Somewhere over the Rainbow section of Interstate 15 Tuesday, Jan. 16, another nail in the political coffin of Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-50th Congressional District) went up in the form of a giant billboard reminding voters he is under criminal investigation.
As several dozen Indivisible members and their endorsed candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar rallied, and passing motorists along Old Highway 395 honked vehicle horns in cacophonous support, the giant billboard stared down the road with Hunter’s visage mirroring the Great Gatsby’s Doctor T. J. Eckleburg pair of fading, bespectacled eyes painted on an old advertising billboard over the valley of ashes.
American flag waving, poster board hoisting demonstrators chanted “This is what democracy looks like” and “Duncan Hunter please take note; we can see how you vote,” as several speakers decried Hunter’s criminal culpability and votes to raise taxes on his constituents and end ethics investigations into his admitted use of campaign funds for personal expenses, a felony.
Flip CA 50th raised $7,500 to display a new billboard telling voters that Hunter is under criminal investigation. As a grand jury hears evidence this month on Hunter’s campaign finance troubles, CA50 voters will be educated about their congressman’s ethics, according to Indivisible leaders.
The billboard location ensures 1.75 million impressions over four weeks. Indivisible members and others rallied with Democratic candidate Campa-Najjar and commit to reminding voters throughout 2018 that Hunter lacks integrity and does not represent his district’s values.
“We are not just the opposition,” Campa-Najjar said to the billboard rally voters. “We are the opportunity.”
Said Diana Fink, a member of the group to KGTV ABC-10 News: “You have a legal action going towards him, which is neither Republican or Democrat. It’s the justice department. People will have to say ‘hmm…'”
California 50th Congressional District Democratic candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar addresses the I-15 billboard crowd Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018/Indivisible
Republicans continue to hold a 44-28 percent registration advantage in the district represented for 27 years by Hunter’s father, Duncan Lee Hunter, called one of the most corrupt members of Congress by the non-partisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Congress (CREW).
Campa-Najjar said he was confident of turning that Republican registration advantage around due to a district with 35 percent Hispanic makeup, in all, along with 10 percent made up of Arab-Americans in East County. Hispanic voters were being registered in large numbers, he said, while observers noted Hunter’s recent insult of Arab-American residents on local and national TV calling them “liars” because they all “haggled at markets” for goods and services.
Campa-Najjar said it was important to put the current congressional Hunter’s face on the billboard because some voters he had spoken with believed Hunter’s father continued to be the Hunter in Congress despite the senior Hunter’s retirement in 2008.
Voters at the billboard rally also had a message for Rep. Darrell Issa (R-49th Congressional District) who said last week he would retire from Congress, then backtracked, saying he might run for Hunter’s seat should Hunter not run: “You are not welcome here.”
“Next Tuesday, voters in Issa’s 49th district will board a bus after their morning rally in Vista and travel to Temecula to join Hunter’s voters in protesting Hunter’s vote for the new GOP tax law,” Indivisible organizers said. “They will also show Issa that they will work to defeat him wherever he goes”
Big billboard with a big message shouting out to I-15 motorists/Grapevine
This is what democracy looks like/Grapevine
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Indivisible organizers announced the following San Diego events in the coming week.
THURSDAY JANUARY 18
4 – 5 PM
Flip the 49th Rally
1424 Encinitas Boulevard Encinitas 92024 (at El Camino Real)
Indivisible group Encinitas Unity rallies to elect a Democrat in CA 49 to help flip Congress and stop the Trump agenda.
SATURDAY JANUARY 20
10 AM – 1 PM
San Diego Women’s March 2018
1600 Pacific Highway San Diego 92101
With a theme of “Hear Our Vote”, Indivisible members will march together waving blue flags to symbolize the #BlueWave election of 2018.
10 AM gates open; 11 AM statements, 11:30 AM march, 12:45 – 1:45 PM rally
North County Women’s March
Palomar College 1140 W Mission Road San Marcos 92069
Indivisible members participate in the march.
LOOK AHEAD: Resistance Road Trip
TUESDAY JANUARY 23
“Repeal the Trump Tax” Rallies
Voters will rally in CA49 at 10 AM, outside the Vista office of Rep. Darrell Issa, then board a bus to join a noon rally at Rep. Duncan Hunter’s Temecula office in CA50 to oppose Hunter’s vote for the GOP tax bill. The message to Rep. Hunter is that the united resistance is coming for your seat after you voted to raise our taxes. The message to Rep. Issa is that if you decide to run for Congress in CA50, the resistance will follow and defeat you, too.
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