Dems hope to challenge Pombo with tough re-election campaign

Another Democrat jumping in?: The field of Democrats clamoring for the chance to take on Rep. Richard Pombo looks like it might be getting more crowded.

Margee Ensign, dean of the University of the Pacific's School of International Studies, says she might enter the Democratic primary in California's 11th Congressional District.

"I am seriously considering running against him (Pombo) and will make a decision and announcement — either way — in November," she said in an e-mail.

Ensign will speak at Diablo College in Pleasant Hill on Nov. 17.

If she runs, Ensign would join at least two other candidates who hope to unseat Pombo, a Tracy Republican who's been in Congress since 1992.

Over Pombo's seven terms in Congress, he's never faced a tough re-election fight, but Democrats hope this year will be different. Jerry McNerney is reviving his campaign after garnering 38 percent of the vote against Pombo last year, and political novice Steve Filson declared his candidacy after being encouraged by influential Washington Democrats. Filson will speak to the Tracy Democratic Club on Wednesday night. The club will meet at 7 p.m. at Sarvey's Shoe Store, 501 W. Grant Line Road.

Taking to the airwaves: A liberal interest group last week launched a fundraising drive and advertising campaign aimed at Pombo's perceived hatred of all things environmental.

The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund — a 527 organization along the lines of MoveOn.org or the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth — launched a new Web site, http://www.pombointheirpocket.org, which claimed Pombo is concerned solely with the interests of real estate developers and not his constituents.

Pombo has taken heat from all manner of environmental interests in recent months as he pushed to overhaul the Endangered Species Act and allow oil and natural gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and in waters along the nation's coasts.

Defenders of Wildlife also unveiled a television ad that ominously juxtaposes Pombo and Texas Republican Rep. Tom Delay — a favorite bogeyman of the Left who has been especially bruised by his dual indictments in an alleged money-laundering scheme.

Pombo consultant Wayne Johnson dismissed the ad as just another baseless attack designed to drum up money for the organization.

"This is not one of the environmental groups that you're going to turn to for substance," Johnson said. "They're just looking for something new to do."

The group says it bought airtime on broadcast and cable stations in San Francisco and Sacramento last week and hoped to buy more time with donations it gets from the Web site.

The group would not disclose how much it spent on the ad buy.

Curbing eminent domain: The House last week passed a bill introduced by Pombo that would keep federal development funds from cities and states that use eminent domain to turn private property over to real estate developers.

Pombo introduced the bill in response to the Supreme Court's ruling in Kelo v. City of New London that local governments can condemn private property to implement a development plan.

"Property rights are, without question, the heart of individual freedom and the foundation for all other civil rights guaranteed to Americans by the Constitution," he said in a news release.

Political Notes is a new weekly roundup of the week's political news written by Nick Juliano of the Tracy Press. To reach him, call 830-4274 or e-mail njuliano@tracypress.com.