Blog | Henry Waxman: 38-Year Tenure is a Turn-Off

Over the past three decades, Congressman Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles) never had to run a real campaign to stay in office. In effect, the partisan gerrymandering from the state legislature permitted him to choose his voters, and thus he cruised into office with 60% of the vote in term after term. A few years ago, he even boasted that he never had to launch a major advertising campaign to keep his seat.

Now that the California Citizens Redistricting Commission has redrawn the districts per Proposition 11, a reform which Waxman opposed, the LA-based Congressman is facing Independent Bill Bloomfield, a real challenger for the first time in nearly forty years. Because of the threat to his tenure, the long-standing legislator has just launched his first YouTube ad. At the outset, he challenges voters to distinguish between "political hype" and "the tried and true." Waxman alleges that his time in Congress is reason enough to keep him in office.

On the contrary, his lengthy stay in no way justifies extending Congressman Waxman's tenure for one more term. Truly, voters throughout the Santa Monica Bay are tired of HenryWaxman, a politician who has spent more time in Washington than working withhis constituents. I have spoken with voters in Santa Monica and throughout theSouth Bay, and they do not care for this man. Waxman has yet to visit the southern half of the district, South of Dockweiler Beach, which composes the new and more moderate half of the district he intends to represent. The Malibu Democratic Club reported on his recent visit, his first in four years. Where has he been in the mean time?

The Berman-Sherman contest in the 30th Congressional District, whichincludes sections from Waxman’s previous Valley constituency, is signaling topundits that incumbency is no longer a strong point. Voters across party linesare favoring the younger Sherman, a legislator who voted against TARP and doesnot represent the old class of politician who sits and struts and pulls thelevers of the political machine.

Waxman and Berman are cut from the same cloth: two pols who have ignored the polls and opinions of the people who elect them because they have cruised into office with almost immoral ease for the last three decades. More specifically, Waxman supported the massive TARP bailout both times. He has voted against almost every effort to initiate tax relief for the middle class over his long career in Congress. His green policies have taken green (as in “money”) from hard-working taxpayers to fund failed green companies, of which Solyndra was the most flagrant.

It’s time for a change. It’s time that politicians in the Santa Monica Bay pay attention to the voters, not vice versa. Waxman has paid attention only to hisown power instead of respecting and responding to the limited powers enumerated to him by Congress and “We the People”.

On November 6th, vote for Bill Bloomfield for the 33rd!

Visit “Waxman Watch” – waxmanwatch.blogspot.com – for more information.