McNerney Skips Candidates’ Forum

On Sunday, September 30, 2012, Ricky Gill and other Congressional candidates from Northern California gathered at California State University Sacramento for a forum hosted by a leading Asian-American public affairs association and the NAACP, among many other organizations.

Congressional candidates Kim Vann and Congressman John Garamendi attended from the 3rd District, as did Ami Bera and Congressman Dan Lungren from the 7th District. Assembly candidates Peter Tateishi and Ken Cooley attended from the 8th District, as did Tony Amador and Richard Pan from the 9th District.

While Gill gladly participated in the forum, Jerry McNerney was notably absent. In fact, the 9th Congressional District was the only race in which one candidate attended while the other skipped out.

As KCRA reported, “Democratic incumbent Jerry McNerney was a no-show.” Not only that — according to KCRA, McNerney’s office also failed to respond to inquiries regarding the Congressman’s whereabouts.

So, where was McNerney? After all, his Congressional colleagues weren’t too busy to attend. And McNerney himself wasn’t too busy to send out multiple fundraising emails on Sunday, the last day of the campaign finance period.

“Perhaps McNerney has become the quintessential Washington insider, too busy to meet with voters but always available for a lobbyist or high-dollar donor,” Colin Hunter of the Ricky Gill campaign said. “Back in 2006, McNerney lambasted his incumbent opponent for allegedly skipping a candidates’ forum in favor of a fundraiser.

“Or perhaps McNerney simply was delayed while pretending to move from Pleasanton to Stockton via the treacherous Altamont Pass,” he added. “In any case, local voters suffered — a consistent theme of McNerney’s tenure in Congress.”

 


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