Endorsement #8: It’s time for Tessa

Posted by Monday Morning Politicking on October 31, 2006 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

tessa hafen We saved this one for second-to-last, because not only is it by far one of the most competitive of the races we’re covering, but it’s also our home district. Nevada’s third district wraps around the vegas suburbs — if you drive by a lot of signs that advertise new homes “In the low 300’s” in Las Vegas, you probably live in this district. It’s relatively new, and twice the Democrats have failed to win. First, with disgraced County Commissioner Dario Herrera; and then later with former gaming executive Dan Gallagher.

Dario would have been a great candidate, except for all the sex and lies and bribes and such. Gallagher would have been a fantastic candidate if he lived in the district. The Democrats have learned from their mistakes, and have run a eighty-bazillionth-generation Mormon woman for the seat. Did we mention she just got married? Something she has in common with Porter, who recently got a divorce.

Without much beating around the bush, MMP wholeheartedly throws its support behind Tessa Hafen.

We hold to all of our previous statements about Reid’s former press secretary, but even taking all that into account, Tessa is supremely deserving to hold this seat. Further, Jon Porter has made a disgrace of the United States Congress, and his violation of the public trust is abominable.

Typically, we’re against “vote for somebody just ‘coz they’re in the other party” mentality of modern politics — we’re exhausted by stories of people voting against a politician just to put somebody equally crummy in. But this is not one of those cases.

Tessa Hafen understands business, something we wish we could say about more democrats. And technically, with eight years experience working for Sen. Reid, Tessa has actually spent more time in Congress than Jon Porter. She commands an excellent grasp of public policy, which is something we wish we could say about more Members of Congress.

Jon Porter is being accused by a former staffer of making fundraising phone calls from the capitol. We imagine that every member of congress does this — even if it’s on their cell phone. But it’s aobut time somebody started calling members what is an egregious violation of Federal law. It’s behavior like this that nobody trusts the congress anymore. We’re sure Hafen will do the same thing, but her eight years in Washington will have shown her a thing or two about how not to get caught.

We don’t mind when members of congress vote their party line. But when a member of congress is so absolutely empty-headed about towing his President’s agenda, we have to speak out. It’s not that Porter supports the president, it’s that he does it without even feebly trying to make an excuse for his behavior. Porter’s justification is, essentially, it’s in my political best interest to tow the line here; sorry, folks. Jon Porter once made the foolish decision — maybe testing the waters for a future run — of speaking out against Senator Reid in a national forum. Word on the Hill and back home is that Hafen was the Senator’s personal smackdown.

Jon Porter seemed to love spending a lot of quality time with the who’s-who of recent congressional disgrace. DeLay, Cunningham, Ney, Foley — all friends of Jon’s. We don’t mean to imply guilt by association — that just wouldn’t be fair. But, when these were the people who shepherded Porter through his first term, can Porter’s scandal be far behind? Again, Porter’s not guilty by association so much as guilty for sitting silently as these people fell, without himself jumping on the bandwagon to help them fall.

Tessa has already brought a new energy to politics, and that’s refreshing for us. Her campaign is honest, so far as campaigns go. And she’s managed to remain impervious to Porter’s ridiculous carpetbagging claims (honestly, Mike Slanker should be embarrassed). There’s an argument to be made that Tessa is a beltway insider who came back to the state just to run for office — those things are almost 100% true — but for Porter to argue that the young scion of the Hafen family isn’t Nevadan is ludicrous.