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Fight for 11th Congressional District
Dean Andal and Jerry McNerney to vie for seat in Congress
By Jennifer Wadsworth
San Joaquin News Service
San Joaquin News Service
Wednesday, April 16, 2008 6:02 AM PDT
In a race that favors one candidate for his incumbency and the other because his party has an edge in registered voters, experts call the race for California's 11th Congressional District one of the most heated in the state. And like two years ago, when Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, unseated then-Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, both parties are gearing up for a tough campaign.
Running for the Republicans this time is former Assemblyman Dean Andal, R-Stockton. In this race, the focus for each party will be to overcome challenges presented by both numbers and demographics, according to Don Parsons, a Republican and veteran campaign manager in San Joaquin County.
"First you have the fact that this is a district that naturally favors Republicans," he said. "Then there's the geography."
District 11 has a feel of being divided into two districts, Parsons noted, with the more liberal, urban cities over the Altamont and the traditionally conservative population in San Joaquin County.
Republicans hold a six-point voter registration lead in the district, though Andal will be challenged to make himself better known, especially over the Altamont and in the Tri-Valley area, Parsons said.
•••
Andal, who has served on the state Board of Equalization and as trustee for the San Joaquin County Board of Education and Lincoln Unified School District, works as a project manager and consultant for a team of engineers and contractors building Mariposa Homes, a soon-to-be Stockton suburb for the comfortably wealthy.
He said he plans to focus his campaign next on Tracy, a traditionally conservative town, despite a voter-registration edge enjoyed by Democrats within city limits. There's been an influx in recent years of Bay Area transplants, and this change in demographics has made it a potential "swing city," Parsons said.
More than 41 percent of Tracy's voters are registered Democrat; about 37 percent are Republican; and 16 percent are "declined to state," according to the San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters office.
The numbers are surprising, Parsons said, "because Tracy's traditionally viewed as this agricultural community. But it's tilting. It's more like a Bay Area city now."
This year, the House race is less a battle between parties than a faceoff between ideologies, Parsons said.
"It's not as much about who's Republican and who's Democrat," he said. "It's more a difference of liberal and conservative."
The focus on what each candidate represents as an individual will allow both McNerney and his opponent to cross party lines, Parsons said. For McNerney, that means winning over moderate Republicans in and around the Stockton side of the district. Conversely, for Andal, that means wooing moderate Democrats over the hill in Danville, San Ramon and Pleasanton.
•••
McNerney and Andal take mostly opposite stances on several issues. McNerney seeks a quick exit from the U.S. occupation in Iraq; Andal thinks a swift withdrawal is unrealistic, to name one disagreement.
The candidates also disagree about spending — Andal talks about how he has never voted for a tax increase, whereas McNerney rallies for more federal money for his district.
"This is going to be a very easy contrast for the voters," Andal noted.
Andal touts a three-point platform: to heighten national security, stimulate economic growth and call for a higher standard of personal ethics in Washington, D.C.
McNerney said he also plans to focus on ethics — the major theme of his 2006 campaign — and education. He also said he envisions bringing more money to the Central Valley to stimulate growth and turn it into an economic powerhouse and a hub for renewable energy.
Last year was McNerney's first in public office. And, arguably, it was a good first year, Parsons said, because the candidate got a chance to define himself.
That McNerney advocated for veterans and stayed in touch with constituents also made his first term a strong one, said Bill Perkins of the San Joaquin County Democratic Central Committee.
•••
McNerney spent his career as an engineer and alternative-energy specialist after earning bachelor's, masters and doctorate degrees in mathematics from the University of New Mexico.
He ran for office at the urging of his son, he said, and because no one stepped up to challenge Pombo, a longtime incumbent.
Compared with his peers, McNerney is a political latecomer. When he entered the race in 2006, few knew much about him.
"Even the Democrats didn't know who he was," Perkins said.
This year, the congressman said he feels he has more in-district support — a fact confirmed by his federal election reports, which list more San Joaquin County donors than he had two years ago.
His first term gave him a chance to adapt to the district, he said. And with some political history now, he said he's more confident.
"In the last race, I don't think my opponent took me that seriously," he said over the phone Friday.
Andal takes the incumbent seriously enough to expect a fight to the end, he said.
•••
Since bowing out of politics in 2003, Andal took an accounting job and then started working for Mountain House developer Gerry Kamilos. The Kamilos family donated $10,200 to Andal last year, among a slew of other developers from the district.
During the final three months of 2007, McNerney raised $246,000 and ended the year with about $925,000. Andal raised $143,000 that same quarter, which upped his total to $471,000, according to the latest election report.
According to the same report, McNerney got less money from outside the district last year, compared with the previous election, when Bay Area supporters rallied around Pombo's lone challenger. He also relied on unions and political activists for money, including online fundraising, and volunteer hours.
Andal got most of his money from private businesses, including developers, lawyers and people in the real estate business. In and around Tracy, some of his biggest supporters are farmers, several of whom donated to his campaign last year in sums of $1,000 or more.
"It's no secret that I get money from developers," Andal said. "I'm very pro-business; I strongly support free enterprise."
It's a reputation he plays up — that of a man who keeps an eye out for business and strict tabs on the budget.
He said he helped run the state Board of Equalization like a business, downsizing and cost-cutting the agency to make it more efficient.
After more than a decade in public office, Andal retired from all but local politics after he lost an election for state controller in 2002.
Then, when McNerney ousted Pombo in 2006, Andal changed his mind.
"I never thought I was going to run for office again," he said. "But when Pombo lost, it was a big upset. I want to regain a Republican seat for the district."
•••
The Oregon native got his start in politics in college, which he attended San Diego State University. He majored in political science, a degree he now dismisses as practically irrelevant.
During an internship for a San Diego city official, Andal was taken by surprise when then-presidential candidate Ronald Reagan came to town to a rally of thousands of supporters.
Andal listened in on a whim and liked what he heard. He registered Republican the next day.
Today, he's a self-professed Reaganite.
After his Southern California internship, he passed up law school and headed instead to the nation's capitol in the mid-1980s to work as an aide for former Congressman Norm Shumway from the Central Valley.
In 1991, Andal won a special election for the Assembly in a largely Democratic Stockton district. He then won a full term in the following year's regular election.
In 1994, he was elected to the Board of Equalization, on which he served two terms, the latter of which ended in 2002.
Despite having served in public office most of his life, he said he has little respect for career politicians.
"They lose touch with the people they represent," he said. "One of the reasons I love working on a school board is because it's humbling."
His stint as a trustee has taught him a lot about diplomacy, he said.
"On a school board, everything is a very touchy subject, because you're talking about peoples' kids," he said.
At one meeting, he and the board sat across from 30 weeping cheerleaders, agonizing over the board's decision to change coaches, he recalled.
"There was this whole row of crying girls," he said. "It's something I never had to face before. When you're in the Legislature, there's a bunch of guys in suits out there glaring at you. I was glad to leave when I did."
Guys in suits to hormonal teenagers: It seems a little backward for a career move, he said with a laugh.
"I started at the top and worked my way down," he said. "But I've gotten a lot out of it, and I feel like it readied me, in some ways, for what's ahead."
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voter wrote on Apr 23, 2008 5:43 PM:
tom carlson wrote on Apr 23, 2008 9:58 AM:
McNerney has done nothing in my eyes to earn another term. His campaign last time was based on not being Pombo. His campaign this time is based on nothing. He has no accomplishments to run on. He has no vision either. "
tom carlson wrote on Apr 23, 2008 9:53 AM:
McNerney is not the answer. I asked him specifically to take the lead on the FEMA flood map issue. His response was to work with the county. HUH? FEMA is a federal agency. When I pointed this out to him, and suggested that our federal representative might advocate for us with a federal agency, I was pushed to his staffer.
This guy is a joke. He is on the infrastructure committee and can't lead on a levy project with the Army Corp of Eng.? He wants the county to lead. "
voter wrote on Apr 23, 2008 6:49 AM:
Giovanina wrote on Apr 22, 2008 5:14 PM:
girard74 wrote on Apr 16, 2008 10:59 PM:
No, I don't think that would be a good idea. Although the House of Representatives is required by our Constitution, with the size that it has become I find it to be an unwieldy institution; incapable of producing anything of value in a timely fashion. One would think with our two-party system it (along with the Senate) would work better than it does. But as Cogito succinctly put it earlier, as long as they are doing little to nothing perhaps it really is a good thing. But what a waste of money! "
OTH wrote on Apr 16, 2008 8:15 PM:
Giovanina wrote on Apr 16, 2008 7:54 PM:
It would seem to me that McNerney hasn't DONE much to protect our rights. "
girard74 wrote on Apr 16, 2008 9:08 AM:
And I agree with you completely. We're really not at odds here. The Founders never intended for these bozos to have full-time positions. Congress was designed to occasionally review the state of the nation and act accordingly to 'protect' the rights of the People; I believe Washington, Adams, Jefferson, et al., would be horribly shocked to see just what this 'government' has become.
My post at 6:57 was partly sarcastic and mostly to point out just how useless Congress is. I now realize I wasn't adequately clear. "
Cogito wrote on Apr 16, 2008 8:17 AM:
girard74 wrote on Apr 16, 2008 6:57 AM:
Throw the bums out! "
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