Dems balk at ballot IDs for Republican congressmen
When is a farmer not a farmer? If you ask some Central Valley Democrats, it’s when they’re Republican politicians.
Both Reps. Devin Nunes of Tulare and Jeff Denham of Turlock (Stanislaus County) are at the center of lawsuits seeking to stop them from calling themselves farmers on the November ballot, a designation that can only help in their agriculture-heavy districts.
“If you want to follow the rules, you just can’t do that sort of stuff,” said Andrew Feldman, a spokesman for Red to Blue California, a group backing Democratic Party efforts to flip seven or more Republican-held seats in the state.
The group is financing the legal challenge by Jamie Trujillo, a Stanislaus County almond grower who argues that Denham isn’t a real farmer, so he can’t be allowed to call himself a “Businessman/Farmer/Representative” on the ballot.
Denham “does not live on a farm or earn any income from work as a farmer,” says the suit, which was filed Aug. 21 in Sacramento. “Instead, he is a member of Congress who also owns a plastic business that sells products to those in the agriculture industry.”
A Tulare County farmer filed a similar suit against Nunes this month, arguing that the House Intelligence Committee chairman and fervent supporter of President Trump shouldn’t be allowed to call himself a “U.S. Representative/ Farmer” because he no longer has a connection to his family’s longtime dairy business.
Fight Back California, another Democratic group challenging House GOP members, is financing the effort against Nunes.
Neither Denham nor Nunes is arguing that they come back from Washington, D.C., put on overalls and a straw hat and spend long hours behind a plow. But both say that they and their families have spent years as members of the farming community and still earn at least part of their living from agriculture.
According to congressional financial reports, Denham collected between $15,000 and $50,000 in rental income last year from a farm he owns in Atwater (Merced County). Nunes lists himself as a limited partner in Alpha Omega Winery in Napa County and said he made between $2,500 and $5,000 from the business in 2017.
That’s not good enough, argue the Democratic groups calling for California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to change those ballot designations.
“Rep. Denham is a landlord,” says the suit seeking to force a change in his ballot designation. “While it is possible that he rents this land to others who actually farm the land, this would no more make Rep. Denham a farmer than renting an office building to a medical practice would make him a doctor.”
Denham and Nunes aren’t the only California House members harking back to the agrarian life, nor are Republicans the only ones playing the ballot designation game.
GOP Rep. Doug LaMalfa of Richvale (Butte County) is a “Farmer/U.S. Representative.” Democratic Rep. John Garamendi of Walnut Grove (Sacramento County) is a “Congressman/Rancher,” while Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, is “Farmer/ Representative.”
While Garamendi grew up on a Calaveras County cattle ranch and still owns a ranch there, he’s also a Harvard MBA who has been a politician since he was first elected to the Assembly in 1974. Costa is a third-generation farmer, but he spent 24 years in the Assembly and state Senate before being elected to Congress in 2004.
Then there’s GOP Rep. David Valadao of Hanford (Kings County). He’s a “Farmer/Small Businessman” on the ballot, with only the asterisk by his name reminding voters that he’s also an incumbent who was first elected to Congress in 2012.
State rules limit the ballot designation to a “profession, vocation or occupation” held within the previous year, but that doesn’t stop politicians from trying to game the system by choosing titles that can be proven vote-getters.
Democratic Reps. Ami Bera of Elk Grove (Sacramento County) and Raul Ruiz of Palm Desert (Riverside County) both list themselves as doctors, and Democratic Rep. Mark Takano of Riverside is a “United States Representative/Teacher.”
On the other hand, very few politicians identify themselves as lawyers, stockbrokers, corporate CEOs or used-car salesmen.
It’s not just one-time or would-be farmers who face complaints about their ballot titles. Republican Young Kim, who is running for an open House seat in Orange County, is being challenged for calling herself a “Small Business Owner” when her consulting business is apparently not registered.
And Democrat Jessica Morse, who is challenging GOP Rep. Tom McClintock of Elk Grove (Sacramento County), is running without any ballot designation after a court refused to allowed her to use “National Security Fellow.”
Few if any other states indulge in the ballot designation scramble that California politicians play every two years.
“It’s ridiculous that California puts occupations on the ballot,” said Feldman of Red to Blue California. “Maybe they just want to keep the courts busy.”
John Wildermuth is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfwildermuth