger brother of Joe Baca. Senate candidate and former Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and Assemblyman Jerome Horton, D-Inglewood, who is running for the Board of Equalization, also signed on to the brief.