Napa Valley Register - Thompson Faces Two Challengers in Race

News Article

By Peter Jensen

The race to become Napa County's Congressional representative pits two Republicans against incumbent U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, on the June 5 primary ballot.

Thompson is running against challengers Stewart Cilley, a certified public accountant from Rohnert Park, and Randy Loftin, a financial planning adviser from Napa, in the newly drawn 5th Congressional District, which includes all of Napa County and sections of Lake, Sonoma, Solano and Contra Costa counties.
Last year's redistricting moved Thompson out of his old district, which stretched from Napa and Sonoma counties, then up along the North Coast, into one more centered in the North and East Bay.

This election marks the first time Cilley and Loftin have run for elected office. They face an uphill battle to unseat Thompson, who's been in office since 1998, as the 5th District leans heavily Democratic. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans more than two to one, according to voter registration data from the Secretary of State's office.

Still, both Republican challengers advocate for their candidacies as catalysts for changing what they argue is a broken political system in Congress and Washington, D.C.

Thompson touts his record in serving his district's constituents, supporting war veterans, ensuring Social Security and Medicare stay strong, fiscal responsibility, and supporting Napa's flood control project.

STEWART CILLEY

In encouraging voters to support him, Cilley said he will work to bring the federal government's size and authority strictly in line with what the U.S. Constitution says it should be.

"The federal government is extremely confused," Cilley said. "They're confused about what the Constitution calls for. What's happened over 235 years is a creep."

Along those lines, Cilley said he disapproves of the federal government owning large swaths of land that are part of the national parks system. He said he favors limiting federal spending on highway infrastructure to the extent it supports national defense.

Other infrastructure spending should be the responsibility of the state and local governments, he said.

Cilley said he supports abolishing the federal income tax and replacing it with a national tax on consumption of 3 to 4 percent, which would be levied on all transactions for goods and services.

"It would suffice if the federal government would curtail itself," Cilley said. "Nobody feels like they would be singled out or excluded."

On the Bureau of Reclamation's' management of recreation at Lake Berryessa, Cilley said he doesn't support a federal bureaucracy making those kinds of decisions; he said the free market would be a better guide.

"I don't trust a bureaucrat," Cilley said.

On the Mishewal Wappo Tribe of Alexander Valley seeking federal recognition, Cilley said he believes the decision to recognize an Indian tribe as a sovereign nation should rest with the federal government.

However, Cilley said he believes casinos, which Napa County officials fear will be a result of the tribe getting federal recognition, should be legalized and taxed in California.

He also favors legalizing marijuana, saying people's decisions to gamble or smoke marijuana are matters of personal freedom.

"I think gambling is not the best behavior; it's not the healthiest behavior," Cilley said. "But it's a choice. Let's open up gambling for all of California. Marijuana should be up on the convenience store shelves with tobacco. That doesn't mean I like tobacco. That doesn't mean I like marijuana. I'm not a smoker."

Cilley said his campaign has largely been a lot of driving around his district, attending meetings, meeting voters, and "wearing out a set of tires."
"It's a great place to be; it's a great place to live," Cilley said. "It would be such a great honor to be their representative to Washington, D.C."

RANDY LOFTIN

Loftin said his candidacy is dedicated to shifting the course of the American economy, which he said is heading in the wrong direction.
Loftin said achieving that course correction requires new blood in Congress, and new leadership.

"At every level of the economy, people are worried," Loftin said. "Mr. Thompson's been there for 14 years. He's part of what's got us here. I think I can be part of a leadership that creates a very positive difference in Washington."

Loftin said improving the national economy will directly benefit Napa County's economic base of tourism and hospitality.

"It's about getting the country going so people will come here," Loftin said.
To accomplish this, Loftin said he favors tax cuts in the short term and long-term efforts at reforming regulations of businesses and industries to foster more economic innovation and production.

Loftin said he fears that Congress' inability to act to handle crises -- he cites the debt-ceiling debate of 2011 as an example -- will hamper the economy's recovery. To him, it's a call for change.

"In my view, it's not good for the country for people to be there as long as (Thompson's) been there," Loftin said.

He also said he favors a national sales tax and reducing the size of the federal government.

"There is darn little the federal government should be doing that should impact the daily lives of people here in Napa," Loftin said. "The best thing we can do for the people is to help get the federal government out of their lives as much as possible."

Loftin said he did not know enough about the federal government's management of Lake Berryessa to take a position.

On the Wappo tribe's lawsuit, Loftin said he opposed them getting federal recognition, unless the tribe was willing to agree to local land-use laws if they sought to have land taken into trust in Napa County.

Loftin said this is a critical election in determining the course of America's future.

"I think this is a major election for people," Loftin said. "More than ever, it's important for them to do their homework, and to take stock of the direction the country's going in. The first benchmark is June 5."

MIKE THOMPSON

In summarizing his priorities if he gets re-elected this fall, Thompson needs only three words: "jobs, jobs, jobs."

High on that list is getting a transportation bill passed in Congress, he said. The Republican-controlled House and the Democrat-controlled Senate differ on the amount of money in each chamber's bill. Thompson said the Democrat-sponsored bill would do more in sparking economic investment and creating jobs, and he's advocated the House bill follow suit. He said negotiations to resolve the disparities are ongoing.

"We could have had a lot of more people to work had it not been partisan," Thompson said of the slow negotiations over the transportation bill. "It would have put 177,000 people to work in California. "Unexcusable,' I think, is the term."

Partisan clashes are a reality of a split Congress, but Thompson said he's still been able to navigate bills through with support from both sides of the aisle. He cited legislation he's gotten passed on The Pathway Home program in Yountville, and saving the home's post office.

He lists those among other issues on which he's had success in Congress that resonate in Napa County, including securing federal money for Napa's flood control project and advocating on behalf of winemakers and grapegrowers.
Delays in finishing the flood control project are a product of the federal government's financial crunch, and he's not sure when the last federal dollars will be allocated.

"I don't think there's a silver bullet," Thompson said. "Unless you can point me to where that money tree is. We don't have enough money to do all the flood control projects and Corps of Engineers projects across the country."

Thompson said that speaks to the need to repair the federal government's financial woes and work to shrink the deficit. On that end, Thompson said he favors keeping Social Security and Medicare strong, but Congress needs to be more fiscally responsible. He cites the costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Bush tax cuts, as examples of irresponsible budgeting.

"I've never been a shrinking violet in the need to talk about the deficit," Thompson said. "It's one thing to be fiscally responsible, but we have to be fiscally responsible."

On Lake Berryessa, Thompson has recently slammed the Bureau of Reclamation's performance in managing the lake's recreation, and advocates that it should be the responsibility of the Bureau of Land Management.

Still, he said he's met with bureau officials and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar in pushing for a solution to the problem.

"We not going to stop," Thompson said. "We're going to push this until we get it right."

On the Wappo tribe's suit, Thompson announced his opposition to the tribe receiving federal recognition in a letter he wrote last year with two other members of Congress. Thompson said he disagrees with the tribe's decision to file a lawsuit, and contends recognition should be a matter for Congress.
He said he believes the tribe wants to build a casino.

"There's no question of what that tribe wants to do," Thompson said. "It would hurt us as a community. That's not an indictment of Indian sovereignty. It's a matter of what's best for the community."

Thompson said that while he's enjoyed getting to know new constituents in Contra Costa County, he has a degree of familiarity with the rest of his district, having represented it in Congress or in the California Senate.

"I'm continuing to work on behalf of the people in the district," Thompson said.

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